 John, in chapter one, just worshiping and praising the Lord as we walk through the scriptures verse by verse by verse in John's Gospel. And what a joy it's been. We've learned a lot through chapter one already. Many chapters left to come. Just so much the Lord reveals to us here. But again today now as we're in John chapter one and we're going to finish up John chapter one verses 43 to 51 now. We are looking at what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. The title of our sermon is defining a disciple. And this is part two and a continuing look through these last paragraphs in chapter one of what it looks like to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we define what discipleship looks like? What does a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ do? How are they to live? And we see that now today beginning in verse 43. Now as we looked at the paragraph starting at verse 35 last week to 42 and now as we start this paragraph beginning in verse 43, we see Jesus Christ the Lord calling to himself the first disciples, his first followers. He's gathering his first disciples to himself. Now this is being written. This purpose in Jesus calling his disciples to himself is being written with the main purpose that we find in John chapter 20 verse 31 where John says he writes for the purpose that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Son of God and that believing you might have life in his name. That purpose really is broken into two parts. The first is an apologetic purpose. In other words, John the evangelist, John our author here is amassing evidence for us that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and we're to believe in that that he is the Christ the Son of God. But also that purpose for writing has an evangelistic side to it. That believing those facts, that believing those statements about Jesus Christ that we might believe. We might believe in him. We might believe he's the Christ. He's the anointed one, the coming Messiah and that having that belief in him, we would have eternal life, life in his name. So now John is writing here and he's retelling this account and he's pointing us in these paragraphs to that overarching reality. Jesus is the Christ and he is writing with that overarching purpose. So last week as we looked at verse 35, we began to examine Jesus calling his first disciples. We saw what it looks like to be a disciple in the perspective or through the lens through the perspective of the disciples themselves in Jesus's encounter with Andrew and John and Peter from their perspective. We walked with them along the way so to speak as Jesus called them and as they followed. They heard the word that was preached to them. They heard John the Baptist preach. John the Baptist came preaching a message of repentance. He came baptizing with a baptism of repentance. He preached judgment and he preached the coming Messiah and he pointed them to Christ and when he pointed them to Christ, they heard the word that he was preaching and they followed. There were many at that time. If you consider Andrew and John and eventually Peter and now in our text today, Nathaniel and Philip, they believed there were many that heard the preaching of John the Baptist. There were many that heard the preaching of Jesus Christ who did not believe. They sat back hard-hearted in their ignorance, in their self-righteousness. John the Baptist is preaching repentance and they say to themselves, we have no need for repentance. He's preaching a coming Messiah. It's like, why do I need a Messiah? He's preaching to turn from your sin. They saw themselves as righteous. They saw themselves as having no need to turn from sin and there were many who were hard-hearted who did not become his disciples and they didn't turn from their sin and the same is true today, isn't it? You're going to preach to some who are soft-hearted. They need the gospel. They need a Savior. They see their great need and they turn. But you'll preach or you'll share the gospel with others who have no need of repentance. I remember witnessing to a man one time that had grown up in church his entire life. I'm talking to him about the gospel, talking to him about repentance and he said to me, you know, I've just never seen the need for it. I don't see myself as that bad. And then our wickedly depraved, the Bible says, dead in their sins and trespasses. We need a Savior. We need to turn from our sin. They saw, they heard and they turned. They responded. When John gave the word, they followed Christ. We saw in verse 38 last week, the longing in the heart of every genuine disciple of Christ for fellowship with the Lord. Just wanting to sit at the feet of Jesus Christ and learn. What a glorious blessing, right? And we have his word that we can learn from today to see wondrous things from his law. We saw the response of Andrew immediately upon believing, immediately upon becoming a disciple of Christ, Andrew first goes and finds his brother, immediately bears witness to Christ. Andrew is in the scripture, always leading people to the Lord. And before the command was ever given for Andrew to go out and become a fisher of men, Andrew goes out in his backyard and lands a big fish, Peter, witnesses to Peter and Peter becomes a disciple. You can look at that word first in verse 41. And in the Greek construction there, that word first implies to us first in a succession. So Andrew first goes and finds his brother, and it implies in the Greek word there that John also went and found his brother James. So just witnessing for Christ, and we see the first couple of pairs of brothers now following Christ as disciples, Andrew and Peter, James and John. In all of that before us, it's in our understanding that Jesus has called each one. Jesus is the one that calls each one. And when Jesus calls disciples to himself, they forsake all and they follow him in faith. Disciples forsake all to follow Christ. It's the portrait in verses 35 to 42 of a disciple. It's the definition of what a disciple looks like. It's a portrait of a disciple and all that from the perspective of the disciples themselves. So now today, as we enter into verse 43, and we work through verse 51, we have the second part in our portrait, so to speak, another layer to lay down. If you have been watching a movie, maybe the movie's a little blurry, a little hazy, and you realize I don't have my 3D glasses on, well today it may be a little hazy, maybe a little blurry, but now it's time to put your 3D glasses on. We're going to get another layer to our portrait here of what it means to be a disciple. It's like watching one of those old tube TVs that you got to turn the dial and, you know, focus it in a little bit, going to like HD flat screen. That's what the Scripture does, a tarry to Xbox for you young folks. So in verse 43, beginning of verse 43, we get our portrait of a disciple now digitally enhanced, so to speak, from the divine perspective. We saw what it means to be a disciple from the perspective of the disciples themselves, but now we get the divine perspective, the perspective from God, the perspective from Jesus Christ. That view has always been there. If you look through the Scripture, as we studied verses 35 to 42, we saw God behind the scenes at work in that calling, didn't we? In verse 41, or in verse 38, I'm sorry, where Jesus Christ turns and he sees Andrew and John following him, and he's like, what do you want? Right? Have you ever thought about what would happen if Jesus never had turned? That's the divine initiative displayed there in the turning of Christ. That's the mercy and grace and humility, condescension of Christ and turning to the disciples. We also see God behind the scenes in Christ's calling of Peter, right? And then making Peter what he wants him to be, calling him in such a way that he makes him what he calls him to be. Peter was shaky, right? Unstable, vacillating. He was like a bowl of Jell-O, right? But Peter became the rock. That's Jell-O in Greek. Jell-O. Okay, keep up, folks. Okay, so he calls Peter vacillating, having difficulties. He's unstable, and yet Jesus calls him in such a way, as he does all his disciples, he calls him in such a way that he makes him what he calls him to be. That's the grace and mercy of God in our sanctification. What a glorious blessing it is to be a disciple of Christ, amen? We see that in Peter. That's true of all of his disciples, these first disciples. Think about it for a moment. Uneducated, Galilean fishermen. They grew up together around the same area, grew up doing the same kinds of things, seemingly insignificant little towns, and yet these men started a revolution that continues to this very day. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ going into every square inch of this globe because of the faithfulness of those men that the Lord called and then made them what he wanted them to be. That's the way the Lord does it, right? Not many wise, according to the flesh, as Paul says to the Corinthians, not many mighty, not many noble or called. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the things that are wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are. Jesus Christ later would say in John chapter 15 to the disciples that you didn't choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. So as we look at the gospel, we look at what it means to be a disciple. We look at the call to discipleship, not many CEOs, right? Not many rich, not many Harvard educated, not many Nobel prize winning scientists, but praise the Lord, a whole bunch of drug addicts, now ex-drug addicts, whole bunch of liars, now ex-liars, ex-cons, ex-thiefs, thieves, ex-flanders, ex-adultures, ex-liars, ex-homosexuals, ex-wretched sinners like you and me. Praise the Lord. And he makes us worshiping and praising trophies of his grace, and he makes us heralds for the king. It's an awesome blessing, amen. That's the divine reality. All of that, all of that is attributable to Almighty God. So now as we think on that perspective, let's dig into verses 43 to 51 and further define that portrait of a disciple. So point one on your notes now from verse 43, disciples are called by Christ. Disciples are called by Christ. Verse 43, the following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee and he found Philip and said to him, follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses and the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. So now the following day in verse 43, the following day, if you're keeping up with our timeline here is day four. Jesus it says there wanted to go to Galilee, but that word for wanted shows intention or purpose. Jesus determined, he purposed, he intended to go to Galilee. Why do you think that he did that? Why do you think he intended to go to Galilee? To find Philip? That was his purpose for going. He wanted to find Philip. That word there for found, where it says he found Philip, that word also shows intention. All shows, shows purpose. It's the word Eureka in the Greeks, where we get our word Eureka. So if you had a guy that was panhandling for gold in a river and he found a nugget, found what he was looking for, what would he say? Eureka, right? Jesus Christ here goes to Galilee, into the region of Galilee, for the purpose of finding Philip and he finds what he's looking for, Eureka, he's got Philip, okay? So he finds Philip because he was looking for him. Isn't that an awesome thought to think that that happens with every true disciple of Christ? There was once upon a time that you were lost. If you're here today and you're a Christian, you were once upon a time lost. And the Lord purposed and determined and intended to go seeking after you. And when he found you, Eureka, he came to seek and to save that which is lost. And he found you. Lord purposed and intended that, just like he was doing here with Andrew and Peter and now Philip, the Lord Jesus was doing exactly what he came to do. He said he came to what? To seek and to save that which is lost. So he makes now this 20-mile journey, about a 20-mile journey, from where they were, Bethabar, beyond the Jordan, up to the little town, little seaside town of Bethsaida. So 20-mile journey, most likely, most of that would have been along the Sea of Galilee, to the east side of the Sea of Galilee, to about the northeast corner where there's this little town of Bethsaida. Some rough terrain through there, but now let me ask you, how many of you, if Jesus came to you and said, hey, we're going to take a rough walk about 20 miles up to Bethsaida, how many of you would go with him? Amen. Christians? Yeah, all day long. Just tell me when to start, Jesus. Well with that, Andrew and John and now Peter and James were in tow. They're walking with Jesus. What do you think was taking place as they walked together along the Sea up to Bethsaida? A whole lot of conversation, right? Walking and talking, talking and teaching. There's discipleship going on here and Jesus is the perfect Discipler. So he's teaching them. He's walking with them. He's telling them all things from the scripture about himself, right? And just like the road to Emmaus, their hearts are burning within them, just loving that time spent with the Lord. He makes this walk, discipling them to the region of Galilee up to this town of Bethsaida. Now Bethsaida was a very small village. These guys, most of them grew up together around that small village and they became their fishermen. The name Bethsaida means place of the fisheries. So it was a fishing town, a fishing village. Most of them were fishermen. Now, some people will bring this up at this point. What they perceive as a contradiction in scripture. All of them that says we're from Bethsaida, but then if you go to Mark chapter one, the Gospel according to Mark says that Peter had his house in Capernaum. The Capernaum was about six miles west of Bethsaida. Where was Jesus born? Bethlehem, right? Where did he move after that? Nazareth. It's not a contradiction. It's easy to imagine that Peter grew up in Bethsaida and then moved to Capernaum. That's the way this works. So no reason to doubt your Bible because Peter had a house in Capernaum. Okay? That's the way that worked. Now he goes to Bethsaida and he finds Philip and he says to Philip, follow me, follow me. This is very interesting. Jesus says this throughout the Gospels. This phrase is used about 80 times in the Gospels. Follow me, follow me. Call to discipleship. He says to Matthew, doesn't he? Come, follow me. And what does Matthew do? He drops everything. He leaves his tax table right that moment and follows Christ. Just leaves everything sitting there and follows Christ. He forsakes all to follow Jesus. In Luke chapter nine, the Bible says that if you want to be his disciple, you must deny yourself daily, take up your cross and what? Follow me, follow him. That's right. It wasn't worth it when he made that offer to the rich young ruler, right? He told the rich young ruler. And it's interesting in Mark's Gospel that he says that when Jesus told him this, he loved him. That he loved. He cared for the soul of the rich young ruler. And he said, listen, go sell all that you have. Give to the poor. You'll have treasure in heaven and what? Come follow me. And yet the rich young ruler wouldn't do it. It wasn't worth it to him. He went away sad because he had many riches, right? He also connects. Follow me. This phrase, follow me to evangelism. He says, follow me and I'll what? Make you fishers of men. That's right. He connects it to evangelism. Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Follow me. Now listen, follow me was a call from Christ. Follow me was a call to discipleship. When the Lord says follow me, it's a call to salvation. There is no Christian who doesn't follow Christ. There is no disciple who doesn't follow Christ. Follow me is a call to discipleship, a call to Christianity. It's a call to salvation. It's a call to come and obey the Lord. It's a call to follow. It's a call to forsake all doesn't Jesus also say in Luke 14 that if you do not forsake all that you have, you cannot be my disciple, right? It's a call to follow, call to forsake. It's a call to evangelize will make you fishers of men. So what did Philip do at the very moment that Jesus Christ called him? It's interesting that the text doesn't exactly say does it? If you look at your text, it doesn't specifically say, but we see an answer in verse 45, don't we? Look at verse 45. Philip found Nathaniel and we know that from that Philip is a disciple of Christ. The very first thing that Philip does is he goes out and bears witness of Christ to Nathaniel. He follows him and he evangelizes. He says in verse 43, Christ does, follow me, and then he tells where Philip is from. And then in verse 45, Philip finds Nathaniel. Philip drops all to be a disciple of Christ. And one of the evidences that we see of that is that Philip was an evangelist. He bears witness of Christ. Now in Jesus' words to follow him, these are the quickening words of the Lord Jesus Christ in saving a sinner. The Holy Spirit is at work here and as much as it is a miracle, if you think about it now, for Jesus to call Lazarus, a dead man back to life out of the tomb, it is a far greater miracle here for Jesus Christ to call someone dead in their sins and trespasses to follow me and give them new birth in Christ, give them new life in Christ. It's a tremendous miracle. This is the Holy Spirit at work. This is Jesus calling Philip out of his sins a new birth. It's a great miracle. So how does Philip respond then? He drops everything at that moment and he follows Christ. He goes off and finds Nathaniel. We don't know exactly everything that took place in that conversation, do we? But it ended with those words, follow me, and it ended with a response from Philip to follow the Lord and obey him. This is the effective, efficacious, irresistible, if you will, call of the Lord Jesus Christ to salvation. This is the grace of God. It is a powerful, miraculous working grace. When Christ calls, there's power in the call. It was interesting that, of calling Lazarus from the tomb. It's a good thing that Jesus named the name Lazarus, otherwise you have all kinds of dead people coming out of all kinds of tombs all over the place. It's a power of Christ in the call. And here he's calling Philip to salvation. It's also interesting, this is not a momentary following. That word for following there is a present active indicative. It means ongoing following. It's not a momentary decision. It's not something that, you know, Philip does and then two days later he stops doing or two years later stops doing or 20 years later stops doing. It's a continuous following. He became a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ until the Lord Jesus Christ brought him home. This word is present, ongoing. And this is indicative here of how Christ, the Lord, seeks out and saves every single disciple of Christ, every single one of us. If you're here today and you say that you're a Christian, this is what the Lord has called you to. This is how the Lord has called you. It is a call to follow him, a call to discipleship. He calls us, every single one of us, in just the same way. Now you might say to yourself, well, you know, John the Baptist, witness to Andrew, and that's why Andrew followed. You might say to yourself, John, witness to James, and that's why James followed. You could think maybe that, well, someone witnessed to me, and that's why I followed. I made a decision, you know, I got, you know, a little convicted over my sin, and so I made a decision, it's time I'm going to follow Christ. You might think that, but the truth in all of this, if you're in Christ, the truth behind the scenes, from the divine perspective, that in all of that, our following of Christ is simply a reflex response or a reflex action of his first seeking after us and calling us to himself. Jesus Christ says himself in chapter 6, verse 44, he says, no one can. No one's able to. You're unable to. No one can come to me. Jesus says, unless the father who sent me draws him, better translated there, drags him. How many of you remember the day that the Lord dragged you out of your sin? You were perfectly happy in it, right? Lord draws us to himself, drags us to himself. And although Christ calls every one of us, look here in this text, how many varied ways in which he does that, okay? Here in our text today, you've got Philip being called without the agency of man at all. Christ directly calls him, right? So no other man involved. Christ calls him directly. Earlier, he used John to call his brother James. He used Andrew to call his brother Peter. He used John the Baptist to point many to Christ, right? In John chapter 10, the Bible says that John the Baptist preached and many believed in Christ there because of the preaching of John the Baptist. Nathaniel, we'll find, most likely came to Christ's belief through the Scriptures, through believing the Bible. So there are many varied ways in which God draws or drags, right? Many varied ways in which he calls people to himself. There are many means, many vehicles. But listen now, in every different way that the Lord may draw, in every different way that the Lord may drag you to himself, we all end up on exactly the same road. We all enter in at exactly the same highway. We're all going through the same exact door, right? The door to the sheepfold. Jesus Christ, if you're not going through that door, the Bible says you're what? A thief and a robber, remember? We all go through the same door. You may be called or led or drawn or dragged in different ways. Remember when the Lord saved me. I'm sitting in a false church listening to an awful sermon. It's just a terrible sermon, but I've got the word of God in my hands. I'm sitting there becoming convicted over my sin. I mean, just wrecked over my sinfulness, my offense against God. I went home that day. I cried my eyes out for three days. I just convicted over my sin and the Lord saved me. I remember a time. I remember a place. I remember how the word did it. I wasn't looking for it. Just the Lord just saved me, and He used the word of God to do it. Others of you, you know, someone came to your door, knocked on it. Boy, the faithfulness and graciousness of just a humble, faithful servant of Christ to come and knock on your door, share the Lord with you, point you to the Savior, and the Lord graciously saves you. Others of you may have been listening to a sermon, may have come to church, church like this one where you heard the gospel, and the Lord opened your eyes, the Lord opened your heart to understand, and He just saves you, pulls you out of darkness, pulls you out of bondage to your sin, changes your life. When the Lord saved me that day, my life radically changed. I've never been the same. The Lord just saves you. But we all enter, no matter how many different ways the Lord calls you or leads you or draws you or drags you, we all enter the same roadway. We all embrace the same truths. We all serve the same master. We're all slaves of the same gracious Lord, because we're all led by the same Spirit. We're all washed in the same blood. We're all trusting in the same Savior. We're all believing the same truth. We all walk according to the same rule. That being said, with as many aspects as there are at being a disciple or being called or led to be a disciple that are so similar, there will be differences in that experience. Some remember a date, and some don't. Some will come in one way, others may be drawn over a long period of time. For others, it may be quickly or suddenly, and you don't expect it. You know, all men joy has nuts, mounds don't. Right? There's just differences in the way the Lord works and operates, but you have to be careful in that about measuring your experience by your brothers. The Lord calls in many varied ways using varied means, but listen, when we're called, we're all the disciple, and a disciple looks the same. There's going to be discipleship. We're all sold out. Your life radically changes. You don't stay the same, and you certainly don't stay in your sin. Right? All right. Now, speaking of that kind of consistency now, and we get back to our text. What was the first thing that Andrew did? Andrew first went and witnessed to his brother Peter. Right? What was the first thing that John did? John went and witnessed to his brother James. The very first thing that Philip did, Philip went and witnessed to Nathaniel. There's consistency in the experience of a disciple. Disciples are witnesses for Christ. All right. Now, in verse 45, we see that when Philip went and witnessed to Nathaniel. It says in verse 45 there, back in John chapter 1, Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses and the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathaniel is the personal name of one of the apostles named Bartholomeus, or son of Tholomeus. This is Bartholomew. Bartholomew, if you look in the synoptic gospels, is often linked with Philip in the lists of the apostles. So we have here Bartholomew. And look at what Philip says to him. He says, we have found him. Eureka! Right? Same word. We have found him. It's interesting that Philip already uses the word we. That's interesting. Philip just became a disciple, and he's already now associating himself with the other disciples in this fledgling group of disciples that are following Christ. It's not I. It's we. The disciples have found the Messiah. And so he tells Nathaniel. And he says, we found him, Eureka, spoken of by Moses and the law and by the prophets. Now the law and the prophets was a common way of referring to the Old Testament scriptures, the law and the prophets. This is the way that we would have described or named the Bible. So that tells us we found him of whom Moses wrote in the law, of whom the prophets wrote. That says that Philip believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah of the Old Testament scriptures. He believed. He believed in Jesus. He believed that Jesus was the Christ and was the Son of God and believing Philip had life in his name. So Jesus did for Philip what he did for Andrew, what he did for John, and what he did for those disciples on the road to Emmaus. He's in his conversation with Philip, expounded all the Old Testament scriptures to him and what they said about Jesus. Jesus said, these are they which testify of me, right? So he told Philip all that the Bible said about Jesus, all according to the glorious plan of God. If you can, it's good for us to have an overarching understanding of all that the Bible teaches from Genesis to Revelation. There are major themes that sweep through Scripture. One of those, the primary of those, is that Jesus Christ is the sum and substance of all the Bible, all the Old Testament scripture. The overarching story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is that God was redeeming wicked wretched sinners to himself for his own glory in Jesus Christ our Lord. It's an overarching theme of the Bible. Listen to this beautiful explanation. This is from the pen of Peter. First Peter chapter one. Listen to this. Of this salvation, often times when we think about salvation and we read about salvation, we study salvation, we have a New Testament understanding. There's progressive revelation given to us, so we have a New Testament understanding. But we find all this in the Old Testament. Peter says of this salvation, the prophets, these are these Old Testament writers, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, to me. Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who is in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. These are these Old Testament prophets writing about Christ. To them, verse 12, it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. And these are things which angels desire to look into. It's an awesome thought, right? This was given to Philip, but it's also given to us that we see Christ all over the Old Testament. So in all those promises of God, right? All the promises of God to Abraham, to Noah, to Enoch, to Jacob, right? To Isaac, to David, to Israel. In every sacrifice, ceremonially offered in worship of God. In every high priest who is just a type in a shadow, we see Christ. He is a prophet greater than Moses. He's a king greater than David. He is the lamb of Isaiah, the righteous branch of Jeremiah, the true shepherd of Ezekiel, the son of man of Daniel, the messenger of Malachi. Jesus Christ is all over the Old Testament. We need to take up our Old Testament and learn of Christ. We need to take continuity between the Testaments. And Jesus said, these are they which testify of me. You know what's interesting? That Philip here is just a baby believer, right? He's coming to grips with all these things. He's got so much to learn, so much to learn. And he doesn't have everything exactly pinned down yet. But right in that the grace of God to us that we come in our own understanding. I came in complete ignorance. I was biblically illiterate when the Lord saved me. But we come in our own understanding and the Lord grows and matures our understanding in him and teaches us. It's interesting that mentioning Philip here in this situation, John Calvin in his commentary on this passage said this. He said, Philip foolishly calls Jesus the son of Joseph and ignorantly makes him a Nazarene. But all the same he leads Nathaniel to none other than the son of God who was born in Bethlehem. So just the faithfulness of Philip with the information he had from Nazareth and the son of Joseph. He was born of God, amen? Born of a virgin and he was born in Bethlehem. So Philip being faithful with the knowledge that he had. So Jesus calls and all disciples are called by Christ. Philip responds in faith and he turns from his sin which all disciples do, they repent. And Philip forsakes all to follow Christ. And that's because of the powerful call of Christ to disciples. And then he immediately bears witness of the Messiah to Nathaniel. So point one on your notes, disciples are called by Christ. Point two on your notes, disciples are known by Christ. Disciples are known by Christ. Verse 46 back in John 1 the Bible says, Nathaniel said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? And Philip said to him, come and see. So Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him instead of him. Behold in Israelite indeed in whom is no deceit. Nathaniel said to him, how do you know me? And Jesus answered and said to him, before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree I saw you. Nathaniel answered and said to him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel. So disciples are known by Christ. The first thing we need to point out is that Nathaniel didn't know Christ at all. You know, who's coming out of Nazareth? Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Nathaniel, which we'll hear soon, was from a little town called Cana. Just like Bethsaida, or just like Nazareth, sort of a small little insignificant town. We'll see a miracle done by Jesus in Cana here soon. But a really small insignificant little town, and yet Nathaniel gives a pretty direct assessment of Nazareth. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Another small insignificant town. It'd be like the people in Bithloth saying, is there anything good in Shuliota? Or people in Shuliota talking about Bithloth. It's like these, what are you doing? But Nathaniel here, we know from his own testimony, Christ's own testimony of him here, that he's a man without deceit. There's no guile in Nathaniel. Nathaniel here is a straight shooter. He says what's on his mind. He's honest, and he's direct. And so guys that are typically honest and direct like that are also skeptical. They're going to need some evidence to be convinced. He's not going to be duped. I know I spent a large part of my life in false religion. When the Lord saved me, I didn't want to be duped. Again, I studied and studied and studied, because I didn't want to be deceived. Often guys like this, they just don't want to be duped. They want to have some evidence. They want to have some convincing before believing and following. And that would describe Nathaniel. So Philip then uses the exact same tactic that Jesus Christ used for him. He tells Nathaniel what? Come and see. You can interact, it's fine. Come and see. He tells Nathaniel, come and see. So far in our narrative, looking at these paragraphs, those that see, find. Those that find know Christ, they follow Christ. But Nathaniel here is going to take some convincing. He's skeptical, and that's okay. It's okay to be skeptical. When you're witnessing, when you're evangelizing, you're going to run into people who are skeptical. Honest, but skeptical. They just have honest questions. You know what, that's okay. Because Christianity has withstood skepticism for 2,000 years. The Word of God has held up under intense scrutiny, volumes and volumes and volumes written about the words of Scripture and the Word of God has held up under that kind of scrutiny. I remember witnessing to a young man at the campus, college campus, and he came up, we started talking, and he was asking me questions, question after question after question. And finally he said to me, listen, I'm, you know, grateful that you would answer my questions. He said, oftentimes I go to professing Christians and I ask questions like this because I have questions. I have questions. I want answers to my questions. And yet they get hostile toward me or defensive toward me because they don't have answers. You need to know your Bible and then faithfully witness with your Bible. When you know the Word of God and you can answer questions, the Word of God is true, amen. It's like we're fishing in a stock pond. We've got truth. There's no error in here. So we've got the truth and people need it. He just wanted his questions answered. He was skeptical and had honest questions. No other book, no other word has held up under that kind of scrutiny, not the book of Mormon. The book of Mormon, there's contradictions all over the book of Mormon. It doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Not the New World translation. You know, the JWs believe, the Jehovah's Witnesses. The Quran hasn't held up under scrutiny. There are contradictions all over the Quran. Not the books written by Ellen G. White of Seventh-day Adventism. She's a cult leader who plagiarized all the books that she wrote. Not the statement of faith of the churches of Christ. Can't hold up under scrutiny. Not the apocrypha of the Catholic Bible. They cannot hold up under scrutiny. Not the study notes in the Joyce Meyer study Bible. They can't hold up under scrutiny. The Bible, listen, is God's Word. The Bible is perfect, holy, inspired, infallible, inerrant. It holds up under scrutiny. Listen, let the skeptics come. I would rather witness to a skeptic all day long than frankly to someone who is wrapped up in experience and emotions who's finding truth out of their own heart. You hear that phrase, follow your heart. Listen, don't follow your heart. The Bible says that it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. Don't follow your heart. Paul said to Timothy, these understand neither what they say nor what they affirm. Let the skeptic come. We have answers to their questions, amen. So Philip says, come and see. Nathaniel heads off to meet Jesus. Back in John chapter one, verse 47, Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and he said of him, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom is no deceit. Now Jesus really knows him. He sees him, sees through him, so to speak. He says, behold, this is an interjection, an exclamation. It's like, wow, wow, an Israelite in whom there's no deceit. This is surprising, it's shocking in a nation full of apostate hypocrites, right? To find an Israelite, a true Israelite in whom there's no deceit. If most American churches keep preaching like they're preaching, if most American churches keep living like they're living, then we're going to have people coming over here from countries that we used to send missionaries to. They're going to land on the shores here. They're going to walk up, they're going to stumble across an actual genuine Christian. They're going to be like, wow, a real American Christian. They're going to be hard to find around here if churches don't start preaching the Word of God. And we export our garbage from here, all that easy believism and charismatic nonsense. We export that all around the world. People are learning that error. We need to preach the Word of God. Nathaniel here was the real deal. There's no deceit. There's no duplicity of heart. He wasn't fake. He wasn't self-righteous. He wasn't hypocritical. And Jesus knows him. He supernaturally knows that Nathaniel here is a genuine believer. Nathaniel is a true Israelite. Listen to what Paul said in Romans 2, verse 28. Paul describes genuine Jews like this. He says, for he is not a Jew who is won outwardly. In other words, he just has his heritage from Abraham, right? He's not a Jew who is won outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a true Jew, so to speak, who is won inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God. Psalm 32, verse 2 says this, blessed or saved, is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit. So when the Lord says to Nathaniel here, there's no deceit. Nathaniel is a believer. He's a follower of God. And Nathaniel would have been saved, most likely from reading the Old Testament scriptures. Just like Paul said to Timothy, the scriptures that were able to make him wise unto salvation, right? So verse 48, Nathaniel said to him, how do you know me? And he was surprised, right? He's shocked. This is a miracle that Jesus performs right here with Nathaniel. Jesus answered and said to him, before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, Jesus says, I saw you. That's interesting. Jesus basically said, listen, I know your heart. I know your heart. I know you as a person outwardly, even though we've never met. I saw you, even though I wasn't there. And I know you. I know your heart. And this was a profound display of his omniscience. Jesus Christ is omniscient, knows all things. This is Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, right? But listen, Jesus Christ knows every single person in the same way. He knows you. He knows you in the same way. He knows me in the same way. He knew Nathaniel and Peter and Andrew in the same way. You know what? He knew Judas in the same way. He knew that Judas was in it for the money. And he knew that Judas would betray him. And he knew that all of that was according to the foreknowledge and plan of God. He knows your heart in and out, every corner in just the same way. You can't hide anything from him. There's no corner where he does not see and his eyes are like a flame of fire, the Bible says. One day, every secret thought, every intent of your heart will be exposed. It'll be laid bare. Already laid bare before Christ. It'll be laid bare before you. It'll be laid bare before everyone. Your heart will be laid bare. As Paul instructed the Corinthians, judge yourself now that you may not be judged with the world. Judge your heart now. Your heart is laid bare even now before him. He knows what you've done. He knows every instance of hypocrisy. He knows the coldness or the dryness or the dullness of your apathetic and different heart. He knows the sinful thoughts. He knows those sinful inclinations. He knows those sinful responses to temptation. He knows everything about you. He knows your love of sin. He knows you how you make provision for it. He knows the bitterness that you have in your heart toward another person. He knows your despising of a brother or a sister. He knows your lukewarmness toward his word or toward following him. He knows when you don't have love in your heart for those he's commanded you to love. He knows you. But he also knows when you honestly confess that before him as sin and when you desire from the heart to turn from it. And he knows that when you desire from the heart to turn from it, you need help. He knows you can't do it in your own strength, in your own power. He knows that. He knows that you need to be granted repentance and faith. That you need the power of his spirit. His strength to turn. He knows that you need help. Verse 49, Nathaniel makes a confession. In light of all of this, Nathaniel makes a confession that only a saved person can sincerely and earnestly make. Nathaniel says in verse 49, he answered and said to him, Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. So with all that evidence, just that brief amount of evidence that was just given by Christ himself, Nathaniel's convinced. He's convinced at once. He proclaims messianic titles for Christ. However, there are many, many who believe and yet are not saved. There are many who believe and are not saved. Doesn't James say that even the demons believe and demons aren't saved, right? They tremble and they're not saved. What's the difference? Look very quickly at John chapter 2. Just the next page over and let's look at the difference. What's this difference in belief? Look at John chapter 2, verse 23. Very interesting account here of Christ and Jerusalem at Passover. Verse 23, the Bible says, now when he, Jesus, was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did. Now didn't Nathaniel just believe at the signs that Jesus did? Jesus performed a sign. Nathaniel believed. You are the Messiah. You're the Christ. You're the son of God, the king of Israel. Look at verse 24. But Jesus did not commit himself to them because he knew all men. He knew him. He knew them. Verse 25, and had no need that anyone should testify of man for he knew what was in man. It's interesting that in those verses Jesus Christ uses the same Greek word to communicate both parts of biblical saving belief. Look at verse 23. When he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed in him, epistio, believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did. Verse 24, but Jesus did not commit, same Greek word. In a sense, he didn't believe in them because he knew their hearts. He didn't commit himself to them because he knew what was in their heart. When Nathaniel came with honest but skeptical questions, yet his questions answered in the testimony of Christ. And seeing a miracle, Nathaniel believed and Nathaniel committed himself, followed Christ from the heart, turned from his sin and followed Christ. Jesus knew him, knew what was in his heart. There were those at Jerusalem at this time at the Passover that they believed who Christ said he was and who they said Christ was based on the miracles, based on the signs that they had seen, but because Jesus knew them, knew what was in their heart, he didn't commit himself to them, didn't believe in them, so to speak. So listen, there's a profound contrast then between verses 23 and 24. Do you see it there? A contrast. Biblical faith isn't merely believing a set of facts about Jesus. Biblical faith isn't merely just believing a miracle or believing a sign or believing a wonder. It's not just believing in Christ like you believe in Abraham Lincoln or believe that World War II was a historical event. It's not mere mental ascent. Biblical faith, Biblical saving belief involves a commitment of self based on that belief of all that you are to all that he is. It's a commitment to follow Christ as Lord. It's a commitment to be a disciple. It's that commitment that follows in genuine Biblical saving belief. Jesus knew them. He saw into the depths of their wicked heart and he didn't, so to speak, believe in them. But Nathaniel, who Jesus Christ knew, he saw Nathaniel just like he sees you, just like he sees me. There are several in this room right now in a church this size. There are several in this room that need to drop the pretentious nonsense of hypocritically following Christ and confess your sin before the Lord. Because God sees you. He sees your heart. He sees into you. You need to be saved. He knows you. You've got honest business to do with the Lord. Do you want to be like Nathaniel for those in Jerusalem at Passover? What group are you in this morning? John our author here is amassing evidence that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. These miracles that Jesus does are to testify that he is who John says he is, that he is the Christ, the Son of God. And he does that so that believing in him with an honest, sincere, earnest, open heart, with no deceit, with no hypocrisy, with no self-righteousness, confessing honestly before the Lord that you are a wretched sinner in need of a Savior and you come to Christ desiring to follow him, to turn from your sin, to trust him alone. It's interesting that on the one hand here they were in Bethsada. Bethsada was a small town that was condemned by Christ in the Scriptures along with Chorazin because they didn't believe when Jesus Christ did all the works that he did in them. Many miracles were performed. Many a man born blind healed in Bethsada soon. We'll see just outside the city or the town of Bethsada. We'll see 4,000 people fed miraculously by Christ. And yet for all those works they did not believe. They didn't eventuate their belief. They didn't follow through with their belief in commitment to the Lord. It says that many of them followed him after he fed the 4,000. Many of them followed him but in John chapter 6 they turned and followed him no more. Their belief didn't wind up didn't eventuate in commitment to the Lord. And yet John chapter 10 John the Baptist it says performed no sign. He performed no miracle but everything he said about Jesus was true and many believed savingly in Christ were saved because of John's testimony. What group are you in this morning? How long will you persist in unbelief? You may believe in yourself to be a Christian and you wonder about that. What evidence do you have that Jesus Christ has committed himself to you? Do you see a work of grace in your heart? Are you being deceived by your own heart because your heart is deceitful above all things. You're more deceitful than Satan and desperately wicked who can know it. You know it's easy to know the truth. I want you to very quickly turn with me to 1st John chapter 3. You can examine yourself even now and know the truth. Are you deceived? Are you believing as Nathaniel and the other disciples believed that they followed Christ? Or are you like those described by Jesus in Jerusalem at Passover that saw his signs believe we're not committed to him? In 1st John chapter 3 look beginning at verse 4. Here the Bible says test yourself in this. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness and sin is lawlessness and you know that he Christ was manifested to take away our sins and in him there is no sin. Whoever abides in him does not sin. Doesn't make a practice of sin is what that word means. Whoever sins or makes a practice of sin has neither seen him nor known him. Now listen verse 7. Little children let no one deceive you. He who says a prayer and asks Jesus into his heart is righteous. No. He who goes to church every Sunday is righteous. No. He who grew up in church their whole life is righteous. No. He who was baptized when they were younger is righteous. No. He who does a bunch of stuff thinking that what they do earns them favor with God is righteous. No. He who performs some sacrament in some church sometime or another is righteous. No. He who practices righteousness is righteous just as he, Jesus Christ is righteous. Why is that? It's because in putting your faith in Christ turning from your sin the Lord justifies you. He imputes the righteousness of Christ to your account. He takes your sin and imputes it to Christ. And because of Christ and his righteousness your declared righteous. It's not a righteousness of your own. You need the righteousness of Christ. He who sins is of the devil. For the devil has sin from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested. It's for this purpose that he came. That he might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin. For his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. Test yourself in that. Point three under notes in enclosing. Disciples are preserved by Christ. Verse 50 back in John chapter one Jesus answered and said to him because I said to you I saw you under the fig tree do you believe? You're going to see greater things than these. He said to him verse 51 most assuredly I say to you hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Nathaniel's confession doesn't begin to fully encompass all that Christ is or all that Christ will do as the Messiah. Basically Jesus says listen just wait. You think that was great this is no part of a trick. That was a genuine miracle but just wait. You're going to see greater things than this. Certainly verse 51 here has reference to Jacob's ladder. If you remember that story from Genesis chapter 28 where the heavens open. Jacob was dreaming and he saw in his dream the heavens open ladder to send angels descending and ascending upon the ladder and it pictures now a fulfillment if you will of Jacob's dream and Jesus Christ. The heavens open. Jesus Christ access to God the Father. Angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Now listen. That phrase, that title that Jesus uses for himself, Son of Man most common that Jesus uses of himself 80 times in the Gospels. Jesus calls himself the Son of Man is an eschatological title. It's a title of the end times. Last things. Okay. And it comes from Daniel chapter 7 verse 13 and 14. Jesus is called the Son of Man. I believe the evidence here although it's a fulfillment of Jacob's ladder in Genesis 28 is also an eschatological point that Jesus is making. This is a prophecy that is future for Nathaniel but it's also still future for you and I and I want you to get this. This is a prophecy of the second coming of Christ when the heavens open and angels come with him. That's found quickly. Revelation chapter 19. We're going to see this fulfillment. Revelation 19. This is still future for Nathaniel. Still future for you and I. And we see this in tied to Revelation chapter 19 and look down at verse 11. In verse 11 John says here in Revelation now I saw heaven opened right the heavens were opened. I saw heaven open and behold a white horse he who sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war his eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself he was closed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God. And look at verse 14 the armies in heaven right angels in heaven the saints in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean followed him on white horses out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it should strike the nations and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron he himself treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God and he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written king of kings and lord of lords. Now for the Christian this is a scene of great glory hallelujah right the lord reigns victorious for Nathaniel and for you and I still this is a promise you're in Christ you're going to see this one day and the lord in his promise preserves the Christian to this day the lord preserves those who are his preserves genuine disciples for many professing Christians this will be a scene of great shame for many Gentiles this is going to be a scene of great judgment this is the judgment of the Gentiles Jesus's garments here are dipped in blood his eyes are searching flame of fire he knows your heart he knows you here he said to tread out the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God are you prepared to meet this Christ you'll either know him as lamb or judge lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world your sin or you know him as judge you'll know him as father God or you'll know him as judge the good news is that this is still future still future for you if you're not in Christ you know there were many completely shocked completely surprised when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor asleep on the watch just shocked surprised that happened how many of you can remember exactly where you were on 9-11 when the planes hit the World Trade Centers all the evidence that came before and we were caught off guard by that surprised scene before right when the car comes out of nowhere broadside another car you don't see it coming I just shocked you know where that come from just caught completely off guard listen don't let yourself be caught off guard with the coming judgment of almighty God the judgment here of Christ be prepared you can be prepared right now turn from your sin trust him alone and be saved that your sins might be blotted out this is still future you can turn from your sin now you'll know him as Lamb or as judge what will you do will you follow him like Nathaniel or is there just no commitment in you to follow the Lord you'd rather have your sin let's pray father in heaven how thank you for the free offer of salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord the free offer of the gospel and we'll just put our faith and trust in you follow you alone you will cleanse us forgive us of our sins Lord in one day we'll see this glorious scene in heaven with all the saints of glory worshiping and praising singing hallelujah our Lord I pray Lord that if there's anyone here that isn't saved God convict them over their sin draw them drag them to yourself Lord save them for your glory in Jesus name we pray amen