Found By Jesus–And Finding Jesus

Found By Jesus–And Finding Jesus

(No. 2375)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, AUGUST 26, 1894.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE
24 ,1888.

"The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and He found
Philip, and said to him, Follow Me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the
city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, We
have found Him, of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, did write,
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." John 1:43-45.

FOR a soul to come to Jesus is the grandest event in its history! It is
spiritually dead till that day, but it then begins to live–and a saved
man may reckon his age from the time in which he first knew the Lord.
That day of first knowing Christ is important in the highest degree
because it affects all the man's past life. It sheds another light on
all the years that have gone by. If he has lived in sin, as no doubt he
has, the transaction of that day blots out all the sin. The day in
which a man comes to Christ–that very day–his transgressions and
iniquities are blotted out, even as the thick clouds are driven from
the sky when God's strong wind chases them away! Is not that a grand
day, in which our sins are cast into the depths of the sea so that from
then on it can be said of them, "They may be sought for, but they shall
not be found; yes, they shall not be, says the Lord"?

I say that the day in which a soul comes into contact with Christ is
the greatest day of its history because all the past is changed by it!
And, as for the present, what a different life does a man begin to live
on the day in which he finds the Lord! He commences to live in the
Light of God instead of being dead in the darkness! He begins to enjoy
the privileges of liberty, instead of suffering the horrors of slavery!
He is started on the way to Heaven, instead of continuing on the road
to Hell! He is such a new creature that he cannot tell how changed he
is. One said to me, "Sir, the change in me is of this kind–either the
whole world is altered, or else I am." So is it when we are brought to
know Christ–it is a real, total, radical change.

With many, it is a most joyous alteration. They feel like the man who
had been lame, and who, when Peter spoke to him in the name of Jesus,
and lifted him up so that his feet and ankle bones received strength,
was not satisfied with walking, for we read, "He, leaping up, stood and
walked, and entered with them into the Temple, walking, and leaping,
and praising God." He was walking, leaping and praising God! Do you
wonder at it? If you had lost the use of your legs for a while, you
would feel like leaping and praising God when you had them all right,
again! And thus is it with a soul when it first finds the Savior. Oh,
happy, happy day when the miraculous hand of Christ takes away the
infirmities of the soul and makes the lame man to leap as a hart, and
causes the tongue of the dumb to sing!

The day in which a man comes to Christ is also a wonderful day in its
effect upon all his future. It is as when the helm of a ship is put
right about–the man now sails in a totally different direction. His
future will never be what his past was. There may be faults. There may
be infirmities and shortcomings, but there will never be the old love
of sin any more. "Sin shall not have dominion over you." This is God's
own promise to us, given through His servant, Paul. When Christ comes
to our soul, He so breaks the neck of sin, that though it lives a
struggling, dying life and often makes a deal of howling in the heart,
yet it is doomed to die. The Cross of Christ has broken its back and
broken its neck, too, and die it must! Henceforth the man is bound for
holiness and bound for Heaven!

Now, dear Friends, have any of you come to Christ? I know that you
have, the great mass of you, and I bless God, and so do you, that it is
so with you. But if there are any of you who have never come to the
Savior, I wish that this might be the night when you should find Him. I
am but a poor lame preacher–you are not often troubled with the sight
of one

sitting down and preaching–yet I think that if I had lost my legs and
had always to lie on my back, I would like, even then, to preach Christ
Crucified, and to–

"Tell to sinners round, What a dear Savior I have found." I do pray
that some of you, tonight, made to think all the more by the infirmity
of the preacher, may be led to seek and to find the Savior. And then it
shall be a happy day, indeed, for you, as it has been for so many more.

I am going to talk to you about Philip's conversion and first, I ask
you to notice, in our text, the convert's description of it– "Philip
found Nathanael and said to him, We have found Him, of whom Moses in
the Law, and the Prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
Joseph." That is Philip's description of it–"We have found Jesus." It
was a true description, but it was not all the truth, so, in the second
place, we will notice the Holy Spirit's description of it–"The day
following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and He found Philip."
Philip's account of the incident is that he found Christ, but the Holy
Spirit's record of it is that Christ found Philip. They are both true,
however, although the latter is the fuller. We will talk a little about
both descriptions of Philip's conversion.

I. First then, THE CONVERT'S DESCRIPTION OF HIS COMING TO CHRIST is
given in these words, "We have found…Jesus," and what he says is
perfectly true.

If any of you is saved, it will be by finding Christ–by your
personally making a discovery of Him, as that man did who found the
treasure that was hid in the field. There must be a search for Christ,
but if there is a search for Him, we may be certain of this one
thing–there will first be a consciousness of needing Him.

Philip had sought Christ, or else he would never have said that he had
found Him, but, before that, Philip knew that there was need of a
Messiah. When he looked round about on the world and on the Church, he
said to himself, "Oh, that the promised Messiah would come! There is
great need of Him. The people need Him, the Church needs Him, the world
needs Him." When Philip looked into his own heart, he said, "Oh, for
the coming of the Messiah! I feel that I need Him! I have urgent need
of Him."

Dear Hearer, do you feel that you need a Savior? You never will seek
Him until you feel your need of Him. You must recognize that there is
sin in you, sin for which you cannot make Atonement, sin that you
cannot overcome. You must realize that you need another and a stronger
arm than your own, that you need Divine help, that you need One who can
be your Brother to sympathize with you, and be patient with you, and
yet who can be the Mighty God to conquer all your sin for you! You need
a Savior–that is the first thing that will prompt you to search for
Him.

Needing a Messiah, Philip read the Scriptures concerning Him. He speaks
about Moses and the Prophets and of what they had written concerning
the promised Deliverer. O my dear Hearers, if you need to find Christ,
you must search the Scriptures, for they testify of Him! Oh, that you
did search the Scriptures, more, with the definite objective of finding
the Savior! Probably the great majority of unconverted people never
read their Bibles at all, or they read only just enough to satisfy
their curiosity, or their conscience. Perhaps they read the Bible as a
part of literature which cannot be quite ignored, but they do not take
down the Holy Book and read it carefully and prayerfully, saying, "Oh,
that I might find holiness, here! Oh, that I might find Christ, here!"
If they did, it would not be long before they found Jesus. Well does
Dr. Watts sing–

"Laden with guilt and full of fears, I fly to You, my Lord, And not a
glimpse of hope appears But in Your written Word!

The volume of my Father's Grace Does all my griefs assuage, Here I
behold my Savior's face Almost on every page."

He who reads the Bible with the view of finding Christ will not be long
before some passage of Scripture will seem to leap up to attract his
attention, as though it were set on fire–and then it will speak to him
of Jesus, whispering to him of the great Sacrifice on Calvary and
speaking to his heart of Divine Love and Mercy. Philip was a searcher
after Christ in the place where Christ loves to be–in the pages of
Scripture–and you must be the same if you desire to find Jesus!

But then Philip also gave himself to prayer. We are not told so, but we
feel sure of it. He asked the Lord to reveal Christ to him, to guide
him to where the Christ would be, to let him know the Christ. Oh, if
you want to be saved, be much in prayer! I do not mean merely saying
prayers–what is the good of that? I do not mean simply saying fine
words of your own, merely for the sake of uttering them. Prayer is
communing with God! It is asking the Lord for what you really feel that
you need. What wagon loads of sham prayers are shot down at God's door,
as if they were so much rubbish thrown away! Let it not be so with your
prayers, but speak to the Lord out of your very soul when you come to
the Throne of Grace. I cannot give you a better prayer than the one we
have been singing–

"Gracious Lord, incline Your ear, My requests vouchsafe to hear! Hear
my never ceasing cry– Give me Christ, or else I die! Lord, deny me
what You will, Only ease me of my guilt Suppliant at Your feet I lie,
Give me Christ, or else I die! You freely save the lost. Only in Your
Grace I trust: With my earnest suit comply– Give me Christ, or else I
die! You have promised to forgive All who in Your Son believe– Lord, I
know You cannot lie Give me Christ, or else I die!"

With the open Bible before you to guide your understanding, kneel down
and say, "O God, graciously reveal Christ to me by Your Holy Spirit.
Bring me to know Him! Bring me, this day, to find Him as my own
Savior!"

It is certain, also, that Philip realized that he might claim the
Messiah for himself. One of the things that every man, who would find
the Savior must do is to make sure of his right to come and take the
Savior. The question that puzzles many is, "May I have the Savior?" My
dear Friends, every sinner in the world is permitted to come and trust
the Savior, if he wills to do so. "Whoever will, let him take the water
of life freely." "But," asks some troubled soul, "will Christ have me?"
That is not the question–the question is, "Will you have Christ?" He
says, "Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out." It is you who
cast out the Savior, not the Savior who casts you out! The bolt to the
door is on the inside–it is you who have bolted it and it is you who
must undo the bolt and invite the Savior to enter your heart. He is
willing enough to come in–wherever there is a soul that wants Him, He
comes at once! Therefore, do not raise any quibbling questions about
whether a sinner may come to Christ, or may not come! Is he not
commanded to come? We are told to preach the Gospel to every creature,
and He who gave us our great commission also added, "He that believes
and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be
damned."

Philip accepted Christ as the Messiah. Do you ask, "What am I to do
that I may find the Savior?" Well, what you have to do is, practically,
this–accept Him! If you were sick and the doctor stood before you with
the medicine ready prepared, you would not say, "What am I to do with
this medicine, Sir? Am I to rub my hand on the outside of the bottle?"
You know very well that there are certain directions as to how much is
to be taken and how often. What you have to do with the medicine is to
take it! "But I cannot make that medicine work for my restoration." Who
said you could? All you have to do is to take it. It is just this that
you have to do with Christ–take Him, accept Him, receive Him. Remember
the 12th verse of this chapter out of which our text is taken–"As many
as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name."

That is it, you see, receive Him, believe on His name. "But surely I am
to do some good works." Certainly, you will do good works after you
have received Christ. But for your soul's salvation, you are to do no
good works, but simply to receive Christ. "Oh, but I must lead a holy
life!" Yes, and you will lead a holy life after you have received
Christ. But in order to the leading of a holy life you must have a new
heart–and to get a new heart–you have to receive Christ! He will
change you, He will renew you, He will make you a new creature in
Himself! What you have to do is to receive Him and to believe on His
name. O my dear Hearers, I trust that I am speaking to some, this
evening, who will understand

what I am saying! I fear that I am addressing many who will not
believe, though I may put the Truth of God as plainly as it can be
preached. You know that you may hold a candle right against a blind
man's eyes and yet he will not see, even then. The Holy Spirit must
open your eyes to see what is meant by this receiving Christ, or else
you will not understand what you are to do. You are not to give
anything to Christ–you are to take all from Him! You are not to bring
anything to Christ–you are to come to Him just as you are–and He will
bring to you everything that you need. Then, when you have accepted Him
by the simple act of faith, you will say with Philip, "We have found
Jesus!" That is the convert's description and a very good one, too–"We
have found Jesus."

II. But now, secondly, what is THE HOLY SPIRIT'S DESCRIPTION? I will
read to you the very words again. Here they are–"The day following
Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and He found Philip." Jesus finds
Philip before Philip finds Jesus. Philip finds Jesus because Jesus has
found Philip.

Now, notice, that this is the previous work. It came before Philip's
own finding. Jesus would go forth into Galilee to find Philip. Dear
Friends, I remember very well that after I had found the Lord, I did
not, at first, fully understand the Doctrines of Grace. I had heard
them preached, but I had not comprehended them. I think at the time I
would have been very much puzzled with the Doctrine of Election if
anybody had spoken to me about it. But I was sitting down, one day,
gratefully reflecting on what God had done for me. I knew that my sins
were pardoned, I knew that I was accepted in Christ Jesus and I knew
that I was renewed in heart–and in one moment the revelation came to
me–"All this is the work of God!" The instant I saw that Truth of God,
I said to myself, "Yes, that is the fact, and God be glorified for it!
But why has this great work been worked in me?"

I knew that there was no merit in me before the Lord had dealt in mercy
with my soul, so I said to myself, "This is the effect of Sovereign,
Distinguishing Grace." Then I understood in a moment how it is that God
begins with us and that it is God's will and God's eternal purpose,
which, after all, lie deeper down than our will or our purpose–and
God's will and God's eternal purpose must have the Glory! What a
revelation it was to me! I saw the Doctrines of Grace immediately and I
think that anybody who has been brought to find the Savior and who,
prayerfully studies the reasons for his salvation, can see the same
Truths of God that the Lord revealed to me.

Because, first of all, you began to be thoughtful, did you not? Who
made you thoughtful? You would never have found the Savior if you had
not become thoughtful instead of careless and indifferent. Who made you
think of Divine things? What influence was it which worked upon you and
caused you to feel that you must think about eternity, and Heaven, and
Hell? Surely it was God the Holy Spirit going forth, in the name of
Jesus Christ, and dealing with you in mercy!

Then you had a sense of your need and of your sinfulness. There was a
time when you had no such sense. Who gave it to you? Where do you think
that repentance, that sorrow for sin, that desire after Christ came
from? Did all that grow in your own fallen human nature? Ah, believe
me, that dunghill never brought forth such fair flowers as these! No,
it was Christ who sowed the good Seed in your soul–it was He who made
you feel your need of Him!

Next, when you read the Bible, you understood it. You perceived that
Jesus was the only Savior of sinners. You saw His fitness to meet your
case and you understood the plan of salvation. Who made you understand
it? I know that it is plain enough for a child to comprehend, but no
one ever understands spiritual things except by the operation of the
Spirit of God! It was the Holy Spirit who gave you the spiritual power
by which you were able to grasp the simple Truth concerning the way of
salvation.

Then you began to pray. I have already spoken of that matter. But who
taught you to pray? You had not been accustomed to real prayer–you had
often had great mouthfuls of words–that was all. But now you began to
cry, "God be merciful to me, a sinner!" Oh, the groaning of your spirit
and the anguish of your heart as you cried to God! Who gave you that
anguish? Who broke you all to pieces and made every broken bone cry out
for mercy? Who, indeed, but Christ who worked mightily in your soul by
the power of the Holy Spirit?

And when you yielded yourself up to Christ, when you believed in Jesus
and found salvation, where did that faith come from? Is it not always
the work of the Spirit of God? Is not faith the gift of God and do you
not confess that it is so in your case? Once, when I was a little
child, I thought I saw a needle moving across the table and I would
have been wondering who made the needle march as it did, but I was old
enough to understand that somebody was moving a magnet underneath the
table and the needle was following the magnet which I could not see.
Thus the Lord, with His mighty

magnet of Grace, is often at work upon the hearts of men, and we think
that their desire after God and their faith in Christ are of
themselves. In a sense, the desire and the faith are their own, but
there is a Divine Force that is at work upon them, producing these
results! It is Jesus finding Philip, though Philip does not know it.
Philip thinks that he is finding Jesus, but behind the veil it is Jesus
finding Philip! This was the previous work.

And, dear Friends, this was very delightful work for the Lord Jesus
Christ. Notice how it is put–"The day following Jesus would go forth
into Galilee, and He found Philip." O my blessed Lord, how He will go
forth to find a soul! A journey is never too long for Him and He never
wastes a day. "The day following Jesus would go forth, and He found
Philip." Oh, may my Lord delight to come forth and find some of you!
You are, tonight, in a place where He has found a good many. I pray
that He may find some of you. Perhaps you do not know how it was that
you came here. You did not mean to come out, tonight, but here you are
in this crowd, in the thick of this great throng. My Lord has found
many a precious jewel here–to itself it seemed nothing but a poor
pebble, but to Him it was a diamond of the first water! O my Master,
find some more of Your jewels tonight! Lord Jesus, come and find
Philip, and find Mary, and then let Philip and Mary declare that they
have found You!

When our dear Master goes forth to find a soul, it is very effectual
work. He said to Philip, "Follow Me," and Philip at once followed Him.
Christ did not need to preach a long sermon. His discourse contained
only two words, "Follow Me." I will gladly end my sermon here if my
Master will preach to some of you His two-worded sermon, "Follow Me,"
"Follow Me," "Follow Me!" "Come, poor Soul, you do not know the way!
'Follow Me.' You need someone to go before you, to be your leader,
'Follow Me.' You need someone to be your shelter, your companion, your
all, 'Follow Me.'" That is what you have to do, good woman. You have
been worrying about what you have heard from different preachers.
Christ says to you, "Follow Me." That is what you have to do, young
man! You have been reading those modern thought books till you do not
know whether you are on your head or on your heels. Burn them! Jesus
says, "Follow Me." I know that some of you have been distracted with
all sorts of silly talk–let that go to the dogs. Jesus says, "Follow
Me." The crucified Savior says, "Follow Me." Take Him for your
Atonement! The risen Savior says, "Follow Me." Take Him for your life!
The Savior on the Throne of God says, "Follow Me." Take Him for your
joy! The Savior coming in Glory hereafter says, "Follow Me." Take Him
to be your hope! "Follow Me." "Follow Me"–that is the text for
tonight–and that is the sermon, too! Jesus said to Philip, "Follow
Me," and Philip followed Him, directly. And he not only followed
Christ, but he immediately began to try to get others to follow Him!

Please notice, also, that Philip was found by Christ in a very
different way from the other disciples. Two of them had been found
through the teaching of John the Baptist, but Philip had apparently had
no teaching. Another of the little company had been found through the
private call of his brother. Philip may not have had any relative or
friend to speak to him, but the Savior just said to him, "Follow Me,"
and he followed Him! Dear Friends, do not begin comparing your
conversion with somebody else's. If the Lord Jesus Christ calls you and
says to you, "Follow Me," and you follow Him, if there never was
another soul converted in exactly the same way, it does not matter at
all! If you have come to Him, if you have trusted in Him, you are
saved.

The pith of all that I have to say is this. Do not get to worrying
yourselves, as some of you do, about God's eternal purpose and about
the secret working of the Holy Spirit–and about how this can be
consistent with your following Christ when He bids you. They are
perfectly consistent! Some persons have asked me, at times, to
reconcile these two things, and I have said to them, "Very well, tell
me the difficulties, and I will reconcile them." It would be quite as
easy to state them as to meet them, for, in fact, there are none! "Oh,
but," says one, "you tell me to believe in Christ and yet you
constantly preach that faith is the work of the Spirit of God!" I know
that I do. "You say that God has a chosen people." Yes, I do. "And yet
you say that men are to choose Christ?" I do. "Well, how do you
reconcile those two things?" Show me that there is any difficulty about
the two things and then I will reconcile them. You imagine the
difficulty, for there is none in reality! There does not exist any in
practical life!

I believe that God has predestinated whether I am going down to the
Lord's Supper at the close of this service, but I shall go down as well
as my legs can carry me. "Oh," you say, "you make it out to be a matter
of your own free will?" Yes, I do. "And yet you believe it to be God's
eternal purpose?" Yes, I do. "Well, then, reconcile the two things."
Again I say that there is no difficulty in the case! There is nothing
to be reconciled, for both statements are true! You might as well ask
me to reconcile the land and the water, or to reconcile the dog-star,
Sirius, and a farthing rushlight. There is no

quarrel between them and I have no time to waste on needless argument.
Come to Christ! And if you do, it will be because the Holy Spirit draws
you! If you find the Savior, it will be because the Savior first found
you! Perhaps, in Heaven, you may see some difficulties and get them
explained. Down here you need not see them and you need not ask to have
them explained. Salvation is all of God's Grace, from first to
last–yet is it true that the Grace of God leads men to do what Moses
did, according to our subject this morning [See Sermon #2030, Volume
34–Moses–His Faith and Decision] to make a choice and to choose
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season. God grant that you may make an equally
wise choice!

I have done when I have said this one thing more. Philip, Peter and
Andrew were all of Bethsaida–"Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of
Andrew and Peter." These three good men, these three Apostles, were all
of Bethsaida. That ought to be some comfort to many of you, my dear
Hearers, because there are numbers of you who are here, tonight, who
are of Bethsaida. Sitting all round me, I see people who, I believe,
are of Bethsaida. "Oh," you say, "we were never there in all our
lives!" Listen. Bethsaida was one of the places in which Christ had
done many of His mighty works and you remember that when the people
repented not, Jesus uttered over them that sad lamentation, "Woe unto
you, Chorazin! Woe unto you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall
be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Day of Judgment than for
you. And you, Capernaum, which are exalted unto Heaven, shall be
brought down to Hell: for if the mighty works which have been done in
you, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But
I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
in the Day of Judgment, than for you."

Now, there are some of you here who have heard the Gospel for many
years and have seen the power of the Grace of God in your families–and
it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, and for Sodom and
Gomorrah in the Day of Judgement, than it will be for you, inasmuch as
you have rejected the Savior! But, as there were these three
men–Philip and Peter and Andrew who were of Bethsaida–and I should
think that the home of James and John was not very far off from the
same place–why should you not come to Christ? Why should you not
become members of His Church and, if it is the Lord's will, preachers
of His Word? God grant that it may be so!

Oh, how I long in my soul for the salvation of every one of you! Many
of you who have come here, tonight, are strangers to me. I trust that
you will not be strangers to my Master! Tonight, I pray you, here in
the very heat of midsummer, before the harvest shall be past and the
summer shall be ended, "Seek you the Lord while He may be found! Call
you upon Him while He is near! Let the wicked forsake his way and the
unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He
will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon." Receive Christ! Trust in Him! God grant that you may do so,
for Jesus' sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: John 1:29-51

Verse 29. The next day–This chapter is a record of the events that
occurred on different days. Sometimes God does great things in a single
day–one extraordinary day may have more in it than a hundred ordinary
years! It is well for us to try to live by the day and not to let any
day pass without some good action having been done in it. Let us never
have to cry, "I have lost a day."

29. John saw Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world. We ought never to be slow in
delivering such a message as that which John the Baptist uttered! I do
not wonder that as soon as John knew that Jesus was the Messiah, he
told the good news to others! Have you found Jesus? Tell your brother,
tonight, or, if not tonight, go as soon as you can, and bid him,
"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."

30-34. This is He of whom I said, After me comes a Man who is preferred
before me: for He was before me. And I knew Him not: but that He should
be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
And John bore record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven
like a dove, and it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not: but He that
sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom you
shall see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is He
which baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I saw, and bare record that
this is the Son of God. John was acquainted with Jesus, for they were
related to one another, and were brought up together, but he did not
officially know Him as the

Messiah until He saw the Holy Spirit descending and remaining on Him,
for that was the Lord's token by which he was to recognize Him. He
refused, therefore, to follow any knowledge or judgment of his own. He
would not know Jesus as the Christ until he saw the private sign for
which the Lord had told him to look. As soon as he saw that, then John
said that he knew Him, and as soon as he thus knew Him, he began to
preach Him! Has the Lord given you in your soul a token that Christ is
your Savior? Do you know Him by the witness of the Holy Spirit? Then go
and speak of Him to others and, like John, say, "Behold the Lamb of
God!" Let this be your one business between here and Heaven.

35, 36. Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;
and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God!
"Again the next day." See how the Evangelist goes by days in his
record. John preached the same sermon two days running–and if you
proclaim Christ and Him crucified–you may preach Him 200 days running,
but you will never preach Him too often! If you preach Christ as the
Lamb of God, the great Sin-Bearer, you may be always at that blessed
work. There are some who very seldom preach Christ as bearing the sin
of men, so that others of us must do it all the more often to make up
for their shortcomings. As for me, I can say with Charles Wesley–

"His only righteousness I show, His saving Truth proclaim; 'Tis all my
business here below, To cry, 'Behold the Lamb!'"

37. And the two disciples heard Him speak and they followed Jesus. It
is hard preaching when you preach away your congregation, but John did
this deliberately. He wished these two no longer to be his disciples,
but to become the disciples of Jesus. He had mastered the meaning of
his own words, "He must increase, but I must decrease," and he was
quite willing that it should be so–"The two disciples heard Him speak
and they followed Jesus."

38, 39. Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and said unto them,
What do you seek? They said unto Him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being
interpreted, Master,) where do You dwell? He said to them, Come and
see. He gave them a full invitation to come to the place where He
tarried and see for themselves. That is what Jesus still says, "Come
and see." If any of you want to know Him, "Come and see." You are
perfectly welcome to "Come and see" all that Jesus has to show you!

39. They came and saw where He dwelt and abode with Him that day: for
it was about the tenth hour. The best part of that day was the portion
which they spent with Jesus–it was the best day they had ever enjoyed,
for they lived with Jesus! It was also the beginning of better days for
these two disciples, for, having once lived with Jesus, they learned
never to live without Him. Oh, that we, also, may abide with Him!

40, 41. One of the two which heard John speak, and followed Him, was
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother, Simon,
and said to him, We have found the Messiah, which is, being
interpreted, the Christ. Where should missionary work begin? A brother
should begin with his brother. It is all very well to have a desire to
go to the heathen in Africa, but you had better begin work as a
missionary in England, and then go to Africa. He who cannot win his
brother is not likely to win anybody else. "He first found his own
brother, Simon." This Andrew, who was afterwards to bring so many to
Christ, must begin at home and succeed there. If we are not faithful
with one or two relatives, how can God trust us with a pulpit and a
congregation?

42. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, He said,
You are Simon the son of Jonas. "Simon, son of a dove, your name may
point you out as being timid–mind where you wing your flight."

42. You shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone.
Something more solid than the son of a pigeon! Something more stable
than the son of a dove! Christ changes men's names and changes their
natures, too. He can make the most fickle of us to become firm and
steadfast. Oh, that He would thus work by His Grace upon us!

43, 44. The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and found
Philip, and said to him, Follow Me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the
city of Andrew and Peter. "The day following." See, Friends, what a
wonderful chapter this is! There is a book called, The Book of Days. I
call this chapter, the Chapter of Days. Every day seems memorable for
some great event. "Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter," was a
poor, miserable village, but God greatly honored it. Great works often
begin in little places. The best of beings came out of the despised
town of Nazareth! And three of the best of men–Philip, Andrew and
Peter–came out of Bethsaida.

45. Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, We have found Him, of whom
Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the
son of Joseph. True faith may make blunders. Jesus was not the son of
Joseph, except by repu-

tation, and He was Jesus of Bethlehem quite as much as He was Jesus of
Nazareth–but true faith is accepted of God even though it makes some
mistakes. It believes God's Word and it believes God's Son and,
therefore, it shall be accepted.

46. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there be any good thing come out
of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. Christ had said, "Come
and see." Now Philip used the same words, "Come and see." It is always
right to follow the example that the Lord Jesus has set for us!

47, 48. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him and said of him, Behold an
Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael said to Him, When did
You know me? You may remember that, a short time ago, I preached a
sermon upon Nathanael. [See Volume 34, No. 2021, "Nathanael–Or, the
Ready Believer and His Reward.] He was a kind of Jewish John Blunt, a
man who always spoke his mind. He had a mind and he had a mind to speak
it–and he spoke his mind! So, the moment that Christ spoke of him, he
asked, "When did You know me?" He was conscious that Christ knew him
and, being a man who was altogether free from cunning and craftiness,
he pointedly asked how Christ came to know him.

48. Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called you,
when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. What was he doing under
the fig tree? Jesus knew and Nathanael knew, but nobody else knew and,
perhaps, nobody else ever will know. That was a secret between Christ
and Nathanael. He was doing something there that he regarded as quite
private–and the Savior's allusion to his being under the fig tree was
the most plain proof he could have of Christ's Divinity. "Oh," he
thought, "He who can remind me of that secret transaction must be God."

49, 50. Nathanael answered and said to Him: Rabbi, You are the Son of
God; You are the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him,
Because I said unto you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?
You shall see greater things than these. You who are honest in heart.
You who can be convinced by a single argument–and, mark you, one good
argument is as convincing as 20 good arguments, and a great deal better
than a 100 bad ones–you who are willing to be led by a single thread
shall be led! If you are willing to believe on what is clear evidence,
you shall have more evidence–"you shall see greater things than
these." God will show much to that man who has eyes with which to see.
He who will not see and does not wish to see, shall grow more and more
blind–and the darkness shall thicken about him.

51. And He said to him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter you
shall see Heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending
upon the Son of Man. He could see actually what Jacob saw only in a
dream when he beheld that wonderful stairway of Light which leads from
earth to Heaven, even the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by His Manhood and
His Godhead bridges the distance between us and God!