Well, I invite you to turn this morning to the Gospel of John as we conclude chapter 1 this morning of John chapter 1, verses 43 through 51 we are considering in John 1. John 1, beginning at verse 43, found on page 1128, if you're looking for that in your Bibles in front of you. Pick up at verse 43. Actually, I would like to back up just a bit and pick up at verse 40. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which means Christ. he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, the son of John. You shall be called Cephas, which means Peter. The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, follow me. And Philip was from 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 also the prophets wrote jesus of nazareth the son of joseph nathanael said to him can anything good come out of nazareth philip said to him come and see jesus saw nathanael coming toward him and said of him behold an israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit nathanael said to him how do you know me jesus answered him before philip called you when you were under the fig tree i saw you nathaniel answered rabbi you are the son of god you are the king of israel jesus answered him because i said to you i saw you under the fig tree do you believe you will see greater things than these and he said to him truly truly i say to you you will see heaven open and the angels of god ascending and descending on the son of man And there ends the reading of God's Word. One of the things that always confused me when I would listen to Christians debate and discuss the doctrine of election is why it was such a controversial thing. Why were there so many arguments and so many fights over the teaching of election? Clearly it was taught everywhere and is taught everywhere in Scripture. Thinking in particular of Ephesians chapter 1, He chose us. He predestined us. 1 Thessalonians 2 says the same thing from the beginning. God chose you for salvation. We could run through all of the scriptures to show this, but why was this such a fight and why has this been such a fight? And one of the things that I believe John is absolutely pressing upon us is the absolute sovereignty of God to save us and the necessity of it to be this way, or it would never happen. Jesus was so careful and intent to teach the disciples about this. He would openly say in John 15, you did not choose me, but I chose you. Well, I don't believe in election. I don't get that. I really don't understand that. You did not choose me. I chose you. I don't like election. Does that work for you? Doesn't work for me. Doesn't work for Jesus, does it? I chose you and I appointed you to bear fruit. John 15. It's all over the place and yet we still fight against this. That power is meant to be encouraging to us. That power is meant to be the greatest help to us and blessing to us and the scriptures are always zeroing in on certain individuals to teach us this and to show us this people who are nobodies people who are absolute in the whole scheme of things and in the world and how the world functions and values and people and hollywood stars and everything the scriptures show us everything contrary to that in the way that jesus chooses and what he does if you were building a kingdom who would you choose if you were building a kingdom who would you choose what kind of person would you enlist we would all have our lists we would all have our desired people those people would be strong those people would be very committed those people would be physically impressive those people would be, for a kingdom at least, if we're using that kind of language, warriors. Jesus is building a kingdom. And in John chapter 1, that's exactly what we see happening. In fact, there's a real tie to the kingdom theme between the two sermons today. As David is out in a cave, and we'll look at tonight, the kingdom of God comes to him in a cave of the absolute outcasts of Israel. And that tie is very important, for that's exactly what's happening here. Jesus is not out in Rome gathering the great ones. Jesus is not even among the armies of Israel grabbing the great ones for his kingdom. He's on the periphery. He's out in the outskirts of town. He's out in Blythe, picking people there. And Blythe, I know our secretary's from Blythe, so I've got to be careful. I don't think she's here today. That is the worst place on the face of the earth. Individuals that we would never choose. This is what we're seeing. The purpose of this is to blow our minds by his power to bring the dead to life. That's the purpose of this. That's one of the great encouragements in this. But if you look carefully at these people, the greatest encouragement is they're you. They are you. This is who Jesus chose. A ragtag group. And the encouragement is if you feel messed up, if you feel messed up, if you feel that everything is wrong at times and you feel your life has gone nowhere and you feel that you're no one significant and you feel that you've made little contribution to anything, well, I've got great encouragement to you. That's exactly the kind of people that Jesus chose. The Lord has always built his kingdom with very messed up people, as I said, people who the righteous didn't like, people who the righteous never understood this kingdom, never valued this kingdom, never wanted to enter this kingdom. That's why Jesus was pressing. I'm telling you who I'm coming for. It's not the righteous. But if you know that, then it should make you awestruck by the sovereign love of God, for that's why you're here today. That's why you gather together today. God is bringing you and giving you a kingdom and making you a part of that kingdom. And that is the purpose that is being shown to us here in John chapter 1. The purpose of something like Romans 8 outplaying in the lives of these very ordinary people for whom he foreknew. He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. That takes a lot of work, doesn't it? And so Jesus here in the passage in front of us is calling his disciples. This is the Israel of God being formed. This is the Israel in fulfillment of all the promises being gathered and collected and forming. And not only does he know them, I want you to notice here, but he takes them in all of their faults and in all of their personality differences and quirks, they're quirky people, all of their dispositions, and he sets them apart and committing himself to train them and to form them and to sculpt them into his own image to become followers and disciples so that they in turn will go out and make disciples. Beautiful. They first become disciples and then are made disciples. They make disciples. But that's the basic breakdown of what's in front of us this morning is the beautiful truths that Jesus finds us, Jesus knows us, and Jesus opens the kingdom of heaven to us. It's such a beautiful section and an encouraging section as we come to the end of John chapter 1. So let's begin with that, that Jesus finds us. You'll notice that here in verse 43 where it says so beautifully, the next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. That was not on a whim. This is going to be shown to us in the Gospel of John that he had to go through at one point in chapter 4, Samaria to save the woman at the well. The Father has given him a calendar to keep. the father has given him a divine calendar he needed to be at the right place at the right time to gather those who were given to him by his father it's a beautiful section here we are so programmed in christianity today i think that this whole business of christianity and business is really the right word and kind of what it's become is about us finding jesus so we market him We market Him. Christianity today is a mass market sort of salvation project. I think it's so important to say, as many have said, He's not lost. Jesus is not the lost one. You don't find Him. He finds you. And that is the beauty of what's being shown to us here that this initiative on His part, This mission that he's on, he'll never be pulled off of it and he is going to go at the right time at the right moment and gather his own and grab them and bring them into the kingdom. So that's the emphasis here. He needed to go through Galilee to get Philip and get Nathaniel now. Those are the ones we're zeroing in a little bit on this morning to study. He had to find them. These were those given to him by his father. Now I want you to ponder this thought that nowhere in any gospel do we have Jesus going and finding Judas? Nowhere. It's a silent thing, isn't it? But we have this. And this is what the Scriptures want us to focus on. Scriptures want us to think about this. Look at his calling. Make your callings and elections short. Look at this. This is a good way to do it. The whole approach then of begging people to accept Jesus and manipulating people, and I often caution even my children in what they see and how Jesus is presented today. It is a wrong approach. A faulty, incorrect, weak presentation of the King. The consequences in the lives of our children If we don't correct this, nobody will take him seriously. Nobody will take him seriously. Apathetic Christianity at its best. He's begging for me. Great. Why do I need to change? Why do I need to come? Enough of that. Enough's enough of that. Let's have some backbone and speak against that stuff. Jesus is coming to get us. And Jesus won't lose us. And when he summons, we get up. And be in awe of it because that's what he's done if you're in the kingdom of God to you. So here we are this morning. The beautiful truth that the Lord has handed his son a big list. And there were names there. There were appointments there. and this list is memorized by our savior this list is on his mind by our savior and now he is building the church on the foundations uh the foundation of the apostles here disciples and making to be apostles so so here this all begins and it's beautiful um you'll notice here that he comes to uh these people that are surprising who is philip who is nathanuel and the answer is i have no idea and that's the point they're absolute nobodies nobody ever knew about Philip and Nathaniel it's an interesting inclusion here when he calls Philip that Philip goes to Nathaniel and says we have found the Messiah and the first thing that that Nathaniel says is can anything good come out of nazareth nathaniel was from cana and galilee that's like a rival it's a rival town uh next to nazareth it would be like saying i'm from lemore there was that terrible place called hamford and it's like saying what in the world could come out of hamford lemore's a better place than that. But that's the point. Jesus comes from obscurity and goes after his own in obscurity. And that's Nathaniel's attitude to this whole thing. Come on! You really expect me to believe that the Messiah would come from there? He'd at least come from my town. But this is the beauty of this, and I want us to focus on the attitudes here for a moment. I think it's important to focus on the attitudes that the Lord finds us and he comes after us right in the place that we regard as insignificant. Didn't Paul make a big point of this? When he said, I want you all, brothers and sisters, to consider your calling in this life and consider your calling into the kingdom of God. Consider this, that not many of you were wise according to the worldly standards. Not many of you were powerful. Not many of you were of noble birth. I know of no kings or queens daughters and sons here today. God chose what was foolish to shame the wise. God chose what was weak to shame the strong. God chose what was low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. Where did he find you? Well, I told you. I was raised in our tradition. I was raised in a Reformed church. And I can tell you this. There were a lot of wonderful blessings and benefits all along the way that demonstrated he was with me. But I know where he found me. 1997 in Humboldt County. That's when I woke. That's when I was made alive. That's when I understood the gospel. When did he come and get you and where? I love to notice here when he finds us, we find him. Come, said Philip to Nathanael. The emphasis on find here is interesting how many times it's said. We have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. How do I know that he has found me? How did they know? Well, I had this great experience. I had this life-shattering experience. No, that's not what they say. Notice what they say. Their greatest joy was, finally, they saw in the Scriptures Him. I don't think you should miss that. It was that the Scriptures were now opened up to them, and they saw that all of the Bible was about Him. We finally have seen Him. Everything that we've ever been taught to look for, we have seen in the Scriptures Him. the opening of the eyes, the way to know that you've been found is what have you found in the Scriptures? What have you found in the Scriptures? Who have you found in the Scriptures? This is their emphasis. This is what they're talking about. This was the road to Emmaus when after the resurrection, Jesus would say to them, O slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken, all that Moses, the Psalms, and the prophets have spoken about me. That's your issue. To which I challenge us. That our biggest concern should be knowing Jesus from the Scriptures. If you're not reading them, and you're not drinking from that well, and you don't really care too much about the Scriptures, it's a big concern for you. This is how life comes. An opening of your minds to the Scriptures. This is what's all being shown to us in the Gospels. We're going to see that over and over again. These themes are still being developed that we'll see play out in John. But it's the great test, if you will, to the genuineness of your Christianity. That's why I have to at times, and I know it's uncomfortable. It makes everyone feel like I'm judging everyone else. It's not what I'm doing. But I have to press you on your motivations. And I have to press you to not make Christianity about everything that's superficial today. We found Him in the Scriptures. We see Him. We see Him. So notice this here, that He found Him. And when He did, right where they were, they began, their worlds were changed, their eyes were opened, and the Scriptures were opened up to them to see Him. Beautiful. So this is the sovereign pursuit. This is what it looks like in our lives. He comes, He finds us, and we then, in turn, find Him in the Scriptures. But second, I want you to notice another beautiful truth there that we can't miss. He didn't just find them. But aren't you impressed with how great his knowledge is of them? Survey this with me for a moment. I think you'll find this, at least as I did, fascinating and interesting, looking a little bit at these figures whom he found. Last week we looked at Peter briefly, and we looked at the kind of person Peter was. He was a hard person. Jesus walks up to Peter, and how did he deal with Peter? he sizes him up he studies him and he says to him he says you are peter but from now on you will be cephas you will be a large boulder you will be strong and we know what peter was like as a bumbling disciple and then you open up acts and you see a boulder this is what he does this is what he knew he had to do with peter a hard man a difficult man uh a man tossed to and fro by everything, every idea, and every desire. But let's go to Philip for a minute. What does he say to him? Not much. Follow me, Philip. Follow me. You'll notice that he presses that. It's such a direct call, isn't it, in verse 43. He said something completely different to Simon, and now notice what he says here to him, to Philip in verse 43. He found Philip and he simply said, follow me. Why did he take that approach? Well, it's a fascinating thing to consider for a minute, isn't it? Have you ever had a son who is rebellious and hard and stubborn and difficult? well notice here the way that Jesus deals with him and this figure Philip is not an impressive figure at all in the gospels to me he is not let me let me let me go over just a moment what he was like the the few records few statements that we have from him in the gospels um remember John 6 Jesus will walk right up to Philip and say in the the bread incident in the feeding of the thousands incident, he said to Philip, where shall we buy bread that these may eat? He said this to test him, for he knew what he would do. Philip said, 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them? That everyone may have a little problem. What does it tell you about Philip? Well, 200, that only calculates to this. It's just not going to work, Jesus. You can't, that's not going to work. You can't do that. Ever met anyone like that? Jesus, Philip, show us the Father, then it'll be sufficient for us. Then we'll accept this. You show us something better than this you give us glory to see something better than this then i'll accept it then it'll be good for us then then then it's okay then we can really get on board with your project calculating doubting questioning always on the fringes never good enough never enough never exciting enough i want to see more never showing us enough never giving us enough. This guy encourages me a lot, actually, because not only do I see myself in him, but it encourages me as a pastor. There are many people sitting here right now who are very unsatisfied with their Christianity and unsatisfied with how this is all going and unsatisfied with Jesus, and they roll their eyes at the whole project. Give us something better. Give us something more. They refuse to really accept Jesus' power in the small things. How do you change a skeptic? How do you change someone always on the fringes? Many people like that in the kingdom. They just will never, they just struggle to accept things and believe things and nothing's impressive enough for them and they're rather grumbly people. And Jesus says so powerfully, follow me. These are not wishful words when Jesus says them. These are summoning words. I want you to understand that. If I said today to you, follow Jesus, and you're a Philip, you say, okay. When Jesus says it, and Jesus comes after you, those words absolutely overtake you. stop it you come right now no more no more stop the games you come right now it's the effect of this you follow me you come your doubts your calculations your wanting more is inexcusable follow me not all that me says jesus see it he dealt with peter a certain way he deals with philip this way then comes nathaniel philip follows because he came right away and and philip then now becomes the discipler and brings nathaniel to jesus you'll notice that we said last time the very thing that john the baptist was doing and handing off the disciples to jesus and passing the ministry to jesus in fulfillment now the disciples are immediately doing now as they're following they are bringing people to jesus so notice what happens it's remarkable jesus verse 47 saw nathaniel coming toward him and said of him again sovereign initiative sovereign knowledge knowing everything reading hearts knowing lives behold an israelite in whom there's no deceit nathaniel looks at him how do you know me the sovereignty here they're really being pressed with it before philip called you when you were under the fig tree i saw you yeah i want to i want to focus here just for a minute on behold an israelite indeed in whom there is no seat deceit. I'm emphasizing in the second point the knowledge of Jesus of us. So not only does he find us, but when he finds us, he knows exactly who we are. That's a really comforting thought. I've said this often from this pulpit that when Jesus comes after you, he's not surprised by you. He's not surprised by your past. He knows exactly what he's getting into and he knows exactly what he's dealing with. That means that there's nothing about you that ultimately surprises him or will surprise him that you do. And I find that remarkably comforting, don't you? When Jesus said to him, behold an Israelite in whom there is no deceit, this was an interpretive clue for him and for us. Nathaniel's name means gift of God, but he's playing off of something here. As we're going to see in a second here, he's taking us, as Jesus commonly does and he's been doing already in this gospel as we've looked at in the first chapter we've been weaving through genesis and exodus in this first chapter uh all over the place from creation to all the way to sinai we have been back and forth in this as he is showing fulfillment now he's playing off the story of jacob he's working with it he's giving us insight into the character of nathaniel what's nathaniel like what good can come out of nazareth another skeptic another complainer but notice that it's as if jesus told us how to look at nathaniel he told nathaniel how to consider what he's done what he's doing for him and done for him he applied the story of jacob to him he applied the story of jacob to nathaniel you've had a long life of wrestling with god nathaniel and i saw it under the fig tree i saw it um remember the story of jacob just for a minute i think you'll see how this all connects uh when when christ came after jacob in the in the wilderness when he was at bethel and he was running remember and he had been a schemer his whole life. His name meant deceitful, remember. Jacob was left alone, Genesis 32, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go for the day breaks. But he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. So he said to him, what is your name? And he said, Jacob. That meant schemer, deceitful. And he said to him, your name will no longer be that. Not Jacob, but Israel. For you have struggled with God and men and have prevailed. Jesus is telling us here and helping us to understand exactly what's going on in this man's life. What did Christ do to him in the wilderness, Jacob? Dislocate him. Why is Nathanael under the fig tree? Because he's been dislocated. This was one belligerent figure, just like a Jacob, whom the Lord had been dealing with before he came and called him. This is the point. This was one belligerent figure whom the Lord had been working on and dealing with before he called him. And that is what has happened to Nathanael. Christ has dislocated him under the fig tree and changed this man. And now he's calling him up. How do you know me? I love that question. Let it set in. How do you know me? Jesus says, I always knew you. It's a good point to say to our young people today, I think. God knows you better than you know yourself. Jesus knows you that intimately. Today, everything's a number. Everything's big. We're all lost in the mix of all of this. I want you to notice the intimacy here and the knowledge of your Savior to our young people who are struggling right now. You have little direction in life. You've been wrestling with God. You've been choosing ways that are against His will. I know you wrestle with this. I know you struggle with where's the glory in this. I know some of you are very skeptical of all of this. And I've got the best news ever for you. Jesus sees you. Jesus knows you. And He has a brand new identity for you. Did you hear me? Jesus sees you. He knows you. And He's got a brand new identity for you. All the frustrations and all the pains and all of the confusion of this all, He comes right to the place where you are. And He's been working. And He calls you to Himself with a new name. This is what the Scriptures tell us everywhere. It's not a Kanye West experience. Jesus says, I see you in your insignificant place. I see you in your wilderness. I see you under your tree alone. I see you in your depression. And I've come for you. This is the effect of this. I'm coming for you. You are no longer who you are. This is not a choice for you. Did you hear me? This is not me saying, I'm going to weigh the options of whether I'm going to accept Jesus. These guys get up immediately. That's the power when he comes. That's the power when he calls. This anemic Christianity we have has got to go. He brings dead bones to life. And Nathanael jumps up, doesn't he? Nathanael jumps up and what does he say? Wow! You are the King of Israel. You are the Son of God. That's power. Maybe we're looking for power in all the wrong places, if we're honest. And that's why few dead bones are rising. He must come, and He must call, and He must give life. Now that's the second, and I'm going to have a brief third this morning. Because this is really wonderful. Not only does he find us, not only does he know us in where we are and deal with us exactly as we are and bring us into his kingdom, but then he does the most wonderful thing for us. He opens up heaven to us. Nathaniel's mind is blown at this point. And Jesus says to him, he says, I saw you under the fig tree. Do you believe because I said that? Do you believe now because I said I know you, I have that kind of knowledge of you and I can read your heart and I know everything about you. I made you. But let me tell you what I've come to do for you. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Imagine hearing that. What? What? does my knowledge impress you does my strength impress you let me tell you what's going to be really impressive let me show you what's really impressive you haven't seen anything yet here's what i'm going to do you're going to look up and you're going to see the angels of god now notice the application of this for a minute. You're going to see the angels of God ascending and descending on me. Whoa. What do you mean? Well, you know what he's talking about. When Jacob was at Bethel and he stood there and sat there that night sleeping and had that vision given to him, remember what he saw? How awesome is this place, he said. When he looked up, he saw a giant ladder drop down to him. And the angels ascending and descending. And what Jesus just said is, I am that ladder. I have come to open up heaven to Israel. I have come to open up heaven to this lost world. Jacob sat there. Jacob didn't do a thing. Jacob was asleep. Jacob was a rebel. Jacob was deceitful. Jacob was the worst of all of them as far as I'm concerned. And the God of Jacob helped. No one could ever bring us back to heaven. This is our emptiness in this life. This is what the Tower of Babel was all about. People trying. And at the end of John chapter 1 this morning Jesus is announcing to us I am the ladder and guess what I've come to do for you bring you home bring you home I am the ladder of access the time has come the day of salvation is here the kingdom of heaven is opened and this is the grace that the struggling Nathanael's need This is the grace that the struggling Philips need. This is the grace that we all need to know that there is a grand purpose and a grand plan that He is absolutely fulfilling and working out in perfection. Jesus will say in John 6, My sheep hear My voice and they will follow. Did you hear me? my sheep hear my voice and they will follow and all that have been given to me by my father i'm not losing one of those sheep not one what a beautiful scene this morning putting on display the glories of christ and his salvation and his sovereignty to do what he said he would do meeting us right where we are bringing an end to our old selves that we might follow us according to the new identity that He's given us in Him so that now we would go out and be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. This is how He comes. Can I get a giant light show? Israel got in all kinds of trouble because they wanted something beyond this. They wanted the concert. If you don't believe me, study it. And if that offends you, then you need to be offended. Jesus is our answer. Come and see, he says. I've got real life for you. He takes the hard-hearted Peters. He takes the hard-hearted Nathanael. He takes the hard-hearted Phillips. He takes the hard-hearted me and the hard-hearted you and gives you this kind of joy. You see the joy here? You see the happiness here? You see what's flowing out of these people here? You see what's flowing out of these people here? My sheep will hear my voice and they will follow and they'll come. Follow me, he says to you today. Follow me. To the skeptics, he come and says, be assured today, I have come and I am God's answer to this sad world and I've opened up heaven. Come to me. Jesus meets you today, individually, knowing you, right where you are. And he says to you, follow me. Have you gotten up? Have you come? Do you hear his call? This is the power that the gospel brings to our lives. And that's why we're here today. Let's praise him. Heavenly Father, we praise and thank you for your salvation that is made known to the ends of the earth. And thank you for the power that brings us into the kingdom that you have called us and you've come after us and you've chosen us and you know us. All our doubts and all our skepticism, always wanting more than the Savior. Forgive us, Lord. Give us joy and satisfaction in this, in our Savior. And let us spring up like these men who saw Jesus in the Scriptures, who were overwhelmed to see the truth in the Scriptures and declare everywhere to a lost world, we have found the Messiah. May the Son of God be shown. May the King of Israel be known. We know that is all by your strength and your power. May we never be offended by Jesus. I think, Lord, of those words that were inspired by our Lord Himself. Blessed is he who is not offended because of me. Let us be thankful that you confront us right where we are. And by your strength and power, bring us into the kingdom. We praise you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.