LivePrayerSermon 2646. The Baptist's Message
(No. 2646)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, OCTOBER 29, 1899.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY 2, 1882.
"The next day John saw Jesus cooing toward him and said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29.
JOHN was the herald of Christ. He came to bear witness to Him and to prepare the way for Him. In olden times when kings traveled,they were accustomed to send heralds before them to announce their coming, and to prepare the way for them. And I have readthat on several occasions the herald wore such gorgeous apparel-adorned with gold and lace-that when he went into some ofthe towns and villages, the people thought that he must be the king, himself! So they made ready to receive him with royalhonors. When he said, "No, I am not the king, I have merely come to sound the trumpet and to say that he is coming," theywondered what the king, himself, must be like if his herald was so resplendent-and it is said that in several instances theyrefused to receive the king when he came, for they said, "The man who told us that he was only your servant was a far finerlooking man than you are, and much more grandly dressed." So, when the king arrived and they saw that he was but plainly dressed,as kings usually are when not wearing their state robes, they would not receive him.
Something like that happens with some of Christ's heralds, but it did not occur in the case of John the Baptist. He was notarrayed in soft raiment or rich apparel. He came straight up from the wilderness clothed in a garment of camel's hair andwith leather trousers about his loins-and his food was locusts and wild honey. Nor was there anything at all about John'smode of speech which was likely to attract attention to himself and make men think less of his Master when He should come.I wish that all of us, when we go forth as Christ's heralds, crying, "Behold the Lamb of God"-and that is our main businesshere below-would take care that we were never so grand in our style of thought or language that when the Master, Himself,comes in all His wondrous simplicity, men would begin to despise Him because they remembered the fine tones of His pretendedherald! No, let us be simple and plain whenever we have to speak of Christ and when our King, Himself, comes, let us stepback and get out of sight, that He, alone, may be seen, and that all the people's hearts may be won to Him.
I have plunged into the middle of my subject at the very beginning of my sermon, for that is the theme on which I want tospeak to you. First, I am going to describe the true messenger, John the Baptist, or anyone else who is like he. Then, secondly,I hope to talk about the true message-"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." And then, thirdly, Imust say a little upon the true reception of this message, telling what they do who really hear and believe the true messengerof God.
I. First, then, let us think of THE TRUE MESSENGER and, as I know that there are many here who try to do good by speakingfor the Lord to their fellow men, let this first part of my subject be a lesson in self-examination-not by way of discouragement,but rather of encouragement, I hope, to those whom I am addressing. Who are they who will be acknowledged by Christ, at theLast Great Day, as the true messengers of God? What are the special characteristics by which they may be known?
Well, first, the true messenger is one who sees the Lord Jesus for himself'"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him."To be His herald and witness, John must see Jesus and he must see Jesus coming to him. Those Prophets who lived a long whilebefore the coming of Christ were but dim seers compared with John the Baptist. He was like the morning star which is so nearthe sun that it is the brightest of the stars. We see it shining almost like a little sun and then, when the sun rises inall its brightness, the star disappears. John was "a burning and a shining light" and all who came before him were, in Christ'sjudgment, inferior to him. He said to the multitudes concerning John, "What did you go out to see? A Prophet? Yes, I say toyou, and more than a Prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who shallprepare Your way before You. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than Johnthe Baptist." This was the difference between John and the Prophets- his sight of Christ was clearer than theirs because hewas nearer to Christ. And his view of Christ was brighter, fuller and clearer than that of all who had gone before.
Yet they were also true witnesses to Christ, according to the light they had. Our Savior said to the Jews, "Your father Abrahamrejoiced to see My day: he saw it and was glad." And if he had not seen Christ by faith, he could not have been one of thewitnesses who testified beforehand concerning Him. All the Prophets looked through the haze of the ages and, by faith, perceivedtheir Lord. And then they wrote of Him and spoke of Him to the people. The ancient name for a Prophet was a very instructiveone-he was called a seer-and you and I, Beloved, must see Christ or else we cannot bear witness to Him. As the Prophets sawChrist by faith and as John actually looked upon Him and then bore witness to Him, so must you and I see Him. Not with theseeyes-that sight is reserved until the Resurrection-but with the eyes of our spirit, with the eyes of our mind and heart wemust see Jesus before we can rightly speak of Him.
Are you anxious, my Brother, to go and preach? Have you seen Jesus? If not, what can you say when people ask you, "What isHe like? Who is He that we should believe in Him?" You must look unto Him before you can speak of Him and, the more steadfastlyyou gaze upon Him, His work, His offices, His humiliation, His glorification, the better will you be able to bear your witnessconcerning Him. You will then speak more surely and confidently for your God if you can testify concerning that which yourheart knows to be true because you have perceived and enjoyed it yourself!
Yes, and if you have seen Him in the past, try to see Him, again, and to be continually "looking unto Jesus." Let not anyof us go and talk to our Sunday school class, or preach from the pulpit, or write a letter about our Lord until we have hada fresh glimpse of Him. It is wonderful how nimbly the pen or the tongue moves when the eye has just feasted itself upon Christ!The Psalmist said, "My heart is overflowing with a good theme: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king:my tongue is the pen of a ready writer." When you have, yourself, been with Christ. When you have just come forth from theivory palaces of communion and fellowship with the Lord Jesus, all your garments will smell of myrrh, aloes and cassia! Andyour words will have some of the precious savor clinging to them. So again I say that we must see Christ or else we cannotbe witnesses to Him.
And, therefore, let us fix our hearts, our thoughts and our meditations so completely upon Christ that when we cry to othermen, "Behold the Lamb of God," it will be because we have just beheld Him ourselves! If a man who is blind were to stand upin the street and cry, "Behold," people would be apt to ask, "What can a poor blind man bid us look at? He cannot see anythinghimself." If you say to the people, "Behold Christ," yet all the while your eyes are turned toward yourselfand you are wonderingwhether you will get through the sermon all right-whether you will have a fine conclusion at the end and what the congregationwill think of it when you have done-that will be like saying, "Behold!" while you, yourself, are looking the other way! Andother people will look in the same direction! They will be sure to do as you do and not as you say. And if you do not beholdChrist, neither will they! Our inward thought, conviction and belief must be in strict accordance with our outward speech,or else we shall misrepresent ourselves-and our message will be poorly delivered and will fall without power upon our hearers.
I also remind you that we must preach Christ as coming. "Why," says one, "He hascome!" I know that He has, but He is comingagain. It is a blessed thing that, whereas the Prophets saw Him as coming, they only differed from us in this respect-thatwe can look back to His first coming, as they looked forward to it. And we can also look onward to His coming a second time,"without sin unto salvation"-and so we are to speak of Him as coming. It is grand preaching when the preacher can see Christcoming, when he can behold the Throne of Judgment set and can gaze upon the King in His beauty sitting upon it, and see Himreigning over all, King of Kings and Lord of Lords! It is glorious when he hears the hallelujahs of the approaching millennialage even while he is preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ! "Lo, He comes," he says, and he sees Him coming, for he is notlike the virgins who had fallen asleep and so did not watch for the bridegroom's appearing. Oh, for open eyes, expectant heartsand earnest tongues to see, and long for, and tell of our coming Lord! This is the way the faithful witness preaches Him tothe people.
But, next, the true messenger calls upon men to see Jesus. He calls them away from seeing other things and bids them look,and, "behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" God-sent servants do not say, "Look to the priest! Lookto the altar! Look to the sacraments! Look to yourself-come and confess your sins and I will give you absolution!" No, no,no, no! Forever and forever NO! They do nothing of that sort. The priests of Antichrist do that, but the servants of Christcry, "Behold the Lamb of God." Our great difficulty is to get men's eyes off themselves, off their works, off their formsand ceremonies, off mere creed-religion and to get them to look at the living Christ who is still among us bearing the sinof all who truly seek His face!
O dear Hearers, I know that I am, in this respect, a faithful witness. Wherever else I fail in my testimony, for my soul'slabor and travail, even unto anguish, is to get you away from depending even in the slightest degree upon anything else butwhat Christ has done! I would not wish you to have the shadow of a shade of a ghost of a pretense of a confidence anywhereout of Christ! Jesus is the only hope of sinners! Let Him be A to you, and Z, and all the letters between-the beginning andthe end-and the middle and everything else! Take your eyes off all ministers, all books, all feelings and even all believing!Do not even fix your gaze on your own faith. You know that the eye cannot see itself. Did you ever see your own eye? In amirror, perhaps, you may have done so, but that was only the reflection of it and you may, in like manner, see the evidenceof your faith, but you cannot look at the faith itself. Faith looks away from itself to the Object of faith, even to Christ!And this is what the true witness desires. He will, if he can, keep men from looking anywhere but on his Master!
Some look at their repentance, but if you cannot keep your eyes on Christ, then away with your repentance! Some are alwayslooking to their faith, but if there is a faith that hides Christ, away with it! Some need feelings and right feelings wemay wish to have-but as for those feelings which come between us and Christ, away with them! It is not fit that they shouldlive. Our one business is to get men away from anything and from everything, however good it is, that they may look aloneto Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God!
The third mark of a true witness is that he leads his own disciples to Jesus. It is generally thought to be a good thing tolead another man's disciples beyond their master, but it is not always so easy to lead our own disciples beyond ourselves.The preacher is often conscious that there are many weak persons who stop short at what he says. To them it is a great helpto faith that their pastor or their minister says such-and-such. Well, for lame people, we do not object to crutches for atime, but we always anxiously pray that the faith of these poor cripples may not stand-at least, for any length of time-inthe power of man, but in Christ alone! I would say to you what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Gala-tians, though I wish I couldsay something that would be worthy to be placed beneath what he said, and so be more suitable for one so much inferior tohim. He says, "Though we, or an angel from Heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached untoyou, let him be accursed." That is, "Let us, ourselves, be accursed if we ever dare to lead you away from Christ. It is animprecation upon our own souls if we dare to make ourselves your masters instead of your servantsfor Jesus' sake!"
It was a beautiful trait in the character of John the Baptist that he was so ready to pass on to Christ his own disciples-hedid not want to keep them merely to swell the number of his own followers, but only kept them with him until he could pointthem to his Master. When we try to win souls, if we find that people have confidence in us and affection for us, let us usethat influence not to attach them to ourselves except with the earnest desire to pass them on to Christ-that they may becomedisciples of the Savior for themselves and grow up from being babes who have to be nursed to become strong men in Christ Jesus.
One more thing about John the Baptist which is also a characteristic of the true witness for Christ is that he lost himselfin his Master Without a single atom of regret he said, "He must increase, but I must decrease." Oh, how grandly he witnessedfor Christ by sinking himself until he was lost in Christ! And my Brother, it must be the same with you-if you would be atrue witness for Christ, you must say that which glorifies Him, even though it dishonors yourself! Perhaps there is a verylearned man sitting over yonder and the temptation to the preacher is to say something that shall make him feel that the ministerto whom he is listening is not so ignorant as some people suppose. But if there is an unlearned, simple sinner anywhere inthe place, the preacher's business is just to chop his words down to that poor man's condition and let the learned hearerreceive the same message if he will!
Luther said, "When I am preaching, I see Dr. Jonas sitting there, and Oecolampadius, and Melanchthon and I say to myself,'Those learned doctors know enough already, so I need not trouble about them. I shall fire at the poor people in the aisles.'"That is the way Luther preached and God richly blessed his ministry because he did it. Though he was a truly learned man,he was willing to be reckoned as knowing nothing at all if by that means he could the better serve his Lord and Savior, JesusChrist. Dear Brothers and Sisters, when you are serving Christ, do not also seek to serve yourself in a sneaking kind of way.It is easily done-under the appearance of glorifying Christ, you may really be extolling yourself. You may even seek to winsouls with the view of having the credit of doing it-and if you do, you will spoil the whole work! It must not be so withyou. This royal crown must be touched by none but Christ. You and I cannot really put the crown on His head, though we maywish to do so. Christ is greater than that monarch who, when the Pope was about to crown him, took the crown out of his handsand said, "I won it myself, so I will put it on my own head." And Christ must crown Himself! The words we sometimes sing-
"Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown Him Lord of all,"
are very good and right, but, after all, Christ is His own Glory and the Holy Spirit truly glorifies Him. How can we be worthyto put the crown on His head when we are not worthy to unloose the laces of His shoes! Oh, what poor things we are! We arenot fit to be the dust under His feet! Glory, glory, glory be unto Him and unto Him alone!
Thus I think I have said enough about the true messenger. Aim at being like John the Baptist in these respects, Brothers andSisters, as God shall help you.
II. But now, secondly, we are to consider THE TRUE MESSAGE which is this-"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin ofthe world!"
In these few words we have the substance of the message to be delivered by God's faithful ministers. First, John declaredthat God had sent His Son into the world that men might live through Him. He taught that Jesus of Nazareth is the eternalSon of God, appointed by Him to redeem mankind and that He came into the world on purpose that He might save His people fromtheir sins. Oh, tell this wondrous story! Tell it till every wave bears onward the message and every wind moves it till allborn of woman have heard the glad tidings that "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believesin Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." All our hopes spring from Christ and Him crucified! They begin withHim and they end with Him. And whoever believes on Him has everlasting life! But whoever rejects Him by not believing Him,there remains no hope for him-he must be lost forever! There is but one way to Heaven, and that one way is marked by the bloodof our Lord Jesus Christ!
Further, in telling the true message, we must go on to explain that Jesus Christ is thus the Savior because He is the oneSacrifice for sin. This verse reads, in the margin, "Behold the Lamb of God, who bears the sin of the world." And in thatrendering there is a great Truth of God which is not to be kept back. Christ Jesus did actually bear the sin of His peoplein His own body on the tree. It was lifted bodily off those whom it would have crushed forever-and it was laid on Him. Hewas, indeed, the great Sin-Bearer-He who knew no sin was made sin for us, "that we might be made the righteousness of Godin Him." Now here is a point at which some are always sticking. Robertson, of Brighton, with his magnificent genius, practicallytaught the Atonement in some such fashion as Dr. Duncan used to say, that Jesus Christ did something or other which, in someway or other, in some degree or other, made it possible for men to be forgiven! That was Robertson's notion of the Atonement,but we say not so! We say that He really took the sin of men upon Himself and who can read that marvelous 53rd Chapter ofIsaiah without seeing that this is no figure, no metaphor, but literal Truth of God-"the Lord has made to meet upon Him theiniquity of us all"! So says the Prophet. But what says the Apostle? "Who His own Self bore our sins in His own body on thetree." And I cannot preach the Gospel without proclaiming this great Truth of Christ's atoning Sacrifice and I do not meanto try to do so! I know of no way by which sin can be taken off us except by laying it on Him who was our Surety and our Substitute.And He did take it and He did bear it-and the true messenger, sent from God, tells you that-whatever else he may say or maynot say.
And he tells you more than that, namely, what the text says in our Authorized Version. "Behold the Lamb of God, who takesaway"-as well as takes upon Himself-"the sin of the world." Oh, blessed word-takes it away! Where did
He take it! I will tell you-"As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." He tookthe sin of all Believers away so completely that it sank into the bottom of the sea! God has cast it behind His back and itshall not be mentioned against them any more forever. There is no such thing, now, as the sin of the saints, for Christ hasutterly annihilated it. He came to finish transgression and to make an end of sins-and if He made an end of them, there isan end of them-they are gone forever and those who believe in Jesus are washed white as the driven snow and clothed in Hismatchless righteousness! This is what the true messenger has to tell, that Jesus bore the sin of His people and that He tookit right away. Oh, what joyous work is ours!
This is to be our message-we are to set Christ forth as the Object of faith. We are to say to men, "Behold the Lamb of God."Is that all the sinner has to do? Yes, behold Him! Never was there another Savior like Christ Jesus our Lord. The mere lookingat Him saves the soul! Whoever looks to Christ lives by that look and shall live forever. There is not a sinner in Hell whoever looked on Christ with the eyes of faith-and there never shall be such a soul! And all who are in Heaven entered theresimply through beholding the slain Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Would you get there, young man? Then behold theLamb of God and you shall get there! There is life in a look at the Lamb of God. Would you get there, poor sinner, drivenand hunted about by the devil? Then behold the Lamb of God! Do but look out of the corner of your eye, if that is all thatyou can do. Look through your blinding tears. Look through the mists and clouds that surround you. Do but look unto Jesusand, as every bitten one who looked at the bronze serpent, lived, so every sick soul that looks to Christ shall live-and liveforever!
That is the Gospel, and it is a blessed Gospel to have to preach! And blessed is the messenger who proclaims boldly and plainly,in the name of Jesus, saying on Christ's behalf, "Look unto Him, and be you saved, all you ends of the earth. Look and live."May many do so at this very moment!
III. Now I close by turning to the third head of my discourse which is THE TRUE RECEPTION OF THE MESSAGE. How can I trulyreceive this true message of the true messenger? Well, Brothers and Sisters, if we, by faith, "behold the Lamb of God, whotakes away the sin of the world," observe what we shall do.
First, we shall follow Jesus. Read from the 35th verse to the 37th -"Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God! The two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus."That is to say, they did behold the Lamb of God and, believing in Him, they followed Him. And if you have really believedin Christ, you will try to walk in His footprints. You will call Him Master and Lord. He will be your Leader and Commanderand you will willingly follow where He leads and cheerfully do what He commands. Christ has not come to give you license tosin, but He has brought you to liberty from sin. Blessed liberty! If you do, indeed, thus look to Christ, follow Him at once!Become His disciple, do what He bids you, feeling that it is-
"Yours not to reason why, Yours not to make reply"
but just to do as He commands-and believe what He teaches by the implicit faith which yields itself up entirely to Him. Thisis the test of real faith in Jesus, that the man is no more his own master, but takes Jesus to be his Master and follows whereverHe leads.
The next thing that happens with those who give a true reception to the message is that they want to abide with Christ. Thetwo disciples followed Jesus and, "They said unto Him, Master, where do You dwell?' He said unto them, "Come and see. Theycame and saw where He dwelt and remained with Him that day." I do not know where He dwelt. I am sure that it was not a veryluxurious mansion and, in later days, he had nowhere to lay His head. But as soon as ever these men had looked to Him andfollowed Him, they wanted to live with Him! Oh, that is the highest joy of a Christian, to live with Christ! A look of faithsaves the soul because it is the beginning of a life of living with Christ forever and ever! I am afraid that some of God'speople fail to realize this blessed living with Christ. They get a little joy and they seem very pleased with it, but in alittle time they lose it. Why is that? Because they rejoiced merely in their own joy and when a man does that, he will soonlose it. It is as old Master Brooks says, "If a loving husband were to give his wife earrings, bracelets, jewels and then,instead of loving him for his gifts, she began to be in love with his presents and cared little for him, he would be inclinedto take them away from her so as to have all her love for himself."
And surely it is so with Christ. He puts the earring of holy joy in His bride's ears and she begins to say, "Oh, how joyfulI am!" No, no, do not talk like that! I heard one, the other day, bragging about his own holiness and I thought to myself,"That holiness which talks about itself is an unholy holiness." Do you think that holiness is a thing to be proclaimed aboutthe streets, or set up for a show? Oh, no! As I think of the thrice-holy God, I lay my face in the very dust before Him. OBrothers and Sisters, true holiness is something very different from this tinsel stuff that men, in these days, boast aboutas they beat their drums! True holiness beats on its breast and gets away into its place of secret communion-and if it hasany beauties, it shows them only to the Lord in secret, with many a blush and many a lament that it is not much more nearlywhat it ought to be. O Beloved, may God grant us Grace to follow Jesus and to live with Jesus!
I said that some of God's people do not seem to understand this living with Jesus, but why should not we? Why need we havedoubts and fears? Why need we get away from Christ? Had we but the faith He deserves and believed in Him as He ought to bebelieved in, we might go from joy to joy and so ascend to Heaven as on a ladder of light! God give us this Grace of livingwith Christ! It is to be had by those who seek it aright.
Then, lastly, the proof which these people, who had seen Christ and followed Him, gave that they had really found Him wasthat they went and tried to bring others to Him. They said to their kinsfolk and acquaintances, "We have found the Messiah!""We have found Jesus!" Ah, you have never truly found Jesus if you do not tell others about Him! You know how children act-weought to be children in all things before God. If a little child, in its rambles, were to find honey and its brothers andsisters were all around, I feel certain that it would give such a cry after it had first sucked its own fingers, that allof them would soon be plunging their hands into the honey, too! You have never tasted its sweetness if it has not made youcry, "Come here! Was there ever such joy as this? Was there ever such delight, such rapture as this?" It is the instinct oftrue children of God to desire to fetch others in to taste and see that the Lord is good-to share the unspeakable bliss whichis already their own!
Many of you are coming to the Lord's Table. As you come to it, I would whisper in your ear, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takesaway the sin of the world!" Never mind that bread and wine unless you can use them as poor old folks often use their spectacles.What do they use them for? To look at? No, to look through them. So, use the bread and wine as a pair of spectacles-look throughthem and do not be satisfied until you can say, "Yes, yes, I can see the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"Then shall the Communion be really what it ought to be to you. God make it so, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN 1:19-51; MATTHEW 4:12-24.
John 1:19, 20. And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? And he confessed,and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ ' 'I am not the One anointed of God to save mankind."
21. And they asked him, Who then? Are you Elijah?' 'Are you Elijah come back to earth?" 21. And he said, I am not For, thoughindeed he was the true piritualElijah who was to come as the forerunner of the Messiah, yet, in the sense in which they askedthe question, the only truthful answer was, "I am not." 21. Are you that Prophet?The long-expected prophet foretold by Moses?
21-23. And he answered, No. Then they said unto him, Who are you, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What doyou say of yourself? He said, I am the voice. That is all. A voice and nothing more. John did not profess to be the Word-hewas only the voice which vocalized that Word and made it audible to human ears. He came to bear witness to the Christ, buthe was not, himself, the Christ. "I am the voice"
23-27. Of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the Prophet Isaiah. And they which weresent were of the Pharisees. and they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptize you then, if you are not that Christ, nor Elijah,neither that Prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there stands One among you, whom you know not;He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe laces I am not worthy to unloose. How wisely does God alwayschoose and fashion His servants! John is evidently just the man for his place-he bears testimony to Christ very clearly. Heearnestly turns away all attention from himself to his Master and he has such a reverent esteem for Him of whom he is theherald that he puts all honor and glory upon Him.
28-30. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing, The next day John saw Jesus coming towardhim, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is He of whom I said, after me comes a Manwhich is preferred before me: for He was before me. You know, dear Friends, that Christ existed from all eternity, so, invery truth, He wasbefore John. You know, too, the glory and the excellency of our Divine Master, so that, in another sense,He was and is before John and all other creatures whom He has made.
31-34. And I knew Him not: but that He should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And Johnbore record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not: but Hethat sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining onHim, the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. The secretsign of the descent of the Spirit, in dove-like form, upon our Lord, was given to John. And as soon as he saw it, he knewfor sure that Jesus was the Sent One, the Messiah, and that he must point Him out to the people.
35, 36. Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, Behold theLamb of God!This was the same text from which he had preached the day before and it was the same sermon, somewhat shortened.So should it be with us-
"His only righteousness I show,
His saving truth proclaim
'Tis all my business here below
To cry, 'Behold the Lamb!'"
37. The two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus. Thus John was losing his own disciples. By his testimony tothe Truth of God, he was sending them to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And he did it well and gracefully. There are many whowould find it a hard task to reduce the number of their disciples, but it was not so with John.
38-46. Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, What do you seek? They said unto Him, Rabbi, (which isto say, being interpreted, Master) where do You dwell? He said unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where He dwelt,and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour). 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 unto him, We have found the Messiah, (whichis, being interpreted, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, He said, You are Simon the sonof Jonah: you shall be called Cephas, (which is by interpretation, A Stone). The following day Jesus wanted to go into Galilee,and found Philip, and said unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Beth-saida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael,and said unto him, We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son ofJoseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said unto him, Come and see. It was all a seeing Gospel John said, "Behold the Lamb of God!" Then Jesus said, "Come and see." And now Philip says the same.Faith is that blessed sight by which we discern the Savior! Whoever looks to Christ by faith shall live!
47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him and said of him, Behold an Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile!' 'There is no craftor deception in this man, as there was in Jacob; he is a true Israelite, like Israel at his best."
48. Nathanael said unto Him, How do You know me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before Philip called you, when you wereunder the fig tree, I saw you. What Nathanael had been doing there, we do not know. Probably he had been meditating, or hemay have been engaged in prayer. But this announcement was proof to Nathanael that Jesus could see all things and read men'shearts-and know what they were doing in their chosen retreats. "When you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Christ knowsall of you who came in here tonight, in a prayerful spirit, seeking Him! And whenever men are seeking Him, you can be surethat He is also seeking them!
49. Nathanael answered and said unto Him, Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel' 'You saw what I was doingin secret and by that token I perceive that You are God's own Son."
50. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall seegreater things than these. Those who are ready to believe Christ, on what may be thought to be slender evidence, shall "seegreater things than these." "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." They shall gaze upon a wonderfulsight, by-and-by!
51. And He said unto hiim, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter you shall see Heaven open, and thee angels of God ascendingand descending upon the Son of Man. ' 'You are a true Israelite, and you shall have Israel's vision. You shall see the samesight as your father, Jacob, saw when he fell asleep with a stone for his pillow! Only your vision shall be far grander thanhis." Christ always knows how to meet the needs of our hearts and to give us something in accordance with our own expressions,and to make His answers fit our requests-only He always far exceeds all that we ask or even think, blessed be His holy name!
Matthew 4:12. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, He departed into Galilee. Notice that there were at that time onlytwo great ministers of God, John the Baptist, he must go to prison and to death-Jesus, the Son of God, He must go to the desertto be tempted of the devil. If any Christians escape temptation, they will not be the leaders of the hosts of God! Those whostand in the van must bear the brunt of the battle. Oh, that all who are called to such responsible positions might be asprepared to occupy them as John was and as Jesus was!
13-16. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zebu-lun and Naphtali:that it might he fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet, saying, The land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali,by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which eat in darkness saw great light; and to themwhich sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. Oh, the tender mercy of our God! Where the darkness is thedeepest, there the Light of God shines the brightest! Christ selects such dark regions as Naphtali and Zebulun that He maydwell there and shine in all His Glory.
17. From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He was not afraid to givean earnest exhortation to sinners and to bid men repent. He knew better than we do the inability of men concerning all thatis good, yet He bade them repent!
18-23. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting anet into the sea: for they were fishers. And He said unto them, Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightwayleft their nets and followed Him. And going on from there, He saw two more brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John, hisbrother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. And He called them. And they immediately left the ship andtheir father, and followed Him. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel ofthe kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. I like those words, "all manner"-thatis, Christ met every kind and every sort of sickness and disease. Perhaps you, dear Friend, are afflicted in your soul aftera very peculiar fashion. Yes, but this great Physician heals all manner of diseases! None are excluded from the list of patientswhom He can cure! Twice the words, "all manner," are used-"Healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease amongthe people."
24. And His fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseasesand torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatics and those that had the palsy; andHe healed them. Our Lord Jesus lived as in a hospital while He was on earth! Wherever He went, the sins and sorrows of menwere all open before His sympathetic gaze. But oh, what joy it must have been to Him to be able to deal so well with themall! Am I addressing any who are sick in soul? Our Master is used to cases just like yours! Your malady is not new to Him.He has healed many like you-of all that were brought to Him, it is written, "He healed them." Lie before Him, now, in allyour sin and misery, and breathe the prayer, "Son of David, have mercy on me," and He will surely hear you and heal you, forHe delights to bless and save all who trust Him!