I will greet you again, good morning. We are finishing up our chapter one as we continue in our study of the gospel according to John, Pastor Eric preached last week in the middle of that section after we looked at the prologue, which we said when I first preached on that passage that John basically puts everything that he's going to say in the first 18 verses and then it begins to flesh it out. So that last week and we're going to continue as we finish chapter 1 reading from verse 35 to the end. If you're able, would you please stand as we honor the reading of God's holy and inspired word that he's given to us this morning reading from John chapter 1 verse 35 to 51. Hear now the reading of God's word. The next day again, John was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, behold the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus, Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, what are you seeking? And they said to him, rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? He said to them, come and you will see. So they came and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day. What was about the 10th hour? One of the two who are John's speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. We 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 Seethis, which means Peter. The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee, he found Philip and said to him, follow me. Now Philip was from the city of Andrew and Peter, Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, we have found him or whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, Nathaniel said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth, Philip said to him, come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said of him, behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Nathaniel said to him, how do you know me? Jesus answered him before Philip called you when you are under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathaniel answered him, 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 opens and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. The word of God this morning, Lord we continue to come to you in prayer, this morning as we consider your word and all we can do this morning is cry out to you and say Lord may all lives be never the same again as we encounter you in these pages that John has written and preserved for us for eternity in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. The idea of following something or someone is not a strange idea to us. We do not in this century when we follow and unfollow people sometimes on social media. When someone starts commenting on things that you don't like a whole lot, you can click unfollow. When you meet a new friend or someone that you like, you can follow them on Twitter or on Facebook if you are as old as I am since I hear the Facebook is old now, kids don't use Facebook anymore. But we know how to follow things, right? We know how to follow celebrities and people that we like and it's often said that children try to imitate or follow their parents when it comes to career choices or hobbies. I hope my son follows me in playing and watching soccer as for sure. For Christians we know what it means to follow, at least we know the idea of following is not a strange thing. Why? Christians are called followers of Jesus Christ. The idea of following Jesus is really at the center of the Christian faith. And so for us, we know that we don't follow an ideology or a celebrity or whatever it is. We know that we follow the person of Jesus Christ who is a Savior and Lord. But I want to pose the question to us this morning, while we may be very aware of the idea of following something or someone, while we may claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, I want to pose the question, do we know what it really means to follow Jesus? Do we really know what it means to follow Jesus? How do we even in the first place become followers of Jesus Christ? And I think John here is giving us a glimpse of what it means to be called and to follow Jesus Christ. And I think John is pointing to us that Jesus himself is the one who takes the initiative to call us to himself, Jesus, invite us into a relationship with him. And so I want us to see a couple of things here. The first one is kind of two put in one, but I'll call it one, that John is telling us that to follow Jesus Christ or to be a follow of Jesus Christ means to know him and make him know. So if you want to know what it means to follow Jesus, we must be those people who seek to know Jesus and to make him know. And the second thing that John wants us to see is this, that follow us of Jesus Christ and those who seek to surrender to Christ. So first, follow us of Jesus and those who seek to know him and make him know. Those two ideas are put together because they will make sense as we go through this passage as we've just read it this morning. As Eric preached last week, he was able to show us that John the Baptist, not John the author of this particular gospel, his whole idea, his whole point in life was to point others to Christ and not to himself. And so while John the Baptist had disciples, he knew that his goal was to point them to Jesus and not to himself, because as he said, he is not the one who takes away the sins of men, but Christ is the one who does that. And in this passage that we just read, we realized as opposed to how we kind of read the other gospel, that there's really not a cause, strictly speaking here. In fact, if anything, we're seeing two disciples, Andrew and the NM disciple, recognizing Jesus and then attaching themselves to Jesus. So Jesus is not the one who is calling them saying, you follow me, he does that with Philip, but here we see them recognizing that Jesus is being called and addressed as the Lamb of God. And I'm sure Eric was able to address that last week in terms of them hearing that reference to the Old Testament regarding the Lamb of God, regarding the Passover, which is by the way about to come and happen. And they're hearing of the Lamb that was sacrifice, the Lamb that shed its blood so that God's people may be rescued. And so when the two disciples hear this language, this reference of the Old Testament, they hear it and they leave, or rather they join themselves to Jesus. They knew what was expected of them, John the Baptist had taught them well, so to speak. But notice the actions that are taking place here, what's the first thing that happens? They hear, or rather John speaks, okay, John speaks that he sees Jesus walking and says, behold, the Lamb of God. So John speaks, the disciples hear and then they follow Jesus and that's how people hear the gospel. Isn't it? That's how people hear the gospel when we speak, they hear the gospel being proclaimed and I think John is here helping us to begin to realize the importance of speaking the gospel to those who do not know the gospel. But as Paul will say elsewhere, if we don't speak, how will they hear? And if they don't hear, how are they going to put their lives into their lives to Jesus Christ? And so John is justifying to Christ and these two disciples are seeing this Lamb of God and they are coming and following Him. It's so wonderful because this is really the beginning of the church in the New Testament as we know it, consisting of two disciples, Andrew and a known disciple. And that's how the church grows. When people get to hear the gospel being proclaimed, one commentator puts it, he says, when we exalt Christ and point people only to Jesus, hearts are moved and sinners are turned to Jesus when we proclaim Christ, it may sound weak and foolish, right? Especially to the world that someone speaks and people hear and they come and follow Jesus, they leave their fishing career, they leave all of their things and all they want to do is follow Jesus. How is that possible? Just someone that's spoken and here you are following and giving your whole life to him, brothers and sisters, because it is the power of God and work in saving his people. When the gospel is proclaimed, it's not merely your word, it is the power of God to save his own. That's why we should never stop. That's why we should never speak in it. What we continually point others to Jesus constantly and consistently preaching the gospel, proclaiming the grace that has saved us, that has come to save us, proclaiming the word of God to all who will get to listen. And you know, we are promised that God's word never returns voice, right? But guess what we're not promised. We're not promised that the first time you share it with someone, they will come and follow. So the idea is, yes, the word of God will not return voice, but you must keep on preaching it, keep on sharing it even to the same person over and over and over again. Because you never know what God is doing. So these disciples are here following Jesus. And the idea of following Jesus here is actually both, it's two ideas. One, it's really just a mundane act of just following. They saw Jesus and they were like, oh, we're going to follow him and they just followed him. But there's also an idea here of being fully committed to Jesus. Now listen, these two disciples had no idea what it meant to follow Jesus at this particular point. And just like many of us sometimes have no clue what it means to follow him, but they are taking the first steps to what it means to be disciples, what it means to really know and have a deeper understanding of what it means to follow Jesus Christ. And when they approach him, I love this story because it's just so beautiful and they approach him, they are clueless as to what they ought to ask them that. I mean, can you just imagine they're like, oh, that was described as the Lamb of God. What do we do now? We want to follow him, but how are we going to get to talk to him? Just imagine yourself meeting your giver or someone that you've respected for years and you've just been longing to meet that person and behold, they stand there and they go, hey, and you're like, you can't talk, but what do they ask? Simple question. Where are you saying, Jesus? Like asking us everywhere, you're saying it like, you must be one of those people I need to run away from because I don't want you to know where I'm staying because you're going to come and follow me. But you know, it's so easy for us to gloss over that question and say, one was just a simple question to just ask you, what are you saying? I mean, we're just curious. You know what Jesus was saying? This is the son of God, the Lamb of God. This is the thing that the Messiah, we just want to know what's the biggest hotel in town that you're staying in. Absolutely not. When they ask this question, they're implying a more profound question. They are basically seeking Jesus' attention. They're basically saying this. We have no idea of how to ask the question that we really want to ask. And our questions cannot take, you know, five minutes of just kind of interacting with you. We need time. We need to get to know who you are. We need more time in private to spend with you. What does Jesus ask them? Again, I love it. Suppose the son of God was to stand before you and ask you the question, what are you looking for? What do you want in life? What would you say? Suppose Jesus was to stand and ask you the question, what are you looking for? What do you want? What would you say? I would be dumbfounded. I would be flawed. I probably would not even know what to say or how to respond. And yet Jesus knows their hearts. Yet Jesus is asking them the question that you already know, then answer to. He knows their motives, but he is asking this simple question in order to encourage them so that they may not run away, but to stir up their curiosity. What an important question. I mean, you can imagine all the people that are in this is the beginning of Jesus' ministry of course, but you can imagine the people that are going to be coming before Christ and when they're asking questions, some are looking for glory and power and some are just looking to trap them. And so Jesus is asking them, what do you want? What are you looking for in this life? An important question for us to ask, what are we looking for in this life in our relationship with God? Is this security? There's nothing wrong with that. But Jesus is really pointing to something much deeper than in our quest to ask that question that we must always aim for something that is higher than anything of this world, that we must aim for peace with God and peace with others. Again, one coming to the footage so well that I feel like this is so important. It says that those who would be Jesus disciples can never be satisfied with the passing word. They want to meet Jesus not as an acquaintance in passing, but as a friend in their own home. They want Jesus. What do you want in this life? But notice Jesus encounter with Andrew and this unnamed disciple. Notice that in this questioning and answering, Jesus does not leave the disciples to search for him. Jesus is not leaving the disciples to search for him. Jesus is meeting them where they are. He's reaching out by asking a question so that they can converse, they can have an interaction. Jesus is initiating a conversation that will lead to a deeper relationship. As Agastin once said, that we could not even have begun to seek after God unless he found us. Listen, there is no way that you would have become a follower of Jesus Christ. If he had never, he had not found you before you found him. He loved us before the foundations of this world and that's why we come to him and that when we go seeking after God, we don't find that God who hides his face from us. If anything, we find that God who is ready and willing and waiting to meet us where we are. Isn't that beautiful? To know that, you know, searching in a quest for God, he meets us where we are, that he is the one who takes the initiative to meet with us. And Jesus' invitation here is basically this, come and see our theme for this whole gospel text. And you know, this was simply more than just come and see who I am, come and see my go, come and see how beautiful I am. And see all these things. Those things are right. They are true. But Jesus is inviting them to come and visit with him, to come and see what only Jesus can do for them and none else. I love the detail in verse 39. You notice the little details as John is writing this gospel that I am missing in the other gospel. What does he say in verse 9? He tells us what time it was. It was 4 o'clock in the evening. Now, so we don't know who the unnamed disciple is. My guess is it was John who is writing the gospel. Because how do you know that it was 4 o'clock? He puts that detail in there because he was actually present. You know what's even more beautiful than that, if the apostle was the unnamed disciple. He puts that detail in there because he knows. On that particular day, 4 p.m., his life would never be the same again. It was changed forever. Again, I don't know who the unnamed disciple is, but we'll find out someday. Again, why do they follow Jesus? They say because, as Andrew says, we found the Messiah, he goes to his brother. But how do they recognize Jesus as the Messiah? You may wonder. How do they know that Jesus is the Messiah so fast? You just met the guy. He was described as the Lamb of God and here you are saying he is the Messiah. He's Christ. How do you know? First, we must remember that claims of Messiahs were super common around this time. There was people just claiming that's right in the center. I'm the Messiah. It wasn't uncommon to hear that. And so the disciples' recognition of Jesus and Messiah may not be the deep understanding that this is the Son of God who has come to take away the sins of man, but that was going to change over time as they got to spend time with him. And as we read through all the gospels, you hear this language of disciples seeing Jesus perform all these miracles and stuff like that. And the word we hear over and over again is what they were mesmerizing. They were shocked. They were surprised. Why? Because it was their learning process. So realizing, oh my goodness, this really is the Messiah. We were not quite sure before, but he's making us aware that he is the Messiah. Again, what's the first thing that Andrew does? I'll say he recognizes that this is Jesus, however he interpreted that. The first thing that Andrew does is what? Go running as fast as he could and tell his brother about the good news. We found the Messiah. You know what's the most common and effective witness in life? It is the private communication of the gospel between family and friends. That's how the church, over the years, has been built by the simple, seemingly weak communication of the gospel, brothers and sisters, brothers and brothers, sisters and sisters, families and friends. We will meet Andrew again in chapter 6 and chapter 12 in this gospel. Every time we meet Andrew in the gospel, he is always bringing someone to Jesus. Andrew is a home missionary. Isn't it amazing that the great apostle Peter himself was not brought into the fold, into the inner circle of Jesus' disciples through a great miracle or a huge declaration in terms of preaching. He was brought into fame, into the gospel, into the kingdom of God through a simple sharing of the gospel by his own brother. Yet Andrew, again as we see him, all through Scripture, he is a man that is content to play the second fiddle. His brother will become famous, as I just mentioned, Peter will become super famous. Andrew is not going to be famous. Yet we don't see Andrew resenting his brother. We don't see him complaining. Let me ask you a question. What do you think the church would become if we had Andrew's attitude today? What do you think the church would be if we were all Andrew's and Philanthus because we talk about Philanthus? If we were willing to go out, if we have found the treasure as we sang this morning, if we were sure excited that we have received mercy from God that we have been saved not because we deserve it, but because God is so loved, and this is the best news that we could ever have. This is eternal life. If that was our posturing life that we have found the best thing in life, what would it look like if we went out there and told people about what we found and shared the gospel of Jesus Christ? What would it look like if we did not hold back to share the gospel of Jesus Christ? What would it look like if we were home missionaries as Andrew is showing us here? I don't know what stops us from sharing the gospel with our family and friends. I know we are afraid. I know we are so afraid that people are going to say no to us. I know we are afraid that they are not going to say yes immediately. I know we are afraid that we are not going to be eloquent enough. I know we are afraid that we are not going to be able to present the gospel in this perfect way that people are going to hear this intellectual presentation of the gospel and say, oh, yeah, man, I want to believe in that. But there is absolutely nothing in here that says that you've got to be all of that. All that disciples heard was, behold, the Lamb of God. All you've got to do, folks, is present the gospel of Jesus Christ and tell them what has the gospel done for you. You can do that, right? I can do that. I can talk about the mercy that I've received from Jesus Christ and then leave it to God. Leave it to him to work out his salvation. I love the fact that when Jesus meets Simon, the son of John, John, he says, your name has been changed now. You're no longer going to be Simon. Your name is Peter, which is the Greek name. Seatress is the same name, and this name means rock. When Jesus is really showing here, declaring what Peter will become, not what he is because he's not the rock yet, but what Jesus will make of him. Because when God names someone, it speaks of a new character, speaks of a new relationship. Peter now has a new relationship with Jesus. He's now a Jesus man. He's now a rock man, interesting that again, in all the gospel, Peter is anything but a rock. He's a volatile, impulsive, unreliable person, ridiculous, isn't it? But the change that Jesus saw in Peter was not the change that was going to happen immediately was something that could only come by the power of God. Jesus is envisioning what Peter is going to become. I love it that when Jesus looks at me, he doesn't just see the simple, broken, weak, unreliable, impulsive volatile desire. Jesus sees the man that he's going to continue working in until the very end of the day and the person that I will become, so that I am presented before my father as plainless. Jesus sees the person that you will become, that he looked at Peter and just simply see the discolored man fisherman, but one who would become the rock on which the church will be built. That's what Jesus saw, potential. See, followers of Jesus Christ don't simply hear, as I mentioned, but they commune with God. They walk with them, but they also make him know. It's how we grow the church. Coming to follow Jesus Christ and in turn telling others of the marvelous, good news that we have heard. We disciple others so that they may disciple others. Secondly, followers of Jesus Christ seek to surrender to him. Look at verses 43, the next day Jesus decides to go to Galilee. We are not told why he decides to do that, but we have an idea here. We're told why he was there. He found Philip. He went out of his way to find this man Philip. Again, we do not know much about Philip, but as we will see later on, he's a man of limited ability. We'll see that later on in the book. Yet Jesus goes out of his way and enlists him as one of the apostles. Just what a great reminder of how God can take that which is ordinary and make it vital in his kingdom. You don't have to be a Peter to be vital in God's kingdom. You can be a Philip and Andrew to be a part of the kingdom of God. It's interesting that Philip is actually being drawn to Christ, not through the witness of anybody else. I know scholars disagree on whether it's Jesus who draws Philip to Christ or whether this verse, speaking of the next day Jesus, decide actually some translation, say that it wasn't Jesus that caused out Philip, but it was in fact Andrew that caused out Philip because they are from the same town. I don't see that in any case, but I believe that this is Christ who is actually drawing Philip to himself. And then he says he tells him in verse 43 again, he says to him, come, follow me. No details given. He's just asking him to come and follow him. Then there's an immediate response from Philip as he simply follows Jesus Christ. No questions asked and Philip is he is surrendering to Jesus and following him. And I think comparing this with how the other two disciples come to Christ and come to follow him is really the idea of how we become followers of Jesus Christ and we don't all follow the same path. Your testimony is not my testimony. Your conversion story is not my conversion story. And so we don't judge one another because of how we came. If someone was so broken and you are criminal and you are imprisoned and did all this nasty things and you came to Christ that you occupy a higher place than someone else who simply grew up in the church and really never had this audacious humongous, huge testimony. That's not what matters. What matters to us is that we are following Christ. Now we are saved by the same blood that saves us all. We serve the same Christ. Our path to following Christ may be different, but what matters is that we are following Jesus now. And then Philip in turn, what does he do? Just like Andrew, he seeks out Nathaniel. As one coming to this says, as one lighted towards serves to light another. That's what Philip is doing here. Now, again, there is the debate as to the identity of Nathaniel. I don't know if you ever thought about who this Nathaniel is because we only find him here. Who is he anyways? I'm not going to get into the details of it. And John doesn't, but it does appear that Nathaniel is a middle name. There's another disciple that we don't know much about, but he appears in the other gospels. His name is Betholomew. And most people think that it's the same person. Actually the two names mean the same thing. So Nathaniel could be Betholomew because Nathaniel seems to be a middle name. Again, John doesn't want to go into details of who he is and all of that. What he's pointing to us is the fact that Philip is reaching out to him, sharing the gospel with him and telling what he's found. But notice is remarks. Notice Philip's remarks regarding Christ. How does Philip present Christ or this Jesus to Nathaniel? He tells him or rather takes him back to the Old Testament. He says in Nathaniel, he says, we have found him in verse 40, 45. We have found him or who Moses in the law. And also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Philip, that's a bit loaded right there. You're going back to the Old Testament. You're referencing the Old Testament and talking about the law and the prophets. And what Philip is actually doing is actually pointing to Nathaniel of a fulfillment of the Old Testament visibly saying, this is the one whom the prophets and the law are prophesied. Jesus has come to fulfill the Old Testament that the law of Moses and the prophets all pointed to Jesus Christ. I'm not quite sure if Philip really knew what he was saying here. Or if he really truly understood the amount of information and the greatness of what he was telling Nathaniel to be meeting. We would expect, because this seems like such a grandiose, you know, presentation of the gospel. If he had Nathaniel, he would say, oh, yeah, that must be it. That must be the Christ that was prophesied in the Old Testament. Daniel says, well, are you sure anything good can come out of the Nazareth? Which, by the way, is true, because Nathaniel seems to know his Old Testament pretty well. Nazareth is not the city of David. This is not Bethlehem. This is not where Jesus, the Messiah, was supposed to come from. And I think maybe, maybe there could be a little rivalry here. Nathan Nazareth was a tiny little town in Galilee, and as people talk about, yeah, that city. Nothing good comes out of that place. But I think that Daniel is really keen to get to notice that this is not the city of David. And so he's filled with doubts, doubts that this could be the Messiah. And then we would expect, again, let's engage in this story here, right? We would expect Philip to go, no, man, this should, this has got to be the place. There's got to be Jesus of Nazareth. I mean, his father was Joseph. I mean, this has got to be the Messiah. Let me argue with you. Let me convince you. Let me present to you the argument that this has to be the Messiah. What does he say? Does he present all of that? Nathaniel, come and see. You want to know if this is the Messiah? Or come on over and test it for yourself. Come and see for yourself if this is Jesus. And so as someone puts it, he says that by inviting him to prove the matter for himself, he showed his entire confidence in the truth of his own assertion and his willingness to have it tested and proved. What a great advice for us when we are dealing with people that doubt that God is real, that salvation can only come through Jesus Christ. What a great advice for us in terms of doing evangelism and apologetics. What a great advice when we are dealing with people that are just pushing and rejecting the gospel. And the invitation is this for us. That we must be willing to boldly invite people to come and make proof of our faith. Listen, friends, not many people have been argued into Christianity. In fact, arguments and arguing Christianity can be more harmful than good. The best thing that we can do as representing the gospel is to confront people with Christ by presenting the story of the cross. You don't have to be a theological. That's all I'm saying. You do not have to be a theological to argue, not to argue, but to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to others. Simply present the story of the cross. Let God do His work. And then as Nathaniel is approaching Jesus, Jesus speaks to him and says, a true easily in whom there is no deceit. Again, a language going back all the way to Genesis chapter 27. And we find Jacob is described as a man of deceit because he cheats his own brother into receiving the blessings from his father Isaac. But here, Jesus is saying, you are a straightforward man. You are a good Jew, a prayerful and honest Jew that is waiting for the Messiah to speak. We may wonder, how was this possible? I was Nathaniel, such a good straightforward man. We got to go to God's grace. Only God's grace can enable one to have such a heart and character. Nathaniel's response, however, helps us really to know that Jesus does know him. That Jesus knew the depths of his heart. And Nathaniel asks Jesus, he says, how do you know me? Those words, you are true easily in whom there is no deceit. Exposed Nathaniel. That he would ask Jesus, how do you know me? And then Jesus specifies how he knew him. He says, even before Philip called you when you were sitting under the fig tree, I called you. I knew you knew. So let's try to put that together and understand what's really going on here. What's the significance of this fig tree that's in here? In the Old Testament, we know that fig trees were a symbol of home. We read it in Isaiah. And we know that because they had this bushy, just awesome shade, the fig tree's shade was actually a symbol or rather a place of prayer and meditation, a place of study. So here's the question. Is it possible then that John wants us to see Nathaniel sitting on this tree as a good Jew, a good Israelite, praying and longing and waiting for the Messiah, which is something that has actually become a necessity for Jews at this time? Is John wanting us to see the event that took place before Nathaniel was called, that he was sitting under that tree and his prayer, part of his prayer was his longing for the Messiah. And here is one who is coming and calling him out and actually saying, I know you, I know who you are. And to him is realizing this must be the Messiah that I've been longing and waiting for. And again, we see here Nathaniel's response to Jesus' knowledge of him. It's a confession. It's a confession he says, Jesus, you are truly the king of Israel. And we're surprised. Super surprised by Nathaniel's confession because of this simple encounter that he's so impressed by Jesus' knowledge of him in the fig tree. That he calls Jesus the king of the Jews, the king of Israel. Again, that language is going to be used of Jesus. It's a rare language for Nathaniel to use. We actually don't see it much in the New Testament. But what was nailed or what did those who crucified Christ? What did they call him when they were marking him? He was the king of the Jews. And yet Nathaniel is rightly calling Jesus the king of the Jews. Nathaniel is submitting himself, he's surrendering to this king of the Jews. Because that's what it means for us to be follows of Jesus Christ. It's not merely having this knowledge that is a God that Jesus died to save us from our sins. It's actually acknowledging that he knew us before time, before the foundations of the world. But it's going beyond that it's placing our trust fully in him as our Savior and Lord. It's surrendering, completely surrendering our lives to him. And we confess daily that he's truly our king who reigns and rules our lives. But there's more. Jesus then goes ahead and invites Nathaniel to come and see even greater things that he's able to do. From this point on, Jesus is telling Nathaniel, your believer, yes, that Jesus knew him before the foundations of the world and he promises his followers, not just Nathaniel, that he would see even greater things, that verse 50. But this is just the beginning. It's basically saying Nathaniel, you haven't seen nothing yet. You haven't seen how I'm going to reveal the father's will in my life. Then he talks about, you're going to see angels ascending and descending. Again, going back to Jacob, Genesis chapter 28, we're told of Jacob seeing a dream of this ladder where angels were going up and down, up and down the ladder, up into heaven. Here's the question, is it possible that John wants us to use our imagination? He wants us to see what Jacob could only dream about. That Nathaniel and others could actually see someday that Jesus is Jacob's dream come true. Does John want us to see, or is John saying this, that Jesus is basically looking at Nathaniel and saying, you think you've seen something that I know your heart, I know what you're doing? But Jesus is saying, I can do far more than read your heart, son. If he's saying, I can be for you and for everyone that comes to me, the ladder that leads to heaven, that it is through me, Jesus, and Jesus alone, that all human souls can mount the ladder which leads to heaven. And there is no other way, but you've got to come and know me. You've got to come and see, you've got to come and have a relationship with me to understand what it means to get out there. Is that what John wants us to see? I believe it is. My almost real son. Every time we ask my son to say a prayer before a meal or before bedtime, my son prays by reciting the chorus of his favorite hymn. Go tell it on the mountains. He says, okay, I'll pray. He closes his eyes so hard. Sometimes I feel like he's going to hurt himself. And he says, go tell it on the mountains. Over the hills and everywhere that Jesus Christ is born. Amen. I hope my son's prayers remind me every single day of my life. But the one who's been born is not just any other son. It is the very son of God who takes away the sins of man. I hope my son's prayer reminds us as a church. That if we have experienced the joy, the mercy, the love, the grace of God. If that is the most important thing that has ever happened to us, that we will go out and speak it as loudly as we could. That Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who saves our sins, he is the Lamb of God who has come to us. May we go and not only make him known to others but we find ourselves fully surrendering and submitting our lives to him until he returns. Amen. Let us pray. Lord Jesus, we do come to you this morning. Grateful to you that you remind us what it means to follow you. And that it simply means that we come and see you. We come and know you as all the audience saved you. But we continue to make you known to others, to our families, to our friends, and to all that we will listen. And that we find ourselves committing ourselves to you, submitting our lives to you so that you may grow us, so that you may help us to learn from you and grow in knowledge and nurture of your work. Thank you for your word that you give to us this morning. Bring this in Christ's name. Amen.