Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2021
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto you, I saw you under the fig tree, you believe? You shall see greater things than these.” John 1:50.
NATHANAEL was by nature a man free from cunning and deceit. He was a specimen of that “honest and good ground” of which our Savior speaks in the parable, upon which, when the seed fell, a hundred-fold harvest was produced. We have some such men about us, thank God, in this country—regular John Blunts, as we say, clear as crystal, true as the sun in the heavens. Many men are well known to us who are upright, downright, truthful, honest, candid and open-hearted. You might trust them anywhere. Yes, trust them to repeat a conversation without misrepresenting it and that is saying a good deal in these times.
Such people do not understand the clever arts of craft and cunning for they do not take to them naturally and have never been trained in the practice of policy. Speech is not to them the medium for concealing their thoughts. When they have a mind to speak, they speak their mind. You know where they are. They may have a great many faults but they have not the faults of deception and dissimulation. They are Israelites, indeed, in whom is no guile. You know the kind of people—they may at times speak too harshly and hurt your feelings. They may put things in an ugly shape and tread on people’s corns—but they are as straight as a plumb-line and you may be sure that you know them when you have heard what they say.
In the end they cause far less pain to people’s feelings than those who have a great deal of finesse and policy, whose words are softer than butter but inwardly they are drawn swords. Smooth and oily tongues, with lying hearts at the back of them are fit instruments for Satan. But truth-speaking lips, which are joined to an honest heart are precious things which the Lord Himself delights to use. Now, when the good Brethren who had joined the Savior came to tell Nathanael that they had found the Christ he blurted out his objection at once.
They said, “We have found Him, of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth.” But he did not take everything for Gospel which his friends told him. Nathanael had been born and bred in the midst of people prejudiced against Nazareth and he had sucked in their prejudice and felt sure that the Messiah could no more come from Nazareth than a profound philosopher could come from Gotham. He does not beat about the bush but he says at once, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
It is always a good thing, when a man has a prejudice, if he will but state it and “out” with it. You can always deal with this kind of fellow. If he will say what is troubling him and tell you what keeps him back from faith, why, then you can put your finger on his difficulty and try to remove it. It is a great miracle when a dumb devil is cast out. If the evil will but speak and so declare itself we have a chance of overcoming it.
Nathanael’s question was met at once by his comrades, who said to him, “Come and see.” And like the honest man that he was, he took up their challenge. He would “come and see.” How many there are who make objections but they will not “come and see”! They have heard concerning a certain preacher, perhaps, such-and-such absurd things. But another says, “It is not so. Come and see.” Not they. They do not want to come and see—for they are unfair and prefer to cherish a bad opinion of the man. They have heard that Calvinistic doctrine is cruel, harsh and unjust. “Ah,” says a Believer in Free Grace, “you have only seen a caricature of it. You should read for yourself and judge by Scripture.”
Oh, no—they do not want to read! They have made up their minds—not that they have much of a mind to make up. If they had more mind it might take them longer to make it up. But, having once made up their little mind, they have no mind to unmake it. They prefer to go blindly on whether they are right or wrong. They know so much that they do not wish to learn any more. Nathanael was not of that sort. “Come and see,” was an invitation which commended itself to his judgment. “Oh, yes,” said he, “by all means! I am open to conviction. I will come and see.”
I wish I could prevail on each one of my hearers to search the Bible for himself to see what the true doctrine is, that he may have a firm foundation to build upon and not take his religion second-hand from another. Nathanael is on his way to see for himself, when the Lord Jesus Christ, turning to those round about Him, says, in a voice loud enough for Nathanael to hear, “Behold an Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile!” Here comes a man with no craft, no cunning in him. Nathanael is startled to find his real character so clearly read and somewhat bluntly asks, “From where do You know me?”
I must do him the justice of believing that he said it respectfully, yet, nevertheless, he curtly said, “From where do You know me?” As much as to say— “You have hit the nail on the head. But how came You to know this?” You see, the enquiry that was in his mind is soon upon his tongue—his words at once declare his thought. It is a great mercy when men dare speak upon that which troubles them. Instead of letting a doubt or a difficulty fester in their souls, they bring it out—that the light may play upon it and it is soon gone.