Series: John
Title: Israelites with No Guile
Text: John1: 47-49
Date: Nov 29, 2020
Place: SGBC, NJ
Subject: Israelites with No Guile
John 1: 45: Philip
findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the
law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46: And
Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip
saith unto him, Come and see. 47: Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith
of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 48: Nathanael saith
unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that
Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. 49: Nathanael
answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of
Israel.
When the Lord Jesus saw
Nathanael, he said something amazing: “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no
guile!” This is the all-knowing,
all-seeing Son of God. This is God our
Savior before whose eyes all things are open and clear as the noon day sun.
Nathaniel, as are all sons
of Adam are, was a sinner. Born of Adam
his nature was only sin, only guile, hypocrisy, deceit and craftiness. Yet, our all-knowing, all-seeing Savior said
of Nathaniel, “Behold an Israelite
indeed, in whom is no guile!”
Proposition: Here is the good news for every true child of God, born-again
of the Spirit of God, Christ says of you what he says of Nathaniel, “Behold,
an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!”
AN ISRAELITE INDEED
“An Israelite indeed” is one
of God’s elect Israel. It is to be a
citizen of God’s holy nation made up of king-priests made so by Christ our
Lord. Nathaniel was born in Israel but
that was not the reason he was an Israelite indeed. Our carnal birth is not what determines if we
are an Israelite indeed. Our first
birth, our country of origin, our race, has nothing to do with this—whether born
a natural Jew or Gentile. Before God, we
are only sinners by our first birth.
Romans 9: 6: For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
It would be so helpful in
understanding the scriptures if we could forget natural, political Israel and
remember that all sons of Adam are the same by our first birth—sinners. Only God makes one an Israelite indeed. It is only when we are born-again of God,
circumcised in heart, that we are an Israelite indeed, a true Jew.
Romans 2: 28: For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is
that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29: But he is a
Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in
the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men,
but of God.
The outward sign of
circumcision typified the inward work of grace whereby God creates within us a
new heart birthing us into his kingdom.
John 3: 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God.
It is the work of God alone,
not of us. Every sinner is at the mercy
of God to work this work but it is a work God shall do in every sinner that God
chose in Christ and Christ redeemed.
Deuteronomy 30: 6: And
the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to
love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest
live.
Only
the love of God shed abroad in the new heart God has made makes us love
spiritually. The Pharisee’s were
born in Israel and circumcised in the flesh by men. So they thought themselves Israelites, true
Jews. They looked down on others who they
saw sin. But God said they were not circumcised in the heart the same as the
Gentiles were not. Thus they were no different
from spiritually dead Gentiles.
Jeremiah 9: 25: Behold,
the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are
circumcised with the uncircumcised; 26: Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the
children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners,
that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are
uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the
heart.
But of God’s true, elect,
redeemed Israel he says:
Jeremiah 32: 39: And I
will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the
good of them, and of their children after them: 40: And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I
will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
The true Israel of God are born-again of God,
circumcised in heart; true Jews, Israelites indeed.
IN WHOM IS NO GUILE
This is the new nature—the new heart—the new
spirit—the new man—created of the Holy Spirit. In the new man is “no guile”: no
deceit, no craftiness, no dishonesty.
The new man is only pure with singleness of heart for Christ. This is
not something we arrive at by our works.
This is entirely of the Spirit of Christ.
The new creation is as much the glory of Christ as his
work for us on the cross. God’s elect were
crucified with Christ and justified from all our sins so that we have no record
of sin before God ever. Before God we
have no guile because we have no sin in Christ.
But just as necessary, we must be born of the Spirit of Christ. A new man must be created within us in Christ’s
righteousness and holiness by Christ being formed in us.
Psalm 32: 2: Blessed is
the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there
is no guile.
Revelation 14: 4: These
are they which were not defiled with women; [with false religion, harlot Babylon]
for they are virgins. [Christ makes us chaste, holy by his blood and Spirit] These
are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from
among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. 5: And in
their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of
God.
In Christ before God’s holy
law, we are without guile at God’s right hand because in Christ we have no sin,
no iniquity, no guile in the record books of God. By Christ abiding in us, we have a new spirit
in which is no guile.
1 Peter
1: 23: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
The apostle Peter said by the
Holy Spirit it is
1 Peter
3:4:…the hidden man of the heart,…which is not corruptible,…a meek and quiet
spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
Christ commended Nathaniel because
he saw what Christ had made him.
1 John
3: 9: Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in
him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10: In this the children of
God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not
righteousness [believe on Christ] is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother.
Brethren, did Christ mean that
it was the tenor of Nathaniel’s life that he had no guile? If we have a new spirit in which is no guile
then we confess by experience that it cannot mean that. Our flesh is only sin and sin is mixed with all
we do. But until we have this new man we
will not be honest about ourselves.
A man in the water does not
feel the weight of the water; but let him come out on the dry land then put a 5
gallon bucket of water on his head and it is very heavy. When we only have a sin-nature we do not feel
the weight of our sin because we are in sin.
But when the Spirt creates a new man we are in the spirit and sin
becomes exceedingly sinful. Since Christ
has given a new spirit in which is no guile we are honest about our sin.
The one manifest difference
between a child of God and a child of the devil is: in our new man we cannot
cease to keep the commandment of Christ our King because Christ’s Seed abides
in us. What is his commandment? He gave it in the negative in
I John 3: 9: whosoever
doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
He gives it in the positive
in
1 John 3: 23: And this
is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ,
and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24: And he that keepeth his commandments
dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by
the Spirit which he hath given us.
This new, guileless nature
is “Christ in you” and you in him. (Colossians 1:27) By Christ our Righteousness abiding in us we have
incorruptible life. “If the Spirit of
Christ be in you, the spirit is life because of righteousness.” By the Faithful One abiding in us we do
righteousness—we believe on him in whom we have done the whole law in
perfection and are justified from all our sins.
By the love of God shed abroad in our heart we love Christ and love our
brethren. By Christ abiding in us we
never cease doing so. That is the one
manifest difference between a child of God and a child of the devil.
The result is we worship God with no guile from
the inner man
Philippians 3: 2:
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 3: For we
are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
We are true Jews. We worship from the new spirit in which is no
guile. Christ is all our Salvation: and
we walk by faith receiving all from his fulness. Now, we have no confidence in our flesh
because we know that in our flesh dwells no good thing. We draw near to God, not in word only, but in
spirit and truth, with a single eye for Christ, with a single heart for Christ,
not as men-pleasers. That is the work of
the Spirit of Christ in our new man!
CHRIST LOOKS ON THE
HEART
John 1: 48: Nathanael
saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him,
Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
Nathaniel was under a fig
tree out of sight from men. He was most
likely pouring out his heart to God in prayer.
Christ’s comments tell us that.
Proverbs 15: 8: The
prayer of the upright is his delight.
Christ saw a true in heart
in which is no guile. From the new heart
the believer is honest with God.
We are honest about who God
is and what God requires: Father, thou art Holy; thou desirest truth in the
inward parts; perfect righteousness before your law, perfect holiness of heart.
We are honest about ourselves: in my flesh dwells no
good thing, only sin; I have never kept God’s ten commandments; I am nothing
but sin in my sinful flesh
We are honest about our
need: Lord, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; create in me a clean
heart; a right spirit. I must rest in Christ
alone to make me righteous; his blood alone purges my conscious from dead works;
I must be found in Christ, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law
but in his righteousness alone.
It is the sincere pouring
out of the soul to God with singleness of heart for Christ, praising God even
for our trials. We praise him for mercies
needed and mercies given. We give God
all glory at all times, not with lip service, but from a pure heart. In the new man we have peace with God in
Christ: rest in the midst of trouble, sorrow, and heartache. “Thou wilt keep
him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.”
Be sure to get this: Christ
saw him but Christ speaks only of what Christ had made him, he looked only upon
the new man in whom was no guile. Paul
said concerning the true Jew, “whose praise [whose commendation] is not of men
but of God.” The inward man is of great
price in God’s sight. Nathaniel was
under the fig tree, not praying to be seen and praised of men. His closet was the fig tree where he prayed
in spirit and in truth without guile, with unfeigned faith from a pure heart. Christ
seeing the heart which Christ himself created he commended Nathaniel as “an
Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.”
Brethren, we need to learn
to look upon our brethren this way. Paul
said, when I do that I would not, when I sin,
Romans 7: 17: Now then
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18: For I know that in
me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with
me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Do you think that same
sin-nature was in Nathaniel? Of course. Yet, Christ only spoke of Nathaniel’s inward
man because the old man is crucified with Christ and the new man is Christ’s
creation. God looks on the heart he has made where Christ abides and we abide
in Christ inseparably one.
We need to remember when we see a brother sin, that is
not my brother; that is his sinful flesh.
If I have no guile then let me consider myself—that very same sin is in
me right now, I am guilty of the same. Let
me remember that I am beholding my brother’s old man which was crucified with
Christ on the cross; dead before God, dead to the law, like my old man of sin. Let me remember my brother is the new man in
whom is no guile: in his new man he believes Christ, loves Christ and his brethren,
and loves me; he is one who Christ commends.
When my brother sins that will help me speak humbly from
the inward man without malice, without guile—“thou art the man.” Then it will help me restore—“but thy sin is
forgiven”. Then it will help me trust
him to Christ and wait on him.
MORTIFICATION AND RENEWING
John 1: 49: Nathanael
answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King
of Israel—
By Christ knowing our
heart, by his Spirit bearing witness with our spirit, Christ makes us know
him. He makes us know we are his
child. By his Spirit he mortifies our
flesh and strengthens our inner man.
That is what Christ worked in Nathaniel as he spoke of looking upon his
heart while under the fig tree.
Immediately, beholding Christ
as his Master, as the Son of God, as his King, the inward man is strengthened
to cry out in honor of Christ. That is
how the Spirit bears witness we are his.
That is how the Spirit mortifies our flesh. That is how the Spirit strengthens the new
man to turn from all else and believe on Christ and confess him.
Romans 8: 10: And if
Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life
because of righteousness. 11: But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus
from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also
quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 12: Therefore,
brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.13: For if
ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14: For as many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. 15: For ye have not received the spirit of
bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we
cry, Abba, Father. 16: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that
we are the children of God: 17: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may
be also glorified together.
Amen!