Sermon Tone Analysis

Jesus knows us inside and out.

He knows all about us.

He knows our internal and our external condition.

I invite your attention this morning to the last part of the Gospel of John, chapter 1.

I want us to begin reading today in verse 43, and I want us to look at this message entitled Inside and Out.

We pick up the story given to us by the Apostle John at the initial conversions of the disciples.

In verse 43, it says, /"The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, 'Follow Me.' Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, 'We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law, and also the prophets wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.'

And Nathanael said to him, 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' Philip said to him, 'Come and see.'/

/ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, 'Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit.'

Nathanael said to Him, 'How do you know me?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.' Nathanael answered and said to Him, 'Rabbi, You are the Son of God!

You are the King of Israel!' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Because I said to you, "I saw you under the fig tree," do you believe?

You will see greater things than these.'"/

Jesus reveals Himself to both Philip and to Nathanael, two of His Apostles in our story today.

Philip…that's a Greek name so he is of Greek descent...is a fisherman of the village of Bethsaida, a Hebrew word for house of fish right there on the northern inlet there on the Sea of Galilee.

Also Nathanael is a fisherman as well from that region.

Jesus has traveled up beyond the region of Judea now north into the region of Galilee, as we know and can tell, in order to find these people who will become His disciples.

He does find Philip, whereas in our previous text, we saw Andrew inquiring with Jesus, and Jesus saying, "What are you looking for?" and Andrew wanting to know where He was staying.

Jesus tells him, "Well, come and see."

We see from that side, Andrew being the one who is seeking the Messiah.

Here we see Jesus is very much involved in the lives of those who are seeking Him, and He just simply tells Philip, "Come follow Me." /"Follow Me."/

That is the invitation He also gives to Andrew when He says, "Come and see."

It's the invitation He offers to everyone in this room to follow Him.

He invites you into His fellowship.

He invites you into His discipleship.

Well, Philip does follow Jesus, and much like Andrew going to Peter, Philip goes to Nathanael.

He goes and he says, "We have found the Messiah.

He is the One called Jesus of Nazareth."

Nathanael hearing the word Nazareth, and knowing the bad reputation the small village of Nazareth had in the Galilean region and knowing the common statement that was made of the Nazarenes said, /"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"/

Philip gave him that invitation.

/"Come and see." "Come and see."/

You may be here today because someone has simply invited you to come, to just say, "Come and see."

They've not tried to convince you beforehand.

They just simply love you enough they want you to experience Christ for yourself.

They want to give you that opportunity to hear from the Messiah, to worship the Savior, and to respond to His invitation to come and to follow Him.

When Nathanael meets Jesus, as you see, Jesus tells Nathanael He knows him inside and out.

The first thing Jesus does is He says, "You are a man without deceit."

That means He knows Nathanael on the inside.

Then the second thing He tells him is, "I saw you when you were under the fig tree when Philip came to you."

So Nathanael knows that He knows his external circumstances as well.

That's the truth about his outside.

Nathanael is so astonished, he is going to say in verse 49, /"Rabbi, You are the Son of God!

You are the King of Israel!"/

This realization that there exists Someone who knew him, both his outside circumstances and the interior of his heart, was transforming in Nathanael's life.

So it is with all of those who come to know Christ.

Listen, He knows our circumstances.

He knows the fig tree we're standing under today.

It is a great grace to us…a great grace to us…that Jesus today as the Son of God and the King of Israel knows our condition inside and out.

Listen, if you're in trouble, if you're in something and you're all alone, if there's something so private to you, so scary to you you've not shared it with anyone, if there's an experience you're going through you're sure no one else could possibly understand, if you find yourself in a trauma, you find yourself in grief, you find yourself in fear, you find yourself just perplexed in life…it's a grace for you today to know Jesus knows your circumstance.

He knows the situation you're in.

Jesus knows.

You'll never be in a situation where Jesus is not fully aware of what's going on in your life.

If you believe He loves you and He is stronger than any force in the world, than anything that might be trying to beset you today, the fact that He knows your circumstance is a great grace for you to know.

Also, Jesus not only knows the circumstance we're in, but He also knows our heart.

He tells Nathanael, "You're a man without deceit."

You know, it may be an even sweeter thing that He knows your inner condition today.

It might be one thing that He knows the circumstances you are in, but a lot more powerful that He knows you on the inside.

When Philip said to Nathanael in verse 45 that Jesus was from Nazareth, Nathanael answered bluntly from his heart.

Without any posturing at all in verse 46, he said, /"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"/

That's the bold statement of a man who is just speaking what's on his mind.

He doesn't cover it up.

He's doesn't sugarcoat it.

He simply says what he's thinking.

Then when he comes to meet Jesus, Jesus says, /"Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit."/

Now my friends, I don’t think that's just a statement He just pulled out of the air.

I think in context, what He is saying is He is responding to what Nathanael has already told Philip.

In other words, He is saying, "Here is a man who is not a hypocrite.

Here is a man who says what's on his mind.

Here is a man who is not deceitful."

We have plenty of people who are very deceitful.

They, on Sunday, are very Christian, in Sunday School, very biblical.

But then during the week, anger, hatred, meanness, and bad tempers control their lives.

Here is a man who is prejudiced against the Nazarenes, but he is very out front with it.

He's very open, and Jesus says, "Well, there is nothing deceitful about you, Nathanael."

And He knows his heart.

Sort of a "what you see is what you get."

He's not a two-faced man.

He's not coy, at least, in his feelings.

Not deceitful.

Well, you might wonder how is Jesus going to respond if Jesus knows Nathanael has slammed Him, that Nathanael has said something derogatory toward the potential Messiah?

He could stand up and say, "I'll tell you what…you see those rocks over there?

Listen to them while they tell you about Me being from Nazareth."

He could have put Nathanael in his place, but He didn't because He knows his heart.

He knows him on the inside.

He knows your heart as well.

You may have come here this morning, and your mind is a million miles away.

You came and you've gone through the motions, but there's a bitterness that resides in your heart.

You go through the motions, but there's a fear that's really controlling your thoughts even now as I speak.

I want to tell you this morning the great grace of God is Jesus knows your heart.

Jesus knows where you are coming from just as He knew Nathanael.

And as such, to know Jesus understands.

You know, we often speak on the subject of Jesus knowing our inner condition as some sort of a warning.

You know, "You better watch what you think because Jesus is going to get you."

The fact we can't hide our sins from God. Yeah, that's true.

But I also think about how good it is to know Jesus knows my inner condition.

He knows me better than anybody knows me.

He knows me better than I know myself.

He knows all about you.

That really has meant a lot to me recently to realize Jesus knows how I think, how my personality mixes in with my thinking.

He knows me better than even I know myself.