Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the divine wisdom of God through the story of Nathanael in John 1, illustrating how Jesus reveals our hearts and invites us to see greater things. He encourages believers to seek a deeper relationship with Christ rather than getting caught up in the miraculous or superficial experiences. Beach highlights that true fulfillment comes from knowing Jesus as the gateway to the Father and the fullness of God. He urges the congregation to move beyond mere belief in God's knowledge of their hearts to a transformative revelation of His majesty and glory. The sermon concludes with a call to seek the deeper truths of Christ and to find satisfaction in Him alone.

Words to live by tonight. We're going to be looking into one aspect of the divine wisdom of God. How many here realize that God has divine wisdom? John chapter 1. We're going to read about a fellow whose name is Nathaniel, a very interesting young man. John chapter 1. We're going to begin reading in verse number 43, but before we do, I'd like to pray and ask God's blessing on the sharing of his word tonight. Father, we thank you and praise you that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, and especially those who believe. Father, we praise you. Our hearts are filled with thanksgiving tonight, because truly Christ has not only risen from the dead, but he has indeed risen within our hearts. He has caused light to shine in darkness. Lord, I pray tonight that you would search our hearts and reveal to us the glorious things that you revealed to Nathaniel, or rather the things that you promised to reveal to him as he continued to believe and trust in you. We pray, Lord, that we would see the Nathaniel in all of us, and then see the response of Christ to that Nathaniel that dwells in us. We ask for Jesus' sake, amen and amen. We're going to begin reading in John chapter 1, verse number 43. Now just a little bit about Jesus. Is that impossible, Helen? There's so much, I don't know why Christians get involved in anything else but Jesus. I can't understand it. I can't understand why God's children are chasing every manner of doctrine and teaching and revelation, and the blessed Son of God stands with his arms outstretched with tears rolling down his cheeks, saying, when will you turn to me? Beloved, don't chase. Sit at his feet, and your soul will be ever satisfied, I promise. How many like fresh bread? Do you like fresh bread? Is there any other scent that can compare to fresh baked bread in the oven, particularly in the wintertime, because all the air is kept within the house, you know, the summer, the windows are open. So if it's a cold winter day, and somebody's cooking nice fresh wheat bread, my mother-in-law does this a lot. You walk in the house, and you're just overcome by the scent of bread. Well, Jesus is the bread of life. Have you been turned on to Jesus? I'm not talking about an intellectual infatuation. I'm talking about a soul, spirit turn on. He can meet your deepest need, beloved. Don't look beyond Jesus. In him, you'll find the Father. In him, you'll find the fullness of the Godhead. Through Jesus, you'll get to know the Father, and you'll love them both. Through Jesus, you'll get to know the blessed Holy Spirit. You'll find the Holy Spirit is so humble, he never speaks of himself. He only speaks what he hears. And you know who he's listening to? Jesus. What a glorious Godhead we serve. Let us make man in our image. Oh, I praise God for his love. Jesus was choosing his disciples. Now, you know, Jesus didn't do this on the spur of the moment. You search the scriptures, you'll understand that Jesus spent many, many, many weeks in prayer and fasting. You see, Jesus understood what to do because he had a relationship with God. We, too, can understand what to do when the Holy Spirit teaches us to have a relationship with God, with the Father. Jesus had spent many, many weeks in prayer and fasting. Oftentimes, Jesus would spend the nights in prayer. Recently, I was sharing with some brethren the reason why there is prayerlessness in the church, and the remedy, let me tell you something, the remedy to get people to pray is not to get preaching about praying and stir people up in the flesh. That's not how to do it. It will result in bondage, and Jesus doesn't want the church into bondage. Listen, the degree a man prays is in relationship to his revelation of how dependent he is on God. Therefore, the key to a successful prayer life is not trying to follow a law, but it's come to Jesus and simply say, Father, show me how helpless I am without you. That's all you have to do. As your revelation increases as to the utter helplessness and fruitlessness that you are without the energy and empowerment of the divine Spirit of God, you will pray. Period. The disciples weren't real prayer warriors when Jesus was with them. They didn't see their need. They weren't persuaded that ye can do nothing. There it is right there. Ye can do nothing except ye abide in me. How many Christians, how many preachers really believe that scripture? Ye can do nothing. Okay, so here's the key. Do you want to learn to pray? Do you want to learn to have a fruitful prayer life? One where your soul will enter into the very presence of God and you can commune with Him? Then just simply come to the Lord every day with a childlike faith and say, Lord Jesus, show me that I'm a branch, and as a branch my whole life must come from the life in you. That's it. Simple, isn't it? So Jesus exemplified how to be human. I heard one preacher say, Jesus taught us how to be men and women. He taught us how to act as humans, depending upon God. So see, you have to understand what's written between the scriptures and through the Gospels. This doesn't come by the spur of the moment. I mean, Jesus doesn't get off his lounge chair after watching the late movie Beloved. Well, I think I'm gonna go find me some disciples. You know how we sometimes, you know, you know how sometimes, you know, I think I'm going to find me some disciples. You know, Doritos in his pocket. You know, a can of Pepsi. You know, this comes from a slightly different setting. This comes from a setting where a man, he was God. Don't misunderstand me. Jesus was the mystery of 100% God and 100% man embodied in Jesus Christ. He wasn't a little less God or a little less man. He was everything. He was God. He was the Son of Man and he was the Son of God. Isn't that glorious? So he didn't come from his lounge chair in Mary's house. He came from the deserts. He did. You put all the Gospels together and you can learn this. He came from the deserts. The setting was just 40 days of wrestling with the devil. He got instructions from the Father and he went out divinely commissioned by God, divinely anointed by God. God had already prepared. So the setting that we have is in John chapter 1 verse 29. We see John the Baptist is in the Jordan baptizing people and the Son of God comes and I love John the Baptist. He says, Behold the Lamb of God. In other words, if you want to place your eyes upon something, don't place them on me, John said. Place them on the Lamb of God, for it is he that taketh away the sin of the world. One glance at the Son of God and your sin is taken away. One genuine glance, one genuine glance at the Son of God and your sin is taken away. And after Jesus was baptized, he went into the wilderness there to be tempted of the devil. There he was broken. His outer man was crushed. He was weakened, but oh how he rose in the spirit and he became strong by God. So here's a man, the Son of God, who was going forth and here's what God does in verse number 43. The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee and findeth Philip and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him, We have found of him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Now notice Nathanael's response. And Nathanael said to him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. You see, Nazareth wasn't a very spectacular city. Wasn't like Rome. It wasn't glorious to the sight. But once again, Jesus hides himself in what is repugnant to natural man. You'll never find Jesus on the Hollywood stage. You'll never find Jesus in ivory palaces. You'll only find him in lowly places, humble places. You'll only find him in the town of Nazareth. Time magazine surely wouldn't have written an article about Nazareth. They wouldn't be interested in him. But who was there? Jesus. So Nathanael was skeptical at first. He was skeptical. He questioned why would God mess with Nazareth? Jesus saw Nathanael coming, verse number 47, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite in whom is no guile. Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip calleth thee, when thou was under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel. Here we see the beginning of the wisdom of God. Listen, beloved. Jesus saw Nathanael under the fig tree before Philip even talked to him. Here Jesus discloses a secret that was in Nathanael's heart that nobody knew but God. Listen, God manifested a little gleam of his awesome power to Nathanael. Jesus knew that Nathanael was slightly skeptical as to how the Messiah could come out of such a lowly place. So Jesus showed himself to Nathanael in a very remarkable way. Think about it. Here Nathanael must have been under the fig tree. He must have been thinking. Maybe he was thinking about God. Who knows? Maybe he was saying, Oh Lord, who are you? Reveal yourself to me. Beloved, the fig tree represents the place where in our hearts we're looking for him. When in our hearts we're longing for him. Jesus sees everything that goes on under the fig tree. He doesn't miss a thought. He doesn't miss a thought. But now listen. When Jesus shows us that he knows our heart, that is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end. And this is what we're going to do now. Because Jesus revealed to Nathanael that his eyes looked beyond the body and saw into the heart, Nathanael responded by saying, Thou art the Christ. Thou art the Son of God. Verse number 50, Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. Beloved, listen. The profession of faith, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, is a door that leads you into illumination. It leads you into the threshold of beginning to discover the glories and riches that are hid in Christ Jesus. Christ revealed his power to Nathanael. Christ revealed the fact that he knew his heart. He knew what he was thinking, but didn't want Nathanael to get overly excited about that work, because Jesus did it for a purpose. Then Jesus said, Listen, if you believe this, Nathanael, I want you to know something. It's only the beginning. Thou shalt see greater things than these. Verse number 51, And he said unto him, Verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say to you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Now, beloved, think. Why did Jesus mention this scripture? By the way, this is found in the Old Testament. You may turn your Bibles to Genesis, and we'll just look at this very briefly. Genesis chapter 28. Genesis chapter 28. You see, Jesus used an illustration here about the ladder and the angels ascending and descending. He an illustration that was familiar to the student of the scripture. Now, Genesis chapter 28, verse number 10. This is the story when Jacob left his house, and he was going to his uncle's house, Laban. The reason why is because Jacob deceived his father. Do you remember the story? Jacob's mother told him to get the skin of an animal and put it on his body so he could get the blessing when it really belonged to his brother. And then when his brother found out about it, his brother wanted to kill him. So his mother said, Listen, you better take off. Go to your uncle Laban. This is the way. This is on the way to his uncle's house. Verse number 10, chapter 28. And Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran, and he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set. And he took up the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending. Now, you keep your finger right there. Listen to what Jesus said, Verily I say to you, Hereafter you shall see heaven open and angels of God ascending and descending upon, who? The Son of Man. Now, he pulled the story out of the Old Testament and told Philip, or Nathanael, that he was about to see what Jacob saw. Possibly he was about to see the true fulfillment of what Jacob saw. Now, let's read on here and see. Verse 13, And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father and the God of Isaac. Oh my Lord, can you see what God is doing here? Boy, I tell you, I want to get under a fig tree. See, when you place yourself under a fig tree, beloved, spiritually speaking, that place where you're thinking about God and meditating on him, you see what God rewards the fig tree sitters? He gives them great revelation. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father and the God of Isaac, and the land wherein thou liest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed. Thy earth shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with thee and I will keep thee in all places whither thou goest and will bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid and said, How dreadful is this place! Listen, this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. What a revelation! He saw this ladder and realized it was the gate of heaven, and it led to God, God himself. Now what did Jacob do? Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it up for a pillow and poured oil upon the top of it, and he called the name of that place Bethel, which means the house of God, the place where God lives. But the name of that city was called Luz at the first. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me and will keep me in this way, that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God, and this stone which I have set for a pillow shall be God's house, and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Now this is a profound story in the Old Testament, and what it meant to the Jewish mind was God was revealing himself. Now Jesus said, we're gonna stop in a few minutes here, Jesus said, Do you believe because I showed you the secrets of your heart? Let me ask a question. How many of you have experienced in one way or another the awesome feeling of perceiving that God knew your thoughts? God knew what you, in other words, you had a Nathaniel experience, where all of a sudden it was like you were being confronted by Jesus, and wow, nobody knew that. Maybe it was something that was being preached, maybe it was a testimony, maybe it was a song, maybe it was just an unassuming person coming up to you and just started to talk about something. Little did they know they were revealing the very struggle in your heart. How many times does that happen? Often, hasn't it? Beloved, let me say this to you. Jesus loves to reveal to us that he knows our heart, but that is not an end in itself. Don't get hung up on these things, because there's a greater revelation that God wants to lead you to. Listen, when he reveals the secrets of our heart, it's almost like a hook in a fish's mouth. He gets us, doesn't he? Oh, how nice. Don't you feel like a hook? I mean, when he reveals that he knows your very thoughts, oh, it's like he's got you hooked. It's like, wow, but he wants to reel you in. Listen, don't you be satisfied until you have seen Jesus, not just as the one who knows your thoughts, not just as the one who understands what you think, but you've got to come to the place where you see Jesus as the very gateway to heaven that leads you to the Father, and in him dwells all the fullness of God bodily, and he is indeed the only way. He is the only entrance to heaven. He is that ladder, and by him we approach heaven. Now, beloved, let me tell you something. Many of us are saying, but I know that. No, we don't. We know it, but we don't know it. I want to promise you something. By the authority of God's Word, if you will let Jesus lead your dear soul every day to the foot of this ladder, who is himself, and you see the awesomeness of the Son of God, it will transform your life forever, and you will not be the same. Beloved, you can believe in Jesus, receive the gift of salvation, experience the joy of forgiveness of sins, and know that you know that you're a child of God, and go the whole entire Christian life without really getting a revelation of the blessed Son of God, and Jesus did not want to infatuate Nathanael with his power. He wanted to infatuate Nathanael with himself. Don't get hung up on what God does for you. Get hung up with God. He's gonna do a lot for you. He's gonna do a whole lot for you. He's gonna prove himself over and over that he loves you. In so many ways, I couldn't begin to announce them to you, but beloved, they are not ends within themselves. They are means. They are expressions of his love, but the divine wisdom behind Christ revealing our heart is to lead us to a greater revelation of himself, so that we can eventually have before us at all times the blessed glorious ladder where the angels of God are ascending and descending. That place where we are in him, and by him we have entrance into the very presence of God himself, and there the angels of God are ascending and descending. God is sovereign in that place. He is almighty God, and you are fixed upon a rock, and all heaven defends you, and all heaven fights your battles. I mean, it is a place where the very angels of God are treading, the very dictates of God's heart. Oh, beloved, this is where God wants us, in that place where we are indeed on that ladder, and though we are pilgrimaging on earth, yet we are in heaven with him, and we are experiencing the touch of his divine power. Do you want to be a Nathanael? Remember what Jesus said in closing. Because I said to thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Listen, many of you are believing right now, because Jesus has given you a fig tree experience, hasn't he? He's provided your needs in miraculous ways. He sent a little lowly messenger, and dropped the jewel into your heart, and showed you that he understands what you're going through. And Jesus is saying, because I gave you that experience, you believe, don't you? But don't stop there. Hear the rest of Jesus's statement. Truly I say to you, greater things than these will you see. Are you looking for the greater? Are you looking for the greater? Look for the ladder, beloved, and your soul will be forever blessed in God. Amen? Let's just bow our heads and pray for a moment. Father, I thank you for the kindness that you have showed to each one of us. I know that each one of us could testify for hours of the unique way that you have shown yourself to us, as you did to Nathanael, proving to us you understood our thoughts and our struggles. And Lord, because of these things, we are believing more and more. But Lord, help the object of our belief not to be on the works that you have done. Never forget them, but Lord, don't let us stop there. It's so short of what you want. Help the object of our belief to be focused upon you, and that ultimate revelation of the majesty of who you are, and how you can be that to us personally. Lord, if there's a dear soul here tonight who has camped, or who is camping, on the realm of glorying in that Christ knows their thoughts and hearts, I pray Lord that you'll gently nudge that soul on. Nudge them on, Lord, so they can see your purpose and lead the soul to a revelation of your majesty and your glory and your splendor, I pray. Now as we're quietly here, I just want to make one invitation. You can stay at your seat. If you want to come forward, you may, but you don't have to, because this is you and God. In your heart, you feel certain that God has revealed himself to you as Nathanael, as he did to Nathanael. But now you've seen tonight a whole new horizon before you. You've seen that God's purpose is not for you to just camp there and keep looking for the miraculous. But now you realize that God's calling you to get out of that realm and to find a vision of himself. Now if that's you right now in your heart, you just cry out to God, I want to pray for you. If you want to come forward and have special prayer, you may, but you don't have to. Father, for the dear soul here this evening who is being called by you to look for that blessed ladder where the angels of God are ascending and descending, the very revelation of your majesty and splendor. For that soul, Lord, I pray that you will confirm your word and that you will indeed draw this soul and lead this soul to this place where they can sit at the foot of the ladder and be empowered by the divine Spirit of God, ascending into the heavenlies with Christ, drawing from his very strength, I pray. Hallelujah. Now does anyone want to respond? Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. We praise you, Lord. You indeed are the ladder. Beloved, look for him. There's a host of Christians looking for everything but him. They're looking for the miraculous. They're looking for signs and wonders. They're looking for all manner of different kinds of things. But Jesus is saying, Beloved, look for the ladder. Look for me. And once you find me, you have found everything that you need. Now, Lord, confirm your word tonight and draw us. Fix us at your feet, I pray. Sister Colette, could you come and just sing or play one song for us? I don't mean to drag things out, but neither do I want to hurry, God. If you have to go, it's quarter to nine, twenty to nine, you go. I want to pray for our dear brother. Is it okay? Can I pray for you? Thank you. Let's sing for he is my Lord, the song that we sang earlier.