How A Skeptic Met Jesus And Found Certainty

What if the shift from striving to peace is one honest prayer away? We follow Nathaniel’s path from sharp skepticism—“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”—to a clear confession that Jesus is the Son of God. His turning point isn’t a polished argument; it’s a piercing moment of revelation when Jesus says, “I saw you under the fig tree.” That simple line tells a deeper story about how God meets us where we actually are, sees our inner life, and invites us to something greater.

We read John 1:43–51 and unpack the cultural weight of the fig tree as a place of meditation, then connect it to the present: Scripture, prayer, and the Holy Spirit still converge to speak to real people in specific moments. Along the way, we challenge the urge to debate the Bible into submission and instead lean into a faith that says “yes and amen” to God’s promises. Humility becomes the key posture—being without guile, willing to be known, ready to be taught—so the noise of performance quiets and the peace of Christ takes root.

From “follow me” to “you will see greater things,” we trace a pattern anyone can live: receive revelation, respond in trust, and keep walking. We talk candidly about judgment based on origins, the trap of trying to feel our way into belief, and the freedom that comes when love is received rather than earned. If you’ve ever wanted a faith that is real, grounded, and life-giving, this conversation offers a clear path forward. Listen, reflect, and share it with someone who needs the nudge to “come and see.” If this resonates, subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what moment made faith real for you?

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Transcript

A New Way Beyond The Law

SPEAKER_00 0:42

It's a blessing to be in Christ. And given to us to be in that position. And it's done through faith. God has given us a new way. He has done a new thing, as Jeremiah says. And that new thing is He's given us something better than law. Better than I have to struggle. I couldn't do what Christ can do. I don't know how to get started, but Christ lives in us, a new living way. That's a new way. And uh we need to uh ask the Lord to help us to better understand this new order. When you understand the new way, there'd be less trouble in one's personal life. Uh we begin to understand. So, what we are doing tonight, we've gone to look further into a biographical sketch of one who was called and doing it for last few studies. We're gonna look at the life, the night of Nathaniel, John chapter two. I show men's reading at verse verses forty-three to verse fifty-one. I'm going to just do the biographicals study of this passage for short. Well, may the Lord help us see into his will, and his will up our lives as we live in this world. God has blessed us to be able to read, be able to study, be able to pray, ask him to help us to do his will. His will is all important to our lives. When we learn his will, we will have that abundant life that Jesus talks about. He said he has come to give us that abundant light. The verse 51. Let's look into the Bible. The day following, Jesus would go and forth into Galilee and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was the best best, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathaniel, and saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophet did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathaniel said unto him, And there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and said to him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathaniel said unto him, Whence kneest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou was under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathaniel answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art the son of God. Thou art the king of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believe thou. Thou shalt see greater things than these. And he said unto him, Verily, verily I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Thank God for the reading of this portion of scripture. I want you to understand tonight that God sees you in me. He knows all about you and He knows all about me. We cannot hide from God. We have to be willing to do what He commands. He is well pleased as we strive to do His will through His help. It's by grace, it's not of our own accord, not what we think, it's not how we feel about the matter, but it's what God has given us in Revelation through His Son. Let's look at the character of Nathaniel for a little while. The Bible tells you, Nate, to meditate. Psalms 1. The whole will of God when it comes to His Word. Psalms 1 is bedrock. The Bible tells us day and night. Some might say, Well, that's too much meditation. When we meditate in God's word, it's not too much meditation. But we need to ask the Lord to help us, help us to understand. All times we do not understand the will of God as we read it. We've been taught to read, but we can read Paul words, read without a proper understanding. And another thing you and I need to understand that we are dealing with spiritual truths. And if we're not careful, these spiritual truths will remain in the abstraction. We have to get something, as I use the phrase, to hold on to. We have to understand God's will. The Bible assists of the promises of God. And the Bible tells us all the promises of God are yes. I love the meditator from that phrase, all the promises of God are yes. Second Corinthians 3 that Paul says that when he preached the gospel and taught the gospel, it was not yes and no, yea and nay, but it was absolute. It was yes and amen. I'm glad what uh what the Bible says. What we find in the church today, we find groups trying to debate, trying to debate the Bible. I think it's foolish to try to debate the Bible. What do you get started? You go debate. We need to accept the Bible by faith. Praise God. If we don't accept it by faith, then we have trouble in our lives. Starts with trouble in our minds, and trouble is not trouble in our minds that goes into trouble in our lives. That's why we have so many complaints when it comes to the things of God, because we fail to accept God by faith. The just shall live by faith, the Bible teaches. Let's look at the place for a moment at verse 43. The Bible says that they following Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find Philip and saith unto him, Follow me. Follow me. That's what Jesus says, follow me. He didn't say debate about me, follow me. Sometimes we find that very difficult. What do you mean? Following Jesus. When it comes to spiritual things, beloved, I want you to think about this. Spiritual things are not easy to understand because it's not based upon our understanding, it's based upon God's revelation given to us through faith. We have to believe God and take him at his word. Faith is granted to us. God speaks to us through his word. He allows us to speak to him through prayer. Praise God. We can talk to Jesus as he talks to us through the written word. We speak to him through prayer, through our spirit. That's why the Holy Spirit is given to you and me. First of all, we can know God's will through his spirit that he has given us. He gives us the revelation of his will, and we must uh stand firmly upon what he says and ask him to help us to understand. Praise God. I thank him for what he has done. We ought to testify to what he has done in our lives. The Bible says we have to give a testimony to what God has done for us. Give a reason for the hope that is in us. We can do how we feel and get away with it. We can't play with God nor His Son Jesus. We got to be real. We say we love, we got to be real. As a matter of fact, He's already shown us, if you are a believer, He's already shown you what love is. And whoever listened to the scripture and whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God has done that. We have to believe it by faith. We have to accept His love that He has given us. He not only gave us love, but He demonstrated His love. And while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Did you notice that? While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Not while we were righteous, we are far from righteousness. We were sinners. All have sinned, the Bible teaches you and me and come short of the glory of God. They don't accept that. He didn't mean that. But he means everything he said, all his promises. He's a God of promises. All the Bible. It's filled up with the promises of God. And the promises of God are yes. An amen. When I personally study the Bible and look at the revelation of Israel, I'd say amen. So be it. We want to live accordingly to his will. It's outstanding. You live according to his will. He gives you peace. As a matter of fact, when we study the Bible, God's will for you and me is to be in the state of humility. He calls us to humble ourselves. Humility is not easy to understand. As a matter of fact, God has helped you and me to understand humility. He wants us to be humble. Humble is not a good word for some. What do you mean by being humble? We want to be stout. Know it all. Want to be like the commercial that they used to have, Mr. Know It All. We want to be Mr. Miss Know It All. That's impossible. When it comes to spiritual truth for us to know in and of ourselves, that's why it must be through faith. I said that again, it must be through faith. As we look at this biographical sketch of Nathaniel, something that you and I can understand about ourselves. This special biographical sketch of Nathaniel speaks to you and me. Listen to the conversation. Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathaniel said unto him, and there.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

And there any good thing come out of Nazareth?

Promises, Humility, And Peace

Come And See: A Simple Invite

The Fig Tree And Meditation

Judging By Origins Versus Truth

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Bill said unto him, Come and see. How are we gathered from there if you uh and I don't understand how to give testimony about Christ and what he has done? Here's what is easy to do. Just tell a person, come and see. Sometimes persons will question about the church of Christ. Why is that so? You don't know how to answer it. Just tell them to come and see. Many have been caught by coming and seeing. I heard the testimony on the just passing the church building, and they decide to come in. And what they hear, strange doctrine at first, but it's different. So they go from the building, they go out and they get up and come again. Had that testimony given to me. Okay, testimony is given. They sit in the congregation, and the preachers seem to be talking directly to them. They go away, they come again to visit, and they sit at a different place in the building, and that message from the Bible comes wherever they are sitting, and they say, if the testimony has been given to me, you say, Looks like the Lord has spoken directly to me. What they don't understand, God's word is spiritual. Heart. When God searches a heart, either you will respond in obedience or you will reject him. That's why many people reject God because of the stoutness of their heart. You need to humble yourself. Praise God. So tonight as we look at the life of Nathaniel, he questions it can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip told him, Come and see. Jesus, the Bible cited verse 47, Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him. This is very interesting. And said unto him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathaniel said unto him, which knowest thou of me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee when thou was under the fig tree. I saw thee. We in the modern times don't know anything about the fig tree. Naturally, we buy figs from the tree. Some of us have never seen a fig tree. Some of us from the south know about fig trees. I happen to know about fig tree. I had a fig tree in the yard from my parents. I could go out and I could pick figs off the tree. Pick a rut off the tree. Bite into the figs. I wouldn't advise you to do that to wash it first, but we as kids we didn't wash anything. We just ate. Today they would say, oh, germs. We didn't think hear anything about germs as children, but uh figs are good on the tree. Jesus speaks of the fig tree. He told Nathaniel, I saw you under the fig tree. Now we had need to understand something about the fig tree in Israel. What happened under the fig tree with the Jews? The Jews would meditate under the fig tree. In the summertime, the heat you get under the leaves of the fig tree and get cool. So you and I have to understand a little bit about what the Jews thought about the fig tree. Philip was under the fig tree, and perhaps he was there meditating. I get it from the text. He was there under the fig tree. Look what the Bible says. Verse 45 again. Philip findeth Nathaniel and saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write Jesus. O Nazareth, the son of Joseph. That's what he discovered. You and I read the Bible, we make some discoveries. You need to read with prayer, understanding. Lord, help me to understand what I'm reading. Help me to understand the mysteries that I don't understand. Ask the Lord to help you. Anything you said on him again. And any good thing come out of Nazareth? What did we gather there? They are folk and want to judge people. I have been judged, you have been judged. You've been judged in what we say, how we say it. We have to keep preaching the gospel. If we preach the word, we have to keep preaching whether you like it or not. We need help from our master, Jesus. If Jesus called you, and you really understand that he called you, no one can touch you. Jesus lives with you, but most of all, through his spirit, he lives within you. That's powerful. When you believe that, Jesus helps you. Nathaniel. He says, Come and see. I like this phrase. Jesus looks into your heart and mine. He looked into Nathaniel's heart. He said to Nathaniel, verse 47 again, behold, an Israelite indeed. Listen to what Jesus says, in whom is no guile? He said that he said of Nathaniel, you are real. That's the term we use today. He's a real man. No guile, no deceit. Jesus said, It is found in you. Nathaniel said to him, Which knowest thou me? I want you to know that Jesus knows you and me. You can't fool Jesus. You want help from Jesus? You and I must be real too. By faith we must believe. Natanya answered and said unto him, Rabbi, Rabbi N be called Jesus teacher. Rabbi, thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believed thou, thou shalt see greater things than these. And he said unto him, Verily, verily. Verily, verily is from the Greek, Amen, Amen. I say unto thee, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. That happened at Jesus' baptism. Upon Jesus, a voice from heaven said at that time, This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Matthews 17. You hear God saying, Moses and Elijah appear. Peter got excited. He said, Let us build three tabernacles, one for you and one for uh the three of us, God. Here's something that everyone should understand and see it through faith. God overshadowed them and made disappeared, and nobody was left on scene but Jesus. And a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved son. Hear ye him. So there's one person we must hear today and believe and trust, and that's Jesus. He does in the life of Nathaniel. He believed and trusted. Praise God. This lesson is for you and me. Don't criticize God. You're not willing to do what he says. Laughing is coughing at God. Remember the Bible is right. God is not mocked. Whatever a person sows, that shall he also reap. This is our lesson for tonight. Think, meditate upon this biographical sketch of Nathan. May the Lord bless us all tonight and help us all to be serious about our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you falls before his presence with exceeding joy. The only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion, and power. Now until let us all say, Amen.