John 1:35-51
Believing and Becoming a Testimony
We went on vacation a couple weeks ago and went camping in Indiana. One of those days we were able to go to Cedar Point. I’m the last person you want to take to an amusement park. I hate heights, and, I didn’t ride anything. Have you been there recently? The rides there are nothing less than insane. You have to have some clinical condition in order to want to go on those rides. I think that if I were an alien looking for intelligent life and I came to Earth and saw what people do for entertainment, I would keep looking.
Every time we came to a new ride and I looked up at how far people were dangling themselves I turned into Mr. Mom, “No, you guys go ahead, someone needs to stay with the baby. I’ll watch him.” You can be proud that you have a pastor who is not too proud to watch little kids go enthusiastically on rides that he is too terrified to go on himself.
Everyone was telling me how great the rides were, and they were trying to convince me to go on this one or that one. I didn’t go on any. But, the reason I tell you this story is because you know what they were doing? They were witnessing to me about how great the rides were. I rejected their testimony. But, you know what? There is one testimony people cannot afford to reject. That is the testimony about who Jesus Christ is. If a person rejects what they hear about Jesus, the Son of God, they reject the One who is eternal life and their salvation. And God has not left them or us without witnesses.
Main Point:
John the Apostle is an eyewitness to Jesus Christ. He says in chapter 19:35 about himself, “The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.” He also says in his first letter, 1 John chapter 1: 1-3, “That which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard…” John has witnessed the eternal life, the Son of God, who came full of grace and truth into the world and he testifies in his gospel so that you and I and all would believe.
But, notice that John says “we have seen”, and “we have heard,” and “we have touched”, and “we proclaim to you”. Others had been witnesses to Jesus Christ in the flesh and he enlists their testimony as well. He starts with John the Baptist in verses 6 through 8 and says there that the Baptist was sent by God to be a witness to the light that is Jesus Christ. In verse 15 it says “John testifies” and in verse 19 it says, “now this was John’s testimony” and in verse 20, “He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely”. In verse 32 it says, “John gave this testimony” and in verse 34 the Baptist says, “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”
John, the gospel writer, wants you to first hear the testimony of John the Baptist. We looked at his testimony a couple weeks ago. Those were days 1 and 2. But, now in days 3 and 4, John moves into the testimonies of the first disciples. We might call this the “hand-off.” The disciples of John the Baptist hear his testimony and see him point to Jesus, and, so they begin to follow Jesus and they themselves begin to lead others to Christ.
Testimonies create testimonies. John the Baptist’s testimony led to Andrew and John’s testimonies. Their testimonies led to Peter’s testimony. Philip’s testimony led to Nathaniel’s testimony. When people testify to Jesus Christ others are led to Him and they become testimonies as well.
That’s why our testimony is so important. Romans 10:13-17, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? How can they believe in the one whom they have not heard?” When Jesus Christ is proclaimed and told of people hear, they believe and they call and they are saved!
Today, I want us to see how the first disciples believed the testimony about Jesus and then themselves gave testimonies. I want us to see that the Scriptures teach us a simple Scriptural truth: believing the testimony about Jesus leads to becoming a testimony for Jesus. There are 4 principles I want us to see in believing and become a testimony for Jesus: The Right Response, The Right Reason, The Right Reproduction, and The Right Realization.
The Right Response
First of all, the Right Response is necessary for believing and becoming a testimony for Jesus. Notice verses 35 – 37, “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.”
The right response to the testimony about Jesus Christ is to follow Him. John shows us in his gospel that people respond by following Christ, or, they reject Him. Some choose to follow Him. We see that right here as Andrew and John are the first disciples. Then we see Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel. Then in chapter 6 Jesus asked the 12 disciples if they wanted to keep following Him, and Peter said in verses 68-69, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Although many give a right response to follow Jesus, many more reject Him. Earlier in our chapter in verse 11 it says, “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” In chapter 5 verse 18 “the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.” And again in chapter 7 verses 48, “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No!”
Notice too that a right response is to leave whatever and whoever you were following and instead go after Christ. Being a follower of Christ will cost you. It will require sacrifice. Up until this point these two disciples were John the Baptist’s disciples – they followed him. The Baptist was the greatest man born among women. He was the last and greatest prophet among all the OT prophets. He was the forerunner to the Messiah. If you were going to be anyone’s disciple – be John the Baptists. But, even following the greatest man in history falls far short of following the Son of God. There has to come a point when following anyone or anything other than Christ must be forsaken in order to follow Christ.
Turn with me if you will to Luke 9:23. Jesus laid down the challenge, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Notice that he mentions following him last. Before you can go after Jesus and really be a follower of Him, you must deny you.
Then you must take up your cross. You must carry the burden of dying to yourself every day; you must identify with Christ every single day. Being a disciple to Jesus Christ is not about adding a little religion to your life – your life is gone! Second Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a brand new creation; the old is gone and the new has come.” Your old life is gone. You died. You have been crucified and you no longer live. It is Christ who lives in you now. If you believe in Christ you are dead and “your life is now hidden with Christ in God” Colossians 3:3 says.
Following Jesus means forsaking all things and all others. Whatever or whoever was most important in your life, now Jesus is most important. Here is a principal for you to help you measure your priorities in life: Whatever is most important to you, that is what you will sacrifice everything else for. Let me repeat it: Whatever is most important to you, that is what you will sacrifice everything else for. The most important person to these two disciples was John the Baptist. They would forsake those things to follow Jesus. They made a right response to the testimony they heard about Jesus.
What kind of sacrifice does it require for me pastor? Tell me. I will tell you this, forsake whatever is keeping you from following Jesus. That requires an examination of your own heart and life. You will need to be the one to do that and determine what sacrifice the Lord is asking you to make. Have you made a right response to the testimony of Jesus Christ? Only then will you become a testimony for Him yourself.
The Right Reason
So the two disciples leave John the Baptist, and now they are following behind Christ. They made the right response. Secondly, to believe the testimony of and become a testimony for Jesus Christ, we see that we need the right reason. Notice verses 38 and 39, “Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘Rabbi’ (which means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ ‘Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.”
Jesus will challenge our motives for following Him. When Jesus says, “What do you want”, He is not asking “what” so much as He is asking “why?” “Why are you following me?” The question is before each one of us who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Why? Why do we believe in Christ and why do we follow Him? We need to examine ourselves and make sure our reason for following Christ is the right reason.
There were many who followed Jesus for the wrong reason, and, eventually, they abandoned Him. For example, turn over into John 6. Jesus fed 5000 people miraculously. In verse 15 it says that they wanted to make Him king by force, so He got away from them. They wanted a king, but Jesus came first to save them from their sins. They were looking to Jesus for the wrong reason and as a result, he withdrew from them.
These same people in verse 14 are the same people in verse 66 where it says, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” He wasn’t what they wanted Him to be. They loved it when they ate their fill of the miraculous bread, but, they rejected Him when He told taught them about Himself. They weren’t seeking Jesus for who He truly is and He challenged them. They were forced to examine their motive for following Him and because they had the wrong motives in their hearts, they turned away.
Andrew and John had the right motives. They came to Jesus with honest and seeking hearts. And Jesus doesn’t withdraw from them. He doesn’t brush them off or ignore them. The reason is that God the Father has chosen them and therefore drawn them to Christ. John 6:37, Jesus says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” John and Andrew have been given to Jesus, they have come to Jesus, and He will not drive them away.
Jesus welcomes the honest and humble seeker. That’s why Andrew and John ask Him where He is staying. They want to be with Him and to learn from Him. Jesus will say to anyone the same as He said to Andrew and John, “Come and see.” It reminds me of our reading this morning in Revelation 22:17, “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” The invitation reminds us that He offers Himself to us so that we may be with Him. He is the Word made flesh who made His dwelling among us, His purpose was to be with us.
The right reason for following Jesus is to know Him for who He truly is and to worship Him. Anyone with a heart to know God, who has been drawn by God, will honestly and earnestly seek His Son Jesus Christ. There is where God will be found.
The Right Reproduction
We have the Right Response, the Right Reason, and thirdly we have the Right Reproduction. Notice verses 40-46, “Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip.”
Andrew is mentioned only three times in John’s gospel and each time he is bringing someone to Christ. And after spending the day with Jesus, the first thing he did was tell his brother Peter he had to come and see the Messiah. The first thing Philip did was to find Nathanael and bring him to Jesus Christ. When you know Christ you want others to know Him too. It becomes one of the first things you do because it becomes first in importance.
You never know who you may be leading to Christ. Andrew didn’t know at the time that he would led his brother Simon to Christ that he would become the leader of the 12 Apostles who are the foundation of the church (Eph 2:20). You never know who you might lead to Christ if you are actually trying to share with them.
I read a neat story this past week. Let me ask you, “Who in the world is Ed Kimball?” Do you know? He was a Sunday School teacher in 1855 who led a young man by the name of Dwight L. Moody to the Lord. You may have heard of him.
The story says that after evangelizing America, Moody went on to England. There in England Frederick B. Meyer heard his message and he was set on fire in his ministry. Eventually Meyer was invited to America to preach.
So he came and he preached. And at one of his sermons a young man was set on fire and began to evangelize. He began to preach all up and down the mid-Atlantic coast. His name was J. Wilbur Chapman.
Then, as Chapman’s ministry grew into city-wide crusades he partnered with a young convert by the name of Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday was influenced by Chapman and got into the ministry and went to Charlotte, North Carolina. There a group of laymen got so pumped up and inspired that they organized a committee to invite other evangelists back.
One man they invited was Mordecai Ham from Louisville, Kentucky. He preached in a meeting, and Billy Graham got saved. Billy Graham became a world-renowned evangelist.
And on this day, July 4th, 60 years ago in 1950, a young man by the name of Bill Vanderwall heard Billy Graham preach and committed his life to the Lord. Bill Vanderwall became a part of a group of devoted believers who a little more than 20 years ago started a church….and built this building I am preaching in today.
All because Edward Kimball - not a famous evangelist and preacher – was a testimony for Christ with a young man by witnessing to him… and look at what happened. How many thousands have been saved through the chain of believers sharing the gospel since that time? It is staggering to think of how God is able to take 1 and multiply it beyond our measure.
Who is your son or daughter going to be? Who is that disciple you’ve been investing in? Who is in your small group you’ve been teaching or your Sunday School class or your Children’s Church class? Who are you going to share the gospel with in Boston that may go into the ministry and bring multitudes more to Christ? You may invest in one soul by sharing the gospel and God may multiply that far beyond what you could ever imagine. Followers of Christ produce more followers of Christ.
The Right Realization
The Right Response – Follow Jesus. The Right Reason – is your motive right? The Right Reproduction – Lead others to Christ as you have been led. And lastly, we see the Right Realization. Notice verses 47 through 51, “When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” “How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
Nathanael is skeptical of Jesus at first because no mention of Nazareth is made in any OT Scriptures. You might say it wasn’t on the map – it was an insignificant town. Another reason is that Nazareth was in Galillee and Judeans looked down on Gallileans.
He didn’t know Jesus, but, Jesus knew Him. He tells Philip “I saw you first. I’ve always known you. You are a true Israelite, there is nothing false in you.” This doesn’t mean Philip was sinless, but that he was blameless. He lived upright in the eyes of men. He wasn’t a deceiver, as reflected in his blunt comment to Philip in verse 46, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
But, Nathanael realized Jesus knew Him even though they never met. In a matter of 3 verses he goes from doubting to declaring Jesus to be the Son of God and the King of Israel.
In verse 50 and 51 Jesus says you realize now who I am, but, you have yet to see my full glory. “You shall see heaven open up and the angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” He is making a reference to Genesis 28. There, Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel, whom the whole nation of Israel is from, had a dream.
In Genesis 28, verse 12 it says, “Jacob had a dream and he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” Jesus is referring to Himself as the ladder from earth to heaven. In other words, Nathanael, I am the One by whom mankind can have access to heaven. He would later tell Nathanael and the other 11 disciples in John 14, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” Access to the Father is only through the Son, Jesus Christ. Here’s the point, Jesus is the only ladder leading up. Every other ladder, every other religion and way, leads down.
Conclusion
Respond to the testimony of Jesus Christ by believing and following Him. Forsake whatever keeps you from following Him.
Have the Right reason, the right motivation for following Him. He tells the Pharisees in chapter 5, “You diligently search the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” We must go to Him for life, for the forgiveness of sins and life in His name.
Thirdly, make more disciples. Reproduce. Genesis says that God made everything to produce after its own kind. True followers of Christ multiply true followers of Christ.
And lastly, realize the greatness that is Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”
Believing and Becoming a Testimony
We went on vacation a couple weeks ago and went camping in Indiana. One of those days we were able to go to Cedar Point. I’m the last person you want to take to an amusement park. I hate heights, and, I didn’t ride anything. Have you been there recently? The rides there are nothing less than insane. You have to have some clinical condition in order to want to go on those rides. I think that if I were an alien looking for intelligent life and I came to Earth and saw what people do for entertainment, I would keep looking.
Every time we came to a new ride and I looked up at how far people were dangling themselves I turned into Mr. Mom, “No, you guys go ahead, someone needs to stay with the baby. I’ll watch him.” You can be proud that you have a pastor who is not too proud to watch little kids go enthusiastically on rides that he is too terrified to go on himself.
Everyone was telling me how great the rides were, and they were trying to convince me to go on this one or that one. I didn’t go on any. But, the reason I tell you this story is because you know what they were doing? They were witnessing to me about how great the rides were. I rejected their testimony. But, you know what? There is one testimony people cannot afford to reject. That is the testimony about who Jesus Christ is. If a person rejects what they hear about Jesus, the Son of God, they reject the One who is eternal life and their salvation. And God has not left them or us without witnesses.
Main Point:
John the Apostle is an eyewitness to Jesus Christ. He says in chapter 19:35 about himself, “The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.” He also says in his first letter, 1 John chapter 1: 1-3, “That which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard…” John has witnessed the eternal life, the Son of God, who came full of grace and truth into the world and he testifies in his gospel so that you and I and all would believe.
But, notice that John says “we have seen”, and “we have heard,” and “we have touched”, and “we proclaim to you”. Others had been witnesses to Jesus Christ in the flesh and he enlists their testimony as well. He starts with John the Baptist in verses 6 through 8 and says there that the Baptist was sent by God to be a witness to the light that is Jesus Christ. In verse 15 it says “John testifies” and in verse 19 it says, “now this was John’s testimony” and in verse 20, “He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely”. In verse 32 it says, “John gave this testimony” and in verse 34 the Baptist says, “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”
John, the gospel writer, wants you to first hear the testimony of John the Baptist. We looked at his testimony a couple weeks ago. Those were days 1 and 2. But, now in days 3 and 4, John moves into the testimonies of the first disciples. We might call this the “hand-off.” The disciples of John the Baptist hear his testimony and see him point to Jesus, and, so they begin to follow Jesus and they themselves begin to lead others to Christ.
Testimonies create testimonies. John the Baptist’s testimony led to Andrew and John’s testimonies. Their testimonies led to Peter’s testimony. Philip’s testimony led to Nathaniel’s testimony. When people testify to Jesus Christ others are led to Him and they become testimonies as well.
That’s why our testimony is so important. Romans 10:13-17, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? How can they believe in the one whom they have not heard?” When Jesus Christ is proclaimed and told of people hear, they believe and they call and they are saved!
Today, I want us to see how the first disciples believed the testimony about Jesus and then themselves gave testimonies. I want us to see that the Scriptures teach us a simple Scriptural truth: believing the testimony about Jesus leads to becoming a testimony for Jesus. There are 4 principles I want us to see in believing and become a testimony for Jesus: The Right Response, The Right Reason, The Right Reproduction, and The Right Realization.
The Right Response
First of all, the Right Response is necessary for believing and becoming a testimony for Jesus. Notice verses 35 – 37, “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.”
The right response to the testimony about Jesus Christ is to follow Him. John shows us in his gospel that people respond by following Christ, or, they reject Him. Some choose to follow Him. We see that right here as Andrew and John are the first disciples. Then we see Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel. Then in chapter 6 Jesus asked the 12 disciples if they wanted to keep following Him, and Peter said in verses 68-69, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Although many give a right response to follow Jesus, many more reject Him. Earlier in our chapter in verse 11 it says, “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” In chapter 5 verse 18 “the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.” And again in chapter 7 verses 48, “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No!”
Notice too that a right response is to leave whatever and whoever you were following and instead go after Christ. Being a follower of Christ will cost you. It will require sacrifice. Up until this point these two disciples were John the Baptist’s disciples – they followed him. The Baptist was the greatest man born among women. He was the last and greatest prophet among all the OT prophets. He was the forerunner to the Messiah. If you were going to be anyone’s disciple – be John the Baptists. But, even following the greatest man in history falls far short of following the Son of God. There has to come a point when following anyone or anything other than Christ must be forsaken in order to follow Christ.
Turn with me if you will to Luke 9:23. Jesus laid down the challenge, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Notice that he mentions following him last. Before you can go after Jesus and really be a follower of Him, you must deny you.
Then you must take up your cross. You must carry the burden of dying to yourself every day; you must identify with Christ every single day. Being a disciple to Jesus Christ is not about adding a little religion to your life – your life is gone! Second Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a brand new creation; the old is gone and the new has come.” Your old life is gone. You died. You have been crucified and you no longer live. It is Christ who lives in you now. If you believe in Christ you are dead and “your life is now hidden with Christ in God” Colossians 3:3 says.
Following Jesus means forsaking all things and all others. Whatever or whoever was most important in your life, now Jesus is most important. Here is a principal for you to help you measure your priorities in life: Whatever is most important to you, that is what you will sacrifice everything else for. Let me repeat it: Whatever is most important to you, that is what you will sacrifice everything else for. The most important person to these two disciples was John the Baptist. They would forsake those things to follow Jesus. They made a right response to the testimony they heard about Jesus.
What kind of sacrifice does it require for me pastor? Tell me. I will tell you this, forsake whatever is keeping you from following Jesus. That requires an examination of your own heart and life. You will need to be the one to do that and determine what sacrifice the Lord is asking you to make. Have you made a right response to the testimony of Jesus Christ? Only then will you become a testimony for Him yourself.
The Right Reason
So the two disciples leave John the Baptist, and now they are following behind Christ. They made the right response. Secondly, to believe the testimony of and become a testimony for Jesus Christ, we see that we need the right reason. Notice verses 38 and 39, “Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘Rabbi’ (which means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ ‘Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.”
Jesus will challenge our motives for following Him. When Jesus says, “What do you want”, He is not asking “what” so much as He is asking “why?” “Why are you following me?” The question is before each one of us who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Why? Why do we believe in Christ and why do we follow Him? We need to examine ourselves and make sure our reason for following Christ is the right reason.
There were many who followed Jesus for the wrong reason, and, eventually, they abandoned Him. For example, turn over into John 6. Jesus fed 5000 people miraculously. In verse 15 it says that they wanted to make Him king by force, so He got away from them. They wanted a king, but Jesus came first to save them from their sins. They were looking to Jesus for the wrong reason and as a result, he withdrew from them.
These same people in verse 14 are the same people in verse 66 where it says, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” He wasn’t what they wanted Him to be. They loved it when they ate their fill of the miraculous bread, but, they rejected Him when He told taught them about Himself. They weren’t seeking Jesus for who He truly is and He challenged them. They were forced to examine their motive for following Him and because they had the wrong motives in their hearts, they turned away.
Andrew and John had the right motives. They came to Jesus with honest and seeking hearts. And Jesus doesn’t withdraw from them. He doesn’t brush them off or ignore them. The reason is that God the Father has chosen them and therefore drawn them to Christ. John 6:37, Jesus says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” John and Andrew have been given to Jesus, they have come to Jesus, and He will not drive them away.
Jesus welcomes the honest and humble seeker. That’s why Andrew and John ask Him where He is staying. They want to be with Him and to learn from Him. Jesus will say to anyone the same as He said to Andrew and John, “Come and see.” It reminds me of our reading this morning in Revelation 22:17, “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” The invitation reminds us that He offers Himself to us so that we may be with Him. He is the Word made flesh who made His dwelling among us, His purpose was to be with us.
The right reason for following Jesus is to know Him for who He truly is and to worship Him. Anyone with a heart to know God, who has been drawn by God, will honestly and earnestly seek His Son Jesus Christ. There is where God will be found.
The Right Reproduction
We have the Right Response, the Right Reason, and thirdly we have the Right Reproduction. Notice verses 40-46, “Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip.”
Andrew is mentioned only three times in John’s gospel and each time he is bringing someone to Christ. And after spending the day with Jesus, the first thing he did was tell his brother Peter he had to come and see the Messiah. The first thing Philip did was to find Nathanael and bring him to Jesus Christ. When you know Christ you want others to know Him too. It becomes one of the first things you do because it becomes first in importance.
You never know who you may be leading to Christ. Andrew didn’t know at the time that he would led his brother Simon to Christ that he would become the leader of the 12 Apostles who are the foundation of the church (Eph 2:20). You never know who you might lead to Christ if you are actually trying to share with them.
I read a neat story this past week. Let me ask you, “Who in the world is Ed Kimball?” Do you know? He was a Sunday School teacher in 1855 who led a young man by the name of Dwight L. Moody to the Lord. You may have heard of him.
The story says that after evangelizing America, Moody went on to England. There in England Frederick B. Meyer heard his message and he was set on fire in his ministry. Eventually Meyer was invited to America to preach.
So he came and he preached. And at one of his sermons a young man was set on fire and began to evangelize. He began to preach all up and down the mid-Atlantic coast. His name was J. Wilbur Chapman.
Then, as Chapman’s ministry grew into city-wide crusades he partnered with a young convert by the name of Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday was influenced by Chapman and got into the ministry and went to Charlotte, North Carolina. There a group of laymen got so pumped up and inspired that they organized a committee to invite other evangelists back.
One man they invited was Mordecai Ham from Louisville, Kentucky. He preached in a meeting, and Billy Graham got saved. Billy Graham became a world-renowned evangelist.
And on this day, July 4th, 60 years ago in 1950, a young man by the name of Bill Vanderwall heard Billy Graham preach and committed his life to the Lord. Bill Vanderwall became a part of a group of devoted believers who a little more than 20 years ago started a church….and built this building I am preaching in today.
All because Edward Kimball - not a famous evangelist and preacher – was a testimony for Christ with a young man by witnessing to him… and look at what happened. How many thousands have been saved through the chain of believers sharing the gospel since that time? It is staggering to think of how God is able to take 1 and multiply it beyond our measure.
Who is your son or daughter going to be? Who is that disciple you’ve been investing in? Who is in your small group you’ve been teaching or your Sunday School class or your Children’s Church class? Who are you going to share the gospel with in Boston that may go into the ministry and bring multitudes more to Christ? You may invest in one soul by sharing the gospel and God may multiply that far beyond what you could ever imagine. Followers of Christ produce more followers of Christ.
The Right Realization
The Right Response – Follow Jesus. The Right Reason – is your motive right? The Right Reproduction – Lead others to Christ as you have been led. And lastly, we see the Right Realization. Notice verses 47 through 51, “When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” “How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
Nathanael is skeptical of Jesus at first because no mention of Nazareth is made in any OT Scriptures. You might say it wasn’t on the map – it was an insignificant town. Another reason is that Nazareth was in Galillee and Judeans looked down on Gallileans.
He didn’t know Jesus, but, Jesus knew Him. He tells Philip “I saw you first. I’ve always known you. You are a true Israelite, there is nothing false in you.” This doesn’t mean Philip was sinless, but that he was blameless. He lived upright in the eyes of men. He wasn’t a deceiver, as reflected in his blunt comment to Philip in verse 46, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
But, Nathanael realized Jesus knew Him even though they never met. In a matter of 3 verses he goes from doubting to declaring Jesus to be the Son of God and the King of Israel.
In verse 50 and 51 Jesus says you realize now who I am, but, you have yet to see my full glory. “You shall see heaven open up and the angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” He is making a reference to Genesis 28. There, Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel, whom the whole nation of Israel is from, had a dream.
In Genesis 28, verse 12 it says, “Jacob had a dream and he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” Jesus is referring to Himself as the ladder from earth to heaven. In other words, Nathanael, I am the One by whom mankind can have access to heaven. He would later tell Nathanael and the other 11 disciples in John 14, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” Access to the Father is only through the Son, Jesus Christ. Here’s the point, Jesus is the only ladder leading up. Every other ladder, every other religion and way, leads down.
Conclusion
Respond to the testimony of Jesus Christ by believing and following Him. Forsake whatever keeps you from following Him.
Have the Right reason, the right motivation for following Him. He tells the Pharisees in chapter 5, “You diligently search the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” We must go to Him for life, for the forgiveness of sins and life in His name.
Thirdly, make more disciples. Reproduce. Genesis says that God made everything to produce after its own kind. True followers of Christ multiply true followers of Christ.
And lastly, realize the greatness that is Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”
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