REVEALED, RECOGNIZED, AND THE FAITH TO FOLLOW
John 1:35-51
Greenmount and O’Leary Churches of Christ
February 07, 2021
Video Link: https://youtu.be/hxDN3dmjjYE
INTRODUCTION:
1.) Revealed, Recognized, and Respected with our faith!
2.) The Gospel of John is the revealing Jesus as the Christ.
3.) When he is revealed and recognized, it is only natural to reach out to him in faith.
4.) Today as we continue in the gospel of John, we see this was exactly what happened in those first disciples who came to Jesus.
I. A DISCIPLE OF JESUS MUST RECOGNIZE WHO HE IS.
1.) I want to take see some of the titles given to Jesus when these first disciples recognized him as the Messiah of God.
A. ) Philip called him Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. (1:45).
aa.) Philip’s first perspective was merely an earthly evaluation of Jesus.
ab.) Thankfully Philip also acknowledged him as the one of whom Moses had spoken. (1:45)
aba.) Last week we saw the religious leaders come to question John if He was the prophet?
B.) The second disciple we see is Nathanael.
ba.) Philip described Jesus to Nathanael as this one of whom Moses had spoken.
baa.) We do not know how much that Philip understood about Jesus.
bab.) He did know enough to recommend Jesus as the prophet, which is another term for the Messiah of God.
B. ) Andrew and unnamed disciple (who is likely John), as well as Nathanael called Him “Rabbi.” (1:38,49)
ba.) Rabbi means teacher.
baa.) It was a term of honour and respect for a teacher.
C. ) John the Baptist called him “Lamb of God.” (1:35)
ca.) The day before this John had publicly introduced Jesus to the entire congregation as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
cb.) Our text today includes the same declaration, but this time it was to just two of John’s faithful disciples Andrew, and John.
cba.) John the Baptist told these men Jesus is the Lamb of God, or the Messiah.
cbb.) The term Lamb of God suggested a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.
D. ) Andrew called him the Messiah or Christ (1:41)
da.) This term referred to the descendant of Abraham who would bless the world and deliver man from sin’s curse and penalty.
E. ) Jesus called himself the “Son of Man” (1:51)
ea.) This is the term Jesus most often used of himself.
eaa.) Adam brought humanity into sin; Jesus the Son of man would bring man back to God.
F.) From each of these testimonies in this passage, we see that a disciple is one who recognizes Jesus as the Messiah.
fa.) These early disciples had to come to the place of recognizing Jesus as He truly was.
fb.) But to merely recognize that Jesus is the Messiah is not going to do anything for anyone.
fc.) There are countless numbers who have come to recognize Jesus as the Christ but have never followed their recognition with an obedient faith to follow him as Lord.
G.) That brings me to my second point:
II. A DISCIPLE OF JESUS MUST HAVE THE FAITH TO FOLLOW HIM.
1.) I want us to again look at the titles in this Scripture, this time seeing these men as they moved from a recognition of Jesus to faith in Him.
2.) After Andrew and John recognized Jesus as the Messiah they were moved to a new level of faith and allegiance.
A.) John 1:35-37
B.) These men had been disciples of John the Baptist.
ba.) When John declared to them that that Jesus is the Lamb of God it was a spiritual a turning point.
bb.) This was the specific moment these men realized that John the Baptist was just the messenger.
bc.) They knew they had to give their allegiance to Jesus Christ.
bca.) Immediately these men followed Jesus, and Jesus noticed their action.
bcb.) John 1:38-39
bcc.) Jesus asked: “What do you want?”
.01) What they wanted was to be disciples of Jesus.
.02) They went with Jesus to where he was staying and spent the entire day with him learning from the words of the Master.
.03) These men had already shown their desire to follow Jesus.
.031) I think sometimes we feel that Jesus just randomly asked people to be his disciples.
.032) These men were only asked for that greater allegiance and service after they had already shown themselves to be his disciples.
3.) When Simon Peter came to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, He too had the faith to follow.
A.) Simon’s story begins with his brother Andrew.
aa.) After spending the day with Jesus, the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother.
ab.) John 1:40-41
ac.) Though one of the first disciples of Jesus, sometimes we do not notice Andrew so much.
aca.) In fact, the Bible does not give us much knowledge of Andrew.
acb.) But one thing I want to point out is that every time Scripture speaks of Andrew it describes him bringing someone to Jesus.
.01) What a great testimony!
B.) Jesus saw something in Peter and at the very time of his call he gave him a new name.
ba.) John 1:42
bb.) “You are Simon, son of John” (1:42a.)
bc.) “You will be called Cephas (which when translated is Peter.” (1:42b.)
bca.) This term for Cephas is only used here in the Gospels, and a few times by the Apostle Paul.
bcb.) Cephas in the Syriac and Chaldee languages signified a small rock or stone.
.01) Which when translated (into the Greek ) would be Petros”, which in English would be Peter.
bcc.) Whenever the Bible reveals a change of name it also signifies a change of relationship or purpose.
.01) Simon like each of these other men had the faith to follow Jesus as a disciple.
4.) Philip and Andrew had the faith to follow.
A.) Jesus meets first with Philip.
aa.) John 1:43-44
aaa.) Jesus took the initiative with Philip and asked him to come follow him.
B.) Philip became a follower and invited Nathanael to also come and follow Jesus.
ba.) John is the only Gospel writer who speaks of Nathanael.
bc.) The other gospel writers speak of a man named Bartholomew.
bca.) Far as we know both Nathanael and Bartholomew refer to the same man.
bcb.) John 1:45
.01) “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law.” (1:45a.)
.011.) As we have seen the past two weeks this one of whom Moses spoke was the prophet who was also the Messiah of God.
.02) “And about whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth.” (1:45b.)
.021) Philip wants to give adequate proof that this is the Messiah.
bd.) Nathanael heard Philip’s testimony but he was not yet convinced this was the Christ.
bda.) John 1:46
.01) This statement could be merely an acknowledgement that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, not Nazareth.
.02) There could also be something else.
bdb.) In every area I have ever lived there has been nearby a community that has traditionally been looked down on or at the very least had a bad reputation.
.01) I cannot tell you that Nazareth did or did not have a bad reputation and history.
.02) What I can tell you is that Nazareth was just a small little insignificant community.
.021) Today it is a town of around 77,000 people, but in Jesus’ day it was just a little hick town down in a basin surrounded by hills.
.0211) As such, it was not easily accessible.
.03) It is a community never named in the Old Testament Scriptures.
.04) In fact the only thing we know of an historical significance with Nazareth is that Jesus came from there.
C.) What happens next is that Jesus reveals to Nathanael that he is all-knowing (or what we would call omniscient.)
ca.) John1:47-48a.
caa.) As far as we know this was the first time that Jesus and Nathanael had ever met.
cab.) As Jesus saw this man coming toward him, he prophetically by the Spirit of God was able to describe and to sum up the life of this man.
.01) Although they had never met, Jesus knew this man; he knew his heart; He knew the sincerity of his faith.
.02) Nathanael is totally taken back by these words, and how well Jesus knew him, though they were complete strangers.
cac.) In response to Nathanael’s question (let us look at the last half of verse 48) Jesus answered, ‘I saw you while you were still under the fig-tree before Philip called you.’
.01) I suspect that wherever this fig tree was it was not in the physical sight of where Jesus and Nathanael now are.
.02) Without physically being there, Jesus told Nathanael the exact location he was at, and the very tree he was under when Philip came to him.
.021) 2,000 years ago when Jesus made that declaration, he made a statement which could only have been made by the all-seeing God.
D.) The man who wondered if anything good could come from Nazareth came to a level of faith so that he could give one of the greatest testimonies to the identity of Jesus.
da.) John 1:49
daa.) “Rabbi, you are the Son of God” (49a.)
.01) We are all familiar with the Great confession Peter made many months after this, but this same confession which Peter made was also made here by Nathanael on the very day that he was called.
dab.) “you are the king of Israel.’” (49b.)
.01) This was just another way of saying that He was the Messiah.
5.) Jesus went on to prophecy of even greater things than what he had just revealed to Nathanael.
A.) John 1:50-51
B.) “You will see heaven open and you will see the angels of God (51a.)
ba.) Whether this passage is figurative or literal, is a matter that many have debated.
baa.) If this is to be taken as literal, though not an exact fulfillment is the ascension of Christ into heaven.
bab.) Acts 1 records that:
.01) Jesus ascended into heaven.
.02) He went into the clouds.
.03) There were angels speaking to man at the time.
.04) In some ways this would have met some of the criteria of what Jesus had described, but not all of it.
bc.) I feel Jesus is not making a reference to his ascension, but rather to an event in the Old Testament Scriptures.
bca.) The account of “Jacob’s Ladder reads almost identical to these words of Jesus.
.01) Genesis 28:10-15
.02) In Genesis 28 Jacob had by deception just received his father’s blessing.
.03) He was now fleeing for his life from his brother who wanted to kill him.
.04) When everything seemed most hopeless God gave him this dream of a staircase going into heaven.
.041) The staircase had angels ascending and descending.
.042) At the head of the staircase and looking into heaven was the Almighty God.
.0421) It was here God renewed the covenant with Jacob that he had earlier made with his father Abraham.
.0422) His descendants would be like the dust of the earth.
.0423) All people would be blessed through him and His descendants.
.0424) and the final promise was that God with be with him and would one day bring him back to the land he was leaving and would go with Him wherever he went.
bb.) As we go back to John 1 Jesus speaks of these angels as “Ascending and descending on the Son of man.” (51b.)
bba.) I believe that Jesus is saying to Nathanael that he is the ladder or stairway between heaven and earth.
.01) Jesus is the ladder or stairway of Jacob’s dream that connects God in the heavens with man on earth.
CONCLUSION:
1.) In bringing this message to a close John was beginning to decline in greatness as Jesus Christ is being exalted.
2.) With John’s proclamation that Jesus is the Lamb of God some of John’s disciples recognized Jesus as the Christ.
3.) If you have come to recognize that Jesus is the Christ, praise God. That is your first step of faith as it was for these early disciples.
4.) But have you followed that recognition by obediently following Jesus Christ?
5.) Jesus is the bridge from earth to heaven?
A.) Have you personally through an obedient faith come to God?
ba.) If you have not do not settle to be lost for another day!
baa.) Today is the day of salvation if you will come to Christ.
