First Responders

and turn once again to John chapter
1. The Gospel of John chapter 1. Now, I don’t mean to send a panic
through the church. I have not looked for a ministry
position for, I don’t know, 15, 16 years. But there was a feature that
I came across during various ministry searches that really
concerned me. From time to time I would come
across a church that said, must be married. Or another would
say, prefer a pastor with many children. Or prefer a young pastor. Or prefer an older pastor. I didn’t exactly know where I
fit. And I began to think and began
to examine that, some of the things that were stipulated,
some of the things that were suggested as being prerequisites
for various churches, pastoral ministries. I remember talking
to an older godly man who urged me, do not apply to those churches. Because if they’ll use ungodly
or unbiblical rather, requirements in one area, they’ll use unbiblical
requirements in other areas. I found that to be wise counsel. I say that because as we begin
to look at the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, I wonder,
I wonder which of them we would have hired as a pastor. I wonder which of them we would
have commended even as a disciple, a basic follower of Christ, let
alone an apostle? These were plain men, ordinary,
everyday men. They weren’t trained religious
elites. They weren’t lettered men. They hadn’t graduated, as it
were, from seminary. These were not what most churches
would be looking for with regards to church leadership. What is
most important about the men that we’ll meet this morning
is that they had an immediate reaction
to Christ, an immediate testimony erupted from within. If nothing
else, these men knew who Christ was. These men knew the nature
of their Savior. They knew. And that alone commends
them. It commends them to us not only
as those basic followers of Christ that they were, but these would
become the very foundation of Christ’s church. We find ourselves
in John chapter 1 beginning in verse 35 in this closing section
of chapter 1. where Christ has been introduced
by John the Baptist. John the Baptist certainly has
been introduced. We have seen his ministry. But
now, now Christ begins to interface with people individually himself. Read along with me, if you would,
beginning in verse 35. Again, the next day, John was
standing with two of his disciples And he looked at Jesus as he
walked and said, behold, the Lamb of God. The two disciples
heard him speak and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned and saw
them following and said to them, what do you seek? They said to
him, Rabbi, which translated means teacher, where are you
staying? He said to them, come and you
will see. So they came. and saw where he was staying
and they stayed with him that day for it was about the 10th
hour. One of the two who heard John
speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He found
first his own brother, Simon, and said to him, we have found
the Messiah, which translated means Christ. He brought him
to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said,
you are Simon, the son of John. You shall be called Cephas, which
is translated Peter. The next day he purposed to go
into Galilee and he found Philip and Jesus 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.
Nathanael said to him, can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Philip said to him, come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming
to him and said of him, behold, in Israel, indeed, in whom there
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 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 that I saw you
under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than
these. And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will
see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending
on the son of man. plain men, ordinary men, men
that most churches wouldn’t even give a second glance to be their
pastors. One known as the mighty one,
one known as God’s gift, and another one known merely as a
lover of horses. Those were the men, those were
the first responders to Christ A gift of God, a mighty one,
and a lover of horses. It’s a beautiful passage because
it begins to tell us about the establishment of the church.
I’ve entitled it First Responders because these are the men who
first responded to the call of Christ’s ministry, Christ’s work
in their life, Christ’s call not only to repentance but to
service. If you jump back into verse 35,
that’s where the narrative begins. And here really begins the great
narrative of John’s gospel. Again, the next day, John was
standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as he
walked and said, behold, the Lamb of God. This is essentially
a reprise of what John had already said. John has already declared Christ
as the Lamb of God. We spoke of that at length last
Lord’s Day. And he just simply and in very
brief fashion declares Him again, possibly even before just these
two disciples. We know this as the call. We
tend to look at it as the call of the disciples, the beginning
of Christ’s not only his discipleship, but his apostleship of followers. But if you look at this and contrast
this with the passage of the synoptics, these can’t possibly
be one in the same. If you would, I want you to keep
a finger in the gospel of John and turn for our purposes this
morning to Matthew chapter four. We’re going to be back to John
in just a moment, but I wanted to just introduce what I would
consider to be the second call. This first call, what I would
consider and what most scholars had suggested is an initial call,
a call not so much to discipleship or certainly not to apostleship,
But an introductory call, one that established a personal relationship
and perhaps even salvation. This was a call, an initial opening
call was recorded in John’s gospel. But look at Matthew. It’s a very
different situation. In Matthew chapter 4 beginning
in verse 18, Now as Jesus was walking by the sea of Galilee,
he saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter and Andrew his
brother. Even in Matthew’s characterization here, there seems to be some
prior knowledge of these individuals. Casting a net into the sea, they
were fishermen, and he said to them, follow me and I will make
you fishers of men. And immediately they left their
nets. John doesn’t record a situation like that because that’s not
the purpose of this initial meeting. Now, if you would, back to John’s
gospel. The Gospel of John was a call
to, at the very most, discipleship. The call that was recorded by
the synoptic writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is a call to
the apostleship, a call to be sent out. All the features of
those scenes are different. There are different places in
view. There are different time settings. different circumstances,
there was a different purpose to it. Now as John issues this
second call, behold the Lamb of God, we don’t know whether
it was public. We don’t know how many others
may have heard it. The previous call clearly sounds
like one that was issued, a clarion call to all who would hear, all
who were within earshot John the Baptist proclaimed, the Lamb
of God. But here, it seems, it appears,
that only two were within earshot. Two disciples heard him speak,
verse 37, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned and saw them
following and said, what do you seek? We know at least who one
of these Apostles is. We’ll talk about that in a moment.
And I think that we can make a very clear case on the identity
of the second. But when John testifies, behold
the Lamb of God again, he’s reiterating something that he had already
said. He really didn’t need to say anything more other than
to point out to these two individuals and to identify. For one last
time. The Savior. It’s theoretically possible that
these men had heard John the Baptist’s testimony before the
Pharisees. Turn back to verse 19. There,
remember, as you look at 19 through 28, there is this emissary that
comes from the Pharisees, and John repeatedly proclaims that
he is not the Christ, but that he came to testify of the Christ. Once you get into verse 29, it’s
quite likely that these two men possibly heard John the Baptist’s
declaration the previous day in verses 29 through 34. But it’s absolutely clear that
they heard this simple proclamation. And the amazing thing was that
was enough. It was enough. I think a lot
of times, People beat themselves up because they haven’t been
through the testimony class or the witnessing class or the evangelism
class. This past week, I came across
a gift that I’d given to my brother. It was a Bible. And I had written
some verses in there and put some tabs in there, and I made
it as easy as could be for him to flip through and discover
the testimony of Christ. I even wrote the beginning of
Isaiah 40 in the Bible. God is pleased with us when we
testify of Christ, however we testify of Christ. John didn’t
need a three-point elaborate expository sermon. He simply
said, behold, look at Him, see Him, consider Him the Lamb of
God. And for these two young men,
It was enough. That was enough. Consider your
own call. Some of us had friends who worked
with us for years and years and years, prayed for us, gave us
tracts, gave us books, gave us Bibles, took us places. Some
of us were raised by God’s grace in Christian homes. Over and
over again, the gospel was lavished upon us, both in personal testimony
and in word. But I take the rest of you in
your mind’s eye. To the very means of your own
salvation, it was a brief word, wasn’t it? It was a brief comment
that someone made. It was a brief articulation,
something about Christ that just seized hold. Of your heart. And God began to use that word,
that testimony to draw you to himself. Such is the case with
these two men. And it says in verse 37, the
two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus. Jesus
turned and saw them following and said, what do you seek? Jesus
engaged them. Jesus knew that they were dogging
his steps. Jesus knew of their interest
in him. And Jesus engages them graciously
so. What do you seek? How could I
help you? They said to him, Rabbi, which
translated means teacher. The term rabbi was so new here
at John’s writing that John feels the need even to explain it to
a now growing non-Jewish audience. It was used, it was a term that
was used frequently by the Jewish people to refer to those who
were their teachers, spiritual leaders, and these two for obvious
reasons, wanted not merely to meet Jesus, or even to enter
into a brief dialogue with him. That wasn’t enough for them.
They wanted to begin the journey, whatever that meant, as his followers. And so they asked him this really
intriguing question. They said to him, Rabbi, where
are you staying? That’s an odd question. What
they were trying to say is, Rabbi, don’t go. Rabbi, we want to spend
some more time with you. Jesus, can we just get a few
minutes of your time? They wanted to engage Christ,
and Christ knows it. Christ has put the appetite there
to begin with. And he said to them, come and
see. It wasn’t about his place. Nothing is ever mentioned about
it. So they came. They saw where
he was staying. They stayed with him. that day,
for it was about the 10th hour, they literally followed Christ. And not until later, as I said
earlier, did they learn to leave all and follow Him. But in Luke’s gospel, it’s recorded
that there would come that crisis moment. In that particular setting,
they were fishing once again. And Jesus blessed the waters
so that they drew up this incredible catch of fish. And Peter was
so amazed that fear struck him. Amazement, Luke records, had
seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish
which they had taken. And so also were James and John,
the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus
said to Simon, do not fear, From now on, you’ll be catching men.
And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything
and followed him.” This isn’t that scene. This is the initial
relationship. And in verse 40, the apostle
John begins to identify these two followers. In verse 40, he
says, one of the two who heard John speak and followed him was
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. If you look through the annals
of church history, Andrew really is a nobody. Some might say he’s just, he’s
almost just filler. But Peter, his brother, Peter
gets all the ink. He gets all the attention. He
gets all the consideration, not only in the Gospels, but throughout
church history. Peter had a title. Peter had
a role. Peter had a position. Peter had
influence. Andrew had none of it. What do we know about Andrew?
Mark 3, 18. Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew
and Matthew and Thomas and James, the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus
and Simon the Zealot, just merely part of a list. Mark 13, he was sitting on the
Mount of Olives opposite the temple. Peter and James, John
and Andrew were questioning him privately. Well, that tells us
at least something about Andrew. It certainly talks about the
perpetuity of his relationship with Christ. It was ongoing,
it was deep, it was engaging. He wasn’t just sitting on the
sidelines. John 6, 8 mentions Andrew just
in passing. John 12, 22. mentions Andrew
just in passing, that’s it. That’s what we know about Andrew
from the entirety of the New Testament. And you would say,
well, let’s not invite Andrew for candidation. But I might suggest to you that
the church, and I mean the church with the capital C is made up
of so-called nobody’s people that the world would say are
nobody’s. People that the world doesn’t care of and we don’t know what Andrew did. We don’t know how the Lord used
him in private lives, in counseling, in discipleship with others,
in proclaiming the gospel. We don’t know because scripture
doesn’t record it. But he was one of the 12. He
would become one of Christ’s closest 12 followers. A nobody. just like you and me. But who was the other one? It’s
just almost strange that the Apostle John here doesn’t name
him. It seems almost rude to name one and not the other. One
of the two who heard him speak was Andrew. And it begs the question,
who was the other? I would suggest to you that Without
a doubt, the other one is John himself. John and Andrew were
the first ones to respond to Christ. This account here, as
presented, is the account of an eyewitness. But in addition
to that, as we talked about before, John the apostle has this habit
of absolutely refusing to identify himself by name. He never mentions himself even
once in this gospel. And if he refers to himself at
all, it’s never by name. Listen to a few. In John 18.15,
Simon Peter was following Jesus, so was another disciple. We believe
that was John. Now that disciple was known to
the high priest and entered with Jesus into the court of the high
priest. How does he know that? Well, it’s him. John 19.26, when
Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom Jesus loved standing
nearby. That’s John’s regular feature
for referring to himself because he still was utterly astounded
that of all the people in the world Christ loved him. John seven times specifically
avoids identifying himself at all by name. John 13. There was
reclining on Jesus bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. 1426, the helper, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all
things. And in verse 31, and I missed the reference, bear
with me. John 22, I’ll come back to that.
So she ran and came to Simon Peter, the other disciple whom
Jesus loved and said to them, they have taken away the Lord
out of the tomb and they do not know where they had laid him
repeatedly over and over again John refrains from naming himself
he doesn’t want to take a position of prominence he doesn’t want
to identify himself he’s reluctant to do that and even when he has
to it’s in the context of what Christ did for him to not name this other disciple
would have been Strange or rude if we didn’t understand that
this was John doing this once again. This is John who gives
the minute detail of every particular situation. John was the other disciple. But I want to point to you, what
was Andrew’s testimony? Remember, that’s what this is
about. These are the first responders. We know what the Pharisees, we
know what the religious elite, we know what their emissaries
thought of Christ. They thought nothing of him at
all. They thought that he was just a troublemaker. They thought
that he was just a bothersome entry into the world and his
forerunner was just the same. In fact, I’ve even suggested
that I think they would have more readily accepted John the
Baptist as the Messiah than Christ, they could have molded and shaped.
John was something rough on the exterior. They could have molded
him and shaped him into whatever they wanted him to be. What was
Andrew’s testimony about Christ? He first went and found his own
brother, Simon, and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which
translated means Christ. The bottom line here is that
the very first thing that Andrew did was an act of evangelism. It was an act of love. It was
an act of testimony. And we have to begin to search
our hearts in this regard. How eager, how inclined, what
is the great proclivity of our own heart to testify about Christ? If we don’t tell those that we
love, our own family. How will we tell others? Andrew
passes the test and it says that he first found his own brother
Simon. I was astounded that there would
be any other way to take this, that he first found his own brother
Simon. But there was. And I think it’s worthy to step
back and ask exactly what was meant. One person suggested that
he found his own brother first before John or Philip found their
own. Well, that doesn’t even fit the situation. Andrew and
John both set out to find Simon, but Andrew found him first. I
don’t think that’s what he’s saying here. Of the two, he was
the first one to find Simon. Or someone else suggested this.
This one fits and it works and I like it, I just don’t think
that’s what the apostle here is saying. He found his own brother,
first found his own brother, Simon, that he found other people
afterwards. Well, we know that’s true. That
was the very purpose of the apostles ministry. Here’s what I think
he means. It’s very simple, isn’t it? of
all the people that Andrew could have gone and sought with the
gospel message, he went and found his own brother first. It was
the first thing that he did. Before doing anything else, he
went to Simon. Before talking to anyone else,
it was the most important thing in the world. And I ask you, to whom have you gone and made
the same kind of passionate, urgent testimony. Found his own
brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah. It’s so fascinating in this section.
In verse 41, 43, and 45, there’s this little verb. You’ve heard
it before, but usually not in this context. Usually it’s been
in a John Wayne movie or something like that where it says, eureka!
That’s the verb. It’s the Greek word. And it just talks about discovery.
And it’s an excited discovery. It’s a passionate discovery.
And three times in this little section, we have found Him. Which
implies that they have been looking and longing and waiting for many
years. Andrew’s a nobody. Andrew’s a nobody who knows his
Bible. Andrew wasn’t part of the religious
elite. He may have been poor. He may
have been just a working class individual. But he knew what
the prophets had said about the Christ, the Messiah, that He
was to come. And he calls Him here the Messiah,
the Christ, the Anointed One. You see, in the Old Testament,
kings were anointed, prophets were anointed, priests were anointed. And a lot of times that was so
symbolically done to indicate to all that this is God’s chosen
one. This is God’s king. This is God’s
prophet. This is God’s priest. But they
also spoke, didn’t they? They spoke of the Hebrew Messiah
king who was to come. They spoke of the spiritual ruler
who was going to come from David’s line, who was going to fulfill
the Old Testament promises, not only for a king, But for a prophet
and a priest and a king, this was the promised one. He was the Christ. He was the
Messiah. Peter makes a similar testimony
in Matthew’s gospel. If you would take your Bibles
and turn to Matthew chapter 16. We’ll touch on this briefly here.
I wanted to introduce it here so that we can have this just
as a backdrop as we are introduced to Peter. Pick up in verse 18, it happened
that while he was praying alone, the disciples were with him and
he questioned him saying, who do the people say that I am?
They answered and said, John the Baptist, others say Elijah,
that one of the prophets of old has risen again. And he said
to them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered and said,
the Christ of God. You’re the Messiah. You’re the
anointed one. You’re the one who was promised. You’re the one that the Old Testament
pointed to in every form and fashion. You are indeed the anointed
one. Back, if you would, to the gospel
of John. We’ll come back to that thought
in a moment. There’s no doubt in Andrew’s mind who Christ is.
He doesn’t ask. He doesn’t suggest. He declares,
we have found the Messiah. And he brought Peter to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, the son of John.
You shall be called Cephas, which is translated Peter. We’ve discussed, and I pointed
it out in times past, it’s that testimony He makes that Jesus
is the Christ that forms essentially that bedrock, that foundational
truth on which the church would be built, that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the anointed one. Upon
this rock, Jesus said, I will build my church. Andrew was a simple man, a fisherman,
really, From all accounts, a nobody, even from the words of Scripture
itself, we know almost nothing about him. But with one testimony,
he knew exactly who Jesus was. He was the Messiah. He was the
Christ. He was the anointed one. But there’s a second responder,
a man named Philip. Look at verse 43. The next day
he purposed to go into Galilee, he found Philip, and Jesus 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 and the law and also
the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
Nathanael said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip
said to him, come and see. Jesus found Nathanael. It wasn’t
accidental. Jesus went and sought him. We
don’t know why. There isn’t any explanation of
what he sought in Philip. It isn’t even told. We don’t
even discover where he was found. There isn’t anything that points
to the specific area. We don’t know whether it was
on the way to Galilee or what transpired. And you know what? Just like
with Andrew, to the Synoptists, Philip is merely a name. Our
knowledge of Philip comes exclusively from John’s gospel. The Synoptists
don’t give us any other information about him other than the fact
that he has a Greek name. But the amazing thing is that
Jesus Christ went and sought out this nobody. They don’t play
up his family background. They don’t play up his lineage.
They don’t play up his training. None of that is even articulated.
Certainly some of the apostles were quite gifted men. Paul,
Barnabas, Peter, and others. But of Philip? He’s a nobody. One pastor wrote of him, we should
notice the familiarity with the general contents of scripture
which a poor Jew like Philip possessed. Just like Andrew,
he knew the word. And he thoroughly understood
that Moses and the prophets held forth the promise of this coming
Redeemer. That a prophet, priest, and king
was foretold. And notice the simplicity of
his call. He found Philip and Jesus just
said to him, follow me. And throughout the New Testament,
when Jesus issues those words, it was a call to service. It
was a call to be bound fast in discipleship. And unlike some
of the other disciples, Andrew went back to work here. would
go back to work. Nathaniel went back to work. And there’s no sense of rebuke
in that. Jesus never rebukes them. He does go find them and
call them into formal service. But to the best of our knowledge,
we never know anything about Peter. We certainly, or Philip
rather, we never are told that he withdrew. He’s never issued
a second call. This was it. Follow me. And he did. It says that Philip was from Bethsaida,
verse 44, the city of Andrew and Peter, this small circle
of friends. It seems like they must have
gone up on a retreat. Let’s go hear John the Baptist.
And the very weekend they go, they hear, and now they’re passionately
engaged. Their lives are about to change
forever. And what was Philip’s testimony
of Jesus? Look at verse 45. Philip found
Nathanael. same passionate discovery, the
same passionate commitment to go and tell his dearest friends,
we have found him of whom Moses and the law and also the prophets
wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. He doesn’t wait. He doesn’t linger. He doesn’t
dilly dally. He goes immediately to declare
his discovery. And he speaks of Moses and the
prophets. In other words, what he’s talking about is the entire
Old Testament. He says, look, this is what we’ve
been waiting for. This is what the scriptures teach.
He doesn’t give us a specific reference. He just says, look,
the entirety of our Bible tells of this man. And he refers to Jesus as Jesus
of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. This does our Bibles no harm.
The fact that he would refer to Jesus, that’s how Jesus would
have been referred to. The son of Joseph, that’s what
everybody knew of him. Joseph was legally his father.
And all who know him likely knew little of the virgin birth and
the miraculous circumstances surrounding it. It’s just in
his passion, in his urgency, this is all that he knows about
this man is that he is from Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathaniel’s
initial response is remarkable. Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? There was this idea that Nazareth
was this evil place full of sin, debauchery. You’ve had many people
play it up, but there’s no record of that at all. That Nazareth
was any worse than any other place. Here’s what it was, it
was small. It was really small. Little fishing
village. near the inlet. It’s a tiny little
place, an insignificant place. That’s likely what’s in Nathaniel’s
mind, not some place of sin, not some place of debauchery.
Are we really going to look for a Savior coming from Nazareth? And he just says to him, come
and see. That’s what we need to tell our friends, don’t we?
Take the Bible and read it for yourself. Consider Christ for
yourself. I love the way one said it, Christ
is a greater miracle than any he ever performed. Look at Christ. Focus on Christ. When you talk
to people, don’t get caught up in all this other stuff. Focus
on Christ. Tell them about Christ. Tell
them about the Savior who paid for their sins. Don’t get caught
up in denominational talk and whether you, you know, all the
things that you can fight about. First responders, there were
three. Three that were named, and each one of them gives a
testimony about Christ. First, the response of Andrew,
that Jesus is the Messiah. The response of Philip, that
Jesus is the promised one. But there’s a third response,
the response of Nathanael. Look at verse 47. Jesus saw Nathanael
coming to him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite, indeed,
in whom there is no deceit. Jesus saw this individual coming
to Him, a man named Nathaniel, a man whose name means gift of
God. And of Nathaniel, nothing more is recorded other than this
incident. You talk about being a nobody. He was also present among the
fishermen in John 21 to Peter’s restoration to ministry now Nathaniel
it’s quite possible that he is to be equated with Bartholomew
because in other words they’re different names for the same
person it’s not absolutely can conclusive that this is a good
argument listen to this Bartholomew is a name for, it literally is
a name for his father, Bartholomew, the son of Thalmi. And there’s no further reference
to Bartholomew in the New Testament. John never makes mention of anybody
named Bartholomew, and the synoptic writers never mention Nathanael.
And so scholars over the years have said that these two are
one and the same. And it makes sense. The Synoptists place in
their list, they place Bartholomew next to Philip, just as James
is next to John and Peter is next to Andrew, brothers. All
the other disciples mentioned in this chapter become apostles. And none are commended like Nathanael
is. It’s only reasonable to conclude
that Nathanael would become an apostle, but he was an apostle
that the other synoptic writers referred to as Bartholomew. What
is Jesus’ commendation of him? Behold, an Israelite indeed,
in whom there is no guile, no deceit. This was an honest man. Don’t you love those kind of
people? You take him at face value. They are what they are.
They say what they think. And that was Nathanael’s response.
Can anything good come out of Nazareth? What are we looking
for a savior there? I mean, who would say that, Nathanael? There’s no pride. There’s no
pretense with him. He just was plain, simple, frank, very uncharacteristic of the
Pharisees, wasn’t it? pretentious, full of hypocrisy. Jesus takes one look at him and
says, there is a true Israelite. And Nathanael said to him, how
do you know me? Jesus answered and said, before Philip called
you when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Many conjectured
that he was in prayer under the fig tree, we don’t know. Christ
saw not only, Christ knew, Christ knew his heart, Christ knew exactly
what he was doing. And this catches Nathanael quite
off guard. What was Nathanael’s testimony
of Jesus? Look at verse 49. Nathanael answered him, Rabbi,
you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. He
calls him Rabbi, which is what started this whole narrative.
But he also refers to him as the son of God. This is exactly
what John the Baptist had declared, that he was the Son of God. As
one said, nothing can be more natural than to suppose that
the language of John had created these strange questionings in
the heart of some, and that it was such thoughts that Nathaniel
was busied when the Lord saw him. Then he calls him the Messiah,
and he does so unequivocally when he refers to him as the
king of Israel. See, in the Old Testament, the
king of God’s people was supposed to be God. And it was that being,
that was that Messiah that they looked for. The Messiah was going
to come and to be their king. The Messiah here is just described
in the most simple terms in this sovereign relationship that he
had with his people. As one pastor said, it should
not be forgotten that the title King of Israel was one which
our Lord never refused during his ministry. The angel Gabriel
foretold that the Lord would give him the throne of his father
David and that he would reign over the house of Jacob and that
of his kingdom there would be no end. When the wise men came
from the east, they inquired, for whom was born King of the
Jews? Jesus Christ has come onto the
scene. And based on the reception that he had from the emissaries
of the religious elite, we might, if this were a video series,
we might turn it off. This is going nowhere. They’re rude to John the Baptist.
They’re hostile towards him. He’s telling them of the Christ. And then these three absolute
nobodies come onto the scene. Andrew, the mighty one, about whom we know almost nothing, goes and tells his most beloved,
we found the Messiah. unequivocal, I know absolutely
true that this is the Savior. And then the testimony of Philip,
the lover of horses, about whom we know next to nothing. Goes to his beloved friend, Jesus
is the promised one. This is the one that we’ve been
reading about all of our lives and our upbringing. And then
the testimony of Nathanael, God’s gift, God has given, meant his
name. Nathanael comes and says without
a doubt, Jesus is the son of God. These were the first responders. And I tell you, Christ can do
something. Christ can do amazing things with testimonies like
that. Christ didn’t need to prove himself
to hard hearts that would never receive him because there would
always be those that did. always be those that responded
to Christ as he presents himself to be the lesson that we could
take from Andrew and Philip and Nathaniel. How eagerly do we
go with the testimony of Christ for who we’ve discovered him
to be? Let’s pray. Oh, merciful King, we humble
ourselves in your glorious presence. And we who have found Christ, we have found Him to be indeed
the Savior of the world. He indeed is the Messiah. He
is the one about whom the Old Testament scriptures speak. He
is not only the Son of God, He is the King of all the world. God, grant us the grace not only
to behold Him as such in our own personal lives, but to proclaim
Him as such, and not only to those that we dearly love, but
also to those that are hostile towards you, those who are indifferent
to you, those who do not know Christ, to each of them, may
we be faithful to you in proclaiming our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen. You take your bulletins
as we close and let’s stand together and sing Jesus will suffer.