SERMON: John 1:35-51

Reading:

Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone. The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith 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, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith 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.

Follow Me

Beloved of the Lord......Let us begin today by placing ourselves in the sandals of John or Andrew, Peter, Philip or Nathanael.  Imagine Christ comes to you, and He earnestly looks upon you with those calm eyes and He says in earnest "Follow Me".  When Jesus says "Follow Me", what do those words mean for you?  When the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep says to you personally "Follow Me"…..how do those words ring or resonate in your soul?  If you could choose one word that would describe what you ought to do when Jesus says "Follow Me", what would that one word be?.......I think that one word would be TRUST.  When we follow Christ we first and foremost TRUST He is our perfect and complete Savior from sin.  We also TRUST and "Fear not" He has a good plan for our eternal salvation, though our future on earth be the cross (for the cross leads to glory).  When life in this world then gets to be very hard and very difficult…..when there are countless troubles without and within, let us remember and rejoice, Christ is the ONE THING NEEDFUL, and….."Follow Me."  "I teach you how to shun and flee, what harms your soul's salvation, Your heart from every guile to free, from sin and its temptation.  I am the refuge of the soul and lead you to your heavenly goal."

I.  "They followed Jesus."  We often forget that John the Baptist had his own disciples, before Christ had His disciples.  When John was cast into prison, all of his disciples should have begun following Jesus, but not all did.  In today's lesson when John the Baptist therefore says "Behold the Lamb of God" this was not the first time he directed His disciples to follow Jesus.  As for the two who followed Christ, verse 40 reveals Andrew to be one.  We believe the other unnamed disciple was John.  This is because throughout the Gospel of John, John doesn't draw attention to his own name.  At the Passover for example, John gives the names of various disciples present, but he refers to himself only this way, "Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved."  John's own name then was not important to John himself, but it was very important to John to know Jesus loved him.  As Jesus loved John, Jesus loves us too for "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 

        And so while our personal names on earth are not really of great importance, but the saving name of Christ is, let us not forget Jesus knows us all by name and He holds each believer precious in that "great heart wherewith He loved us."  A true disciple of Christ is not a nameless person before Christ.  We are not just one of a billion in the world, but Jesus carries each sheep or lamb in His own bosom, His heart.  The very hairs of your head are numbered.  If we are sick or hurting inside, sorrowful or depressed Jesus knows it, and His heart feels it too. Through sickness and death we should then not be afraid to follow Him who loves us.  Just as Christ knew Peter and Nathanael before Peter and Nathanael knew Christ, we can be comforted knowing God has chosen or elected us for salvation "before the foundation of the world".  Yet this election of grace is in no way built upon our works or merit or faith, rather it is built upon the Rock of Christ, that solid foundation upon which true faith stands strong and true, like the name Cephas which means "stone". 

        Jesus then is called the Lamb of God, because lambs were used for sacrifice in the Old Testament.  This Lamb however is different, for He was, is, and ever shall be the Lamb OF GOD, namely sent by God to take away the sins of the world.  The Bible says of this Lamb, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth."  Jesus didn't open his mouth or complain, for this was the very purpose of His coming, to be sacrificed for our sins.  He truly bore all our sins upon Himself.  And while it is good to picture Jesus suffering and dying for the whole world, "reconciling the world unto Himself", even if we were the only sinner left standing on the face of the earth, heading for hell and damnation because of our sins, Jesus would yet come to suffer and die FOR YOU, to SAVE YOU from sin.  Faith then, true faith takes the broad and universal  sacrifice of Christ for the sins of the world, and faith makes it personal and precious, saying, "this means Jesus died for me.  Jesus paid for all my sins with His own precious blood."  Ponder that thought for just a moment in your heart…..His precious blood was shed for you personally, and Jesus will suddenly become very precious to you. 

        Just then as Jesus knew Nathanael under the fig tree BEFORE Nathanael recognized Jesus to be the Son of God, so God called and elected His disciples before the foundation of the world, and in that moment of time He called us by the Gospel, bringing us grace and every blessing.  This is why we today are able to recognize and see that Jesus of Nazareth was not just a man, but the "Son of God….Thou art the King of Israel" as Nathanael said.  His name is now precious to us, and our name is precious to Him, so much so that Jesus said, "Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."  If we truly repent of our sins and truly place our faith in Jesus alone, the sure foundation of our justification, we will in triumph, GREAT TRIUMPH overcome this evil world and break forth in song in heaven when we die!  We know this because Jesus promised, "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels."

II.  Disciples of Christ follow Christ.  Disciples of Christ then are followers of Christ, as those first two, John and Andrew.  In John 10:27 Jesus explains "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they FOLLOW ME."  When Jesus thus said to those two disciples, "What are you seeking?"  and they answered, "Rabbi where do you live?"  we learn disciples of Christ LIVE WITH CHRIST.  How do we live with Christ?  By faith of course!  By faith we truly live IN CHRIST and by faith Christ truly LIVES IN US.  By the same faith we daily walk in the path God has given us.  We walk by faith and love, keeping God's commandments and not breaking them.  Ephesians five thus says, "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;  And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.  But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;  Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.  For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."  Clearly then to be a disciple of Christ means our manner and way of life will be different from the world.  True disciples walk in the path of God's commandments, and unbelievers do not. While sin has dominion over all unbelievers, sin does not have the rule over believers.  The Bible says, "Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace."  That is also why Christ is our Master.  Sin is NOT our master.

        This is very much related to the comment of Christ concerning Nathanael.  "Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile!"  Jesus meant that Nathaniel was a true Israelite, namely a true son of Abraham by faith.  While there were many Israelites who did not believe the promises of God concerning the Messiah, Nathanael did.  He had true faith.  What then is guile?  Guile is "deceitful cunning" or trickery.  An Israelite with guile then pretends to be something he is not.  The same is true today regarding false Christians.  Not all who confess Christ to be their Savior inwardly believe Christ is their Savior.  Inside their heart, false Christians do not hate their sin but secretly love it and willfully continue in it without true repentance.  Sin still has dominion over such.  True Christians however hate all their sins and wish never to do them even once.  Sin is always present in us, but we do not willfully live in such sins.  Though we daily sin much and indeed deserve nothing but punishment, even those daily sins like worry, proud thoughts, sinful anger, lack of faith, or fear of the future,….we daily struggle with such but they do not rule us as they do unbelievers.  For the believer then there is no such thing as a small sin, for we know even one sin alone merits all of God's everlasting wrath which is damnation.  Yet for Christ's sake we do not despair, for "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from ALL sin", even ALL our daily sins with which we struggle and hate.  If then dear believer you have such terrible inward struggles and laments regarding sin, remember that by the Lamb of God you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified "in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."  By grace it is still true, "ye are saved."

        To follow Christ as those disciples did, means we have to daily renounce our own life, our own will, our own way.  More often than not, our plans for our life on earth do not match up with God's plan for our own life.  God has our eternal salvation in mind, but our flesh wants to live happily ever after on earth!  God forbid!  When life therefore gets hard and difficult for you, when sickness is heavy upon you, or you are lonely, downcast, or dejected, listen carefully to that still small voice of Jesus who simply says "Follow Me".  "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."  "Come follow Me, the Savior spake, all in My way abiding: Deny yourselves the world forsake, Obey My call and guiding.  Oh bear the cross whate'er betide, Take My example for your guide."

        While it is true, none of us know what lies ahead in our future, Jesus does, and God has a good plan for you.  As Jesus miraculously foresaw Philip going to Nathanael, sitting under the fig tree, Jesus also has foreseen our future, and "Thou shalt see greater things than these" for "Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."  While it is comforting to know our future is in God's powerful hands, it is something far greater to see heaven is open to us by the precious blood of the Son of Man.  Therefore dear disciple of Christ, remember your names are written in heaven.  Whatever path God has chosen for you, even if it be most difficult, this path still leads to heaven.  Do not despise this path nor God's ways, bear your cross, and run with patience this race God has set before you.  His ways are higher than your own.  When you lack strength, look to your strong Good Shepherd, the Lamb of God who willingly bore your sins on His cross of Calvary.  His great love did all this FOR YOU and though He was and is God, it was not easy.  Your cross is infinitely smaller than His, yet His grace which helps you carry that cross is infinitely larger. When you are under the cross, look beyond the cross and see heaven OPEN.  Jesus is waiting there for you, "the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.  Amen.