Gospel of John wk 6 - Follow Me

Follow Me - Come and See

This morning we will be finishing out the first chapter of the Gospel of John.

I have titled this sermon: Follow Me and Come and See.

This is the sixth message in this series from this first chapter in the Gospel of John.

The apostle John started off by telling us about Jesus and how Jesus is God, and was with God from the beginning and has always been.

Then the apostle John turned to John the Baptist and we have heard how John the Baptist has testified about Jesus many times.

John the Baptist’s life was about pointing people to Jesus, and that was John the Baptist purpose in life.

Our text this morning we will once again hear John the Baptist testify of Jesus, and then the text turns to Jesus’ earthly ministry.

Our text this morning is verses 35-51, of chapter one and we are going to read it all and then look at it and then there are a few things I want to point out that we can learn from this text this morning.

Look with me at our text.

John 1:35–51 NASB95

35 Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 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?” 39 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 tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). 42 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). 43 The next day He purposed to go into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 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.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 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.” 49 Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” 50 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.” 51 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.”

Pray

In verse 35 we are told it is the next day; therefore, this would be day three that John the Baptist is out on the River Jordan of this particular chapter preaching as Jesus comes walking down the river side.

John the Baptist once again proclaims - the Lamb of God.

Now there was two of John the Baptist’s disciples that were standing there with him, that asked Jesus where do you stay?

Jesus responds come and you will see!

Now it was about the tenth hour! This would be about 10 A.M. as they counted from midnight.

One of those two disciples were Andrew the brother of Simon Peter and Andrew went and found Peter and told him we have found the Messiah which means Christ.

In Hebrew, Messiah means “the anointed One, which in Greek is translated Christ.

Jesus says to Peter, you are Simon the Son of John but will be called Cephas which is translated Peter.

When Jesus looked at Simon, He knew his character and destiny.

Jesus gave him the Aramaic name Cephas.

Peter is the Greek name translation of Cephas which means rock.

Jesus did not give a reason for the name change here, but a common understanding is that his name indicates what God by His grace would do through him.

Peter would be a rock-like man in the church during its early years.

Jesus then finds Philip and says Follow Me!

Philip then tells his friend Nathanael we have found the one Moses has spoke about Jesus of Nazareth.

Nathanael says can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Nazareth had a poor reputation and no one important or of high influence had ever came from Nazareth before.

Jesus when seeing Nathanael says, an Israelite, in whom there is no deceit, or in whom there is nothing false.

Now Nathanael was puzzled as he did not know how Jesus even knew him, as he had never even seen Jesus before.

Jesus said, I seen you under the fig tree.

Nathanael then responds, like oh wow you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel.

Jesus tells Nathanael you believe because I seen you under the fig tree, just wait you will see greater than that.

You will see angels ascending and descending from God on the Son of Man - and Jesus was obviously speaking of Himself.

4 Things to learn from this Text:

1. Who are you seeking in this New Year?

For the third day in a row John the Baptist has testified about Jesus.

This shows that he is committed to the ministry, the calling and life of seeking and following Jesus as Lord of his life.

Two of John the Baptist’s disciples leave him and begin to follow after Jesus, John did not try to stop them but that was his whole reasoning in pointing people to Jesus, so that people would follow Jesus.

Are you seeking Jesus, following after Him each and every day?

See we so many times think of salvation as just saying a prayer and that is it, or saying a prayer and showing up to church from time to time, but as Jesus told Philip - Follow Me.

We are to follow Jesus - step by step.

2. We can learn from Andrew who when he found Jesus went and found his brother Peter.

The hardest people to share our faith with is our family, but the ones we want to see come to salvation the most is those same family members.

In our text Andrew first runs to his brother, who we know from other Scripture is also his business partner in the fishing business, but he runs and tells Peter we have found the Messiah.

Not only should we be sharing with our family but as Philip shared with Nathanael who is believed to be Philip’s friend, possibly co-worker in the fishing trade.

We need to be sharing our faith with our friends, co-workers, and who ever God puts in our path.

3. Then we can learn from Philip’s experience of telling Nathanael of Jesus.

There are times when we do share our faith and people doubt us or they want to try to argue with us.

As Philip told Nathanael, he said, can anything good come from Nazareth?

Listen to how Philip responds - he simply says, just as Jesus has said, come and see.

Now I understand we cannot take people to actually see Jesus face-to-face like Philip did but we can share the things that Jesus has done in our lives.

When we tell people our personal experiences, they really cannot argue with them, they might say well that is all just a coincidence that you made it through that or that you did not die or whatever.

But when you know it was God working in and through you or God protecting you, they can to explain it without God all they want but they are just deceiving themselves.

4. What we can learn from Nathanael’s response to Philip!

Nathanael says to Philip - can anything good come out of Nazareth?

This statement or question of Nathanael’s gives off a prejudice vibe and represents a rivalry between Cana and Nazareth or is merely a local maxim that categorizes Nazareth as the wrong side of the tracks.

Evangelism is advanced best by genuine, concerned, loving proclamation and invitation.

If we come at people with prejudice or hatred they are not going to listen to us.

A saying that has always stuck with me is - people want to know how much you care; before they care how much you know.

And that is so true with evangelism - sharing our faith - You have to build a relationship with people and let them know you care about them before they are going to listen to you share your faith.

God has called every believer to share their faith, to tell others how Jesus has changed your life.

If Jesus has not changed your life, then come and allow me to talk to you this morning as we sing a song of invitation.

Jesus Paid it All.