Lars Larson Live Stream

First Baptist Church Leominster iconFirst Baptist Church Leominster

2 views

0 comments

00:02
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
00:46
Turn in our Bibles to John chapter 1. Maybe next
00:55
Sunday we'll complete chapter 1. We are continuing to consider what we have called the prelude to the public ministry of Jesus which is contained in John 1 19 through 51.
01:13
This is the fifth Lord's Day. We have addressed this portion of this fourth gospel and to this point the emphasis has been on the witness that John the
01:23
Baptist gave forth to Jesus but that witness has come to its end or conclusion with John declaring two great truths regarding the
01:36
Lord Jesus. The first declaration of truth regarding Jesus was that he was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world and then the second great truth declared by John that really brought an end to his witness was that Jesus was he who baptizes with the
01:53
Holy Spirit and as we emphasize last Lord's Day these two great works of God are involved in bringing us salvation.
02:03
First he secures through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ the forgiveness of our sins and then secondly
02:11
Jesus the Lord of course delivers us from the power of sin enables us to live lives of obedience because he baptizes us with the
02:22
Holy Spirit which occurred at our conversion. Again the outline of John 1 we're using
02:30
I set before you in our notes and I emboldened the portion that we'll be addressing today.
02:38
We come into this section where the first disciples of Jesus are identified and described for us.
02:46
Now Andrew and Peter are the ones named but there was actually an unnamed disciple who first came to Jesus with Andrew and we'll be speaking about him as well and so here's the portion of this prelude beginning with John chapter 1 verse 35.
03:06
Again the next day John stood with two of his disciples looking at Jesus as he walked he said behold the
03:14
Lamb of God. The two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus and then
03:20
Jesus turned and seeing them following said to them what do you seek and they said to him rabbi which is to say when translated teacher where are you staying he said to them come and see they came and saw where he was staying and remained with him that day and now it was about the 10th hour.
03:45
One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew Simon Peter's brother he first found his own brother
03:55
Simon and said to him we have found the Messiah which is translated the
04:01
Christ and he brought him to Jesus. Now when
04:06
Jesus looked at him he said you are Simon the son of Jonah you should be called
04:13
Cephas which is translated a stone. Of course all four
04:20
Gospels present John the Baptist as introducing the ministry of Jesus to Israel John's ministry of proclamation calling people to repent and be baptized with view to God's forgiveness of sins was in view of in preparation for the soon inauguration of the promised kingdom of God.
04:41
The kingdom was at hand according to John the king would soon appear and so John was preparing for the one who was to come by preparing the people first and so he would then declare its commencement of this preparation period when he identified
05:01
Jesus to Israel and ultimately to the world which we have in John chapter 1 as the promised king as one wrote all four
05:09
Gospels begin with the ministry of John the Baptist who is described as a forerunner who announces the person and ministry of Jesus but the
05:19
Baptist is displayed differently in John's Gospel giving a more emphatic prophetic apostolic witness to Jesus.
05:29
The Baptist introduces Jesus not merely to Israel but to the world even the reader of the
05:36
Gospel it is through the self -effacement of the one who offered renewal cleansings that would be
05:42
John the Baptist that our attention is drawn to the one who can truly cleanse and renew of course being
05:50
Jesus Christ. Now this last portion of John chapter 1 contains information regarding the first disciples of Jesus the focus of this passage is the self -witness of Jesus to these two disciples there are two sections to this passage the first is contained in verses 35 through 42 which we read which speak of Andrew and Peter becoming disciples and then the second tells of Philip and Nathanael becoming disciples and we'll only address the first of the this week and Lord willing next week we'll address
06:28
Philip and Nathanael and so let's consider Andrew and Peter but also
06:33
I probably should have mentioned the unnamed disciple who came with Andrew. We first read that John the
06:41
Baptist pointed two of his disciples to Jesus thereby transitioning them from being his disciples to becoming disciples of Jesus and so we read in 35 verse 35 again the next day
06:54
John stood with two of his disciples and looking at Jesus he walked and he said behold the
07:02
Lamb of God it was the Baptist mission to point men to Jesus in the previous section we've seen him bearing witness and now we find him sending some of his followers after the
07:15
Lord the evangelist provides a time frame in this verse as the next day you see that in verse 35 again the next day now we have not addressed in great detail the time element of this first chapter of John's gospel if we did we would realize that this is the third day of the narrative the first was when
07:42
John engaged the embassy of the Jews from Jerusalem in verse 19 and following the second day is when
07:49
Jesus saw John or rather when John saw Jesus coming toward him and he made the announcement behold the
07:57
Lamb of God and here in verse 35 the third day commences in which the two of his disciples become disciples of Jesus and so John is careful to follow this chronology one day after the other we read that John was standing there with two of his disciples
08:18
John stood with two of his disciples is the text Jesus had disciples
08:25
John the Baptist also had disciples later we read that John had sent two of his disciples to inquire the identity and ministry of Jesus and so we read in Luke 8 7 18 and 19 the disciples of John reported all things to him that is
08:42
John the Baptist and John calling two of his disciples to him sent them to the
08:48
Lord saying are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another even
08:54
John the Baptist later on had questions when Jesus whom he identified and baptized was not exhibiting the kind of ministry that he and all other
09:04
Jews thought that the Messiah would demonstrate and so he sent two of his disciples to inquire of Jesus it would appear that John's disciples lived according to different religious standards than the disciples of Jesus John's disciples live more in accordance of what would be regarded as devout and consecrated living according to the
09:27
Jews and their understanding of the law and of the oral traditions and so we read in Matthew 9 14 and 15 then the disciples of John came to Jesus saying why do we and the
09:40
Pharisees fast often but your disciples do not fast and so we see a different manner of living in some areas particularly with regard to issues of fasting or feasting and so Jesus's disciples and John's disciples live differently religiously
10:03
Jesus said to them can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them but the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them and then they will fast and so the
10:15
Lord Jesus taught his disciples in manners and ways consistent with the new covenant that he would be instituting rather than according to the old covenant that been established with Israel by Moses and moreover it must be assumed that the disciples of John the
10:32
Baptist also ordered their lives according to the much of the formal tradition of the rabbis from which the
10:38
Lord Jesus would direct his disciples not to look not to look to the traditions but to the scriptures alone we read in verse 36 and looking at Jesus as he walked he said behold the
10:53
Lamb of God John declared that same message the day before behold the
11:00
Lamb of God he declares it again here and so after John had initially identified
11:07
Jesus as the promised promised one we see John continually bearing witness to all who would hear him whenever he saw
11:16
Jesus behold the Lamb of God that was the refrain of John's message after he had identified
11:23
Jesus as the Messiah when he saw the Holy Spirit descend upon him in the form of a dove verse 37 records the two disciples heard him speak and they followed
11:34
Jesus most of Jesus's first disciples had probably been former disciples of John when the eleven apostles felt the need to replace
11:45
Judas Iscariot later on in Acts chapter 1 they had two criteria therefore these men who have accompanied us all the time that the
11:54
Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the baptism of John to the day when he was taken up from us one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection and so they selected one of course in order to have 12 apostles and the reason was there were 12 tribes of Israel and they needed an apostle over each of the 12 tribes of Israel however apparently not all the disciples had been disciples of John the
12:22
Baptist most of them probably were it would seem quite certain that the Lord Jesus called
12:28
Levi who would thereafter be named Matthew to become one of his disciples even while he was serving as at the tax table as a corrupt
12:37
Jewish man who had long departed from the ways of Israel apparently Matthew had not been a disciple of John the
12:45
Baptist although probably most of our Lord's disciples had been the
12:51
Lord called several of his disciples in Galilee while they were while they were fishermen he later made them apostles it's not stated with respect to every one of them that they were disciples of John the
13:03
Baptist or even if they had been baptized by John although it's likely they probably had been but not only did
13:12
John baptize with view to the coming kingdom Jesus also had a ministry of baptizing disciples and so the time arrived when
13:21
Jesus and disciples were baptizing more do disciples than John's disciples and so Jesus's ministry was increasing and it surpassed
13:31
John's ministry of baptizing and we read of this in John chapter 4 verse 1 and following therefore when the
13:40
Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John and then of course the qualification is given though Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples he left
13:53
Judea and departed again into Galilee it's possible that some of his apostles had initially been baptized be
14:01
Jesus that is by disciples who were with him and so it may not be that every disciple of Jesus had been baptized by John and was a disciple of John before becoming a disciple of Jesus now we read of two disciples of John who became disciples of Jesus this is quite amazing and I think it reveals to us the holy character
14:26
John the Baptist and the success of his ministry as one wrote the text does not tell us that the
14:33
Baptist expected his followers to become disciples of Jesus certainly some remained attached to John even after John's death but in the light of John the
14:43
Baptist self -perception is the forerunner of the coming one it is reasonable to assume that at least some of the disciples those perhaps who understood him best discerned that their master was constantly pointing beyond himself to another once he had identified the coming one it was only to be expected that some of them would follow
15:03
Jesus and in doing so the two disciples mentioned here are not scurriously abandoning the
15:09
Baptist in favor of a more prestigious leader but are being truest to the teaching of the forerunner this
15:17
John the Baptist understood this reveals in my mind the humble and noble character of John the
15:25
Baptist to see his own numbers dwindling even as they who left him went to another even
15:32
Jesus but he saw this as the realization of his mission even the aspirations of his ministry and we read of this spirit of John the
15:41
Baptist later in his got in the gospel John answered said a man can receive nothing unless it's been given to him from heaven he saw all of his ministry as a work of God God's grace through him you yourselves bear me witness that I said
15:57
I'm not the Christ but I've been sent before him he who has the bride is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice and therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled
16:11
John was the happiest person on that day when those two disciples of his became disciples of Jesus he must increase but I must increase decrease may this spirit characterize church leaders and particularly pastors one of the most difficult aspects of the ministry within a local church setting is when members choose to leave your church in order to join another church if there is one great difficulty in the ministry
16:42
I would I would label it that one every time that occurs there's a measure of soul -searching on the part of the pastor or at least there should be ultimately however the way to deal with the disappointment and self -doubting is to reaffirm that we're seeking to advance the kingdom of Christ if we had a time in which to help or direct a
17:05
Christian in seeking that kingdom in his righteousness then we should be pleased that we had that opportunity and the time to do so but sadly all too often a pastor may view himself in competition with other churches or even worse measuring himself and his worth as a pastor by comparing his work with other men in their ministries and how they seem to be doing and that is something
17:29
I've always sought to avoid doing that would be sinful the bottom line in this matter is to determine if one has been faithful to the
17:38
Lord and his people and then realizing of course that the true nature of things is going to be revealed when the
17:44
Lord returns if we were thinking rightly we would rejoice when we learn of the
17:49
Lord's blessing of another's ministry or another church we are concerned that the kingdom of our
17:55
Lord be furthered which is much broader than what takes place in our own little local church is that not right amen may each of us retain that spirit when these two disciples began to follow
18:09
Jesus we read of our Lord's reaction to them verse 38a records then
18:15
Jesus turned and seeing them following said to them what do you seek this is a good question to ask initially as someone who shows some interest in spiritual matters what do you seek by this question that one is led to examine his owners understanding of spiritual matters and his own motivation for seeking what do you seek but sometimes a person is unable to answer this very basic question they really don't know all he or she knows is that an interest has arisen in his soul he may know that he has needs but he's too spiritually ignorant to identify or specify what he wants or needs but sometimes an answer to such a question like this reveals the true nature of a person or at least the extent to which the
19:04
Lord has awakened or informed him of his spiritual need it would seem that these two men did not know themselves how to answer the
19:11
Lord's question to them what do you seek of course we know that even when the Lord asked these men what do you seek in reality
19:19
Jesus was seeking them wasn't he for we know that fallen man if left to himself would never seek the
19:26
Lord Paul would quote the psalmist there is none that seeks after God Romans 310 and of course these disciples did not know that God had his purposes toward them being realized at this time they were clueless they were as we all were at this stage of initially coming to Jesus it says the words of the hymn that we occasionally saying
19:49
I sought the Lord and afterward I knew he moved my soul to seek him seeking me it was not
19:58
I that found Oh Savior true no I was found of thee yes
20:04
Jesus asked the penetrating question what are you seeking but we know of course it was the
20:10
Lord himself seeking his own and he had glorious purposes for these men they had no concept no idea what was in store for them but the
20:20
Lord did we read in verse 38 be they said to him rabbi which is to say when translated teacher where are you staying they called him rabbi the evangelist that is the gospel writer translated this
20:36
Aramaic word look at the verse carefully they said him to him rabbi and then in parentheses which is to say when translated teacher this reveals that the evangelist was addressing principally a non -jewish readership
20:52
John's gospel was not written to Jews principally but rather to Gentiles who are not familiar with Jewish terms
21:00
Jewish ideas and so he would translate for them or explain
21:05
Jewish terms for them because they did not understand them and so the common opinion of evangelicals is this fourth gospel was written in and around Ephesus up in what is today
21:17
Western Turkey toward the end of the first century the readers would have been largely Gentiles who are largely unfamiliar with terms and titles of Hebrew within the religion of Judaism and so they said to him rabbi and then the writer of the gospel
21:33
John the Apostle the evangelist would clarify that means teacher that these two men dress address
21:40
Jesus as rabbi shows their high regard for Jesus as well as their desire to learn of him we throw that word out rabbi rather easily frequently but it really had quite a high value in the first century particularly the early first century as one wrote in fact it was
22:00
Matthew Henry and calling him rabbi they intimated that their design and coming to him was to be taught by him rabbi signifies a master a teaching master the
22:12
Jews called their doctors or learned men rabbis the word comes from Rob Malthus Magnus a rabbi a great man and one that as we say has much in him never was there such a rabbi as our
22:26
Lord Jesus such a great one in whom were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge these came to Christ to be his scholars and his students so must all those that apply themselves to him
22:37
John had told them that he was the Lamb of God and now this lamb is worthy to take the book and open the seals as a rabbi and unless we give up ourselves to be ruled and taught by him he will not take away our sins and so there's a lot of meaning in that term rabbi that these two disciples of John they recognized and acknowledged our
23:02
Lord's great ability to instruct them they came because they wanted to learn they asked
23:09
Jesus where are you staying and Jesus did not tell them but simply directed them verse 39 reads he said to them come and see and they came and saw where he was staying and remained with him that day and now it was about the 10th hour
23:24
Jesus said to them come and see perhaps it should be understood as the
23:30
Lord saying come and you will see it was probably a humble place maybe an inn perhaps maybe just a cave maybe just on the side somewhere he was just temporarily in that region and we know later on he would say that you know foxes had their dens birds had their nests the
23:49
Son of Man had nowhere permanently to to lay his head it must have been a simple place however no doubt this invitation doubtless delighted the
24:01
Baptist disciples and constitute the beginning of their intimate relationship with Jesus Christ can you imagine the privilege and the experience of that day for these two men here in verse 39 we again see betrayed a non -jewish reader the evangelist commonly use the standard
24:21
Roman designations for time as his Gentile readers would have been accustomed to use the
24:28
Romans would begin counting hours of the day beginning at midnight as we do today the synoptic writers that is
24:36
Matthew Mark and Luke commonly use Jewish time references which counted the hours beginning with the dawn of the day but it's not always an easy matter to sort out the statements of time contained in the
24:48
Gospels here William Hendrickson's words which depict the difficulty of this issue a time references are hard to sort through in the
24:57
Gospels and I read probably eight or ten commentaries and there are different views as to the time of the day and and Hendrickson pointed out some of the issues commentators will probably never agree on the meaning of the expression the 10th hour does this mean the 10th hour after sunrise and it's 4 p .m.
25:16
this would be in accordance with the Jewish method of computing time recognized in the synoptics but the same method was frequently used among the
25:24
Romans see that's the problem the latter however in counting the hours also started from midnight and from noon as we do today they employed the latter method in order to designate the hours of their civil day in other words in dating leases and contracts however contemporary records do not make clear just where the one method of figuring the hours ended in the other began usage probably differed in different regions accordingly the expression the 10th hour can mean 4 p .m.
25:56
or 10 a .m. or even 10 p .m. however the context makes it quite impossible to think of 10 p .m.
26:03
as to the choice between 4 p .m. and 10 a .m. we believe with Alfred Edersheim and AT Robertson Groscheida and many others that much could be said in favor of the latter in other words 10 a .m.
26:16
but I found most of the commentators saying no no it was 4 p .m. and I thought it was 10 a .m.
26:22
until I started reading some of the arguments of the others and I have to conclude I don't know what day what time it was but it was a portion of the day that they stayed
26:32
Hendrickson went on to write of the issues involved first John is writing at the close of the first century his readers are
26:40
Christians from among the Gentiles mostly hence he does not need to use the Jewish method of counting the hours he may have used the
26:48
Roman civil day method secondly in John 20 verse 19 the author must mean the
26:55
Roman day and if there why not here third the context would seem to favor this interpretation we read they remained with him that day had it been 4 p .m.
27:06
we would have expected they remained with him that evening also if the 10th hour means 10 a .m.
27:13
there's a sufficient time on that same day for the search which resulted in the bringing in of two more disciples
27:18
Simon Peter and in all probability James I didn't put it in my notes
27:24
I put it in a footnote but the one verse that says that Andrew first went and found his brother
27:33
Simon and brought him to Jesus some commentators indicated that John the
27:40
Apostle was the unnamed disciple and he wrote Andrew first went and found his brother implying that John also went and found his brother but Simon or Andrew found his brother first of course
27:53
John's brother would have been James and so it's a possible that both of them went and got both their brothers but I thought that that was quite a stretch or strain on that adverb the word first and so I didn't now
28:09
I threw it out there but I didn't put it in my notes in a very extensive way fourthly
28:14
Hendrickson argued this method of computing the hours also suits the circumstances better in other passages of this gospel and fifth the time calculation brings
28:26
John 1914 into harmony with mark 1525 and that has to do with the time when our
28:33
Lord was crucified what hour of the day was it it depends on which gospel writer you're reading one is using
28:40
Jewish time another is using Roman time and it's hard to reconcile those and he's saying that here if you consider the way he is arguing that it would bring these two passages into harmony and so I suspect at the time
28:56
Jesus told these men to come to where he was staying was either 10 a .m. or 4 p .m. I don't know which but they spent the remainder of the day with him we next read of the identity of one of these two disciples we read in verse 41 of the two who heard
29:14
John speak followed him was Andrew Simon Peter's brother again
29:20
John the Apostle wrote this gospel 60 years after the event Simon Peter was by then of course the very noted
29:27
Apostle and Andrew was always known as Peter's brother and even
29:33
John is describing Andrew in this way and so Andrew later became one of the original twelve
29:40
Apostles and because the first thing that Andrew did was to find his brother and bring him to Jesus Andrew is commonly referred to as the first Christian missionary he went and found his brother
29:52
Andrew was from Bethsaida of Galilee he met and followed Jesus while in Judea where he had been a disciple of John the
30:01
Baptist it seemed like Andrew was always helping others and we read the following references of Andrew in John 6 now the
30:11
Passover a feast of the Jews was near then Jesus lifted up his eyes seeing a great multitude coming toward him he said to Philip where shall we buy bread that these may eat but this he said to test him for he himself knew what he would do
30:26
Philip answered two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may have a little well
30:33
Andrew steps up right one of his disciples Andrew Simon Peter's brother there you have it again
30:39
Simon Peter's poor brother said to him there is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish what are they among so many and then
30:48
Jesus said make the people sit down and then in John 12 we also read of Andrew the helper now there were certain
30:56
Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast they came to Philip Philip was probably a
31:01
Hellenized Jew from outside of Palestine perhaps more approachable perceived wise by the
31:09
Greeks they came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and asked him saying sir we wish to see
31:16
Jesus so what did Philip do Philip came and told Andrew and in turn Andrew and Philip told
31:22
Jesus that they wanted to see him according to tradition soon after our
31:29
Lord ascended to his throne in heaven Andrew preached the gospel extensively in Jerusalem it is said he then traveled extensively preaching the gospel in many parts of the
31:39
Roman Empire however when he was in the region of Greece he strongly and persistently rebuked the leader of that country or that region
31:48
Aegeus for his idolatry the result was threatened death if Andrew persisted in his faith or he was offered great riches if he recanted the faith and offered sacrifice to the idols that had
32:01
Jesus worshipped tradition has it that he was crucified he basically says you don't have enough riches to give me you know to counter what
32:10
I already have in Christ at least that's what tradition says and so tradition says that Andrew is crucified be nailed to a cross which was in the form of an
32:19
X and that became the source of what is commonly now known always has been known as st.
32:26
Andrew's cross in the form of an X we read that immediately after Andrew came to follow
32:33
Jesus he left and found his brother Simon we read in verse 41 to he first found his own brother
32:40
Simon said to him we have found the Messiah which is translated the Christ and he brought him to Jesus Andrew first found his own brother
32:49
Simon one observed each time Andrew's mentioned in the narrative he's bringing someone to Jesus this is the nature of Andrew Andrew brought
33:00
Simon to Jesus and this is essentially what we attempt to do in our witnessing for Jesus Christ yes there are essential doctrines that must be taught for to those who had come to Jesus doctrines that must be understood and believed if one is to receive salvation but the aim of all of our effort is to bring them onto the person and into the presence of Jesus that they might know him that they might become his disciples
33:27
Andrew serves as an ideal disciple of Jesus who is concerned to bring another to the
33:33
Savior and by the way notice here again the evangelist translated the
33:39
Hebrew word Messiah into the Greek equivalent Christ here again we see the evangelist was writing to Gentiles who are not necessarily familiar with the
33:48
Hebrew term Messiah Andrew used the Hebrew word Messiah which the evangelist translates for his readers of the
33:56
Christ what did Andrew mean by this declaration however it would have conformed to the
34:03
Jewish expectation of the day FF Bruce I really like this commentator he was a scholar he always engaged the liberals and took him to task
34:14
FF Bruce he was in the 20th century he wrote a wonderful commentary on Hebrews he set forth this this this matter well we have found the
34:24
Messiah said Andrew this Semitic verbal adjective and that's what Messiah is it's an adjective does not appear in the
34:32
New Testament except in this Gospel where it is found twice here and in John 425 in both places it's interpreted by the
34:41
Greek equivalent Christos that's a Greek word in the Old Testament the verbal adjective is used to denote the king of Israel that is the
34:49
Lord's anointed the high priest the anointed priest and wants in the plural of the patriarchs in their role as prophets my anointed ones while the messianic expectations the outset of the
35:02
Christian era took a predominantly royal form in other words Jesus is primarily the
35:07
Lord or the King in actual fulfillment Jesus proved himself to be the Messiah par excellence in all three roles prophet priest and king what
35:16
Andrew would have meant at this time by the title Messiah cannot be stated with certainty his understanding would no doubt have been colored by contemporary forms in which the hope of Israel was cherished but as he and his fellow disciples came to know
35:30
Jesus better earlier conceptions of the Messiah and his achievement were displaced in their minds by the actual character and ministry of Jesus we found the
35:40
Messiah and and and Andrew he might have had all kinds of wrong conceptions about who the
35:46
Messiah was he wasn't wrong about the identity though Jesus was indeed the Messiah we read that our
35:53
Lord renamed Simon Cephas verse 43 now when Jesus looked at him he said you are
36:00
Simon the son of Jonah you should be called Cephas and here we have it translated once again it's done over and over again by the apart by the evangelist which is interpreted or translated a stone when the evangelist wrote that Jesus looked at him he did so in a manner that suggested a thorough penetrating look they gave him a settled assessment of the man
36:23
Jesus apparently was looking one way they came from behind he turned around and he looked in the
36:30
Greek word that's used by by the evangelist describes Jesus he checked him out and he saw immediately who this man was and what he was going to be he renamed him on the spot and so we see you know the the insight of the
36:48
Lord Jesus here quite beautifully displayed and so Jesus regarded
36:54
Simon closely studied him in a moment literally looked upon him and looked him over and that's the
37:00
Greek word and bleposs which suggests this idea Jesus sized him up and then made this assertion regarding his future importance and impact upon others as it as his
37:13
Apostle Jesus having looked upon Andrews brother manifests is penetrating knowledge and ability to predict the future by saying you are
37:22
Simon the son of John and that's what Jonah is you will be called Cephas that's in Aramaic or Peter in Greek meaning rock however this was not merely a prediction it was also a promise initiating or indicating what
37:36
God's grace would accomplish in the heart and life of this disciple the reformed commentator
37:42
Herman Ritterboss who wrote a wonderful theological commentary on the gospel of John which
37:49
I obtained recently and I'm enjoying gave an explanation of Jesus naming Peter on this occasion as it gives weight to the apostolic witness of Jesus the giving of the name involves not just as characterization of Simon as Peter that is as a rock of a man a trustworthy person but also his significance as a future disciple and apostle of Jesus even though no further explication like that Matthew 1618 is given in other words thou art
38:17
Peter on this rock I'll build my church the gates of hell shall not prevail against it for that reason it's proper to ask whether this first giving of the name is to be understood as a prediction however this may be the main thing that is here at the very beginning of the gospel
38:32
Peter is presented as the rock man and thus the evangelist unmistakably brings out for the church the reliability of the apostolic witness a reliability attested by Jesus the historic foundations of which are laid bare here
38:48
I thought that was a good observation of course the Roman Catholic Church elevated Peter declaring that the
38:55
Lord Jesus made him the first Pope Matthew Poole in his commentary wrote on this thou art
39:03
Simon he Jesus knew him called him by name told him his father's name Jonas and gives him a new name
39:09
Cephas which is by interpretation does not signify a head in other words you know when he's declared you know a stone it wasn't that he was a head and then he says as the
39:21
Pope is disputing that burn urged to prove him the head of the church that is Peter the head of the church or the first Pope as if it had been a
39:29
Greek word and came from Kefali which is the Greek word for head or as he pretended ridiculously enough from an old
39:38
Greek word Kephas another form of head but rather a stone as our text tells us by which name we find him called in other places
39:48
Peter which signifies a stone also our rock Cephas is a Syriac word and what he meant by that was
39:55
Aramaic Peter a Greek word Christ gave him the name both Cephas and Peter are by interpretation a stone there's no suggestion here of Peter being the first Pope now in the evangelist account of these first disciples of John who became disciples of Jesus on this day only
40:14
Andrew is named one of the disciples one of the two was Andrew and so who was the other disciple with Andrew and grant is granted his anonymity resulted in no shortage of proposals and they there are numbers of them found but by far the the proposal most commentators give is this is
40:38
John the Apostle this is the writer of the gospel he just didn't name himself because he never named himself in his entire gospel but one rightly pointed out the very details of John chapter 1 betray an eyewitness it was
40:55
John the gospel writer you know who is the other disciple and he didn't name himself and this is the most plausible proposal
41:03
John never identified himself by name in his entire gospel when he referred to himself it was generally by the description the one whom
41:12
Jesus loved and I gave a number of verses where that's found four different verses where John described himself never calling himself
41:21
John always described himself in a in a lesson overt way but one that he was apparently very pleased to in to describe himself he was a disciple whom
41:35
Jesus loved it could be reasoned by the detail of the account of John 1 itself that an eyewitness was present and recorded what had been saying and experienced
41:45
I think John was this other Apostle or other disciple although he went unnamed in the account the stamp of John the
41:54
Apostle is throughout our passage of John chapter 1 now let's get some concluding words of exhortation and counsel that I think we can glean from this there could be many more
42:06
I'm sure I love JC Riles comments expository thoughts on John I almost felt like just reproducing them all here for our benefit but they were they were wonderful and I do certainly draw from some of the things that he wrote first let's consider the kind manner in which our
42:27
Lord met encouraged these two disciples he spent time with them even inviting them to wherever it was he was staying what a magnanimous you know action on the part of our
42:39
Savior toward these two men consider first the small beginnings of the church which our
42:45
Lord would form upon himself here in the first portion of this section we read at the beginnings of the
42:51
Christian Church as far -reaching as the church has become a kingdom a worldwide kingdom there was a time when it was comprised of only three disciples here we read of Andrew an unnamed disciple and Peter Andrews brother but the beginning of Jesus's disciples there were only two
43:10
Andrew and an unnamed disciple who were formerly disciples of John the Baptist and yet we see what glorious events can take place by the simple but continual witness of Jesus Christ and JC Ryle pointed this out we say for one thing in these verses what good is done by continually testifying of Jesus Christ and that's what we need to do the first time that John the
43:35
Baptist cried behold the Lamb of God no result appears to have followed we're not told of any who heard inquired and believed but when he repeated the same words the next day we read that two of his disciples heard him speak and followed
43:48
Jesus they were received most graciously by him they followed Ryle went on to write this simple story is a pattern of the way in which good has been done to souls in every age of the
44:00
Christian Church by such testimony is that before us and by none else men and women are converted and saved it's by exalting
44:09
Christ not the church Christ not the sacraments Christ not the ministry it's by this means that hearts are moved and sinners are turned to God to the world such testimony may seem weakness and foolishness yet like the ram's horns before those blast the walls of Jericho fell down this testimony is mighty to the pulling down of strongholds the story the crucified
44:32
Lamb of God has proved in every age the power of God unto salvation those who have done most for Christ's cause in every part of the world have been like John the
44:43
Baptist they've not cried behold me or behold the church or behold the ordinances but behold the
44:50
Lamb if souls are to be saved men must be pointed directly to Christ and that's important yes there's doctrine that needs to be taught and understood and believed embraced and promoted but all must be in service to directing people to Jesus Christ secondly let's take to heart the great privilege we have and the potential we have to further the kingdom of Christ and to bring eternal blessing to others as soon as Andrew came to Jesus he went to fetch his brother
45:20
Simon in order to bring him to Jesus the fact before us is most striking and instructive out of the three first members of the
45:28
Christian Church one at least was brought to Jesus by the private quiet word of a relative he seems to have heard no public preaching he saw no mighty miracles wrought he was not convinced by any powerful reasoning he only heard his brother telling him he'd found a
45:45
Savior himself and at once the work began in his soul the simple testimony of a warm -hearted brother was the first link in the chain which
45:55
Peter was drawn out of the world and joined to Christ the first blow in that mighty work by which
46:01
Peter was made a pillar of the church was struck by Andrews words we have found the
46:06
Christ amen and then let us also learn from Christ on how we might better souls that we come into contact with let's consider the kind way in which our
46:18
Savior invited and welcomed these men to come to be with him he responded to their simple coming to unto him people feel at ease and welcomed by the presence of the
46:29
Savior we read that your Jesus first inquired of them what do you seek and they came and were ready to follow him but he was the one who initiated their conversation they came behind him but though he had his back towards them he was soon aware of them he turned and saw them following note
46:48
Christ takes early cognizance of the first motions of a soul towards him and the first step taken in the way to heaven he did not stay or wait till they begged to leave to speak to him but he spoke first what communion there is between a soul and Christ is that it begins this discourse he saith unto them what seek ye this was not a reprimand for their boldness and intruding into his company he that came to seek us never checked any for seeking him in other words it prevented anyone from seeking him but on the contrary it's a kind invitation of them into his acquaintance whom he saw bashful and modest come what have you say to me what is your petition what is your request what do you seek and our
47:33
Lord set before us a wonderful pattern that we should mimic in our own desire to be a bait available and desire us to serve others in bringing them to Jesus Christ note those whose business it is to instruct people in the affairs of their souls should be humble and mild and easy of access and should encourage those that apply to them the question
47:55
Christ put to them is what we should all put to ourselves when we begin to follow Christ and take up the profession of this holy religion what seek ye what do we design and desire those that follow
48:08
Christ and yet seek the world or themselves or the praise of men deceive themselves what seek we in seeking
48:15
Christ do we seek a teacher a ruler a reconciler in following Christ do we seek the favor of God and eternal life and then consider the great ministry that commenced with the conversion of Peter brought to Jesus Christ by his brother we have no concept of what the
48:33
Lord may do with our witness as we point others to the Savior sometimes we hear good things not often but sometimes we do and one day we'll see the fruit that the
48:45
Lord has wrought through our faithful pointing others to him and I included just a few short email notes
48:51
I got this week I came home Friday to 241 email address email notes and I found these two from two
48:58
African pastors one in Durban South Africa and the other up in Kenya I believe and it's encouraging to receive words like this we point people to Christ and God blesses that doesn't he and may the
49:12
Lord help us to be faithful let's pray thank you father for your word thank you for the privilege we have to point people to Jesus Christ as John did and we pray that you would bless our efforts we pray as a result of the witness of this church
49:29
Lord that many would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and so help us continue to bless our missions efforts
49:38
Lord thank you for the glorious results that we're seeing in these days and the encouraging words we hear bless us