Whom are you looking for?
John 18:1-7
Whom are you seeking?
Let me put it in other words:
When you came to this church this morning who were you looking for?
This will become clearer once we move on…..
I want you to notice a few things in this passage:
1.You’ve got a small group of soldiers and chiefs with Judas looking for Jesus.
a.They came prepared, lanterns, torches,
and weapons,
Ready for action!!
2.Then you’ve got Jesus asking the same question I’ve asked this morning: Whom are you seeking?
·He knew they were looking for Him, so
He placed Himself in the middle.
·Notice!: It’s the Saviour, the Son of God
offering Himself to them.
3.Then you get their answer: They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth."
·Notice: They were looking for Jesus the
carpenter, from a place called Nazareth.
·They didn’t have carpentry work for Him
either, they wanted to arrest Him.
·Can you remember Nathaniel’s words “And
Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good
come out of Nazareth?" John 1:46
4. Jesus answers: "I am He."
This answer means so much, more than what those men could have dreamt.
The answer was so powerful that they fell
on their backs.
Here He is telling them that He is what?
The one who makes the blind man see again, the
leper healer, who takes away sin, gives life
after death, but the tragedy was that that was
not the Jesus they were looking for.
Back To my Question this morning:
When you came to this church this morning who
were you looking for?
Jesus of Nazareth Or Jesus the Saviour, The
Son of God
Allow me to ask this Question to a few Bible characters today:
A. Bartimaeus the Blinman Mark 10:47
Jericho Begged heard Jesus calls:
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
He was looking for the Jesus who could give
him mercy and make him see again!
Apl: Same today – There are people out there crying for Jesus to give them mercy, to see again.
I’ve met people who tell me: “I can’t see:
why you are getting so excited about Gospel music”
why you go to church”
why you stopped going to worldly parties”
why you stopped drinking”
Have you noticed! I can’t see:
If you’re one of those who can’t see this morning, I’ve got good news Jesus can make the blind to see!
B. The Leper who came to Him in Mat 8
From the mountain. – leper came ask:
Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean
He was looking for the Jesus who could make
him clean.
Same today – there are people today crying
for the Lord to clean them.
Might be from sin, from addiction anything
that needs cleansing
C. The mute man in Mat 9
The people brought a mute man – Jesus cast the demon out and the man speaks again
Same today: I get people who constantly tell me how they wanted to testify but couldn’t.
I’m not saying that you’ve got a demon, but you definitely haven’t got boldness.
Now Jesus gives boldness to speak out.
I can keep on for the whole day but let me give one more!
D. The woman at the well John 4
Jesus at the well of David’, Samaritan woman
V 25 "When He comes, He will tell us all things."
She’s talking about the Messiah
She is looking for the Jesus who can answer al her questions.
There are people screaming out for lives questions out there.
You just need to drive past few churches and you’ll see the advertising for the alpha course “ Kicking around the question of life?
He’s got the answers.
Then there were the other side, the ones who’s looking for Jesus of Nazareth:
Chief priests and Pharisees
They were looking for the Jesus who they
could crucify
Notice they came with weapons
Judas
He was looking for the Jesus he could betray
There are a lot of those people as – well
People who say with their mouth that they are Christians, who even walk with them, yes even eat with them, but who can’t wait to betray Him.
Back to my question:
When you came to this church this morning who were you looking for?
Jesus is not a magic lotion that will take away the pain and then you can put Him away until the pain comes back again.
He wants a relationship.
Some people needs Jesus only like headache pills:
They pray like this:
Jesus I need you to help me with my finances,
Jesus I need you to help me with my marriage,
Jesus I need you to help me for a job,
Jesus I need you to help me for my status etc.
Then after they receive what they’ve prayed for, then comes out the weapons.
Pastor now that I’ve got a job, you know I haven’t got time to pray, to come to church etc.
Which Jesus are you looking for today
