Sermon Central
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"revealed, Recognized, And The Faith To Follow" (Sermon 4 On The Gospel Of John 2021) Series
Contributed by Gordon Weatherby on Mar 29, 2021 (message contributor)
Summary: This message deals with some of the early disciples of Christ, and how they responded to him when they recognized him as the Messiah
REVEALED, RECOGNIZED, AND THE FAITH TO FOLLOW
Greenmount and O’Leary Churches of Christ
February 07, 2021
Video Link: https://youtu.be/hxDN3dmjjYE
INTRODUCTION:
1.) Revealed, Recognized, and Respected with our faith!
2.) The Gospel of John is the revealing Jesus as the Christ.
3.) When he is revealed and recognized, it is only natural to reach out to him in faith.
4.) Today as we continue in the gospel of John, we see this was exactly what happened in those first disciples who came to Jesus.
I. A DISCIPLE OF JESUS MUST RECOGNIZE WHO HE IS.
1.) I want to take see some of the titles given to Jesus when these first disciples recognized him as the Messiah of God.
A. ) Philip called him Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. (1:45).
aa.) Philip’s first perspective was merely an earthly evaluation of Jesus.
ab.) Thankfully Philip also acknowledged him as the one of whom Moses had spoken. (1:45)
aba.) Last week we saw the religious leaders come to question John if He was the prophet?
B.) The second disciple we see is Nathanael.
ba.) Philip described Jesus to Nathanael as this one of whom Moses had spoken.
baa.) We do not know how much that Philip understood about Jesus.
bab.) He did know enough to recommend Jesus as the prophet, which is another term for the Messiah of God.
B. ) Andrew and unnamed disciple (who is likely John), as well as Nathanael called Him “Rabbi.” (1:38,49)
ba.) Rabbi means teacher.
baa.) It was a term of honour and respect for a teacher.
C. ) John the Baptist called him “Lamb of God.” (1:35)
ca.) The day before this John had publicly introduced Jesus to the entire congregation as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
cb.) Our text today includes the same declaration, but this time it was to just two of John’s faithful disciples Andrew, and John.
cba.) John the Baptist told these men Jesus is the Lamb of God, or the Messiah.
cbb.) The term Lamb of God suggested a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.
D. ) Andrew called him the Messiah or Christ (1:41)
da.) This term referred to the descendant of Abraham who would bless the world and deliver man from sin’s curse and penalty.
E. ) Jesus called himself the “Son of Man” (1:51)
ea.) This is the term Jesus most often used of himself.
eaa.) Adam brought humanity into sin; Jesus the Son of man would bring man back to God.
F.) From each of these testimonies in this passage, we see that a disciple is one who recognizes Jesus as the Messiah.
fa.) These early disciples had to come to the place of recognizing Jesus as He truly was.
fb.) But to merely recognize that Jesus is the Messiah is not going to do anything for anyone.
fc.) There are countless numbers who have come to recognize Jesus as the Christ but have never followed their recognition with an obedient faith to follow him as Lord.
G.) That brings me to my second point:
II. A DISCIPLE OF JESUS MUST HAVE THE FAITH TO FOLLOW HIM.
1.) I want us to again look at the titles in this Scripture, this time seeing these men as they moved from a recognition of Jesus to faith in Him.
2.) After Andrew and John recognized Jesus as the Messiah they were moved to a new level of faith and allegiance.
A.) John 1:35-37
B.) These men had been disciples of John the Baptist.
ba.) When John declared to them that that Jesus is the Lamb of God it was a spiritual a turning point.
bb.) This was the specific moment these men realized that John the Baptist was just the messenger.
bc.) They knew they had to give their allegiance to Jesus Christ.
bca.) Immediately these men followed Jesus, and Jesus noticed their action.
bcb.) John 1:38-39
bcc.) Jesus asked: “What do you want?”
.01) What they wanted was to be disciples of Jesus.
.02) They went with Jesus to where he was staying and spent the entire day with him learning from the words of the Master.
.03) These men had already shown their desire to follow Jesus.
.031) I think sometimes we feel that Jesus just randomly asked people to be his disciples.
.032) These men were only asked for that greater allegiance and service after they had already shown themselves to be his disciples.
3.) When Simon Peter came to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, He too had the faith to follow.
A.) Simon’s story begins with his brother Andrew.
aa.) After spending the day with Jesus, the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother.
ab.) John 1:40-41
ac.) Though one of the first disciples of Jesus, sometimes we do not notice Andrew so much.
