Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'll be preaching as I continue through the book
of John, chapter one. John chapter one, the gospel
of John. And today I'm gonna be talking about disciples of
Christ. This is beginning in round verse
39, where Christ began after his baptism, after John the Baptist
had presented him, calling, beginning to call his disciples unto himself. And there's some really interesting
things here. It talks about how Two of them
here, in verse 37, two disciples, it says, they were disciples
of John. Now, understand this, they didn't look at John as their
salvation or as their messiah, because John himself told them
he was not the messiah, that he was just a voice of one crying
in the wilderness, he was a prophet, and he pointed sinners to Christ,
But Christ had just arrived on the scene. Jesus of Nazareth
had just arrived on the scene. He'd been baptized, and John
presented him. Behold the Lamb of God, which
beareth away the sins of the world. And two of John's disciples,
as they listened to John preach, it says in verse 37, the two
disciples heard John speak, and they followed Jesus. And that's
a beautiful thing there. I mentioned this several times
in the last message, how every God sent true gospel preachers,
that's our goal. I want to point you to Christ
to follow Him for salvation, to follow Him for righteousness
and eternal life and glory, not to myself. I've often said this
about preachers, that the worst thing that can happen to any
preacher is to gain a following for himself. Because we don't
need man followers, we need Christ followers, Christ's disciples.
Now what is a disciple? A disciple is a follower. So if you're a disciple of Christ,
you're a follower of Christ. And a disciple is a learner.
He learns from the one he follows. So that means you follow Christ
the person, God manifest in the flesh, and you follow him in
his teachings. And there's so many today who
claim to be Christian, who claim to be disciples of Christ, but
they don't follow his teachings. And of course, that's why we
have the Bible, why we go through the Bible and learn. The apostle Paul spoke to the
Ephesians that way, talking about how their behavior ought to match
their calling, because that's how they learned Christ. And Christ is the teacher. He's
the master teacher. We learn of Him. And so it says
here in verse 38, now this is John 1, 38. Then Jesus turned
and saw them, these two disciples following, and saith unto them,
what seek ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi,
which is to say, being to interpret it, master, that is a master
teacher. Where dwellest thou? Where are
you going? And he saith unto them, come
and see. And they came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with
him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. Now, he's beginning
to call his disciples. And look at verse 40. It says,
one of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother. So one of these two was Peter's
brother, Andrew, his physical brother. And he heard John speak,
he followed Christ, and that following is the product of a
powerful calling of the Holy Spirit, an invincible calling,
an irresistible calling. If anyone truly follows Christ
and receives Him and becomes a true disciple of Christ, that
person is so because they are born again from above by the
Spirit. It's not because they made the
right decision. Now, listen to me very carefully
here. When a sinner, whoever that sinner
is, decides to follow Christ, they are making a right decision.
But their salvation was not conditioned on their making that decision.
You see, the new birth is not the product of your decision.
The Bible doesn't teach what we call decisional regeneration. You decide and then you're born
again. No. The Bible teaches that the
new birth is a sovereign irresistible, invincible act of God, work of
God through the Spirit, to give life to dead sinners under the
preaching of the gospel, and that as a result, they make that
right decision. God makes them willing in the
day of His power. You see, the Bible teaches that
by nature, and when I say by nature, I mean as we are naturally
born into this world, we are fallen in Adam. We fell in Adam. For as by one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin, for death passed upon all
men, for that all sin, all have sinned. We're born that way. We're born spiritually dead. We have physical life, we have
mental, intellectual life, but we don't have spiritual life
that would cause us to know and desire the things of the glory
of God. That's why the Bible in 1 Corinthians
2 verse 14 says, the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they're
spiritually discerned, understood. The Bible says that in Romans
3.10, there's none righteous, no not one. There's none that
seeketh after God. There's none that seek God. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. That's man by nature. And that's why we must be born
again from above. And that new birth is not something
we bring about. It's something that God brings
about. Bringing us providentially under
the preaching of the gospel, which is the word of life. The
gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.
How do I know if I hear the gospel preached, like you're hearing
it now, How do I know if it's been made the power of God under
my salvation? Do you believe it? And that believing,
that faith is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. So this thing about being a disciple
and coming to be a disciple, that's what it's all about. It's
a sovereign work of God. in the new birth. Christ said
in John chapter three, you must be born again or you can't even
see the kingdom of God. You can't understand it. You
can't know it. You cannot enter it. You must
be born again. And when he, how does that come
about? Well, he says the wind listeth and bloweth where it
will. You don't know where it comes from, where it's going.
You know it by its effects. So how can I know that the gospel
has been made the power of God and the salvation? How can I
know that I've been born again by the Spirit? The evidence is
believing in Christ, receiving Christ, not by my own will, but
by God's will, who made me willing in the day of His power. Now
that's what the Bible teaches. Left to ourselves in our natural
state, none of us would believe in him. None of us would follow
him or agree to be his disciple. Well, look at verse 41. Now he's
talking about Andrew here, who was one of John's disciples,
and then he followed Jesus. It says in verse 41, he first
findeth his own brother Simon, that's Simon Peter, and saith
unto him, we have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted, the
Christ. We found him. We found the Christ. Now that's what he's saying here
is that everything he had been taught in the Old Testament prophecies
and the pictures and the types, he's found it in this person,
Jesus of Nazareth. This is God made flesh. This is the Savior. This is the
hope of Israel, the consolation of Israel. This is the son of
righteousness, as Malachi said, who's come with healing in his
wings. This is the Lord God of glory. This is the suffering servant.
This is, as Jeremiah said, the Lord, our righteousness. We have
found him. And in verse 42, it says, and
he brought him to Jesus. Andrew brought Peter to Jesus,
and when Jesus beheld him, he said, thou art Simon, the son
of Jonah. He already knew this. Thou shalt
be called Cephas, that's another name for it, which is by interpretation,
a stone. Now, later on, Christ meets with
his disciples and he asked him this question. I think this is
recorded in Matthew 16, for example. He said, who do men say that
I am? And there were various rumors going around. Some say
that you were John the Baptist, some say that you're Moses, some
say that you're this, that, and the other. But he looked at them
and he said, who do you say that I am? And Peter spoke up. And
he said, thou art the Christ, the son of God. And Christ looked
at him and he said, blessed art thou Simon bar Jonas, Simon son
of Jonas, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.
You didn't come by this naturally, but my father, which is in heaven,
he hath revealed it unto you. And then he looked at him, he
said, now you're Peter, you're Cephas, you're the little stone,
but upon this rock, this big boulder, talking about himself
and his work, the gospel, the rock Christ Jesus, I will build
my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
You see, false religion teaches that Peter was the rock of the
church. That's not so. That is so heretical. Peter was not the rock of the
church. When Christ was being arrested and going to the cross,
Peter denied him three times. Now look, I'm not dissing on
Peter that way. Peter was a sinner saved by grace.
Peter was a weak human being, so am I. But God does not build
his church on weak human beings, even apostles, even saved human
beings. I know the Bible says in the
book of Ephesians how the church is built upon the testimony of
the apostles and the prophets, but that's not the persons themselves,
that's the testimony which is Christ. And so Christ is the
rock, the foundation of the church, not Peter. But this is what he's
saying to Peter, you're a little stone. That's what every true
believer is. We're little stones who make
up the building called the church, built upon the rock, the foundation,
Christ Jesus. But we're just little stones.
I'm a little stone, you're a little stone. Christ is the foundation
stone. Christ is the chief cornerstone.
He's the one that by which all things are measured and everything
fits together. And then Christ is the heart
of the church and the head of the church. So he says, we found
the Messiah, which is being interpreted, the Christ. And he said, well,
Peter, he said, thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation
a stone. Now what is he doing? Christ
is setting things in order just simply by giving Peter a name.
He's setting things in its proper perspective. Christ is the foundation,
the rock upon which the church is built. Peter and all the disciples
and every believer, we're just little stones put in our place.
And Peter recognized this when he wrote his letter in 1 Peter,
when he talked about being a stone, believers in our place. And I'll
find it here in just a minute. 1 Peter chapter two, he says
in verse one of 1 Peter two, Wherefore laying aside all malice,
and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may
grow thereby, if so be you have tasted, the Lord is gracious,
if God's been gracious to you. To whom coming as unto a living
stone, alive, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and
precious, that's Christ, In verse five, you also as living stones,
lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
that's Christ, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. So even Peter recognized this.
Peter was, he wasn't, as the false Catholic church says, the
first pope or anything like that. He was a disciple, he was an
apostle, and he wrote, he was used of God to write some of
the New Testament. But he pointed, he's like John
the Baptist, he pointed sinners to Christ, away from himself.
Well, look back at John one, look at verse 43. It says, the
day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find Philip
and saith unto him, follow me, follow Christ. Now to follow
Christ is to follow him as he's identified and distinguished
in the word of God. And it's like I've said so many
times, who is Jesus Christ? He's God, the Son of God, the
second person of the Trinity, co-equal with the Father and
the Spirit in every attribute of deity. So He's God, manifest
in perfect, sinless human flesh. He's God-man. Great is the mystery
of godliness. God, manifest in the flesh. God
with us. The Word made flesh. The great
I am. So if you're going to follow
Him, you have to follow Him as God-man, God manifest in the
flesh. And if you're going to follow
Him, you have to follow Him in the accomplishment and upon the
accomplishment of the work that He did in His obedience unto
death as the surety, the substitute and the redeemer of His people,
but also as the keeper, the preserver of His people. the intercessor,
the mediator, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And so we follow Him, our living
God and man, our Savior. He is the Lamb of God. He died for my sins, put them
away, ensured my salvation. He is my righteousness. He's
the righteousness of God. He is the Lord my righteousness.
What is the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel? It's
the entire merit, worthiness of His obedience unto death,
which He accomplished for my salvation. I have no righteousness
but Christ. My sins were charged to Him,
accounted to Him, imputed to Him. His righteousness is accounted,
imputed to me. And so I stand before God in
Christ, washed in His blood, that is, my debts paid, my sins
cannot be charged to me, and clothed in His righteousness,
imputed to me, a righteousness which I had no part in producing. because I have no righteousness
of my own. I stand before God in the righteousness
of another, the righteousness of Christ imputed to me. For
as sin reigned unto death, grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And so what do we say? Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without works. Romans four and verse
six. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? I follow him as my Lord, as my
teacher, in his word. And that's obedience, that's
motivated by the power of God, the grace of God, the love of
God, all of that. I'm not a legalist, I'm not a
forced slave, I'm a willing, loving, bondservant of Christ.
I'm not a perfect man in myself, but I am perfect in Christ. Can you get hold of that? That's
what every believer is. That's what every sinner saved
by grace. I'm not perfect within myself. One day I will be. When
I leave this old body and go to be with the Lord, I'll be
perfect in myself. And one day I'll be united to
a perfect spiritual body. But I am right now justified
before God. That means that I am fully forgiven
of all my sins based on the blood of Jesus Christ. And that means
I am perfectly righteous in God's sight based upon His righteousness
imputed to me. And so from that, from Him, I
have life from the dead that I believe in Him, I trust in
Him, and I follow Him. And even my believing's not perfect,
but He is my advocate. When I sin, I have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And so that's
what it is to follow Him, to rest in Him, walk in this world,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. That's
a disciple of Christ, persevering by the power of God who preserves. Because if he didn't preserve,
I wouldn't persevere, I would fall. In verse 42 it says, it
says here, or verse 43, it says, 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, all came from the same town.
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. This is the Messiah. This is
the one of whom Moses wrote. You remember over in John chapter
five, the Lord himself said this when he was speaking to the Pharisees
as they were trying to invoke the law for their salvation. And over in John 539, he says,
search the scriptures, or in essence, you do search the scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. I receive not honor from men,
but I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. How
did he know that? Well, he knew their hearts. He's
God, omniscient. But he said, I'm come in my father's
name, and you receive me not. If another shall come in his
own name, him you will receive. How can you believe? Which receive
honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from
God only. And listen to this, verse 45
of John 5. Do not think that I will accuse
you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. They trusted in their works of
the law. And he says, for had you believed Moses, you would
have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if you believe not
his writings, how shall you believe my words? Moses wrote of Christ. That law was given to show the
Israelites their sinfulness and depravity and their need of salvation
by grace. And the pictures in the types
were pictures of Christ, the promised Messiah who would bring
in all righteousness by his obedience unto death. So he tells Nathanael,
We found him whom Moses wrote in the law, and the prophets,
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. In verse 46, it says,
of John 1, it says, and Nathanael said unto him, can there any
good come out of Nazareth? Apparently, Nazareth had a pretty
bad reputation. Well, Philip saith unto him,
come and see. He didn't try to defend anything
or anything. He just said, come and see. Well,
verse 47, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and saith of him,
behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. Now, what all
that involves, we don't know exactly because he doesn't say
right here specifically. But a man who has no guile is
a man who's honest. A man who's, he doesn't pretend. There's no hypocrisy. When it
comes to salvation and a right relationship with God, all of
us by nature have a lot of guile. We're hypocrites. Because anybody
who thinks that salvation is conditioned on them, and if they
meet certain conditions, then they can be right with God, that's
hypocrisy. Because that's not how God saves.
It's grace all conditioned on Christ. So does this mean that
Nathanael already knew the gospel? It could be. Or it could be just
like in his dealings with men, he was an honest man. But look
at verse 48. He says, Nathanael saith unto
him, whence knowest thou me? How do you know me? And Jesus
answered and said unto him, before that Philip called thee, when
thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Apparently Nathanael's
sitting under a fig tree. Christ said, I knew you before.
Nathanael, verse 49, answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou
art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. So I think
that what this means is that Nathanael knew the gospel, but
now he sees that realized in the person and work of Christ.
In verse 50, Jesus answered and said unto him, because I said
unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree that believest thou,
thou shalt see greater things than these. Just because I knew
you beforehand, is that what convinced you? Well, there's
something greater coming. Well, what is it? Verse 51. He saith unto him, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, hereafter you shall see heaven opened and the
angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Now, what
is that talking about? That's talking about all that
Christ would accomplish in His death, burial, and resurrection,
and His ascension unto glory. He who passed through into the
heavens because He had done the work, He put away, did away with
the sins of His sheep. That's what He did. He established
everlasting righteousness by which God has justified all of
His elect from the beginning. And He arose from the dead and
went unto the Father and He opened heaven. The way into heaven,
the way into glory, the way into eternal life is Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me, he said
in John 14 6. He is the Lord, our righteousness. And He is
the only way. This is what a disciple sees. The disciples of Christ look
upon Him as the He who is seated in the heavenlies, ever living
to make intercession for us, sat down on the right hand of
the Father, ever living to be our mediator, our intercessor,
our righteousness, our hope in all things. I hope you'll join
us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive. Albany, Georgia, 31707. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
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today and may the Lord be with you.