tonight to John chapter 1. John chapter 1 and let's read
verses 35 through 42. Again the next day after John
stood, and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he
walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples
heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and
saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which
is to say, being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and
see. They came and saw where he dwelt
and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
One of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother
Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah, which
is being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus,
and when he, and when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon,
the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation a stone. Let me just remind us that thus
far, as we have been looking at this first chapter of John,
we have seen that the eternal Word, that is the eternal Son
of God, who was in the beginning with God and is God, that He
was made flesh. Notice that in verse 1, in the
beginning was the Word. Whenever the beginning was, He
already was in existence. He has no beginning nor end. He's the first and the last,
the Alpha and Omega, the eternal Word of God, the eternal Son
of God. But then in verse 14 we read,
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. And we saw also in verses 6 and
7 that there is a man, or was a man, and we know this man was
John the Baptist. He was the harbinger. I remember
the first time I read that word many years ago. I had to look
up the definition. The harbinger. But he was a herald,
which was very common at that time when some important person
was to come, there would be this man who would go before, and
he would make a way. He would alert people that this
one was coming. And this man, of course, was
John the Baptist, and he was sent to bear witness of the Light,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Light, the Light of
the world. And we have seen that the Apostle
John, who is writing this Gospel, now remember he's the oldest
living apostle, and wrote this as we see with these explanations
in italics, in parentheses, I'm sorry. We saw where he told us
what the word Messiah means. Now, he would not have had to
tell that to a Jewish reader. But he's writing to Gentiles,
and he was the last of the Gospels, or his Gospel was the last to
be written. And I love to read John, don't
you? I think we all do. All of God's
children love especially the Gospel of John, even though it
covers such a small time period in the life of Christ. But he
tells us there was this man who was a witness, and as a witness,
And then he records for us. John the Baptist had been dead
for many years. as far as his life in this world
was concerned. He had been gone many years from
this scene, had been with the Lord. When John the Apostle begins
to write this epistle, this letter, this gospel rather, and he tells
us that he was sent to bear witness, and then he gives us four witnesses. And we've looked at them, we've
looked at three that is. You know the first one in verse
15, we saw John bear witness of him. And then the next one
began in verse 19. And this is a record of John.
And then the third in verse 29. The next day John seeth Jesus
coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. And now tonight we've come to
this fourth and last witness that John the Baptist gave to
the Lord Jesus Christ. It begins again the next day. Now I'm going to divide my message
tonight into these two divisions. First, John's fourth witness
to Christ. And then second, we will follow
along with these two disciples who heard John and believed the
message. But first, verses 35 and 36,
John's fourth witness to Christ. Again the next day after, John
stood and two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus as he
walked, he saith, behold the Lamb of God. There are two truths
that I want to emphasize from these verses. Number one, the
heart The heart of every gospel preacher's message must be Christ
and His sacrifice to put away sin. We see that the day before,
John had preached this same message. Behold the Lamb. The same message
that he preaches today. Behold the Lamb of God. John, we might ask him, are you
going to preach the same message again? Yes. And if you come back
tomorrow, I'll be preaching the same message again. The heart
of the gospel preacher's message, of every gospel preacher's message,
always is Christ and His sacrifice to put away sin. We all are familiar
with the words of the Apostle Paul when he wrote back to the
church at Carth. Concerning his visit among them,
a place where there were many philosophers and many learned
people, he said, I determined, I made up my mind, we might say,
I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ,
that's his person, who he is, and him crucified, his work. to know nothing among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified." And that's not only true of the
Apostle Paul, John the Baptist, but every man that God calls
and puts into the ministry. His message, the heart of His
message is always Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Behold the
Lamb of God. That's His person. The Lamb of
God. who taketh away the sin of the
world. Turn with me, keep your places
here, but look over with me in 1st Corinthians chapter 1. 1st Corinthians chapter 1. And let me say this, I know that
you know what I'm saying is true, that you believe this. But I
know over the years that there's many temptations to sidetrack
preachers. Many temptations. And especially
in a political season, there's many temptations. But that's
not our message. Our message is Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. I read an essay one time years
ago And that was the title of it, sidetracked. You know what? A boxcar is emptied, and before
it's sent out to get another load, it just sits over there
on the sidetrack. And here comes the trains passing
by, going this way and going that way, and there's that boxcar. It's just sidetracked. And many
times, men are tempted to get sidetracked into a number of
issues which come and go. But the man that God calls to
preach, he is to zero in and keep his eyes set upon Christ
and Him crucified. That's our message. And that's
the only message that will do this world good. It really is
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Notice here in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel. You say, well I thought he sent
his disciples, his apostles into all the world to preach the gospel
and to baptize those that believe. He did, but Paul is speaking
comparatively. Comparatively. Baptism is important
in its place. But comparatively, preaching
the gospel is all important. Paul said, God did not send me
to baptize, but to preach the gospel. And he did not send me
to preach the gospel with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ
should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. And don't we see the
foolishness of this world? The wisdom? The Big Bang Theory? That's wisdom? That's wisdom? Evolution? That's wisdom? Not hardly. Not hardly. That's the wisdom of this world.
And it's foolishness. It's foolishness with God. It's
foolishness with us. For after that in the wisdom
of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching." Preaching what? Preaching the gospel. Preaching Jesus Christ and Him
crucified to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign in
the Greek seek after wisdom But we preach Christ crucified unto
the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.
Now notice, but unto them which are called, unto them which are
called, both Jews and Greeks. The promise, remember what Peter
said on the day of Pentecost, the promise is unto you and unto
your children and to as many as the Lord our God shall call. We preach Christ crucified unto
the Jews, a stumbling block unto the Greeks' foolishness, but
unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks. Christ, the
power of God and the wisdom of God. It is the Lamb of God. John said, Behold the Lamb. Behold
the Lamb. It was the Lamb who was slain
that He is the sacrifice for the sin of His sheep. He that by one offering, by one
offering, He hath put away sin. This is what the writer of Hebrews
tells us, Hebrews 10 and verse 14. For by one offering, He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. I want you to look
back with me to Leviticus just a moment. Leviticus chapter 17. What I'm emphasizing again tonight
is the heart of every gospel preacher's message must be Christ
and Him crucified. Leviticus chapter 17 in verse
11. For the life of the flesh is
in the blood. And I have given it to you upon
the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the
blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. How would you define
the word atonement? Well, you take that English word
and break it into three words, and really that's a pretty good
definition. At-one-ment. How is it that men
and women like you and I who have sinned against Almighty
God, how is it that we can be at one minute reconciled unto
God? Have peace with God by the blood
of the Lamb. That's the only way. This is
what God declared, isn't it? In the book of Leviticus, the
law was given to the Levites, to the priests of old, and all
of their service in the tabernacle and the sacrifices all pictured
the Lamb of God that John the Baptist points out here. Behold,
the Lamb of God. And number two, not only must
Christ and Him crucified be the heart of the gospel message,
but the heart of every gospel preacher must be to see men come
to Christ. John the Baptist was not out
to make a name for himself. He wasn't trying to start a denomination. He wasn't trying to gather a
following. That was never his point. Brother Merle. I'll use this
example. He gave me a book recently, a
biography of his father. And when he gave it to me, he
told me this. He said, my dad never promoted
himself. Well, he didn't have to tell
me that. I knew that about him. And that's true of almost, I
won't say every, because I've met a few preachers who it does
seem try to promote themselves. But that's not what John the
Baptist was all about. His message was, he must increase,
I must decrease. A preacher, a gospel preacher
has been likened unto those signposts in the land of Palestine under
the law that God gave through Moses. Remember the cities of
refuge, six cities, three on this side of Jordan, three on
the other side of Jordan. And there were posts pointing
the way to the city of refuge. Now a man might have accidentally
caused the death of someone else and there's an avenger of blood
who's coming after him and he's got to make it to the city of
refuge. Now he can stop on his way if
he wants to and look at the sign and say, well that sign is pretty.
That sign, the lettering on that sign is just, my, they did such
a great job. And you know, as long as he stays
there admiring the signpost, the avenger of blood may strike
him and slay him. He's not safe until he enters
into the city of refuge. And you can admire a preacher
and be all taken up with him and whatever gifts he may have,
but if that's as far as you get, if he doesn't point you to Christ,
he's made a bad mistake and you have too. Because there's no
salvation in the preacher. Salvation is in the person and
work of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And John the Baptist I say this
is true, the heart of every gospel preacher's message must be Christ
and His sacrifice to put away sin. And the heart of every gospel
preacher must be to see men come to Christ. That's our desire,
to see men and women, boys and girls, saved, come to know Jesus
Christ as their Lord and Savior. There's one refuge for sinners,
Jesus Christ. There's one fountain that washes
sin away, the blood of Jesus Christ. There's one sacrifice
that makes atonement for the soul, that reconciles men to
God, that pacifies an angry God, and that is the death of Jesus
Christ. I listen to talk shows, radio
talk shows sometimes when I'm in my car, in my pickup truck,
and there's one I like who comes on in the afternoon. But I heard
him this past week saying he was going to observe Yom Kippur. He said, I'm going to try to
make atonement for my sins. And I thought, oh, sad. He is
so intelligent, one of the most intelligent men I believe I've
ever listened to about many subjects, many subjects. He's a lawyer
also, but how foolish, how deceived, how blind to think that there's
something we could do to make an atonement for our sins. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, the second part of my message,
let's follow along with these two who heard and believed the
message. John's message was, Behold the
Lamb of God. Now there were two of his disciples
with him who heard him, and I want us to see I wanted to make five
observations as we look at these remaining verses. First of all,
I want you to notice our Lord's question to these two who followed
Him. Christ's question to these two
men who followed Him. What seek ye? What seek you? Are you seeking a king and a
kingdom in this world? Is that what you're seeking?
Can't you just imagine as our Lord turned and asked, what are
you looking for? What are you seeking for? Are
you seeking for a king in this world that will restore the nation
of Israel to prominence among the nations once again? To rule
over the other nations? What seek ye? That's what they
had been taught That's what was common among the Jews at that
time, that when Messiah comes, he's going to set up a kingdom
here in this world. It's going to be greater than
even the kingdom of David was in his day. And the nation of
Israel will reign and rule. He will reign and rule and we
as his people will rule over all the nations of the world. What seek you? Are you seeking
advancement in this world? Is that the reason you want to
follow Christ? Is it fame? Is it fortune that
you're seeking? You know, in John chapter 6,
in verse 26, our Lord told some who sought Him, �Verily, verily,
you seek Me, not because you saw the miracles but because
you did eat of the loaves and were filled. And in Matthew 6,
in verse 33, he said, Seek you first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness. That's number one. Put that number
one on your list. What seek ye? What seek you? You know, that's a very good
question for all of us to ask ourselves tonight. What are we
seeking? You know, I believe there are
many people in churches across our land that they only seek
respectability. It's respectable to be a member
of a church. It's really the respectable thing
to do, you know. You have a baby, you can get
that baby baptized or sprinkled. You have a need of a preacher
to marry you, you can have a church wedding. You have a funeral,
someone dies, there's someone to call, just respectability. I'm afraid that many, that's
all they're seeking. That's all they're seeking. They're
not seeking Christ. They're not seeking eternal life.
They're not seeking righteousness. They're not seeking to have their
sins put away. What seek ye? Our Lord, what
a question, right? What a question. What seek ye? And I ask us tonight, can we
say with the Apostle Paul, this is what I'm seeking. This is
what I'm seeking. I'm seeking to be found in Him. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. the righteousness which is of God by faith. That's what
I'm seeking. I'm seeking Christ. Now, my second
observation is, observe the question of these two who followed Him.
We've observed our Lord's question, what seek ye? Now let's observe
the question that these two who followed Him put to Him. Where
dwellest thou? But before we look at their question,
I want to ask us this question. Who were these two men? Who were
these two disciples who followed the Lord? Well, we know that
one of them was Andrew. We see that in verse 40. One
of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother. But who was the other? Well,
I believe the other was John, the disciple who wrote this gospel. And I believe this for a couple
of reasons. One reason is how particular
John is in recording these events as though he were a participant. You notice in verse 35 he said
the next day. And then in verse 39 he said
it was about the tenth hour. And then in verse 41, he said,
He first findeth Simon Peter. It seems like this is an eyewitness
that's writing this gospel to me. But there's another reason
that I believe this was John. I want you to notice with me
a few places in the gospel of John. He never refers to himself
by name. He never did. Do you know how
he referred to himself? The disciple that Jesus loved. I don't think he could ever get
over that. Do you? That he would love me. He always
refers to himself in this gospel, never by name. He's not trying
to call attention to himself. He's not trying to get a big
name for himself. That's not his purpose at all.
Look with me at these verses. Keep your place here, but look
in John chapter 13. In John chapter 13, in verse 23,
we read, Now there was leaning on Jesus'
bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Who was that? That was John, wasn't it? That was John. Alright, look
with me in chapter 19, John chapter 19 and verse 26. When Jesus therefore saw his
mother, and notice this is singular, and the disciples standing by
whom he loved. He's talking about himself, isn't
he? He was there at the cross. Notice in chapter 20, verse 2. Then she runneth and cometh to
Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved. Who was that? That was John.
And then in chapter 21, verse 7, Therefore that disciple whom
Jesus loved saith unto Peter... Remember they were out in the
ship fishing. They fished all night and caught
nothing. And then they see there's a fire
on the shore and there's some man there and he's coming down. And this disciple whom Jesus
loved said, It's the Lord. He told Simon Peter, it's the
Lord. It's our Lord. And then notice
one last place in verse 20 there of chapter 21. Then Peter turning about, seeth the
disciple whom Jesus loved. Now John's writing this. And
he's giving this experience, isn't he? That after our Lord
restored Peter, asking him three times, as Peter had denied him
three times, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And Peter responded,
Yea, Lord, feed my sheep. Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me? Yea, Lord. Feed my lambs. Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me? Lord, thou knowest all things. You know that I love thee. Feed
my sheep. And then the scripture says,
The Lord told Peter in verse 18, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest
whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee,
and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This, notice this spake
he, signifying by what death he should glorify God, And when
he had spoken this, he saith unto him, that is, Peter, follow
me. And what did Peter do? And Peter
turning about, seeing the disciple whom Jesus loved following him,
which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which
is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus,
Lord, what shall this man do? We're a lot like Peter, aren't
we? What's he going to do? What's she going to do? No, you
follow me. You follow me. That's your business. But the point I'm making is,
I believe that these two disciples, we know one was Andrew, the other
was John, the author of this gospel because he never refers
to himself by name in this gospel, but he always refers to himself
as the disciple whom Jesus loved. I don't know of anything better
than that, do you? Than to be loved by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Those He loved, He redeemed.
And those He loves, He calls. And those he loves he will keep.
Those he loves he will take to be with him one day. So I believe that as we look
at this question, Rabbi, where dwellest thou? That the two disciples
was Andrew and John. But now let's look at their question.
What we see in their question shows their thoughts of Christ. Because they address him as rabbi. Now, to us, if we were not familiar
with the scripture, we wouldn't know what that meant, that word,
that title means. But John tells us, doesn't he?
It means master. Remember our Lord said, a man
cannot serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and
love the other, or vice versa. Master. They address Him as Master. He told His disciples in John
13, or John records this, You call Me Lord and Master, and
You say, Well, for such I am. They never addressed Him as Jesus. Now when they wrote about Him,
it is true, they referred to Him as Jesus, but when they addressed
Him, They called Him Master, Lord. I just can't go along with this
so-called Christianity today that wants to think of the Lord
Jesus Christ as my buddy, my co-pilot. No, my friends, He's
much more than that. He's King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. And He's Master and Lord. And He has your life in His hand. And every breath that you breathe,
He gives you. We live, we move, we have our
being in Him. Rabbi, Master, where dwellest
thou? Now notice this. Notice this. He asked them, the Lord Jesus
Christ asked them, what, what, what, what seekest thou? But notice, they responded with
this, where dwellest thou? In other words, it was not what,
but whom. You see that? What seeketh thee? Oh, it's not what. We're not
seeking what. Where dwellest thou? Many people
seek the blessing, but they don't seek the blesser. Many people
seek assurance, but they don't seek the assurer. Seek Him. Not the gifts. Not the blessings,
Him. He is the gift. The unspeakable
gift of the Father's love. Now we're not seeking what, it's
where dwellest thou? They came to Him as their master
to be taught. Now, I just imagine if they had
been looking for Pilate's house, where he abode, they would not
have needed to ask anyone. There probably would have been
signs, there probably would have been a palace, they would have
recognized that's where the governor lives. If they'd been seeking
Caiaphas, the high priest, I don't think they would have had any
need to ask anyone, where does the high priest dwell? Where
does he abide? They would have known. But now
they're asking the Son of God who came into this world as a
man who humbled himself, where dwellest thou? Remember he said, the foxes have
holes and the birds of the air nest, but the Son of Man hath
not where to lay his head. We see the Lord's humility in
humbling himself. in coming down from glory and
living in this world, though it was all His. And He had no
house of His own. He lived in a borrowed house,
a rented house maybe. Now think of that scripture Paul
wrote. He said, For you know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your
sakes He became poor, that you, through His poverty, might be
made rich. I liked what I heard our visiting
preacher say the other day about a message that Henry Mahan preached
years ago. He entitled, How I Become the
Wealthiest Man. Don't you like that? How I became
the wealthiest man. Oh, when you have Christ, you
have everything. All the riches of wisdom, they're
all in Christ. Where dwellest thou? And then
number three, this observation observed the response of Christ
to their question. Come and see. Come and see. You look above that in verse
17, where we read, For the law was given by Moses, but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. The law that was given through
Moses, it would say, Go, go and do. But you see, He who is full of
grace and truth, He said, Come, come and see. Come unto Me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come
and see, look unto Me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the
earth. And here's the fourth observation.
Notice Andrew's words to his brother. We have found the Messiah. Oh, he was convinced. I don't
know all that went on, the conversation, the teaching that went on there,
but when Andrew left to go find his brother Simon, he had no
doubt in his mind, we have found the Messiah. And doesn't John
tell us what that means? Which is being interpreted, the
Christ, the anointed, the one who had been promised all through
the Old Testament, the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham,
David's son. We have found the Messiah. The only one that God has anointed
and appointed as the one mediator between Almighty God and men
and women. We have found the Messiah. Have you found him? And here's my last observation. Let me tell you, if you found
Him, it's because He found you first. You were not looking for
Him until He first came looking for you. We love Him because
He first loved us. He is going to have the preeminence
in all things, isn't He? And don't you love it? Don't
you just love it? Heap all the preeminence, all
the preeminence upon him, because he's worthy. He's worthy. But my fifth observation is Andrew's
brother coming to Christ in verse 42. And he brought him, that
is Simon, Andrew brought his brother Simon to Jesus. And when
Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon. the son of Jonah,
thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation,
a stone. The Lord Jesus knew him. Just
picture that in your mind. Here Andrew runs and he finds
Simon, his brother. He said, Hey, we found the Messiah. Come, come, come. And as he's
coming, the Lord Jesus looks at him and he says, Thou art
Simon, the son of Jonah. He knows His sheep. He knows
His sheep. That's what He said, isn't it?
I am the Good Shepherd and know My sheep. And notice the Lord
Jesus gave him a new name. Thou shalt be called Cephas.
When is a person named? When were you named? You were named when you were
born, right? When a baby's born, they come into the room. And
the first thing they do is give you a social security number.
When I was young, you had to be 12 years old to get one of
those numbers. Now that's one of the first things
they do. And they want a name. You're not leaving the hospital
here without a name. What I'm saying is a person receives
its name when the person is born. And Simon Peter was born again. And the Lord gave him a new name. And not only did He give him
a new name, He gave him a new nature. A new man was created
in righteousness and true holiness in Him. Now much has been written
about His new name, which means a stone, because of the false
teaching of the church that tells us that the church of Jesus Christ
was built upon Peter. Nothing could be more foreign
to the truth than that teaching. Christ Himself is the foundation
of His church. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ our Lord. There's
no salvation built upon a man. their salvation in the God-man,
Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless this word.