I think that's the effect of having two mics next to each other.
Thanks, Ben. That was great.
John, wonderful passage, a long passage.
And I encourage you guys to open your Bibles and follow along with me
because I'm going to be going throughout to explain
and to teach what God is seeking to communicate to us through it.
And this past year, last year actually, I read a book.
It was a New York Times bestseller called Word of Mouth Marketing
by a guy named Andy Cernovitz.
And in the book, he makes a bold claim.
And he says that the traditional advertising...
And the reason for that, he says, is the advent of the Internet
and the proliferation of blogs and reviews online
have made it very easy for the consumers to have the power
to shape an image of a product.
So in the past, you could have a really shoddy product
and then mask it with really good advertising, glamorous advertising.
But nowadays, you can't do that
because there will be blogs and reviews that expose that.
You can only have honest advertising.
And because of these reasons, customer service becomes a premium.
It becomes a must that you have, really good customer service.
It becomes...
They don't want to minimize negative word of mouth marketing.
And that's why I think, in part,
a lot of these large corporations and companies nowadays
try to get in on the discussion of the trending topics
and get involved in charity work, right?
Because they're trying to build their image,
trying to build a brand so that people talk about them in a good light.
And that becomes, for them, word of mouth marketing.
And I don't know if you guys remember from last year,
Starbucks attended something like this
in order to get into a conversation about race discussions, right?
They started something, a campaign called Race Together.
And then they encouraged their baristas
to start conversations with their customers
and write something on the cup
to discuss the problems about race relations in America.
Unfortunately, that backfired, right?
Because people, most of them,
they just wanted to pick up their quick box,
you know, cup of joe and go to work
and didn't want to have a heavy morning conversation
with a complete stranger at that, right?
So they left.
And because...
And what they were trying to do
was to get in on this national buzz
because everybody was abuzz about this
and wanted to talk about it.
So they wanted to get a slice of that publicity pie
and then build their image as progressive
and healthy and promoting the social good.
That's what they sought to do.
But people saw through it, right?
They saw it for what it was
and called it inappropriate and opportunistic.
And because the campaign didn't stem
from a settled conviction,
but rather from a calculated strategy,
a marketing strategy,
as soon as it became unpopular,
they quickly abandoned it, right?
Now, their ill-founded campaign
was this attempt to create
positive word-of-mouth movement.
And in a culture like this,
it was a byproduct of a culture
that values authenticity
and seeks authenticity,
but is inauthentic to the very core.
It's...
They're supposedly...
Even...
They care more about public perception
than personal conviction, right?
And so in that kind of society,
these kind of...
Even the word-of-mouth marketing
that's supposed to be authentic
has seemingly become a gimmick
and a strategy.
And when we see that,
we become cynical
and we begin to ask ourselves,
then is there anything anymore
that is worth truly being excited about?
Is there anyone anymore
that is really worth the hype?
Right?
There is.
And in John 1, 19-51,
we see the beginning
of the most successful
word-of-mouth movement
in the history of the world.
It begins with the few people
that are described in this passage
where they begin to talk about something,
someone, rather,
of supreme, surpassing,
transcendent beauty
and value and worth.
And they begin talking about it.
Begin telling people about it.
Begin in the first century,
and now, two millennia later,
it boasts 2.2 billion adherents today.
And by recounting this story,
John, the apostle,
Apostle John,
wants us to...
wants to invite us to this.
He wants us to come
and see the Son of God
who gives us access to God.
Come and see the Son of God
who gives us access to God.
And he's going to tell us that,
invite us in that,
by telling us about Jesus' identity,
Jesus' promise,
and finally,
Jesus' invitation.
So his identity,
promise,
and invitation.
So follow along with me
in verse 19.
Because we had talked
about the prologue.
We were in the prologue
of John's Gospel last week
where the apostle said
that John the Baptist
came as a witness.
He was not the Messiah.
He came as a witness.
And now,
in this verse,
he begins to tell us
exactly what the nature
of that witness was.
So verses 19 to 23.
Follow along with me
as I read it.
And this is the testimony of John
when the Jews sent priests
and Levites from Jerusalem
to ask him,
Who are you?
He confessed
and did not deny,
but confessed,
I am not the Christ.
And they asked him,
What then?
Are you Elijah?
He said,
I am not.
Are you the prophet?
And he answered,
No.
So they said to him,
Then who are you?
We need to give an answer
to those who sent us.
So what do you say
about yourself?
He said,
I am the voice of one
crying out in the wilderness.
Make straight the way
of the Lord,
as the prophet Isaiah said.
So we see here
that a delegation
was sent out
to interrogate
John the Baptist.
So we know that
this is probably
from the Sanhedrin,
which is the ruling
kind of elders
or judges
who ruled on
religious matters
that pertain to Jews
in the various cities.
And they were largely
controlled by the family
of the high priest,
which is why
they're a group
of Levites and priests
that were sent
to Jesus to question him.
And they wanted to know
about John the Baptist's identity.
That was their
ostensible question.
So who are you?
And in John,
the apostle,
it can get confusing,
so keep those straight.
Apostle John
and John the Baptist.
Apostle John
can't be more unequivocal
in his report
of John the Baptist's answer.
He's saying,
He confessed
and did not deny,
but confessed,
I am not the Christ.
That's very emphatic.
So John the Baptist
said,
No, definitely not him.
I am not the Christ.
I am not the Messiah.
He confessed,
he denied it.
Lest anyone think
that John the Baptist,
that special prophet
who seemed to have authority,
is someone
that they've been waiting for.
Lest you think
that he's the Messiah,
John is very clear,
No, he confessed it.
He didn't deny
that he's not the Christ.
In the same way,
if you go to a jewelry shop,
the diamond's always placed on,
I mean,
most cases placed on
a plain white cloth.
That's to showcase
the real brilliance
and color of the diamond.
It's a backdrop.
In the same way,
John the Baptist
functions like that
in Apostle John's gospel.
He's the backdrop.
His ministry was temporary.
It was transitory.
Yeah,
it was not permanent.
And Jesus' ministry,
on the other hand,
is ultimate.
It's significant.
It's permanent.
And for that reason,
it brings him
and Jesus' significance
into sharp relief
by comparing him
to John the Baptist.
So then,
given John the Baptist's
plain denial,
he's not the Christ,
the delegation continues
their interrogation.
They say,
What then?
Are you Elijah?
He said,
I am not.
Are you the prophet?
And he answered,
No.
So first century Palestine
was pregnant
with this Messianic expectation.
Everybody was looking
for the Messiah
and searching.
And one of the possible
people that they were expecting
was Elijah
because according to
2 Kings 2,
Elijah had never died,
but he was taken
up straight into the heavens.
And so in the end times,
they expected
that he would come back
because there was a prophecy
in Malachi that said
that Elijah would come
to prepare
for the day of the Lord.
So they were expecting
an Elijah.
But John the Baptist
says he's not the Elijah.
And similarly,
the prophet
refers to a prophecy
in Deuteronomy 18
where Moses prophesies
that someone like him,
God will send a prophet
like himself
to lead God's people
and to speak to them
about all that God
demands of them.
So people expected
a prophet like Moses
to come in the end times
to redeem.
But John answers
in the negative
for both cases.
And that's really interesting
because, well,
Moses, we understand
because John the Baptist
is definitely not
the prophet like Moses
because Jesus was
and other Gospels
make that very clear.
But Elijah,
the other Gospels
make it very clear
that John the Baptist
was in fact
the Elijah
that was supposed
to come
and make way
for the Lord
and prepare for the Lord.
But according to this passage,
John doesn't know that.
He's clueless
about his own
identity and call.
Even though he knew
very clearly
he was supposed
to prepare the way
for the Lord,
he self-consciously
was not aware
that he was that Elijah
that was prophesied about.
And that, I think,
could be an encouraging
thing for us
because, I mean,
Jesus basically
made more of his ministry
and his life
than he himself did.
And oftentimes
in our ministry,
in our service,
in our lives,
we can think the same way.
We can say,
well, what I do
is not significant.
You know,
what I do
is just a little
small thing.
But in God's
omniscient perspective,
can you imagine
John the Baptist
going to heaven
and finding out
I was the Elijah?
I mean,
talking to God.
I mean,
the work that you do,
the service that you do
in his kingdom,
you cannot,
you know,
you cannot underestimate
the significance of that
because God only knows
and we will not know
until we get
what the implication of that,
what the effect
of all that we do
for the Lord was.
So then John
self-consciously
does not identify
as Elijah
or the prophet
like Moses.
So then,
they're still curious.
So then,
who are you?
They ask,
verse 23.
We need to give an answer
to the people who sent us
because we're accountable.
So what do you say
about yourself?
And John the Baptist
finally gives his answer.
He says,
I am the voice of one
crying out in the wilderness,
making straight,
the way of the Lord,
as the prophet Isaiah said.
See,
even though John
didn't identify as Elijah,
he knew that he was supposed
to prepare the way
for the Lord
and making straight
the way of the Lord
is a metaphorical way
of talking about,
you know,
basically paving the new roads,
improving the road system
for the king to come,
for God to come.
So he talks about leveling,
so he's leveling the valleys
and then,
you know,
raising down the hills
and straightening out
the curved roads
so that,
in order to make way
for someone to come.
Because when God Almighty comes,
when the creator comes,
the creation,
he's not going to bend
toward creation.
The creation is going
to bend for him.
The valleys are going to rise,
hills will be flattened,
and the curved roads
will be straightened out,
and he will walk.
That's what he's talking about.
In the spiritual sense,
John the Baptist believed
that that was his call,
to prepare that way
for God to come.
And apparently,
even though he gives
a very good answer,
the delegation
is still not satisfied.
So now we get a closer look
at what they're really after.
Verses 24 to 28.
Follow along with me.
It says,
Now they had been sent
from the Pharisees.
They asked him,
Then why are you baptizing
if you are neither the Christ
nor Elijah
nor the prophet?
John answered them,
I baptize with water,
but among you stands one
you do not know,
even he who comes after me,
the strap of whose sandal
I am not worthy to untie.
And we learn here
that the delegation
that was sent from the Sanhedrin
were made up primarily of Pharisees.
So they were the group
that belonged to the theological sect
of the Pharisees
that were very concerned
with meticulous observation
of every minute details
of the law.
And they were not satisfied
with John's answer.
They're asking,
Why are you baptizing
if you're not any of these
eschatological figures?
If you're not the Christ,
you're not the Elijah,
not the prophet,
then what right do you have?
Why do you have to baptize
these people?
But you see,
the problem was not
with baptism itself
because Jews were aware
and practiced baptism.
They practiced what they called
proselyte baptism,
meaning that when a Gentile
decided to become a Jew,
decided to follow God,
they would baptize them.
And usually,
the baptism was self-administered.
People baptized themselves.
Now,
then immediately,
you notice two things
that are very different
about John's baptism.
John's baptizing people himself.
He's not letting people
baptize them.
He's baptizing them
as if he's something special.
So that's why they're wondering,
why are you baptizing them yourself?
But even more controversially
than that,
perhaps,
is the fact that
he's baptizing Jews.
These are Jews.
They are God's people.
They are not converting
to anything.
They are not,
why are you baptizing
these people?
What right,
what warrant do you have
to baptize these Jews?
Obviously,
John's making a statement,
right,
that repentance is for all.
All need to come
to repentance and faith.
So then,
so John,
in essence,
is saying,
and his response
is so characteristic
of John the Baptist.
He says,
well,
you think me baptizing them,
myself,
with water,
baptizing Jews,
you think that's a big deal?
Well,
guess what?
Someone standing among you
who's going to baptize
with the Holy Spirit,
with fire,
with the very Spirit of God,
he's going to baptize you,
right?
And so John the Baptist,
this is consistent
in his pattern
in his life,
right?
You try to make
something about him,
and you try to ask him questions,
make him the focus of attention,
make a big deal
of what he's doing,
and it just bounces right off,
deflects right off,
and goes directly to Jesus.
He says,
guess what he's doing?
Look at what he's up to.
Look at who he is,
right?
And that's Apostle John's
concern here as well.
No,
John the Baptist
is not the main character
in the story.
Jesus is.
So look to him,
that's precisely
what John the Baptist
would want,
because he says this,
even he who comes after me,
the strap of whose sandal
I am not worthy to untie.
I mean,
if you understand
the cultural context
of that statement,
that's a staggering statement,
an extraordinarily humble statement,
because in that age
when John the Baptist lived,
the precedence
and age,
seniority,
that was everything,
right?
People who came before you,
people that were older than you,
people who had more experience
than you,
they accorded greater honor,
significance,
and way to all of those things.
So when John says,
he comes after me,
that's significant,
because not only
is John the Baptist older,
but he is older,
he's been in the ministry
far longer than Jesus has,
and Jesus comes after him,
yet he says,
of this person
that comes after him,
he's not worthy
to untie the strap
of his sandal.
And in this context
of discipleship,
of rabbis,
and disciples following
the rabbis,
the culture believed
that a disciple,
a follower of a teacher,
a rabbi,
should do everything
that a slave does
for the master.
So go fetch things for him,
go do things for him,
go prepare,
wait on him,
prepare food for him.
They were supposed to do
everything that a slave
was to do,
that they expected
the disciples
to do for their teachers.
Except one thing,
untie the strap
of the sandals
of the people.
That, they thought,
was so beneath
the dignity
of a person
that they believed
that only a slave
should do that.
Not even the disciples
should do that
for his teacher,
only a slave.
Yet John
doesn't make an exception
even for that.
Not only does he
not make an exception,
not only is he ready
to remove the sandals
off Jesus' feet,
he says he's not worthy
to untie the straps
of Jesus' feet.
And obviously,
there's a lot of things
we could apply
to ourselves
in that great example
of humility, right?
It's the attitude
that says,
I will do anything
for the Lord.
Whatever you would
have me do, God,
I will do it.
Or do we have,
instead,
an attitude
of entitlement?
You know,
that I can do,
but that,
no,
I will not stoop
to that level.
I will not serve you
in that way.
I will preach
at the pulpit
for you,
but I will not
go downstairs
to teach children's ministry.
I will stand on the stage
to lead music
in public,
but I will not
be in the background
preparing sound.
Do we have
that kind of attitude
in time,
or do we speak,
or do we like John does?
I will do anything
for you.
In fact,
I'm not worthy
to do any of these
things for you.
someone that walks
into church,
it's easier to talk
to a nicely kept,
you know,
a lady or a gentleman
that walks in.
What if a homeless person
walked in
disheveled,
smelly,
right?
Do we go up to that person
the same love,
speak to him,
love that person,
right?
Are we ready to say
what John the Baptist
is willing to do
anything that he
tells us to do?
Yes,
so John the Baptist's
humility is certainly
instructive for us,
but as I mentioned,
he's not the main
character,
right?
Because what he's
saying is true.
It seems amazing,
relatively speaking,
but what he's saying
is precisely true.
He is not worthy
to untie the sandals
off Jesus' feet,
right?
As we were just
singing about,
we tread where
angels fear to tread,
by grace alone,
right?
We have no right
to approach God.
We have no right
to serve God.
We don't even,
we can't even bear
to be near God
because of our
simpleness,
because of our
dependence.
That's what,
that's how actually
the German philosopher
Immanuel Kant
defined humility.
He said,
it's a proper
perspective on oneself
as a dependent
and corrupt agent,
right?
Humility is simply
a proper view
of ourselves.
It's a right view
of ourselves,
recognizing that we
are dependent beings,
we have a derivative
experience,
I mean,
existence from God
and we owe
everything to him
and we are sinful.
We cannot approach him
on our own
and that's the position
of humility
that we must be in.
So,
John simply
has a correct estimation
of himself.
He knows.
And if that's the case,
then who then
is this Jesus?
who is this man
that is so supremely
worthy
that what John
the Baptist says,
probably the greatest
prophet
before Christ
to say,
I'm not unworthy
to untie the sandals
with his feet.
And that's where
John gives us
these series of titles
to describe Jesus.
And it's great
because it's kind of like,
if you guys have ever
seen this,
I remember first time
I saw a picture of Mosaic.
You guys know
what I'm talking about?
It's a whole bunch
of different pictures.
They all have
their own images on them
yet together
they form a bigger picture.
I remember being blown away
the first time I saw that.
And it's kind of like that.
John's painting
an image here
with all these titles
and descriptions
and epithets of Jesus,
who he is,
in order to form
a fuller picture
of who he is,
what his identity is.
And so you see
the Lamb of God,
verse 29, 36,
Son of God,
34 to 49,
Messiah,
King of Israel,
Son of Man.
I'm not going to cover
all of these in detail
because John unpacks them
later in his Gospel
and I want to,
but I will just cover them
briefly as we go by.
First,
verse 41,
we learn that Jesus
is the Messiah.
When Andrew finds
his brother Simon Peter,
he tells him,
we have found the Messiah.
And Apostle John
adds the explanatory note there
that which means Christ.
So that's what Christ means.
It's not Jesus' last name.
Rather,
it's a description.
It's an epithet
that describes the fact
that he's the Messiah.
And it means literally
anointed one.
And in the Old Testament,
anointing was the process
by which you consecrated
someone for God's service.
You set them apart.
And in the Old Testament,
it was only the kings
and priests
and prophets
that were,
I mean,
not were they,
they were anointed
with oil.
The kings,
prophets,
and priests.
The normal people,
the people of God,
they were not anointed.
So when it says
that Jesus is the Christ,
then he's the,
he's the anointed one
par excellence,
right?
He is the ultimate
prophet,
priest,
and king.
And the designation
king of Israel
also speaks to that,
his kingliness,
right?
So that's what
the Messiah refers to.
Jesus is the fulfillment
of all of that.
He's the consecrated,
anointed one.
But not only is he
the Messiah
that Israel's been waiting for,
he says that he's
the Lamb of God,
in verse 9,
who takes away
the sin of the world.
Not just for the people
of Israel,
not just for the ethnic Jews,
but he's the Lamb of God
who takes away
the sins of the world.
And that has,
in the background,
of course,
passages that talk about
the sacrificial lamb,
like Isaiah 53
or Leviticus 1 to 5.
But chiefly,
and most importantly,
the lamb refers
to the Passover lamb,
right?
In Exodus 12,
where Israel's in captivity
and slavery in Egypt,
and God's promise
to deliver them
and the way he does that
is through the Passover,
which is the last plague
that comes,
where he instructs
the Jews,
his people,
to kill a lamb
without blemish
and then to rub its blood
on the lintel
and the doorposts.
And when they do that,
the destroyer
that God sends
will pass over,
right,
those doors
that were painted
by the blood of the lamb,
painted with the blood
of the lamb.
But the destroyer
went through,
passed over all the doors
of the Israelite people,
but destroyed the firstborn
of all the Egyptians.
And that's how
they were delivered
from the grip of Pharaoh.
And that points,
of course,
to Jesus
as the lamb of God.
He's the unblemished lamb,
the blameless one,
the holy one,
the one who is without sin,
who now dies
for the sinfulness
of people.
All those Israelites
deserve the judgment
of that destroyer,
yet they were spared
because of the blood
of the lamb.
In the same way,
all people deserve
the judgment of God
because of our sin,
yet we are spared,
we are forgiven
through the blood
of the lamb.
So he's the lamb of God
who takes away
the sin of the world.
But it gets even more cosmic,
bigger than that.
Verse 34,
John the Baptist testifies,
I have seen
and borne witness
that this is
the Son of God.
I want to explain
this a little bit
because sometimes
the expression
Son of God
can be confusing
because it's used
differently
throughout the Bible.
And sometimes
it means
not much more
than this person
is like God.
So for example,
if you look at
Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus says that
peacemakers are
sons of God.
That's not saying
that they're divine.
It's not saying
that they're even
believers,
followers of Christ.
It's just saying
that they're like God
in a sense
that they're imitating him.
And that's a typical
Hebrew idiom
because Hebrew,
the language
doesn't have a lot
of adjectives.
So when they're
trying to say
that something,
describe something,
they say son
of something.
So example,
Psalm 89, 22.
In order to describe
the wicked,
it calls them
a son of wickedness.
Proverbs 31, 5.
The afflicted
are called
the sons of affliction.
Deuteronomy 3, 18.
It calls courageous men
sons of valor.
So sons of God
could simply mean
they're like God
in that,
peacemakers like God.
But because it could be
used in such varied ways,
we have to look
at the context.
And in the context
of John,
son of God
is extremely significant.
It's a very,
very loaded term
because it's a special
designation for Messiah
referring to his kingship.
He's going to be
the king in the line
of David that comes
to redeem Israel
as it was promised
in 2 Samuel 7,
13-14
where God says
that he will establish
the kingdom
for a son
in the line of David
and he says,
I will be to him
a father
and he shall be
to me a son.
And we talked last week
how John describes,
John Apostle
describes Jesus
that he is
the only son
from the father.
The only son.
And he says
at the end of the prologue
that he's the only God
who is at the father's side
who makes the father known.
In other words,
when he says
that Jesus
is the son of God,
he's saying
he's the son of God
in the sense
that no one else is.
He's a unique son of God.
He is the only son of God.
The only begotten son
as we used to say.
And John concludes this
that Jesus
is the son of God
after seeing
the spirit descend
from heaven
like a dove
and remain on Jesus.
And the reason for that
is that's a very
distinct proof of that
because in the Old Testament
as well,
the spirit of God
comes temporarily
to empower
his special envoys
for a specific task
and then he departs.
That's the pattern
in the Old Testament.
But here on Jesus,
the spirit of God
comes and he remains
on him.
That's significant.
So Jesus,
now being that only son,
the unique son of God,
he will always be full
of the spirit of God.
He is the second person
of the Trinity.
He is God himself.
So that's Jesus' identity.
Not only is he
the Messiah of Israel,
he's the lamb
that takes away
the sin of the whole world,
and his mission
is for the whole world
and not just that
he's the son of God.
He is God himself,
the second person
of the Trinity.
And because that's
Jesus' identity,
he's able to make
a unique promise.
What's Jesus' promise?
And in verses 43 to 51,
Jesus interacts
with Nathaniel,
who's probably Bartholomew,
who,
in the other lists,
in the other Gospels.
And Jesus amazes him
by commenting
on the fact that
Nathaniel is an Israelite
indeed,
in whom there is no deceit.
This doesn't seem like much
to us when you hear that.
I mean,
you could say that
about anybody,
but apparently
there was something
about that
that really resonated
with Nathaniel.
And that character
assessment was correct
because then he asks
in surprise,
how do you know me?
Because that's who he was.
He was an Israelite
with no needy.
So how do you know me?
It's like,
how did you know that?
And Jesus further displays
his supernatural knowledge
by telling him,
well,
before Philip called you,
well,
before we met,
when you were under
the fig tree,
I saw you.
I saw you
when you were sitting
under that fig tree.
Which is particularly meaningful
because fig tree
in the Old Testament
can refer to Israel,
can signify Israel.
So he's sitting
under the fig tree
and Jesus somehow saw him
even though he wasn't there.
And so that convinces him
and he says,
you are the king of Israel.
You are the son of God,
king of Israel.
And Nathaniel is
immediately convinced.
But then Jesus tells him,
you know what?
What I just told you
is nothing
compared to what
I'm going to show you.
Truly,
truly,
I say to you,
verse 51,
follow along with me.
You will see heaven opened
and the angels of God
ascending and descending
on the son of man.
This is a reference
to Jacob's dream
in Genesis 28.
Right?
And it says that
when Jacob dreamed,
behold,
there was a ladder
set up on the earth
and the top of it
reached to heaven
and behold,
the angels of God
were ascending,
angels of God
were ascending
and descending on it.
And behold,
the Lord,
the Lord himself
stood above it
and said,
I am the Lord,
the God of Abraham,
your father
and the God of Isaac.
Jacob was so struck
by the vision.
He said that this is
the very house of God,
the gate of heaven.
So he named the place
Bethel,
which means house of God.
Now,
then Jesus is saying
something incredibly remarkable
because he's saying
that that house of God,
that gate of heaven,
that amazing vision
that Jacob the patriarch had,
that is me.
You will see
the angels ascending
and descending
on the son of man,
who is Jesus.
Jesus is the new Bethel.
He is the son of God
who gives us access
to God.
And Jesus is uniquely
able to do this,
not only because
he's the Messiah
and the Lamb of God
and the son of God,
but also because
he's the son of man,
as he describes himself here.
He was the word
that made flesh,
the son of God
who dwelled among us
and atoned for our sins
so we can now
be forgiven of our sins
and reconciled to God.
And it's easy to think
of son of man
simply as another
roundabout way
of saying that
I'm a man,
right?
And it does mean
that he's a man,
son of man,
right?
But it's not just a man.
He's not just saying
that I'm just a man.
He doesn't say
I'm a son of man.
He says I am
the son of man,
right?
And who is the son of man?
It's the vision
in Daniel 7
where in Daniel
the prophet
sees a vision.
He said,
my vision at night
I looked
and there before me
I saw in the clouds
a son of man,
a man like a son of man
coming down
with the clouds of heaven.
He approached
the ancient of days,
that's God,
and was led
into his presence
and the ancient of days
gave him authority,
glory,
and sovereign power.
He says he gave
this son of man
a sovereign power
and that all people,
the peoples of every language
and tongue
worshipped him.
you're not supposed
to worship anything
other than God,
especially in
strictly monotheistic Judaism,
yet they worship
this son of man
and God gave him
authority,
glory,
sovereign power
and his kingdom
will never be destroyed.
That son of man,
the ideal son of man,
the perfect son of man,
the ultimate son of man
that will represent
all of humanity,
that son of man,
that's me,
says Jesus.
That's what he's talking about.
And because he is
the son of God
and he's the son of man,
he's uniquely able
to give us access
to God,
which is why
he baptizes
with the Holy Spirit.
It's similar
with the concept
of anointing,
which was restricted
in the Old Testament.
Spirit of God
was not in all people
in the Old Testament.
He came at particular moments
to empower people
for things.
But in the New Testament,
as Prophet Joel prophesied,
the Spirit will be poured out
on all flesh.
Now because of Christ,
because of him,
he who is
the son of God
and son of man,
now all of his followers
will be baptized
with the Holy Spirit.
We will have
the very Spirit of God
dwelling in us,
empowering us.
That's the promise.
It's a pretty amazing promise,
isn't it?
And after telling us
about Jesus' identity
and telling us
about his promise,
John issues
a very simple invitation.
And his invitation
is to simply come
and see
the son of God
who gives us access
to God.
Come and see
and follow him.
So the phrase
come and see,
those verbs
and the word follow
are both,
it's a motif
throughout this passage.
It occurs again
and again
if you look with me.
Verse 39,
Jesus invites
the two disciples
of John the Baptist
who are following him
to come
and you will see.
He says that.
Now in verse 46,
Philip says
to his skeptical friend
Nathaniel,
come and see.
And then similarly,
the verb follow
is used several times
and in fact,
in the Gospel of John,
the word follow
really is used
almost in a technical sense
to follow
as the disciple.
So it implies
a commitment.
It implies
an entrusting
of oneself
to this teacher,
to this Lord.
And it says
in verse 37,
to the disciples
of John,
follow Jesus
and Jesus saw
them following.
Verse 30,
Andrew follows Jesus.
In verse 40,
Jesus tells Philip
in verse 43,
follow me.
Right?
That's the point
of this passage.
Come and see
the Son of God
who gives us
access to God.
Come and follow
this Son of God
who gives us
access to God.
perhaps if you're
in this morning
and you have not
yet made a decision
to follow Christ.
And if you have not
decided to become
his disciple.
If that's the case,
we want to thank you
for being here
but we want to issue
this invitation
that John has for you
simply to come
and see.
Stay with us
for a little while.
Keep coming
to our corporate
worship services.
Get involved
in the life
of the church
as we do
life together.
Get to know us
and through us
and through God's word
come and see
the Son of God.
Get to know Jesus.
He's the only one
that can give us
access to God
the Father.
Maybe you're skeptical.
Maybe you're like
Nathaniel.
Because when Philip
first told Nathaniel
that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Messiah,
Nathaniel said to him,
can anything good
come out of Nazareth?
Nazareth was a measly town
of about a thousand people.
So the college town,
I went to Williams College
in Western Mass.
It was in Williamstown
which the college
was the only thing there.
We had a downtown
that was literally
one street
and even that town
had 2,000 people
or a little more.
I mean 2,000 people
in school.
But this Nazareth
is even smaller than that.
In fact,
it was so bad
that Galileans
who are mocked
by the Judeans,
people who lived in
Judea,
mocked people
who lived in Galilee.
The Galileans,
on the other hand,
mocked the people
who lived in Nazareth.
So now,
you understand Nathaniel
because the king
the Messiah,
the Son of God
from Nazareth.
He's skeptical, right?
But even though
he was skeptical,
he came without
a duplicitous motive.
He came without deceit,
it says in verse 47.
Even though
he was blunt
in his criticism,
even though
he was skeptical,
he came with
the genuine desire
to see,
come and see
if this was true,
if this was really
the Son of God.
And that's all
we ask of you.
One commentator,
F.F. Bruce,
says this about
this conversion
of Nathaniel.
He says,
Honest inquiry
is a sovereign cure
for prejudice.
Nazareth might be
all that Nathaniel thought,
but there is an exception
to prove every rule,
and what an exception
these young men
had found.
You might think
that Christians
are ill-informed
or that
Christianity itself
is outdated
and regressive.
You might be skeptical.
That's okay.
We invite you.
But come without deceit.
Come like Nathaniel did
to see for yourself
if this really is true,
if Jesus really is
who he claimed to be,
that he is the Son of God
who gives us access to God.
And if you do,
I believe that you will be
like the thousands,
the millions,
the people
who have gone before you
since Nathaniel
and before our time
who have come
to confess Jesus Christ
as their Lord and Savior.
As C.S. Lewis,
the famous Oxford professor
and atheist
turned Christian said,
I believe in Christianity
as I believe
that the Son has risen
not only because I see it
but because by it
I see everything else.
When you come
and see the Son of glory,
the Son of God,
you will not only see him
but you will see
that through him
everything else
in and around you
makes sense
because he is the God.
He is the creator.
Maybe you were born
into a Christian household.
Maybe you were
even baptized
as an infant
or you grew up
going to church
but I want to ask you
did you really have
a relationship with God?
Have you come
to see this God?
Do you know him?
Not just know Jesus
but do you love
this Jesus
because that's what
he demands.
We noted earlier
that John the Baptist
deviated from the practice
of the normal practice
of the Jews
of baptizing only
the Gentile converts.
He baptized Jews
and he did that
to make a distinct
theological statement
that no,
no one is except
doesn't matter
if you could trace
your lineage
back to Abraham himself.
Doesn't matter.
Doesn't matter
that you're a Jew
and you grew up
observing the law
that your parents
were Jews
that your grandparents
were Jews.
You have to repent
yourself.
You have to confess
your own sins
and believe in this Jesus
the Son of God.
That's what John the Baptist
was trying to say
and that applies
to us as well.
Doesn't matter
that you could trace
your lineage
to, I don't know,
seventh generation,
maybe Puritans,
Jonathan Edwards even.
It doesn't matter
how long you've been
going to church.
It doesn't matter
whether you were born
in a Christian household
or even baptized
as an infant
because that was a faith
that you did not own.
You had not repented
and believed.
So you must repent
and believe yourself
and if that's you
then I invite you
to do that.
I invite you
to consider baptism.
That's coming up
in a few weeks,
October 16th.
To make a public profession
of your inward faith
saying that I have repented
and believed
and I own this faith
for myself.
And if you are
a true believer,
you have repented
and you have believed
and been baptized
and I pray to God
that we will never
become so familiar
with this Jesus
that we take him
for a grant.
You can't.
Continue to behold him.
Continue to come
and follow him.
Continue to see him
because his riches,
his beauty,
they're inexhaustible
and you will get
to know him deeper
and you will come
to love him more
and more as you do so.
And I also want to
ask you to consider
the implications of this
if you are a believer
because if you are a believer,
you became a believer
because someone
in this great chain,
this movement
of word of mouth evangelism,
someone in that great chain
of sharing about Christ
told you,
invited you to come and see.
Someone told you
to come and see
Jesus,
the Son of God.
And that's been
the foundational principle
of Christian expansion
from the very beginning.
New followers of Jesus
bear witness to Jesus
to other people.
Those people then in turn
become followers of Jesus
and then repeat the process.
That's how church growth
has happened
throughout the centuries.
Yes,
there are formal means
of evangelism,
like the service
or like Bible study
for evangelism,
like evangelistic Bible studies
for unbelief.
There are ways
we can do that as well.
But by and large,
the way the church grew
was through informal missionaries,
all of us ministering,
telling people,
come and see.
There's a really humorous account,
at least from my perspective,
of a,
I guess he was probably an atheist.
He was a pagan writer.
I guess he's not an atheist.
He's a pagan writer
from the time,
early Christianity.
His name was Kelsis.
And he writes this scathing work,
satirical work,
mocking Christians.
He sounds a lot like
some of the more vociferous atheists
that we see in our day.
And he writes this.
He says,
we see in private houses
the most illiterate
and bucolic yokels
who will not dare
to say anything at all
in front of their elders
and more intelligent masters.
But they get hold of any
who are as ignorant
as themselves and say,
we know how men ought to live.
If your children do as we say,
you will be happy yourselves
and make your home happy too.
He's mocking Christians.
But brothers and sisters,
that's nothing to be ashamed of.
Nothing to be ashamed of.
They're following the example
of the first disciples of Jesus
who simply said,
come and see.
He said,
this is how we were taught to live.
And you will see.
You will experience God for yourself.
And you will come to see
that He is the truth.
You will come to see
that He is the Son of God.
And you will come to see
that He is the only way
to have access to God.
So out of their excitement
of having found
this greatest treasure,
person most worthy
of being excited about
and being shared about,
they just simply went
and told people,
come and see.
That's what the early Christians did.
So then,
I want to invite all of you
to do the same.
Tell your family.
Tell your friends.
Tell your neighbors
to come and see
the Son of God
who gives us access to God.
And notice that
in the invitation
that you see here,
there's no sense
of desperation.
They are not,
Jesus and Philip
are not engaging
in this intense argument
trying to convince
these people
to prove to them
that Jesus is the Messiah.
There's a place for that.
Paul engages in some of that
in Acts.
But for this,
generally speaking,
there's no elaborate
marketing strategy
or advertisements here.
Jesus twice says
confidently in verse 50 and 51,
you will see
greater things than these.
You will see
heaven opened.
You will see.
So come and see.
Have confidence
that God will reveal Himself
to the people
that you invite.
People that you tell Him
to come and see.
Our job is not
to make people convert.
We can't do that.
That's God's work to do.
Our job simply is to say,
come and see.
And when we do,
especially as we enter
into this public phase
of our ministry
as a church,
people will come
and see the Son of God
and get access to Him
the only way they can
through Jesus Christ.
So let's pray
for that together.
God,
we are so grateful
that someone,
your servant,
your son and daughter,
invited us
to come and see.
Whether it was our parents
or our Sunday school teachers,
Lord,
we're so grateful
to know you
for who you are.
And now we ask,
Lord,
that you would help us
to be so captivated
by you
and so beholden
to your glory,
the glory of your son,
that we would be,
that we wouldn't be able
to help ourselves,
that we wouldn't be able
to help it
but tell everyone
about how great you are
and how good you are
and tell them to come
and see for themselves.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.