Children, you are excused if you haven't been already.
And I am going to be preaching from John chapter 1 verses 19 through 51.
! It's on page 1053 of your pew Bible.
! It's the black Bible in your pew.
In the late 80s, U2 released their greatest album of all time,
Joshua Tree.
I still remember hearing, I still haven't found what I'm looking for when I was in high school.
I must have heard that a million times.
In fact, this past week, I watched the music video of I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
There you have him, Bono singing, I still haven't found what I'm looking for,
as he walks through the glimmer, the lights of Las Vegas.
You have the edge on his acoustic guitar and really interesting hat.
And he's walking through and they're all singing.
There are other two guys in the band, don't know them, they were walking around too.
But the point is, they're walking around Las Vegas.
With all of its lights and glamour and gambling, Sin City!
And they keep on singing, but I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
Are you looking for something?
But still haven't found it?
Are you finding something to scratch the itch?
To fill the hole?
To satisfy your soul?
Maybe it's in companionship.
You are so lonely that you think,
if I just get another human being in a relationship, I'll be happy.
It's elusive.
Maybe it's about your reputation.
You want to make a name for yourself.
Or you don't want particular information to get out about yourself.
It's elusive.
Maybe you're trying to scratch the itch, fill the hole with being useful.
For being productive.
But that's elusive too.
Maybe you're trying to satisfy your soul with this longing for peace.
Peace for your kids in the future.
Peace of financial security.
Peace of knowing that your body's just going to be fine.
That you're going to be healthy all the way through.
It's elusive too.
What are you looking for?
This morning we're going to see in John 1, 19 through 15.
It's one big historical account with four scenes.
And these four scenes unfold the answer to the question,
what are you looking for?
And John the evangelist is going to point us again and again to the one that we are looking for.
We're going to see in one of these scenes, Jesus ask this question.
And he's going to ask you this question this morning.
What are you seeking?
What are you looking for?
And then he answers that.
He says, come and see.
He's inviting you to come and find what you're looking for in him.
These four scenes give an unprecedented list of titles and descriptions of who Jesus is.
It's a pile up of his glory.
And it's designed to make your heart rise to him.
And these titles and descriptions belong to Jesus alone.
What are you looking for?
Jesus would say, come and see.
So let's look at the first scene.
It's chapter 1, verses 19 through 28.
And this scene is actually a dialogue between John the Baptist, JTB, and this delegation sent from Jerusalem.
You can see it in verse 19.
And this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you?
So what we have here in verses 19 through 28 are two sets of questions.
Now here's what's going on.
The Jews is a reference to the Jews who are in authority in Jerusalem.
And by and large in the Gospel of John, they are Jews who oppose Jesus.
So these Jews have gotten word that there are large crowds of Jews going out to John the Baptist and the Jordan and northern Israel.
And he's baptizing them.
And so they're like, what's going on?
We're going to send a delegation to find out who this guy is and what he is doing.
And so the first set of questions begins in verse 19.
Who are you?
And in verse 20, John the Baptist responds in a little bit surprising way.
He confessed and did not deny, but confessed.
That's emphatic.
He says, I'm not the Christ.
If they were coming looking for the Christ, he is saying, I'm not the Christ.
The Christ is the first title we come across in this scene.
And it means Messiah, the anointed one.
The long looked for king who would sit on David's throne forever.
Well, the questions continue.
Verse 21, they asked him, what then?
Are you Elijah?
Elijah was a really impressive prophet from 2 Kings 2.
2 Kings 2, Elijah is taken up alive to heaven in a chariot of fire.
And then in Malachi 4, 5, we're told this prophecy that Elijah would return before the great and awesome day of the Lord.
And so what we have in common with the Christ and Elijah are these biblical figures who are being looked forward to coming back.
They're looking for him.
John the Baptist says in verse 21, oh, am I Elijah?
I am not.
And then there's another question.
Verse 21, are you the prophet?
It's another anticipated biblical figure who they are looking forward to.
This time, this prophet is a reference to something that Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 18.15.
God will raise up one like me, Moses says, from among you.
This delegation sent from these Jews who are going to oppose Jesus, they're asking John the Baptist, are you the prophet?
Flat out, no.
And in verse 27, we see this.
Oh, excuse me.
Verse 23.
Verse 22, I apologize.
They reach this point where they're like, okay, John, work with us.
We got to go back.
We got to tell our supervisors.
We got to give them some kind of answer.
So who are you?
And then he finally says in verse 23, I am the voice of the one crying out in the wilderness.
Make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said.
This is Isaiah 40, verse 3.
And what he's saying here is, I am the forerunner of the Lord.
When we read here, make straight the way of the Lord, back in your Old Testament in Isaiah, that's all small caps.
That's the way of Yahweh.
The I am.
He is going to go before the way of the Lord.
And so what he's saying is, hey, I am someone you should be looking forward to.
I am that voice in the wilderness making straight the path of Yahweh.
But it doesn't seem as though this delegation hears what he says.
This is another title.
Lord.
It's going to be applied to Jesus.
He is the I am incarnate.
In verse 25, we have a second set of questions.
Actually, just one question.
We move from who he is to what he's doing.
And they want to know, why are you baptizing?
Verse 25.
If you're not the Christ, if you're not Elijah, if you're not the prophet, what are you doing?
Why are you baptizing?
And he answers them in verse 26.
He says, I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know.
He goes on to say, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.
In our common day, that'd be like, hey, I can't even untie his shoelace.
That's how awesome he is.
John the Baptist answers their question by saying, my baptism, me baptizing, it's getting people ready to see the revealing of the one who comes after me.
That's what my baptism is doing.
And you don't recognize the one who stands among you.
You see, the Lord has come now.
And you don't recognize him.
They're not finding what they're looking for.
Kind of curious as to how, what they actually reported when they got back to Jerusalem.
I think it would be like, you know what, we didn't really find anything.
He's not the Christ.
He's not Elijah.
He's not the prophet.
He said something from Isaiah.
What are you looking for?
What we have here is a group of people who are looking for something, but they're not finding it.
And we're given these titles of Christ and Lord.
And this one who comes after John, he's not even worthy to untie his shoelaces.
The next scene, scene two, is verses 29 through 34.
And in this scene, we see John the Baptist seeing Jesus and making an announcement.
And it's queued up in verse 29, the next day.
That means there's a scene change.
The next day, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him.
And he says, he doesn't catcall.
He's not like, doesn't do that.
What he does do is he says, behold, the Lamb of God.
And what follows in this section, verses 29 through 34, it's like a Messiah sandwich.
We have titles on both sides and a bunch of descriptions in the middle.
What we have here is John the Baptist acting like an announcer at a prize fight.
You know those guys that announce the challenger and the champ?
They get the mic and they're like, you know, are you ready to rumble?
And then they announce the challenger.
And then when they turn to the champ, they're like, and in the blue corner.
And then they start naming titles.
He owns this belt and he owns that belt.
He's done these KOs and he has this reputation.
That's what John the Baptist is doing.
He's not making this announcement to Jesus.
He's making this announcement to everyone around the Jordan.
Look what he says.
Behold, the Lamb of God.
Look, the Lamb of God.
Hey, everybody, look, the Lamb of God.
Lambs played a central role in the Jewish sacrificial system,
especially when we get to the holy days of Passover, the Passover lamb.
Lambs were repeatedly offered.
Their blood was shed and they died to atone for the sins of sinners.
They were killed in the place of sinners.
That's called a substitute.
JTB is announcing, behold, God's ultimate sacrifice for your sin.
That's what he's saying.
Behold, God's salvation.
Right there.
That guy.
And we read this description that follows,
who takes away the sins, the sin of the world.
Now, when you hear the word world,
don't think the planet Earth.
Be thinking more in terms of sinful humanity
in organized rebellion against God.
People living in darkness.
You see, Christ's death satisfied once and for all
God's wrath towards our sin.
So there were no more sacrificial lambs needed.
It's a great description.
And then he goes on to another description in verse 30.
We're familiar with this one already.
John keeps on saying to the crowd,
this is he of whom I said,
after me comes a man who ranks before me
because he was before me.
Yes, sounds like a riddle.
But what he's saying is,
this guy that was born six months after me,
he's actually greater than me
because he's always existed before me.
He is the preexistent second person of the Trinity.
He's not quite saying it like that,
but that's how we understand it.
He's claiming that this Lamb of God
is from everlasting to everlasting.
He is God.
And then in verses 31 through 34,
we move to the focus on the baptism of Jesus.
In verse 31, he says,
this is the one whom I said.
In verse, I myself do not know him.
That might seem a little confusing.
What it means is,
is John the Baptist didn't fully understand
who Jesus was until his baptism.
Then it all becomes clear to him.
And he says,
for this purpose,
I came baptizing with the water
that he might be revealed to Israel.
His baptism,
and what happens at his baptism,
discloses who he is.
And then we have this other description
in verse 32.
It's an eyewitness.
I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove,
and it remained on him.
This is the anointing of Jesus Christ
for ministry.
And John saw it.
The baptism of Jesus is recorded
in all of the Gospels.
And what we see happening here
is the anointing of Jesus the Christ.
In the Old Testament,
prophets, priests, and kings
were anointed with oil
for ministry to be set apart,
and the Spirit would come upon them
and even leave them.
But here, it's not oil,
but the Holy Spirit himself
who comes down upon Jesus,
and he remains on Jesus permanently.
It's his anointing.
He is the ultimate prophet, priest, and king.
And then we see in verse 33
that he's also an ear witness.
I myself did not know him.
I didn't know him fully.
But he who sent me,
God the Father,
to baptize with water,
said to me,
he on whom you see the Spirit
descend and remain,
this is he who baptizes
with the Holy Spirit.
So, John, upon seeing
Jesus anointed by the Holy Spirit,
it's a fulfillment
of what God the Father
has told him,
and he's like,
that's him!
That's the one!
He's the baptizer
with the Holy Spirit.
That's a reference
to the second,
the new covenant.
We read about it in Ezra,
Ezekiel chapter 36,
the Holy Spirit
coming upon us
in a new covenant way
in which we are now
able to live for God.
He is the baptizer
with the Holy Spirit.
We see it happen
at Pentecost.
And if you become a believer,
at the moment you believe,
you're baptized
by the Holy Spirit.
So we have all these descriptions,
and then in verse 34
we have the final
kind of like title.
And I have seen
and have borne witness
that this is the Son of God.
So we start with the Lamb of God,
we end with the Son of God,
and we have these descriptions
in between
that are just lovely.
That he come to take away
the sins of the world,
that he was before me,
that from everlasting
to everlasting,
he is God,
that he has been anointed
by the Spirit,
that he is the baptizer
with the Spirit.
This is all about Jesus.
What are you looking for?
Scene 2,
John the Evangelist,
helps us to see
Jesus,
behold the Lamb of God.
Scene 3.
Look at verse 35.
We have a new scene.
Again,
the next day.
Scene change,
and then we have
more characters involved.
This time we see
John the Baptist,
once again,
he's standing,
but this time he's standing
with two of his disciples,
and we know one of their names
is Andrew.
We don't know
the other disciple's name.
Some scholars believe
it's John the Evangelist,
just not referring to himself.
So these are standing together,
and look,
verse 36,
John the Baptist
looks at Jesus
as he walked by,
and again,
he says,
behold the Lamb of God.
Look,
there he is,
the Lamb of God,
God's salvation,
God's ultimate sacrifice
to take away our sins.
What's different is that
he's got two of his disciples
standing with him.
Yes,
John the Baptist
had his own disciples,
and then they follow Jesus,
and John the Baptist
has no problem with that.
He's like,
you go and follow him.
It's like,
I am the guy
that is the forerunner
to that guy.
You go follow him.
And in verse 38,
we have the first recorded words
of Jesus in John's gospel.
It's a question.
It's a question for those two disciples.
Jesus senses them following him.
He turns around,
and he asks them a question.
And I want to help you realize
he's asking you
the very same question this morning.
Amen.
What are you seeking?
What are you looking for?
Where are you looking for life?
What are you looking to
to scratch the itch,
to fill the hole,
to make sense of things,
to have purpose and meaning,
to be happy?
Where are you looking for that?
Now,
Jesus is about
to show them where to look.
So,
verse 38,
Jesus asks them
and asks us,
what are you looking for?
And then they answer
with another title,
rabbi,
which means teacher.
In the original language,
what happens in this passage
is that you have
a Hebrew word like rabbi,
and that what John would do,
he would translate it
into Greek
for his Greek-speaking audience.
So,
he actually translates
rabbi
into a Greek word
for teacher
that's translated here
in English
as teacher.
But what he's doing is
he's helping his people
understand what they're saying,
what's being said.
And they ask,
where are you saying?
Now,
you can't miss
what they're actually asking.
They're not just simply
asking for his address
so that they can put it
in their phones.
They're asking
for where he's staying
so that they could be with him,
so that they can learn from him,
so that they can see him
in real time,
how he interacts with them.
They're like,
can we come and be with you?
And how Jesus responds
is so encouraging.
He says to them,
this is the second recorded thing
he says
in the Gospel of John,
come and you will see.
Come.
Find out.
Come and see.
Come with me.
And they spend
the rest of the day with him
and you can see that
at the end of verse 39.
They come
and they spend time
with Jesus
with where he was staying.
Can you just imagine that?
Jesus coming to Kenosha.
You come across him
and like,
Jesus, where are you staying?
And he's like,
I'm staying.
And you know what?
They have Hampton Inn.
And you're like,
well, what room?
He's like,
room 302.
Can I,
come hang out with me.
That would be amazing.
Come and you will see.
This is getting at the nature
of discipleship,
which we'll talk about more
in just a second.
But they are being invited
to come into his presence.
And so they did.
They spend the day with him.
They behold his glory.
Glory is of the only begotten,
one and only of the Father.
And then in verse 40 and 41,
something interesting happens.
Something very interesting happens.
We read this.
one of the two who heard John speak
and follow Jesus was Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother.
He first found his own brother Simon
and said to him,
we have found the Messiah.
What's interesting is
after spending the day with Jesus,
Andrew makes a beeline
to his brother Simon.
And he's like,
you've got to come
meet this guy.
So you see,
when you come into
the presence of Jesus,
when you spend a day
with him in his place,
when you interact with him,
and you get to know him,
it's the most purest form
of evangelism.
It's when you go to someone,
oftentimes the closest people
you know and love,
and you're like,
you've got to meet him.
It's evangelism in its purest form.
Spending time in the presence
of the Word incarnate,
it makes you contagious.
You go viral.
You want others to experience
his steadfast love
and faithfulness.
You want others to see,
to behold his glory,
to stand amazed.
How marvelous,
how wonderful
is this Nazarene?
41.
Andrew finds Peter.
He brings him
and he says,
we have found the Messiah.
This is that title again.
The Christ.
John translates it
for his audience.
It means anointed one.
The long-looked-for king
in the line of David
who would establish
a new forever kingdom.
It's him.
We found him.
I don't think he was yawning
when he told Peter this.
And in verse 42,
Andrew brings Simon to Jesus.
It's that Simon,
we all know,
who would get over
his ski tips a lot.
He would shoot first
with his mouth
and then aim second.
We love him for it.
And in verse 42,
before Simon can say anything,
before he can say anything,
Jesus says to him,
you are Simon,
the son of John,
you shall be called Cephas,
which means Peter.
Again, he's doing this translating.
Cephas in Aramaic
means rock.
And in Greek,
rock is translated Petros,
or Peter.
And what Jesus is doing here
and what we're seeing,
it's a description of sorts.
He knows Peter.
He knows Simon.
He knows what's going to become of him.
It's just a little taste,
a little insight
into what Jesus knows.
We're going to see more of this
in just a second.
But in this scene,
we have a number of titles.
Lamb of God,
Rabbi,
Messiah Christ.
We see this description,
this invitation to come and see.
We see this kind of knowledge
unlike anybody else.
He already knows Simon
and gives him a name.
And we have this really interesting
kind of like pure evangelism
of Andrew going to find his brother
because they have found him.
And so now we move on to scene four,
verses 43 through 51,
and we have another day,
a new scene.
Verse 43,
the next day.
And we have new characters.
So in verse 43,
we see that Jesus decides
to go to Galilee.
They were with John the Baptist
in the area around the Jordan,
and now they make a beeline
to Galilee.
And what comes next
is remarkable.
In verse 43,
there's just three words.
He found Philip
and said to him,
follow me.
Now it would be possible
to think that
this is just a chance encounter.
That Jesus was just walking
through the streets of Galilee
and he kind of bumps into Philip
and he's like,
oh, hey, follow me.
That's not what it says.
He found Philip.
He went to Galilee
looking for Philip
among other people.
This is not a chance encounter.
Let me just ask you this.
How would it make you feel
if Jesus came into Kenosha today
and he came looking for you?
He's here to see you.
He's here to have
a conversation with you.
He finds Philip and says,
follow me.
This is another kind of invitation.
It's an invitation
to become a disciple of Jesus.
And first century discipleship
is a little different
than what we think about it today.
It's a huge commitment.
It involves accompanying
a rabbi or a master
in order to listen to them
and to watch them
and to interact with them.
It was a whole life commitment.
So you are spending time
traveling with this,
your rabbi,
in order to watch
how he lived
and how he lived out
his teaching in real time
so that you yourself
could then imitate him.
to live out his teaching
in real time.
Discipleship to Jesus
is like what apprenticeship
is to us today.
You know what apprenticeship is
where there's this master
and in order to learn a trade
you become his or her apprentice
and so you follow them
and you're watching them work
and you're asking them questions
and he or she gives you work to do
and then they evaluate you
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
But what it means
to become an apprentice of Jesus,
a disciple of Jesus
goes beyond learning a trade.
It pertains to all of life.
Every aspect of your life.
It means living with Jesus
as the controlling center
of your life.
It means living with Jesus
as the operational center
of your life.
It means living with Jesus
as the master of your life.
And Philip must have said yes
because after Jesus finds Philip,
Philip finds Nathanael.
And we see this in verse 45.
Nathanael was most likely
also went by another name,
Bartholomew.
And when he finds him,
verse 45,
look what Philip has to say.
We have found him
of whom Moses in the law
and also the prophets wrote,
Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of Joseph.
We have found him
whom Moses in the law
and also the prophets wrote,
Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of Joseph,
the Messiah.
The king's come.
We found him.
All that we read in Moses
about the prophet who's coming,
about whom all the sacrificial system
points to,
and all the prophets
who they're speaking about.
Think of Isaiah 7,
Isaiah 9,
Isaiah 53.
It's him.
We found him.
Again,
I don't think he's yawning.
I don't think he's like,
oh,
I almost forgot Nathanael.
We found him.
I think he made a beeline
to Nathanael
because he found him.
Nathanael's not so enthusiastic.
Look at verse 46.
Can anything come out of Nazareth?
It's like Philip was like,
we found him!
It's Jesus of Nazareth!
Nathanael's like,
yeah, right.
Whatever.
Can anything good
come out of Nazareth?
Nazareth was known
kind of as a backwater town.
But something good
was in Nazareth,
came from Nazareth.
God's goodness incarnate.
And so what we see is
Philip essentially repeat
what Jesus said to Andrew.
Nathanael,
come and see.
You gotta meet him.
Again,
it's this evangelism
in purest form.
It's this,
I've been in his presence
and you've got to meet him.
Amen.
And so Nathanael goes
with Philip.
Philip knowing that
Nathanael just meets him.
Then his opinion's gonna change.
In verse 47 through 51
we see the interaction.
Nathanael doesn't get to speak once.
Not at first at least.
Jesus saw Nathanael
coming toward him
and Jesus says to Nathanael,
behold an Israelite indeed
in whom there is no deceit.
It's like he's like,
there he is.
The real deal right there, baby.
No nonsense.
Shooter,
straight shooter.
You got it.
Jesus must have said something
to Nathanael here
that had affected Nathanael
in a way
that it registered.
So Nathanael responds to that
in verse 48.
He says,
how do you know me?
It'd be more like
someone coming up to you
in Target
and they start talking to you
like they know you
and you're like,
have we met?
How do you know me?
You see,
Jesus knows Nathanael
and he knows how he's wired.
And so what Jesus says to him
pings him at his heart.
He's known.
Don't you want to be known?
Have we met?
How do you know me?
Verse 48,
Jesus answered,
before Philip called you,
when you were under the fig tree,
I saw you.
When you were under the fig tree,
I saw you.
He wasn't there physically,
but he saw him under the fig tree.
I saw you.
I know you.
I see you.
could it be,
dear friend,
that you're seeing,
that he sees you,
that not only would he come to Kenosha
to get you,
but he sees you
and knows you
and he knows everything about you.
He sees you sitting under your fig tree.
And immediately,
there's this confession from Nathanael.
Rabbi,
we know that title.
You are the son of God.
We've seen that title.
You are the king of Israel.
You are the king,
the Messiah.
You are the one
who has come
to sit upon David's throne.
He's convinced.
And Jesus is like,
I saw you under the fig tree.
I told you that
and you believe.
That's it.
You just had this little
kind of piece of glory
you saw in me
and you believe.
And then he says to him,
you will see greater things
than these.
There's more glory to behold.
There's more wonders waiting.
What we see here
is that Jesus has this divine knowledge.
That he sees into us.
He knows us.
And he loves us.
In verses 15 and 51,
I see you under the fig tree.
You see greater things.
And Jesus says to him,
truly, truly,
in verse 51,
I say to you,
you will see heaven opened
and the angels of God
ascending and descending
on the Son of Man.
It's a reference
to Jacob's ladder
in Genesis chapter 28.
It's Jacob's dream
where God reveals
to Jacob his name.
And not only does he reveal
his name to Jacob,
he reminds Jacob
that through Jacob's offspring,
he will bless
all the families
of the earth.
And so what Jesus
is doing here
is he's saying,
I'm greater than Jacob.
You will see it.
You will see who I am.
And not only will you
see who I am,
you will know
the name of God.
But in me,
all the nations
of the earth,
all the families
of the earth
will be blessed.
And then he caps it
with his favorite title
for himself.
the Son of Man.
This is the only title
Jesus refers to himself
in this passage.
Daniel chapter 7,
verse 13 through 14.
One like a Son of Man
will come to the
Ancient of Days,
the Father.
And the Father,
the Ancient of Days,
will give the Son of Man
a dominion
that will last forever
over all peoples.
There's no question
who that is.
It's the Messiah.
Titles,
Rabbi,
Son of God,
King of Israel,
Son of Man.
Descriptions.
One who Moses
and the prophets wrote.
This description of saying,
I saw you.
Come and see.
Come and see greater things.
What are you looking for?
Who are you looking to
to scratch your itch?
Who are you looking,
what are you looking to
for life?
Are you trying to make trips
to Sin City,
hoping not to get caught
because you think
life is there?
No.
Here's the point
of all these scenes.
John the evangelist
is asking
and answering
the question,
what are you looking for?
And this morning,
we see the answer
in all of these titles
and all of these descriptions.
The one that you're looking for,
the whole Bible,
is saying
the one that you are looking for
is this Jesus of Nazareth.
He's the Christ,
Messiah,
Son of God.
He is the Lord,
King of Israel.
He is the Rabbi.
He is the Lamb of God.
He is the Son of Man.
He is the King of Israel,
the King of Kings
of all.
That's who He is.
He takes away
the sins of the world.
He was before me
because He's preexistent,
everlasting to everlasting,
anointed by the Spirit.
He baptized with the Spirit.
He's the inviter.
Come and see.
Follow me.
One who Moses
and the prophets spoke,
He's greater than Jacob
and He is the one.
He is the point.
We are all looking
for something, right?
And the Bible says
the something
that you are looking for
is a someone.
Jesus of Nazareth.
Let me apply this
in three ways.
He sees you.
He knows you
and He loves you.
That little,
those little words
that He says
to Nathaniel,
when you're under
the fig tree,
I saw you.
In your craziness,
He sees you.
When you're sleeping,
He sees you.
At your worst,
He sees you.
At your best,
He sees you.
He knows you.
He loves you.
Do you believe that?
Receive it.
And not only does He see you,
He's inviting you.
Come and see.
Come and see me.
Three times,
there's an invitation.
First with Jesus,
come and you will see.
And then it is,
I think it is Philip,
come and see.
And then Jesus
to Nathaniel,
He says,
you will see greater things.
Come and see greater things.
Come back Sunday after Sunday.
Come,
come on Sundays.
Make it a point
to be here at 10 a.m.
so that you can behold
the glory of the sun
again and again.
Let the sun,
sunshine,
shine
into your darkness.
Behold His glory.
And then you're going to
start doing the math.
He's greater than any companion.
He's greater than any reputation.
He's greater than Sin City.
He's greater than any piece
of finances,
of health.
He's greater.
He's better.
He's bigger.
He's awesome.
Come and see.
Follow Him.
I guess there's four applications.
Not just come and see.
Come and be His apprentice.
Come for His all-life
apprenticeship.
Come to where He's staying
and say,
show me.
Teach me.
I want to see you.
I want to live like that.
I want to together
follow you
with brothers and sisters
doing the same.
I want to make you
the controlling center
of my life,
the master of my life.
Let's do that together, gang.
He's so worth it.
He's so greater than.
Amen.
And then the thing,
if you didn't catch it
in this passage,
that's an application
is what we see
John the Baptist do
with his two disciples.
It's what Andrew does
with Peter.
It's what Philip does
with Nathaniel.
He finds a way
after being in the presence
of Jesus,
they find ways
to bring others to Him.
To invite them.
If you have friends
and family in the area,
invite them to come
on Sunday morning.
And don't come saying,
oh, the preacher's awesome
because he's not.
Jesus is awesome.
Say, you've got to hear
what this guy is saying
about Jesus
from the Gospel of John.
Come with me.
Meet Him.
Meet Jesus.
Behold His glory.
Four scenes.
All answering the question,
what are you looking for?
You know, I realized
20 years after
listening to U2s.
I still haven't found
what I'm looking for,
how tragic it is.
Listen to the final stanza.
I believe in the kingdom come,
and all the colors
will bleed into one,
bleed into one.
But yes, I'm still running.
You broke the bonds.
You loosed the chains.
Chains carried the cross.
Who's he talking about?
Of my shame.
Oh, my shame.
You know I believe it.
But I still haven't found
what I'm looking for.
That's the tragedy
of that song.
And you know what's tragic
is when Christians,
they come and sing on Sundays
of how wonderful Jesus is in,
and then Monday through Saturday,
they are looking for life
in anything but Jesus.
It's tragic.
He's what we're looking for.
He is the Lord,
everlasting to everlasting,
the Lamb of God,
anointed of the Spirit,
baptizer with the Spirit,
the Son of God,
our Rabbi,
our Master,
our Christ,
our Messiah,
one of whom Moses
and the prophets spoke.
He's not just the King of Israel.
He's King of everything.
Jesus of Nazareth,
the Son of Man.
He sees you.
Will you come follow Him?
Let's pray together.
God,
we are so grateful
for our Bibles,
and Lord Jesus,
we are so grateful
that You want us
to know You.
So we come
as Your people,
and we ask,
show us Your glory.
Show us Your glory,
Lord Jesus.
Father,
would You pour out Your Spirit,
because we tend to be thick
and dense.
We forget so much,
and we run after things
that don't,
aren't worth it,
but God,
would You just
fill us afresh
with Your Spirit.
Incline our hearts to You.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.