[Transcript represents full sermon's text]

       Our journey began last week with an introduction of the Gospel of John, in our own articulation of this great and glorious account that has been presented to us, this particular viewpoint of our Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry. The progress continues today, picking up in verse 14.

       John chapter 1, verse 14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known” (ESV).

       In our own awareness of what we think we know, in that awareness Johns confirms that there is no question about it. God the Son came in human flesh, and permanently changed to take on human flesh for the rest of eternity. He said, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” That’s significant. By John’s time, there were some who proclaimed that Jesus was not in a human body after all. These pre-Gnostic persons, the forerunners of the later Gnostics, wished to say that Jesus was some kind of spirit being. In truth, Jesus dwelling in human flesh is necessary in order to become our high priest, as prescribed under the Old Testament Law (see Hebrews 2:17). A sin-free experience had to be lived in order for him to be a perfect sacrifice before God on our behalf, to make us sin-free. Coming as a spirit instead, he couldn’t have been an offering for sin. If he had sinned, again, he wouldn’t have been an acceptable offering before God for sin. Both coming in human flesh, as well as being sin-free were necessary. Even though Jesus was in a human body, he proved that the righteous requirements of the Jewish Law could be fulfilled by living a perfectly righteous life. No one before him had done that, and no one since has done it. The rest of us, no matter who we consider, no matter who we are, no matter what time period, have been affected by the sin-nature inherited back to Adam. There’s no way around that. God the Son was born of the Spirit by the Virgin Mary, and didn’t inherit the sin-nature.

       The emphasis, then, is placed on the glory of the Son, and there are multiple aspects to cite that proclaim Jesus’ glory. A couple of those were just touched upon: the fact that he lived a perfect life and that he rose to the occasion of the cross to die for our sins. The obedience to the Father was exemplified to the point of death, and he even died for people who did not deserve it. Our knowledge also recalls the fact that Jesus performed many miracles while he was walking the earth. Another aspect, then, of his glory. And the entirety of this—the entirety showed his grace and his truth toward us. It demonstrates grace because he comes to a people in desperate need of help. First and foremost, the Jewish people, the Nation of Israel. That’s what the miracles show. Physical ailments plagued a lot of people and they were in need of help. God demonstrated his care and love by healing them of various kinds of diseases. Persons were stricken by problems the heart of God didn’t desire them to be stricken with. We also are aware, as Jesus went around, he spoke truth. Truth in volumes. Sayings that are still relevant and spoken of today, almost 2,000 years after the fact. The incredibleness of it. Truth to guide lives down the right path. Truth to bring us closer to God. Truth to build societies and governments upon. Absolute truth from the Creator, from the Father.

       Previously was mentioned the fact that the Jewish Law could not make, or cause, a person to be, or become, righteous before God. And why is that? It’s because no one can keep that law perfectly. And no one did, as all sinned at one point or another. Even today, all of us are flawed, and perfection cannot be attained in our current lives. The Jewish Law showed truth. It displayed what was right and wrong, and even had extra laws and rituals that are no longer practiced, things that made a person ceremonially pure before God. Practices that were necessary at that time since the Christ hadn’t come yet. The full manifestation of grace reached its height by what Christ stated, by the fulfillment of the Jewish Law, and not by the abolition of it. Jesus noted in Matthew’s account: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17, ESV). It wasn’t the establishment of a new way or a new religion. It wasn’t that the Jewish Law no longer had any relevance. The Old Testament pointed to the appearing of the Christ, and appear he did. God was faithful to what he had promised. The end result wasn’t just the benefit for the Jewish people, but also the benefit for the whole world, as God actually told Abraham would happen. Remember? He told Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:3, ESV). From a collective standpoint, that certainly has happened by this point in time.

       Thus, the true portrait of God’s actual character is displayed in Jesus Christ. God the helper; God the healer. God the One with compassion. Indeed, his character is often thought of in the scope of Old Testament violence, for instance, but that really isn’t the true picture of God. Back then, often God acquiesced to what the Israelites desired—even when those desires weren’t great. And, God took care of the Israelites, he defended them, and he brought about his wrath on his own people and people who didn’t belong to him. Sin was judged. But the core-essence of God goes far beyond that. The core-essence of God is demonstrated in the character of Jesus Christ. Even in our age, that is not understood by the masses. A lot of folks believe the correct understanding of God is to take part of that Old Testament (or even Book to the Revelation) violence picture and intermix it into their ‘personal’ characters. Thus, people construct within themselves a judgmental and resistant attitude toward themselves and other individuals. Those actions of the Father are only correctly understood in the light of everything else, and truly in the light of the highest attribute of God, which is love. Without love, understanding and trying to practice those kinds of things leads quickly to serious problems. The reality is that it removes the grace and truth that John is referring to in this passage.

       Verse 19: “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, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. 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.”

       At this point, our attention can be called to a few things. Apparently, some at the time thought that John the Baptist might actually be the Christ that they were looking for. With the words John spoke, as well as with the following he had attained, the thought was he must be the Christ. However, John made it clear that he was not that Person. Another thing to note is that the Old Testament had promised that Elijah would come first before God established his everlasting earthly kingdom for the Israelites, the one where the Messiah would reign as king (see 2 Kings 1:8). A belief was also persistent among the Jewish people that there was going to be a great prophet that would rise up like Moses. This idea stems from Deuteronomy 18:15-18. People thought this prophet was coming into the world, but later we learn in Acts 3, particularly verses 22 and 23, that this prediction of Moses in Deuteronomy actually referred to Jesus Christ. These are the familiar verses which say, “The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.” While we understand this is relating to Jesus, those first century Jews thought that it was speaking about another prophet.

       Verse 24: “(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.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”

       What then is really going on with John’s baptism? Why water baptism in the first place? This practice of water immersion introduced by John appears to have its parallel in the Old Testament practice and procedure of admitting Gentiles peoples into the Jewish religion. In other words, in the Old Testament, when a person desired to become Jewish, and worship the Jewish God, Leviticus 15:13 called for a ritual of purification much like water baptism. In connection to this is the interesting fact of John basically saying that those who belonged to the Nation of Israel, those of the Jewish race, weren’t truly in right relationship with God. They were, in heart, as the outsider Gentiles had been in the past, and they needed to go through the ritual in order to show that they were now in this right relationship. Repentance of sins needed to occur, and then they could receive John’s water baptism. This action would demonstrate that a change had occurred for a person on the inside. The Jewish Law had focused on external behaviors, but now the the focus was a true change of character from the inside, which really, in reality, was what God had desired all along from people. The desire was always present for people to be genuinely following him from the heart, and not just going through the motions with external actions.

       Now we come to the introduction of Jesus within John’s Gospel. John chapter 1, verse 29: “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me 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.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

       In the appearance of Jesus on the scene for the first time, it is interesting how John refers to him as “the Lamb of God.” The surrounding Jews who were listening would have known in detail regarding lamb sacrifices to cover sin. Indeed, this was a common animal used during that time, and even to times further back as prescribed by God for a covering for sin. The animal sacrifice represented that sin had to be dealt with, yet the animal could only provide a covering for the sin. The sin-debt still had to be paid, and John was making it clear that this Jesus, who had appeared on the scene, was the Person who was going to do it. Unfortunately, it’s likely that all of the people missed that fact. The persons who believed in him, the later disciples, probably didn’t really comprehend initially what was going on. The were looking at the grandiosity, at the king side of things, the fact that a Messiah was coming to establish a physical, earthly kingdom. They wanted to be in on that worldly kingdom. The sin part, the sin part was probably secondary in their minds. It’s much like a teacher today in the Christian realm who presents the positive side, or positive things first, and downplays the sacrifice of the Christ for sin. Sin is downplayed, and really not even considered all that important. Each one of us are guilty of this at one point or another. However, we must start with the sin problem, and not forget that at a heavy cost we have been cleansed from our sins. Let us not be like those in the later church of Ephesus, where Jesus expresses, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first” (Revelation 2:4, 5, ESV). As John said, ““Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

       The discussion continues for us in regard to water baptism, and the difference is noted between John the Baptist's baptism and the one to be brought about by the Son of God. Just conveyed was the meaning behind John's baptism, and he informs those standing by that Jesus' baptism is different. This variation is presented to us in that John's baptism symbolized the change of the human heart, and the inclusion within the collective body of those fellow like-minded believers. This inward believing resulted in a belonging to a group of fellow believers—a collective group, much like the Nation of Israel had been up to this time. In contrast to this, Jesus' baptism was to go further. Initially, the baptism of the Holy Spirit would include power—power over sickness, power over demonic spirits, and power at times even over death itself. Nevertheless, longterm, this baptism of the Spirit would include the most important point of all, and that is that God is always with us. God himself indwelling us. Jesus would die on the cross, he would rise, but he would ascend back to Heaven. That’s because of the Jewish people’s rejection of him. So, the Holy Spirit would indwell believers, and does so to this day. Thirdly, now that God is always with his people, we know that the Spirit seals the choice of salvation in those who willingly choose to count on Jesus’ sacrifice for sins, and his rising from the dead. It is as the Apostle Paul told the Ephesians early on: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14, ESV). And that’s the fourth thing, there at the end of the verse, our inheritance.

       Verse 35: “The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).”

       Note John’s persuasive power—his following. The commitment by his disciples to him and what he affirmed is starkly obvious. That’s why the minute he points Jesus out, people take notice. Of those who took notice, one was named Andrew. And who was the other? The other isn’t named, which, we should conclude, as talked about in the introduction last week, that this is undoubtedly John, the one who is writing this book. Nevertheless, both Andrew and John were seeking God, and when John the Baptist told them he’s over there, to look that way, that’s what they did. They left John behind and followed Jesus instead. The first thing that Andrew does is to go and find his brother, who is Peter. The great Peter, the one who will be so pivotal in Jesus’ ministry and, later on, church. One who is still very influential to this day—some 2,000 years later. Andrew told him they have finally found the One they were looking for—the Messiah. The One God had promised would come, back in the Old Testament writings. And Andrew brings him to Jesus.

       Let’s back up in the verse a little bit, as we ought to consider what Jesus first says in John’s Gospel, his first words. His mouth speaks, “What are you seeking?” “What are you seeking?” Really, in stopping and considering it, that question captures to core essence of life for everybody and anyone. “What are you seeking?” Surely, it would be a good conversation starter with the hopes of witnessing the Gospel to them, “What are you seeking?” It’s that basic and fundamental. The answer to this question shows where we are at in life, and what our hope and focus is on. Answering it wrongly, as most of us will, and we can identify that we have a problem. Interestingly, Jesus will answer the question plainly in Matthew’s Gospel, during his famous Sermon on the Mount. Remember? He spoke, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, ESV). God should be included somewhere first in our answer, and that seeking of God always includes righteousness. Righteousness. We can’t be true followers of God without righteousness. This is what we have been talking about. We first initially are saved from our sins, and in being saved from our sins, we should be seeking to live righteously. This is the hallmark of a believer in Jesus Christ, a person who has figured out what life is truly about.

       So Jesus renames Simon, son of John. The name comes out to be Cephas in Aramaic. Translating that to Greek, it comes out to Peter. The meaning behind the name is, as most probably have guessed, is ‘rock.’ This signifies the plan that Jesus has for Peter, and that is that he will build his church upon him. He won’t be the only leader, however. In fact, he was only the chief leader likely for a short time, and after that he is named as one leader among others. Nevertheless, Jesus will begin it with Peter.

       Verse 43: “The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

       As Jesus is calling his early disciples, it should not be surmised that Jesus was rounding out the select Twelve. It’s likely that these early accounts were brought into the Scripture because of what these disciples would become—that is, part of the Twelve. What is meant is that as Jesus is going around calling these early disciples, it’s possible he didn’t even know yet who was going to be part of a select group of Twelve, or that there would even be a select group of Twelve. Luke tells us that, “In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles” (Luke 6:12, 13, ESV). Therefore, Luke relays to us that early on Jesus had disciples following him that would not become part of the Twelve. Now, we lack the knowledge as pertains to why Jesus particularly called Philip, but we do know that Philip went and found Nathanael, who was likely his friend. Nathanael points out that Nazareth apparently has a bad reputation as a village. Some theologians have speculated that this was due to Nazareth not being included in any prophecies. Therefore, staunch observers of the Jewish Law would have seen Nazareth as a second-rate area of the country.

       Verse 47: “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”

       Jesus’ apparent knowledge of Nathanael’s character displays that he had some inner, behind-the-scenes knowledge of what Nathanael was actually like. This seems to impress Nathanael, as it was articulated of his character, that he was known to be lacking in deceitfulness. Jesus expounds on this, in explaining that he knew about some earlier time, perhaps that which took place that very day, were Nathanael was under a fig tree. Peradventure a mediation time or praying to God, or even reading the Scriptures. We really don’t know. We do know he was likely doing something spiritual, something that pertained to God himself. That explains Nathanael’s response, in his surprise of him having this knowledge, that Jesus must be the Son of God. That’s why whatever he was doing likely had something to do with his devotion to God. However, notice how Nathanael jumps straight to the king part, the fact that he believed Jesus must be the coming king. Again, we are faced with the focus of the worldly part of what the Jews were looking for, and not the sacrifice for sin part. And it’s no different even in our current day and age for the Jews. The temptation lies also for us—for us to get too caught up in the worldly, to get too caught up in our present Christian circumstances. But Jesus explains he saw Nathanael under the fig tree, an apparent reference perhaps to a vision he himself saw while he was praying, or perhaps it’s simply some kind of divine knowledge granted to him by the Father. Nevertheless, Jesus acknowledges that it is a miracle, showing that whatever Nathanael was doing under the tree couldn’t have been known by anyone else, including Jesus. Jesus notes that in the future he would do greater miracles, and it’s not going to be too long before that prediction comes to pass.

       Verse 51: “And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

       With this saying from Jesus, it’s almost certain that he is paralleling the dream Jacob had, found back in Genesis 28. Back there, let’s read verse 12, which says, “And he [Jacob] dreamed, and 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 and descending on it!” In understanding the parallel, then, Jesus would represent the ladder. Thus, this would show that Jesus is how persons, represented by the angels, actually access the Father. This is just another example of the Old Testament prophesying what was to come in the future, and how God was going to deal with the sin problem in the world. The plan had been decided way back, and at this point in time, at this point in Jesus’ early ministry, God is executing his plan.

       This vision from Genesis, however, isn’t the only vision likely referenced in this verse. Indeed, Jesus calls himself for the first time in the Gospel of John by the title “the Son of Man.” If one examines the Gospels, one will find that this is the most common title Jesus Christ gives to himself. We could say it’s his favorite designation. That being said, it likely has its roots, its origins, in Daniel chapter 7. If we look there, we can read in verses 12 and 13: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” Surely, the forward focus of Jesus is about making everything right again, and he’s going to start that process with the various kinds of healings, and the speaking of the truth to the multitudes. But before this can happen, there is one part that needs to be gone through, and it’s as the writer of Hebrews tells us of Jesus, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2, ESV). Truly, that part, namely, the cross, would have to be accomplished first.

- Daniel Litton