Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Dial In - John 1:38-51 (Ep. 03)

Episode Date: April 1, 2020

Dial In is a devotional series with the intention of helping followers of Christ understand God’s word and love Him more. Jonny seeks to communicate the profound depth of scripture in a digestible and condensed format each weekday. The goal of the podcast is that our “minds would be renewed” as we behold who God is in His word. In this series, Jonny is walking sequentially through the Gospel of John.In this episode Jonny covers John 1:38-51 and highlights five things.Old Testament is evidence for Jesus as GodJesus is the seekerThe calling of the disciplesThe intimacy of Jesus ChristJesus not only sees who we are, but who we will becomeWatch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hi, my name is Johnny Artavanis, and this is Dial In. In our previous episode, we looked at the prophecies regarding John the Baptist, the character of John the Baptist, and the message of John the Baptist, which was one of repentance. Remember, the gospel writer's purpose in all that we're going to read is to prove and convince readers and listeners that Jesus is the Son of God, and that in believing these truths, that you would have life in his name. Today we're going to pick up where we left off and that's going to be in John chapter 1

verses 38 through 51. Let's dial in. John chapter 1 verses 38-51. 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. 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, 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 and 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. Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.

Nathanael said to him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit. Nathanael said to him, How do you know me? And 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. And he said to him, Truly, Previously, we saw that John the Baptist declared Jesus is the Lamb of God, and some of his followers in verse 37 immediately stopped following John the Baptist and started following Jesus. John the Baptist will later on essentially say that this is exactly how it should be. I don't want the attention. I just want to pave the way for Jesus, the Son of God. In this passage,

we're going to look briefly at five different elements that we see in this text. Number one is that the Old Testament is evidence for Jesus as God. And this is the purpose for why John is writing, remember, to prove that Jesus is God. But number one, the Old Testament is evidence for Jesus as God. In verse 41, it says, He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah, which translated means Christ. The Messiah had been long awaited for, and they knew who he was, and surely if they were disciples of John the Baptist, he would have walked them through Isaiah 53,

that one day a lamb would be slaughtered, and that lamb would take the punishment for our sin. That's what we see in Isaiah 53. He was pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, and like a sheep that is silent before his shears, so he did not open his mouth. We see that fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And John the Baptist declares, behold, the lamb

of God. Now in verse 45, we see that Philip found Nathaniel 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. He's saying, Nathaniel, we found the one that all of the Old Testament points to. There are over 400 prophecies in the Old Testament that point directly to Jesus Christ. And he says, we have found the one that Moses and the prophets are pointing to. It tells us something that's really important, that Jesus Christ is not just the theme of the New Testament. He's the theme of all of the scripture. Everything is pointing towards Jesus.

And he says that these scriptures are fulfilled in the one that is already here. God has become flesh. It reminds me of the passage in Luke 24 where Jesus is walking with two men on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection. And they don't know who Jesus is physically, and they're perplexed because Jesus, whom they thought might be the Savior, had been killed. And Jesus responds to them and says,

didn't you know that these things had to happen, that I had to die? And then it says that starting with Moses and the prophets, he told them all the things in the Old Testament concerning himself. And it says that that conversation continued, and then he disappeared from among them. And they realized it was Jesus, but I love what they say next. It says, we're in our hearts burning within us as he explained the scripture to us. Jesus explained to these two men on the road to Emmaus that all of the scripture, Moses and the prophets, point towards himself, and their response is a greater love for scripture. I pray that is true of you and I as well, and that's what Philip is saying here. We found the one that all of the scripture is pointed

to, and so whenever I hear, can we remove the Old Testament from our communicative repertoire, or is it outdated, or is it important that we teach? I'm saddened because the disciples' faith in the deity of Jesus Christ was rooted and grounded in their understanding of the Old Testament. Jesus is the theme of all of scripture. So number one, Old Testament is the evidence for Jesus as God. Number two, Jesus is the seeker. In verse 38, it says that Jesus turned and saw them following and said, what do you seek? I love two, Jesus is the seeker. In verse 38, it says that Jesus turned and saw them following and said, what do you seek? I love that. Jesus is the one who's always seeking lost sinners. And we see that in Luke 19 10, that the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. In John 6 44,

we see that Jesus is the one who calls people to himself. And I love that he asked him this question. He says, what are you seeking? He's essentially asking, what are you hungry for? What are you thirsty for? Because he wants to know what our hearts crave. He doesn't just want to tell us a bunch of answers. He wants to know what's inside of our hearts and what's inside of our minds. And then they respond and say, where are you staying? Because in order for them to respond, it's not just a one-minute answer. It's going to require the rest of the evening. He wants to know what we are hungry for. And we'll see Jesus using even additional analogies to go alongside this when he says that I am living water. I am the bread of life. He wants to know what we're seeking. And then he says, follow me,

which will be used 20 times throughout the gospel, not just for a moment in time. He says clearly in Luke 9, Matthew 8, Matthew 9, follow me, not just for a moment, for the rest of your life. Leave everything behind. He who loses his life will find it. Come and follow me. Number three, we see the calling of the disciples. It says the next day he purposed, that's Jesus, to go into Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, follow me.

He begins to call his disciples to follow him. Now, one of the things that we need to note is these were men mightily used by God, and we'll kind of talk about that in a minute. But they were uneducated, uninfluential, most likely teenage fishermen. And this is later who Ephesians 2.20 will reference when it says that all of the church is built on the foundation of their work. It's amazing. Jesus doesn't recruit the most qualified nor the most gifted. He recruits the most humble, insignificant nobodies.

And they grew up and they were used mightily by God. And it says in Acts 17. 6, that these fishermen, teenage boys turned the world upside down. It reminds me of the passage in 1 Corinthians 1, where Paul says, not many noble, not many strong, not many wise are chosen by God, but God chooses insignificant nobodies to accomplish his purposes so that the power of God might be made obvious because he's using fishermen to turn the world upside down. Another thing to observe about this group is that the spread of the gospel takes place person to person. In a world of celebrity pastors, John reminds us in this gospel

that it was one disciple who went to another disciple and said, come and see. And this is the way that it's gone for the last 2,000 years. The spread of the gospel takes place person to person. Romans 10 reminds us that faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ. And here we see one brother go to another brother and say, come and see, we found the Messiah. They're excited about who God is, who Jesus is, and they have to tell another individual.

And the power is always, always, always attributed to God himself and never to the one proclaiming the message. Number four, we see the intimacy of Jesus Christ. In verse 47, I love this, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to 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 and said to him, Before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathanael's response is interesting. He says, Rabbi, you are the son of God.

You are the king of Israel. So Jesus says, Hey, I know you. You're a guy that's straight up. There's no guile in you. And Nathanael responds and says, How do you know who I am? And Jesus responds in saying, Before I saw you when you were sitting under the fig tree. And whatever this meant, it must have been powerful and potent enough because Nathaniel's response is you are the son of God. We don't know what Jesus saw under the fig tree, but what we do know is it had to be something so personal

and so intimate that no one other than God himself would have been able to really reveal what was taking place there. It reminds me of Psalm 139. This is, Oh Lord, you have searched me and you know me, you know, when I sit and when I rise. And there, when Nathaniel was sitting under the fig tree, God knew exactly what was going on in Nathaniel's life. He knows our deepest fears, our deepest anxieties, our struggles and concerns. And Jesus responds by saying, you will see far greater things than this, Nathanael. Because Nathanael says, you are God.

You are the king of Israel. And Jesus says, truly, truly, in verse 51, you will see the heavens open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. Number five, Jesus sees not only who we are, but who we will become. In verse 42, Simon is brought to Jesus, looked at him, and Jesus says to him, You are Simon, the son of John. You shall be called Cephas, which is translated Peter. He tells Peter, Your name is Simon, but for now on, you're going to be called Cephas. John 2 25 says that Jesus doesn't need testimony about any man because he already

knows what is within man. But Jesus looks right at Simon and says, I not only know who you are, I know who you will become. He not only sees who we are currently, but what we will do for God through his power, through his spirit, and through his strength. I love that. And we see that highlighted in Matthew 16 as well. This is the same for us today. Jesus sees not only who we are today, but who we will become and what he will transform us into. It reminds me of the passage in Philippians 1.6, that he who began a good work in us will carry it out into completion. God not only sees you right now in your current sins and struggles, he sees what he will transform you into through his power according to the perfect intention of his will.

Well, that's all the time I have for today. I pray that you understand that you are known by God and that you are called into his service just like those early disciples. Stay dialed in.