Please turn in your Bibles to the book of John. We are continuing in John 1. I will be reading John 1, verses 35-51, the rest of that chapter, and then Acts 1, verse 8. This is God's Word. His holy, infallible, and perfect Word that He has given to us to direct us in all things, and that we might know Him and love Him, and that we might experience His love. Hear God's Word. 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. 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 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. And Jesus answered him, before... Oh, I'm sorry, I skipped a little bit. 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. 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. Amen. And now Acts 1.8 And this is Jesus speaking to His disciples who were with Him. And He said, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, We come to you humbly asking that you would teach us, that you would direct us in considering your word, for this is your word, your word to each one of us. And Lord, may we leave here knowing what you have to say to us here. And may we leave here rejoicing. in all that you do, for all that you do is good and right and perfect. Lord, grant that we might be faithful in the hearing and in the speaking of your Word. Amen. If you have never read the autobiography of John G. Patton, Missionary to the New Hebrides Islands, it is a fascinating book. Mr. Patton was sent to a series of islands inhabited by cannibals and headhunters. And by God's grace, well, after enduring being hunted, tropical disease, the death of his wife, the death of his son, he had his first convert on the island of Anawa. And with time, First, the entire island of Anawa was converted. And then all of the New Hebrides islands were converted to Christianity so that 20 years after his work, some 95% of those islands were Christian. Their culture was transformed, family life was transformed. For the first time in who knows how long, probably forever, the men of those islands lived in peace without fear. Now the question is, how did this happen? And one thing we know, although Mr. Patton preached the gospel faithfully. It was not by the sole effort of Mr. Patton. You see, as converts multiplied, families converted families, friends converted friends. And well, of course, we know that God did the converting. But the people of Antioch did the witnessing. The men of Anahuah traveled to the nearby islands to teach the Gospel. To call the people to call on the name of Jesus. And then on the other islands, families converted families. Neighbors converted neighbors. In other words, the Gospel went forth like the Gospel has always gone forth. By evangelism. Christians telling others about Jesus. Now let me ask a question. Were the people of Antioch glad that the gospel came to their land? Absolutely. First off, the gospel means their personal guilt was laid upon Jesus. You know, just because these people lived in a very wicked culture does not mean that they did not live with a conscience. Like everyone else made in the image of God, they felt the weight of the shame of sin. But what could they do without the Gospel? Where could they turn? But with forgiveness and a new heart, not only did Jesus set the prisoner free in healing their soul, but love and relationships grew. Their culture was transformed. And that does not even count that they were brought into God's family to know Him for all eternity. They were exceedingly glad and thankful for the Gospel. The contrast, the Gospel, no Gospel, was staring them right in the face. Forgiveness, peace, no fear of The shaman, the witch doctor, able to pray directly to God, yeah, that's a blessing. It was a great blessing to the people. You know, I think I've mentioned before, I vividly remember a discussion I had with a woman from Indonesia, and she was lamenting well, the essentially wicked state of her country compared to what she perceived in ours. And I reminded her, you know, we don't have anything on the people in your culture. When the gospel came to Europe, especially in the north of Europe, my ancestors were captured by idolatry, human sacrifice, and war. And I explained it's only the gospel that transforms people. It's only the gospel that transforms cultures. The gospel had simply come to my ancestors a little sooner than to hers. It is the gospel that is God's tool to change people and cultures. There are no people on earth anywhere that can find peace with God and righteousness apart from the Gospel being brought to them. Now, I point this out because of Acts 1, verse 8. Jesus said, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And then when he had said these things, as his disciples were looking on, he was lifted up and the cloud took him out of their sight. And history records that Acts 1.8 is exactly what happened. Those who had seen Christ risen from the dead were witnesses in Jerusalem. 8,000 were converted in, well, two sermons by Peter. And then the Bible says that there was added to them daily. And then witnesses went out to Judea and Samaria. And by God's guidance through Peter, the Gospel went forth to the Gentiles, to the whole Roman Empire, and eventually to the ends of the earth. For which you and I are very thankful, because we are the end of the earth. We have heard the Gospel. Only because witnesses went forth to the end of the earth now think about this the word witness It is a perfect word The disciples and many others witnessed to what they had seen and experienced Jesus was real And while only the first Christians were converted by witnesses who directly saw Jesus, every Christian is converted by a witness who can testify not only to the gospel, truth of the gospel in the Scriptures, but to Christ's real presence in their life. Even in families, the role of witness is essential. Our parents teach their children as personal witnesses to the truth of the Scriptures and to the impact of Jesus in their own lives. Evangelism. That is, the personal proclamation of the Gospel has always been a significant duty which God has given to the Church. Romans 10.13. for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. And the words there, preach the good news, comes from one word in the Greek, euangelizo, literally to evangelize. And so there it is. Evangelism is to proclaim the good news of the Gospel. Sometimes evangelism goes out through foreign missionaries, But much more, the gospel advances through personal evangelism by Christians to friends, neighbors, family, and acquaintances. Think about Paul. He preached the gospel throughout the Greek world. He planted churches. But those churches grew to eventually dominate the Roman Empire by means of personal evangelism. Listen to what J.C. Ryle says about this passage we just read. Well would it be for the church of Christ that all believers were more like Andrew. Well would it be for souls if all men and women who have been converted themselves would speak to their friends and relatives on spiritual subjects and tell them what they have found. how many might be led to Jesus. The work of testifying the Gospel of Grace ought not to be left to ministers alone. All who have received mercy ought to find a tongue and declare what God has done for their souls. All who have been delivered from the power of the devil ought to go home and tell their friends what great things God has done for them. Every believer must be a home missionary. Now why does he say this about this passage? Well, because it is the model presented in this passage. Think about this. At the end of John chapter 1, the church had five members, two of which were brought in by two others. Well, and those two were brought in by the preaching of John the Baptist. Jesus called Philip directly. John 1.35, the next day again John was standing with the two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Chapter 1, verse 40, 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. Verse 43, Jesus 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, son of Joseph. And so we see the pattern. John witnessed to his disciples. Andrew found Simon and brought him to Jesus. Philip found Nathanael and brought him to Jesus. You know, it's very interesting to listen to people who have come to faith later in life. Inevitably, they go home to witness to their family and friends, and usually, well, many reject the gospel that some believe. And this was my own experience coming to faith in college. I was like, OK, my family and friends have to hear about this. And I went home. I remember my friend from way back in grade school, well, thought I was a little crazy. I just can't go there, Brian. But my friend in the dorm room next door at college came to Christ and is in Christ to this day. God appoints some to salvation and some to death. But God always appoints his church to send forth the gospel. and mostly through personal evangelism. And that's the model that we see in this passage. And while there is much to learn here about Jesus, I think this passage was put here in this place, in this way, to highlight the importance of disciples going to gather other disciples. The progression of the book so far is very clear. Who is Jesus? He is fully God. He was with God and He was God for all eternity. He is fully man. Jesus came as an actual man to dwell among us. He is a Redeemer. Jesus clears the way for those estranged from God to be reconciled as God's children. He is the Messiah. John prepared the way by disrupting the normal assumptions of the culture. And as a result, Jesus begins to gather disciples, and disciples gather disciples. And so I want to consider in a little more detail this passage in two points, the priority of evangelism, gathering disciples, and the message of evangelism, gathering disciples. So firstly, we consider the priority of evangelism, disciples gathering disciples. And I think the priority comes from the word first. Andrew first went to call Simon. As soon as Andrew knew that Jesus was the Messiah, first order of business, he took the Gospel to his brother. Why? Well, two things. If Jesus was the Messiah, the hope of Israel, this was no little thing. And second, Andrew clearly loved his brother. How could he follow Jesus and leave out his brother? Simon was his brother. They grew up together. They had all the common bonds of brothers. And you notice in here, it says, his own brother. You know, that's kind of an extra word, right? Andrew went to call his brother. But in the Greek, There is the word idios, and it adds a very personal nature to how Andrew felt about his brother, a certain care even to ownership. This was his own beloved brother. And so the text brings out the care and the love that Andrew felt and that drove him to gather his brother Simon. I would have liked to meet Andrew. Clearly his thoughts and his concerns were not focused on himself. Clearly his heart responded first with love for another. 1 John 4.19 We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. You see, that's Andrew. And Philip too. You know, it doesn't use the word first, but verse 43, Jesus found Philip and said, follow me. Verse 45, Philip went and found Nathanael. And clearly he brought him to Jesus. They were from the same town, Bethsaida. Philip was not going to follow Jesus without finding Nathanael. And so I would have liked to have known Philip as well. Clearly, he had a heart of love that compelled him first to go get Nathanael. In Romans 9, Paul writes this, I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. Excuse me. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed, cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. You see the priority of love. If he could, Paul would even give up personal salvation in eternity and face the curse if it would bring his kinsmen into the gospel. Paul had a heart of love. You know, I often think of Paul in terms of his intellect, his ability to expound on the scriptures. I think of his tenacity and what he went through to carry the gospel. But what drove all those things was Paul's heart of love. 2 Timothy 2.10 Paul says, therefore, for the gospel, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. in 1 Corinthians 15. Paul is speaking to the Corinthians. Well, he's rebuking them. He says, What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals. Wake up from your drunken slump, stupor. as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame." Why did Paul face all these things? So that all might have a knowledge of God. He is saying to the Corinthians, wake up! There are those who have no knowledge of God. Get busy. People are dying. I say this to your shame. Where is your love for one another? And Paul says, do not go on sinning. Clearly, the Corinthians were self-focused, and therefore were subject to heresies. This is the same church that just a few chapters earlier, Paul writes that when they came to the Lord's Supper, some had nothing and some got drunk. And it's no wonder that they listened to those who claimed that there was no resurrection from the dead. They hadn't really known the heart of the Gospel. And of course, if the dead are not raised, Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Leave those who don't know about God to themselves. When you go to the Lord's table, get drunk. But the Gospel is much bigger than that. Paul wrote in this very chapter, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. Paul is saying, get the Gospel right, and let the Gospel drive your love for one another. And so let me just summarize here. Jesus called disciples, and disciples called disciples. And this in fact is exactly what is set forth in the Great Commission. Jesus said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. And then skipping down a verse, He says, and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Who's going to make disciples? Disciples. This is the priority of evangelism, proclaiming the gospel out of love for family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances. And we see here that evangelism is never alone. Jesus promises specifically, in this context, I will be with you always. And we know that that's a blessed promise, for it's precisely in this context that we need the presence of Jesus. Now secondly, I want to consider the message of evangelism. Andrew said to Simon, we have found the Messiah. Philip said to Nathanael, we have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets wrote. We notice that the focus is on the person of Jesus, and specifically fulfilling the Old Testament. There is quite a testimony to Jesus in the Old Testament. Genesis 3.15, God promised the seed of the woman would come to crush the head of the serpent. Well, in Hebrews 2.14, it says Jesus destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil. In Genesis 12, God promised the seed of Abraham would bless all the world In Matthew 1.1, he sets forth the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Deuteronomy 18.15, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. It is to Him you shall listen. In the Transfiguration in Mark 9, a voice came out of the clouds This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him. 2 Samuel 7.12 God says to David, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. In Luke 1.31, the angel says to Mary, And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the throne of Jacob forever. Of his kingdom there will be no end. Zechariah 9.9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming, righteous and having salvation. He is humble, mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Mark 11.9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our Father David. Hosanna to God in the highest. Daniel 9.29, Therefore, know and understand, the angel says to Daniel, that from the going forth of the Word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an Anointed One, a Prince, there shall be seven weeks, and then for 62 weeks, it shall be built again. And by the way, the best dating of the decree to go forth and rebuild Jerusalem is 454 BC, which puts the fulfillment of that prophecy at 29 AD, which is also the best dating for the crucifixion of Jesus. And it says then in Daniel, 70 weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city, two, and this is what it's two. Finish transgression. To put an end to sin. To atone for iniquity. To bring in everlasting righteousness. This is a pointer to Jesus Christ. Micah 5.2, that you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel. One more. Jesus stood up in the synagogue. He opened the scroll to Isaiah 61 and read, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to open the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness. the plan of the Lord that He may be glorified. My point is that God gave abundant testimony in the Old Testament to the coming of Jesus the Messiah. There was a great expectation for the coming. And so when Andrew called Simon and said, we found the Messiah, that's no little thing. They had a sense for what that means. the Messiah, who is to be the ruler, who is to be the Redeemer. Now you and I have all the testimony that Andrew and Philip had that Jesus is the Messiah, but we have so much more. We have the testimony of how Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures. how Jesus atoned for iniquity, how Jesus brought in everlasting righteousness. We know that Jesus died not just so we could follow Him in this life, but so we could know complete forgiveness and everlasting joy in God's presence. We know that Jesus died in our place that we might live. That Jesus took God's wrath for sin. That we might receive God's mercy. We know that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And we know that Jesus rose from the dead to conquer death forever. In short, we know the Gospel. the good news to a lost and dying world. And so we are witnesses to the good news even in our own life. For by grace you have been saved. A couple of years ago I was given an opportunity. A young person came to me and said essentially this, why do you believe? What about all the problems with the reliability of the Bible? What about other religions? What about Islam? How do you know you're right? Well, perhaps, because of how the questions were asked, I went down the road of the logical and historical defense of the faith. And I clearly did not hit the mark. However, I've been given a second chance. Mostly because Pam keeps such good relationships with such a variety of families, I've been given a second chance here. And I can tell you exactly where I'm going. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 1, Paul says, when I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." This is the message of evangelism. It is a witness to Jesus and Him crucified. Now, let me conclude with just one more passage. 1 Corinthians 5, I'm sorry, 3, 5 through 9. Paul writes, what then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed as the Lord has assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field. God gives the increase. Only God can take out a heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh. This is what God does. And yet, God calls Christians to plant and to water. And we know that the seed falls on all kinds of soil. but the good soil God himself tills till it yields a hundredfold. And you notice what it says, for we are God's fellow workers. And that is an amazing statement, that God would enlist us as fellow workers. And of course, God enlists us as fellow workers in so many ways. He enlists husbands to love their wives. He enlists the church to care for widows and the fatherless. He enlists parents to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. And He enlists disciples to make disciples. Christians to evangelize. God has given each of us the duty and the privilege of evangelism. It's not a special gift given only to a few. I think it's interesting to look at the list of spiritual gifts, 1 Corinthians, Romans 12. You will not find the gift of evangelism. Rather, evangelism is something done within those spiritual gifts within the gift of showing mercy, within the gift of serving, within the gift of teaching or leading. And it must be so because evangelism is a personal witness. The point is, there is no technique or method. God has made you a unique person. He is crafting you just how He wants so that you can glorify Him and you can be a fellow worker with God Himself. The idea of technique and method was the great error of Charles Finney with his new methods. And it was a complete disaster and really has been since people have followed Finney down that road. Evangelism is a personal witness to the Gospel in your life. And on this other side, it is not just a, this is true for me. That's the air of the liberal church. The Gospel is true. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Him. But each of us can witness to the truth of the Scripture and to the personal impact the Gospel has had in our life. You know, this week I was reading about the great evangelist George Mueller. He writes, when he first encountered the doctrines of grace, God's sovereign grace and salvation, election, limited atonement, the perseverance of the saints. He said, I hated them. If this were true, I could do nothing at all in the conversion of sinners, as all would depend upon God and the working of the Holy Spirit. That is New Testament. Specifically to see if these things were so. And he discovered the doctrines of grace are everywhere. They are prominent throughout. And he writes, but when it pleased God to reveal these truths to me, and my heart was brought to such a state that I could say, I am not only content simply to be a hammer or an axe or a saw in God's hands, but I shall count it an honor would be taken up and used by Him in any way. And if sinners are converted through my instrumentality from my inmost soul, I will give Him all the glory. It says the Lord gave me to see fruit. The Lord gave me to see fruit in abundance. Sinners were converted by the scores, and ever since, God has used me in one way or other in his service. Eventually, thousands were converted through Mueller's ministry. He started orphanages that cared for thousands of abandoned children. God gives the increase. It's God who enlists us as his fellow workers. It's God who sends us to the lost right here at home. J.C. Ryle said that all Christians, that he would that all Christians be more like Andrew. First, as a priority of love, calling their brothers, their family, friends, and neighbors to Jesus in the Gospel. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, It is in weakness that we know that you have called us to yourself. And Lord, that you have called us to be fellow workers in so many ways, in our families, in our marriages, and in our communities. Lord, we pray that you might use us. by the power of your Holy Spirit, and that in all things we might give you the glory. For you are the mighty God. In Jesus' name, amen.