John chapter 1 beginning in verse 34. This is God's word, eternally true. I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God. The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by he said, look the Lamb of God. When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus, turning around Jesus saw them following and asked, what do you want? They said, rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? Come he replied and you will see. So they went and saw where he was staying and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, we have found the Messiah, that is the Christ, and he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, your Simon son of John, you will be called Seifas, which translated his Peter. The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee, finding Philip, he said to him, follow me. Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethesda. Philip found Nathaniel and told him, we have found the one Moses wrote about in the law and about whom the prophets also wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nazareth, can anything good come from there? Nathaniel asked, come and see, said Philip. When Jesus saw an Nathaniel approaching, he said to him, here is a true Israelite in whom there is nothing false. How do you know me Nathaniel asked? Jesus answered, I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you. Then Nathaniel declared, rabbi, you are the son of God, you are the king of Israel. Jesus said, you believe because I told you, I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that. Hereins are reading, there is a response of thankfulness that is printed for you and your bulletins are up here on the screen. The word of the Lord. Thank you, God. Thanks indeed. Let's pray. This morning's passage is two main things that speak to us, two things that God wants to communicate to us. Many more things than that but two main things that we can see here that God is doing as we go through this text. We will look at the first thing this morning, the second thing next Sunday. It's hard going through God's word, there is so much there. If somebody who likes to blow through a book, we did do early on Matthew 5 through 7, the sermon on the mountain, one sermon. That was here in this room but many, many years ago, about 22 years ago. But John had so much force that shapes his book and that speaks to us and teaches us about the Lord that we are spending a good deal of time here in the front part of John and referencing back into later parts of John as we do. Things will speed up, so if you're a little bit like, man, when are we going to get out of John 1? Don't worry, we'll get out. No promises as to when that date will be. But we'll look at one thing this morning, another thing next week. The first thing this morning is something you've been hearing but that God wants you to see again massively. God wants you to understand this in a massive, thorough way so that you sweat this, so to speak, so that this is something that is just through and through what you understand about who you are and about who God is and particularly who Jesus is. So this first thing, God inscriptured for us this morning so that this truth will be coming out of your pores so to speak when you're at rest or when you're under pressure. Number one, and if you'd like to fill out blanks and an outline, you're welcome to do that. If you want to just listen, that's fine. Whichever way is more helpful for you. But God wants you to understand this and He wants you to number one, see Jesus as your king. Now you've heard that. If you've been in the church for a while, you've heard that a lot over the years, but you've heard that here, but we never want to say poo poo to something when God keeps presenting it to us over and over. If God presents something to us over and over in scripture, it means it's something that's hard for us to get and something that we're not quite getting as deeply as we should. I once had somebody and somebody I really like was in the church for a while and then not in the church, they left well, don't worry about that. Sometimes we're in a text scripture and I've read that before and some kind of board and I thought, wait a minute, when you hear Stairway to Heaven, do you say, oh I've heard that before, I'm bored, you know, and flip the channel. When you hear Love Me Do or some song that you like, is that the way you treat that song? Do you go to that concert and then go to the concession stand when you hear your favorite song because you've already heard it. And we don't want to treat God's word at a lower status than our favorite song, our favorite book, our favorite TV show, our favorite movie, which we will watch again and again. But the advantages in God's word is that God brings it up to us in different passages and he gives us different facets of it. And we become a fool if we don't take in more knowledge that he's giving us in the new text. And that's what he does. He keeps expanding and growing our understanding of something. So he does that here very clearly in this passage as we go down through verse 34 through verse 50, he wants us to see Jesus. He wants you to see Jesus as your king. That is Jesus is not your buddy. He's not the big guy upstairs. He's not your boss man. He's not just your religious life advisor, though he does advise your religious life and shape it for you. He is not just a life coach, though he is. He coaches your life. He shows you what to do in your life and cheers you along and reminds you as you go through your life. He's not one who is at your service to help you with the spiritual part of your life. Christianity is not about you and it's not about me. Christianity is about Jesus. We're just his servants. We're just citizens in his kingdom. He's the king and he gets the glory. And there are great things being a citizen in his kingdom that we get. There's nothing greater than being in his kingdom. There are many, many benefits, but that's not what the Christian life is about. It's not about Jesus giving me good advice about life, though he does. It's the absolute true and it's not advice. It's the truth about life. And so that's a great advantage to us, but you know because you've been in American Christianity that Jesus has treated this way. It's someone who gives me tips that helped me out at work this week. I've heard from people who say, but I really want something practical. Here's something practical. You're not that great and God is really super. If that doesn't bleed through your whole life, that doesn't make you humble before your mom and dad, before your kids, before your boss, before the employees who are under you, what will? So everything, all truth is practical. So we want to avoid just treating Jesus as someone who will help me have a better life. Someone who will help me with my kingdom, who I'll bring in as a consultant so that I can run my kingdom well. Rather, we're a part of his kingdom and he's telling us what we can do so that his kingdom can run well. So even this, Jesus is not just your savior. He is your savior if you believe in him, but he's not just that for you. Someone who saves you and then you go on and live your own way, nor he's even just one through whom you get the forgiveness of sins, though you do and only can get the forgiveness of sins through him. But rather, Jesus is your king and you're to see him in that way. Majestic, powerful, authoritative, when he speaks, we stop. We listen, we say, wait, Jesus is talking. I need to listen. Of course, that's the word of God speaking to us or reminding God, reminding of something that's in his word. This is why we worship God by listening to him speak. You see that in your bulletins. It's an act of worship. We declare the worth of God by sitting here quietly and listening to his word being read. We're not reading something else or thinking about our favorite movie because he is God and he is speaking. And there's nothing more important than life than to hear what our king says for us. So we see Jesus as our king, majestic, powerful, authoritative, or law-giver. The one who resides in heaven, sitting on his throne, and has released his heavenly troops. You've heard the expression, Lord of hosts. Hosts are the angels. And Jesus releases his angels. And as Jesus said about little ones in his kingdom, children, that they have angels over them, guarding, protecting him. And that's why it's so good for us to be in his kingdom because there are. Yes, there are angels and they protect you. If you're old enough like me or older, you know that Amy Grant song. It's true. Angels are watching over you. We can't see them like Elijah couldn't until God gave him eyes to see them. But they are. And that's the good work of Jesus our king who releases his heavenly troops, his angels, to protect us in life. So we don't get in that car wreck or that we don't cross someone's path where we would have said the wrong thing had we been there. This can help it helps me. This can help you be patient when you drop something. Maybe that's because he didn't want you to get to a certain place. Right? At a certain time he's protecting you from that. But these are good things about Jesus being our king, authoritative overall, working all things together for your good and for my good. So a John makes sure in this passage a John makes sure in this passage we see many synonyms for King which he ascribes to Jesus. God makes sure he has John use all these synonyms for King that then John ascribes all these synonyms to Jesus. John doesn't present Jesus as your spiritual advisor or emphasizes Jesus as savior. You know Jesus uses the term savior one time in the gospel of John. Once the word save or some form of it is used four times in the gospel of John. The dominant thing in the gospel, John, you know, if you've been here from John 2031, the reason John writes his gospel is that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ which means the king, the anointed one, the son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name. So John uses these synonyms in John chapter one for King. John emphasizes this point to us here through John naming Jesus with these synonyms and so here's a list of synonyms. Synonym number one number one in your outline there a one son of God son of God. We see this with John the Baptist is what it started our passage this morning Jesus or John says John the Baptist says I have seen and testified that this is the son of God. Now this works both ways many of you know there's son of God divine son of God second person another Trinity that John's talked about in John chapter one versus one through three. The one who has always existed the one who created everything that's been created the one who's with God the father at the beginning the one who has always been who just in time as John writes this gospel about 90 years ago. Jesus took nine years before this gospel Jesus took on human flesh but the same divine person the second person in the Trinity that son of God eternally existing as the son of God right chase. Turnily existing as the son of we've had these conversations internally existing as the son of God in all eternity past takes on human flesh. But he's son of God in that sense but he's also son of God in the sense that the Carl Red Force wasn't nice that Carl latest in worship this morning again heads are nodding Carl. It's always great to see the faith in Jesus come out through different personality isn't it you know just different expressions. But but Carl Red Force this morning from second second Samuel 7 13 and 14 and and we learn there that God calls David and his sons his sons it's a lower case S but it's the son of God no less ancient cultures called their kings the sons of God if you know Moses stuff and watch Prince of Egypt or maybe it's even in the 10 commandments that Pharaoh assumed that he was. Son of God and God's representative on on earth but this was really true with with David not the David was divine David was just a man Solomon was just a man Solomon's descendants who served as king they were just men but then Jesus comes along and he has both doesn't he's lower case son of God. That is the descendant of David anointed to be king but he's also uppercase son of God divine second person of the Trinity who's always existed as the son of God but that's a synonym nonetheless for king so that's the first thing verse 34 we see Nathaniel repeats this in verse 49. He says you are the son of God you are the king of Israel as you see that duplicity there true duplicity there in verse 49 now send an M2 for king so the first send an M4 king is son of God. You may also know from from Psalm 2 that the king is God's son and that all nations are to bow to that son and kiss the son unless they be destroyed in their way but send an M2 for the king is lamb of God we talked about this two or three weeks ago you read about it in Isaiah 53 and that's part of the declaration the gospel that you had this morning on the front sheet there. One of the one of the synonyms for the king was that he was the lamb of God led away as a lamb to slaughter to be the singular point person to take on the humiliation that God's people deserved for their sins. In Isaiah 53 Isaiah writing in the late 600s you know about 686 683 BC he's writing and he's he's talking forward to the time around 600 BC about 80 years later that's a hoiach in son of David lowercase son of God would be led away as a lamb to the slaughter in the Babylon. Shamed humiliated as king of God's people yet carried away by a foreign army as a prisoner and living in prison with prison close in exile. This was whom Isaiah speaks of to hoiach in the king the lowercase son of God heading into exile as lamb of God being a sacrifice because of the sins of God's people. Now we know from Luke 24, 24, 27 from Jesus and talking to his disciples on the Emmaus road there that all scripture speaks of Jesus. We know from the book of Hebrews that all scripture four shadows who Jesus would be and certainly so to hoiach in is talked about as the lamb led to the slaughter the king who goes away as the lamb of God. She humiliated that this becomes true of Jesus as well in the ultimate sense Jesus is the ultimate lamb of God and John names him as such in verse 35 you see it there. Verse 35 in verse 36 when John the Baptist saw Jesus passing by he said look the lamb of God. Number three third synonym for king it's the word Messiah we see it in verse 41 there you see this is Andrew talking to his brother Simon Peter and he says we have found the Messiah. Now Messiah is the Hebrew word that has meaning it wasn't a title Messiah as much it was it was a verb turned into a noun it meant the anointed one for Messiah does and so when you anointed something in the Old Testament you Messiah it and if you were an anointed priest or an anointed prophet or an anointed king in Israel you were called a Messiah. Lowercase in it's not saying that you're divine it's not saying that you're Jesus come beforehand it's saying that you're an anointed an anointed person and so in first Samuel 24.6 we see if it's all is referred to as the Messiah because he was the anointed king at the time in first Samuel 24.6. And then in second Samuel 22 51 we see this talked about of David and so you're from you are probably familiar with this if you know the David Saul history this is where David says he's been chased around by Saul the anointed king and David's underlings those who have joined in with David say David you should kill Saul here's your opportunity and David says to them the Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master. The Lord's anointed and that word there is Messiah because Messiah was just the common term for the anointed one and in the Old Testament the kings were the anointed ones and then of David's second Samuel 22 51 it says he gives his king great victories he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed to him to his king. Home he gives great king whom he gives great victories to David and his descendants forever is what that passage says okay so as Andrew goes to his brother Simon says we found the Messiah he saying if you spoke Hebrew you would be hearing him say we found the anointed one and again they had anointed priests they're serving in the temple during their day. They had Andrew knew this well an anointed prophet there John the Baptist of whom Andrew had been a disciple until this point. But the anointed kind of person they didn't have not a profit not a priest but the anointed kind of person they were looking for asking the question could this be an anointed one could this be the Messiah with the king. And so this synonym is used here Messiah in verse 41 and then verse 4 fourth synonym for King Christ. Now this is a little shout out as we say today of John John writes to Jewish people who are believed in Jesus but they're not in Palestine they're not in Israel. They are Greek speaking Jews who live in modern day Turkey is what the ancient church tells us is where John wrote so it's writing to Jews and ancient Turkey who weren't as familiar with customs day to day life in the land of Israel and didn't speak. Aramaic the language of the Jews is a first language which would spoke Greek and so sometimes in the gospel John you see these little a sides which translated means this. And so he tells us what Andrew actually said we believe he is the Messiah and then John makes us note parenthetical note to his own reading audience who spoke Greek that is the Christ. That's because Christ is the Greek word for Messiah Christ is the Greek way of saying anointed one so that's another synonym for King the anointed one was the king so the Christ is the king the Messiah is the king the Lamb of God is the king the son of God is the king. Now fit synonym for King see a John is just laying it on for us here giving us synonym filling out giving us a fully or view of who Jesus is and the nuances of what a king does for you and who he is number five numbers synonym number five this is a tough one number verse 49 that synonym is king that's not a synonym but he uses it here he makes it very clear. Verse 49 Nathaniel says rabbi you are the son of God you are here's what I mean you're the king of Israel you're the king of Israel now so that's verse 49 we saw in Deuteronomy 1715 the Carl Red Force this morning that God's people were to have a king when they got into the promised land. He told this to Moses you know Moses didn't make it into the promised land he died still in the wilderness on the top of Mount Nebo which is just on the other side of the Jordan River kind of at the top of the Dead Sea and then the people went in but before they went into the promised land Moses gave them these last instructions which is the book of Deuteronomy and he says when you say let us set a king over us God says put a king over you whom I choose. That king is David and his descendants there and so that's Deuteronomy 1715 and then second Samuel 7 is where God says that David's kingship would last forever as we saw in Deuteronomy 713 and 14 in our called a worship this morning the kingdom that never ends that will never be destroyed. And for a while that kingship was never destroyed through the descendants of David one son of David Solomon had a son of David you know Rahabom who had a son of David Abija and so on and so on and they told two friends and they told two friends and so on and so on for those few who are old enough to remember that commercial but they live in it this descend this descending last even through this time where Israel does not have a king and Matthew account gives us an account. It doesn't it and the genealogy of Jesus so we get all the way down to Joseph the father or so it was presumed he says there of Jesus and that genealogy starts with Abraham and it gets to David and then shows us all the kings of Israel and Judah under him and it shows us all who would have been king had they resumed the kingship after the exile until we get down. To we get down to Jesus there but Jesus is this king the one like God says in second Samuel 712 I will raise up your offspring to succeed you at the time talking about Solomon who will come from your own body David's own body and I will establish his kingdom and second Samuel 713 I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. So Solomon wouldn't last forever but the throne of Solomon's kingdom would last forever there would always be a king over God's people that was God's desire for them to have this king and now we have that true of course because our king Jesus was raised up to heaven before the eyes of the apostles and ex chapter one and when he got there he brews one revelation five he sat down at the right hand of God. And Ephians 1 21 through 23 over everything all powers and principalities he is raining over all of them now forever God fulfills his promise to David to have the throne of David last forever by having the great son of David Jesus be over us forever no longer with the succession of kings but with the final eternal king who reigns over us. So the word king there Nathaniel uses Nathaniel is anticipating this that the king would come and so he recognizes Jesus as king of Israel because he knew this throne God had promised would not cease to be. And then number six last synonym and we'll talk about this in two weeks from now the son of man son of man verse 51. Jesus says I've been he added I tell you the truth. You shall see heaven open and angels the angels who got a sending the descending on on the son of man the son of man is a term what and will explain what that means in a couple of ways but it essentially means the king who will judge all people. That's what we see that in the Old Testament the king judges Solomon as the two women come before him and he renders that final judgment for these women who's child is that baby there but this David has rendered judgment of the kings of Israel were the supreme court the one who was king was the supreme court for the people and the son of man is this figure and we see this again Daniel 7 13 and 14 from your call to worship this morning. That this is the king who comes and sits and renders judgment over his kingdom that will last that will not fade away and that will never be destroyed so son of man is a kingship term and so John uses these six you know boom boom boom boom boom boom you know just 35 to I should have read through 51 this morning sorry. 38 to 51 he gives us six terms for king that any Jewish person in the first century would have recognized oh king any of those terms so that brings us now secondly so we see Jesus as our king John then gives us references like when you apply for a job you know you need to list references that employer that potential employer says who some people I can talk to who will be references for you so I can talk to them about you when you're not listening so I can find the real deal on you whether I should hire you or not that's a reference. Well John does a second thing here in addition to giving us synonyms for king six synonyms for Jesus being king and people calling Jesus king in six different ways he gives us references. People who say this is the king this is the king so that's the second thing that John's doing here in this passage so be be in your outline there John make sure we see how faithful Jews faithful Jews and many of them many faithful Jews one after the others a second and a third and a fourth many of them believed Jesus Jesus was the king so where to get that Jesus is king he's called king six in six different ways here in this passage but he's also called king in six different ways not just by one deranged person but rather he's called king in these different ways by several by many people and these people are not deranged weird guys these are faithful Jews Jewish Jewish Jewish people who have concluded based on their interaction with Jesus based on the most trusted person in Israel the most independently truthful person in Israel John the Baptist he didn't care what anyone thought of him he was like Shrek he didn't care what anyone thought of him you know I called the Pharisees a brute of vipers who warned you of the wrath to come don't listen he go back to your brood John the Baptist doesn't care he's all about truth he's wearing wild animal skins and eating locusts and wild honey doesn't care but John shows us that all these varied people see Jesus and conclude he's the king and so should you so be John make sure we see how faithful Jews and many of them believe Jesus was the king this is an onslaught of people first who does number one we mentioned him John the Baptist John the Baptist believed Jesus was the Lamb of God in the Son of God that's verses 29 and 34 he calls them the Lamb of God or sorry 2936 Lamb of God and verse 34 the Son of God again all terms for the king John the Baptist calls Jesus the king in these ways second person second testimony second reference for Jesus for being the king Andrew and John Andrew and John John the silent one here John never named himself the early church all knew this was John the Apostle son of Zebedee they all the early church all all describe the gospel John the John the disciple whom Jesus loved the beloved disciple to John and one of the proofs is John names all these other disciples but John is never named so that's John being humble not bringing himself to the four but Andrew and John are disciples of John the Baptist are these two disciples who hear Jesus who hear John the Baptist say I declare to you that this is the son of God behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and they these two follow these two follow they left John the Baptist of follow Jesus because they believe Jesus with the Lamb of God and the Son of God they leave John the Baptist whom they've been following the follow Jesus because Jesus is the king you know in Old Testament Israel the prophet was just a servant of the king the prophet was somebody who kept the king in line so he could be blessed and so he could bless the nation so the king could bless the nation through his the king's faithfulness the prophet was a servant and God calls in in the Old Testament the prophets his servants my servants the prophet he says in Isaiah so the prophet is just a servant but Jesus is the king and so Andrew and John testify of this by their following of Jesus and they give a reference for Jesus that he is the king number three Andrew believed that Jesus was the Messiah the Christ verse 41 and he told Peter he told Peter his brother so Andrew there two probably three brothers that's a brother among the 12 disciples and Andrew and Peter are one of those sets so Andrew tells his brother's Peter Simon the Jesus is the Messiah the king the Christ the king so that's a reference so we've got John John we've got John the Baptist we've got John we've got Andrew and then number four someone is alive during this time but we find out is also pointing to Jesus and that's Moses number four number four Moses testified of Jesus writing about Jesus as the king and the prophet to come so we look and we see verses 45 and 46 there that Moses wrote about we say Philip says we have found the one Moses wrote about in the law and about whom the prophets also wrote so it's building up here Moses wrote about Jesus the prophets wrote about Jesus how did Moses in the law write about Jesus typically if you've been in dispensationalism or just out in American evangelical Christianity you think oh yeah the prophets wrote about Jesus they had all these predictions of him which spoke only about Jesus and you know that's not true they spoke about their own day but then ultimately everything speaks about Jesus Jesus but how did Moses speak about Jesus while we read those two passages Carl read them for us this morning Jesus is the ultimate king Deuteronomy 17 14 through 20 if you read that passage that describes what the king is to be like that's a description of Jesus that the kings in Israel would strive to be like but also Deuteronomy 18 there that God promises people to send to them a prophet who would speak to them and Jesus is the ultimate prophet it's a Moses speaks forward to this and John speaks of it here and Peter would speak of it in the book of Acts that Jesus was this prophet that Moses spoke about in Deuteronomy 18 so Moses testified of Jesus writing about Jesus as the king and prophet to come Jesus says this himself in chapter 5 verse 46 you can look at it there he challenges the Pharisees just a couple pages for you chapter 5 verse 46 he says that Moses wrote about me but since you don't believe Moses how will you how will you believe what he said about Jesus what he said about me what he wrote about me so Jesus claims this to John 5 46 that Moses wrote about him so all these people speaking about Jesus being the king Luke 24 27 is Jesus is speaking to the people on the road from Jerusalem to a mass as they leave the city Sunday late morning or early afternoon and head out to a town outside of Jerusalem called a mass and Jesus comes with these two disciples leaving on resurrection Sunday who are surprised they haven't seen Jesus yet but they've heard these reports from these women Mary and the other Mary who have come to the apostles and said we've seen Jesus he's alive the grave is open and then Peter and John go and see and the grave is empty there and so these two walk are walking away from jurors from toward a mass and Jesus steps among them and in their grief or whatever it was they don't recognize it don't recognize this is a situation which Jesus has come to talk to them but as they report it to their brothers later after they've scurried back to jurors to tell them that they've seen Jesus on the road we read this and beginning with Moses and all the prophets Jesus explained to the disciples what was the said in all the scriptures concerning himself so Jesus says all this stuff in Moses it's about me and explains this explains this to these these disciples along along the road Acts 3, 22 that's Peter referring to this when he's in the temple after he had made the layman walk and leap and praise God after healing him in the temple as he talks to the gathered Jewish people there in the temple he says the Lord or God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people you must listen to everything he tells you Moses has said this to you that's what Peter says when he just he's describing Jesus as the source of this layman's healing so Moses testifies of Jesus number five another witness of this another reference for Jesus being king Philip Philip Philip is called by Jesus and follows Jesus immediately calling his friend the Daniel to come and see Jesus as well that's versus 43 through 46 so Philips there in his own in his own city there Bethesda and Jesus sees them and says come come and follow me and Philip does too and Philip is convinced of what Andrew's been convinced of what Peter has been convinced of what John's been convinced of what John the Baptist is convinced of and he goes and he finds his friend Nathaniel and he says come see this one of whom Moses and the prophets wrote and so Philip becomes a reference for Jesus and so Nathaniel could say well why should I believe you Philip and he could say well this guy named Peter has John has Andrew has John the Baptist has and John the Baptist pointed his own disciples and said look the Lamb of God and his disciples followed John the Baptist and John the Baptist didn't say come on back don't leave me John the Baptist said and we'll see it in John 3 no you should follow Jesus because he will become greater and he should become greater and I will become lesser I'm just the friend of the bridegroom he's the bridegroom all attention should go to him to Jesus and so Philip again is another testament to Jesus being king and then 6 6 this is the culmination Nathaniel's the culmination of the references for Jesus being for Jesus being king Nathaniel Nathaniel Nathaniel Nathaniel who is this is what Jesus says in his true evaluation of Nathaniel Nathaniel a true is relight a true is relight in whom there is nothing false and whom there is nothing false this Nathaniel believes now here's the strength of this argument this reference for Jesus you know if you're getting a reference for somebody that you're hiring in a job certain people will be a good reference oh you've known him for 22 years you say okay you're a good ref oh you've worked with him in this capacity already for 22 years there's a lot of weight with this reference well there's a lot of weight with Nathaniel here here's why is Nathaniel calls Jesus the king in verse 49 here's why Nathaniel's references so big it's because verse 46 Nathaniel first doubts he first doubts everybody else just kind of comes along at least as John reports it here everybody else sees Jesus and goes along or here's someone testify that Jesus is the Christ or the Messiah or the Lamb God or the Son of God and they just go they just go along but Nathaniel he doubts you see it there verse 46 Philip it said you know we found the one Moses wrote about the law about whom the prophets also wrote Jesus of Nazareth the son Joseph and Nathaniel doubt and he says Nazareth can anything good come from there it's not a statement of beliefs that's a statement that's a statement of doubt and what does he doubt to be so it is Nathaniel first doubt to be he doubts that Jesus could be the king do you see it there can you connect the dots he doubts that Jesus could be the king how do we see this he doesn't believe that Jesus is the king the Christ the Messiah is Philip tells him he was he doesn't agree with the agreed view of Andrew John Peter and Philip because number one B1 because kings because kings were from Bethlehem and Philip and and the commentators you know if you're reading commentary on this passage the commentators are brutal toward Philip here they say he's a bumbling idiot I don't know that he's a bumbling idiot but but they say one of the way he bumbles is he he presents Jesus is the king and he says he's from Nazareth and so but it's true I mean it's Jesus is from Nazareth he grew up in Nazareth but Nathaniel says how could he be the one that Moses talked about the king Deuteronomy 17 how could he be one the prophets talked about now we didn't talk about this much the prophets all say that after the exile the the kingship of David will rise again and and be over Israel God's covenant people Israel will have a son of David over them again in Israel and so the prophets are speaking of a king returning Jose 310 and 1 9 are good starter places for that but Nathaniel says but how can that be because you know it too the king comes from Bethlehem remember Matthew 2 Jesus goes to one and he's born where in Bethlehem but King Herod has the wise men come into Jerusalem and the city the city goes astray because they're looking for the newborn what king and Herod's nervous about that so he calls the Jewish leaders the experts in the law up to him and he says where is the the Hebrew the king to be born notice the king to be born and their answer is Bethlehem Bethlehem and this is on two fronts it's because the legitimate king of God's people was the son of whom David and where was David's family from Bethlehem and so this is why Micah the prophet and Micah 5 which we talk about it at Christmas time says and you Bethlehem of frost or though you are you know little among the towns of Judah yet from you will come this mighty ruler Micah this is not new news when Micah brings it up Micah is just saying that after the exile a king will rise from the line of David again that's all he's saying he's just being fanciful in the way he speaks some of Bethlehem will rise again the son of David will rise again the house of David which is a house of Bethlehem see that's why that's why Joseph and Mary are in Bethlehem when Jesus is born because there's a census taken and and Joseph is from Bethlehem Joseph is in line to be king not that he wants to be king or is trying to be that but he has to go to Bethlehem because that's his ancestral tribe is Luke puts her so Nathaniel says can anything good come of Lazarus let alone a king but certainly he can't be the one Moses spoke about in Deuteronomy 17 Philip and Philip you're saying the prophet spoke about him the king who would rise after the exiled of Babylon but still Micah he's one of those prophets and he said even after the exile the king will come from the line of David and therefore he will come from Bethlehem so no Philip I don't believe that Jesus can possibly be the king because you've just told me he's from Nazareth see that so number one there six b one there kings were from Bethlehem because the kings were descendants of David who was from there so that's second Samuel 712 the promise that the kings would always come from David's descendants Matthew 2 4 through 5 the Jews during Jesus birth a day they knew it was true that Herod asked where is the king to be born they say of course Bethlehem they'll knew it Micah 5 too this was what Micah had said during the days of Hezekiah the king that after the exiled a king would rise from Bethlehem so Philip says no then number two Jesus was from Nazareth he did grow up there but unbeknownst to Nathaniel at the time Jesus was born in Bethlehem and that's Matthew 2 1 4 Matthew 2 1 but then Nathaniel sees this is see then Nathaniel sees either Jesus divinity that Jesus's capital S son of God or he sees perhaps the acute perception sometimes present in Israel's faithful kings like Insolomon when he's giving judgments or David either way he sees this son of Godness of Jesus and he calls him son of God and king of Israel because Jesus has when Nathaniel protests and he says to Jesus he says to Nathaniel here as in his true is relate in whom there is nothing false and then he says to him in verse 48 I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you and Nathaniel's response because Jesus king of Israel son of God so Nathaniel's a convert to this convert to this of sorts so no longer D no longer does Nathaniel see Jesus to be despised Nazareth can anything good come from there Jesus I'm not going to follow him he's from Nazareth he goes from despising Jesus which was the first century Jewish view and those first receiving the book of John the gospel of John were Jews who had believed in Jesus who were surrounded by Jews and who had family members who were Jews who did not believe that Jesus was the king and Jesus has here given them the six synonyms for king and he's given him all these many Jewish people people who had left their jobs to follow a religious man in the wilderness John the Baptist people who were concerned about the kingdom of God people who had followed Jesus around leave their fishing nets and follow Jesus these were faithful Israelites and they were following Jesus they were following Jesus as the king and so this is a message from John from God through John saying don't be like a first century Jew who despised Jesus Nathaniel despised Jesus at first but what happens when you come face to face with Jesus things change fast
so no longer is Jesus is Jesus want to be despised can anything good come from Nazareth but instead he comes to see him as king of Israel so that's your day Nazareth and king are your blanks there if you think it goes in already Nathaniel comes to see him as king of Israel and he no longer does he see Jesus just as son of Joseph get the little hook here the connection here Philip has presented Jesus as son of Joseph at the end of 45 you see it there but then Nathaniel says you're not just son of Joseph you are verse 49 son of God son of God he's a convert now remember Nathaniel verse 47 what's Jesus call him a true Israelite this is a message if you're really faithful to the covenant given to Moses if you're really faithful to the prophets of the Old Testament if you're really if you are a true Israelite in that an odd term you've never heard that before till you come to John one year a true Israelite and a true Israelite are there false Israelites yes we learn here but true Israelites follow Jesus true Israelites take Jesus as their king and treat him as such Nathaniel did true Israelite and on top of this Nathaniel's not a tricky true Israelite he's not a guileful true Israelite he's an Israelite in whom there is what nothing false a true Israelite in whom there's nothing false or I learned it in the NAS years ago and him there is no guile so what John is doing is he's writing this he's stacking up people to show us these people who are faithful to Moses faithful to the prophets and seeking to be faithful to Moses and to the prophets seeking to be faithful to this independent truth teller John the Baptist all concluded the same thing Jesus is the king and so matter no matter what your brothers no matter what your sisters no matter what your mom and dad or even your kids if you're a first century Jew who is believed in Jesus no matter what they may say about Jesus no matter them saying can anything good Jesus really you're following him this guy who died on a cross in in Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans a defeated king don't listen to that all the people who count have said Jesus is the king anyone who came face to face to him and was an honest person or a true Israelite is following Jesus see the unbelieving Jews of the first century said if you're a true Israelite you stick to Moses and you don't follow Jesus but Jesus makes the point for us here in John John the Apostle makes the point here no if you're a true Israelite you do follow Jesus because Moses talked about a king who would come and be our king the prophets talked about a king who would serve us after the exile and this is he this is the king and so if you want to remain a true Israelite in the first century you believe in Jesus or you cut yourself off the tree to use Paul's language in Romans or Jesus language in John 15 see Jews in the first century had a chance okay they could remain in covenant with God if they heard the gospel of Jesus and believed and got themselves lined up under the son of David like all true Israelites were supposed to be but if they didn't if they rejected God's king that's like moving to Babylon that's like moving to Ethiopia and not having the son of David be your king anymore you're out of covenant and if you don't listen to what the prophet says to you then you're cut off from Israel and so that's John's point that's John's point here Nathaniel this is this your F here Nathaniel the true is relating calling Jesus the king of Israel has now come to believe correctly that Jesus is the king of all true the king of all true Israelites of all who want to be under the the favor care and forgiveness of the God of Israel that's what God offered is people in the Old Testament the God of Israel his favor his care his forgiveness now note here and we looked at two of the passages Carl read those two passages for us the New Testament calls the church Israel okay and Romans 96 Galatians 6 16 Paul calls the church the Israel of God and he makes the point not all Israel is Israel if you know big box and little box okay not all Israel the big box is Israel the little box there but Paul but Paul says man never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything there is for us Christians we just boast in Jesus we don't care if the man is circumcised or uncircumcised all we care is if he cares about the cross of Jesus he goes on it says what counts as a new creation is the person born from above are they a new creation do they have eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to understand have they been born anew are they spiritually alive that's what counts Paul says in Galatians 6 and then in verse 16 he says peace and mercy to all who follow this rule that circumcision or uncircumcision don't matter and then what matters is a new creation in the cross of Christ blessed are all those who follow this rule he says that is to the Israel of God who follows this rule who cares about the cross of Christ who says circumcision or uncircumcision it doesn't matter it's the Israel of God Paul says Christians are the Israel of God so we are the true Israel incidentally in addition to the New Testament calling the church Israel it also calls 1st century Jewish synagogues in Revelation 2, 9 and 3, 9 you know what it calls synagogues of Jews who have heard the gospel and rejected Jesus synagogues of Satan these are if a synagogue here's the gospel and you see it all through the books of that book of Acts some Jews believe but then they all get kicked out and Paul has to scramble for his life and sometimes he's trying to get back in the synagogue and they get him out of the get him out of the city and lower him through a basket through a hole in the wall those kind of things you know if you are lined up against Jesus and his people at that point you're a synagogue or a gathering that's what synagogue means you're gathering of Satan you're an agent and that's that's what the book of Acts shows the Jews are the chief agent of persecution to the church in the first century they're the ones always going to the Romans and saying they did this punish them and so the book of Acts shows how the Christians are going around proclaiming eternal life they're obeying the law the laws of Rome and that the Jews are creating riots that then Rome has to take care of and establish peace again because of what the Jews have done and that when the German Roman officials come in the book of Acts whether it's a judge or king or governor or Roman centurion when they find out the facts they always release the Christian because they realize the Christian is innocent hasn't transgressed the law of the civil authority but that it's the Jews who are causing the problem because the Jews have lined themselves up against the people of God the Christians and this is why John five years later in his visions to the churches in Revelation two and three but the synagogues are called that have rejected Jesus are called synagogues of Satan now number seven so to conclude all this this is Nathaniel's in all all these men's common conclusion and to be yours Jesus is your king they all concluded Jesus is my king now one application from this as John has shown you Jesus gets called king in six different ways Jesus gets called king by all these different people who care about the things of God people who already had all this Old Testament background and with that Old Testament background concluded that Jesus was the one they should follow the king that the Old Testament itself talked about whether you're talking about Moses or the prophets Christian people number two Christian people your blank there is I can put in their eye capital I Christian people you no longer viewed Jesus with disregard with disregard we no longer say Nazareth we're no longer like our neighbors our classmates our our our our workmates maybe our unbelieving relatives who say Jesus why are you doing all that that's what the world says about Jesus they don't revere him they don't view him with with fear as the Almighty King who's come to earth to view him with disregard like Nathaniel before he knew better Nazareth can anything good come from there why do you follow Jesus anyway why you gotta be so weird why don't you just do it everyone else is doing that's the what the world says to you but Christian people in you no longer viewed Jesus with disregard but with reference with reference this is the church's posture toward Jesus and and as it worships him for he is our he is your king he is your king sent from God the Father see the reverence Andrew John verse 38 rabbi a term of reverence rabbi a term of reverence verse 41 the report he is the Messiah that is the Christ he's the king there's this reverence all the sudden it's not just he's another guy he's a friend of John the Baptist it's like no come you need to follow him he's the Messiah he's the king he's the lamb of God he's the son of God there's a new reverence among all these people which is to be among us verse 45 he is the one Moses wrote about the law and the one about whom the prophets also wrote this is Philip saying he's no ordinary person he's not just a religious advisor this is the king Moses wrote about this it's the king the prophets wrote about and then in verse 49 Nathaniel goes from his despising Nazareth to saying rabbi you're the son of God you're the king of Israel so we see this change we see this reverence and this is the reverence we as Christians are to have toward Jesus um he's our savior but you know what someone can save you without being your king right they can save you if you're drowning they can save you if you're gonna lose your job and they can put in a good word for you they don't have to be your king for that but Jesus in addition to being our savior is our king and when you come into the throne room of your king your bow you show reverence when you're talking and the king starts to speak you cut that conversation off right in the middle of the sentence because he's your king and so this is the reverence we too are to have coming to see Jesus for who he is as king sent from heaven this is what we strive to have in our church in our worship service and though we're friendly and laid back and we laugh a lot together you know when it comes to this when it comes to coming before our king and this being a worship service we are describing worth to our almighty king Jesus he's no advice giver he's our king so summary summary in Jesus God the Father in Jesus God was God the Father was giving to his people it's king it's long awaited king from 600 years before when they laughed at a king in Jesus God the Father was giving to his people it's king and many many Jews who talked with him face to face saw and that's that understood they saw they understood they got it they sought this truth that Jesus is the king they believed and they responded with expressions of reference they responded in reference
God wants us to know that his son Jesus is our king we bow before him we respect him we know he's all mighty he's all our law giver and he sends the angels of heaven to protect us no one messes with him no one messes with with his people who will not give an account that's the kind of king we have and we rejoice in that good news let's pray