Come and see! (John 1: 35-51)

[Stephan Choe]

November 4. 2021

Key verse 39: "He said to them: Come and see!"

How can we be convinced that Jesus is God's Son and can be saved from sin and death power and receive eternal life?

How can we help other people to believe that Jesus is God's Son and can give them eternal life? Today we want to get to know how the first people really got to know Jesus and were able to believe in him as God's Son and Christ.

1. Behold, this is God's Lamb!

We commemorate the days of our family members' death.

In the Catholic Church the days of the death of many saints are celebrated.

However, there are three exceptions: One does not celebrate their death days for three people, but their birthdays: Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist.

So John the Baptist is an important person in God's work of redemption.

He preached in the power of the Spirit. And the people flocked to him. It was a great success for him.

As Baptist John preached, he introduced Jesus to the people: "See, that is God's Lamb!"

John the Baptist was very popular at the time. Because of that, he could have been arrogant and attracted people's attention to himself.

But no! He remained humble and drew the people's attention to Jesus.

He said that Jesus had to increase and he himself had to decrease.

He didn't want to lead people to himself, but to Jesus.

John the Baptist could have introduced Jesus as an excellent teacher, benefactor, or miracle worker. But he introduced him as "God's Lamb".

By this introducing he meant that Jesus was the "Savior" who would carry away all the guilt of men, like God's Word in Heb. 9.13 explains:

"... how much more will the blood of Christ, who offered himself as a sacrifice to God without fault through the eternal Spirit, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God!"

Jesus has the power to eradicate all of our sins by the power of the Holy Spirit, even when our guilt is very serious.

If we confess our sins and believe in the forgiving power of the blood of Jesus, God will completely eradicate our sins. We are then free from all sin, bad feelings and curse. We can live happily before God.

Praise Jesus, who became God's sacrificial lamb for our sin, died on the cross and then rose from the dead!

Unfortunately, many people do not believe in the forgiveness through the sacrificial death of Jesus and torment themselves because of their sins. Some people think that God holds the list of their good deeds with one hand and the list of their bad deeds with his other hand.

But our God cleanly erased the list of all our bad deeds because we believe in the sacrificial death of Jesus.

God's word in 1 John 1: 9 testifies that:

"But when we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving our sins and cleansing us from all injustice."

No good deeds of ours and no great effort can undo our sin. But God completely redeems all of our sin when we confess our sin and believe in Jesus' sacrificial death. God then gives us further grace and blessings such as His accompaniment, peace and heaven.

Do we not want to accept God's forgiveness and blessings through faith in Jesus Christ?

It is normal to feel guilty when we do something wrong. But if we believe that Jesus is God's Son, received all divine punishment in our place, and died on the cross, God forgives all of our sin. If we already believe in Jesus, then we don't need to suffer from sin or fear God's punishment after our death. For God has forgiven all our sins because of Christ's sacrificial death, no matter how bad our sins may be.

This is why it is written in Hebrews 10:22:

“That is why we want to nourish ourselves to God with sincere hearts and in firm faith; for the blood of Jesus Christ has freed us from our sin and washed away all sin."

Jesus' blood cleared us of all guilt. That is why we are now God's children and can enjoy his blessings and peace. We have eternal life. We have already received approval to enter the kingdom of heaven. When we accept Jesus as our Christ, our lives become bright, joyful, because we now have forgiveness of sins, fellowship with God and blissful, eternal life.

About a year and 10 months ago, Esther, my wife, went to Heavenly Father. But she lives because she accepted Jesus Christ as her Christ. I give a part of her testimony of faith that she wrote around 1990 to you.

“The middle school was about 8 km from my house, which I almost always had to walk to. One day, during class, I was sent home from school because my parents couldn't pay the school fee on time. I was shocked and very ashamed in front of my school friends. I cried a lot on the way home. My little world was still intact until then. Now I complained to my mother that she gave birth to me despite her poverty. ...

After I finished the middle school, my father fell ill, but we couldn't take him to the hospital because we didn't have money. I tried to help my father and my family by doing various jobs and learning handicrafts.

One day I decided to fly to Germany as a guest worker in order to earn quick money. So I went to a nursing assistant school in Korea. After graduation, I arrived in Germany in 1970. Until then, I firmly believed that if I earned money and helped my sick father and family members, I would be happy. Most of all, I believed that my inner wound of humiliation would be healed.

But that wasn't true. Life in Germany made me neither happy nor satisfied. Rather, I was above all lonely and sad in a foreign country. Today I know: it wasn't life, but a desperate wandering in the dark.

In 1973 I visited Pastor Ok-Hi Park, who, since my arrival in Germany, had sent me the UBF's daily bread booklet and prayed for my conversion. Through her I got to know missionary Sarah K. Lee as my Bible teacher because she lived in Bochum, which is the closest to my place of residence. With her I learned God's word from Genesis. I was amazed at the word of God from Gen 1: 1 and 31: "In the beginning God created heaven and earth." “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”

God made me for his joy. But I did not live for God, but for myself or for my family.

I was very happy because I found my existence meaning in God. Furthermore, based on Gen 12: 1-2, I took the first step in faith because God wanted to make me a blessing for others.

I met Jesus at a summer Bible conference in 1974 in Sewiss, Switzerland, because the sermon by Shepherd Chang-Woo Lee of John 1.4 met me: “In him was life and life was the light of people.”

So far I could inhale and exhale. But that wasn't real life. My life without Jesus was pointless. My life without Jesus was dark. I was separated from God and lived my self-centered, godless, and money-centered life as a sinner.

But Jesus gave me the new life in him and made my heart bright so that I could experience for myself how joyful, happy and completely free from all the pains of sadness and loneliness in a foreign land.

As I received Jesus as the Lord of my life and as my Savior, I was able to experience how the grace of forgiveness was bestowed on me. I wanted to live for Jesus all my life because of his grace and love ... "

Out of joy, Esther began to be a disciple of Jesus and to invite others to Jesus.

2. Come and see!

We now want to find out how the people who got to know Jesus personally. When John the Baptist introduced Jesus as God's Lamb and Messiah, two disciples of John the Baptist followed Jesus.

These two wanted to get to know Jesus personally.

When Jesus saw two young men following him, he asked them, "What are you looking for?"

Jesus also asks each of us:

“What are you looking for? What do you expect from me?"

Everyone should ask themselves: “What am I actually looking for in Jesus? What do I expect from Jesus? ”

Do I seek comfort in Jesus because I need comfort? Yes, I can find comfort in him. But is that all I can find in Jesus?

What did Andrew and his friend answer when Jesus asked "What are you looking for?" Andrew and the other disciple answered: "Lord, where is your apartment?"

The two wanted to visit Jesus. They wanted to hear the day from Jesus and spend time with Jesus. They wanted to get to know Jesus personally. Although the two had already heard through John the Baptist's introduction to Jesus, they wanted to get to know Jesus themselves. They wanted to take the time to do this. They wanted to be with him for the day, hear his words and have fellowship with him. In doing so, they wanted to be convinced for themselves that Jesus was God's Son and Savior. So they asked him: "Lord, where do you live?" With this question they meant: "May we visit you, hear you and get to know you?"

Jesus asks us the question: "What are you actually looking for?"

Most people get up from bed in the morning, have breakfast and go to work, come back in the evening, have dinner, chat with their family members, watch TV and go to bed. They hardly think about what to look for. They are looking for an instant happiness that disappears when we have illness or problems.

What are we looking for? Are we looking for short-lived happiness? Or are we looking for eternal happiness that will be not disturbed by death?

At this hour God asks each of us: "What are you looking for?"

If we answer that we are looking for God or for the way to God, God will be happy to help us.

Jesus understood the two young men and answered them kindly: “Come and see!” That was his invitation to get to know each other.

He wanted to say: “Come and get to know me personally! You should seize the golden opportunity to get to know me properly and to believe in me."

According to John's account, the two stayed with Jesus all day. They heard Jesus' word on the day and got to know Jesus. In this way they could be personally convinced that Jesus is God's Son and Savior. So they found the Christ. That was a great discovery, a discovery more meaningful than any discovery.

The personal discovery of Jesus is still happening today. You need to get to know Jesus personally in order to discover and believe Jesus as God's Son and Savior. We should desire and take time to get to know Jesus personally.

And without taking enough time to get to know Jesus personally, one rarely experiences the joy of discovering Jesus.

Do you know "the Copernican turn"? Before Copernicus, people believed that the sun moved around the earth. But Copernicus said that the earth moves around the sun.

So I experienced a spiritual Copernican turn. This turning point has brought me peace, joy and blessings. That's why I'm telling you how I got to know Jesus.

On April 6, 1970, I attended the group Bible study in my home church in Daejeon Korea. Then we learned John 1: 1-18. Surprisingly, through John 1: 1 and 14, I was able to believe that Jesus was originally God and came to this earth as a human being.

This discovery was a very important event in my life because until then I didn't believe in God.

In early May 1970, I attended a weekend conference in Seoul, Korea. All the participants were kind, so that through their kindness and the work of the Holy Spirit, God opened my heart so that I could have great joy. Until then, I had not attended Sunday services. But after attending that conference, I began attending Sunday services in Daejeon, Korea with joy. My heart was opened wide during this conference through the kindness of the people and God's Word, so that I got a lot of joy.

During the summer vacation at the end of July 1970, a Bible School was held for a week in my church in Daejeon, Korea. Little did I know that this Bible School was taking up a lot of time. Every day I should first complete questionnaires myself, then take part in a group Bible study, then listen to the sermon. Then I should write a statement on the Bible text and present it to the group, etc. This Bible School occupied the whole day. I didn't know beforehand that this Bible School was so intensive. So I got the strong feeling of losing time. And one day tears came down my face. But with these tears my heart opened wide to the world of the Spirit. And I experienced great love from God for me and felt great joy. It was an experience that I changed from a self-centered person who looked at everything from the point of view of whether something was beneficial to me to a God-centric person who looked from the point of view of whether something would bring glory to God.

Let’s come back to the Bible text.

One of the two young people was Andrew. Andrew had a brother named Simon. Out of great joy, Andrew looked for his brother. And he said to his brother with enthusiasm: "We have found the Messiah!" Andrew looks for Peter and introduces him to Jesus.

When Simon came to Jesus with Andrew, Jesus said to him: “You are Simon, the son of John; your name shall be Cephas. ”Cephas” is an Aramaic name and means rock. Cephas is called Peter in Greek. Simon can mean something like sand. But Jesus gave him a new name, Peter, the rock.

When Jesus changed his name, he meant that Peter would become like a rock of Christianity through his faith and creed. Simon's character was like sand in some ways. You can build any shape quickly with sand. But the sand structures will quickly break down. But a rock is solid.

By changing his name, Jesus gave Simon the hope that the capricious Simon would be changed into a rock of faith. Peter took this hope personally and could actually be changed like a rock later. Because of this, he could be preciously used in God's work of redemption.

We're similar to Simon Sand in some ways. We want to do something good for God. Our decision is quickly ruined like sand. But Jesus sees great opportunities in each of us and encourages us that one day we will become a rock of faith. We need faith in Jesus.

John tells us that Jesus found Philip. Not “Philip found Jesus” but “Jesus found Philip.”

Philip was probably a difficult guy to believe in Jesus.

I have an elementary school friend. He is also a cousin of my brother's wife. He is now a successful businessman in Alaska. He testified that no one invited him to church or to the faith because they thought he would not believe in Jesus anyway. But when he went broke his business at the age of 40, his mother took him to church and the faith.

Our Lord Jesus knows each of us and our situation. He invites each of us to him. We should gratefully accept his invitation.

After Philip believed in Jesus, he went to Nathanael and said to him: "We have found the one about whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote, Jesus, Joseph's son, from Nazareth."

At that time, Kana was a major business center in the region; on the other hand, Nazareth was just a little unknown village.

So Nathanael replied to Philip: "What good can come from Nazareth?"

Philip replied to Nathanael: "Come and see!"

This word “come and see!” helped Nathanael to get to know Jesus and to believe in him. And Nathanael comes to Jesus and finds the Messiah.

All are called by Jesus to come and see - and to get to know Jesus personally.