What the world needs is the same Gospel that saved YOU and ME
John 1:29-42
April 14, 2019 AM. Missions Month
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I. Preliminary Church Business Meeting Notes
A. We are a church - the precious love of Christ - gave His life for us to be together
1. Jesus Loved the whole world (John 3:16)
2. And died to get everyone out of their sin debt to God
3. But not everyone cares about how far away they are from God
4. Only those that respond in love, are precious to Him, like a bride
5. They, are His church, His assembly of believers (not youtube believers, but local people, who assemble together to learn how to become more like Jesus)
6. Eph 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
B. We believers meet here for the main purpose of:
1. Learning from the Bible how to better follow Jesus – be like Him
2. How to love Him better, instead of this world
3. And to help each other do His will as we reach the lost around us with the very same Gospel that reached US
C. There is no greater institution than the church that Jesus died for
1. Our families are priceless and precious, but will not be families anymore in heaven
2. Governments and kingdoms all fade away in time
3. But the relationship we all have towards each other now as believers, is eternal!
4. Think about that next time you put anything ahead of making church a priority
D. So, How important is a Bible believing Church to YOU and your family?
E. It will show…
1. By how much, or little you attend Church on Sundays and Wednesdays
2. By how much or how little you help pay its bills
3. By how much you pray for and love the people who gather together here
4. By how passionate you are that others hear the same Gospel that saved you
5. If you are a Sunday morning only, late-in and quick-out kind of Christian, then the church really does not matter to you at all
6. And if this church disappeared, it would probably make little to no difference in your life
7. Not good!
F. Some facts about how a Biblical Church operates
1. We as a Church FINANCE what we do
a. As people put their tithes into the green Offering Box without fanfare
b. Monthly designated Giving to Faith Promise Mission’s Giving to help some Missionary families preach and teach the Gospel in Honduras, Portugal, Iraq, Hungary, Tallaght, Blanchardstown, the Marshall Islands, and England
c. By the way…
1) We let everyone know How much comes in
2) And where does it go
3) We are a registered charity
4) We get all our finances audited by chartered accountants every year
5) We do this so that there is no question about money, and so that we can just stay busy preaching and teaching the Bible
2. We as a Church gladly ASSEMBLE
a. Heb 10:24,25 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
b. That means we do more than just “Attend” Church
c. We are more than spectators – so glad for visitors, but…
d. We don’t just “say” we are Christians” and then do our own thing all our lives
e. No! We are dedicated members of this local church
1) We take membership seriously – we assemble ourselves together into a team, a body of believers
2) Committed to each other
3) We are commanded to love each other. Not in word only, but in deed (action) and in reality (not in theory)
4) We are called to serve one another; go out of our way to take care of each other
5) And we seek to grow – folks, we either evangelise, or fossilise
3. But we grow only as you and I go – church growth is not by accident – and not by attraction (free money, free beer) but by getting people to hear the preaching of the words of God!
G. Come back for church tonight, and let's get excited about living more for Jesus than for anything else!
1. This church needs every believer to be present - not just a few fanatics. Especially every MEMBER! Elders, you need to be here!
2. Church should be your excuse for missing things going on, not the other way around!
3. So, see you tonight! And after we have a brief Gospel Business Meeting, we will learn more about the God that Job worshipped through the brokenness!
II. Introduction (2Corinthians 11:3)
A. Did you know that, Satan doesn't care if you…
1. Go to church - even every day of your life
2. Own a Bible… or two or three
3. Doesn’t care if you even read a bit of it from time to time
4. How much you give of your money away – there are always good causes
5. How many prayers you repeat
6. As long as you don't seek to have a passion for souls!
B. Satan promises that he will leave you alone if you will stay away from the will of God and from the HEART of God – Guess what that is?
1. The will of God for every Christian’s life is directly connected to the reaching of the world around us with the same Gospel that reached us! God never wills for anyone to do anything that does not tend to the winning of the lost around you!
2. Has the Gospel affected you? Saved you? Changed you?
3. Then from that moment on, you are called to do whatever you are doing with the view to tell someone how to be born again!
C. We believers are safe in a great Rescue Boat
1. A lifeboat, a rescue ship - that has plucked us from the dark waters of sin and death
2. I want to reach outside of the lifeboat that we are in, and rescue those that are lost, and drowning, and are wondering where God is
3. But I am not going to do it unless I ask God for a passion to do it, no matter the cost
4. To have a passion for the souls of men and women around us
III. Background
A. Passion
1. A powerful or compelling emotion or desire to love or to have something
2. A deep emotion that drives a person to do something beyond their own limitations and fears
a. Some people are passionate about success in business, or marketing
b. Others are passionate about developing their talent – piano, cooking, athletics
c. Still others are passionate about following Jesus Christ – amen!
B. You see, CHRISTIANS have been given some new passions – GOOD passions! New emotions that need to be stirred up and lived by all the time or else they grow cold!
C. One of those passions is for the lost to get saved
1. A born again Christian has a strangely compelling feeling that you just HAVE to tell someone they need to be saved
2. A joyful willingness to look and sound foolish when talking about Jesus
3. A yearning to Pursues someone until they get saved – never giving up
4. A love of the Gospel itself – love telling it over and over – never tiring of such good news
5. A love of what it did for YOU
6. Not content to just watch others win souls, but yearning to do it yourself (Pro 11:30) The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
a. EXAMPLE: American college football: Luther Rice University vss Alabama
b. In a 1954 college football match…
c. Tommy Lewis, an Alabama player, came off his bench to tackle Rice's Dick Moegle while he was speeding down the sideline en route to a 95-yard run.
d. Tommy Lewis said he couldn’t just sit there!
e. The other team was awarded a touchdown score as punishment to Tommy’s shame, but I am still impressed when someone so desperately wants to get into the game and stop the enemy from winning.
7. An unspeakable joy when someone gets saved
8. We need such passion for souls!
D. Fact:
1. A passion for the lost is always present in new believers – fanatical, undaunted, fearless, passionate!
2. But it is most often lacking in old believers
3. Why is that?
E.
Satan has worked overtime ruining passions
Making modern Christians very comfortable being:
1. Critics and fault finders in each other – amazes me how hyper critical this generation is of everything except themselves!
2. Everyone is fighting PEOPLE - Fighting flesh and blood people instead of by prayer and fasting fighting the spiritual powers behind them
3. Comfortable with anger, lust, laziness, covetousness, and even alcohol and drugs
4. No desire for rapid obedience to what the Bible says do – always slow to respond to what God commands – that’s weird
5. Passionate only about themselves and their happiness
6. So many “Christians” have Seared consciences
a. 1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
b. 1Ti 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron
7. They are way “Past feeling” – numb – not interested, apathetic, unmoved
a. Eph 4:19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
8. Not willing to be persecuted as a Christian at all – just always staying low and out of trouble – never speaking the truth in love!
F. This morning, I beg you to get a Passion for Souls!
G. Let’s let one simple event in the Gospel of John, chapter 1 give us a passion for reaching someone else with the same Gospel that saved us
IV.Message (John 1:29-42)
A. Someone Met Jesus (John 1:22-39)
1. John the Baptist was busy preaching repentance to the massive crowds that gathered to hear him (John 1:22-23) – get your heart right and soft so the Lord can work in it
2. Pointed out Jesus (John 1:29-31, 36)
a. One day, a Man walked by – kind of plain looking, and yet there was something marvellous about Him. It caused John to stare and then to yell to everyone around who could hear his voice…
b. BEHOLD! Right there! There He is!
1) The Messiah – the Promised One
2) The Son of God in the flesh, right in front of our faces
3) He is THE final Lamb of God
4) And best of all, He is the Saviour of the world – He will take away all the sin of the world!
3. Two disciples of John ran after Jesus to follow Him now (John 1:35-37)
a. Isn’t that awesome?
b. Great preaching makes people run after Jesus! Not after a personality, or a career, or a investment opportunity
c. John the Baptist lost every one of the people who had come to hear him preach! And according to Jesus, he was a success!!!
d. Andrew was one of the two that decided to believe on and follow Jesus
4. They wondered where they would sleep that night (John 1:38,39) – following Jesus will always be an act of faith – of not knowing what is just around the corner, or over the horizon
5. Jesus just told them to come along and see for themselves (John 1:39) – find out for themselves
a. That’s what faith is – you don’t know yet, but
b. You TRUST Jesus more than all the questions and worries
c. And you decide to find out for yourself
B. Someone Got a Passion for the Lost (John 1:29-42)
1. But one of the two disciples stopped DEAD in his tracks and ran off without warning
a. His name was Andrew
b. Ran to where his brother Peter was, and dragged him to meet Jesus
c. Take a good look at what Andrew did – four things
1) Thought of Peter -
2) Ran and sought Peter
3) Taught Peter
4) Then Brought Peter
2. Look at the qualifications of a soul-winner
a. A disciple first himself - Andrew was already following Jesus –
1) If you are not born again, you probably WON’T go and tell someone else about Jesus and how to be saved from the wrath to come!
2) But anyone who HAS been saved, and is following the life of Jesus, well, THEY will be the only people who go looking for the lost
3) Starts here!
b. A Prepared heart – not just mind
1) Too much education and information - very little PREPARATION of our hearts
2) 2Chr 12:14 And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD.
c. A Lover of preaching – loved hearing rebukes and exhortations more than entertainments
d. Aware of those NOT with you
1) Someone in Andrew’s own family – his brother Simon
a) Family members sometimes are the hardest to win to faith in Christ
b) Family are most likely to have a big falling out over religion and disagreements
2) Peter was not a disciple at all - Not interested in Jesus
3) Just a busy fisherman who was only interested in fishing and fish
e. Priority of the Kingdom – filling it up with PEOPLE (Matthew 6:33)
f. Confident of one big truth - Jesus is the promised Messiah
1) The one we have been waiting for
2) The only answer to the biggest need - sin
g. Willing to compel – to keep pulling until they finally come and see for themselves
C. Look at the chain of events…
1. The Example here in John 1
a. John the Baptist points everybody to Jesus
b. Andrew starts following Jesus
c. But goes and gets his brother Peter to come and believe too
d. Who will preach to a massive crowd on the day of Pentecost, and 3,000 will decide to follow Jesus
2. I will give you another example
a. Edward Kimball was concerned about one of his young Sunday School students who worked at a shoe store in town. One day Mr. Kimball visited him at the store, and found the student working in the back, stocking shelves, and led him to Christ then and there. Dwight L. Moody eventually left the shoe store to become one of the greatest Gospel preachers and evangelists of all time.
b. Moody, came to England, and preached in a little chapel and a young man with an imposing name of Frederic Brotherton Meyer heard him. And it inspired him to become an evangelist like Moody.
c. A few years later, Meyer went to America. While speaking in Northfield, MA a young preacher heard Meyer say, "If you are not willing to give up everything for Christ, are you willing to be made willing?" That remark led a man named J. Wilbur Chapman to respond to the call of God on his life and surrendered to preach the Gospel!
d. Chapman went on to become one of the most effective evangelists of his time.
e. A young man by the name of Billy Sunday heard Chapman preach the Bible. It changed Billy Sunday’s life! Sunday eventually took over Chapman's ministry becoming one of the most dynamic evangelists of the 20th century. Billy Sunday's preaching brought hundreds of thousands to faith in Jesus Christ.
f. A young preacher named Mordecai Ham was moved by a 1924 Billy Sunday crusade in Charlotte, NC. In 1932, Mordecai Ham preached a series of evangelistic meetings in the same city not knowing that a skinny 16 year old boy sat in the huge crowd one evening, spellbound by the message the preacher gave from the word of God. Each evening the preacher seemed to be shouting and pointing his finger at the young man. Night after night the teen came to hear the preaching, and finally he believed with all his heart that Jesus had died for him and asked Christ in prayer to save his lost soul.
g. That teenager was Billy Graham.
h. And Billy Graham has communicated the gospel to more people than any other person in history.
i. And it all started with a Sunday School teacher named Kimball, who sought out a young Dwight L Moody, working in a shoe store, and Dwight L Moody went and taught FB Meyer, and FB Meyer stirred up Billy Sunday, and Billy Sunday stirred up J. Wilbur Chapman, who preached to young Billy Graham
j. And millions and tens of millions of lost people all over the world have come to faith in Jesus Christ alone
k. And the Gospel spreads just like that – one person telling another person to come and see for yourself if Jesus can save and satisfy!
l. And today, hundreds of millions of people all over the world follow that Man from Galilee… and it all started here in John chapter 1!
m. Never underestimate the influence you can have on the world by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with just one life.
D. Final thought
1. Every time you find Andrew, you will find him bringing someone else to Jesus
2. He went and found his brother Peter (John 1:41,42)
3. Later, he brought a young lad with some lunch to Jesus (John 6:5-9)
4. And then later again in John 12:20-22, you find Andrew and Philip bringing a bunch of Greek speaking Jews to meet Jesus and become believers!
a. And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:
b. The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
c. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
V. Conclusion
A. What the world needs is the same Gospel that saved YOU and ME
B. What WE now need is a passion for the lost – beg God to break your heart about those who have no idea who Jesus really is and what He can do
C. What qualifications do YOU and I need to be soul-winners?
1. Be a disciple yourself – do NOT rest on anyone else’s relationship with Jesus
2. Constantly Prepare your heart
3. Be a lover of preaching – even if it is full of rebukes and exhortations
4. Become very aware of those NOT in the kingdom with you – especially family
5. Make filling the Kingdom of God up with PEOPLE your priority
6. Be super Confident of one big truth
a. Jesus is the promised Messiah
b. The one we have been waiting for
c. The only answer to the biggest need - sin
7. Be Willing to compel – keep pulling until they finally come and see for themselves
D. “Come and See”
1. Nothing could be easier! That’s all we need to say
2. Tell them to look for themselves at
a. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
b. Eph 2:8,9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
c. Romans 5:6,8 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
d. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
e. Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
3. Remember...
a. Sin and its eternal consequences is the only problem that needs talking about
b. The Bible has the answers – not you or me - all they need to do is believe it and start learning it themselves
c. Jesus does the saving – not you dear Christian! Not a church, or someone’s baptism, or people’s best efforts – only Jesus saves!
E. If you are NOT motivated to win someone with the same Gospel that saved your lost soul from hell, then you should be very worried. You probably did not get saved – you just got “interested”, but not converted
F. And if you USED TO BE passionate about soul-winning, you should be worried too, because that means your heart has grown cold, and selfish and self-centred, when Jesus saved you to go into all the world, and tell everybody…
G. Jesus receives all
1. What sin did Jesus not pay in full for on His cross?
2. What are you allowing to keep you from coming to Him and believing on His mercy and His power to save a wretch like you?
3. There is only ONE thing that will keep you from getting saved this morning
4. Your PRIDE, your IMAGE, your SELF-IMPORTANCE
5. And you are willing to go to hell for THAT?
6. Jesus, the Son of God will receive YOU today, if you will just come to Him and believe what He did for you when He, the perfect Son of God became the perfect Lamb of God and died in your place