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Seeking A Savior | David Fisher

So good to have y’all. Y’all ready to study the scriptures together today? I am too. I’m ready to study.

We’re going to be using our main text. It’s going to be a little wind up before we get there, but it’s going to be in the first chapter of John. And those who want to look at something else, we’re going to start here in the third chapter of Luke.

So those will be the two main passages that we have today. So Luke 3, we’re going to hit in a second, and then we’re going to go to John, the book of John, first chapter. Any of y’all who’ve kind of grown up in church world, you know, religious type of activities, y’all have seen the clash.

You’ve heard about the tension, because there’s always been this tension in the ways of God between law, those things that are required, and what’s the other? Grace, right? But the tension between law and grace, and they seem to come into tension at times, but it’s so amazing that as we grow in grace, we become subject to the law of love, not the old law that taught us. There’s this other clash that we’ll often see and you hear about, about the tension between works, what you’ve got to do, the works, works, works, and others say, well, no, you’ve got to have faith, right? And you hear about this tension. But it seems like the more that we walk in faith, the more we want to do, and we give evidence of our faith because of the works that we do.

Not that the works save us, but that it’s become this teaching process. And so you hear sometimes about the conflict between what’s a duty and what’s a delight, and what may be considered bondage, and that which may be considered freedom, and freedom in Christ. But what we see is this progression of learning as we learn the ways of God.

We go from things that were the tutor, the law, the things that taught us between what’s right and wrong as we start to progress and just start to know the Father. And that’s where he wants to take us. He wants to take us to knowing the Father, to have to know and to seek a Savior who is Jesus Christ, and then to be filled with the Holy Spirit who guides us and strengthens us and helps us walk our daily walk.

I’d like you to turn to Luke 3 if you have it. We’re going to kind of pick up on what we discussed just a little bit last week about the disciples of John the Baptist. See, John the Baptist had disciples too, people who were following the things that he said.

And they knew about baptism for the remission of sins, the Christ had not yet been sacrificed, and it was before Jesus even came on the scene. And we know because the Scriptures tell us that the Spirit rested upon Jesus while Jesus was being baptized by John, and that was the very sign to John that this is the guy. It said, he on whom the Spirit descends and dwells, you know that this is the Son of God.

He’s the Lamb of God. And so we have here in Luke 3 these people who’ve come to and listened to John the Baptist. And they asked the question that almost all of us have asked at one time.

Verse 10, what shall we do then? What are we supposed to do with that? What are we supposed to do with what we’ve been given? And he gave some advice to them, that if you have two cloaks, give it to one who has none, and if you have food, share with others. So then tax collectors had come to be baptized, and they asked the same question. Teacher, what shall we do? He told them, don’t collect more than what’s appointed to you.

And then he talked about some Roman soldiers who also came to be baptized by him for the remission of their sins. And they asked the very same question. What is it that we shall do? What shall we do? And he said, don’t intimidate people, just don’t accuse them falsely and be happy with what you get paid.

What shall we do? Y’all ever asked that question before? What shall I do? And I really want some time, I wish God would just give me a list of the things to do. Just give me the list. I told you the story about my father.

I’d work on the farm, and my dad would be gone, and he’d come back and say, well, you didn’t do anything. He’d say, well, you didn’t give me a list. Give me a list.

Honey, if you’ll just tell me what it is to do. Any of you wives ever heard that before? Just tell me what you want me to do. Well, if I’ve got to tell you, if I’ve got to tell you, then I don’t want you to do it, right? Isn’t that? Maybe y’all’s house is different than my house, but I’ve heard that before.

And so, what is it that you want to do? What shall we do? It’s not a bad question, it’s just not the complete question. It’s not where we need to be. Because, you know, you can get the list.

You can even make your own list of all the things you think you should do. There’s always something more you can do. Isn’t that true? Say, oh, Jesus, I want to serve you, and this is what I’m going to do.

And you start doing, and you’re doing, and you do, and you do. Then the question is, when have I done enough? When have I done enough to be saved? When have I done enough? And I’m going to tell you, that question will wear you slap out. Because you could always do a little bit more.

Couldn’t you? But, you know, we do enough just to feel good. Man, I feel good. I’ve done a lot.

Man, there’s just a little bit more I could have done. I can remember giving my sons an assignment to pick up sticks out in the yard. And we got a lot of sticks.

So I want you to go pick up sticks and have them come back in later and says, Dad, what else do you want us to do? I said, well, have you picked up the sticks? Yeah, we picked up the sticks. And I knew by the look on his face they hadn’t picked up all the sticks. They picked up the big sticks.

They didn’t pick up the little sticks. And I said, okay, well, let me go out there and check it. And I can remember going, well, there’s a stick.

Stick. Stick. Oh, there’s a bunch of sticks.

Stick. And they’re back behind me picking up sticks. And I said, now, why did I have to come out here to tell you to pick up these sticks? You saw them, all right? The truth is you can pick up sticks all day long and still be more sticks at our place.

So I wasn’t expecting to pick up every stick. I just wanted to do more than what I did. But the truth is you just wear yourself flat, slap out, trying to do, trying to do enough.

The truth is in a religious world we never can feel like we’ve done enough, if we’re honest. Isn’t that true? But you know what? That’s not the standard. God has us to go through this to teach us to desire something more.

Now, it’s important for us to do. I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t pick up sticks. I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t want to do, but I’m going to tell you there’s always a capacity of more and better performance.

And I’m going to tell you your salvation is not based upon your performance. It’s based upon your trust and your faith in Jesus Christ. It just is.

Now, that’s not an excuse for us not to do, but we do because we love, not because we feel like we gotta. Isn’t that true? Disciples love lists of religious duties. What must I do? Y’all remember the story about the rich young ruler? He said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says, well, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.

It’s a pretty big ask. And he had the boldness to say, well, I’ve been doing all that stuff. And Jesus kind of called him on the carpet, said, I don’t think you have.

Why don’t you sell what you got and follow me? It wasn’t a selling. For him, it was the selling that was a problem. But for most of us, it’s the follow me problem.

Of what does that mean? Just to follow him. Okay, let’s go to John first chapter. I wanted that background so I’ll understand about this.

The things we learn as a disciple, our tendency is to do. In the first chapter of John, John has already baptized Jesus. Jesus has gone and been tempted by the devil for 40 days and 40 nights.

He’s now come back. And John sees him. He’s standing there.

I want you all to get this mental image. He’s standing there with some of his disciples. And he looks at Jesus and he says, behold the Lamb of God.

We would know him now as the Passover Lamb, the one who was sacrificed so that death will pass by us, that we’ll receive this forgiveness, this atonement. But he just says, behold the Lamb of God. And his disciples heard it.

And he’s pretty much saying, y’all need to quit following me and start following him. There are a lot of religious people who gather disciples so that people will follow them. I don’t want anybody following me.

I want you following Jesus. We always ought to be turning people to Jesus because Jesus is the answer. He’s the Savior.

Church leaders aren’t. Follow him. And so sure enough, it says that John here in chapter 1, verse 35, it said the next day John stood with two of his disciples.

We later know that one of those disciples is Andrew who later became a disciple of Jesus. It says two of his disciples were standing there and looking at Jesus as he walked, John said, behold the Lamb of God, verse 37. And the two disciples heard him speak and they did what? They followed Jesus.

They started going where Jesus went. And you can almost imagine Jesus is walking and all of a sudden you’ve got some folks following behind you. Kind of like on Forrest Gump when he’s running down the highway.

Next thing you know, there’s this big group of people back behind you just following him and going where he’s going. Y’all have seen that before. He’s following and Jesus finally just turns around and says, what do you seek? In our way of talk, it’d be what you want.

What are you looking for? What are you looking for? What are you seeking? What are you seeking? They didn’t answer his question. They said rabbi, which means teacher. He says, where are you staying? Every time we start wanting to follow Jesus, I believe Jesus asks us, what are you seeking? Why are you following me? Because there are people who follow Jesus for many good reasons.

There are people who follow Jesus, at least think they’re following Jesus for a whole lot of bad reasons. They come to try to find solutions to their problems. There are some people who want the bigger house.

They want the better job. They want their circumstances to change. And Jesus said, what are you seeking? Because I’m here to give you something much different than what you think you may be looking for.

What are you seeking? And they said, where are you staying? And then Jesus said, come and see. You know, he didn’t make them answer the question. Only you who have the answers to the questions may follow me.

He didn’t do anything like that. They couldn’t answer the question because they really didn’t know what they were looking for. They knew that they had been looking for the Savior, for the Anointed One, but they didn’t know what the Anointed One was really supposed to be.

The most they could say is, where are you staying? And Jesus said to them, come and see. And they came, and they saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about the tenth hour.

So Jesus let them hang out with him to begin having the conversations to see if he really was what they were looking for. Verse 40 says, one of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew. And he followed him.

This was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. You all know Simon Peter? Also became one of the disciples. He says, he first found his own brother Simon, Simon Peter, and said to them, we have found the Messiah.

Which in Hebrew means the Anointed One. We have found the One. In Greek, the word would be Christ.

We usually use the word Jesus Christ. Jesus the Anointed One. Jesus the Messiah, which Jesus the Savior.

And he brought him, meaning Andrew brought Peter to Jesus. Those of us who want to be disciples need to hear the question that Jesus is asking to us. Those of us who want to be disciples need to hear the question that Jesus asks you.

What do you seek? What are you looking for? If you’re just looking for a change in your circumstances, if you’re looking just for your better life, if you’re looking for just the good things, for the hardship now to be easy and for us all to be happy and wealthy and wise, I believe he would say you’re looking for the wrong thing. You just need to look for me because I’m the one who can give you salvation and no others. We need to be answering the question when Jesus asks us, what are you looking for, David? I’m looking for a Savior.

And I’m looking for a Savior because I need a Savior. I could be baptized and washed from my sins, but if I am not seeking Jesus after I’ve been dunked in the water, all I did was get wet. I’ve got to begin seeking a Savior and knowing who that Savior is.

And his name is Jesus. And he is the Christ, the anointed one, the one that God chose long before I chose him. And you know what? He’s the anointed one whether you choose him or not.

Isn’t he? Jesus is the anointed one whether I receive it or not. Jesus is the anointed one whether I accept it or not. Jesus is the anointed one whether this world accepts him or not.

He is the chosen one of God and he is the only way of salvation. And I believe Jesus would ask me if he saw me walking behind him, what are you looking for? Andrew says, we found him. And you know what he did? First thing he did is he went and got his brother and said, you’ve got to come with me.

That’s the beginning of the disciple making. He had been a disciple of John the Baptist, one for baptism and remission of sins. He has now made this decision, this change, this shift, not just to be a disciple of another religious leader, not to be just a disciple of the church, but he’s now decided to become a disciple of Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ said, come and see.

Just spend some time with me. In a matter of hours, Andrew has now become a disciple of Jesus the Christ. And he’s left behind.

He’s not mad at John. John didn’t teach him bad things. He just needed more than what John was able to provide.

He needed what Jesus had to provide. And I’m going to tell you that’s exactly what we need. We need more than what just the church can provide.

We need what Jesus can provide. We need more. But let me make sure I didn’t misstate that in a way that causes some confusion.

The church is the body of Jesus Christ, but sometimes we treat the church as something different. We treat the church and expect the church to serve different purposes. Maybe it’s our social life.

He says, I want you having more than just a social life. I want you to have an intimate, intimate, intimate time with Jesus the Christ. And it’s not about our circumstances and making my life better, even though I believe that our lives get exponentially better when Jesus becomes our Savior.

Your circumstances may not change. The people who really love Jesus and serve Jesus, most of them died. But I’m going to tell you what, they died knowing they had a Savior.

And they died proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ because they finally had a life worth living. And I promise you this. I promise you this.

If we will just seek Jesus, He will give you a life worth living. And isn’t that what we want? What do you seek? I want to live a life worth living. How many of us just want to waste our life, live a life worth living, and that’s through bringing ourselves to Jesus and saying, Jesus, I need a Savior, and I need you.

And Jesus honors that by giving us that life. What do you seek? Jesus gave him an audience and brought him into His presence. And I believe Jesus wants to give you an audience to be in His presence because there is nothing sweeter than the manifest presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and us spending the time that’s needed and necessary to be in His presence to understand and to know Him.

See, we can’t make disciples who know the presence of God until we know the presence of God. We can bring in other members. We can bring in other people who can enjoy in things and join in activities and have fellowship dinners and weenie roasts and all kinds of fun stuff.

But I’m going to tell you, the job of making disciples is to bring people to Jesus. Bring them to Jesus. And I can’t bring them if I’m not there too.

I can’t bring them where I’m not. Isn’t that true? I’ve got to get into the presence of Almighty God. It used to bother me a lot that, you know, it’s kind of unfair.

They had a Jesus who was flesh and blood that they could follow. When Jesus says, follow me, what does that mean? It means wherever He’s walking, you’re going that direction, right? And He stops, you stop. And when He eats, you eat.

And wherever He’s going, if you are following Jesus as these first disciples did, you have something to look at. And if Jesus is resting, I guess it’s okay for me to rest. They’re following this body, this person.

And then Jesus is gone. He’s been ascended into heaven after He’s been crucified and He’s been raised from the dead. Now He’s been glorified and He’s the man in heaven interceding for us.

Well, how do I follow somebody I can’t see? Well, Jesus made a promise, I’m going to send the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit’s to be your teacher. Over in John 16, He says, the Holy Spirit will be your guide. Follow when you know the person you’re following, but that person you’re following is your guide.

Been hunting up in the mountains and you better stick with the guide or you’re going to get lost. When the guide moves, you move. And when the guide stops, you stop.

And when the guide takes the left trail, you take the left trail. When the guide is showing you places, maybe you haven’t gone up in the mountains hunting, but maybe you’ve been on a tour. You’re with the mob of people following the guide and the guide is telling you exactly what’s here, what happened here in 1864 and who lived and died and who did this.

You know you’re kind of at the back of the crowd and you’re not listening too well. And you get distracted and you kind of start looking at other things and before you know it, you look up and the guide and the group are gone. It’s important to follow the guide, isn’t it? Scripture says the Holy Spirit is your guide.

So I believe what He’s wanting us to do, if we’re really going to seek a Savior, that we need to be asking this prayer. Holy Spirit, be my guide. Holy Spirit, be my guide.

Do you believe that He’s going to answer that prayer? I believe it with all my heart. I can’t tell you how many times. So God, show me what it is you want me to do today.

It’s not my list. It’s not the list. See, I come up with great lists.

And when I get through with my list, I feel like, well, I’ve done my list. It’s not a list. This is a person.

I’m following Jesus because of the prompting of the Holy Spirit. And then the Holy Spirit will put on your heart something that you ought to do right then. Ever had that experience? When God puts somebody on your heart and you pick up the phone and you call them right then and you know what? It just happened to be exactly what they needed right at that moment.

You never would have put that on your list because you weren’t supposed to be the guide anyway. We can read the brochures. But until you have a personal guide, you’re missing out.

You’re missing out on lots of details that God intended to have for us. My hope and my prayer is that we’ll get to the point where we start asking, Father, I want to follow Jesus. And how do I do that? I want to be led by the one who I’m following.

And because I can’t see Jesus physically, I need to understand Him spiritually. And that’s where the Holy Spirit guides us and the Holy Spirit dwells in us. That’s what He wants from us.

But you know what it’s going to mean? It means when the guide tells you to go, you go. I’m not sitting here around worried, saying, God, you haven’t sent me on a mission yet. Just wait.

Maybe I’m preparing you for something today. Maybe you’re going through a season that is hard for you and so you’re spending a lot of time praying. You’re spending a lot of time digging into the Word, but you don’t feel like you’re accomplishing anything.

I have a feeling our guide knows what we need a whole lot more than what I need because I can put on myself all kinds of religious duties and religious obligations when the Holy Spirit is really sometimes using our circumstances just to prepare us to do the things that He’s going to call us to do. And where we can say, Father, send me. Go send me.

Go send me. I am excited and have been thrilled with how many people have been baptized in this place. But I’m going to tell you that’s not… Baptizing doesn’t mean you’ve arrived.

It just means you’ve started on the journey. Because I’ve known people who’ve been baptized and gotten wet, and before you know it, they’re not coming to church anymore and they’re doing their same old stuff. And unfortunately, they may have heard somehow in their mind that that was somehow the checkoff box on the list.

I’ve been baptized, now I’m good. I’m going to tell you, if you’ve been baptized and your heart hadn’t been changed, if you’ve been baptized and you haven’t started saying, Father, I want your Holy Spirit to fill me, you just got wet. I believe in baptism.

I believe it’s shown in scriptures. I believe Jesus instructs us in the good commission to baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That is an important step in our Christian walk.

But I’m going to tell you, that’s not the stop. It’s not the stopping place. It’s the door to where we say, Holy Spirit, now guide me.

Thank you that Jesus sacrificed and cleansed me from all my sin. Now I’ve got places that I need to go, and that’s where you are. I’m not asking the questions, now what is it that you want me to do? It’s saying, who do you want me to be? And he would say, I want you to be a disciple of mine.

I want you to keep seeking a Savior, and I want to guide you if you’ll just listen. I want to ask people to reconsider where they are in their spiritual walk. If you’ve never been baptized or if you’ve been baptized before and you just think, man, my heart just wasn’t right.

I did it because there was a family member who wanted me to do it. There was somebody here. A lot of people get baptized for many different reasons, but if you believe the Holy Spirit’s calling you to do that, I’m going to ask you to do that today.

But even more than that, for those of us who’ve been baptized and we find that we then struggle with sin and we struggle with our circumstances, I’m asking you to say, Father, I want your Holy Spirit to baptize me. Because John prophesied that he would baptize with water, and Jesus Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit. And I’m telling you, we need the Holy Spirit more than anything in this life.

We need it more than air ourselves. We need it more than our food. We need it more than anything is to be immersed in the Spirit of God.

And just to say, Father, lead me, guide me. I want to live a life that’s worth living. Can you all say amen to that? Will you all stand with me? I want to ask anybody who wants to be, is there anybody here who wants to be baptized today? We got one baptism, Bobby? About one? So we got somebody in the water.

You might as well come in and join them. Anybody else? Is there anybody else here who knows that they need to be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins? This is a great time to do it. Anybody else? Okay.

Well, let’s spend some time in this song right here, just coming before the Father, saying, Father, I want to be used by you. I want to be used by you. Father, will you please, will you please, your Holy Spirit, be my guide, because I want to give my life to you.

I want to give it to you. There’s no other way than to trust and obey and to be happy in Jesus. Amen.