Amen. One of the things that has impressed me
as I have learned more about the crusade is the
elaborate follow -up that is attempted, at least,
to be put in place. It depends upon us. But there
is a very fine program that begins actually with
the counselor himself or herself on the very
night that they counsel with someone after the
call, the altar call is made. And then there
are Bible studies that are organized through
local churches, and materials are given out,
letters are sent out, and so it's really a very
thorough job, and I've been impressed with that.
And I want to thank all of you who've been a
part of helping us as a church to get up to speed
for the crusade, and especially for the Christian
Life and Witness classes. Irv Carlson and a whole
team of people working with him did an outstanding
job. getting us ready week by week for five weeks
to host 900 to 1 ,100 people that came for that
training. So thank you very much those of you
who worked and for all of you who came either
to this location or to one of the other locations
to be trained to counsel. So that's something
that will stick with us long after the crusade
is over. the kinds of tools that we learn to
use in those classes. So I hope that we'll keep
that in mind and continue to be used of the Lord
long after Billy Graham has left our city. Now
in light of the fact that this is the Sunday
when we have emphasized the Billy Graham crusade,
we're going to take a break for today from the
book of Colossians and go to the Gospel of John,
to the first chapter. I invite you to turn there
in the Word of God with me. where we will begin
reading in the 35th verse. Some of you may be
familiar with an organizational observation that
might be called the Peter Principle. Now the
Peter Principle really wasn't named after the
Apostle Peter, although some people think that.
It was named after the person who actually stated
it and put it down, but... The idea of the Peter
Principle is simply that people in an organization
tend to rise to the level of their incompetence.
And if you have worked in an organization you
probably have seen examples of that. Well this
morning I don't want to talk about the Peter
Principle. I want to talk about the Andrew Principle.
I want you to discover with me in our study of
the Word of God what the Andrew Principle is.
because it is illustrated in the experience of
the disciple, Andrew, who was one of the very
first followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
apostle's purpose in writing the Gospel of John
is found in the 20th chapter and the 31st verse
where he says, these things have been written
that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God. and that believing you may have
life in His name." With that purpose in mind,
John picked up the pen to write about the life
of Jesus. By the superintending work of the Holy
Spirit, John recorded selected materials from
the life of Jesus in order to persuade his readers
of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And
that believing that truth, they might have life
in Jesus' name. Here in the first chapter of
John alone, he gives seven titles to the Lord
Jesus Christ. In chapter 1, verse 1, he calls
him the Word. In chapter 1, verse 23, He calls
Him the Lord. In verse 29, the Lamb of God. And
again in verse 36. In verse 34, He gives Jesus
the title the Son of God. And again in verse
49. In verse 41, He calls Him the Messiah, or
the Christ. In verse 49, the King of Israel,
and in the last verse of the chapter, he gives
the title to Jesus, the Son of Man. This Gospel
is about Jesus Christ, who He is, and what He
did on our behalf. The Gospel opens with a prologue
that introduces to us the Word. The word is Jesus
Christ who it is said was God Who became flesh
and lived among us in order that he might reveal
the invisible God to us After giving his introduction
John then proceeds with a narrative He opens
with the witness of John the Baptizer to who
Jesus was. And he tells us as he tells about
John how the first followers came to follow Jesus.
Now we marvel at the humility and the understanding
of John the Baptist regarding his mission. He
begins in verse 19 by saying, and this is the
witness of John. John was preaching for the Lord
out in the wilderness of Judea, baptizing in
the Jordan River with a baptism of repentance
of sin. And because of the stir his ministry
was causing, The religious leaders in Jerusalem
sent a delegation out into the wilderness to
find this rather strange man. And having found
him, they said, who are you? And John said, well,
I'm not Elijah, and I'm not the prophet, and
I'm not the Christ. But John said, verse 23,
I am a voice. I'm a voice. Notice the humility
of this man. He says, I am a voice crying out
in the wilderness, make straight the way of the
Lord. As Isaiah predicted, I would. John knew
who he was. and John knew why he was in the world.
These same people said, well, John, why are you
baptizing if you're not someone who's important?
And John answered in verse 26, I baptize in water,
but among you stands one whom you do not know.
It is he who comes after me, the thong of whose
sandal I am not worthy to untie. John knew who
he was. He knew he was the forerunner of Jesus.
That he was sent by God to prepare the way for
the Messiah. To cultivate the hearts of the people
of Israel so that the Messiah might come and
sow the truth of God. He said, I am a voice.
And as a voice crying in the wilderness, he witnessed
to Jesus. He declared the identity of Jesus.
The next day after this delegation from Jerusalem
had questioned him, it says that John saw Jesus
coming to him and he said, behold, the Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world. He identified
Jesus. He says in verse 30, After me comes a
man who has a higher rank than I, for he existed
before me. And yet we know from the record of
Luke that John actually was born first. And yet
John says he existed before me, a testimony to
the pre -existence. of Jesus Christ. He existed
eternally before John. Then in verse 34, John
says, I have seen and have borne witness that
this is the Son of God. Notice the understanding
of the mission that characterized this humble
prophet. And as Jesus came onto the scene, John's
humility is further evidenced by the fact that
he sent his followers after Jesus. We see this
not only in the text that we're going to read,
but we see it in chapter 3 and verse 22 where
it says, after these things, Jesus and his disciples
came into the land of Judea, and there he was
spending time with them and baptizing. And John
also was baptizing in Anan near Salem. Because
there was much water there and they were coming
and were being baptized, John had not yet been
thrown into prison. There arose therefore a discussion
on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about
purification. And they came to John and said
to him, Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the
Jordan to whom you have borne witness." That's
Jesus. Behold, he is baptizing and all are coming
to him. John said, a man can receive nothing
unless it be given him from heaven. You yourselves
bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ,
but I have been sent before him. He who has the
bride is the bridegroom. That's Jesus. But the
friend of the bridegroom, that's John, who stands
and hears him rejoices greatly because of the
bridegroom's voice. And so this joy of mine has
been made full. And then look at this statement.
He must increase, but I must decrease. Here is
a man who has been significant on the scene of
Israel, albeit for only a few months. And yet
pride has no place in his life. He says, I must
decrease. He must increase. John was not a follower
of Jesus. Not that he didn't know who he was
and didn't believe, but John was an Old Testament
prophet, the greatest. of them. He was not a
follower of Jesus, but he was the forerunner
of Jesus. He played a unique role in the plan
of God. You and I need to be like John. We need
to understand that God has a role for us. It's
not to be John the Baptist. I'm glad. I enjoy
my head. So we have a role, and we will fulfill
that role as we also have a spirit that says
he must increase. I must decrease. Now going
back to chapter 1, John gives us some insight
as to how Jesus' first followers came to him.
And here we note the means by which people became
followers of Jesus. It says in verse 35, again
the next day, John was standing with two of his
disciples and he looked upon Jesus as he walked
and said, Behold the Lamb of God. The same statement
as the day before, abbreviated, but the same
statement. And this time Jesus is not walking
toward John. Jesus is apparently walking by.
John is standing with two of his disciples and
he says, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two
disciples heard him speak and they followed him.
They understood what John was saying. He was
pointing to Jesus. And the two of them began
then to follow Jesus. And Jesus turned and beheld
them following and said to them, What do you
seek? Notice he doesn't ask, whom do you seek?
They were to understand that, but Jesus asked
them, what is it you are seeking? And they said
to him, Rabbi, which is the translated teacher,
where are you staying? You see, they answered
with a question. The question really implies,
we want to come and spend time with you. We want
to be with you. We declare that you are a teacher,
a rabbi, a respected scholar of the law. We want
to be with you. Where are you staying? And Jesus
said to them, come, come and you will see. And
they came therefore and saw where he was staying.
Now we don't know where that was. It may have
been a simple structure made out of cloth or
out of palm branches. a temporary place, undoubtedly.
And Jesus invites them to come and to spend time
with him. And John notes that it was about the
tenth hour, which in John's reckoning of time
means about four o 'clock in the afternoon. And
so it's implied here that they spent the evening
and the night with Jesus. Wouldn't you like to
have been a part of that conversation? to know
what Jesus said to these men who were beginning
to follow him. And then John, who is the apostle
now, remember you have to pray John the Baptist
and John the apostle. John who's writing this
says, one of the two who heard John the Baptist
speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother. He found first His own brother Simon
and said to him we have found the Messiah Which
translated means Christ? he brought him to Jesus
and so the Text suggests to us that the next
day the very next day after having spent some
time with Jesus Andrew and whoever it was with
him and by the way It's most likely that it was
John who's writing this. John does never identify
himself in his writing. He is a man who defers,
who is reserved. And so he always refers to himself
in some hidden way, some third -person way, and
most likely it was John who's writing this who
was with Andrew that night with Jesus. And it
says that it was Andrew who first found his own
brother. Now, exactly what that means we don't
know because the language allows room for two
or three different interpretations. It could
be that it means that this was a priority to
Andrew that first he had to find his brother
before he found others. Or it could mean that
Andrew and John were both going out to look for
their brothers. John had a brother, too. What
was his name? James. James and John, the sons
of Zebedee. But it was Andrew who found his brother
first, not John. So it could be taken either
way. The point is that Andrew, as John records
it, immediately went to tell his brother. What
we see in this text, and a little broader text
than I've read, is the means by which people
became followers of Jesus. First of all, they
became followers of Jesus through public proclamation
of a preacher. Here I'm thinking of John the
Baptist, who pointed at Jesus, behold the Lamb
of God. And as a result of that, his followers
began to follow Jesus in time. The first two
were Andrew and John. When I think of the public
proclamation of a preacher and people coming
to Christ, I think of people who are like Billy
Graham, in particular, who are gifted as evangelists
in that public proclamation way. They're able
to stand before audiences and to preach the Gospel
with such simplicity and such power by the Holy
Spirit that God uses that gift of evangelism
to reveal Jesus Christ to them. And they responded
to that. You and I have a rare opportunity next
month to invite our friends to go and to hear
Dr. Billy Graham. Now this will be probably the
second to the last of his crusades. His last
one will be in Charlotte this fall. It's a historic
occasion. Because after preaching Christ now
for some 40 years, his voice in a crusade setting
will no longer ring across America. But it's
a unique opportunity also, simply because he
is a messenger from God. And he is one who, like
John the Baptist and many, many others down through
the history of the Church, have publicly proclaimed
Christ. And God uses that to bring people to
Himself, even as we have heard this morning in
testimonies. Andrew and John began to follow
the Lord as a result of John the Baptist's ministry
of public proclamation. Secondly, we see a personal
call of Christ. We didn't read all the way to
verse 43, but you notice in verse 43. It says
the next day, Jesus purposed to go forth into
Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said
to him, follow me. And so here we have the personal
call of Christ. There doesn't seem to be any
human intermediary. It's just the Lord Jesus
coming to this man and calling him to follow
himself. And I think here of those people who
come to Christ through the impersonal means that
are available today of television and radio and
gospel tracts and videos. Where there isn't another
person necessarily, obviously people have prepared
these tools and so on, but through the proclamation
of the message in an impersonal means, Jesus
Christ is directly speaks to the heart and the
person begins to follow Christ. But then we have
a third means by which people become followers
of Jesus, and that's in our text, where we have
Andrew going to Peter, his brother. Somebody
said this is the best service that Andrew rendered
to the Church. Andrew was a wonderful man, and
when we see him in the Scriptures, he's often
some sort of intermediary that's bringing people
to Jesus. Being a little boy with loaves and
fishes, or if it'd be the Greeks who came to
see Jesus. Andrew is people who's always just
ushering people into the presence of Jesus. He's
a wonderful man. But his brother, probably his
older brother, far outshines him in church history.
For this, of course, is Peter who would stand
on the day of Pentecost on behalf of The Lord
and the Church that was being born and preached
the Gospel in 3000 would be saved. And he was
the one who was used of God to go to Cornelius,
and there in Cornelius' household opened the
door to the Gentiles of the world to be saved
without having become Jews in the process. The
Gospel was for Gentiles as well as Jews. that
Peter was a great, great servant of Christ. Here
we have Andrew doing his part in that. The best
service he rendered to the church was to bring
his brother to Christ. Andrew didn't know that,
of course. Andrew knew his brother, and apparently
Peter was not a strong man. We think of him being
impetuous, and he was. But he was not a strong
man. He was like water in some respects. But
Jesus said, you know, you're going to be a rock.
Isn't that amazing? Jesus was able to look into
Peter and see him for what he could become, not
for what he was at that moment. He said, you're
going to be a rock, Peter. Andrew didn't understand
what that meant, nor did Peter, undoubtedly at
that point. But just think of what service Andrew
Render, what an effect his life had because he
went to his brother Peter. And you and I witnessed
the people and we invite people to go to the
crusade and we give tracks out and we have no
idea what this person is going to become or what
God has in mind for that one. Charles Kimball
had no idea that that little boy and not a little
boy, but a teenager in his Sunday school class
in that church would ever become the great evangelist
Dwight L. Moody. He just decided that this young
lad needed the Lord pretty badly, and so he went
down to the bookstore, and as history tells it,
he went into the bookstore and he got scared,
and so he went back out into the street, and
then he decided he'd go back in. And he went
back in, and he was finally able to corner Dwight
Moody, and he witnessed to him, and as a result
of that, Moody came to faith in Christ as just
a teenager. That's all he was, just a teenager.
And yet, as a result of Kimball's simple witness
as a Sunday school teacher to a boy in his class,
indirectly he shook England and Ireland and Scotland
and America with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And after looking at this text, and some of the
observations that arise out of it, I want to
return to this idea of the Andrew Principle.
And here's what I believe the Andrew Principle
is. Most often, people become followers of Jesus
when they are brought to him by a person they
know. Now that's nothing real profound, is it?
but it's very important. Most often, people come
to Christ, become followers of his, when they
are brought by a person that they know. We don't
have time to go on and read about how Philip
went and found the Samuel, and said, we found
the Messiah, and the Samuel became a believer.
When the invitation is given in June at the crusade,
it will be Billy Grant who's done the preaching.
But it will be you and me who've acted as Andrew.
And we have said to people that we know, whether
it be a brother, as in the case with Andrew and
Peter, or whether it be a friend, as in the case
with Phillips and Nathaniel. If there are people
who come forward in that crusade, most of them
will come forward because they've had a relationship
with you and me, and on the basis of that, they
said, sure, I'll go. I'll be a part of it. I'll
go and see what he has to say. The Andrew principle
is that most people become followers of Jesus
when they are brought to Him by a person that
they know. And my challenge to you this morning
is this. Will you apply the Andrew Principle
to your life, especially in these coming weeks?
I know that some of you have been praying for
friends. Some of you sold out a card that we
called Operation Andrew, in which you have, over
the last weeks, been praying for specific individuals
asking God to prepare their hearts and to give
you the opportunity to invite them to come. Even
if you haven't been doing that, it's not too
late to say, Lord, I want to follow the Andrew
Principle. And as Andrew first sought out his
brother, and brought him to Jesus. So who is
it that God would have you to seek out to bring
to Jesus? You say, well, that's a scary thing
to do. Well, not really. It's only scary because
we're afraid that we'll be rejected. That's not
much of a reason, is it, for not obeying the
Lord. I think it was D .T. Niles who first said
evangelism is just one beggar telling another
beggar where to find bread. So when you are inviting
someone to go to the crusade or you're witnessing
to them yourself, all you're doing is helping
them understand how to find what you found in
Christ. There's not a more loving thing that
you can do than that. there's not a more important
thing that you can do than that. And remember
that as you witness and as you invite and as
you counsel at the crusade, that person you're
talking to may not look like much. That person
may not have much value in the world's terms.
that Jesus knows what the potential of that life
is. And every single person is important in His
eyes, and every single one has a meaning, has
a purpose. And so remember that as you're dealing
with this person, you're dealing with someone
who's filled with potential that Jesus knows
about, and you're simply bringing them to Him.
that they then might open their hearts and receive
Him, and He can save them from sin, and He then
can fill their lives with meaning and direction
and purpose. We live in a world that has lost
this sense of meaning and purpose for a lot of
reasons. We live in a world that is filled with
sin and there's very little guilt that seems
about that, very little sense of lostness, very
little fear of God. But if you and I will share
the Gospel, if you and I will invite others to
go with us, God can use that to begin cooking
the heart with conviction, probing within to
show the emptiness, drawing them out. to seek
after the Lord. But most often that will happen
to people that you and I have a relationship
with. There will be a few Williams who will be
caught in the traffic and won't like it and will
end up in there. And without human intermediary,
God will speak to them. But most of them will
come and be there and respond because we've cared
enough. to obey the Andrew Principle. I'd like
you to bow with me in prayer. And I want to ask
you to pray in your own heart. And say, Lord
Jesus, I want to be like Andrew. And based upon
the Andrew Principle, Lord lay some soul upon
my heart. and love that soul for me. And Lord,
may I ever do my part to win that soul for thee.
Is there someone or some several who come to
your mind right now? I hope so. Lord Jesus, I
pray that we, after spending time with you as
did Andrew and John, will immediately go out
obeying this principle and seek to bring others
to you, that you may do in their lives what you
have done in our lives. Stir us with compassion
to care and courage to take action. I'd like
you to stand with me, please, with our heads
bowed, and let's sing together a chorus, the
one I just quoted as Lord lay some soul upon
my heart. Lord, may some soul upon my heart And
love that soul to me, And may I ever do my part
To win that soul for thee. Let's just change
the words a little bit as we sing it once again.
Lord lay some friend upon my heart. Let's sing
it that way. Lord, may that truly be the prayer
of our hearts. God, I pray that what you're going
to do in the Twin Cities in the coming weeks
will be something that we'll all be ready to
participate in. May none of us, Lord, look back
upon it later and say, oh, if only I had done
this or that, if only I had invited, if only
I had. God, I pray that we will be ready spiritually
and in every way to do our part in obeying the
Andrew Principle in Jesus' name. Amen. We're
dismissed.