Andrew

I want to read with you in John chapter 1. Now, I'm not getting up here this afternoon because this is prime time. I'm getting up here this afternoon because I'm not so fast on my feet anymore. When I was younger, I was in a hurry.

But I've gotten so old now that I don't hurry much anymore. So that's the reason I'm getting up at this time. John's Gospel chapter 1, verse 35.

It says, It says again the next day after John stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou? And he saith unto them, Come and see.

And they came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day. For it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard him speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah.

Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone. And the following day Jesus would go forth into Galilee, findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. That's as much as I want to read.

And I have a man upon my mind this afternoon. His name is Andrew. I think Andrew's a very interesting man.

His name means manliness. This man was based on verse 40. One of the first of the disciples that was called.

And I think it's fair to say that Andrew had a close and devoted relationship with the Lord Jesus. And he became a means whereby others were introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ. This man, Andrew.

Simply said, Andrew is what we all ought to be. A soul winner. I take it that's why God has left us in this world.

Is to be soul winners. If you know John chapter 3 verse 16, you can be a soul winner. That's really all anybody would ever need to hear, because that's the gospel in a nutshell.

It's all sewed up in that one lovely little verse. So if you know that verse, and I know that verse, then we can be soul winners. We can reach others with the message of Christ, the message of hope, the message of the gospel.

In John chapter 1 and verse 42, his brother Peter was one of those Andrew introduced to the Lord. It's a wonderful thing to be introduced to the Lord. Some of you folks in the room were raised in Christian homes.

And some of you folks in the room are being raised in Christian homes. And what a wonderful privilege you have. Because you have a mother and a father that can introduce you to the Lord.

It's a wonderful thing to be introduced to the Lord. Your mother introduces you to the Lord. She teaches you the old songs of Zion upon her knee.

You see your father stand up in an assembly of the Lord's people and worship God. What a privilege. A lot of people don't have that privilege.

But a lot of people in this room have had that privilege. To have been introduced to the Lord Jesus in their youth. I was along in age, 34 years of age, that's young now, that's really young now.

In comparison to what I am now, I'm getting along at the tooth you see. But I was never introduced to the Lord until the fall of 1973. But I'm thankful that I was, regardless of whether it was sooner or later.

At least it was before I left this poor groaning world behind and landed up in the lost eternity. I'm very thankful for that. You folks that have been raised in Christian homes, you cherish that.

You cherish your mother and your father because they've introduced you to Christ. This was Andrew. He introduced Peter to the Lord Jesus.

And then Andrew stood in Peter's shadow. Isn't that something? He introduces him to the Lord and then he steps back. And Peter becomes prominent.

And Andrew standing in his shadow. I can't read in the Word of God where he was ever envious of his brother. Of his dominance and his controlling character.

I take it he was a bit controlling, Peter. Which, that's not all bad. But there was really no contention among them that you can read about.

And there didn't seem to be any sibling rivalry. I wonder, is there sibling rivalry among us? Shouldn't be. Shouldn't be any sibling rivalry among the people of God simply and solely because we're reading the same Bible, aren't we? And we're worshiping the same Lord.

We're going to the same Bema seat. And we're going to the same heaven. So there really is no reason for there to be any sibling rivalry among the people of God.

There wasn't in relation to Andrew and his brother. The sons of thunder, James and John with Peter, all seem to be a bit of a loose cannon. You notice that? I notice that.

Just a bit of a loose cannon. But Andrew wasn't like that. He was not a loose cannon.

And at a rare time that Andrew spoke, it's really interesting. Some people, when they speak, you want to open your ears and hear what they have to say. And that was Andrew.

He had something to say. When he said something, he said it right. And he said it in the right way.

So he was someone to listen to. I remember years ago, I was at a conference and I was sitting alongside Ken Hardy. And that was a while back.

And the conference was in Garna Villa. And a man got up and spoke and his name was Fisher Hunter. Some of you in the room remember Fisher Hunter and others don't.

Some of you are too young for that. And Mr. Hardy said something to me that day I've never forgotten. When that man got on the platform, Ken Hardy said to me, he says, Now open up your ears.

Because this man is going to have something to say that's right. And he's going to say it in the right way. And it was a true story.

He really did have something to say. And he said it in a right way. He was a bit strange.

He liked to go to the back of the hall at the end of a meeting and pull a banana out of his Bible bag and peel the banana back and eat his banana and shake hands when folks were going out the door. But when he got on the platform, he definitely had something to say. And he wanted to open your ears to see what this man had to say.

You know, I think Andrew would have understood in a real way, not only a real way, but in a practical way, what Mr. Spurgeon said years and years ago. You know, he was known as the Prince of Preachers. He said, here's something he said, It takes more grace than I can tell to play the second fiddle well.

That would probably be language that Andrew could have used in his day. And I doubt if Andrew ever used that language in his day, but Spurgeon used that language in his day. Kind of strange in my mind, because he was a tremendous preacher.

You know, Andrew was clearly a man that was out of sight. John 1, verse 35-42 makes it crystal clear that Andrew followed John the Baptist before the Lord. John was a wilderness man.

He fed on plain fare. He fed on locust and wild honey. Sound good? I don't know.

Don't sound real good to me. I can handle the wild honey, but I don't know about the locust. Probably not the locust.

But the idea here is that he wasn't a man that was used of comfort. He'd do well in this hot room today. Wouldn't bother him in the least.

I don't know how you're doing, but I feel like I'm melting. But that wouldn't have bothered him in the least, I don't think. He was kind of used to living a life without any comfort whatsoever or any conveniences.

He wasn't climatized, I'm sure of that. I'm climatized. I like that air conditioning.

Don't you? Sure you do. Shake your head yes. Because I know everybody does.

That's really convenient. That's comfort. But John, he knew nothing about those things.

And perhaps that helped make this man, Andrew, who would have experienced the same identical things, I believe, following this John the Baptist, he would have experienced this lack of comfort and lack of convenience. And maybe that's really what made Andrew the man that he was. Maybe we're too soft.

I kind of like soft, though. Because I do like that air conditioning and little heat in the winter. That's kind of nice, kind of comfortable, kind of convenient.

Air conditioning in your car. When I was a boy, I had an air conditioner in my car. I had a raggedy car.

I don't know how the thing ever made it down the road. And the air conditioning was that you rolled all four windows down and you drove just as crazy and fast as you could go. And while you're doing that, you're melting inside the car.

But now you have the convenience of air conditioning and the comfort of it as well. And I think it's just great. I'm not sure that they were the good old days.

They were the old days for sure. But I don't know how good they were in some ways. So I take it that this lack of comfort and convenience in the life of this man, Andrew, really made him the man that he was.

1 Corinthians 16, verse 13, the Bible says, Watch ye and stand fast. Don't give ground. I might say something about that.

It probably won't be popular, but I might say something about it anyway. I've been waiting for quite some time to hear the brethren say something about that. So far I haven't heard anything.

The Word of God is clear. It says, Watch ye stand fast in the faith. Quit ye like men.

That means act like men. Be strong versus being weak. And let all things be done with love.

So we can do things with love and affection, right? And still we can be strong. And still we can act like men. And still we can stand for the truth in God's assembly.

Never mind the denominations. We don't really care what's going on there. That's their business.

Whatever it is they're doing. But we really do care what's going on in God's assembly. And there are some things that are going on in God's assembly.

And this is the only advice that I have to give. Stay out of it. Just flat, stay out of it.

Now that's really very simple. And be strong. Take a stand for the things that are right.

The things that we know are right. And not move away from the things that we've been taught. Because we've been taught correctly.

The old brethren taught us correctly, by the way. I'm convinced of that. You won't convince me that they didn't.

They didn't know it all. But they were pretty practical in their thinking. And in their ministry as well.

And they were not afraid to stand for the truth. To stand up against things that are wrong. But not in the denominations.

Don't worry about it. But things in the assemblies of the Lord's people. We need to do the exact same thing.

We need to watch. We need to be watchful. We need to be aware.

We need to know where that glass of water is in relation to your elbow. So we need to be watchful. We need to be aware.

We need to be strong. We need to have convictions. We need to keep on with the convictions that we have.

And the things that we've been taught. In the assemblies of the Lord's people. And I say it one more time.

There are some things that are going on. There are some disciplinary things going on. And the best thing we can do is stay out of it.

Now then. Andrew is one of those rare ones. He just labored for the Lord.

How did he do that? Quietly. He just labored for the Lord real quiet. No showmanship.

No, no, that isn't necessary. Showmanship isn't necessary. The Word of God says preach the Word.

It doesn't say anything about showmanship. And Andrew was not a man who was given to showmanship nor fanfare. He did not have an inflated ego.

He was not an I man, Mr. Andrew. He wasn't a man who, I'm absolutely certain, sure I've never seen him, but based upon the Word of God and the things that you can learn about this man, I am very sure that he didn't have pumped up emotions. And he had no craving for credit.

What was he doing? How could he live without any of that? It was really very simple. He was just doing the will of God from a pure heart. His heart was pure.

It wasn't all muddled up and mixed up with different things and emotions and thoughts and ideas. Ideas of men. He was just simply moving on in the will of God, and he was doing it in a pure heart.

He learned the Lord's lessons well. He learned them well. Mark 9, verse 35, Mark 9, words of the true servant, if any man desire to be first, that wasn't Andrew, was it? If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.

And the servant is not up here somewhere, is he? He's down here somewhere. That's where he's at. And there's no record in the Word of God that Andrew ever preached to great crowds.

You don't read of him writing one of the epistles. Andrew didn't write epistles. He didn't preach to great crowds.

There's really no mention of him in the book of Acts. It just seems that he simply did what he did best. You say, what is that? He introduced others to Christ.

That's pretty good. That's what Andrew did, and that's what Andrew did best, and so that's what Andrew did. I don't know what you do, but you do what you do best, and you do it for the glory of God, and I'll seek to do the same.

Sometimes the historians are worth reading. Josephus is worth reading. Sometimes they give you some kind of light that you don't get otherwise.

They enlighten you or show you things from the Word of God. And the historians say that right up to the time that he was martyred, lashed to a cross, Andrew sought to introduce others to the Christ of God. What am I going to do? Right up to the very time that God calls me home to glory, I hope I do as Andrew did.

I hope I still seek to introduce others to Christ. I think Andrew helps us better understand the meaning of 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 27 to verse 29. I'll let you read that on your own.

Andrew is a man, I take it, that clearly had an interest in the individual. The individual that goes unnoticed. How about you and I? Do we have an interest in the individual person, man, woman, boy or girl that goes unnoticed? Some of God's people actually go unnoticed.

And that was the kind of person that Andrew had an interest in. Those that are unnoticed. Not those that are on the platform or doing a work that is out in the public, but maybe just taking care of the aquarium.

Kind of going unnoticed. And it seems to me that Andrew was a man who had an interest in that individual, the unnoticed one. The one that maybe some people might consider unimportant.

That's the thinking of man, right? Because the Lord never thinks that way. No one is unimportant insofar as the Lord is concerned. And obviously, as far as this man Andrew was concerned, they're all important to the Lord.

Everyone is important to the Lord. No one is unimportant. I want to notice a little phrase in John 6 and verse 9. And the phrase goes like this, There is a lad here.

And in this portion of Scripture, the Lord observes a great company of people that are in need. The Lord notices things like that. A great company of people in need, and in His concern for them, because He is concerned about them, He confronts a man by the name of Philip.

And He says, When shall we buy meat or bread or food that these may eat? He is concerned about the fact that there was a multitude of people there and they needed to eat. And that may seem very insignificant, but it's not insignificant. It wasn't insignificant to those that were hungry, and it wasn't insignificant insofar as the Lord was concerned.

And then in verse 7 we read something about Philip. He begins to price things. He begins to put a price on things.

And his answer is, Not enough. And you know the provision without the provider will never be enough. And it's not the provision that is so important to you and me in the room this afternoon, it's the provider.

The one who provides for you is the one who provides for me as well. And I tell you, while Philip is weighing up the pros and cons, Andrew's making an observation. He's seeing something.

Philip's weighing things up. He's pricing things. He's putting a price on things.

But Andrew is making an observation. And what he observed was a lad. Philip didn't see him.

Andrew saw him. Because that's just the very one that Andrew paid attention to. Those that are unnoticed by others.

But not unnoticed by Andrew and not unnoticed by the Lord either. And there's something interesting about this lad. He had five barley loaves and two small fishes.

Now it takes labor to make bread. And it takes exercise to catch fish. Especially if you're a cat fisherman.

I used to fish for catfish. And you've got to hunt catfish. You can't just sit down by the riverbank and throw your line in and expect a catfish.

You've got to go looking for them. And they're in the deep holes. They're in the snags.

They're in the ripples. And they're off the high bank at night. Nice place to fish at night.

Off the high bank. So if you're a cat fisherman, remember, in the evening, go to the ripples on the river. You'll catch catfish.

And in the heat of the day, you want to go to a deep hole or a snag. And you just want to float that bait right down in there, right on top of the water. And that cat will take it.

It takes exercise. You can't just sit in your lawn chair with a sarsaparilla alongside you and an umbrella over the top of you to keep the heat off. You've got to get at it.

Same way with souls. You've got to get at it. You can't just hang your shingle out and say, Gospel meeting's here, all welcome.

Expect them to, ah, no. It takes exercise to go after them. Just as it takes exercise to catch fish.

I don't know how it works in a bass boat. There's probably brethren here who can tell me about fishing out of a bass boat. I've seen a few bass boats because I live by a great big lake called the Grand Lake of the Cherokees.

They pull in there with them bass boats. Man, they must have 50,000, 60,000 plus tied up in them boats. I mean, they are sharp looking.

And when they take away from the dock, they're putting up a rooster tail as they go. So I don't know what it was like. Maybe you can just lollygag in there and kick back in the old bass boat, but if you're fishing catfish, you're going to have to work.

It takes exercise to catch them. Now then, do we take notice of those who seek to feed the saints with bread? Or are they just there? And we forget about the fact that they are there. How about these men that are responsible men in the assembly of the Lord's people? Do we take notice? Andrew took notice.

Do we take notice? Do we pray for them? Pray for their wives? Pray for their children? We should be if we're not. I know it's easy to criticize them, but you can't help them that way. You can help them if you pray for them.

They're the ones that feed the saints with the bread from heaven. And then there are those that reach souls with the Gospel message. I wonder, do we have any interest in their labors and their exercise? Do we honestly have an interest in the labors of these men and their exercise, especially those who do this kind of work right under our noses? Huh? How about the ones that do that work right under our noses? Do we have an interest in them? Do we have an exercise for them? Do they go unnoticed? Something to think about.

Andrew saw there was a lad here. I heard a story about a preacher one time. He came home from a big crusade.

And somebody asked him, well, how'd the meetings go? And he says, well, just a boy. Just a boy got saved. But you know, the years went by, and that boy ended up being a preacher among the people of God and a good one too.

Just a boy. So do we take notice of the lad? How about the young woman? Do we take notice of them, or do they go unnoticed? You know, the Lord used what that lad had, and nothing was wasted when it's used by the Lord. Whatever you have, whatever I have, you and I cannot waste anything if we use it for the work of the Lord, for the good of God's people, and so on and so forth.

And the Lord used what the lad had. Nothing was wasted at all. And nothing is ever wasted if it's spent on the Lord.

Time, talent, treasure, whatever the case might be, it's never wasted if it's spent on the Lord. I take it that all our cares and all our comforts come from the Lord. Regardless of who distributes them.

Some dear folks that I know of, they feast on fish. No, they don't feast on fish. They do something else.

You say, what is it preacher? Fast? Friday. They fast on fish. But these folks here, they feasted on them.

And we do as well. It's always a feast in the Word of God. In Luke chapter 11, we feast on bread.

There's bread there. That's pretty common. And the Word of God is very common.

And we feed upon the Word of God, and it sustains us, it strengthens us here in the wilderness, right? And fish, and an egg. You read about bread, you read about fish, you read about an egg. And bread is like the Word of God, it's very common.

And fish, if you're catching fish generally, they're really on the surface. You get them on the surface, they're biting pretty good. There's a lot of information in this lovely old book that's just right on the surface.

You don't have to dig very deep to get it. I don't dig too deep, because I might catch a fish down there and bring it up, and once I got it on the top, I won't even know what I have. I'm thankful for brethren that can dig deep.

But I can't. And then there's the Word of God is like an egg. There are just some certain things about an egg.

You've got to wait to see what you've got. My wife has 30 chickens. She has an old pluck hen sitting on eggs right now.

And they just started hatching out, and she's all excited about these chirpy little old chickens coming out from underneath this hen. But she's pretty excited about it, because she has to wait. She knows she doesn't dare mess with the hen, so she just has to wait to see what she gets.

You know, there's things in the Word of God, we're just going to have to wait and see in a future day what we're going to get in relation to the Word of God. There's the roast lamb. We feed upon the roast lamb day by day, and the manna and the old corn of the land.

And ideally, we are spiritually fat and well fed in the same way that this dear man, Andrew, I believe, was a man who was spiritually fat, and he was well fed.