Scripture: John 1:43-51
Sermon Series: The Biggest Questions – Sermon 01

Are you a skeptic? Most of us are. Skepticism and institutional distrust have increased in America, but some people seem predisposed to accept stories about mysteries or the unexplainable.

Personally, I don’t believe in Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster or that E.T. has visited earth. I don’t believe the budget will be balanced or that there’s some formula to grow hair back, after all, “Bald is Beautiful.”

Did you know that 28% of Americans believe that Sasquatch exists? About 24% of people in Scotland believe the Loch Ness Monster is real. But you’ll be relieved to know that in spite of one horror film and a few books, The Beast of Bray Road doesn’t exist. The Beast of Bray Road is reportedly a 7 foot-tall, canine-like creature that haunts a rural road near Elkhorn. But our own Ron Strelow went out with some friends one night with a huge light up and down Bray Road and never found him, so The Beast of Bray Road doesn’t exist and the Walworth County Deputy who questioned Ron and his team can verify that.

65% of U.S. adults believe aliens exist. Yet, according to a Pew Research Center Study, 85% of atheists believe that E.T. exists, yet somehow they don’t believe in God?

This morning we’re beginning a new study, The Biggest Questions. During the next few weeks, we’ll work through questions like Can you prove the existence of God? Is the Bible true? Why is there suffering and evil?

Christianity is not blind faith. God wants us to know what we believe. That’s why He gave us the Bible and it’s vital that we study it. 1 Peter 3:15 says, Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.

Christianity does require faith, yet if we honestly look at the evidence, we’ll be able come to reasonable assurance that what the Bible teaches about God, life and eternity are true.

Throughout the Bible, there are many encounters with skeptics. And I want you to remember throughout this series that Jesus loves skeptics and honest questions. We’re working through that specifically today from John 1:43-51.

German skeptic and atheist, Fredrick Nietzsche, was right, Truth does not fear scrutiny. Before we look at Jesus’ conversation with a skeptic, let’s lay some groundwork…There are different kinds of skeptics.

It’s not wrong to have doubts or questions. We all have them, even if you’re a Christ-follower. We may believe differently, but we have many of the same questions. Maybe it’s questions about the Bible itself: You hear a story from the Bible and you’re like, “A worldwide flood, really?” God put one family on a boat and in came the animals two by two and that’s how God preserved life on earth while He destroyed the rest? Or questions of why, if there is a loving God, is there so much pain in the world?

1. What is a skeptic? 

The term “skeptic” means to be disbelieving or questioning. When someone says, “I find that hard to believe” they’re skeptical. The attitude of a skeptic is “prove it to me” or “change my mind.” When it comes to God’s Word, His truth and the teachings of the Bible, there are many skeptics. In America today, something like 50%.

Skepticism toward the Bible generally falls into distinct categories. When it comes to Christianity, skeptics with a Western Civilization background are often categorized by what drives their doubt:

There are Intellectual Skeptics.

These are individuals who need answers. They want historical, scientific, or logical evidence for claims like creation, miracles, or Jesus’ resurrection. They’re typically open to facts, prophetic fulfillment, or historical context.

There are Emotional Skeptics. 

These are individuals who’ve been hurt by life’s painful realities, suffering, or the problem of evil. Some harbor bitterness, hurt, or rejection of God because of personal abuse, hypocrisy, or ungodly behavior, sometimes from professing Christians or the Church.  

There are Guilt-Ridden Skeptics. 

These are individuals who are living a lifestyle they know violates God’s standards of behavior. The Bible disagrees with their life choices, so they don’t want the Bible to be true or have a God, because it’d mean that they’re accountable for their behavior and choices. They’re like a bank robber who doesn’t want to be around cops.

Aldous Huxley who coined the term agnostic said, I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning…The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics; he is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do…the philosophy of meaningless was essentially an instrument of liberation…from a certain system of morality. In other words, if there is no God and no standards, then there’s total moral freedom to live and believe as you want. Skepticism is driven by a desire to live and be free of guilt.

There are Hostile Skeptics. 

Some demand endless signs or proof and start with a closed framework, often dismissing evidence out of bias rather than honesty or genuine inquiry. C.S. Lewis labeled it chronological snobbery. It’s when someone thinks that because they were ancient times and more primitive people, but today we’re modern, more advanced and sophisticated in our thinking than they were. But everyone would be shocked by news of a virgin birth! These first-century readers would be just as surprised by many of these events as we still are today!

One day a young mother came into her daughter’s room to find her busy with her crayons and paper. “What are you drawing?” she asked. Her daughter paused, “A picture of God.” Her mother smiled and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.” The little girl continued with her work and matter-of-factly stated, “They will when I get through.”

That’s what we hope to do with this series. We want you to know what God looks like, and we want to begin with a scene from the Gospel of John. In this encounter with Jesus and Nathaniel, John is painting a portrait of God. When he’s done God’s picture will look just like Jesus.

Are you a skeptic? So, was Nathaniel. Let’s look at this encounter he has with the Jesus. Let’s begin with Nathaniel’s friend, Philip.

2. Philip was a friend of skeptics before Jesus was their Savior. 

Most Christians need to break out of the “Holy Huddle.” Who are your friends? Do you only have Christian friends? It’s nearly impossible to obey Christ’s command to reach those who don’t know Jesus if you’re not their friend. So, how much socializing do you do with the unsaved?

At Grace, I’m so thankful we have those who are members of Rotary, the Lions Club, the Chamber, Garden Clubs, coach sports and other groups. It helps us interact with those who don’t know Jesus. Scripture is clear that God wants us to mingle and be friends of those who are unsaved. That was Philip.

One of my big concerns for our church’s future is that you’d someday have a pastor who is not relational and hides out in his office or the “holy huddle.” He doesn’t interact or befriend the lost in the community. Unfortunately, there are many pastors like that. I hope he’s a better preacher, more organized with better administrative gifts BUT I hope he loves people and loves this community! That’s our mission! That’s his calling and yours!

A preschooler came home from her first time at Sunday School. Her mom wanted to know how things had gone and what the little girl thought about it. “How was it?” mom asked. “Oh, it was fine and it was fun. But I think my teacher was Jesus’ grandma!” “What makes you think that?” asked the surprised mom. The little girl answered without hesitation, “Because she kept showing us pictures of baby Jesus. He’s all she talked about!”

Most of us need to talk a lot more about Jesus. John 1 introduces us to a number of people who kept talking about Jesus. The Gospel of John is about Jesus first, last, and always. John had so much to say about Jesus he couldn’t write it all down. He closes his gospel with: This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written (John 21:24-25).

John’s purpose is revealed in John 20:31, But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. And that’s Philip’s purpose. Is it your purpose? Is it your passion? What’s more important to talk about than Jesus? How I wish we had the same passion and talked about Jesus as much as we do sports or politics or other temporal things.

Philip has to tell his friend about Jesus. Notice what he tells Nathaniel. We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph (John 1:45). That’s a great approach to use with a skeptic. Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies, prophecies written hundred, even thousands of years before He was born in Bethlehem.

If you happen to be skeptic here today, first we’re so thankful you’re here. But I have a challenge for you, look at the all the prophecies in the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled when He walked this earth. Conservatively, Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophecies in His short life.

When it comes to tough questions, we can’t pretend that there aren’t some difficult issues that need working through and need answers. We can’t just paint over them to try to make people feel good. It doesn’t work.

Wednesday, October 14^th was the 100^th Anniversary of A.A. Milne’s classic book, Winnie the Pooh. Do you remember the story of when Pooh visited Rabbit’s house at lunchtime? He eats all the honey and announces that he must be going. But Pooh has eaten so much honey he gets stuck in Rabbit’s door. So, Rabbit fetches Christopher Robin, who pulls while Rabbit pushes, all to no use. Pooh is stuck worse. So, now Rabbit has an unfortunate view of Pooh’s backside, so he decides to improve the view.

He takes some paint, draws eyes, a nose, and a smile on Pooh’s lower half. Then, he takes some branches, attaches them to either side, and makes Pooh into a trophy moose head. He frames it, placing a little shelf on Pooh’s legs that are sticking out. On the shelf, he puts a tablecloth, a teapot, and a candlestick. This works out until someone brings Pooh some flowers, he sneezes, and the moose head falls apart. The shelf and frame come crashing down. When it comes to helping people with the tough questions, we can’t just pretend they’re not there because they are.

Philip is a model for all of us. He doesn’t argue with Nathaniel. He just befriends him and invites him to meet Jesus.Philip says, Come and see. While we need to seek to answer honest questions, we’ll never argue anyone into heaven. Too many times, we win arguments but turn off our lost friend. We need to urge them to check things out for themselves.

Many have never read the Bible and don’t know the central focus is Jesus. It’s amazing how many have their eyes opened by God just by reading the Bible. Or, like Philip, just tell your story of how you came to Christ and Jesus changed your life. It’s a great story and everyone loves a good story.

3. Skeptics can be bigoted and arrogant. 

Years ago, British agnostic Thomas Huxley, the grandfather of Aldous Huxley, had to leave early one morning to go from one speaking lecture to another. He got in a horse-drawn taxi to go from his hotel to the train station. He assumed the hotel doorman had told the driver of the carriage that they were to go to the train station. So, when he got in, he simply shouted to the driver, “Drive fast.” And off they went. After a short while, Huxley realized that they were going in the opposite direction of the train station, so he yelled to the driver, “Do you know where you’re going?” Without looking back, the driver replied, “No, sir, but I’m driving very fast.”

That’s much of our world. They don’t know where they’re going or why they’re going there, but they’re going very fast!

Nathaniel was bigoted. 

He looked down on Nazareth. It was a little farm town. Blink and you’d miss it. Maybe 400 people lived there.

I’m originally from Atlanta, though I’ve lost most of my accent. It drives me crazy when someone assumes that people from the south are a bunch of ignorant hicks. When a tornado hits, I think the media looks for the guy in a dirty t-shirt missing most of his teeth with a wad a tobacco in his cheek to interview. That’s what Nathaniel thought Nazareth was.

Many skeptics think that’s what Christians are. They’ve never met a Christ-follower, so they think the caricature of the media is accurate, that Christians are a bunch of mean, ignoramuses.

Christian literally means “little Christ.” It’s why Christians must be distinctly different. We’re to be loving, kind and joyful, just like Jesus.

Nathaniel was arrogant. 

He’d decided who Jesus was before he’d met Him. He knew the answers before he even knew the questions.

Pride is the biggest obstacle that keeps people from coming to Christ. That’s why it’s the number one sin that God hates (Proverbs 6:16-19).

And there’s no place for pride in a Christian. It’s wrong for a Christian to be arrogant. What do we have to be proud about? We’re far worse than anyone knows. We’re so vile that if Jesus hadn’t died for us, we’d never be forgiven and go to heaven. It’s all of grace. It’s all a free gift. Christians should be the humblest ones because we know without Jesus, we’re a dumpster fire.

4. Jesus is our model for how to treat skeptics. 

Jesus appreciates honest skeptics. There’s a difference between honest skepticism that’s open to answers and phony intellectualism. While Nathanael had his doubts, he apparently read and studied his Bible. He was looking for answers, so when invited to come and see, he came!

Jesus affirms him. 

Because Jesus is God, He knew what Nathanael had said about Him. He knows Nathaniel is wrong. Jesus was born in Bethlehem and is from Bethlehem, not Nazareth.

But Jesus praises him instead of correcting him. Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit! (John 1:47). Nathaniel was an honest man. He’s a God-seeker. Sitting under a fig tree in Jewish culture was symbolic of seeking peace and meditating on God’s Word.

You get more flies with sugar than you do with salt. It’s rare that if you’re open and ask the Lord to guide you, that you can’t find something in someone’s life to affirm. But you must open your eyes. You must notice things. If we think biblically, we’ll see the right things. Philippians 4:8, Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Is that what you think about? If that’s your mental menu, it’s what you’ll see in others.

Jesus shares that He is looking for us. 

When a word is repeated in the Bible, it’s important. The word found is repeated three times in these verses. The reality is that we’re not looking for God, God is looking for us. He’s the shepherd who searches for the lost lamb.

There are so many wonderful layers here. Jesus uses an illustration that Nathaniel understood but we miss because we don’t know our Bibles.

We have some firsts here. This is the first time that Jesus teaches in the Gospel of John. It’s the first time He uses the term, “truly, truly” which we translate “Amen.” It simply means, “this is so” or “it’s true.” It’s the first of 25 times that Jesus uses that phrase.

It was countercultural in that day. After rabbis ended their lectures, people would say, “truly, truly” indicating that the rabbi had taught the truth. But Jesus begins His teaching with it, to point out that everything He says is true because Jesus not only teaches truth, He is literally the truth.

But there is something wonderful here and if I hadn’t worked through this and studied it, I wouldn’t have seen it. Look again at the last verse. And he said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man’ (John 1:51).

Jesus goes back to a story that Nathaniel would have known from the Bible about another skeptic. Not only was this man a skeptic, he’s also a liar, a schemer and was party to what today we’d call “elder abuse.” His name is Jacob. He’s the grandson of Abraham. The account is found in Genesis 28 in what’s known as “Jacob’s ladder.”

Jacob had deceived his father, Isaac, who was elderly and couldn’t see. Birthrights and a father’s blessing were huge in that culture, but Jacob convinces his father that he’s Esau, his older brother. He deceives his dad and steals the birthright and blessing of Esau. Enraged, Esau plots to murder Jacob and Jacob has to get out of Dodge. He heads to his Uncle Laban’s home and on the way, stops to sleep with a stone for a pillow.

Look at Genesis 28:10-17 (p. 21). Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’

This was a common vision in ancient times, seeking to somehow ascend to God. Prior to what happens, people of that day believed that somehow they must climb up to God.

But that’s not God. He doesn’t yell down at us to climb up to Him. Instead, God descends to us and here God descends to Jacob. 

If there is anyone who didn’t deserve God’s grace, it was Jacob. He’s a hot mess, but God descends and extends grace to Him. None of us deserve God’s grace, I know that I don’t, yet God offers it to us freely. He descends to us. This ladder in Genesis 28 is a picture of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Jesus is the ladder.

In Genesis 28 there’s a ladder stretched down from heaven to earth. Angels are ascending and descending on it. In John 1 there’s a person sent down from heaven to earth. Jesus is making a clear allusion to Genesis 28. The Lord Jesus is the true and better ladder from God to us.

None of us were striving for Jesus when we met Him. We might have been trying to work our way to heaven or be moral or good. We were striving for God’s acceptance, but we couldn’t get up the ladder. In Jesus, God stretched the ladder down to us. He sent His Son down to earth. Jesus came to this world to be one of us, to die for us and pay our sin debt on the cross. That’s why He cried from the cross, “It is finished.” It’s all paid. You and I can’t earn or do anything to reach up to God. In Jesus, God reaches down to us. He’s God’s free gift to us, but you must receive Him. You must accept God’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life, as we find in John 3:16.

This moment is so significant for Jacob that when he wakes up, he takes the rock he used for a pillow and sets it up as a monument. It’s a watershed for Jacob that he never wants to forget. 

God finds Jacob and now Jesus finds Nathaniel. God searched for both, and God searches for you and me too. In the middle of all your questions, your skepticism – Jesus searches for you.

That’s the message of Christianity. It’s what we call the gospel. Jacob believed God gave this ladder to him. Nathaniel from this moment believes in Jesus. It’s all you must do, you must believe in Jesus, that He descended from heaven, lived on this earth and died on the cross for YOU, to pay your sin debt. You won’t ever be able to ascend to God. You must believe Jesus descended to rescue you. You can be the biggest skeptic. All of that can change, if you will only trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Conclusion

Are you a skeptic? Wondering if this is true? God loves skeptics. How do I know? Because I was one. It was after my junior year of Bible college and I hit a crisis. I’d been studying to be a pastor and began to wonder, Do I really believe this? Is there really a God? Is the Bible true?

It was a very dark period of my life.I dropped out of college, hitchhiked from Wisconsin to Texas and worked on a water drilling rig for the oil field to give me space to work through my doubts and skepticism.

One of the things that really helped me was a book, Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell. Josh too had once been a skeptic. In college he ridiculed Christianity until a Christian challenged him, “Had he ever checked the evidence for himself? Had he ever read the Bible?”

He hadn’t so he began to. He thought it was a slam dunk to show it was all a big myth, but then God opened his eyes. He saw Christianity is based on facts not myths, and he trusted Jesus as his Savior. It’s a story repeated countless times. Skeptics who when they honestly considered the evidence realized Jesus was who He said He was and committed their lives to Him.

This morning if you’re struggling with doubt or if you’re watching online, we have copies of Josh’s book, More than a Carpenter that we’d love to give you. Go by the Welcome Desk and ask for one or email us with your address at Office@gracechurchwi.org and we’ll mail you one.

Christianity is not a bunch of facts and proofs. The greatest proof is a Person, the Person of Jesus Christ. And this wonderful Person has captured the attention of the world. You don’t have to believe in Jesus, but you can’t ignore Him. My friend, do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

Are you a skeptic? Do you want to know if it might be true? Start reading His story. Begin in the New Testament with what are His four biographies: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

God loves you and He wants you to know that. He sacrificed His Son for you, and He wants to come into your life and transform it, giving you what everyone longs for, true peace, His peace. Jesus loves skeptics and can handle your questions. Will you let Him?