60 Therefore, when many of His disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard! Who can accept it?”
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples.
The power of the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to remain obedient to Him where our own strength would make this difficult, if not impossible, to do. There are demands within Scripture that make this difficult.
Matthew 26:56
But all this has happened so that the prophetic Scriptures would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted Him and ran away.
Luke 14:26-27, 33
26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
33 In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not say good-bye to all his possessions cannot be My disciple.
In order to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, it may require more than one encounter with Jesus.
Matthew 4:18-21
18 As He was walking along the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen. 19 “Follow Me,” He told them, “and I will make you fish for people!” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and He called them.
Mark 1:16
As He was passing along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen.
Luke 5:1-4
1 As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, He was standing by Lake Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then He sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.
4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
Matthew 4:18-21, Mark 1:16 and Luke 5:1-4 essentially say the same point of reaching out to call upon His disciples.
John 1:35-51 is a little different from the previous three verses in that some of his disciples had a second encounter with Him, especially three of the first five disciples. the first two disciples followed Jesus because of the testimony of John the Baptist (John 1:35-37). There are testimonies of Christ that come about through indirect comments. Some are direct, also, and we’ll see differences here as Christ was reaching out to his disciples.
John 1:37-39
37 The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and noticed them following Him, He asked them, “What are you looking for?”
They said to Him, ” Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are You staying?”
39 “Come and you’ll see,” He replied. So they went and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day. It was about 10 in the morning.
Notice that those who follow Christ are still in need of answers beyond they already have. Sometimes the answers to questions come later after you experience more about Jesus. If you ever want to learn more about Christ, you have to spend time with Him. Once you sincerely spend time with Jesus and live for Him, you will get excited!
John 1:40-42
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed Him. He first found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah! (which means “Anointed One”), and he brought Simon to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, He said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called “Cephas” (which means “Rock”).
John 1:43-51
48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,”Jesus answered.
49 ” Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe [only] because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” 51 Then He said, ” I assure you: You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
In all of these situations, the Holy Spirit has to give the person who recognizes Christ the ability to see Him as Lord and Savior.
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