Mom's here today and we're continuing our study of the Twelve Disciples, in particular who were the Twelve Disciples. And today we're going to be looking at Philip, the disciple named Philip. Be careful not to confuse the disciple Philip with Philip the Evangelist, and Philip who was one of the first deacons from the Book of Acts. Two different people, okay? Same name, two different people. So, who we're looking at today is Philip the disciple. So, John MacArthur wrote a great book about the lives of disciples called Twelve Ordinary Men, and in his book he says this, Philip was a classic process person. He was a facts-and-figure guy, a by-the-book, practical-minded, non-forward-thinking type of individual. He was the kind who tends to be a corporate killjoy, pessimistic, narrowly focused, sometimes missing the big picture, often obsessed by identifying reasons things can't be done rather than finding ways to do them. He was predisposed to be a pragmatist and cynic, and again a pragmatist, I wrote the definition in, a person who is guided by practical considerations rather than by ideals. And he was sometimes a defeatist rather than a visionary. You ever meet people like that? Kind of like, you can't, you can't, we can't do it. You know, well let's go, well we can't go there, we can't, you know, they're always negative and they focus more on how and why you can't rather than at least let's try, okay. This seems to be, from what we know about Philip, what he was like. Everything we know about Philip comes from the Gospel of John. Nothing anywhere else, he's not mentioned talking or anything like that in any other book other than the Gospel of John. So, let's learn about Philip. First off, his name. In Matthew 10, verses 2 and 3, is where we get the list of the disciples. And it says, Now the names of the twelve apostles are these, the first, Simon who is called Peter, saw him already, Andrew his brother, saw him already, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. So we already looked at the four you know, the four in 2, in verse 2, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, two sets of brothers. We already talked about them, Peter being older than Andrew, James being older than John, John and his brother possibly cousins of the Lord Jesus, and those four men partners in fishing business. But verse 3, the first disciple that's mentioned that we'll learn about today is Philip. And Philip's name means he who loves horses. Isn't that an interesting name? He who loves horses. So his parents obviously must have had a fondness for horses, or I don't know, but it's just an interesting name. And his personal life, his occupation, I wrote possibly a fisherman with a question mark. We don't know for sure, but it's good indication he is. Turn to John now. We're going to be in John for the rest of the time. in John chapter 1 in verse 43 and 44 it says, ìThe day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee and findeth Philip, and said unto him, ìFollow me.î And Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.î So why do we think He was possibly a fisherman? Well, first and foremost, he was of the town of Bethsaida, which means fish house, house of fish, okay? And Peter and Andrew came from there. They were fishermen. So, again, possibility. We don't know this for sure. In chapter 12 of John, verse 21 and 22, The Bible says, The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew. And again, Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. So there's a close association with Peter and Andrew. And did this make him a fisherman? Not sure. but it's good indication. In John chapter 21 at the end, remember Peter denies the Lord, Peter sees the resurrection, sees the empty tomb, he's confused, and what does Peter say? I'm going fishing, right? Chapter 21 verse 1. After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, And on this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the two sons of Zebedees, and two other of his disciples. Some people think that he may have been one of these two unnamed disciples. I don't know. Good possibility, but I don't know. But there's good indication he more than likely was a fisherman. We just can't be dogmatic about that. Okay? Good? All right. So his personal life. What about his family? We already saw John 1.44. He was from Besedia, which means house of fish. And another reason, again, to believe he may have been a fisherman. Most likely, He was a Hellenist. Remember, we've heard that word a lot. What does that mean? A Hellenist is a Jewish person who's Greek in culture. Okay? So, of course, when Alexander the Greek, a couple centuries before, conquered the world, Israel was part of that world, and he made everybody learn not only the language, but Greek culture spread. And we even see in the early church, we even see how the Hellenists were being deprived of the daily provisions, and there was even a division, if you will, between the people who maintained their Jewish culture and the Jewish people who had a Greek culture. So, Philip, without a doubt, is Jewish, but he's a Hellenist. His Hebrew name is never given. in the New Testament. Philip is a Greek name. Now, maybe he never, maybe he didn't have a Hebrew name. You understand what I'm saying? A lot of times we learn, and we'll see with other disciples, we learn their Hellenistic name, but we also learn their Hebrew name. Philip, we only know him as Philip, and Philip is a Greek name, okay? And so he was Greek in culture, possibly why the Greeks came to see him in John chapter 12. Now remember, Culture. Culture affects your dress, affects the way you look, affects the way even you speak, right? So, maybe he was more comfortable speaking Greek than Hebrew. Maybe he didn't wear the clothes that the Hebrew people wore compared to the Greek people wear. Maybe his hair was different. Maybe he didn't have a beard. I don't know. But it's interesting that the Greeks who desired to see Jesus, who did they come to? They came to Philip. And I do not believe that he was not Jewish. Again, because who did Jesus come first to save? The lost sheep of the house of Israel. Okay? His spiritual life. Look at John 1.45. He was well-versed in the Scripture. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Okay, so he's well versed in the Scriptures. It seems that he knew the Scriptures and he went right away to his friend Nathanael. And he brought Nathanael to Christ. And so he was well versed in the Scriptures. We found him. We found the Messiah. The one who Moses wrote about. The one who the prophets wrote about. He was the first disciple called directly by Christ. Now understand what I'm saying. Remember, John and Andrew came to Jesus and they were following Him, right? John the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb of God. So Andrew went and found his brother Peter and brought him to Christ. But Jesus specifically sees Philip and calls him, verse 43, the day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee and findeth Philip and said unto him, follow me. Okay, so. What was that? James and John. Well, yeah, but up to this point, you know what I'm saying? Up to the ones we're looking at, yeah. So, you know, and so he called him directly. Now, obviously, Jesus called all of them, but, you know, we learn that Andrew was influential in bringing his brother, and John the Baptist was influential in pointing John and Andrew to Jesus. So, and then what is the first thing he did? He brought Nathanael to Christ, verse 45. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses and the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. So next week we'll look at Nathanael and learn a little bit about him. But he had a concern for his friend Nathanael. And so what did he say? We found Jesus. And then he was kind of, oh yeah, anything good come? And what was his response? Why don't you come and see? See for yourself. What is that state? Missouri, right? The show me state. Come on, come and see. I love that. I think that's a great, that might even be good for us to say, oh church, come on, you kidding me? Come and see. Come and see how crazy our pastor is. Come on. Alright, any questions up to this point? His name is Personal Life. There we go. His character, learn a little bit about his character. What are his good traits? Well, first he had a seeking heart. Again, verse 45, we have found him, right? I think because of John the Baptist, I think because of the time, of course there was messianic fervor, and so people were thinking about and wondering about the Messiah, and he, like many people in Israel, is seeking. So he had a seeking heart. And of course we see in verse 45 and six, he cared about his friends. You know, it's great to have a seeking heart. What does the Lord say? Seek and? ye shall find, right? And isn't it good to be concerned about your friends? I mean, Andrew found his brother, first person he went to. Well here, so we see the importance of bringing family to Jesus, but here is Philip bringing Nathaniel, his friend. So not only is it important for us to bring family, and introduce them to Christ, but it's important to bring friends also, you know. And I'm sure all of us have friends. Maybe some of you don't have any friends, but no, I'm sure you all do, you know. And it's important for us to bring friends and family to the Lord. But he had some bad traits that we learn a little bit about him. Like all of us, we all have bad traits. He was skeptical. He was analytical and he was pessimistic. What do we mean by pessimistic? If someone's a pessimist, what do we mean by that? Right. What are the two type of people we say there usually are? The optimist and the pessimist, right? And one sees the glass. Half full, and the other one sees the glass half empty. I'm an opportunist. I see a half glass of water, I'm going to take it and drink it. So anyway, but you understand what I'm saying. So he tends to be that, oh, we can't guy. I've known people like this through my life, and you probably have known them too. I have many bad traits. This is not one of my bad traits. You know what I'm saying? I'm not a, I-can't-do-it-we-can't-do-it guy, you know. I tend to probably be overly, well, let's try it, you know, and sometimes have gotten myself in over my head sometimes. But look at John chapter 6. course John chapter 6 is the feeding of the 5,000. And in John chapter 6 verse 5, when Jesus therefore lifted up his eyes and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto, who did he say unto? Philip. Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? Or where? And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. Why did Jesus, out of all the twelve, question Philip? He didn't turn to his disciples and say. He didn't turn to John or Peter. Or even Judas, he turned to Philip. It's interesting, you know. Some people say maybe Philip was the one who had the bag, but in other places it says Judas held the bag. Judas was the treasurer. Maybe he knew Philip was the pessimist, right? Maybe he knew Philip was the guy who was always thinking negatively. But he said it to what? Prove him. Teaching them. It's a teaching opportunity. Don't be such a pessimist. Maybe maybe that's the reason Another one of Pre what do you mean present the problem? Oh, oh, right, right, right. Yeah Yep, yep, and we're gonna get to that in a minute, but isn't it interesting that it's Philip he questions, by name, by name. Of course he's teaching all the disciples, but doesn't Jesus do that sometimes though? Peter, John, James, you know. But he's also reluctant. In John 12, we read it already, but let's read it again. And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. So these are people who were converted to Judaism, okay? They came to worship at the feast. They're not Jewish, but now these aren't Hellenists. These are actually Jews, I'm sorry, actually Greeks who have converted to Judaism. Prostylotypes, okay? The same came, therefore, to who? Philip, which was of Bethsaida, of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew telleth Philip. Now this is interesting, because we find Philip bringing Nathanael to Jesus, but when this group of Greek people come, and they say, we want to see Jesus, Wouldn't you think, oh, great, come on. But what does he do? Andrew, there's this group of Greek people and they want to see Jesus. So it seems like there's a little bit of reluctance here. What happened to him between chapter 1 bringing Nathanael and chapter 6, or chapter 12, not bringing the Greeks by himself? Could it be a little form of reluctance? Could it be that he didn't understand, you know, can we bring Greek people here? Even though he has a Greek name and he's Greek in culture, remember he's still Jewish though. Again, I don't know. It's just interesting. And then he's unsure in John 14, verse 8. John 14, verse 8. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us, or it will satisfy us. Again, it's Philip who speaks out and says, You know, if Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Oh, no, that's a little bit later. But, you know, Philip says, Lord, just show us the Father, and it'll satisfy us. So he seems to be unsure. So his good traits, seeking hard, he cared about his friends. His bad traits, skeptical, analytical, pessimistic, reluctant, unsure. Now, all of us have good and bad traits. And even sometimes our good traits need to be tempered. But what did His life experience teach Him? In particular, what did His time with Jesus teach Him? Right? Just like the other disciples. Remember James and John? Sons of thunder. Man, they're just... Let's, you know, call down fire on them, Lord! Kill them! You know? No, no, no, I came, you don't know what you're talking about. I came to seek and to save, not to destroy. So what did his life experience teach him, his time with Jesus? Jesus can do much with little. So, let's get back to John six, where Andy had mentioned this stuff before. John chapter six, verse eight. So, Jesus questions Philip, and Philip said in verse 7, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may take a little. Okay, so he says, you know, he asks Philip the question, Philip answers, you know, if we had, remember when we looked at this, if we had almost a year's wage, we couldn't give everybody even a little bit of bread. We can't feed him, Lord, right? He's not the optimist, he's the pessimist. Can't do it. Don't have enough funds. Okay? Just too much. It's out of our control. And the Lord continues to say, one of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith, There's a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many? Again, question, unsure. Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now, there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down and numbered about 5,000. He took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed to his disciples, disciples to them that were set down, and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciple, Gather up the fragments that remained, let that nothing be left. Therefore they gathered them together, filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth, that prophet that should come into the world. So again, what does he learn from Jesus? That Jesus can do much with little. Isn't it interesting when we think about that and we think of what the Lord can do with our little bit, right? What He can do with, sometimes we say, with the widow's might. And it's a blessing. It's a blessing. And He learned this, okay? He also learned that Jesus came to bring salvation to all. John 12, when He and Andrew bring the Greeks, it says in verse 23, And Jesus answered them, who, the Greeks, saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life. If any man serve me, Let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor. So here is Jesus teaching, you know, not only Philip, but all of them, that Jesus came to bring salvation to the whole world, not just to the lost sheep of Israel. And then one more thing we'll look at when we think of his life experience. In John 14, remember, it's Jesus who said, I'm sorry, it's Philip who said, Philip saith unto him, in verse eight, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth or satisfies us. Jesus said unto him, have I been so long time with you, Philip? I'm sorry, with you, and yet thou hast not known me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me, the words that I speak unto you? I speak not of Myself, but the Father that dwelleth in Me. He doeth the works. Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very work's sake. And so what do we see here? For three years, John MacArthur also writes in the book, for three years Philip had gazed into the very face of God and still was not clear, it was not clear to him that he was God. And again, I think all of the disciples at this point too. Here is Philip. Lord, show us the Father. And Jesus says to him, Philip, you've been looking at the Father. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. You know, talking about the Trinity and the one divine nature that they share. So this is what his life experience taught him. Even though he was a pessimist and not very optimistic, he learned that Jesus can do an awful lot with a little bit. He learned that you can bring anybody, your best friend, to Jesus, and also people who aren't, you know, of the lost sheep of Israel. And he taught them that you have to exercise faith. You have to believe. His role in the early church, we don't know anything about him from the book of Acts, other than what it says in chapter one. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath day journey. And when they were come in, they went into an upper room where abode Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip. Okay? So he's there in the beginning. And then in Acts chapter eight, when a lot of the persecution comes, what does it say? Saul was consenting unto his death. Whose death? Stephen's death. And at the time, there was great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. So, He ministered in Jerusalem from at least the Ascension to the scattering of believers in Acts chapter 8. And Philip was greatly used to spread the gospel. Church tradition says he preached the gospel in Scythia, which is modern-day Ukraine. So that's quite a ways north of Israel. And his death, church tradition says he was the second disciple to suffer martyrdom, some eight years after James. Again, the only disciple we know about his death is, we already looked at it, James, right? Herod killed him, Herod beheaded him. But Fox tells us, What is Fox's first name? All I know is it's by Fox's Book of Martyrs. I don't know, but anyway. Fox says that he was first stoned and then crucified on a tall cross in Hierapolis of Pergia, which is modern-day Turkey. And again, church tradition says this was only about eight years after James, so not too long, but he took the Gospel. He took the Gospel north. So Philip, an interesting man. What can we learn from Philip? Well, the work of the Lord is done very differently than the way the world works. Isn't that so? Right? The world works very differently. And we have to have faith that the Lord can do. Right? And that the Lord can do through us. The Lord can do much with little. And we must have faith in the Lord's ability, and not the size of the bank account. Matthew, just before we open it up to some questions, Matthew 17, verse 20, the Bible says, And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, If ye had faith, the grain of a mustard seed, You shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. And then in chapter 19, verse 26, Jesus says, But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Right? So, Philip, that pessimistic kind of, ah, you know, we can't do it. You know, it's too big, it's too expensive, it's too long, there's too many, you know, as MacArthur says, the corporate killjoy. You know people like that? Maybe you're like that. I'm not gonna ask anybody to show, raise a hand, you know, but maybe you're that way. But this was Philip, and Philip learned much from Jesus that you shouldn't be that way, because Jesus can do an awful lot with our little.