Remember these folks in your
prayers? Lloyd Wolfes, Lloyd Linda Wolfe,
Linda passed away the other day. Remember that family for sure. Lloyd Wolfe family. She married Arthur. Yeah, Robert
Arthur. Somebody else, Marsha? No, that
was her husband. She's remarried. Linda's remarried.
OK. All right. OK. There's five names listed
after the list we'll have on the list on Sunday. Let's begin
our worship service tonight with 272, Solid Rock. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I am not just the sweetest friend,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
no other ground is as He descends. When darkness fails, it is what
we face. I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil. Oh, Christ, the solid rock I
stand on On earth, the ground is sinking sand On earth, the
ground is sinking sand Christ is He shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I live in Him be found, Christ in His righteousness above,
O let's do stand before the throne. On Christ the star in rock I
stand, O ever crowned with sin, Praise the Savior, we who know
Him Who can tell how much we owe Him When He led
us to surrender to Him all we are he is faithful Then we shall be where we would
be Then we shall be what we should be Soon shall be our Lord. Daniel, I was told, read it,
John, chapter 4. Read verses 45 through 54. Then when he, that is Jesus,
was come to Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all
the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast. But they also went
unto the feast. So Jesus came again to Cana of
Galilee, where he made the water wine. There was a certain nobleman
whose son was sick and curing him. When he heard that Jesus
was come to Judea and to Galilee, he went unto him and besought
him, that he would come down and heal his son, for he was
at the point of death. Then said Jesus unto him, Except
ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. And the nobleman
said, Sir, come down, and hear my child die. Jesus said unto
him, Go thy way, thy son liveth. And the man believed the word
that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he
was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying,
Thy son liveth. Then inquired he of them the
hour, which he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday
is the seventh hour that the people left him. So the father
knew that it was the same hour in which Jesus had said unto
him, Thy son liveth, and himself believed. in his whole house. This again, this is again the
second miracle that Jesus did when he came, when he was come
out of Judea in the Galilee. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for mercy and grace
that is ever sufficient for your children We are constantly reminded of
what we are by nature. Our troubles, trials that go
on within and without. The testings that face us and
temptations. We are weak and can do nothing
of ourselves. And we're thankful that your
grace is sufficient. But your mercy is everlasting
from generation to generation. Your truth endures forever. We are thankful, Father, that
in your great counsel and according to your will, you chose us in
Christ before the world began. You chose us under salvation. We
are thankful that our Lord Jesus Christ, before the world was,
became sure of it. For the debt we owe you, we had
not even yet incurred. He came to this world to live
perfectly, and was made perfect through his sufferings. He might
suffer death, but the sons he aimed to bring to glory. And in that death that He died,
our life came forth. He saved us and redeemed us. He went to be unto us, risen
in righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He put away our
sins, but the sacrifice of Himself perfected forever them that are
sanctified. And said, Thou art at Thy right
hand, ruling and reigning as absolute
lord of this universe. We cannot thank you enough. I
know that throughout eternity, thanksgiving and praise will
be upon our lips for what you've done for us. Father, we pray
for those who are sick. These new ones have been added
to the prayer list. We ask the Lord your help for
the once lost loved ones. We pray you give them comfort
that only you can. And help us Lord tonight as we
look at your word to get a clear view of what takes place here. And give us understanding and
appreciation that you have not left us in darkness. but it shed
abroad your light in our hearts and minds. You've given us faith
to believe your word. Help us now to worship you. We
pray in Christ's name, amen. Now this is the record of the
second miracle our Lord performed in Cana, the first being changing
water into wine at the wedding feast And the fame of our Lord
was spreading because of the reports of His miracles that
He had done in Jerusalem. Find that in chapter 2 and verse
23. It says, Now when He was in Jerusalem
at the Passover and the Feast Day, many believed in His name
when they saw the miracles that He did. Those miracles were not
defined for us in Scripture. what he performed are not recorded
in scripture but evidenced by the fact that by the time he
reached Capernaum he was already a very famous man. People were
going out to see him because of the miracles that he did. The people of Galilee had gathered
in droves to see the miracle man. That's probably how they
viewed him in his day. A few had seen him as the Messiah
and were glad to tell folks about him. But they reviewed him as
a man that had done things that nobody else could do. Nicodemus
came to him for that reason in chapter 2 or chapter 3 of John. He came to Jesus because he had
heard of the miracles that he did and the things that he had
done. And he knew that no man could do these things except
God be with him, though he didn't understand that he was talking
to the Lord God himself. The Jews had long held that the
Messiah would do miracles. There's no scriptural evidence
for this, however, in the Old Testament. But they believed
that he would do signs and wonders. As I said, it's not referred
to in the Old Testament. But the Old Testament did designate
many things about the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Peter said in
Acts chapter 10 that all the prophets gave witness to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord himself said to the
Pharisees who studied the scriptures, he says, they are they which
testify of me and you will not come to me that you might have
life. But all the prophets spoke of
the Lord Jesus Christ in different and specific ways. Hopefully
he's called the branch. He's called the priest. He's
called the high priest. He's called the king. These things are referenced to
him. Let's look at a few. Look over at Micah, chapter 5. Micah chapter 5 verse 2, where
he was born was testified to. Micah chapter 5 verse 2, But
thou of Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though thou be low among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me,
that is the ruler in Israel, that's the Lord Jesus Christ,
whose goings forth have been from old and from everlasting. He is that child born in time
and that son given from all eternity Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem
according to the prophets the messiah would be the savior of
his people look over at Daniel chapter 9 in Daniel chapter 9 In verse 24, speaking of the
Messiah, it says, 70 weeks are determined for thy people upon
the holy city to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, to make
reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal the vision of the prophecy, and to anoint the most
holy. And it speaks of him as the Messiah.
25 says no therefore and understand it from the going forth the command
to restore the build Jerusalem and to the Messiah The Prince
shall be seven weeks and three score And so in the next verse
is Messiah shall be cut off But not for himself Not for himself. He will be cut off for others
He would do this work of putting away sin by a substitutionary
sacrifice if you look at Isaiah 53 speaks of him putting away. people
by his death, by his vicarious death. In Isaiah chapter 53,
in verse 6, it says, all we like sheep have gone astray. We turned
everyone to its own way. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. That's imputation. And if you
look down at verse 8, it says, he was taken from prison and
from judgment. Who shall declare his generation
for? He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression
of my people. was he stricken. And in verse
10, yet it pleased the Lord, satisfied him, propitiated him,
to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, and
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. That's what Christ was,
the sin offering. He shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper his
hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. And he'll
do that because he will bear their transgressions. So that's
an Old Testament prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ and what
he would do. He would be God incarnate. Remember
what it said in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14, and a child will
be born. And now shall call his name Emmanuel,
which is interpreted God with us. So His deity is foretold
by the prophets in Scripture. He'd be made the righteousness
of His elect. That's what our righteousness
is. We don't have any righteousness of our own. That's made clear
in Jeremiah, chapter 23. verse 5 and 6, it says, Behold
the day that the day that the day that the day that the day that the day that the day that the
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That's the name by which he's called. Well, what's the name
by which you're called? Well, you're married to him. You're
his bride. What's the name by which you're
called? Look at Jeremiah 33 and verse 15. It's repeated with
one change of the word. In those days, chapter 10, that
time when I caused the branch of righteousness to grow up in
David, he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
In those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell
safely. And this is the name whereby she, not he, but she
shall be called the Lord our righteousness that's your name
Jehovah Sid Cano he is our righteousness he is the Lord the Lord our righteousness
and all the people that he has elected and chosen and preserved
will be saved over in Jeremiah chapter 50 and verse 20 it says
this in those days And in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for. Somebody's gonna look for the
iniquity of God's people. There shall be none, no iniquity. So he must not be talking about
me. He's talking about you if you're a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Before God you have no iniquity. And the sins
of Judah, they shall not be found. Why? Because I will pardon them
whom I reserve. Whoever God has reserved, they
will be pardoned. No iniquity and no sin will be
found in them. Why? Because the Lord is their
righteousness. And these are but a few of the
references that begin in Genesis chapter 1 when the Lord said,
let there be light. In Genesis 3, 15, when he said
to the serpent, the woman sees it when it grooves her head,
and you'll groove his heels. Or when he slew those beasts.
All those are references to the Lord Jesus Christ. The first
sacrifice was the blood of a lamb in Genesis chapter 4. That's
where it all began. It began to talk about Jesus
Christ. After the darkness of Adam's fall, and the earth was
not formed and void, what happened? The Spirit moved upon the waters,
and the Lord said, Let there be Christ, the light of the world. Right in the beginning. Right
in the beginning. You go all the way through the scriptures.
We just read a number of them. You get all the way to Malachi, the
last man. When the religion of Israel is so foul, and so violent,
and so foul that God He says, I'm not having anything to do
with you. But soon, and immediately, real quick, the messenger of
the covenant's going to come. And he was set as a refiner of
fire, and he'll refine the priesthood, which is the church of the living
God. That's all the promise from Genesis to Malachi. It's all
about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all about him. All the prophets
gave witness to him. The scriptures about him. This
is his story. However, signs and miracles were
ingrained in the Jews' minds. perhaps because of the miracles
that attended Moses and the prophets, such as casting a tree into bitter
waters and making them sweet, or making iron to swim, or to
bring the dead back from life, or casting out a fleece to get
an answer from the Lord. These things were done. They were signs that God gave
to his people. And so the Jews were used to
having signs, and they somehow interpreted that to mean that
the Messiah would be making signs and wonders when he came. And
so, when he did these things, they questioned whether he was
a Messiah, but they never believed it, except for a few. But the
disciples and the Jews, often when they questioned him, said,
Lord, give us a sign. Give us a sign of your coming. You know, I hear people talk
about that a lot. I believe it's a sign. I believe it's a sign.
You got no signs, folks. Ain't gonna be no signs. While
he was in Cana, a nobleman whose son was gravely ill in Capernaum
came to the Lord. What is he coming for? He's coming
for a miracle. That's what he's looking for,
a miracle. That's what it says back in our
text. In verse 47, when he heard that Jesus was coming out of
Judea, into Galilee, he went unto him and besought him that
he would come down and heal his son. For he was at the point
of death. Now our Lord was full of compassion
for the sick. He healed so many people, all
of his healings, however, always pictured some sort of action
represented in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's
no doubt that the Lord had compassion on this man and his son who was
sick. But our Lord at this time felt
it appropriate to rebuke this man and perhaps all those who
followed him for the miracles our Lord said. In verse 48, except
you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. Except you
see signs and wonders, you will not believe. And the words of
our Lord contained a truth that was addressed in the early days
of the ministry of the church. After our Lord returned to glory,
the time of miracles would make up what is called the apostolic
age. It ended with the death of the last apostle. They had
ability to do these miracles also. But our Lord said of his
disciples, that you're going to do greater things than these.
And he says that to you. Because his disciples, his disciples
never had the full gospel that opened up the eyes of the blind.
You do. You have the full gospel that
opens up the ears of the dead. You have the full gospel that
makes the lame to walk again. These things are greater than
the miracles that Jesus Christ did. He said, you do greater
things than I did. He says that in John chapter
12. But this day of miracles was
important. Miracles were employed not for
their own sake, but as a tool of revelation. That's what they
were designed for. It was a time of transition from
the old covenant to the new, from works to faith. works to
faith, from obedience of a man to the obedience of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And these miracles attended the
preaching of the word to show that the word was about Christ
the Messiah, to give credence to what was spoken. If the miracle
Now along with the preached word caused men to see Christ as a
Messiah, then they would believe. They would believe. And after
the word was complete, miracles still existed and do today, but
not at the command of men. Not at the command of men. and
not to accompany the message. In order to give the messenger
credence, we have the message. We don't have the miracles. We
don't have the miracles. The miracles exist, and they
happen. We've seen them happen in our
own congregation. But after the nobleman would
assault the Lord and come and heal his son, a wonderful truth
was set forth. Look at this verse. Jesus said
unto him, go thy way. Thy son liveth. And the man believed
the word that Jesus had spoken unto him and went his way. Up to that moment, he believed
that Christ could perform a miracle. But he believed that Jesus needed
to be physically present to do so. That's what he said. Verse 49. Come down, he said
in verse 49. Come down and hear my son die.
Come down. I need you at my house. I need
you at my house. A charismatic religion still
requires this today as they hold great crusades where preachers
touch people and they're supposedly healed. But you ain't gonna get
healed unless you pay money to get in that place. You give a
big offering and they call you up on stage and then one guy
hits you with a coat and you fall down dead and supposedly
are healed. It has to do with you personally being there. The
words of verse 50 put it. Jesus said, Go thy way, thy son
liveth. And the man believed what? The
Word. He believed the Word that Jesus
had spoken unto him, and he went his way, seeing no miracle, not seeing his son made well. No empirical evidence that his
son was made well. He went his way because he believed
the word of Jesus. He believed the word of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He went his way because he believed the word
of Jesus, that the word of Jesus had spoken to him. Now if a miracle
comes, it will come by this, the word of God. That's how it's going to come.
Because his words, he said, are spirit and they are life. Now on his way home, The man
was met by his servants with the news that his son was healed
in verse 51. And now he was going up and going
down. His servants met him and said,
thy son liveth. Emphasis on that word, liveth,
that he's alive and he's going to keep on living. That's what
that means, he's well. He's well. The nobleman's response
was sweet and it was telling. Then he inquired, and inquired
he in verse 52, when he began to live, when he began to be
better. And the servant said, yesterday
at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was the same hour in
which the Lord said to him, thy son liveth and himself believed
and his whole He asked, when did my son begin
to get better? And the servant told him that
the time happened, and he knew it was the same time that the
Lord had said unto him, thy son liveth. You don't see any jumping up
and down and hollering and carrying on. I think probably he could
have seen this man's face. He probably had a grin on his
face. Yeah. That's when he said, thy
son liveth. And again, he believed, he said,
in verse 53. And ever then, he told his household
what Christ had done by the sheer power of his word. And by his
repetition, the word of the Lord is in the entire house of men.
That often happens in the word of God. You see, in the word
of the Lord is the miracle of life. Don't begin to understand
it. I don't. I never have understood
it. I speak to you in the language
of life, the word of God. You know what? Peter said to the Lord, when
in John chapter 6, many left him because of the things that
he had said. And he looked at his disciples and said, well,
you go away also. Peter said to them, whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of life, and we believe and are sure Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. It's the word, folks, what
you hold in your lap. Don't let your dust gather on
it. Eat it, feed on it, think about it, meditate upon it, chew
it if you could, cough it up, chew it some more. It's the Word. He believed His Word and went
His way. That's what you can do tonight.
Believe His Word and go your way. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen. Alright.