Seeking once again the help of
God, I'd like to draw your attention to the chapter that we read together,
the Gospel according to John, chapter 4, and the text you'll
find in verses 49 and 50. Noble man said, or saith unto
him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith 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." Last week, we looked at the first
miracle of the Lord Jesus Christ, which was the turning of water
into wine at the wedding feast. We noticed that there was not
much There was no specific prayer made. Jesus did not command the
water to be turned into wine. He just told the servants to
go and fill the water pots with water. They obeyed him and then
he tells them to take out what was placed into the water pots
and take it to the master of the feast. And in doing so they
found that the water had been turned into wine. And the Bible
tells us this was the first miracle of the Lord Jesus Christ as he
begins to reveal himself unto his disciples and he encourages
them in in their pathway of following him for they believed on him. They believed more greatly upon
him. And so that was the first miracle
of the Lord Jesus Christ. shows us that he is in control
of the natural things of this world. The water has no ability
of itself to transform into anything else other than water. Yes it may be steam or ice but
it still remains water yet the Lord Jesus Christ without speaking
made it into wine and so he has the control of the natural things
of this world and you will see as you go through the miracles
of the Lord Jesus and the different things that he did, they manifest,
they reveal who he is. But it's only God who is in control
of the elements of this world. It's only God who is able to
take something and to change it into something completely
different It is only God who is enabled to take life and to
give life. It is only God who is in control
of the sun, the moon and the stars. It's only God who causes
it to rain on one city and not on another. It is God who has
supreme or sovereign control over all things in this world. And as Christ begins to reveal
himself to his disciples and to those round about him. He
is using the miracles to stamp his authority on his word, on
his ministry and he's using these miracles to testify who he is
and by transforming the water to wine he is declaring that
I am God, I have supreme power, I have I have supreme control
over all things. I don't even have to speak. Just
the thought is able to transform this water into wine. And so his second miracle that
he does shows that he's in control even of sickness, that he's able
at a distance of something like 15 to 20 miles to make somebody
who was ill at the point of death, he's able to make them live.
The man says, sir, come down or else my child die. Jesus said
unto him, go thy way, thy son lives. And so Christ in this
miracle is showing his authority over human life, human sickness
and human health. Yes, we have doctors in our day
and no doubt there were doctors in the days of the Lord Jesus
Christ and no doubt this nobleman who would have been wealthy,
would have tried to get the doctors to come and see, would have tried
the medication. that was available in those days. Just as the lady who had the
issue of blood, she spent all of her money on seeking to make
herself well, yet when all means had been tried, she came to the
Lord Jesus Christ. The same as this nobleman, no
doubt he had tried every means possible Yet he hears that the
Lord Jesus Christ is coming back to Galilee and so he leaves where
he lives and comes to find the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus
shows him and shows those around about him that he's in control
of even the sickness and the health of individuals. In Deuteronomy chapter 32. No, I've got the wrong reference.
But in Deuteronomy, the Lord says, it is him that makes sick.
It is him that makes alive. In Exodus, when Moses is speaking
with God and God tells him to put his hand into his cloak and
he pulls it out and it is leprous. The Lord says, it is him that
makes the dumb. It is him that makes the deaf. in Exodus 4 verse 10, And Moses
said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent neither heretofore
nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of
speech and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who
has made man's mouth? Or who maketh the dumb or deaf
or the seeing or the blind? Have not I the Lord? And so we
see that it is the Lord who has that power. It's the Lord who
allows sickness to take place. It's the Lord who permits these
things to happen. And as he has permitted things
to happen so he can cause the reverse effect. He can cause
someone to be ill and he can cause someone to be healthy again. And there are various reasons
why the Lord causes people to be unwell. especially in the lives of believers. Sometimes we need to be made
unwell as a chastisement, as a discipline. Sometimes it is
for the glory of God that in our sickness we're enabled to
glorify God in our trial and in our difficulty. The way that
we deal with the sickness that has come our way as we magnify
Christ, as we submit to his hand, our sicknesses and our trials
glorify God. Sometimes it is for discipline,
to correct us, to show us that we are not as strong or able
as we thought we were. And so the Lord brings something
into our life to bring us down or he allows it to take place. And so it's God who is in control
of these things. We can't say that God is only
in control of the good things. He's only a half sovereign God.
We have a full sovereign God who is sovereign over all events
in the lives of all people. He permits things to take place. He causes things to take place. He allows things to take place. He withholds his hand so that
things take place. And in the life of this young
boy the Lord allowed it to take place so that he would be glorified
that this event in the noble man's life would cause him to
flee to the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's only God who has that
power and that ability to heal the sick. In our day there are
means that the Lord uses. Some of us here today if we lived
in other countries we probably wouldn't be alive. There are
sicknesses that we have had and yet through the benefit of living
in this prosperous nation with the NHS the Lord has used those
means for the prolonging of our life. There were those who have
had open heart surgery and new valves and triple bypasses and
things like that which are unheard of in other lands or maybe unobtainable
for the normal person. Yet in our land people have had
their lives extended ministers have been able to continue preaching
the gospel, Christians have lived long periods of time after these
operations and so the Lord uses means for the good of his people
but He is able even not to use means. He is able to heal by
himself, by his word. He's able to restore those who
are on the deathbed without any hope. He is able to bring them
again to full strength should he see fit and should it bring
glory and honor to his holy name. And so this young boy was sick,
unwell, near to death and the father of the boy sought to come
and find the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes it takes these drastic
events in our life to make us move, to make us do something. Sometimes the Lord does bring
these severe events in our life to get us out of a rut, to get
us out of ease, to draw us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it
seems that this man, the noble man, a very wealthy man, needed
this event in his life so that he would be driven to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he searches out the Lord
Jesus Christ and he finds her. The Lord's dealings with his
people, they are so varied. This man had to seek out the
Lord Jesus He had to go and find him. The distance is something
like 16 to 20 miles away. And so he travelled those distances
to find the Lord Jesus. And you can imagine the anxiety
that he's feeling. No mobile phones, no means of
communication. He's just searching for the Lord
Jesus. He's probably thinking, is my
son still alive? Am I just having a wasted journey? Am I just searching for this
man who I've heard about? And he's just searching, searching.
And all these thoughts are going through his mind. And then he
finds him. And you can think about the joy in which he felt
that he found the Lord Jesus Christ, this man that he's heard
about, that has the ability to do miraculous things. And he asks him the question,
he says, come down and heal my son, for he is at the point of
death. And Jesus answers, except you
see signs and wonders, you will not believe. Jesus seems to speak
harshly to the man and to those around about him. Those who were
around about the Lord Jesus, many of them were following the
Lord Jesus for the signs and wonders. That is what they believed
in, that is what they wanted, that is what they trusted in.
But this man, he pressed on. He wanted something personal
for himself, for his son. He was not just interested in
seeing signs and wonders. He wanted to experience the true
power of God in the life of his son, raising his son from the
point of death. And so he pleads again, Sir,
come down ere my child die. That was his only hope. tried
all other means, gone on this massive journey, found the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm not worried about miracles. He says, I need you. I need you
to come. You are my only hope in this
present situation. If you don't come, then my son
is going to die. so this man had been drawn to
the Lord Jesus Christ through difficult circumstances and the
Lord used those circumstances for the benefit of his never-dying
soul. But others the Lord Jesus searches
out we could say that the Lord Jesus had searched out this man
by his spirit and caused him to see by faith his need of the
Lord Jesus Christ which we say is true. But the man went on
a physical journey to find the Lord Jesus. And some people are
left in that condition to go on a physical journey, a long
process of seeking Christ. They are put under the influence
of the Spirit, conviction of sin, see their need of Christ
and they go on a long journey before they obtain that peace
for their never dying soul. We have this other lady, this
lady who was the woman at the well. And we see that the Lord
Jesus comes and he seeks her. He finds her. He knew where she
would be and he is waiting for her. We could say that this is a miracle itself. Although
this healing of the noble man's son is the second miracle of
the Lord Jesus Christ, Yet in the middle of that is a greater
miracle. The miracle of saving faith. The miracle of this lady who
was a Samaritan, having no idea who she was speaking to, yet
knew that the Messiah was coming. She knew that the time was coming
when the Messiah was going to be, was coming to redeem his
people. And the Lord Jesus speaks to
her and exposes her sin, reveals to her what was in her heart
and explains to her her need of himself, this living water. And not only is this woman saved
or believes in Christ, but Nearly the whole village comes and believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Some people believed because
of her word. Others believed because of the
word of the Lord Jesus Christ. And many of the Samaritans of
that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which
testified he told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans
were come unto him they besought him that he would tarry with
them and he abode there two days. And many more believed because
of his own word. and said unto the woman we now
we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him
ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ the saviour
of the world. And so this miracle of grace
this far greater miracle that exceeds all other miracles it
not only takes place in the life of this sinful lady but also
in the lives of multitudes of that village. They heard the
word. They believed that Christ is the saviour of the world. And as we looked at this morning,
we know that no natural man can comprehend the spiritual things
of God. And for someone to believe upon
the Lord Jesus Christ savingly, the influence of the Holy Spirit
must have prompted them or moved them or enabled them to do so. They had been regenerated by
the Spirit of God and they had seen something in Christ that
they had never seen before and they confessed that he is the
Christ the saviour of the world. Remember Thomas, my Lord and
my God. Peter, thou art the Christ, the
son of the living God. And Jesus says, Simon Peter,
flesh and blood has not revealed these things unto thee, but my
Father, which is in heaven. And so for somebody to see Christ
as to who he is and to feel their need of him, it is not of the
flesh. It is of the spirit of God. it's
a miracle of grace to have saving faith imparted into our souls
to be born again of the Spirit of God and so this lady had experienced
the Lord Jesus Christ coming to her and saving her from the
consequences of her sins. Jesus draws this man to himself
but he uses a means. He uses the sick child to cause
the noble man to abandon all hope of self and to flee to the
Lord Jesus Christ. But the end result is the same. It is saving faith
in the Lord Jesus. Verse 53 it says, So the father
knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said unto
him, thy son liveth and he himself believed and his whole house. What took place was not just
a mental acknowledgement of what Christ had done but what took
place was that a moving of God's spirit in his home that not only
he came to believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ but
his whole house came to believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
just like the Philippian jailer as he cried out what must I do
to be saved he said believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you
shall be saved and he believed and his whole house also believed
upon the Lord Jesus Christ therefore his whole house under the influence
of the Spirit of God and able to receive Christ as Saviour
and able to turn from their sin and repent of their sin and to
exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God worked
mightily in the home to enable all to believe and oh that the
Spirit of God would move mightily in our homes. that we may be
drawn to Christ like this man, that we may come to see something
in Christ that we've never seen before, not just to rely on mummy
and daddy or granddad and grandma but to have a personal relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ. How many fathers and mothers
and granddad and grandmas have pleaded this prayer, oh come
down Ere my child die. not physically, but spiritually. How often have we offered up
those prayers regarding the salvation of our children. Yes, we may
see them succeeding at school. Yes, we may see them succeeding
in life and achieving great things, yet we see that they have rejected
the Lord Jesus Christ. And yes, we're pleased that they
may be happy, but we know that there is this one thing, the
most needful thing missing in their life, and so we plead the
Lord Jesus. come down by the power of your
Holy Spirit and influence the soul of my beloved child that
they may live. Sir come down ere my child die.'
And what a blessed thought it would be or blessed sound it
would be that the Lord would apply these words. Go thy way,
continue on, thy son, thy daughter, they live. Not just that they
live naturally but they live eternally. The greatest blessing
ever to be received to understand that our children or those that
we know and love have been born again of the Spirit of God. And so this nobleman in desperation
continues petitioning of the Lord Jesus Christ, come down
ere my child die. There are many people who are just interested in the
miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know the miracles of
the Lord Jesus Christ of themselves cannot produce a saving faith. Remember Lazarus, when Lazarus
was raised from the dead, you would think that multitudes or
everybody would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. As they saw
this man who was dead, been dead in the grave four days, comes
out of the grave, you think everybody would say, this is God, God manifest
in the flesh. I'm going to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. But it hardened their hearts.
Some of them became more hard against the Lord Jesus. It had
no softening effect whatsoever. In fact some of them wanted to
kill Lazarus because many had believed on the Lord Jesus because
of his resurrection from the dead. And so miracles of themselves,
signs and wonders, do not produce saving faith, will not enable
somebody to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are many
schemes that people do today, don't they, to try and influence
the mind, to try and get people to trust in Jesus, to try and
make their services more entertaining and more liberal and more open
for everybody. they say if we can just make
them feel comfortable, if we can just make them a coffee,
if we can just make them a tea then maybe they might believe
on the Lord Jesus, maybe if we can just be nice to them and
maybe they will believe on the Lord Jesus because we're nice
to them. But no matter how nice and how kind our goodness will
never implant saving faith into a person. It must be the work
of God, the work of God's Spirit, otherwise they will just fall
away. They will continue for a short
time, then trouble will come and they will abandon the faith
and go back to the world that they love. If you remember Joshua
Jemson, and the prayers that went up on behalf of that young
boy as he laid there on the ICU. And people were praying that
he may get up and we all believed that he would, that he could.
If it was God's will we believed that he would get up off that
bed. And in our minds we were thinking, if he just got up off
the bed, how many people would believe? All these people that
are coming to the prayer meetings, all these unbelievers that are
taking part in this prayer meeting, if he just got up off the bed,
that would be more glorious and more people would believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ then. But then the Lord decided to
take him. And many hopes were dashed. that now people will say, oh,
there's no such thing as God. Oh, God doesn't hear prayer. You see, even if Joshua Jemson
got up off the ICU, people would not believe. They may believe
for a little while. They may be excited. Maybe multitudes
would have come to witness this boy that got up off the ICU.
But over time, it would dwindle away. But even in his passing,
God used it. The spirit of God moved amongst
many people and saving faith was imparted, not because that
he rose again, but because God used that sad, desperately sad
situation. He used it to draw people to
himself. Just like this man, come down
ere my child die. God used that sickness to draw
this noble man to the Lord Jesus Christ so that he might be saved. You see this boy, he was nearly
dead and the Lord raised him up again. If he had died, he would have gone to hell. But God raised him up. so that
he may live and that he may eternally live. Because as Jesus spoke,
thy son lives. The father goes home and he sees
that his son is living and the father believes and the whole
house believes. So he lived. to eternally live. See sometimes, or often in fact,
God does not work how we expect him to work. The noble man says,
come down to my house because my child is sick and he is at
the point of death. And he doesn't get the answer
that he He requires but he gets a better answer. And the Lord's
ways are always better than our ways. He always does something
that is far remarkable or even something more simple that we
had ever imagined. There are times in my life when
I've thought, well, surely God is going to work in this way
and something like this is going to take place. And then the Lord
does something completely opposite and he does something more simply
that glorifies him more. Jesus didn't even have to go
down to Capernaum. He didn't have to take the 15
mile journey, but he just says, go thy way, thy son lives. If you remember Naaman the leper,
as he came to the prophet Elijah or Elisha, and he says to him,
go and wash in Jordan. And he complains, he said, I
thought he was going to do something amazing. I thought he was going
to strike his hand over the place and call upon his God and I would
be healed. And now he says to me, just go
and wash. Sometimes we do like things done
like that, don't we? We like things done dramatically. But the Lord often works in a
simple, quiet way in the heart of a person. Go thy way, thy
son lives. And the boy is healed both in
body and in soul. And so the Lord used this sickness
to bring the family to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so as we pass through life and we have different events
that take place, the Lord has his control over these events. And he is using them sometimes
as a means, like a train to bring us to that desired haven, to
bring us to the place where he wants us to be. And sometimes
he uses events in our lives to draw us to himself. There are
those who have had, you know, great sicknesses, cancer, who
have been unsaved when they get the cancer. And yet through the
shock, the being face to face with death, they cry unto the
Lord and the Lord saves them. They say, come down or I die. And the Lord saves them and they're
enabled to say, was a blessed sickness. It was a sickness that
drew me to the Lord Jesus Christ. If I hadn't have had this sickness,
I would still be lost. But the Lord used it as a means,
as a train to carry me to the Lord. And now I can testify that
the Lord is good and he saved me from the consequences of my
sin. I wonder if we have events in
our life that we can look back at and we can say, oh yes, the
Lord used that. The Lord used it as a rod to
bring me to himself or the Lord used this and that as a rod to
chasten me and to discipline me and to bring me back because
I had drifted off. Or maybe you have something now
in your life. that the Lord has brought you
to, a ballast to slow you down. And you cry out today like this
nobleman, come down ere my child die. You're in a desperate state,
a desperate condition and you need the Lord Jesus Christ to
work. He's the only one that is able
to help you and you know it. Well, he says, go thy way. Your
son, he lives and he's able. He is able to save unto the uttermost
all that come unto God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Go thy
way, thy son lived and the man believed the word that Jesus
had spoken and he went his way. By our nature, by our sinful
nature as we sit under the law of God, we are like this little
boy. We are nigh unto death. We are at the point of death. We are sick unto death. We are
sinners in the sight of a holy God and we are in a vulnerable
place. We stand as it were as a page
being flicked over before judgment. The boy had
no hope of saving himself. He was at the point of death
while the Lord Jesus Christ was able to save him. Maybe this is like you are. You
realise that under the law of God you are at the point of death. You've broken God's law. You
realise that you've broken God's law and you're terrified that
God will bring judgment upon you. Jesus says those who are thirsty
are able to come to him and drink. Those who see their need of him
are able to receive him freely and he will cleanse them from
all of their sin. As this boy's father sought the
Lord Jesus Christ So you can seek the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you can live. That law which
you are so afraid of, that judgment which you are so afraid of can be poured out upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. And you can live. And you can
live for all eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says,
come down ere my child die. But you can say, sir, come down
ere I die. I understand my sin. I understand
against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight. And you will hear those words.
Go thy way. You live. May the Lord add his
blessing. Amen. May the Lord help us as we close
the service by singing hymn number 12 from Gadsby's. All glory to
mercy we bring, the mercy that reigns evermore, the infinite
mercy we sing, the mercy eternal adore. Hymn number 12 from Gadsby's
to the tune 734. Oh, say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave ? The mercy of the Lord God Almighty
? We rise and triumph and excite. And when we are wounded by sin
and scarce the air, As he outfields us again, His
mercy transport in these ways. O thou in the phallus we fall,
We bless thee, our Saviour Brutal, We mercy in Jesus we go and more. Amen. Dear Lord and Heavenly Father,
we thank Thee for Thy Word that Thou hast given to us. We thank
Thee for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the compassion
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray, Lord, that Thou would
hear our prayers regarding the salvation of those who we know
and love We pray, Lord, that they may live and live eternally. Do dismiss us, we pray, with
thy blessing and enable us to come here this evening in peace
and in safety. Now may the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with us each now and forevermore.
Amen.