Turn to John chapter 4. The title of the message is, Taking Christ
at His Word. Taking Christ at His Word. Many believe that's just too
simple. Well, it takes the power of God
to enable us to do that. It really takes the power of
God for us to just simply take Christ at His Word and rest. We have here an example of faith,
and that always gets my attention. And it always seems to come in
the strangest places from the strangest people. You know, in
one place, the Lord said to the woman, great is thy faith. He never said that to any of
the patriarchs that I know of. But that sinful woman, he said,
woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. Now our Lord spent two days in
Samaria preaching the gospels of that city. After he met that
woman at the well, she went back and told them, come see a man
that told me everything that ever I did. They came and they
wanted him to stay longer. He stayed two more days. God
Almighty in the flesh stayed with them two more days. and many believed on him. But
now he leaves that place and he goes to Cana of Galilee. And the reason is every day had
its agenda. Every day had its appointed, predestinated agenda. He was on the trail of his sheep
And He's going to meet another sheep in Cana of Galilee. And He's going to be there waiting
on Him. He's going to be there waiting
on Him. Now after two days He departed thence and He went into
Galilee and the Lord's purpose was accomplished there in Samaria.
It's time to go on to the next place. If we are going to Reap a harvest. If you're going to reap a harvest,
you know what you have to do? You have to keep moving through
the field. You can't just stay at one end of the field and reap
a harvest. Our Lord shows us this. He goes
from one place to the other. He moves from one place to the
other. And that really, if you look at history, that's the way
the gospel is. It's like a wave. It just goes
across this world. It'll go across a nation. It's
gone across this one for many years now. But like a wave, it's
gone. Like a wave in a while, it's
gone. And it says here in verse 44,
for Jesus Himself testified, and this is why He went to Galilee,
and He didn't go to the city of Nazareth, is for this reason,
that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. He said that
over in Matthew 13, 57, and in Mark 6, 4, He said that a prophet
hath no honor in his own country. It's why He didn't go to Nazareth.
He was not respected there. They saw him grow up. He had
an exemplary life, a perfect life, but yet they knew him. They knew him from birth. They
knew him from a child growing up. They watched him grow up.
They watched him grow up. And our Lord said that a prophet,
he's not without honor except in his own house, and he says,
and among his own kin, his brothers and sisters. You know, in one
place it says that the Lord's brothers and sisters didn't believe
on Him. Sometimes, sometimes familiarity
does breed contempt. Sometimes it does. We know you. You're the carpenter's
son. Why should we listen to you?
You're the carpenter's son. You have no credentials. You're
the carpenter's son. That was a statement of contempt
towards what that was, when they made that. Then when He was coming to Galilee,
the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did at
Jerusalem at the feast, for they went also to the feast. But they
received Him, listen, they received Him not as a prophet, but because
they saw miracles. We love to be entertained by
nature, don't we? We love to be entertained. You know, this
one guy, he calls himself a magician. He's on TV. I can't remember
his name, but he makes things disappear. I mean, buildings
disappear and all that. Man, he gets an audience. We
love to be entertained. They went there because of what
they saw at the feast when they were at Jerusalem. But what they didn't realize,
here's what they didn't realize. His miracles, it was proof of
his deity. It was proof that He's God, that
He's the Messiah. He's the Son of God. It was never
to save anyone. He never performed a miracle
to save. It was, this is who I am. No man can raise the dead but
God. No man can give sight to the blind but God. It's a revelation
of His person. It's His deity. It wasn't to
save. Christ Himself is the one who saves. He's the one who saves. He's the one who lived a perfect
life. He's the one who brought in righteousness.
He's the one whose blood was shed. He's the one who was buried. It's not miracles. You see, they
saw the miracles and they wanted to see more. How many times did
He do a miracle and the Pharisee said, show us a sign? It's like
how many signs you want. Sign after sign they didn't believe.
He said, though one rose from the dead, you wouldn't believe.
If you don't believe Moses and the prophets, you won't believe
though one rose from the dead. If somebody in the cemetery over
there rose this morning, walked in these doors, it would not
create faith in any person here. It wouldn't do it. False faith,
maybe, but not true faith. Because faith, first of all,
is the gift of God. It's the work of God. It's the
gift of God. And miracles don't produce that
kind of faith. So Jesus, in verse 46, He came again into Cana,
Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there was a certain
nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. This is interesting. It says over in 1 Corinthians,
first chapter, that those whom he saves, not many mighty, not
many noble, but here's a nobleman. It doesn't say not any, it says
not many. But here's a nobleman, as he's gonna say. Here's an
important man. Here's an important man. Here's
a royal officer. This man is a ruler. He's a ruler. And he comes to Christ. There's
about 20-25 miles distance between where he was and where Christ
was. He didn't send someone because his case was desperate. This
was a desperate case. His son was nigh unto death.
He wasn't going to put that in the hands of anybody else. He
wasn't going to call a servant or say, won't you go to Galilee? I heard Jesus is there. Won't
you go to Galilee and have Him to come down here? This case
was so desperate, God made it that way, that He Himself would
go and not trust that to anybody else. But we see here the importance
of preaching. It says in verse 47, when he
heard that Jesus was coming out of Judea into Galilee. It may
be that he had seen Him when He was in Jerusalem. Maybe he
saw some miracles. But he heard. That's the first
step of faith. That's the first step. Faith
cometh by hearing. And hearing by the Word of God.
Henry said, someone said to him one time, I'd rather see a sermon
than hear one. Henry said, that's not how faith
comes. You don't come by saying a sermon. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing the Word of God preached. That's how important preaching
is. He heard. He heard, just like all those
others who came to Christ. They heard of Him. They heard
of Him. And after he heard of Him, what
does it say here? It says, he went unto Him. He had a desperate need, he heard
of Christ, he heard where He was, and he went to Him and besought
Him, begged Him, begged Him that He would come down and heal his
son, for he's at the point of death. Here's the first evidence
of faith. Here's where it starts. Here's
faith in the bud. Here it is, in the bud. He heard
and He believed the report. He believed the report. What
is it Isaiah said in Isaiah 53.1? Who hath believed our report? It starts with you believing
the gospel when it's preached. You believe the gospel message.
You believe it with your heart. You believe it. You believe it
so. You believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. You believe
that Jesus Christ is the Savior-Sinner. You believe He is the Messiah.
You believe it. You believe it. This is where
it starts. This is the earliest stages. It starts right here.
Lord, I believe. Like that man said concerning
himself. Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. I believe. I believe. And the second evidence
of true saving faith is this. He went to Christ. Now, there are many who will
sit and listen to the gospel for years and say, I believe
what you're saying. But they never commit to Christ. They never come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. They never do it. They never
do it. They never confess Christ. They
never do it. Now, I believe what this preacher
is saying. I believe the message. I believe that story. You know,
I believe that gospel story. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. I believe He came into this world.
I believe He went to the cross. I believe He died for sinners.
I believe He was buried. I believe He rose again and went
back to heaven. I believe He's in heaven. But
they never act on it. Never act on it. True saving faith always acts
on it. It always, always, always acts
on it. And the first evidence of it
is this. They believe the report, and
they come to Him. They come to Christ, just like
this man did. He came to Christ. And he came
to Christ out of a need. A need, listen, a need will always
bring us to Christ. A need will always bring us to
Christ. Because he came to save sinners, and sinners are needy
people. They are a needy people. And his need, his case, was hopeless. His son was at the point of death.
He was not a doctor. He was not a doctor. He was a
ruler. Even if he were a doctor, he still couldn't save him from
death. He couldn't do that. There's only one who can save
from death. That's the Lord. I kill and I make a life. I wound
and I heal. This man of great power with
men had no power over this sickness and death, just like you and
I have no power over sin. We have no power over sin. Sin
has power over us. You know, the nature of sin that
we're born with reigns in our heart. It reigns over us like
a king. It reigns over us. We're under the power of darkness.
We're under the power of that sinful nature we were born with.
And unless the Lord breaks it, we'll die under that power and
we'll perish under it. We have got to be brought, like
this man, to such hopelessness in every other than Christ. And when that happens, I assure
you, you and I will come to Christ. We'll do it. We'll do it. Faith
acts upon a need. I need my sins forgiven. I need
my sins forgiven. And upon that basis, I came to
the Lord. And you did too. You who believe,
you came to the Lord for the first time when you came to Him
to have your sins forgiven, put away, because that's the issue.
That's the issue. It's my sins. Faith acts upon
a need. And our God, being a God of means,
He brought this man to Him out of the sickness of His Son. He
went unto Him and besought Him that He would come down and heal
His Son, for He was at the point of death. You know, God's a God of means,
and he'll use whatever means he purposes to use. He used this
man's son's sickness, being at the point of death, and that
man's standing there helpless. There's probably not a more helpless
feeling than when your child is sick and you can't do anything
about it. You know you can't do anything about it. It's out of your hands. It's
completely out of your hands. And the Lord put this man in
this situation. And this situation brought him
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ is going to bring
him to faith. That man didn't know that. He
didn't have a clue what was going on. He didn't know God was at
work. No sinner realizes that God's at work when he's at work,
when he's first at work. And our Lord, I want you to notice
here in verse 48, the Lord challenges his faith, or lack thereof. You know, the Lord didn't say,
oh, lead the way. When He said, come down, here's
an opportunity. He didn't say, well, just let's go. He challenged that man's faith
or his lack of faith, whichever way. This man came to the Lord as
a ruler. Listen, he came as a nobleman, a ruler. He's telling Christ
what to do. Come down and heal my son. He's
telling him not only what to do, but where to go. Come to
my house. Come to my house. You know, make
a trip with me down to my house and heal my son. I know you can
do it." But the Lord said to him, then Jesus said to him,
"'Except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.'" He exposed him right there. "'Except
you see me walk down there, walk over to him, put my hand on him,
You will not believe. It's evident he had not yet seen
the Lord for who He is. Not yet. He's going to. You see, faith starts out in
little steps. We're not born men and women.
We're born babes. And this is a babe right now. So the Lord rebuked him. He rebuked him, just like he
did that Canaanite woman. Remember, that Canaanite woman
came to him and said, my daughter's vexed. And he said, it was not
right to give the children's bread to the dogs. He never gave
her one encouraging word. He never gave him an encouragement. He tried that faith. And he exposed
the weakness of it. He exposed... the man's real self, what he
knew about the Lord, just as a miracle worker. Christ is more
than a miracle worker. He's the Son of God. He's the
Messiah. He's God in the flesh. And then
the third evidence is this. Genuine faith will not leave.
It will not leave. False faith will leave. Remember
at first Naaman, how bad he got? He said, well, I thought the
prophet would come out and do this. No, he's not going to do
that. True faith, genuine faith, you
can't run a sinner off. You know that? You can't offend
him enough to run him off. You can call him a dog, like
he did. You can call them wicked. You
can call them whatever name you want to call them. You know what
they're going to say? Truth, Lord. Truth. You're right. You're right. Our Lord said that to him. He
said, Except you see signs and wonders you'll not believe, why
are you here? He rebuked him. And I think at
November, I mean, you know, the Lord gave
him some light. He gave him some light. And the nobleman said
to him, Sir, his attitude, I think his attitude changed here. Sir,
boy, that's respect. That's respect. I mean, the Lord
is not, he's not standing there dressed in royalty. He's standing
there dressed, he's just got a robe, looks like anybody else.
There's no beauty that we should desire him. And here's a nobleman
who probably is dressed with some clothes of royalty. He says, sir, come down ere my
child die. Now he's begging. Now he's where
he ought to be. Now he's begging. It's not like,
you know, here I am, save me. No, he's begging now. He's begging. He's where he ought to be. His
heart's in the dust. He's standing before the sovereign.
He's standing before the true sovereign of heaven and earth. And now he's begging. Lord, he
says, come down. He still hasn't realized quite
yet who this is because he's saying, come down. You see, unlike
that centurion who said, just speak the word only. He said,
I'm a man of authority. If I say to one, go, he goes.
One come, he comes. He said, all you need to do is
speak the word only. Well, this man hadn't made it
to that level yet. Not yet. Come down, ere my child die. Now I can hear the desperation
in his voice. He's desperate now. He's desperate. And he was not offended by the
Lord's rebuke. I'm telling you, you can't offend
a sinner. You can offend false faith, but
you cannot offend a sinner. Here's what he didn't realize
that he will later on. He did come down. He did come
down. When He took upon Him flesh,
He did come down. He came down from glory. He came
down from glory into this world, into this cesspool, that He might
heal His Son and save His soul. Oh, He came down alright, but
He doesn't need to walk another 20 miles to finish it up. All He needs to do is speak a
word. That's all he needs to do this morning is just speak.
Just speak a word. If he says, live, I guarantee
you, you will live. A sinner doesn't know much. They
don't know much more than their need of Christ to save them.
That's about all they know. That's all I knew when I heard
the gospel. All I knew is this, I'm lost.
Lord, save me. I'm lost. Save me." That's what
I knew. That's all I knew. Our Lord didn't
come to save theologians. He came to save sinners. He came
to save sinners. It's not how much you know, it's
who you know. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded He's able to
keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. I
know whom I have believed. Paul wrote in 1 Timothy, "'This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.'"
He would not have said that as a Pharisee. He said that after
God saved him. If you'll notice here also, there's
no arguing. He says, Sir, come down ere my
child die. Faith doesn't argue with God.
Faith believes. Faith believes God. But what? No. Faith believes God. And then
the fourth evidence is this. He believed the word spoken.
Faith is revealed by believing Christ when He speaks. It's taking Christ at His Word. When the Lord is pleased to save
someone, it's no more just believing the story, it's believing Him. You're taking Him at His Word.
This becomes His Word. You see, now most people, the
lost people, they look at this as the Bible. And it is. But you who believe, you see
it, it's His Word. It's His Word and it's your daily
bread. That's why you read it like you do. That's why you are
nourished out of it. It says in verse 50, Jesus says
unto him, and there's no explanation going on here, He just says to
him, You know, He said, except you see signs and wonders, you'll
not believe. And that noble one said, Sir, except you come down,
my child's going to die. And the Lord said to him, Go
thy way, thy son liveth. The man believed the Word. You
know, to believe this Word right here, I've already hinted at
it, but to believe this Word, I can't get this across to you.
To believe this Word is to believe Jesus Christ. It's to believe
Jesus Christ. Not to believe it, is not to
believe the Lord Jesus Christ. He's speaking through His Word.
Just as I read it right now, He's speaking through His Word.
He believed the Word that Jesus has spoken unto Him, and He went
His way. No ifs, ands, or buts. You see, faith comes by hearing,
hearing by the Word of God. He just heard the Word. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and the Word just spoke to him. And he believed the Word. And you this morning who believe,
you believe the Word. You believe the Word, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you believe His Word, His written Word. Because
it's Him speaking. It's Him speaking. He heard the
Word when He heard Christ speak. And when that happened, faith
was given. was faith was given back when
he was in Capernaum when he heard of Jesus. He, he, it was little
faith, little faith. It was in the bud, but it was
there because he came, he came to the Lord and he believed in
his heart. When he, when he walked at 25
miles, he believed in his heart, the Lord could save his son.
He believed he had the power to do it. But it goes from that to knowing
Him to be the Son, to knowing Him to be the Lord, to trusting
Him. Little faith became great faith
in a short amount of time. In a very short amount of time,
it went from little faith to great faith. He believed he knew
not how. Do you know how? One day you're
sitting there and you believe. You believe. You believe so much
so that you come to Him. That you come to Him. You can't say that you believe
until you come to Him. Because until then you really
don't believe. You don't. And then the fifth
evidence is this. His faith was confirmed. His
faith that is genuine faith, it's confirmed. You know, the
Lord said, go your way, your son liveth. And the man believed
the word that Jesus spoke to him. Now,
how do we know that? How do we know he really believed
the word? Here's how we know. And it's confirmed. And the Lord
confirms faith. And as he was now going down,
his servants met him and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.
If he had not believed, his son would have not lived. That's so. He would have not
lived had he not believed. His son living confirmed his
faith. It confirmed his faith that he
did believe. He believed what the Lord said
to him. His son being healed was not only proof of the power
of Christ to save, but it was also proof that his faith was
genuine faith. Upon the Lord's word, he left
to go home, believing his son was well. Now I want you to see
this. This is real evidence of saving
faith. In verse 52, then inquired he
of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said to him,
yesterday at the seventh hour, one o'clock,
one o'clock, the fever left him. The father knew that was the
hour he was speaking to the Lord. If the Lord said to you, your
son liveth, What do you think you or most people would do?
They would have turned around at one o'clock and headed back
home. This man went and got him a room.
He went and got a room and he went home the next day. He went
home the next day. He rested. This is amazing. He rested in the Word of God. Faith brings rest in Christ. He was not anxious. His son is
at the point of death. He says he's at the point of
death. And the Lord said, Go thy way,
thy son liveth. This man, from one o'clock on,
stayed in town. He stayed in town, got him a
room, and went back the next day, the next morning. And when
he met his servants, He asked him, he said, when did this happen?
When did he get back? He knew when. And they told him when, in verse
53. So the father knew, no one else
knew but him and the Lord at this time. So the father knew
that it was at the same hour in the which Jesus said to him,
thy son liveth and himself. Now he believed in his whole house. He became, this man, he believed,
but now he believed. He believed, but now he believed. Now he understood that this man
is more than a miracle worker. This man is the Lord. This man
is the Messiah. And he became a flaming witness
to his house, his family. I have no doubt he told his son,
he told his son about the meeting. He told his son how that he spoke
to the Lord and the Lord said, go thy way, thy son liveth. He
made sure that Jesus Christ got the glory. Who's getting the
glory this morning? That's how you can tell gospel
preachings who's getting the glory. He made sure that his
son and his family knew who did the healing. He made sure they
knew who that man Jesus Christ is. And God saved that whole
house. You know, sometimes he does.
Sometimes he does. Sometimes he saves the whole
house. This is again the second miracle
that Jesus did when He was come out of Judea into Galilee, the
second miracle. The first miracle was at a wedding.
It was a festive time, a happy time, but no one was saved. He made
the water into wine and You know, the wedding went on. He made water into wine. The second meeting, the second
miracle, was a sorrowful time. Turned out to be a happy time
in the end. The first time water was turned
into wine, the second time a sinner was turned into a new creation.
Both were made to be what they were not. Water was not wine,
but he made it to be wine. And this nobleman who was a lost
sinner left a son of God, a new creation. And it can happen that
fast. It's just a matter of the Lord's
will. It's not a matter of power. It's never a matter of power.
It's a matter of the Lord's will. Do you believe the word that
the Lord has spoken? I tell you this, if you do, you'll
come to Christ and you'll find rest. For the first time in your
life, you'll find rest. All right.