John chapter 4. Go with me to
the Gospel of John chapter 4. We'll continue studying through
this blessed book. John 4. I hope you have been
blessed studying this. If I had but one book of the
Old Testament to read, it would probably be the Psalms. If I
had but one book in the New, it would probably be the Gospel
of John. More of our Lord's words than
any other actual words. Read with me verses 40. We left
off at verse 42. Begin with verse 43, down to
verse 49. Now, after two days, he, Christ,
departed thence, that is, Sychar, and went into Galilee, where
Jesus himself testified that a prophet hath no honor in his
own country. And when he was coming to Galilee,
the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did
at Jerusalem, at the feast. But they also went unto the feast.
So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the
water wine. There was a certain nobleman
there, a ruler, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was
come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him in Cana, he
went to Cana, and besought him that he would come down and heal
his son, for he was at the point of death. And then said Jesus
unto the man, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. And an old one saith unto him,
Sir, come down, or my child will die. Oh, this book, this gospel, this
whole book is about him who came down. who left the Father's throne
to come down to this present evil world to show mercy, to
save many. What a Lord. What a Savior. Now, every word
is significant. Every word is divinely inspired,
not just for information, but prophecy. After two days, it
said, After two days, the third day, go with me to Hosea chapter
6. We could have read this in the
first message. Hosea, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos,
right after Daniel is the book of Hosea. Look at this. It says
after two days, on the third day, the Lord Jesus Christ went
down to Galilee. And Hosea speaks about the third
day. Look at this. Hosea 6, verse
1. Hosea 6, verse 1. Come and let
us return unto the Lord. He hath torn, and He will heal
us. He hath smitten, He will bind
us up. After two days will He revive
us. In the third day He will raise
us up. And we shall live in his sight. So many scriptures talk about
the third day. Our Lord made that water into
wine on the third day. And this is a prophecy. Peter
said, don't be ignorant of this one thing. A day is a thousand
years and a thousand years is a day. It's been two days since
our Lord walked this earth. We're in the third day. He's
coming real soon. Like He came to Cana. He came to Cana in the beginning
and He left. And now He's coming back. And
our Lord came to this earth 2,000 years later. He's coming back
with healing. He came down here to heal this
fellow. He's coming back with healing in His wings. Everything
is significant. Everything. First in our text,
it says, after two days, He departed. Hence, He departed Sychar. Oh, blessed Sychar. Oh, blessed
well at Sychar. The Lord of glory came and sat
there. And this woman, whom he was waiting
to be gracious to, heard his blessed voice. And she dropped
her water pot and ran into town to tell the people. And the people
of Sychar came running out there. And he stayed there. They asked
him, stay here a while. And he did. He stayed there two
days. And oh, was Sychar blessed or
what? What a blessed city it was. What
about Rocky Mounds? Oh, how blessed we are. We have
a well here, and Christ is among us. We need to be like those
townspeople. We need to be like the disciples
on the road to Emmaus. Lord, abide with us. Don't leave.
He's going to. He always did. He always departed
from wherever He went. He stayed a while, and then He The gospel serves its purpose. Lord, don't leave. There are
some people I know that don't need to hear the gospel. My son
is dead. My daughter is vexed. My spouse
is lost. Don't leave. Really? That's why this was written. He came back to Cana, verse 46. That's Nathanael's hometown. That's where Nathanael was from.
And he came back. He went there and found Samuel
under the fig tree. That won't cover you. He had
to come to cry, but he did. Don't you know Nathanael was
excited? The Lord is going to my town. He's going back to my
town. Oh, my dad lives there. My mom
lives there. My sister. My son is there. Maybe
you'll save him. Do you reckon? We just don't know how blessed
this little town of Rocky Mountain...mounts, the mountains to bring salvation,
righteousness are in the mountains. Where? Rocky Mount! Mount Zion! Nathaniel, he's going back to
my town. Oh, bless his holy name, he came
in the first place, he's coming back. And to get there, he had to go
down. He left Judea, that's where he's
from. Bethlehem, house of bread. Bethel, house of God. Jerusalem,
city of God. 2,500 feet above sea level. You
know where Capernaum was? 600 feet below sea level. Do you hear me? Everything's
significant. For him to leave where he was,
to come down to these Galileans, he had to condescend. Really. 600 feet below sea level. We're less than the least. Lower
than the low. Do you feel that way about yourself?
Why would he come here? What is this place? He did. Bless his holy name. Went into
Galilee. He said in verse 44, he testified prophets had no
honor in his own country. He left Judea and went, he said
I must, needs to go through Samaria. He had to go to Samaria because
there was a certain woman there that he must certainly save.
that he'd chosen. That's why he went there. He
left. He stayed a while, but he left. He must need to go back
to Cana. Why? There's somebody there that
needs him. The poor need him. A man's son. He saveth the children that need
him. The gospel's still here, brother. It's still here. Still
here. Still here, Stephen. He's still
in the saving business. Barnard used to say that. God's
still in the saving business. How does He do it? With His Word.
With His Word, that's His power. Oh, I have hope. There's still
great hope. The Lord taketh pleasure in them
that fear Him and hope in His mercy. Well, he left Jerusalem. He was there. He had no honor
there. He came down to Galilee and says, In verse 44, the Galileans
received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem
at the feast. That's where they went to the
feast and they saw. Now, it doesn't tell us, go back
to the last chapter of John. It doesn't tell us about any
miracles that the Lord did there at Jerusalem in the Gospel of
John. It only told us about him coming to Cana and doing that
miracle of the water to wine. Okay? Then he went back to Jerusalem.
And the first miracle he performed was at Cana. Okay? The water
to wine. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
Well, our Lord never did, never walked, every waking hour he
was on this earth was a miracle of God's grace and mercy. He
went about doing good. I'm getting to something here.
Everything he did and said was mercy and miracle. Every word
he spoke had healing in his word, in his power. And our Lord was
doing many things that are not recorded here. He's doing it
all. Look at the last verse. There
are many other things which Jesus did of which if they should be
written every one, I suppose even the world itself could not
contain the books that should be written. And the point I'm trying to make
is we just don't realize what all the Lord is doing all around
us and doing for us and doing for everybody. He's feeding everybody. Anybody still living, the Lord
saved them. He saved them from death. Anybody has anything, the Lord
gave it to them. Right? Anybody can do anything. The
Lord gave them that gift. It's all of grace. By the grace
of God, we are what we are. Everything's been given to us.
That's why He that glorieth laid glory in the Lord. That's why
the Lord hates pride. Because He's the doer of it all. He's the giver of it all. What
do we give Him? The praise of our lives. That's
it. What can we return back to Him
but praise? This is a good thing. Isn't it
a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord? We just don't know
what all the Lord has saved us from, what all the Lord has done
for us. We just don't realize it. If we did, we'd be thanking
Him every waking hour of our day. We would. If we saw the
hills around us full of enemies, but the hills are also chariots
of fire. around the Lord's people. That
blessed me thinking about that. Because he had done many things,
but they're not recorded. Every day, everything he did
and said was amazing. Mercy. And he came to Galilee,
and they had seen some of these things, and they received him,
okay? And, you know, we're Galilean. The Galileans were the poor people. And this is fitting in. The poor
have the gospel preached unto them. This is fitting. Christ
came to save the poor and needy. Deliver the poor and needy. Not
just physically poor, but spiritually poor, especially. But truly,
the Lord came and preached to and dwelt among the poor, the
lowly, the nobodies and the nothing. You see your calling, brethren.
There were not many mighty, not many noble around him. In the
end, a few, Nicodemus, a few came to him. This man. But he,
this man received the senate. Publicans and harlots were around
him. That's why he came. And as I
said, this town, Rocky Mountain, is nothing. It's nothing. You
tell people where you live, Rocky Mountain. Oh, North Carolina.
No, not that big. Not that grand. I've been there
too. Rocky Mountain. Where is it?
Oh, it's south of Roanoke. Oh, I know where Roanoke is. That's
a great town there. Rocky Mountain's a great town.
I've been greatly blessed, the Lord said. We're greatly blessed
to be here. But the Galileans were nothing.
There were nobody. And the Lord chose most of His disciples from
Galilee. Those fishermen. In fact, when they went out preaching,
everybody that was somebody, the high muckety muck said, these
are Galileans. Where did they get learned like
that? Galileans. They called our Lord
a Nazarene. That's in Galilee. Up in the
mountains. Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? Christ did. Anything good in Rocky Mountain?
Yes, sir. We've got good news. We have
the Gospel. What else is there? Oh, this is not the well-watered
plains of Sodom, but it is the well-watered hills of Mount Zion. He came there, the Galileans
received Him, but you know they received Him because they saw
the miracles. Back in chapter 2, it says that
many believed in His name when they saw the miracles which He
did, but Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, He knew all
men. And sadly, Many have seen and heard things here in this
town, and some seem to receive and believe, but no, it's going
to be known in Him. And our Lord said, He that hath
My Word, and keepeth it. That's who believes Me. That's
who believes Me. Not those that see miracles,
not those that go through miracles and so forth. So he came back to Galilee. Look
at verse 46. He came again where he made the
water wine. He came. Oh, we need to pray
that. Every time we leave here, we
need to pray, Lord, come again. Please come again. Oh, come,
Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, with all thy quickening powers, kindle
a flame of sacred love in these cold hearts of ours. Come. Where he made the water wine.
You remember that? You're not to see the blood running
through all this water of His Word. Is He back with us this
morning? I hope so. Anybody got a son
that's dead? Daughter? Spouse? I know how he saves. Right here,
with his word. Came back to Cana. You know what
Cana means? Rod Branch. The branch has come to this branch
of the river. As said, Nathaniel's hometown.
You know, As said, Nathanael was so hopeful
the Lord had saved somebody and his family was there. That was
Rahab's desire, wasn't it? When the men came and she hid
them, like we hide the Word in our hearts with hope. Hope is
in our hearts. Rahab's one desire was that her
family might be saved. She knew this place is going
to be destroyed. And she wanted from Joshua and
those men, she wanted a sure token from those men, this is
my only hope for my family, because he's going to destroy this place.
My hope is that you'll save my mother and my father and my brothers
and my sisters alive. He's going to leave this place
and he's going to destroy it. Well, there was a certain noble man.
Now, here it is. Verse 46, it was a certain noble
man. Don't you love when Scripture
talks about a certain woman? A certain man. Why does it say
that? It keeps saying that over and
over. A certain man. A certain noble woman was that.
Why does it just say a noble woman was that? No, this is a
certain noble man because this is the one whom the Lord chose,
this is one of his elect, this is one of his sheep that he came
to save, to find. And this is one whom the Lord
was given by the Father in that covenant before the world began.
And he said in his prayer, all those the hell has given me I've
kept, none is lost. So this man's salvation, his
son, is certain. It's certain that he's one of
the Lord because the Lord spoke to him and the Lord answered
him as he begged him to help him. He did. He shall help the
poor and the needy. He's going to come down like
rain and he's going to help the poor and the needy and save the
children of the needy. That's why he came. We just need to believe him a
little stronger, don't we? Because that's why He came. We
can quote those Scriptures. Do we believe it? Alright? This man was a certain
nobleman. Now, you know the Scripture in
1 Corinthians. Not many wise, not many noble are called. But
it doesn't say not any. That Queen of England said, I
thank God for the letter M. It does not say not any. It says
not many. And oh, the Lord is able to save
to the other man. A king on a throne or a beggar
on a dung heap. He's able. God, all things are
possible. But this certain nobleman, now,
it says he heard, verse 46, it was a certain nobleman whose
son was sick, verse 47, he heard that Jesus would come out of
Judea into Galilee. He went unto it. He heard. And he went. Where? Where Christ was. He heard he
was there. And so he came. He went to Christ
where he was. And, you know, we're saved with
Christ coming to this earth. But Christ came to different
places. He went into little villages
and towns. And that's where he was. And
at any given time, if you wanted to hear from Christ, if you had
a need, you're going to have to go where He is, right? Christ
was at that well, and the woman went back and told everybody
in that town, He's not in this town, He's at that well out there. And some of them said, Is He?
And they went running. They're thirsty too. They're
looking for the Christ. Well, that's where you're going
to find Him. And those that didn't go where he was didn't hear from
him. And God loves the people we say
all the time to go to church to be saved. Yeah, you're going to have to
go where Christ is and where the Gospels preach. Because by
the preaching of the Gospel, it pleased Him to save you. God's
people. You're going to have to. And
bless God, how blessed you are if he brings you to where he
is and to hear the gospel. This man went, he heard, he was
there, and he went unto him, and verse 47 says, he besought
him. He besought him. What's that
mean? I beseech thee. Have you ever beseeched someone
for anything? You know what that means? It's
not just merely asking. Now, would you do me a favor?
No, no. He's begging. He's pleading. Have you ever pled with the Lord? You know what it means to call
on the name of the Lord? It means to beg. It means to plead. It means to beseech. Lord, I
beseech thee. This man's son was dying. Was
it serious? Did he just ask him one time
to leave? No, he kept asking. I beseech
thee, please, from the bottom of my heart, with all my being,
with every fiber of my being, dear Lord, please come down and
save my son. You understand? That's what it
means to call on the Lord. I've heard people say, She's
seeking the Lord. He's seeking the Lord. Just hasn't
found Him yet. No, they're not seeking the Lord.
No, no. Seek and you shall find. Call
and it will answer you. Ask and it will be given to you.
Our Lord said to that woman at the well, if you knew, you would
ask. And He would give. Buddy, when
she found out who He was, when He created a thirst in her, she
said, Give me! Please! I'm not leaving this
well until I go back with this water! I've got to have the Christ. He said, I am. Oh, ask, but beseech him. Beg him. Oh, he delights. He saves every blind beggar that
calls on him. Yes, he does. He heard. He came. He besought him. He
begged him. He pleaded with him. He earnestly asked him. Earnestly
asked him. And keep asking. Read on with
me. He asked him if he would come
down and heal his son. He's at the point of death. And
our Lord said, except you see signs and wonders you will not
believe, that no one will say unto him again, Sir, come down,
or my son's dead. He kept asking. Our Lord gave
the parable of that widow who kept coming to the Lord, remember?
And Luke 18, he said, men ought always to pray and not think. Is there someone you have an
earnest desire, the Lord, to save? Well, don't quit asking.
Keep calling and believe Him. And this woman kept coming to
this unjust judge, and our Lord said, do you hear what this says? And shall not God avenge his
very elect, which cry unto him day and night? No, he bear long
with them. I tell you, he will avenge them.
He says, it's hopeless for my son. It's hopeless for my daughter.
No, it's not. It's not. That's what they said
about me. It's not hopeless, as long as
the gospels pray. Well, this man said, Lord, come
down. He kept saying this, didn't he?
He besought the Lord, he besought Him that He would come down and
heal His son. Oh, if the Lord saves our children,
He'll have to condescend, He'll have to stoop down. As much as we love our children,
they're just sinners like anybody else. They're bad. They're unworthy,
wretched, vile. Blind, naked, hopeless, unworthy
sinners. Unworthy. Yes, they are. Our children.
As much as we love our children, they're sinners. They don't deserve
saving. And if the Lord saves them, He's
going to have to sit down. He's going to have to show mercy.
Like He did us. Just like He did us. We have
to come down. But you know what? That's what He delights to do.
That's what He delights. It's His greatest glory to come
down stooped. Like He did that woman, that
guilty one. Come down, Lord. My son is sick.
He's dying. He's dead. He's dying. He's as
low as he can go. How low will the Lord go to save
somebody? He said, My arm's not short.
Reach way down. We sing that song way down. How
far did He reach for you? How far did He have to go? How
far did He have to stoop to save you? Huh? Job 33. Go over there real quickly.
This is one you want to memorize and remember. Job 33. Oh, my.
You know, the Lord does this often. He brings people real
low that He might reach down His mighty arm and exalt Him
to the skies. Job 33, this was Elihu's message
to Job and his friends. Job 33, verse 22, it talks about
a man's soul drawing near to the grave, his life to the destroyers. Oh, if there's a messenger with
him, an interpreter, one among a thousand to show the man his
uprightness. Oh, that He's gracious unto him
and say, deliver him from going down to the pit. I've found a
ransom. Oh, if he does, his flesh will
be fresher than a child born again. He'll return to the days
of his youth. He'll pray unto God and God will
be favorable unto him. He'll see his face with joy.
He'll render unto man his righteousness. He looks upon men and if any
say I've sinned and perverted that which was right, it profiteth
me not. He will deliver his soul. from going down into the pit
and his life shall see light. And he says in verse 29, he does
it quite often. He delights to. What's it take? Help. That's all. This boy was low. This man's
son was low at the point of death. He's dead and dying. He's as
good as dead. Anybody? He's as good as dead. How'd he
get this way? Did he do it to himself? Probably. Where is he? What has he done?
Probably left home. Probably wanted to get out in
the world. He went after the world. What happened? The world
got him. Now he's in the world, he's out of the world, he's going
to perish with the world. The world's in his heart if Jesus
Christ doesn't come and bring it out of him. Anybody? Everybody. Listen, Lord, you've
heard my story. You've heard this story. Maybe somebody in there. There's
a young boy who who had godly good parents, believing parents,
and left home like so many did, like the prodigal. Went out,
wanted to go out in the world, make his way. Should have ended
in destruction. But went out, and like the prodigal,
wasted his substance and arrived at this living. Ended up down
in Key West, Florida, out all night, laid down on a bench, Woke up the next morning and
behind him he looked and there was a sign on a fence that said,
this is the southernmost point of the United States. Meaning
that boy was as low as he could possibly go. And that boy is preaching this
message to you this morning. I'm not bragging on that. I'm
bragging on Him who does such things for such lowlife sinners. That boy didn't deserve nothing
but to die at the hands of the Lord. He shook his fist in the
face of God, in the face of his parents. That's why I can't preach
without saying, but God. And you. That's you. That's all of you. Praise His holy name. Bless His
holy name. There ain't no one like Him.
Why? He delights to reach down. You've got to be down for Him
to save you. You've got to be a nothing to
nobody. This noble one may have been something to somebody, but
when he came to Christ, he's just a helpless man that needs
Christ's mercy. He had all the money in the world
and couldn't save his son. Don't you know he spent every
dime he had on every doctor and every person in the world? Help
my son! They can't! We can't by any means
redeem anybody or save anybody from the certainty of death.
Only one can! And that's who we cry to. Don't
holler, preacher. Yes! All of us holler! What did this man want for his
son? One thing! What was he praying and beseeching
the Lord for his son? That he'd go to college and have
all this stuff? No! He's dying! Are you with
me? What do you want for your children?
What do you wish for them? What do you hope for? What do
you ask the Lord to do for them? Huh? Your grandchildren. They're
dying! Really! We've seen some die,
haven't we? Lord, I beseech Thee. We've got
dead sons in this building right now. We've got dead adults. Come down or we'll die. It's that serious. You know what the Lord did? He spoke the word. He said, your
son lives. How? I say so. Go to your wife, your son lives.
Is that what you really want? That's all I want. The Lord rebuked him first. And
we all need to rebuke him because we just don't take him at his
word. Do you hear me? The Lord rebuked all of them.
Except you see miracles and signs, you won't believe. God's people,
that's not the reason we believe. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
the Word. Now, this is faith. It's to believe
God before He ever does anything for you. If He does nothing for
you else. If He does nothing else for you.
Whether He saves your children or your spouse or not. You say you don't have to. You
speak the Word and it will happen. But, you know, so many people
are religious because of miracles because of things, experiences
they've had. Because, you know, I used to
be this, I used to be that. And I'm not, you know, I told
you that story because I'm the prodigal son and I'm glorying
in what the Lord, how the Lord reaches way down. This man receives
sinners. Why, Paul? Because I'm an example,
he said. He said, I'm the example. I was injurious, a blasphemer,
a persecutor. I was the worst man on earth,
but God. I'm telling you, He saves sinners. But whether He does anything
for us or our children or not, He's God. He's worthy to be worshipped. And we need to just believe Him,
trust Him. Though He slay me, He slay my
son. He slay my daughter. I trust Him. Judge Eric does right. Yes, he
does. But our Lord is so gracious,
He's still saving people. And the man, when the Lord spoke
to him, verse 50, and I close, when the Lord said to him, He
spoke to him personally. And that's when we're going to
hear from the Lord. That's when the Lord is going to open our
blind eyes and our deaf ears. Go thy way, thy son liveth. And
the man believed the word the Lord had spoken unto him. You read that? Unto him. The
men at Sychar, they said, now we believe, not because of what
you say, but we've heard him. Like Oethrom. Now I've heard
him. All my fruit's from Him, isn't
it? Yeah, I've been trying to tell you that all along. All
the blessings are in Him. Yeah, I've been trying to preach
that to you for years. I say Christ is all in it. Yes,
He is. But He's going to have to tell
you. We can't convince anybody of
anything. They won't hear us, will they, brother? Talk to them
all we want. They're not going to hear us.
I'll tell you who they will hear. When it's time, they'll hear His voice. And my sheep hear my voice. And
they'll follow Him. Well, He went home. He went home. And you know He did not go home
right away? You know that? Because it says they told Him
yesterday. Yesterday at 7, the 7th hour
is when your son began to heal. Yesterday. He stayed there. Where
did He stay? Where did he go? He didn't leave
Christ's side. Like that woman at the well,
he said he had to stay there. Yeah. They said he stayed there. He couldn't bear to leave. But
now he has to go home and see how the boy is. Do you see? Do
you see that? He heard Christ speak to him.
He believed him. And now he doesn't want to leave.
Well, what about your son? I think he'll be alright. He's in the Lord's hands. I'm
just going to trust the Lord to do what's right. Save him
or damn him. I'm going to trust the Lord.
But here's the one I have heard. This is the one I need right
now. I can't bear to leave. But then
he says, now, I've just got to go home. I've got business to
attend to. I've got to see about the son. And he went home, and
verse 53, Verse 52, He inquired of them the hour He began to
amend. They said, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left
them. The Father knew. He knew. It was the same hour when the
Lord spoke. And Himself believed in His whole
house. What He did was just like that
woman at the well. When He went back and they said,
Your son, yesterday about seven o'clock, whatever hour that is,
Miraculously, your son, it's like somebody's just raised him
from the dead. It's a miracle. He was lying. First thing he's
dead, the next thing he's up. He's eating, he's drinking, he's
alive, and he's asking about you. Where's dad? He's alive. It's just a miracle. It's like
somebody just raised him. He did. You know, that's what
happens when the Lord... Would you look? Coming through
that door. Sitting here. Hearing the gospel. And we didn't make Him. We didn't
have to beg Him. Didn't have to plead with Her
to come. Nobody forced Her or Him to come.
He just came. Sitting. Smiling. Eating. Drinking. Yeah, He's alive! Who did that? Wasn't us. Wasn't us. We prayed for it. It's the Word
of the Lord. You know, the Word does not return
void. It accomplishes what the Lord
sends it to do. It's the living Word. It's the
seed. And your children have heard the Word. They've heard the Word. And it's
able to save you. If in God's good time, if he's
pleased to send the Holy Spirit. Okay? Happened to me. Happened to me. He's alive. The Father knew. And you know what He told them
all? Let me tell you who did that. We just don't know how
He's living. The Father said, I do. And I'm
going to tell you right now who I met. Like the woman at the
well, I've met the Christ. He spoke to me. And He spoke to my boy. This is the
Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Savior who's coming
to the world. This is He. He did this. It says the whole house. Everybody
in the house. Now it says in verse 54, this
is the second miracle he did when he's come out of Judea into
Galilee. Second miracle in Galilee, not
the second miracle he did. The second miracle that the people
saw in Galilee. You with me? And this is, they
go together. It's not connected. It's the
second miracle. The first one was water to wine.
And the people saw it. Who saw it? The servants. The
disciples saw it. This is the Lord. They saw water
turn into wine. Do you remember that message?
If you see the blood of Christ running through this book, if
you see that Christ is all, if you see that your great need
from God Almighty is the blood redemption of Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, you've seen a miracle. You've seen who He is. You know
who He is. And you know who everybody that
sees the water and the blood come out of His side, He raises
them up. In fact, it's more than that. Are you with me? Every single
one who's seen Christ crucified, the Father said, I will raise
him up. He will not die. He lives. These two are one person and
one thing. The great redemption that's in
Jesus Christ. Oh, may the Lord bless his words. In our hearts. Amen. Okay, Brother
John. Number 32.