This is a little bit of a mystery to me,
first studying it and then hearing my pastor preach on it and reading
it, and then it began to unfold. So we take every verse, this
is a Bible study, so we take every verse and deal with it
and try to deal with it faithfully. John 4, read verses 43 through
46. Now after two days, he departed
then and went into Galilee. Jesus himself testified that
a prophet had no honor in his own country. And then when he
was come into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all
the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast, the wedding feast
and the Passover feast. They also went under the feet.
So Jesus came again into Canaan in Galilee. Every word is significant. God doesn't put things in his
book for just information. Go with me to the little book
of Hosea. I'll give you time to find it. Two days. The Samaritans, you may recall
in this story, asked him to abide with them, to stay with them,
and so he abode two days. And then he left. You remember
Lazarus was sick. They told him that Lazarus was
sick, so he abode Two days in the same place, and then went
and raised him. Are you with me? Two days. Peter said, don't be ignorant of this. A day is a thousand
years, and a thousand years is a day. All the wise men of Scripture
will tell you that there are three generations. From Adam
to Moses, Abraham, is 2,000 years. From Abraham to Christ, 2,000
years. From Christ to his return, 2,000
years. Our Lord says this generation
will not pass away until the end. Two days. After two days,
All right, look at old Hosea. This is an old, old prophecy,
chapter 6. Hosea 6. Oh, he says in verse 1, Come
and let us return unto the Lord. He hath torn, he will heal us. He hath smitten, he will bind
us up. After two days will he revive
us. And the third day he will raise
us up. I saw a few smiles. That should have been a shiver
up your spine. Two days. The Lord created the
heavens and the earth in six days, and on the seventh day,
you rest. Be not ignorant of this one fact.
So there's just a footnote in what a glorious thing it is.
After two days, most people will pass right over that. After two
days, he departed. He departed. He left. And he
went into Galilee. He's going back to Capernaum. Remember, it's called his city.
That's not where he was born, but that's where he dwelled a
long time. That's where he did most of his works. We went through this before.
How many works he did. So very many works were done. The sermon on the map was preached
there. The man with the wizard's hand. The man that led down through
the roots. And on and on it goes. His city. He called it his city
because that's where he dwelled. That's a picture of the church.
That's a picture of the local church where he dwells, where
he abides. He stays there. He's here. This is his city. This is a city of refuge. Matthew's gospel says he went
into all Galilee, all Galilee, teaching and preaching the gospel
of the kingdom. He said in Mark's gospel, let
us go into the next towns that I may preach there also, for
therefore came I forth. And he preached in their synagogues.
We had all Galilee. That's where he did most of his
preaching. And people, oh, what have we heard in this place? Huh? How many preachers, how
many witnesses have testified of Him? Christ has been here
for so long. How thankful, how blessed we
are, how thankful we should be. Galilee was like a county, like
Franklin County, about the same size. About the same size as
Franklin County, about 700 square miles, and He covered that place.
He walked everywhere. They all heard, and have they
not all heard? Yes, apparently. The sound has
gone everywhere. But oh, blessed are your ears. They hear. Your eyes, they see. I hope we're going to see a vision
this morning. But he said here in verse 44,
he said, he testified. And you wonder why this is in
the middle of this? I'm going to tell you. He testified
here in Matthew's Gospel, a prophet has no honor in his own country.
He has honor, he said, in some places, but not in his own country,
his own household, his own house where they know him, where they're
very familiar with him, where they know, well, he's just a
man. Our Lord didn't have that honor amongst his family. Remember,
even his mother one time said, I need to talk to you now about
something. His brother said, tried to come
and take him and said, you're beside yourself, what's wrong
with you? And Nazareth, he went to Nazareth,
remember he went to Nazareth where he grew up and he read
and he said, this day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears.
And they took him. He preached election. He preached election there, and
they said, we won't have this, and they went to the ground of
the hill to cast them off and pass them. Oh my, this is a warning to us. This is a warning to us. We have
the gospel of Christ. We have Christ in our midst.
Wherever the gospel ends, the true gospel ends, Christ is there.
I don't say this presumptuously. truthfully from the Word of God.
He said, wherever two or three people met in my name, those
that worship God in the Spirit and in the truth, he said, I'm
there. I'm there. Christ is here. How blessed we
are. How blessed we have been. How
blessed we are. And you know, today is the day
of salvation. Today. I'm absolutely certain I have
God's Word today. Absolutely certain that somebody's
going to hear him. Somebody's going to hear from
the Son of God. Somebody's going to hear his
voice. I wrote someone's name on top of this paper and prepared
his testimony. Someone very burdened with that.
Whether they hear it or not, I don't know. I hope, I pray. Somebody's going to hear. His
word doesn't return for us. This is His power. He said, My
sheep want to hear His voice. There are God's sheep in here.
I know them. I hope I'm one of them. I want to hear this. But how do we hear it through
a man? God has not left himself without a wisdom. And every generation,
every preacher, pastor, teacher is a prophet. And just like all the prophets,
they tell our generation, they're telling our generation the same
thing. From John, all the prophets,
of all the prophets to John preached, repent. This is how you know
it. This is the first sign of the
matter. Repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The king reigns. The Lord reigns. Let the people
tremble. But there's forgiveness. Repent
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll be saved. Repent. Our Lord went preaching
in Capernaum. What did he say? Woe is unto
thee, Capernaum. Woe is unto thee, Bethsaida,
right down the street. Woe is unto thee. You ought not
preach woe. I'm not a prophet, I don't know. All the prophets did what? They
testified of Christ. This is how you know. This is
how you know. They all bore witness of me,
Christ said. All the prophets bear witness
of me. Jeremiah wrote this. I can't tell you how many times
God said this. He said, I sent them rising early. They're not sluggers. They're
not these dogs that the Lord mentioned in Isaiah that love
to sleep and slumber and can't bark. No, no, no, no, no. New
risers, like our Lord, calling on the name of the Lord, seeking
a message from the Lord with a very serious message for his
generation. God still has problems. Look at Ezekiel 33 with me. Prophets
in the sense that they tell things that the people don't know. See,
I'm not telling, I'm not going to... see a vision this morning, I
hope, but it's not a new vision. It's not a new vision. It's an old one. And I'm going
to tell you things this morning that you already know, but most
people don't. Most people don't. Most people don't believe. Ezekiel 33, he says in verse
Son of man, children of thy people are talking about thee, of thee,
by the walls and in their houses, they're talking about you, speaking
one to another. Every one of his brothers say,
Come, I pray, let's go hear what is the word that cometh forth
from the Lord. And they come unto thee as the
people coming. And they sit before thee as my people, and they hear
thy words, but they will not do them. With their mouth they
show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness.
And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that
hath a pleasant voice, and play well on an instrument. They hear
thy words, but they do them not. And when this cometh to pass,
and it will come, then shall they know that a prophet hath
been among them." Is that still true? Our Lord said something, he said,
not to left himself without a witness in every generation. Brother
Gabe, you know, has a pleasant voice. He plays well on this,
doesn't he? When he first started preaching,
he went somewhere to preach, and he was taking his guitar.
I said, don't do that. Don't take it. I said, you want to be known,
first and foremost, as a preacher. You want them to hear the word
of God that you're preaching. And after they find out you're
a preacher, then send your songs. I do not say this boastfully.
I say it thankfully. And I say it with great assurance. This gives
me consolation and comfort and encouragement to go on. I know
the Lord sent me here. I know it by His Word. I know
it by His will. I know it by His providence.
I know it by fruit. We did what the Lord told us
to do. Leave everyone for my sake in
the gospel. Leave houses and land, home,
mother and father. Leave all these things for my
sake in the gospel. And He said, I will restore to
you a hundredfold. I know it by experience. We did
that, but we have a hundredfold. I know it's my heart's desire. Paul says, Brethren, God bear
me witness, my heart's desire and prayer to God for issuance,
they might be saying. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for you is at your commandment. I know it's because the Lord
said, this is what my pastors will do. They will feed my flock. And when the Lord comes, he said,
blessed is the man whom I come and find so doing. People, that's
all I do. That's all I do. It gives me great consolation.
Great comfort. Believing that the Lord is not
through with me. That Lord is not through with
this little flock. And I look forward to seeing what he's going
to do. Because the gospel is the power
of God, and I look forward to seeing what he may be today. I'm preaching the power of God
today. I'm preaching the word of God today. It won't return,
but when somebody's going to hear it, it might be today. Who
knows? God knows. And though someone may not honor
me and esteem me, some do not, most do. And I'm so thankful. So thankful. And so I'm bound
to continue. to try to faithfully feed and
lead you and point you to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this story, and our Lord
puts that there for a reason, to tell us, to warn us. I will remove that part. Verse 45. And he came to
Galilee, and the Galileans received him, did they? Well, not really,
because it says they saw the things he did at Jerusalem. Remember,
seeing is not believing. That's the whole purpose of this
story. You know that? We're going to see in a minute.
Our Lord rebuked the man and said, except you see, you won't
believe. They saw some things. That's
not faith. Faith is not faith. Believing
is faith. Believing His Word. Believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't believe Him. Our
Lord didn't commit, remember He didn't commit Himself to others
in chapter 2. Just saw the miracles. Same with
this generation. Alright? He came to Galilee and
there was a certain, a certain old man. Are you reading it? Verse 46. Verse 46. A certain
nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. He heard that our
Lord Jesus was come out of Judea. He had left there and come into
Galilee. So he went to him. He heard and
he came. And he had a need. A certain nobleman, the reason
he came, we're going to find out, is he was one of the Lord's
sheep. He belongs to one of the Lord. He's one of the Lord's
sheep, he belongs to the Lord. Our Lord said in John 6, All
that the Father hath given me shall come unto me, and he that
cometh to me I will no wise cast out. And every man that has heard
and learned of the Father, has heard, comes to me. This is the
will of God that sent me, that always has given me I'd lose
nothing, but raise them up. They're going to see me. Everyone's
going to see it for some. This man heard of Him. Faith
telleth by hearing. What did he hear? Faith is determined
on the mouth. Everything our Lord said and
did is not written here. He did many things. He went throughout. And this man, like everybody
around there, heard Him. Maybe he came to, remember he
passed by that place called Magdala? Remember? He was on his way to
Capernaum? Remember that story? He was on
his way to Capernaum, and he had to go through Magdala? And
there was a woman on the street, flying her train? Who's that? Jesus imagine, she's going to
preach up on the mountain. Her name was Mary. I think I'll
go hear her. She's never been before. Oh, Lord, like I married Max
on here this morning. It doesn't just, no accident
you're here, it's not by chance you're here. It's your hat to
fall on Boaz's field. It's your hat right this morning
to fall on Boaz's field. May you meet your kindred redeemer. This certain old woman heard
like everybody else, but the Lord did something to bring him
to Christ. The Lord did something. What
did he do? He struck his son down. And he's going to die. You realize my son is at the
point of death. And I've heard But there's only
one hope. And I'm over there." And he came. And he just sought
Him. In Indiana, we looked at the centurion,
a Roman centurion, a lifer, a soldier, a hardened soldier, And he came to the Lord and besought
him greatly for his son. Oh, who can do that? You see,
not many wives, not many mighty, not many soldiers, not many strong
men will come and fall down weak at the Savior's feet needing
a strong Lord. We were at the wedding, we were
at the motel to pick up Hannah and the girls. and that it was
a convention of Marines. Oh, you knew they were Marines,
to show everybody that they were the few and the proud. I doubt that very many of them,
if any of them, know the Lord. This gospel is for the few, but
it's not for the proud. It's not for the mighty. It's
not for the noble. Well, here's a noble man. Here's
a ruler. Here's a man of somebody. You've got to be a nobody to
come to Christ. And the way the Lord will do
that is to strike you or somebody down before you and show you,
you don't want to have one of them. You're a nobody. You can't do anything. This man
tried everything. Now, you know, everyone has heard. Everyone in here has heard and
come here. You've come here for one reason or another. You've
come here for one reason or another. It's not my accent. It's not
my chance. It's a lot of tests to the last. Maybe you thought it was your
choice to come here. It wasn't. It's a whole discovery
for me. And everyone comes seeking something. People go to church seeking something.
You hear all the time from people, we're looking for a church. You know, most people come for
the wrong reason. Most people come the first time
for the wrong reason. You did. She did. I did. But you know, the Lord puts people
through things, puts them through troubles. It's the Lord's will
that they're not caught in the door. Sadly, most people, when the
trouble is over, and people do, when they get in severe trouble
that they know there seems to be no hope of, so they call on
God. But the sad thing is most people,
after the trouble is over, they go away. There were ten lepers,
ten blind men. And the Lord healed them all. One of them returned to give
the Lord thanksgiving. This man was in trouble. His
son was dying, but he didn't know that he's dying. He really
doesn't know this yet. He's going to. And neither do
we. When we first hear the gospel,
when we come where the Lord is going to really reveal Himself
to us, speak to us, we don't know. You know, we were in trouble.
We had trouble. Maybe we had marital trouble.
People come for that reason. And marital trouble. They have
financial trouble. They have this trouble, that trouble. Man
is born a woman full of trouble. And people come from one trouble
or another, okay? Not knowing our greatest trouble
is. It's not just our sons that are dying, but we're dying. My story, you've heard my story
so many times, but the Lord told me, told you, go tell people
what great things the Lord has done for you. And all I can tell
you is my story. I came for the wrong reason.
I was forced to come as a child. Thank God. Thank God. And I thank my mother and my
family. That's what the Scripture says.
You're so blessed. I'm so blessed, you're so blessed,
Tammy Jo. Why, your mother brought you
under the sign of the cross. We are fathered in it, that the
Word of God is able to make thee wise. Is it able? Yes, it is,
her she said. That's all it is. Thank God,
I was forced to come to that. And as soon as I could, I left.
I'm out of here. This is torture. No, it's not,
son. It's salvation. And bless God, He brought me back. Why? How did He bring me back? A girl. A girl that knew the
Lord. And I did it. Bless God he knew me. And
I met a girl. And came with her. And I was
sitting there because of her. And it wasn't long. I didn't
even know she was sitting there. Right, Ron? Right, Irene? the Lord over my soul, and all
that is within me, bless me wholly." This man came, he didn't come
really seeking the Lord, he came seeking a favor. He came seeking
help out of his troubles. And our Lord said in rebuke,
the man came, verse 47, he heard Jesus come out of Galilee, went
unto him to talk to him, that he would come down and heal his
son. He was at the point of death. And our Lord said unto him, verse
48, except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.
Ah, Lord, he has a genuine need,
he has a true need, his son. What's wrong with that? Because
he'd heard him preach. He's heard him all this time,
and he didn't see him until his son got sick. I went to visit a man, a husband
of a woman that attended here years ago. He was lying in the
hospital dying. He was dying, no doubt. He knew
it. I went to see him. His name was
Silas. And I said to him, first thing
I said to him, I began to talk to him about the gospel. And
I said, Simon, you don't just speak to the Lord when you're
sick. You speak to the Lord and thank the Lord and worship the
Lord when you're well. I don't know what the Lord did
for him. Maybe he saved him. I don't know. The Lord doesn't
give a account of his magic. But I told him, he heard the
gospel from this preacher. The Lord is merciful. Now, this
man came for the wrong reason. Most people do. The Lord brought
him. The Lord brought him, didn't
He? The Lord's the one that brought him. Now, faith is not sight,
people. Faith is not sight. Faith is
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is believing God. Faith
is believing His Word. And religious people and people
who get in trouble say this, if He'll do this for me, then
I'll believe Him. No, sir, that's not how it works. If He'll just
give me this and give me that, then I'll give Him praise. That's
not how it works. That's not faith. That's fact. That doesn't honor Him. Faith
believes in Him when you give Him anything out of the way. It's not. The woman, the chiropractic
woman, the Lord ignored her. She called her, He ignored her. And then he said, I'm only set
for my left. She didn't get mad. And then
he said, I don't give the children's bread to dogs, unworthy people. And see what she's saying. Truth. You say the truth, you're the
truth. What she said about me is the truth. I'm unworthy. But,
not just a crime. The Lord doesn't give crumbs. It's unworthy. It's unfit. Oh
my. It's the bread of life. But the Lord says 56 times in
wonder you will not believe. That's a fact. People just won't
believe God. The bare word of God. They won't
believe. And you've heard all these years. You've heard. Everyone
in here has heard. Do you really believe? Do you? Why? But he wouldn't go away. He wouldn't go away. The Lord
gently rebuked him. Gently. He spoke the truth in
love. Paul did that. He said, my heart is desiring,
my heart is breaking over people. And he said, but some have become
their enemy for telling the truth. Now tell them the truth of what
God's Word says, and they hate me for it. The Lord told this man the truth.
You're here for the wrong reasons. You're here for what you can
get out of it, what you can see. You ought to be here for me.
You ought to be here to hear my Word and hang on it. You ought
to be here as an unworthy sinner just wanting to do crimes. That's
a fact. We're still guilty. We're still
guilty. But he hung around. He's not
leaving. He said, Sir, it's Lord. Verse 49,
come down, please, or my child's going to die. And the Lord, rightfully,
with the word, Immediately, this man is importunous. This man
won't go away. He's been rebuked. He's not angry.
It's a good sign. He's not going away. And you
know, it's a good sign that you're still here. It's a good sign. One time the Lord said to some,
He said some hard things. He said some hard things. And those that weren't His true
disciples went away. We can't take this. We don't
like this. He turned to His disciples. Will you also go away? You're still here, that's a good
sign. Good sign. And our Lord, frankly,
with a word, go thy way, that son of a bitch. He turned and walked off. And the man believed his word. He believed His Word. You know,
you'll hear, you'll come, you'll see it, you come for the wrong
reason, you come for this reason, for that reason, and the Word's
been preached, it's been preached, and you don't hear it, and you
need favors, and you've got trouble and all this, but if you want
to, God knows, you're going to hear His Word. Did you hear what He said? Did
you hear that? The Lord right then said, life
is given. Life is given, it goes that way. He believed his word. Now, you
know what he did? If your son was dying, and he came a long way, 20 miles
on foot or on a donkey or something like that, or on a ox cart or
something. 20 miles, how far he went, up mountains, bad roads. He came a long way because of
his trouble. And the Lord said, your son lives,
go that way. What would you do? Would you rush home? Would you? He did. You know that? He did. They got him a room in the inn,
and he stayed there that night. Look at it. Now, when he was going down,
his servants met him and told him, saying, Thy son liveth,
your son's alive. And he inquired of them the hour
when he began to amend. They said, yesterday. He came there, he came where
the Lord was at about noon, about 1230, and at one o'clock when
the Lord said this, he said, go your way. Where did he go? I said, wait a minute. He stayed right there. John,
he stayed right there. Doing what? I've got to hear
some more. I've got to hear some more. He believed me. He that believeth
shall not make haste. He waited on the Lord. He misbelieved me. He stayed right there. Now He
believes. Now He believes. He came because
of His trouble, but now He heard His Word. Now He believes Christ.
He sees His need of Christ. He's heard His voice. He wants
to hear some more. He can't go away. I'll just wait till tomorrow. He said He's living. He can wait.
My family can wait. This can't wait. My life depends
on what He says. I've got to hear some more. He
did. And he went home, we headed home
the next day, and his service came running after us. He's alive! I thought he might be. When did
this happen? And it says yesterday about one o'clock. Yep. That's exactly when he said
so. And it says he believed Verse
53, the last line, he believed himself and his whole house. Oh my. Remember the woman in
the previous story? Went to the men and told them,
and they came down to hearing themselves. And what did they
say? They said, now we believe him,
not because of your words, because we have heard him ourselves. And somebody came and told you,
didn't they? I'm alive. What are you talking about? Come. And you came down and spoke
to you yourself. This is the most wonderful thing
in the world. I'm just loving everybody. This is sweet as honey.
Sweet as honey, come on. Well, I don't know. What do you reckon the man did?
Did he believe in his whole house? What do you reckon they did?
They confessed to the Lord and believed in baptism. He said
he doesn't say that, does he? Yes, he does. Oh, yes, he does. Our Lord said, go in all the
world and preach the gospel. He that believes in him is baptized
shall be saved. The Lord sent his disciples out
baptizing. He says he didn't baptize them.
Remember in the previous chapter? His disciples baptized. What did the Lord say? Go down there to Capernaum. That fellow needs baptizing.
You go down and tell him I sent you. He's got to confess to that,
before all his house. And preach the gospel to his
house, because there's some more in there that I came for. Thank you. Let me close with this. You know, this man says he believed. Now he really believes. He came
for all the wrong reasons. He heard, but he came for the
wrong reasons. He's troubled. And then he heard
Christ speak to him personally, and he believed the Lord, believed
Christ. And he went home, and the Lord
confirmed it. He confirmed what he had said,
and now he really believes. He has assurance of who the Lord
is and His Word. He assures us. There's several
things that give me assurance. Several things. Number one is
God's Word. God's Word. There was a time
I didn't believe it. People, I believe it with all my heart. Believe it. I really do believe
that God is true every once in a while. Honestly, all my opinions,
all my thoughts, everything I think of, the way I look at things,
I get from this now. My business. And I love it. You love it? I love to read it.
I love to hear it. Don't you? I lean upon it, it
gives me great assurance. He hides these things, the people
have no use for it. The world, God's people, hang
on, it's a word of mine. The gospel of Christ, Christ
sent him crucified. I understand, I understand why
Christ came, because God's holy. I understand the question of
question. He's given me an understanding
how God can be just, that God is just. I know that. People
don't know that. God's people all know that. They all know
that. That I need a righteousness. That I need a righteousness.
Over 500 times in the Scripture, righteousness. I dare say you
won't even hear the word mentioned every day. If you hear it mentioned,
it's talking about the way people live. That's not the righteousness
I need. I understand that God has given
me a righteousness. This is the message you heard,
what? The first message you heard. Of a righteousness imputed. A
passive righteousness. A righteousness covered. This
is what the prodigal hears the first thing. Bring the robe. It's what everyone in heaven
is wearing. And I understand it. I need this robe to cover
my nakedness. I've heard it. I need it. I'm
shivering. I'm cold. And bless God, He's got it. The
gospel has covered me. Out of sight of me. When do we get there? When do
we get there singing right there at the top of their lungs about
this righteousness? Most people don't care. What are you talking about? I know,
don't you John? We know the Son of God is coming
to give us an understanding that we might know He's the Lord,
our righteous. Love. Now this shall all men
know, you might decide. All things work together for
the good of the love of God. I love that God is good. Don't you? Don't you, Stephen? I love that He reigns. I love
that He rules. Most people don't. They hate
that God. I love that He chose the people.
I love that Christ is God. I love that He came down here
and did what He set out to do. I love that. Don't you? Why do
you love that? Because God loves you. You wouldn't love that. That's
such as love thy salvation. The salvation of the Lord. I love His people. They're my
companions. You're the only prince I've got!
He's proud! Oh, what good prince I've got! Salt of the earth! Of whom the
world is not worthy! Have at you! And so many of them say, give
me assurance. I believe that Jesus is the Christ. What does that mean, preacher?
Oh my, got another hour? Not just a name, not just a title. It's our salvation. Covenant
head. Second Adam from above. People
are going to sing that come Christmas. They're going to sing Isaac Watts'
song and not have a clue what he's talking about. I do. I do. Why? Because I like
this man. He's spoken a word to me. Okay. Thank you.