I'm. And. Let's open our Bibles to John
chapter 4. John chapter 4. Let's read verses 43 to the end
of the chapter. Now, after two days, he departed
thence and went into Galilee. For Jesus himself precipitated
that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. Then when he was coming to Galilee,
the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did
at Jerusalem at the feast. For they also went unto the feast. So Jesus came again into Cana
of Galilee, where he made the water wine, and there was a certain
nobleman. whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was
come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him and besought
him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the
point of death. Then said Jesus unto him, Except
you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. The nobleman 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. And as he
was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying,
Thy son liveth. Then he inquired of them the
hour when his son began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday
at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew
that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said unto him,
by son-in-law, and himself believed in his whole house. This is,
again, the second miracle that Jesus did when he was come out
of Judea into Galilee. All right, let's pray together. We call upon you in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We come to you giving thanks. We come to you worshiping, praising
your holy name for who you are and great things you've done
for us in and through. We know it's all because of Christ,
so we come in his name by faith in him, realizing, from the heart
that we have all blessings through Christ, because of him.
That all your mercy and your grace and your love is through
Christ. We come in his name. We come
thanking you for sending that unspeakable gift, son of your
love. And through him and by him, because
of him, we have this spirit of adoption whereby we may cry,
Abba, Father. We call you our Father through
the one begotten beloved Son. And we thank you, Lord. We've
come in his name. We've come to do like Mary did. We've come to sit and hear from
Christ, to hear His Word. You and your sovereign grace
and providence have brought us here. And you've made our choice for
us. Nevertheless, this is where we
want to be. This is our choice. But the whole
disposing thereof is of you. But we come here. This is the
This is the best part. This is life. This is life more
abundant. This is what we've chosen by
your sovereign grace. And you said, concerning Mary,
it would not be taken from her. So, Lord, take not your Holy
Spirit from us. Take not your gospel from us.
Take not this one thing needful from us, but take it. Plant it in our hearts. Hide
your word in our hearts that we might not sin against thee.
That sin which does so easily beset us, the sin of unbelief,
apostasy, that it might not overcome us. We might not be taken by
it. We might not fall in the same
manner that the children of Israel did. And let it be mixed with
faith. Let this attending to your word
be mixed with faith. Give us this faith, O Lord. Give
us the faith that you told this man of, this nobleman,
the faith you gave this man. Give us faith to believe your
word and our house. We pray for our families. We
pray for our unsaved wives and husbands and children and others,
our kinsmen according to the flesh. We pray for them. For we pray that it might be
your will or your glory to save them, at least save some. in the fact that you have revealed
yourself to us, that you have made us to differ by your grace. And dear Lord, if you don't save
another person, you've been abundant and merciful and gracious. Even
us. Even us. Lord, thank you for
all things through Christ. Now be with us tonight. Bless your word, bless the word
we've heard in the study, bless its psalm, bless the man who
read it, bless those who heard it. Bless your word tonight,
now, the word we just read. Open it to our understanding.
Break it, break the bread, and serve it up to us. May you be
revealed to us in the breaking of this bread. In Christ's name
we pray. Amen. OK, now we're just going verse
by verse through the book of John, and I do want to comment on every
verse. But if we gave the time that
each verse deserved, We would still be in chapter
one. We would still be in verse one, wouldn't we? In the beginning
was the Word. At any rate, for the sake of
time, we are going to just dwell on the general story in each
text. Each text of Scripture has a
general story. And the main story here in these
verses we just read, you'll notice a paragraph there, verse 43. You see that little symbol right
after the verse number? You may or may not know it, but
that is a kind of a time stop. It's a time that took place. This is a different period of
time. and like a paragraph, a new story
begins to be told. The main story here in these
verses is, and the main lesson to be learned, is concerning
this nobleman, the Lord and this nobleman. But like I said, we
want to look at every verse here and touch on them. Verse 43 now,
After two days he departed He left where he was in Samaria,
and he went back to Cana, went back into Galilee, where he performed
his first miracle. Two days he departed from Athens. Two days, that keeps coming up,
doesn't it? Two days he departed. At any rate, he went into Galilee. Verse 44. Jesus himself testified
that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. Now, I confess,
when I first read that, I didn't really understand why it is worded
like it's worded and why it was put there anyway. It was put
there on purpose. At any rate, I believe what it's
saying there is that he came into his own country, but did
not go into Nazareth. Now, that is his hometown, Nazareth,
where he grew up. He's called Jesus the Nazarene. And he did not go into Nazareth. He went into—it'd be about like
one of us coming back to Franklin County, which is Galilee, Franklin
County, but not going to Rocky Mountain. Staying out and work,
or wherever. Burk Chimney. All right, this
is the sense. He didn't go into, he didn't
go into Nazareth. But he said there, this is put
there, and it's put there by the Holy Spirit for our learning.
Whatsoever things are written, they're written for our learning.
And he just says this. has no honor in his own country. So we'll deal with that in just
a moment. And this is sad, but it's true. It's true of human nature. Every one of us have heard the
old saying, familiarity breeds contempt. Well, it's true. Familiarity breeds contempt,
not honor. And even though a man is evidently
called and equipped by God, his kinsmen and his countrymen have
no real respect for him. There are many examples of that
in Scripture. Joseph was one of a kind. Joseph was a man over and above his brethren,
wasn't he? didn't esteem him. They despised
him. Moses. Moses was the greatest man to live until
John the Baptist. Arguably the greatest man to
live. And I believe the reason being because he was the meekest
man. Yet, he had a brother and a sister
that were alongside him, Aaron and Miriam, they were his brother
and sister. And they just, they rose up against
him. David, remember when David went
down to Gath, where Goliath was, and all his brothers were shriveling
cowards, sniveling cowards. And David said, isn't there a
cause? He's defined armies of the living God, and they got
married, David, didn't they? Who do you think you are, you
little punk? Jeremiah, his countryman, despised him. Paul went back
to the Jews that he once ministered to, and they liked him religious,
but they didn't like him saved. Turn to Matthew 13. Matthew 13. While you're turning, just let
me say this. open up my heart a little bit
to you and give you some of my own observations along these
lines. Some of the old Puritans—I've
read a lot of the Puritans. They're good men. God greatly
used them. Some of them—many of them, if
not most of them—advocated People believe that a pastor or a preacher
should never get too close or familiar with the people for
this very reason. They believe that people would
lose their respect when they see a man just to be a man. They'd
lose their respect and esteem for him. And most of them believe
that a pastor needs to be a little bit above the people. so that
they'll esteem him highly and have him as an example. Well,
I don't necessarily agree with that. I don't necessarily agree with
that, but I do see, I do see the impossibility of regaining
lost respect in the eyes of people. I know that's so. Once it is
lost, the man, there's a There's a verse in Ecclesiastes that
said, As a fly, just a little fly, doth cause the ointment
of the apothecary to stink. One little fly makes up the whole
ointment. So doth a little folly in him
that is noted for wisdom. And just an unguarded comment,
action or too much levity or familiarity causes people to
lose respect for you. And there are many instances
in my time since I've been here that I would like to erase and recall and do over, but I
can't. And I can only strive to do better
and put a watch on my lips and act in a more exemplary fashion. Nevertheless, let me say one
more thing. I have watched my pastor over
the years and looking back, thinking about the years growing up under him, observing him and
all that he did. And listen, I had the greatest
advantage that any man could ever have. to be in this position. I lived with the man I seemed
to be the greatest pastor in our day. I lived with him. But in living with him, observing
him, I observed in his early days he did seek to just Just
become a close, close friend of the people, one of them. That's
where it should be. But many, and here's the thing,
in referring to this verse, many of whom grew up in the gospel with him,
many of whom have been with my pastor the longest, esteem him
the lightest now. It's sad, but it's true. Well, and now let's get off of
men, and you—someone may lightly esteem Moses. That's one thing. Someone may lightly esteem David.
That's another thing. Or Paul. But this, our Lord said,
a prophet. It's not without honor, saving
his own country. But this is that prophet. This shows how dark human nature
is and how blind we are to the ways of God. Look at Matthew
13. This is the one whom Moses spoke of. This is the one whom
David spoke of. This is the one Paul spoke of.
Yet his own received him not. Matthew 13, verse 53 through
57. Look at this. And it came to pass when Christ
had finished these parables, he departed thence, and when
he was come into his own country, Nazareth, he taught them in their
synagogue, in so much they were astonished and said, What's up
this man, this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the
carpenter's son? Well, I've known him since he's
a boy. Well, is not his mother called
Mary, his brethren, Jane, Joseph, Simon, Judah, his sisters, they're
all with us? which then hath this man all
these things." And they were offended in him.
And Jesus said unto them, a prophet is not without honor, save in
his own country and in his own house. So, for whatever reason he put
that in there, it's there, for our learning. Perhaps that we might not make
the same mistake. All right. Well, you know, and
I thought about this too. Turn back to John 4. I thought
about this. You know, the lack, this is the
problem still today. John, this is the problem men
have with Jesus today. This is still the problem. A
lack of respect and honor. for Him. They don't see Him as
He is, do they, Sam? They don't see Him as the He
is. That's the reason I call Him
Jesus. If they saw Him as He is, like
Thomas did, they would never—they would say, My Lord and my God,
and hesitate to say that, to take that name on their lips.
And they reveal what they really think of the man. This man, Jesus,
don't know him as they should. And we appreciate, we love and
esteem him highly for the fact that he was a man. We never make
belittle the fact, Ed, that he was a man. With glory in that,
he was touched with a feeling of our infirmity. That's why
he became a man. But we see him made a little
lower than the angels for one reason, for the suffering of
death. We see him become a man, why? That as a man, for a man,
he would live a perfect life. As a man, for a man, he would
glorify God. And for the suffering of death.
But we see him now, Much higher than that. Not lower than the
angels, but above the angels. And above all principalities
and powers. That at the name of Jesus, every
tongue ought to say one thing. Lord. Lord. Call Him by one title. Sir. Señor. Like the Mexicans did. The lowly Mexicans. Samaritans. Third world country. Lord of
glory. And we do him more honor in that
way. All right, verse 45. Verse 45. Then when he was coming
to Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things
that he did at Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went unto
the feast. Now, I don't believe that they—it doesn't say they
believed on him, like it said about the Samaritans did. It
doesn't say that. He says they received him. Why? Having seen all the things that
he did. That's it. They didn't believe on him. They
saw the miracles. They saw the miracles. They didn't
receive him as Lord and King and Christ, but they received
him as a healer, as a miracle worker, as a winemaker. Hey,
we need some more wine. Where you been? That's exactly
why. And you know, everyone today,
most people today will receive Jesus as this miracle worker
and so forth. And they will receive Him as
Jesus, but they won't tolerate all this talking of Him as Lord, as King. But look at verse 46. So Jesus came again unto Galilee,
where he made the water wine. Now why did he come to Galilee? Why did he come back to Galilee?
Why did he go to Samaria? He must needs go through Samaria. Why? There's a certain woman
there. Why did he come back? He just
left Galilee. Why go back? There's a certain
nobleman there. He wasn't there the first time.
That like Lydia. who wasn't in the place where
she's supposed to be, and she was down at Philippi. And the
Lord sent Paul, wouldn't let him go to Asia, but then he was
sent down to Philippi. Why? Lydia wasn't home. A certain
woman. Well, a certain nobleman was
down here at, was back at Galilee now. He was out on business,
I get it, and now here he was back. And never an idle word, never
an idle moment with the Lord. In the meantime, he went to Samaria
and saved that woman, and now he had to come back to Galilee,
and this man was back. Well, it says here, a certain
nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. His son was sick. He came. A nobleman. Now, a nobleman,
if you look at your margin there, if you have a Cambridge, it says
a courtier or a ruler. The courtier was one of noble
birth. That's the reason he's called
a nobleman. He was born in royalty. This fellow was a little king,
believe it or not. He was a little king. And he was a ruler. He was somebody. This fellow was somebody, at least in the eyes of men. He was highborn. He was educated.
He was powerful. I immediately thought of version
1 Corinthians 1, it says, not many wise men of the flesh, not
many noble are called. There was a queen, I've told
you this story before, but there was a queen in England years
and years ago who told one of her servants or someone, she
said, I thank God for the letter M. And they said, excuse me, ma'am,
I don't understand. She said, the scripture doesn't
say not any noble or caller. It says not many. I thank God
for the letter M. You see how salvation can hinge
on one letter. But not many, the fact remains,
not many wise men, not many mighty, noble are called. You say you're
calling, brethren, don't you? Is there anybody in here of noble
birth? Tell me about your ancestors,
Henry. Are they royalty? Who were they? Most of our ancestors, you know,
were nobodies like us. What about education? Not many. You see, you're calling, brethren.
But you know, men and women love honor and esteem and recognition
and titles conferred on them by men. Note that. That's the
reason men love to be called reverend and doctor and so on
and so forth. But these don't recommend anybody
to God. On the contrary, these things
are detrimental. According to that passage in
1 Corinthians, It's positively detrimental, because not many
are called. But God, many, nothings, nobodies,
fools are called. Are called. So here this somebody
comes, this somebody comes to this lowly carpenter. This nobody is coming to somebody. This little king is coming to
the carpentry. Turned teacher. He's coming to the king of kings.
Not knowing it. He really doesn't know it yet.
He will know it. He will know it very shortly.
He'll know it. Oh my. He doesn't realize it,
John, but he's being drawn. Because no man comes except the
Father would send him drawing. Ain't that right? He comes to
him, though. It says this in a certain note,
verse 47, when he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into
Galilee, he went unto him. He came to Jesus and wanted him. It says he besought him. Here's
that word again. We saw it this morning. He besought
him, like the Samaritans. Besought him. He beseeched them. This man was, this man had a
need, and he besought him. And he was looking for the wrong
thing, and not the one thing, but he, nevertheless he had a
need, and he was, he besought Christ that he would come down
and heal his son. But his son was at the point
of death. Now, Capernaum, it says he came from Capernaum to
to Cana of Galilee. This was a day's journey. This
was a long way. From Capernaum to Cana was a
day's journey, because you remember reading down there, look at verse
52. When he was on his way home,
he inquired of the hour when his son began to amend, and they
said, And you know he didn't hang around
Cana after the Lord told him that. He rushed, he was on his
way home. It took him a day's journey to
get there. Now the point is this. A desperate man will go to great
lengths to obtain what he's after. A desperate man or woman or young
person will go to great lengths to obtain what they're after. I've often used the illustration I've swam the ocean, didn't I,
now? Well, at least I stayed up into
the wee hours of the night with her, and lost sleep, and rode many a train to get to her. You
believe that? Well, nevertheless, the thought
was there. Really, I would have done it if I had to. She said,
swim the Ohio River. I jumped off the bridge, but
that was before I met her. I didn't need to, but if she'd
have said, jump, I'd jump. Right, Henry? Yes. Drop that macho stuff. You know
it, son. Don't you? You'd have done whatever. Well,
you wanted her hand. I wanted her hand. You wanted
her hand. That woman, whatever it is you
need, whatever it is you really want, desire, you'll go to any
length to get it, won't you? This man was desperate. He had
a sick boy. This boy was dying, and he was
dying. And I tell you, we've got some dying sons and
daughters in here, too. We've got some dead sons and
daughters in here. I'd love to see some desperate
sinners go to great lengths and seeking a blessing from the Lord. I'd like to see a young person
in here, or old for that matter, go to great lengths in seeking
a blessing from the Lord. Somebody in search of salvation,
I'd love to see a young person in here say, Preacher, I'm going
to do what you tell me. I'm going to go home, and I'm
going to get in my closet, and I'm going to ask the Lord, and
I'm not going to quit asking for him to bless me and reveal
himself to me until he does, I'm just not going to quit. See, somebody say like Jacob,
I'm just not going to let him go until he blesses me. I'm going
to be like that unfortunate widow. I'm going to do what God's Word
says, pray without ceasing, and I'm not going to quit until he
answers me. He said, Shall not God avenge his very elect, which
crieth unto him day and night, though he bear long with them?
Yea, I tell you, he will avenge them speedily." Somebody. I'd like to see somebody just
dare to trust God one time in their life. Somebody in search of you. I'd
like to see some young fellow in here in search of a place in life. I said, Lord,
use me. Use me. Put your hand on me like
Elisha. Young Elisha said, Lord, give
me what you gave Elijah, only more. Give me a double portion
of what you gave Elijah. I'd like to see someone in search
of a whatever, whatever it may be, in search of a godly mate. Wait faithfully. Wait. Watch. Pray without ceasing. Someone
in search of God's will. Wait on the Lord. Wait, I say,
on the Lord. Don't do—we're too prone to do
like Abraham and Sarah, aren't we? Aren't we? We realize what the Lord said.
Wait. I've told you. I promised you, wait, I say,
on the Lord. No, I'm going to go get me. You'll
get your son, or you'll get your husband or wife. And we'll end up like Abraham
and Sarah, sorrowful after it's all over. I'd like to see somebody, myself
included, go to great lengths to obtain a blessing. Ask somebody in here, do you
have a son or a daughter in need of healing? Well, I venture to say most everybody
in here does. Dead in trespasses and sin? Old
enough to be accountable for their sin? What age is that? I don't know. How is it that you seek the Lord
on their behalf? If you knew, you'd ask, and he
would have given you. This man, like the importunate
willet, would not be put off. Well, look at this. This man
went a long way. He went a long way to obtain
this blessing. Did he get it? He said, You suit me. He searched
for me. I'll be founder. Verse 48. Then said Jesus unto him. Now,
our Lord gently rebukes him here. Upgrades him here. Verse 48. Except you see signs and wonders,
you will not believe. But why did the Lord rebuke this
man? How did he rebuke him, John? Well, though this man seemed
to have faith, it was really mixed with unbelief. And this
is the way it is with us. This is the way it is with us.
We ask, we don't ask in faith. Now listen,
this is good. This is very important. It would
be very helpful. Look at verse 47 again, and notice
what he said to Christ here, and what he said again. He said,
when he heard that Jesus would come out of Judea into Galilee,
he went unto him, but saw him that he would come down and heal
his son. In verse 49, this nobleman said,
Sir, come down ere my child die. He'd come with me. Come down
to where I live, or my child will die. He thought that the Lord needed
to come down, need to go with him, go to his house and heal his
son, not realizing, like the centurion, that the Lord just needed to say the word. Right? Just say the word. Just
a word. See, that's his power. He upholds
all things by the word. He created all things. He upholds
all things. He does all things by his word. And are we any different? We're
looking for some sign, aren't we? We're looking for some miracle.
Lord, do something. Oh, my. He has. What more can he say? to us than
he had. What more can he do? You remember, I brought up the
centurion. The centurion, you know, the
only time in Scripture where it says the Lord marveled at
a fellow, at a man, at somebody, the only time it ever said the
Lord marveled at somebody was that centurion. You remember
that story over Matthew 8? Yeah, Matthew 8. Where the centurion came to him
and said, He said, he said, I'm a man of authority. The centurion's,
was it his daughter? It was his servant was sick.
His servant was sick. And the centurion came to him
and said, now, I'm a man of authority, and I say whatever I say goes.
He said, I say unto a man, go, and I say unto this man, come,
and they do it. And he said, that I'm not worthy for you to
come to my house. I don't want you coming to my
house. I'm not worthy of you to come. If you'd just say the
word. That's Lord Moses. He said, I've not seen so great
a faith in all of Israel. He said, according to your will,
so be it unto you. So be it. Oh, Lord, give me just that.
Stand and give me that much of that. This word is powerful. And here's the point. The Lord
upholds all things by His Word. He saves by His Word. He sustains
by His Word. He increases faith by His Word.
We want to see the Lord move. We want to see the Lord do something
mighty. We want to see the Lord move in a miraculous way, and
we ignore His Word. This is how he moves in a miraculous
way. This is how he speaks to us. Lord, speak, show me a sign.
This is the sign of even an adulterous generation seeks out the sign,
and no sign will be given but his people who seek his Word. It's better than a sign. Isn't
that what Peter said in 2 Peter 1? He said, we were on the mountain. We saw him absolutely changed
in the being of life. He said, we have a more sure
word of prophecy. You can't trust your eyes. It
might be LSD. It might be bad pizza. But he
said, you can trust his word. He said, it's like a light that
shines in a dark place. You're groping for, and we all
do grope for light, for those in the dark. And boy, when you
seek his word, it'll be like a light turning on. We broke into this, answers here,
answers there. Lord, show me, show me, show
me, show me. And we come, and he opens his words, I see. I
was so dumb. Like David, wasn't I? In Psalm
73, looking for answers. He was in this. He was full of
envy and jealousy and a root of bitterness, and he was bitter
over his own state in life and all that, until he stood, he
turned over to the sanctuary, and he saw, he said, I was a
fool. I've been a fool. Now I see His Word. Oh, Lord, open my eyes,
and I might behold not signs and miracles, but wonders from
thy law. Hmm? You can't trust what you see. You know, the Lord, it says over
there in Second Thessalonians, because people don't receive
the love of this, God sends them a sign. Strong delusion. You reckon any
of these things are going on in religion today are so true,
or any of these miracles? Yeah, that's so. Or at least people really believe
that they're seeing these things. God sends strong delusions. What's
God sending us? Oh my, we're watching the high,
we're standing in the outer courts watching the high priest going
holy and holy, Sunday after Sunday. We're getting them up former
and latter rain. Well, he said, Sir, come down,
come down, hurry. Didn't he say that? Hurry. The
Scripture says he that believeth. The scripture says, He that believeth
shall not make haste. What's that mean? It means he
won't be in too big of a hurry. He that believeth shall not make
haste. He won't get in a hurry. Our Lord, was he ever in a hurry? Has he ever in a hurry? I remember
when Lazarus was sick and dying. And somebody came running, hurry,
hurry, he's going to die. He stayed right where he was,
two more days. And they said, Lord, he's sick.
Not worried. Oh no, it's all going to work
out according to my purpose. at the glory of God. It's all
going to work out for the glory of God. You just wait. You're
going to see the glory of God. Just wait. It's not my case,
Terry. I know her. Took his good time. Went down to Mary. Martha came
running up. Lord, if you'd have been here, if you'd have been
here. Martha, I was here. You ever thought
about that? Oh, Lord, if only, if only what?
He's the one that sent her. He's controlling all things.
Joe? Whatever happened, it's the Lord.
But Lord, if you'd have...if I'd have what? I did that. Mary, Lord, if you'd have been
here, my brother hadn't died. I was here, and I meant for him
to die. Oh, and this man says, hurry,
hurry, come down, come down, come down. This man, though,
he was desperate. He was desperate, as we would
be in the case of our children, as we are in the case of our
children at times. Yet the Lord suffers him anyway.
The Lord is long-suffering. He suffered long with this fellow,
his unbelief, and ours. You know, he proved himself to
us o'er and o'er. And the Lord gently rebukes this
man. Let me just bring this point out to you along this line. Matthew
Henry's the one that said this. He said, The Lord humbles before
he exalts. It's always the case. That's what's wrong with religion
today. Everybody's always on the mountaintop, aren't they,
in religion? And they keep wanting to get
a little higher and higher, and nothing's ever high enough. Nothing's
ever exciting enough. Certainly not preaching. I bet
if you're an old, groping, grappling, grumbling, like the song says,
see how we grovel here below. Boy, it's cold water to a thirsty
soul, the gospel comes, and he lifts us up. The beggars, you
know, a beggar on a dunghill, there's no place to go but up.
And a lowly, desperate sinner, there's no place to go but up.
No place to look but up. And he humbles before exalt.
Matthew Henry said he frowns before he shows any favor. Henry said, Matthew, He said
he convinces of sin before he confers. He said the Lord wounds before
he heals. Well, this man came to Christ. This man came to Christ about
his son. He was desperate, and he was
becoming increasingly desperate. And it said there in verse 47,
his son, he's talking about his son, but look here in verse He
says, Sir, he said, Lord, Sir, come down ere my child die. He speaks in this term of affection. In other words, he says, Sir,
come down, this is my baby. Lord, this is my baby, and he's
dying. And like as a Lord pitieth his
children, like a father pitieth his children, he no longer rebukes
him, hath he? So the Lord pitieth them that
fear him." And look what he says to him, verse 50. He says unto
him, Go thy way, thy son liveth. And the man, look at it, the
man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and went
his way. I believe his tears dried up, the anguished look
on his face left, and that shuffling gait in his step left, and he
headed on down the road, going home. And somebody might have
met him on the road, where he going? Home, out of everything. He didn't know yet. Well, how he didn't see his son?
Well, he didn't need to. The higher the more sure it was.
The Lord said, whatever the Lord said, so. And I believe when
these fellows met him, they said, uh, thy son liveth. I believe
he might have thought, I knew it. I knew it. I've seen this
happen. I've seen some of you get down.
You've seen me get down. And I've seen the Lord move,
and I thought, I told you so. I told you so. I knew it. Tried to tell you,
but I'm not worried about it. Oh, my, we get bent out of shape,
don't we? Just the way we get. What power!
What power! Huh? You know, the Lord didn't
strike, didn't do anything. He didn't do anything. He didn't
snap his finger. He didn't run his hand. He didn't
throw holy water. He didn't do anything. He didn't
really say anything. How did he heal this boy? He
just thought it. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. It's that power of what? Hey,
that's the good Lord come down. He is healed. Go on home. He's all right. Oh, if he just wills it. See,
according to his will, everything's according just to his will. He
doesn't have to even say anything. Just will it. Just will it. And the man believed
and went his way. Verses 51 through 53, and as
he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, Oh, for the day when somebody
says that to me. I don't have to hear it. I don't have to see
it. My daughter, Lord save her, on
the sound of my minister. You don't have to see it here.
It doesn't matter, does it? As long as the Lord speaks. Wouldn't
it cause you great joy just to hear the word? your son, your daughter loves
the gospel. I baptized your son the other
day." Oh, my. Oh, my. The man believed. Well, verse fifty-two, "...and
inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend." They
said unto him, well, yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever
left him. The man went, That's right. That's right. We took our little sundial out
of his... Yeah. I knew it. Just as... It's just like he said. And he
knew, the Father knew, verse 53, that it was the same hour
in which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth, and he believed. He believed before, he believed
doubly now. And his whole house, he told them. He told them what
happened. And he knows there's no telling
what the Lord might do for one of us, for someone who dares
to believe his word. No telling. No telling. Our Lord talked about mustard
seed faith, didn't he? Well, this again, this verse
54, says this is again the second miracle that Jesus did when he
was come out of Judea into Galilee. This is the second miracle. And
I wondered, after I read this, after I read Matthew Henry, I
read John Gill, I read Arthur Pink on this, I read and read
and read, and nobody said much about this. But why did the Holy
Spirit point out to us that this was the second miracle. There's
no outer words in God. It's just not just in passing,
you know, well, this is the second one. Huh? Why? Why did he? I had to know. Do you have to
know? I had to know. Well, see if this doesn't, maybe,
maybe the reason. Now, it pointed out the first
miracle, didn't it? Now, after this, he doesn't number
the miracles. He doesn't say, this is the third, this is the
fourth, just these two. Why? What was the first one? What was the first miracle? Huh?
Right. The water was made to wine. And
do you remember what we saw in that? The wine. And right here, what is the miracle
here? What is taking place here? What was the miracle that the
Lord performed? Not healing. That was the end. But the means of the miracle
was his word. So we have the wine, the water
in the wine, and his word, the marvel and the miracle of his
word. All right? These two things. Now, Charles
Hudson brought this up in a study. He said, wasn't there a long
period of time between these two miracles? He said, yes, there
was. And it doesn't seem that he performed
any more miracles, or any other miracle in that period of time.
Or did he? Huh? Did he perform any miracles
between turning the water into wine and this right here, healing
it? Oh, my. He revealed himself to that woman
at the well. That's the greatest wonder. Salvation in that way
came. He revealed Himself to all those
Samaritans, didn't He? And they said, Now we believe
because of Your Word. Isn't that a miracle? You could
go on and on about the miracles in your life, what He's done
for you, how He's miraculously provided you for all that, but
that's not the miracle. Here's the thing. That's not
the wonder. The wonder is to save you. Now
that he revealed himself to you, that's the wonder of wonders,
isn't it? You see, the Lord didn't come to perform signs and wonders
and miracles, did he? Why'd he come? To heal? No. At least not physically. He came
to seek and save lives. He came to be the sin-bearer,
substitute, the Lamb of God. He came to die. He came to die. And that's one reason. Here's
another why this miracle was noted. The wine and the blood.
You see, the wine represents his blood, doesn't it? The wine
is the blood of Christ which is shed for the remission of
our sins. Oh, a miracle of miracles that
God became a man and shed his own precious blood. The Church
of God was redeemed with the blood of God. Isn't that a mystery? This is a miracle. And we've
seen the water of his word. We've seen wine. Wine runs all
through it. It turned into wine. Well, the
word of his promises. Right here, he performed this
miracle all based on his word. His promises. His promises. And his promises, see, the promises
of God are all based on the Word. These are those two immutable
things that will last forever. See, that which is seen is temporary. That which is not seen is eternal.
And the blood is ever before the Lord. Ever. Ever. A propitiation for our
souls on that mercy. And also the Word is forever
settled in heaven. Two immutable things. It's impossible
for him to lie. His oath, that's his word. His
covenant, that's sealed in blood, the covenant of blood. And these are two miracles, miracles
of all miracles. And beside these, all else pales.
You see, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us all, shed the He that shed the blood of his own precious
son. What more, Deborah? What are
we looking for now? And he that keeps saying to you
over and over again, said not I unto you, did not I say unto
you? Did not I say? Did not I say? I shed my son's
blood and now all my promises are yea in him and amen and sure
What more can he say? What more can he do until it's
summer? These two miracles are the most
noted ones, the most worthy ones, worthy to be noted. Does that
make sense? I hope so. Well, I hope this
has been of some help to you. While you may not be a nobleman
or a noblewoman, I hope you come and learn like this man did,
according to his word. It's all according to his word.
You seek him with all your heart. Great thing. Great God, he does
great things. Ask great things of him. All right, let's stand. Our Father, we thank you for
this precious possession, chiefly the pearl of great price,
if indeed Christ is ours. And then, secondly, the Word. No, Lord, we take it for granted. We ignore your Word and look
for other things. Forgive us, O Lord, forgive us.
Forgive us. O Lord, forgive us. Please, son,
feed us. Cause us, O Lord, as our brothers
already prayed, cause us to thirst for your Word, as a child thirsts
for his mother's milk, that we might grow thereby, our faith
might grow exceedingly. And we might be like that centurion
of old. We might be like this man. We
might be like that Syrophoenician woman. And we might be like that
importunate widow. And we might be like Mary. O
Lord, give us mustard seed faith. We don't ask for much. We ask
for just some faith to believe, to trust You, to believe on You,
Your Word. In Christ's name, have met this
day, thanking You, our God, through Him, for all things in His name. Amen.