And before we read, let me lead
us to the Lord in prayer. Father in Heaven, we open this
blessed book to hear Your Word again, another portion of it. And Lord, we are persuaded that
it is indeed not the words of men, but the Word of God, that
Thou didst inspire these words, that they are true, they are
accurate, These things happen. These things are so that we are
about to read. Lord, we pray that you might
exalt our Christ as we study these miracles done by Him and
put in John's Gospel. We pray that they may bless us.
We may learn special things from them. We may see and understand
the sovereign power that resided in our Lord, that He is and was
indeed, very God, the Word made flesh. Capture our attention
that we might watch with Thee for a while. We pray it in the
name of Christ, our Lord we ask. Amen. All right, the text is
John 4, beginning in verse 43. Now after two days he departed
thence and went into Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that
a prophet hath no honor in his own country. Then when he was
come into Galilee, 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
ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. The nobleman
saith unto him, Sir, come down, ere my child die. Jesus said
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 that he 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 the which Jesus said unto
him, Thy son liveth, and himself believed, and his whole house."
This is again the second miracle Jesus did when He was come out
of Judea into Galilee. So our second miracle concerns
the healing of a noble man's son, and this also is unique. We have taken notice in our first
study that John, by the inspiration of the Spirit of course, has
been very selective in the miracles and the parables of the Lord
which he includes in his Gospel. For this apostle whom Jesus loved,
John 13 and 25, this man who leaned on the bosom of the Lord
and his master at the Last Supper, emphasizes the deity of the Lord,
and includes in his gospel those things that best tend to and
serve that end, and does the miracle which the Lord worked
on the noble man's son from the city of Capernaum. Now, working
our way into our text, and down to our text that we have chosen,
you will remember that chapter 4 contains one of the greatest
encounters anywhere in the New Testament. As the Lord, coming
to the well of Jacob where water was drawn, meets there a woman
of Samaria who had come out of the city that she might fetch
water for her needs in the household, and is given the water of life
by the stranger that she met at the well. She comes with a
pitcher and leaves with living water. This incident is significant
for at least three reasons that I can think of. Number one, the
Lord interacts with a person here that is not a full Jew in
the sense of the word. a Samaritan, a half-breed, worshipping,
not in the Jewish religion, but in a renegade religion, in a
separate temple, in a separate place, and her religion accepted
only a portion of the Old Testament Scripture, I believe the writings
of Moses. And beside that, this woman had
lived a very licentious life, having had several husbands,
as our Lord revealed." Now, the second thing that we might make
concerning this is to her, the Lord declares the great change
in the manner of worship that was about to occur, that was
just at hand. In verse 20-24, He declares unto
that woman that no longer, He said, from henceforth, Will worship
be connected to cities and to places and to time? But worship
would be in spirit and in truth. For God is a spirit, and they
that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. And the third thing that we are
able to glean from this incident is to this once sinful woman. Yes, this lowly, sinful woman. The Lord reveals Himself very
clearly and very plainly to be the Christ of God. He did not
do that to many of the religious Pharisees and scribes who ask
Him again and again. But to this woman who had lived
a sinful life, He revealed Himself as the Christ of God. She said
to Him in verse 25, Yes, I know that Messiah is to come. I believe that there is a Messiah
that is coming. He is the one that is called
Christ, or literally, the Anointed One. I know that He is to come. And in verse 26, the Lord says
to her, I speaking unto you am He." And He didn't do that on
very many occasions, but to this woman He did. This resulted by
the power of the grace in many of the Samaritan people believing
on Jesus as Lord and Savior down in verse 39 through verse 42. Now before settling in, let's
notice some of the Lord's movement. The encounter with a woman at
Jacob's well occurred in the region of Samaria by a city by
the name of Sychar, John 4 and verse 5. The turning of the water
into wine occurred in the region of Galilee, but in the city of
Cana, John 2 and verse 1. From Cana of Galilee, He went
about Galilee, and then he came again by a circuitous route again
into Cana. And while there in the city of
Cana, it was that a man, a nobleman from the city of Capernaum, came
there for the specific purpose of beseeching our Lord that he
might come down to his house and heal his son who was grievously
sick. Now, Capernaum was a wicked city,
but the Lord did many of His wonderful miracles there in that
city. It sat near or by the shore of
the Sea of Galilee, and some historians say at a distance
of about 15 miles from the city of Canaan. And yet this man made
the trip in the hope that his son might not die and that the
Lord might come and heal him. This means, of course, that the
fame of Jesus had already begun to spread far and wide. And very quickly, we're in verse
47, when he heard that Jesus was come from Judea into Galilee. For the word spread, the word
went before him, and the word went after. And when he heard
that the Lord was fifteen miles from his house and his city,
he made his way there unto Canaan. Now, he did not send servants,
but he came himself and in person. And this anxious supplicant for
his son's relief is said to be a certain nobleman. Quote, a certain nobleman. Some people would call that a
courtier, and it might be so rendered in some version. This
was a servant of the king in some capacity, a person that
had some connection or something to do with the royal court of
Herod the king. And the word used, nobleman,
means a royal person. It might be a king's officer,
a royal official, someone who worked and was employed by the
king. Now this man was not a poor peasant. He was not of a low social status. He was not a farmhand, but he
was a servant in and about the court of the king's service.
And this shows that power, privilege, high societal standing cannot
exempt one from the common and the ordinary troubles of life,
that a man's position cannot ensure that all will go well
with his family and with his children, It is unlikely, or
rather it is unlikely, I guess I should say, that his son was
one of 47 million Galileans with no health coverage. The reason
for the man's coming to Christ was his son. His son whom he
evidently loved. And he was sick. And he had heard
that the Lord had come into Galilee. His fame had spread or preceded
him. The son was not a little sick. The son was not just of a minor
illness, but was at the point of death in verse 47. And this man makes a very bold
request of our Lord. He would call him away from his
ministerial duties of those in Cana to come personally to his
house and grant him the favor. He makes this request, come to
Capernaum and heal my son. That the Lord would grant him
a great favor. That the Lord would grant him
that he would not suffer the loss of his son. This indicated
that from what he had heard, he believed very strongly and
he hoped very highly that the Lord would act in his behalf
and that he could because he had heard of other works of our
Lord. We might look at this man, try
to get inside this man's mind and inside this man's feeling.
He is a father. He has a sick child, probably
a young child. What agony it is to see a young
child so sick and even at the point of death. But at first
the Lord seems to give the man a very curt answer, seems as
it were to fluff him off, and this seems A harsh reply to a
man who has left a very sick son at home and walked for so
far to seek the help, the counsel, and the guidance of the Lord.
What is the point here in the Lord making and saying unto the
man? What can he mean as he answers
the man? You will not believe except you
see signs and wonders. And we might think it a good
thing that the man has done. He has loved his son, perhaps
all doctrine, medicine having failed, enough to walk miles
to get him help and ask the one that he believes is able to help
him. Yet in this, not at all the faith
that saves. We would not say this man had
saving faith as he came. He comes seeking a physical blessing
or miracle from the Lord, not a spiritual salvation, at least
not at this time. He does not ask the Lord, save
my son, ere he die lost and in his sin. Christ would teach the
man not to fall into what one expositor has called miracle
mania. It's like Paul wrote 1 Corinthians
1, And verse 22, the Jews seek a sign, this they need, this
they require, this they love, this ask. Like Thomas who told
his apostolic colleagues, except I see the wound in his side and
thrust in my hand, I will not believe. John 20 and verse 25,
and any confidence or faith that man has that the man in our text
has had, was only such as fed and maintained by the outward
works and miracles that our Lord had done. The many wonders that
this man had heard about, and how often the Jews asked for
signs that it might confirm the Lord's claim or the Lord's actions
under them. For example, in John 2 and verse
18. They said, what sign do you show
us that you are doing these things? That is, cleansing the temple,
driving out the money changer. They want to know by what authority
are you acting? In whose authority and what sign
do you show? Matthew 12 and 38, they said
to him, we would see a sign. Mark 8 and verse 11, the Pharisees
began to question him seeking a sign from heaven. But in their
case, Matthew 16 and verse 4, he says to them, a wicked and
adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there shall no sign
be given it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. That is, the death
and the resurrection of the Lord. Therefore, the Lord would teach
the king's officer, here in our text, that there is a higher
grade of faith than that that rests only upon signs, wonders,
and miracles. Of course, the miracles of the
God-man were the credentials of his ministry, and that he
had come from God. But the miracles were not the
end in themselves. There wasn't one such power to
do these things. also had the power and the blessing
of God upon this life. Thus, these signs that our Lord
did became credentials of His messianic office and such like,
proving that He is the one come from God to save His people from
their sin, Matthew 1.21. He is the one who came to seek
and to save that which was lost, Luke 19 and verse 10. He's the one who came into the
world to save sinners. 1 Timothy 1 and verse 15. The great miracles were to be
temporary during the life and ministry of our Lord, ending
with the ending of the apostolic era. And since there is no new
revelation to be made, There is no need of confirming miracles. There is no new revelation. There
is no new gospel to be unveiled. There is no new covenant to be
brought before the people. Therefore, there is no need of
confirming miracles to those who preach the gospel today. The man had not likely sought
for Christ and His teachings alone or to be instructed in
the Kingdom of God. He had not come simply for that
purpose, but to be instructed, but to have His Son to find the
healing at the hands of the Lord. Only He had heard that many mighty
works were being done by this man Jesus of Nazareth, and He
would have Him come down to His very house, and Jesus seemed
to be indifferent to His plight. and as it were, shaking him off. Nevertheless, the man is persistent. We look in v. 49. He pleads the
Savior, Sir, come down, ere or lest my child die. As if he thought that the healer
must be in the actual presence, in the actual room with the sick
one, saying, come before he dies. Come, lest he die. Come, or he
will die, is his plea unto the Savior. Now, pardon, if you will,
some side thoughts, but remember what the sisters of Lazarus both
said to Christ when He arrived at their home in John 11, 21,
and again in verse 32. Lord, if Thou had been here,
our brother, had not died." Both of them said
that. First words out of their mouth,
Mary and Martha, Lord, if you had been here, our brother had
not died. They are sure that had the Lord
been present, He might have and could have saved Lazarus from
death and restored his health and made him well again. If He had been there with them,
if he had been bodily present in the city, that they might
fetch him to where their brother lay sick upon his bed. They had
sent the Lord word where he was. Lord, he whom thou lovest is
sick. Did they think that the Lord
could have prevented the death of Lazarus from afar off? Or did they think that the Lord
would make haste and come to the place where Lazarus lay? Contrast the words of the man
in our text. Come, sir, lest my child die. Come where he is. Now contrast that with another
centurion that we meet with in the Scripture, Matthew chapter
8, 5-13. Also it's in Luke chapter 7 and
verse 1-10. This man also resided at Capernaum,
but methinks with the commentator, it is not the same man. For this
man, rather than a sick son, had a sick servant at his house. And he met the Lord to beseech
and behave of his sick one. And if I may say so, Both his
humility and also his faith were greater than the other, the noble
monk. For though they used the same
title in addressing the Lord, Lord in Matthew 8, 6, Sir in
John 4 and verse 49, the words appear to be the same one in
the Greek. But the centurion to the Lord
said, Matthew 8 and verse 7, I will come and heal him. The centurion replies, Matthew
8.8, I am not worthy that you should even so much as come under
my roof. But if you will just speak the
word, my servant shall be whole. What a difference between the
two men. If you will but speak the word,
then my servant shall be well. He understood the power and the
authority of command." Being himself a man with authority,
he says, look, I say to this one, go, and he goes. To this
one, comes and he comes. In other words, he's saying,
I to him have authority, and when I give an order, it is obeyed
as much as if to say to Jesus, you are a man with authority.
If you will but speak the word, then it shall be as you have
said. He saw no need for the Lord to
come into his home. Just speak the Word, just say
the thing, and it would be done. But there is something that both
men have in common. Both their respective servant,
the son and the servant, were healed by Jesus from afar off. Now we're getting into the crooks
and the uniqueness of this miracle. without Him being bodily present. The Lord did not go to where
they were. He neither touched them. He did
not take them by their hand as He did another. He did not call
their name out with a loud voice as perhaps He did at Lazarus. He was miles from the Son of
the Nobleman who in returning was glad when He was met by some
of His servants in the way, who said, Your son is living. Your son is well. He's alive. He is okay. He is recovered. The fever is completely gone. He's made a most remarkable and
full recovery. He is as one alive again from
the dead. And in verse 52, that man, the
nobleman, asked his servants, by the way, what time was it
when he began to amend? What time was he found better?
The word here, says Ryle, can mean, when did he have himself
better? When did he convalesce? When was he up and about and
off of the sickbed? And the servants tell him, well,
it was about the seventh hour yesterday when this great change
took place. And it corresponded exactly to
the time when the Lord said to him, Your son will live, he will
not die. And hearing these words, the
man believed stronger on the Lord Jesus Christ." And by the
way, the centurion in Matthew chapter 8 also found that his
servant was healed at exactly the same time the Lord had told
him that his request would be granted. Matthew 8 verse 13,
His servant was healed in the self-same hour, or at that very
hour, at the exact time when the Lord made the promise unto
him. Before we leave this, let's consider
the case of the Syrian general Naaman over in the Old Testament,
2 Kings 5. Naaman was a Gentile, of course. He was a great man with his master. He stood high in the esteem of
the king. He was an honorable man, the
Scripture said. He was a military success. He
had often won many battles on the battlefield. And he was a
mighty man of valor. We read 2 Kings 5, where all
of these very commendable qualities are overshadowed by the fact
that he had been stricken with leprosy. With all of these things
to commend him, and then the author said, but he was a leper. This man, with all of his authority,
with all of his influence, and with a great reputation, had
contracted the dreaded, awful disease of leprosy. You remember the account, I bet.
2 Kings chapter 5. Naaman's wife had a little Jewish
maid that they had taken in battle and brought her and made her
to be the housemaid or the house servant of Naaman's wife. And
she said to the wife one day, knowing that her master had leprosy,
she said, Would God, my master, were with the prophet in Samaria,
he would heal him of his leprosy. And what does Naaman do but load
up great gifts and things? And he makes his way down unto
the prophet of God. And he drives up before the prophet
of God's door, Elisha, there. And somebody says to Elisha,
the man out here with leprosy wants to see you. He wants to
talk to you. He's laden with gifts. And the
prophet Elisha says to go tell him to go dip in Jordan seven
times. and his flesh shall be all whole
again." Well, Naaman turns away in a huff. He is angry. He is
insulted. There was a word used today.
He felt like he had been dissed. I think we hear that word, and
I hope I use it right. And he went off mad and was going
to go back home, and he said, good gracious, we've got rivers
at home better than this. Why do I have to do this? And
his servant came and beseeched him and said, Sir, Sir, if he
had bid you do some great thing to be well of your leprosy, would
you not have done it? And finally Naaman relented and
he went and he dipped himself seven times in the pond. But you know what made Naaman
offended? He said in 2 Samuel 5 verse 11,
he said, I thought the prophets would come out to where I was
and would rub his hand around over me to perform the healing.
That's what he expected, some manifestation. The remedy seemed
preposterous unto the man to expect a cure for leprosy by
dipping in an unsettled muddy stream. But when he heeded the
urging of the servant, did as the prophet directed him, you
know what happened? His flesh became as smooth as
the flesh of a little The Lord mentions this in Luke 4 and verse
27. Many lepers were in Israel in
the time of Naaman, yet to none of them was the prophet sent,
saying to Naaman, a Gentile and a leper. So let's as quickly
as we can consider the miracles of the prophet Elisha in the
Old Testament. He performed many. Most of them
he was present at the act. And he acted, he did something,
he touched something, or he prayed. He made use of some material
substance as examples of Elijah's miracle. 2 Kings chapter 4, he
raised a young child from the dead. He prayed, he stretched
his body upon that young child, hand for hand and eye for eye. And the young child coughed,
or was it sneezed, and he lived again. In verse 38-41, in Gilgal,
Elisha cured the deadly pottage that was in the pot by casting
meal into the pot, and it was made well. In 2 Kings 6, 1-7,
Elisha caused an iron axe head to float or swim up on the top
of the water, and he did so by casting an ordinary stick into
the water, and the iron axe head that fell there that was borrowed
was recovered again. But let's go back to John 4,
and the Lord healing the son of the nobleman in not being
present, in not touching him, not saying a prayer over him,
or rebuking the fever as He did on other occasions. It is evident
that in the majority of the miracles of our Lord, He was actually
present. And He either prayed, or He touched,
or He commanded the miracle to occur. He spoke miracles into
existence. He spoke, and it was done. Can we wonder why so few of the
Lord's miracles were done without Him being present? that in most
He performed in person, in plain sight, witnesses looking on,
where the changes were evident, seen by many, and were undeniable. Could this be the reason why
our Lord did it personally most often, perform most of His miracles
in person? It's so that they could not ascribe
the cure or the change to any natural causes. As for example,
the nobleman's son, a skeptic could say, it's no miracle. The fever just ran its course.
The bodily immune system kicked in and the cool rag on his brow
got rid of the fever, or the fever broke in a natural way. Some might say that. But two
things are to be considered in the healing of the nobleman's
son. Number one, the healing was immediate. and not gradual. It had no lingering weaknesses
or after effect. It was not that he gained strength
a little each day, was a little better each day until he was
fully recovered. The same as in the other case,
the effect was immediate. Mark 1 and 31, immediately the
fever left her. Mark 1.42, immediately
the leprosy departed. Mark 10.52, immediately he received
his sight. Luke 5.13, immediately the leprosy
departed. Mark 5.29, and straightway the
fountain of her blood was dried up. Mark 5.42, and straightway
the damsel arose and walked." Mark 7 and 35, "...and straightway
his ears were opened immediately." Not only were such cures immediate,
but there were no relapses of those that our Lord cured. None
of them died the next day or two days later. But there were
immediate cures. Now these self-claimed conmen,
healers, that are everywhere on TV and radio today, their
miracles come nowhere near those of our Lord. Secondly, the second
point mentioned earlier, the recovery of the young son exactly
matched the time when the Lord made the promise to the man,
thy son shall live. This is what verified it for
the man in verse 53, and he became a believer. So let's begin now
our descent and see if we can make a safe landing from these
lofty things. The first two miracles of the
Lord in John are very extraordinary. In the first, He turns water
into wine by willing it to be so, by the very thought, without
an oral word being spoken out of His mouth. One easy thing
for the one who spoke the world into existence. In the second
miracle, he heals from afar, not in the same room, not near
the one sick or dead. He heals from afar, from many
miles away, making use of no objects or material matters at
all. Now, why did the Lord work miracles
in abundance? To answer, let us notice in Scripture,
the greatest concentration of miracles in the Scripture are
those in the time of Moses, those in the time of Elijah and Elisha,
those in the time of our Lord, and those in the days of our
Apostle. So these are the great periods
of miracles. And they were for a purpose,
not just willy-nilly. The miracles of Moses convinced
them that it was of God that He might deliver the people.
The miracles of Elijah and Elisha were to call and apostate people
again unto the Lord. Those of Christ and the apostles
were signs. The mighty works of Christ were
what Goodwin called signs and badges. quote-unquote, that he
was the Son of God. And evidence is that the new
covenant had come in the place of the old. That he was a man
proved of God among them by signs and miracles and wonders. Acts
2 and verse 22, which God did by him in the midst of you, as
ye yourself also know, Peter tells them. They clearly prove
the Messiahship of the Lord Jesus Christ. God attended Jesus with
divine and gave proof of His divinity by the multitude of
the exertions of the divine power in the deity of the Son. God gave credit that Jesus of
Nazareth was more than a man and more than a prophet, that
He was indeed the Son of God. And yet there is no need to seek
to revive the age of miracles as there is no revelation to
be revealed. There is no new gospel that needs
confirming. There is no new doctrine that
needs confirming by signs and miracles and wonders. And those
claiming signs and wonders, what frauds they are, how preposterous
are their claims, how shallow is their understanding of the
use and purpose of miracles, and what charlatans they are
in using their claims to fleece the people. And let me tell you
that many of these con artists are multi-millionaires from fleecing
the people, claiming the great power of God and power to heal. And while poor, poor people put
their trust in these men throw away their medicines and their
crutches and then die or fall sicker. These men are off on
their ranches and in their mansions flying their private planes.
What charlatans they are. Thank the Lord for the confirming
miracles of our Lord that He is indeed the One who has come
from God. He is the Christ. Okay, let's
bow our heads please