Let's go back to John chapter
4. John chapter 4. I preached this message this
morning for the radio. I did a condensed version of
it. I decided to keep going on the radio for a little while
longer. You know, I've learned if something's hard, it probably
means it's right. If it's easy, it's probably wrong.
It's always, when you do something right, it seems like in this
world, it's the toughest road. But the easy road, the road of
least resistance, always seems to be the one that's wrong. So I decided to keep it going
for a while, and I brought this message, a condensed version
of it, for Saturday morning. The title of it is, He Believed
the Word. It is human nature to want to
do something, to want to do something to obtain salvation. Now, we
don't want to do something to obtain anything else. We like
everything else being given to us except salvation. We'll take
everything else free, won't we? But when it comes to salvation,
we want to add to it. We just feel like we've got to
do something. And the Lord, you'll see this, the Lord shuts this
man up to doing nothing but believe in His Word. taking Him at His
Word. Now, our Lord has been in Samaria
for two days preaching the gospel and saving sinners. We usually
think of the woman at the well as His only reason for going
to Samaria, isn't it? That's usually what we think
of. We think of that woman at the well. But there were a lot
of other sinners there that were His. She was just the first fruit.
But there were a lot of other ones there that believed His
word. They didn't just believe because she told them. But they
said, now we've heard Him. We believe Him. We believe what
He has to say. And now He leaves that place
and He goes to Cana of Galilee. It says, now after two days,
in verse 43, He departed thence and He went into Galilee. Our
Lord was on a mission. He was on a mission. Every day
had its agenda, purpose. Every day had its purpose to
fulfill. They woke up every morning with
an absolute purpose to fulfill. People to preach the gospel to,
sinners to save. Every day. Success in one place
did not keep him from going to other places. We have a tendency
to want to stay where things are going good, don't we? We
have a tendency to want to stay. When we have success going, like,
let's say, right here, we have a tendency to want to stay right
here and enjoy it. But when we reap a harvest, if
you're going to reap a harvest, you have to go all the way through
the field, don't you? You can't just stop at the beginning of
the field and reap a little bit and say, well, I've reaped the
harvest. Well, there's a whole field there in front of you. You have to
keep going through the field in order to finally reap the
harvest. And every day had its agenda for Him. And it says here in verse 44,
For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet hath no honor in his
own country. A prophet is a man used of God. He's a man sent of God. But he's
still just a man. He's still just a man. And those
who know that man can't seem to get past His manhood. Here's
what they can't get past. They can't get past His past.
That I know you. I had someone I met, oh, it's
been several years ago, that I went to school with. I remember
you. I thought, well, I'll see you later. That's not the you
I want to remember. But that's why a prophet is not
accepted except in his own country. They said this to our Lord. We
know you. You're the carpenter's son. You're
the one who lives down there in that poor house with that
poor family, with that poor education. We know you. Well, I know this. God uses men to preach to sinners. He uses sinners to preach to
sinners, not angels, not angels. Men who are sinners saved by
grace. Then when he was coming to Galilee,
the Galileans received him. And here's why they received
him. Having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the
feast. For they also went unto the feast.
Our Lord lived in Galilee for more than twenty years. They
saw his perfect life. They saw his life every day. They knew who he was. He had
an exemplary life among them. And they knew that. But they
made absolutely nothing of Him until they saw miracles. That's
why He said a prophet's not without honor except in his own country
and among his own brethren. It wasn't until they saw the
miracles that they were finally starting to make something of
Him. We love to be entertained, don't we? Human nature does. Human nature loves to be entertained.
But His miracles that He performed were proofs of His deity. No
man ever did that before. No man ever turned water into
wine. No man ever raised the dead like that, like he did.
No man ever did the things that he did. The miracles were proof
of his deity. And they never saved anyone.
His miracles never saved anyone. He did. He did the saving, not
the miracles. He may have used a miracle to
get someone's attention, but he did the saving. Christ Himself is the one that
saves. He's the one that lived a perfect
life. He's the one that wrought out righteousness for His people.
He's the one that died under the curse of the law. It was
His blood that was shed to wash us from our sins. He's the one
who rose again. He's the one who ascended on
high and left captivity captive and gave gifts to men. He's the
one who did it. Not miracles. Christ did it.
Miracles don't produce faith. Not one miracle, no matter how
great it's been, ever produced faith. That's a work of God. That's a work of God. Not one
miracle ever produced a new birth. You see these people on TV trying
to do these fake miracles. They just act like they're doing
miracles, and then people act like they believe. That's all
it is. It's an act. There's no substance to it. They're
just as lost as ever. It's Christ that saves. It's
Christ that gives faith. It's Christ that gives the new
birth. It's Christ. So Jesus came again into Canaan
of Galilee where he made the watered wine. And there was a
nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. I have no doubt this
is why he came back here. There was a sinner here, just
as there was in Samaria. You see, there was a sinner at
the well that he was going to meet at a certain time. Well,
here's a certain, does it not say, a certain nobleman? You
know, when the scripture speaks of the Lord crossing a sinner's
path, a man or woman, it always speaks of a certain man or a
certain woman. Never haphazardly. It's always
a certainty. Certain man, certain woman, at
a certain time, meeting the Lord of glory. That's what happened
to us, isn't it? There's a time to be born. There's a time to die. But there's
a time to meet the Lord. A certain time. A certain time. Now Canaan is the place where
he turned the water into wine here, it says. It's also the
place where he's going to save another sinner. And I want us
to notice how he handles this one. You see, the Lord always
meets us where we are, doesn't He? He always comes to the sinner. No sinner will ever come to Christ
until Christ comes to him. Me and Tom Hardy were talking
this past week, and he came across a message when he was preaching.
He said, people are talking about going to heaven. He said, no
man is going to heaven until heaven comes to them. No sinner
is going to be saved until Christ comes to them. Oh, I wish men would learn that.
I wish those men who stand behind pulpits would learn that it's
Christ who saves. It's Christ who comes to the
sinner. It's Christ who gives life. It's Christ who commands
life forevermore. It's the Lord. Now, when he heard
that Jesus was coming out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto
Him and besought Him And he would come down and heal his son, but
he was at the point of death. This man was a nobleman. I believe
he had some money. He was a ruler. He had some power.
He had some contacts. But no one he knew, and nothing
he could do, could keep his son alive. It's said over in Job,
none can keep alive his own soul. No, it's over in Psalm 22. None
can keep alive his own soul. We can do a lot of things, but
we can't do that. We cannot do that. So this nobleman came to
Him because he'd heard of Him. He heard. That's how God draws
us, isn't it? By the ear. We hear of Him. By the hearing of the ear, I've
heard of thee. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
by the Word of God. He heard of Jesus Christ. He
heard that this man could do something for his son. This man
can do something for you. This man heard about the Lord
Jesus in Galilee. Now, he either saw Him perform
a miracle, but I don't really think he did. Some say he probably
did, but I think he just heard of Him. Like that woman with
the issue of blood? She heard of Him. She didn't see any miracles.
She heard of Him. And I think this man heard of
him. And he believed that if he could get the Lord, if he
could get to Christ and convince him, because of who he is, he's
a nobleman, see, he's a ruler, he's a somebody, if he could
convince him to come down, he says, come down to my house.
You come down to where my son is and touch him and he'll be healed. He really
believed that. He believed if he'd come down
to his house and touch him, that he would be healed. He had a
form of faith, but it was very weak. I don't believe he knew
much about the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the problem with weak
faith, isn't it? That's one of the great problems with weak
faith. But he knew this. He knew this. This man can save
my son. This man can save my son. The more we know of Christ, the
stronger faith will be. The more we know of Him. But
even weak faith sought Him out. You know, weak faith is still
faith. It's still faith. And it's still God-given faith.
It's still God-given faith. And the Lord used the sickness
of His Son To bring this sinner to himself at first. This is
what he used at first to bring this together. Our Lord will
use whatever means He has purpose to use to cross your path. To cross the path of His sheep.
He'll use whatever means He has purpose to use to bring you to
Him. All things are in His hands.
All things. Little did this nobleman know that he would be the one healed.
He was there begging for the life of his son. And you can
identify with him. His heart is broke. He's worried. He's scared. He's going to lose
his son. His son's going to die. The one he loves. And he's begging
the Lord to come and heal his son. And he's the one that's
going to end up getting healed. Well, he saved the whole family,
but little does he realize he's the one the Lord's going to heal. And what we have here is a great
demonstration of God's grace. The Scripture says, not many
mighty, not many noble are called. Well, I believe he thanked God
for that little word, that little letter, him, that goes in front
of that word. Instead of saying, not any, I
put a little M in front of there and changed the whole thing,
not many. That opened the door wide open for him. He called
this nobleman by his grace. Then Jesus said unto him, Except
you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. He exposed
him. He exposed his lack of faith. He exposed his weakness of faith.
Listen, this rebuke of his weak faith didn't offend him. He did
it. He didn't offend Him. Oh, the Lord said, except you
see signs and wonders, you will not believe. This man believed. He believed
that Christ would heal him if he came down to his house and
laid his hand on him and touched him. Come down and do something
ceremonially, you see. Let's add some ceremony to this. Let's add some outward evidence.
Let's add some physical. Let's add some physical stuff
to this. That's what he wanted to do.
Martha said, Lord, if you had been here, if you had been here
at my house, my brother would not have died. He wouldn't have died. Very often,
faith is weak in its beginning. And as we are taught of God,
faith grows. Faith grows as we are taught
of God. And we learn. We learn this. Near or far, He can do it all. He can do it all. Near or far. There were some that He did do
that with, wasn't there? He laid His hand on some, He touched
their eyes. But this one, He dealt with this nobleman's problem.
See, he felt like this. No one believed. If you would
come into my house and touch him, he'd be saved. Well, the
Lord's going to prove to him he don't have to make that journey.
He don't have to physically lay a hand on him. Salvation doesn't
come by anything physical. Salvation is not a physical process.
It's a spiritual. It's spiritual. Oh, I tell you,
we learn. We learn to be still and know
that He's God. And when that nobleman saith
unto him, Sir, come down, ere my child die, come down, little
did he know how far he had come down. He came all the way from
glory. He had already come down. Guess
who else needs to come down? That nobleman needs to come down.
You see, the Lord came down from glory. Now that nobleman needs
to come down from the dust. He needs to be brought down.
That nobleman also, listen, as I said, he was not offended by
the Lord's rebuke. This man was desperate. When
you are desperate, if you are starving, starving, and someone
just, well, here's a good example, scriptural example. That woman
was asking the Lord for mercy. He said, it's not right to cast
the children's bread to the dogs. He called her a dog. And she
said, you know what? You're right. You're right. I am a dog. But guess what? Dogs
get to eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. I'm
glad to be your dog. She said, that's all I want is
some crumbs. I just want some crumbs. That's when God brings
a man to be saved. When that man just wants crumbs
of mercy. Just give me some crumbs of mercy. Crumbs of grace. And
let me eat under the master's table. Sinners in need of mercy are
not easily offended, are they? It's hard to offend a sinner
who's been broken. Hard. Hard. You can tell when a sinner's
been broken. They don't feel like they're
above anybody. Paul said, this is Apostle Paul,
I am the least of the saints. I'm the least. Chief of sinners. He said, I'm the chief of sinners.
I'm the worst of sinners. I persecuted the church. I consented
to the death of the Lord's people. I'm the chief of sinners. Well,
that's the only kind of sinners God saves. It's the only kind
that He saves. People who are easily offended
are self-righteous, and think more of themselves than they
do others. That's why they're so easily offended. That's why. Jesus saith unto him, and here He's going to prove
His faith. And I believe He gives him faith
and then proves it. With His Word comes faith. With His Word
comes the power to do just what He said to do. And He saith unto
him, Go thy way. Thy son liveth. He doesn't say he'll get better.
It'll be all right later. He'll get over this. No, he said
he's alive. He's well. Everything's all right.
He liveth. He's fine. That's what he's saying. And the man believed the Word. With the Word that the Lord spoke
came the power to believe it. And he believed it. With all
his heart, he believed what the Lord told him. He said he believed the word
Jesus had spoken unto him. And you know what he did? He
went his way. He went his way. Power went with his word to remove
his unbelief. The Lord spoke the word and life
and health was given. That's all he had to do. He does
not have to come down and do something physically. See, that's
what these preachers are doing. They're trying to get people
to come up front and do something physically. Some open display. If you want
to do some open display of your faith and hope in Christ, be
baptized. That's the only open display
I know of. And then you'll walk the rest of your life after Him.
The rest of your life will be an open display of your faith
in Christ. The rest of your life. Scripture says where the word
of a king is, there's power. Power. All we need, you know
the only thing we need is this. Lord speak the word. That leper said, Lord if you
will, you can make me whole. What did the Lord do? Nothing. Nothing. What did he say? I will be thou whole. He just
spoke the word. And that man was made whole.
He was made whole. Lord, speak the word. Speak in
our favor. Oh, I can't put enough emphasis
on that. Lord, speak in my favor. Speak in favor to me. And we
will be spiritually healed. And physically, if it's His will.
But physical or not, that doesn't matter really. But spiritually,
that matters. That matters. And the man believed
the Word that Jesus spoke to him. Real God-given faith takes God
at His Word, doesn't it? You don't need anything else,
do you? You don't need me to stand up here and do some kind
of goofy stuff. You don't need God to show any
outward signs and wonders. You just need His Word on it. You just need His Word. His Word is the foundation of
faith. It's the foundation of faith.
It's the foundation of all our hope that we have in Christ is
His Word. We have no reason to believe
anything, absolutely anything, if we don't have God's Word on
it. If we cannot establish whatever it is we believe and hope in,
if we cannot establish it according to the Word of God, leave it
alone. Leave it alone. This man now
didn't ask for a sign. The Lord said, except you see
sign and wonders, you won't believe. But when the Lord told him this,
he didn't ask for a sign. Oh, what a work! A work of grace
had been done and he hadn't even realized it. A man's born again
before he even realizes it. I think so. I probably was a few years old
before I realized I was actually born. You think about it. You didn't know that. It took
you a while to just learn your name. And this man didn't even
realize what was going on here. Just like that woman at the well.
The Lord's doing heart surgery on her. She doesn't even realize
it. Removing her ignorance. And she doesn't even realize
it. But one day she did. And one day you did. You realized it. You realized
the reason you loved Him because He first loved you. You realized
the reason you received Him because He first received you. That's
what you realized. He revealed it to you. That's
what realize is. It's a revelation. Well, He didn't ask Him for He
didn't have to. He just believed His Word. How many blessings do we miss
because of unbelief? Scripture says in one place,
He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Well, we're not very big a number,
are we? You know, that doesn't matter, does it? How big is our
God? How big is our God? Our God created the heavens and
the earth. All the galaxies. Things that we haven't even begun
to see. He created all that. About what
God could do with one man that believed Him. It would be amazing. Well, I tell you, look what He's
done. He saved a multitude of sinners through one man that
believed Him. The Lord Jesus Christ. No man ever believed
God like He did. He believed God perfectly. Didn't
He? He sure did. And the Lord proved this man's
faith. It says he went his way. No questions
asked. No ifs, ands, or buts. He went
his way. Now listen, as he was now going
down, he said, Lord, come down. No, no. Now you come down. As
he was going down. Now the right one's going down.
As he was going down, his servants met him and told him, saying,
thy son liveth. Our son's alive. He's well. That's
what they're saying. He's well. He's healthy. He's not sick anymore. He liveth. The good news, listen, came to
him. God sent the good news to him.
The Lord didn't make him wait until he got home. He sent the
good news to him. Just like He sent it to us. I
wasn't looking for it the day I found it. I wasn't looking
for it. I thought I had it. Then I heard it. Then I had it. Oh, He didn't make him wait. He sent
him the good news. He sent him the good news. Then
inquired he... There's nothing wrong with this.
This man is thrilled. He's going to give God the glory.
Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend And
they said unto him, yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever
left him. He just broke. I'm sure all those
in the house said, well, his fever broke. He's getting better. Just wait until he gets home.
He'll be so happy. Oh, they didn't realize that the Lord of glory
had spoke a word. Just spoke a word and healed
that man down there. Salvation is immediate. As soon as the Lord speaks the
word, that man's saved. He's saved. And here's something
really interesting to show this man's faith, that he believed
the Lord, that he believed Him. Then inquired He of them
the hour when He began to amend, and they said unto Him, Yesterday,
Yesterday, this man so thoroughly believed the Word of the Lord
that he stayed in town and finished his business that night. He didn't
turn and run home. He stayed the night. He finished
up what he was doing and then he went home because he believed
the Lord. He believed the Word. It was
yesterday. Yesterday. Oh, this is how we
need to believe God. Those who believe God need to
act like it and live like it. And the Father knew that was
the same hour. Nobody else knew it. I mean,
those servants that came to me, they didn't know that. This was
for the nobleman. This was for him. It was his
hour. It was his hour to meet God. It was his hour to meet
the Lord. He knew it was the same hour. The Lord said, Thy
son liveth. And he believed in his whole
house. What looked like certain death,
certain death, turned out to be a certain blessing for the
whole house. The whole house. The whole family. God saved that
whole family. What a blessing. What a blessing
when God saved the whole family. That's something. Who knows what
God will bring out of our trials? Who knows what He'll bring out
of them? It says this is the second miracle
that Jesus did when he came out of Judea into Galilee. The second
one. There's no denying, no denying
who he is. God. God. Lord, speak the word. Sinner, believe
the word and thou shalt be saved.