Let us turn tonight in our Bibles
to John chapter 4. I've enjoyed our song services
so much today. I always do, but it seems like
the music and the hymns and the singing just especially good
today. I appreciate the hymns that we
have to sing. John chapter 4 and beginning
in verse 43. Now after two days he deported
Vince. The last study we saw how that
the Samaritans came out of the city of Sychar after the woman
had gone and told them come see a man that has told me all things. Is this not the Christ? And he
abode there with them, with the Samaritans, for two days. And so now we take up, 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, 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
noble man 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 noble man
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,
the servants met him and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.
Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend,
and when 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 that Jesus did when he was come out of Judea
into Galilee. This passage of Scripture that
we're looking at tonight is the second of seven miracles that
the Apostle John records in the Gospel that he was inspired by
God the Holy Spirit to write. This is the second of the seven
miracles. And almost at the very end of
this book, as it is divided into chapters, there's 21. In the
20th chapter, John makes this statement. He said, many other
signs, miracles, many other miracles did Jesus in the presence of
his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these,
these seven, these are written that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might
have life through His name." So let us tonight look at this
second miracle, which he recorded with this one purpose in mind,
that we too might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God, and believing we may have life through Him. Bishop
J.C. Rowe. You've heard me mention
him and you've seen articles in the Bulletin by him several
times. But Bishop J.C. Rowe, he was
a bishop in the Church of England. He died in the early 1900s. He
was somewhat contemporary with Spurgeon. Spurgeon died, of course,
at least 10 or 15 years before Bishop J.C. Rowe. I do not know
that they knew each other. But I have read where Spurgeon
said that he was happy to see his literature, his tracts on
the same display with Bishop J.C. Rowe. He was an evangelical
bishop in the Church of England. He was actually born a very wealthy
man from what I've read into a wealthy family. He was a great
sports person in England when the Lord saved him and he turned
his back on all of that and became a preacher in the Church of England,
and eventually a bishop. Bishop, I believe, of Liverpool,
England. But I mention that because I
looked at his comments on this passage of Scripture, and he
gives four, what I consider, four very good practical lessons
from it. And I'm going to mention these
four as we go through the passage. But first, first we notice that
John tells us of a certain nobleman. If you notice in verse 46, at
the middle of the verse, it says, and there was a certain nobleman. You know, in the Apostle Paul,
in 1 Corinthians 1, he said, For you see, your calling, brethren,
that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many
noble are called. But he didn't say, not any. He
said, not many. And here's a man, a noble man. Now, a number of the old writers,
they believed that this man's name was Chusa. I suppose that's
the correct way to pronounce his name. He was one of Herod's
stewards. Now if you look back into Luke
with me just a moment. Luke chapter 8. His wife was
named Joanna and she is one of the women who accompanied the
Lord Jesus Christ. There were several who did and
ministered under unto him, unto Christ and his disciples, out
of their substance. Now this man was a noble man.
We know that. This is just conjecture that
this was Chusa, the steward of Herod. But many of the writers
believe that. And we see here in Luke chapter
8, verse 2, it says, And certain women, which had been healed
of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of
whom went seven devils. The Lord cast seven devils out
of this woman. Seven devils. And so, naturally,
she accompanied along with Christ and his disciples as he had an
itinerant ministry preaching here, there, and as he traveled. But notice next, and Joanna,
the wife of Chusa, Herod Stewart, and Susanna, and many others
which ministered unto him of their substance. I just mentioned
that to us tonight. It's not necessary that we know
this man's name. If it had been necessary, God
would have given us the name. But many do believe this is who
this noble man was. Now Bishop Ryle's first lesson. His first lesson is this, that
the rich have afflictions as well as the poor. Now I just
believe that's a very good lesson. The rich have afflictions as
well as the poor. When Job made the statement,
man that is born under trouble, born of woman is born under trouble
as the sparks fly upward. He didn't qualify that at all,
did he? He didn't say poor men that are
born of women. He said men, men that are born
of women are born under trouble as the sparks fly upward. All men, noble men, as well as
the common people, we all live in a world that is cursed by
sin. And the reason I believe this
is such a good lesson that he gives us is because so many people
believe, they're just convinced that if they had a bucket full
of money, a safe full of money, that everything would be well,
that they would have no problems, they would have no difficulties,
that wealth, wealth is the answer. But that's not so. That's just
not so. Here's a man who had wealth and
yet he had afflictions. He had a son who was sick. This
man's wealth, we may consider this, this man's wealth would
have allowed him, no doubt, to have the best care, the very
best care, the very best doctors that were around at that time.
He had the money, no doubt, to call them, to bring them, to
attend unto his son. And they treated him the best
they knew how, but all was in vain. All was in vain. Men live in palaces. But they
cannot lock sickness and sorrow and affliction outdoors. Pat and I sat in the office of
a man this past week, and he told us his house has seven bedrooms. That seemed like a big house
to me, seven bedrooms. And I assume he's a fairly wealthy
man. But I know this, that house,
that palace, It does not keep sickness out. It does not keep
affliction out or sorrow. As Bishop Ryle said, the rich
have afflictions as well as the poor. And you know down here
at the Texas Medical Center, men come, wealthy men, wealthy
men, come from the Middle East. They come from South America.
They come from all over the world to seek treatment. at the hands
of the doctors in the medical center here in Houston. And some of them are helped.
And they go home happy. And some of them are sent home
to die. Now that's just so. They have
the same doctors. They take the same medicine.
They have the same level of care. But some are healed and some
are not. Who makes the difference? Who
makes the difference? God does. People ask me sometimes,
well, do you believe that the Lord heals? I know He heals.
I believe all healing, all healing is from God. Yes, I'm thankful. for medicine,
for doctors, and for the hospitals and all of the care that we have
in this country and in this city. But at the same time, we recognize
with all of this, it cannot buy health. It cannot bring health
without God's blessing. Without God's blessing. Now I
must point out before I move on to the second point, that
this noble man, he came to Christ because he heard. Do you see
that in verse 47? When he heard that Jesus was
come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him. John says that he had heard and
because he heard, that Jesus was come out of Galilee, but
what had he heard about Jesus? He had heard something about
Him. No doubt he had heard of all of our Lord's miracles which
He had wrought in Jerusalem. If you look back to John chapter
2 and verses 23 and 24, and it's
possible that He was actually in Jerusalem. this noble man. We don't know. But when we read
here in John chapter 2 verses 23 and 24, Now when he was in
Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed
in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But, and this is very important,
they believed because they saw. But, Jesus did not commit himself
unto them, because he knew all men. And need it not that any
should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. So this noble man, he came because
he heard. And every time we see that in
the Scripture, we just need to be reminded that faith comes
by hearing. and hearing by the Word of God. This man, this noble man, he
believed enough to come. He had heard that the Lord Jesus
Christ had come into Galilee, and so he leaves his city and
comes to where Christ is. He did that because he had heard.
He believed enough to come to seek his help, that is, our Lord's
help, but we see that his faith was deficient. His faith was
faulty. You say, how do you know that?
It was faulty because he thought that yes, Jesus could heal his
son if he came down. If he came to where his son was,
maybe laid his hands on him, maybe did something, some ceremony
or something, He could heal him. So he believed, but his faith
at first is faulty. Now the second thing I want us
to see is John tells us that his boy was at the point of death. Verse 47. He besought him that he would
come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. The doctors had done all they
knew to do, the medicine was not effective, and he was at
death's door, as we would say. Most parents, I'm sure there's
not a parent in this building tonight who does not know what
it is to pray over a sick child. This man, he certainly did. And
Bishop Ryle's second lesson is, sickness and death come to the
young as well as the old. Sickness and death come to the
young as well as the old. We naturally expect, all of us
do, we expect a son to attend his father's funeral. But we
know that's not always the case. Sometimes the father attends
his son's funeral. I was recently in a cemetery
and I was looking for a particular gravestone. And as I looked,
I walked through, and I noticed again several gravestones, and
I read some of them. And what I saw again is what
I know to be true and what I've seen many times, and that is
death comes to those of all ages. In the psalm that Moses wrote,
Psalm 90, he said this, The days of our years are threescore years
and ten. That's 70. Now some people take
that and they say, well God's promised us 70 years. He didn't
say that. God didn't promise any of us
70 years. In fact, the scripture says,
boast not thyself of tomorrow. For thou knowest not what a day
may bring forth. Moses, he said yes. In that particular
case, those there in the wilderness, all of those who came out of
Israel who were above 20 years of age, they were all going to
die within that 40-year period while they wandered through the
wilderness because of their unbelief. But he goes on in that psalm
to say this, The days of our years are threescore
years and ten, seventy. And if, if by reason of strength
they be fourscore years, eighty years, yet is their strength
labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away. That's true of all of us at all
ages. We are soon cut off. When we're
young, we think that long life will be a great blessing. But
as we get older, we realize that that's not always the case. But that's not in our hands.
Our times are in His hands. And I'm thankful, aren't you?
I'm thankful that He's made that decision. I started to say He
made that decision. There's a time to be born and
there's a time to die. And everything is beautiful in
His time, God's time. But that's my second point here. John tells us that this boy was
at the point of death. I've certainly stood over the
beds of all of our children and prayed for them when they were
sick. And I've been with other people
when their children were sick. And I've been in hospitals when
I left there. And I just thought there's no
way this person is going to be alive when the sun comes up in
the morning. And they were. And they're still
alive. We just don't know, do we? We
just don't know. But God knows. The third thing
I see here is that John tells us of a real problem among the
Jews. A real problem among the Jews. You say, what are you talking
about? Notice in verse 48, our Lord
told this man And this seems to be a real problem among the
Jewish people. Except you see signs and wonders,
you will not believe. Now I say this seems to be a
real problem. Our Lord told that man this.
But also, let me read a couple of passages from Matthew. Matthew chapter 12 and verses
38 and 39. We read, the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying,
Master, we would see a sign from thee. Jesus responded, an evil and
adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall
no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. Matthew
chapter 16, verse 1. The Pharisees also with the Sadducees
came and tempting him that he would show them a sign from heaven. And look back to John chapter
2 again. John chapter 2 and verse 18. We read here. Then answered the
Jews and said unto him, What sign? We want to see a sign. What sign showest thou unto us,
seeing thou doest these things? And then look in chapter 6 of
John, in verse 30. John 6 and verse 30, They said
therefore unto him, What sign showest thou then, that we may
see and believe thee? He had just fed five thousand
men, plus women and children, and they're still asking for
a sign. What sign showest thou? Show
us a sign, and then we will believe. Look with me in I Corinthians
chapter 1. When the Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Corinth,
he makes this statement about the Jews. I don't think it's just the Jews
that feel like this. There's Gentiles as well. People
want to see a sign. If we could just see some sign,
we would believe. No, that's not what you need.
That's what that man in hell said, wasn't it? If they could
just see someone from the dead come back and speak to my brothers,
then they would believe. What did Abraham tell that man?
They have Moses and the prophets. If they don't hear them, if they
don't hear the Word of God, they're not going to believe, though
they see a man come back from the dead. I Corinthians 1, verses
21 through 23, Paul said, For after that, in the wisdom of
God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews
require sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. There it is. The Jews require sign, and the
Greeks seek after wisdom. We preach Christ crucified. That's the message men must hear. That's the message men need to
hear. The gospel of the grace of God. We preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews, a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks, foolishness, but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. Now back to our text again. Here's
the fourth, the final point in my message, John chapter 4. John tells us that the man believed
the word spoken by Jesus. Verse 50, Jesus saith unto him,
Now remember, he came down, he had some faith, he believed if
the Lord would come to him that he would heal his son. But Jesus saith unto him, Go
thy way, thy son liveth. And the man believed the word
that Jesus had spoken unto him. And how do we know he believed?
He went his way. He demonstrated his faith. He
demonstrated that he believed. He came to realize it wasn't
necessary for Christ to come, that the Lord could heal from
afar as well as at hand, because He is all powerful. He believed the Word. And he
went his way. And to further show that he believed
his word, he stopped somewhere along the way and spent the night. It's believed that the distance
between Capernaum, that's where his son was, and Cana, that's
where he came to the Lord, was about a day's journey. But this
man, because he could not make it back, I assume, without going
through the night, he stayed the night. And then he meets
his servants. They're coming to meet him the
next day with some good news. Boy, they had some good news
to tell their master. And you notice the man's question
to his servants in verse 52. The servants came to him in verse
51. They met him and they said, Thy
son liveth. In other words, he's well. He was at the point of death,
but now he's outside playing. He's outside kicking a soccer
ball. And he asked them, Thy son Liveth. Then inquired he of them the
hour when he began to amend. I like to look at this and I
see his question. What hour did he begin to amend? No. No, they said. He didn't begin to amend at the
seventh hour the fever left him. When the Lord heals, it's immediate. It's immediate. It's like he
came into the house of Simon, remember? And Simon's mother-in-law
was sick of a fever. And they told him. And he went
over and touched her. And the fever left her. And immediately
she got out of bed and started serving. Immediately. That's the way He heals. When
he heals, it is immediate. The great physician, the great
physician was near. Although he was far off, he was
near. And Bishop Ryle's third lesson
is, what benefits affliction can confer on the soul? What benefits affliction can
confer on the soul? This man no doubt would have
never come to Christ had it not been for his son at the point
of death. David wrote in the psalm, it
is good for me that I have been afflicted. And Bishop Ryle went
on to say, the resurrection morning will prove that many of the losses
of God's people were in reality eternal gains. And then his fourth lesson, Christ's
word is as good as Christ's presence. It was not necessary that Christ
go to Capernaum and see the boy, lay his hands on him. No, he
spoke the word, thy son liveth. The noble man believed Christ's
word and he found it as he had said. He believed His Word. He said,
this is His Word to all of us here tonight. Him that cometh
to me, I will and no wise cast out. Do you believe His Word? Do we? That's His Word. His Word is as good as His presence. What He says, He will do. What
he undertakes, he will accomplish. And let me close with this tonight. Affliction came to this man's
house. Affliction came to this man's
house. And it comes to our house, our
houses, in one way or the other. And when it does, when it does. Where or to whom shall we turn? Where? When affliction comes,
maybe it's death, sickness, financial loss, there's many ways affliction
may come. I understand that. But let us,
you and I tonight, because it will come, it does come. There's
no way There's no alarm system that can keep it out. No security
system that you can buy that can keep it out of your house.
It'll come. Let us be like the ant. You know,
we're sent to the ants, aren't we? In the book of Proverbs,
I believe two times, we're sent to the ants. And we're sent there
to learn. And what we learn is that the
ant In the springtime, summer, he stores up because he knows
the wintertime is coming and he will not be able to get food. And for us, the lesson is let's
store up the promises of God. And so when affliction comes,
we know where we're going. We're going to Christ. We're
turning to him. We're turning to his word to
find help. in the time of need, to find
comfort from His Word in the time of affliction. Well, I pray
that the Lord would bless His Word to all of us here tonight.