I want to talk to us again about the absolute power of Jesus.
The absolute power of Jesus.
Since all its failings, the unfailing perseverance of a person is most successfully evidenced in
their inability to distrust themselves to the lack of their own better judgment.
The world in which we live is shaped and therefore limited by our context, our opinions, our
imaginations, and most dangerously, our world is shaped by our needs.
The last Roman emperor of the Pax Romana and stoic philosopher named Marcus Aurelius said,
everything we hear is an opinion and not a fact.
Everything we see is a perspective and not the truth.
The main idea of the message today is true belief in God occurs when the things the
person sought for themselves gets eclipsed by the God who alone can provide them.
The appropriate response to Jesus is one that learns to find meaning and life not merely
in what he gives but in who he is.
Michael Card in his last volume of the biblical imagination series Commentaries on All Four
of the Gospels, Michael Card says, the miracle in this text is that the nobleman took Jesus
at his word without seeing any proof.
He believed before he saw.
The famous dictum of modernity is seeing is believing.
But this gets overturned in this pericarpate this morning when we learn from this father
in the text that believing is seeing.
The world says seeing is believing.
But when you trust Jesus word, believing is seeing.
Jesus was again in Cana of Galilee where he had given the first sign in John's Gospel
that he is the Lord over nature.
News of his presence reached Capernaum some 25 miles away whereupon he will give the second
sign of his ministry that not only is he the Lord of nature but he is Lord of life.
Walk with me around the text.
When we read John chapter four commencing at verse number 43 and starting particularly
in verse number 46, we see this nobleman's plight.
He is on the horns of a dilemma.
Let's look a moment at his plight.
From Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee comes an unnamed official, an officer
in the court of Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee whose son was at the point of
death which caused him to hurry to Cana to secure help from Jesus.
Although he is a royal official with servants at his command, the situation is so dire that
he goes in person.
He does not send a servant.
He goes in person to ask Jesus for help.
Brothers and sisters, God's providence often uses our need to drive us to find even more
than we thought we needed in the first place.
The fact that the Father comes himself with the plight shows the humility of his faith.
Yet he thinks and clings to the thought that Jesus must come to his son's bedside to heal
him and that if Jesus does not hurry, death will win and may make any help from Jesus
impossible.
This reveals the imperfection and the limitation of the Father's faith.
He heard about the first sign in Cana of Galilee and he suspended, he is now suspended between
fear and hope and he mixes what he heard with the shallowness of what he believed and made
known his plight to Jesus.
He said, Sir, would you come to my house that you would come down and heal my son for he
is at the point of death?
Jesus said, unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.
The reply of Jesus to the official's request appears at first reading to be rude and abrupt.
Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.
The words of Jesus in verse 48, brothers and sisters, should serve to remind us that Jesus'
greatest gifts to us today are not in the restoring of physical health, but in bestowing
upon us a strong faith in the one who heals even if he chooses not to.
Let me run that by you one more time.
Jesus' greatest gifts is not physical healing, but strong faith in the one who can heal even
if he chooses not to.
I want you to hear me.
When we require miracles before we believe, we are like swimmers who are brave as long
as the water is two feet deep.
Anybody can talk about it.
I can swim in two feet of water, but out there in the ocean, it takes a whole lot of faith.
When you need a miracle a day to keep the devil away, you are like a soldier who is
brave at parade rest, but you're nervous in Afghanistan.
You're not much of a soldier in a dress uniform standing at parade rest.
Your sign of being a real soldier is on the battlefield.
The point Jesus is making this morning, the point of Jesus' complaint is not the fact
that he is asked to come to Capernaum and perform the miracle where the man can see
it done, but the fact that the kind of faith represented can only be made alive by more
miracles in the first place.
Jesus' intention is not to reject completely the man and the people he represents in Galilee.
Only the kind of belief that the man initially displays.
If you got to have something fresh and new to happen for you every day, you don't have
much faith.
If the show got to get bigger every Sunday, you come into church with an entertainment
philosophy and a nightclub mentality, you can go to Las Vegas to get that.
You can go to the casino to get that, but people who have real faith don't need God
to do anything else but wake you up in the morning.
Because if God doesn't do anything else for us, he's already done more than we will ever
deserve, and so our thankfulness ought to be tied into what God has already done.
My boy is at the point of death, and my plight is, I need you to come to his bedside and
lay your hands on him.
That's the father's plight.
That's the situation he's in.
But I need you to look with me now, secondly, at the father's plea.
Stay with me.
The man speaks now, not as a royal official, but as a father.
He does not call him in the next verse, my son.
He says to Jesus, I need you to come see about my child.
Not my son, but my child.
That's a term of affection.
We can almost see the tone of his voice shift even on the page and with pleading reverence,
the man lays his plea upon Jesus' heart.
Not my son.
I need you to come see about my baby.
Not my son, I need you to come because my child is in trouble.
Only a parent can help me shout right here.
Because as long as they're making A's and B's, that's my son, that's my daughter.
But when they get in trouble, Lord, I need you to help my baby.
I need you to help my child.
I'm praying, but look like they won't turn around.
I'm begging, but look like they won't go to church.
God put your hand not on my child, not on my little son, but I need you to grab my baby
by his mind.
And any parent here who's ever had a child to go astray, any parent here who's ever had
a child who has been sick, anybody here who's ever had a child that's been in trouble, you
know how to get on your knees and say, Father, I'm giving back to you.
You gave him to me, and just like you gave him to me, I'm giving him back to you.
Put your hands on him.
I can still hear my daddy right now on his knees at the True Light Baptist Church, calling
every one of our names and telling God where we lived, as if God didn't know our address.
My daddy would call every one of our names and say, God, if you see my child walking
in the way, I didn't raise him.
I wish I had somebody to help me, catch him by the reins of his mind and turn him around
before he's everlasting too late.
I'm in church this morning.
I'm a Christian today because somebody prayed for me.
And my mother, my mother, when she got too old to get on her knees, would sit on the
side of the bed and rub her knees and say, God, if I'm not around, let somebody's heart
be tender towards my children.
And every time somebody goes out of the way to be nice to me, I hear my mother say, if
I'm not around, let somebody's heart be tender towards my children.
You are in here not because you went to prayer review, not because you went to grambling
or Southern, not because you graduated from law school.
You are blessed this morning because some mama, some grandmama, some uncle, some aunt,
somebody prayed for you.
Thank you for praying, mother.
Thank you for praying, grandmother.
Thank you that somebody said, Lord, come see about my child.
This man's voice changes.
His tone changes.
Jesus said, unless you see signs and wonders, you won't believe.
He's not talking primarily to the man.
He's talking about everybody gathered around him.
But the man is not rebuffed by Jesus' rebuke.
He's not offended by Jesus' words.
He does not turn away and walk away in sad disappointment.
He did what that Canaanite woman did in Matthew at chapter number 15.
I need a Bible reader to help me talk it.
In Matthew chapter 15, Jesus was in a certain place healing.
And this Canaanite woman came and said, my daughter is possessed with the devil.
I wish I had one or two more Bible readers.
Jesus said, it's not meat for me to give the children's bread to the dogs.
That woman said, yes, Lord, you're right.
But even the dogs get the crumbs from their master's table.
I'm not asking you for the children's bread.
I'm asking you to give me some crumbs because crumbs from your hand.
Anybody here ever needed the Lord to come to your rescue?
You didn't need a whole lot.
You didn't need God to do a whole lot for you.
You just needed God to let you know that you were not in this thing by yourself.
Yes, Lord, I know it's my right to take the children's bread.
Just give me some crumbs.
Just let some drops.
You know what I mean?
I learned how to drink coffee hanging around my grandmother.
I would be with my grandmother so much she'd say, you're going to start smelling like an
old woman.
You need to get out of here and go find some friends your own age.
But I loved her so much.
I love her in her grave.
She's been dead now 50 years and I still feel like she died yesterday.
I learned how to drink coffee.
I learned how to speak Creole hanging around my grandmother.
I just know a few cuss words in Creole.
I don't know no real Creole.
I learned those words from my grandmother.
And I would sit down with her and thread her needle.
She was a seamstress.
I learned how to drink coffee hanging around with Mama because she would fill her coffee
cup and put a saucer under it.
And she would fill it up to the brim and the coffee would spill over in the saucer.
And she would drink from the cup and give me the saucer.
That's all I need the Lord to do.
I don't need the cup.
Just give me the cup.
Touch me Lord Jesus.
Let some drop.
Just give me the cup.
Even if I don't have the cup I want the saucer.
You don't have to do much to make me shout.
I say you don't have to do much to make me happy.
I don't need no choir director talking about giving God a hand to praise.
And I don't need no preacher talking about let's give God a hand.
When I think about the sins I committed that God has forgiven.
Have I got to witness here?
When I think about the doors that were closed in my face but God opened them for me.
I think about the goodness of Jesus and all he's done for me.
I don't need the choir to get me on juicetub.
I need somebody here who is just riding along in your car and you start thinking about when
you didn't have a car.
You just start shouting right there on the steering wheel.
I need you here somebody who's been just washing dishes and thinking about how God put food
on your table and how God made your enemy your foot student.
How God made a way out of nowhere.
They tried to fire you but God gave you a raise.
You're here this morning testifying.
Can't know about it.
You said my child is at the point of death.
All for a faith that will not shrink though pressed by every fall that will not tremble
on the brink of any earthly war.
That will not murmur or complain beneath the chastening rod but in the hours of grief and
pain will lean upon its God.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall
direct your path.
The steps of a good man which I had a Bible reader are ordered but I've been young.
I need somebody over 60 to help me shout here but now I'm old yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken nor his seed begging for bread.
The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my
life from whom shall I be a friend with the wicked.
Even my enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh.
They stumbled and they fell.
We sing it all the time but now I'd ought to have new meaning for you.
Pass me not.
O gentle Savior.
Here my own will cry.
I will call him.
Do not pass me by.
I don't mind you blessing him just don't pass me by.
Let me at your throne of mercy.
I wish I had somebody to help me.
Find a sweet relief kneeling there in deep contrition.
Lord I need you to help my unbelief.
Savior.
Here.
My humble cry and if you've ever cried in your midnight hour and God came to your rescue
help me testify this morning.
God is a keeper.
I will keep him in perfect peace if you keep your mind.
Stayed on me.
Has thou not known?
Has thou not heard?
That the everlasting God the father the creator of the ends of the earth there's no searching
of his understanding.
I wish I had a Bible reader.
He gives power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases their strength.
Even the youth shall faint and grow weary and the young men shall rather live for.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings like eagles.
They shall run and not get weary.
They shall walk and nothing.
He said my child is at the point of death.
Sir would you come but not here it's what Jesus does.
Verse number 50.
Look at verse number 50.
Verse number 50 Jesus said go.
Your boy will live.
The man believed what Jesus said.
With this one pregnant word.
Jesus changes death into life.
One word go.
In the Greek which I don't understand I had to call Dr. Ralph West because he has a master's
degree in biblical languages and so when I want to sound smart I call Ralph.
And ask him what that meant in the Greek and in the Greek it's the mild present imperative
which literally means just be going.
What you standing around here for?
Just be going.
You asked me.
I heard you.
I said go.
Just be going.
It is followed Ralph says by the intensive present tense.
Your son will go on living indefinitely.
Not just the fever broke but he's going to keep on not having a fever.
I wish I had somebody to help me.
The words Jesus spoke bore all the power of his will.
They were a divine pledge and unconditional assurance and an absolute promise that struck
at the heart of this father with the faith of kindling power.
Now hear me brothers and sisters.
Jesus just simply said keep going.
And when you get where you're going your boy going to live indefinitely.
There were no angels.
No burning bush.
No pillar of cloud by day.
No pillar of fire by night.
No star in the east.
There was only a word from the word.
That was only a word from the word.
And with the word of Jesus as collateral.
The man believed that Jesus need not be physically present to act on his behalf because distance
does not matter to him.
Can I make that make sense?
If you need God in Pleasantville he doesn't have to leave Sugarland.
If you need God in Missouri city he don't have to stop seeing by somebody in Pearland.
If you need God in Fifth Ward he can come down here to South Union because when he was
here physically he was spatially limited by time and space.
But now that he's on the right hand of God with power all we've got to do is call him
and he can be everywhere at the same time.
I'm through.
That's the path the man took.
But now I want you to see the proof that the man had and I'm through.
Jesus said just go on.
Just keep on going where you were going.
And when you get there your boy will live.
I want you to get this.
Here is the shout in the text.
The father ran 25 miles when his child was at the point of death.
But when he got the word from the word he walked home.
Y'all ain't praying with me.
When he was in trouble he ran.
But when he got his answer he strode.
Because when you believe what Jesus said you don't have to get in a hurry.
You don't have to worry about what no neighbor says.
You don't have to worry about what your friends are talking about.
If God said it I believe it.
I wish I had somebody to help me close it.
When the man got home he was on his way.
Let me back up.
I'm getting ahead of myself.
Before he walked home after getting the word from the word he spent the night in Cana.
He slept in Cana.
Now his boy was at the point of death and he had no notion if that boy would recover.
But because Jesus said he would he got a room at the post door.
Ordered room service.
Got a massage.
Got a massage in the Galleria.
Then he went home.
Because when Jesus gives you the word.
When you get a word from the word you stop trying to figure it out.
You stop worrying about who likes you and who does not like you.
You stop being concerned about what's going on behind you and around if God said it.
It's going to come to pass.
He got up paid his bill at the post door.
Started towards home.
And close to his house the servants ran out and said to him, your boy is not only feeling
better the fever broke.
And the father said what time did he get the feeling better?
And the servants said I think it was about one o'clock yesterday afternoon.
And the father remembered that that was the exact time Jesus spoke the word.
Because there's power in the word.
There's healing in the word.
That's deliverance in the word.
And no matter where you get your word from maybe you got your word on your phone.
Maybe you carry your word with you at church on Sunday morning.
Maybe the word is on the dashboard in your car or it's on the dresser in your bedroom.
But you ought to pick up that word.
Because although it's small in size.
There's dynamite in the word.
Although it's small in size.
There's healing in the word.
Although it's small in size.
There's salvation in the word.
If you're saved this morning you're saved because you heard the word.
If you've ever been in trouble and you open the word of God.
You got some consolation this morning.
Because there is a sale.
There is healing in the word.
The word says there is a bomb in Gilead.
There is a physician there.
I need somebody whose back has been up against the wall.
And you open the word of God.
And even though things didn't happen for you right away.
You just kept on trusting in the word.
The Lord in my shepherd.
That's a word for somebody this morning.
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness.
For his name's sake.
Yeah.
For I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
I will fear no evil.
For the Lord is with me.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me.
In the presence of my enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil.
So that my cup is just running over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days
of my life.
And I will, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
You ever been despondent in the day.
And you just opened the word of God.
And it said, make a joyful noise unto the Lord.
All ye land, serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before his presence with singing.
Know ye that the Lord, he is God.
It is he that has made us and not we ourselves.
We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving.
Enter into his courts with praise.
Be thankful unto him and bless his name.
For the Lord is good.
I said, the Lord is good.
His mercy is everlasting.
His truth endures the all generation.
He ever felt bad during the day.
And you open the word of God.
And it says, I will bless the Lord at all times.
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall be composed in the Lord.
The humble shall hear the hour of and be glad.
Oh, that's a church word.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me.
Let us exalt his name together.
Is there anybody here?
Know the Lord is good.
Is there anybody here?
Anybody here?
Ever had God open the door?
Anybody here?
Ever had God pay a bill?
Anybody here?
Ever had God put down an enemy?
Why don't you help me right now?
Why don't you help me right here?
Tell God, thank you.
Thank you.
You didn't have to do it.
But I thank you.
You didn't have to make a way.
But I thank you.
Is there anybody saved this morning?
If you're saved, you know what happened, don't you?
It was one Friday on a hill called Calvary.
He died, didn't he die?
But a sunny morning, he got up from the grave
with all power in his hand.
Is there anybody here?
Know God's been good to you.
Why don't you grab somebody?
Shake somebody's hand?
Tell them you don't know.
Like I know.
You can't tell it.
Like I can tell it.
What the Lord?
I know He's all right.
He walks with me.
He talks with me.
How you tried?
Won't He make a way?
Won't He open a door?
Won't He be a friend?
Say yeah.
Yeah.
Now unto Him.
I wish I had somebody to help me.
Now unto Him, who is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all, you can ask a freak.
Won't He do it?
I know He's all right.
Jesus.
Jesus stayed right in Canaan and healed in Galilee.
He stayed right where He was and healed where He was called.
Because He's Lord over nature.
He's Lord over distance.
When you come to Jesus, you're looking at Him.
You're looking at what you're looking for.
You're talking to what you're talking about.
Go your way.
Your son lives.
And listen, He does not always change the situation.
What changes you so you can handle the situation.
Lord, you don't have to move the mountain.
Just give me the strength to climb.