I invite you to turn once again to the gospel
according to John. John chapter 4 verses 46 through
54. We are continuing in our new sermon series
on the miracles of Jesus. We started this last
Sunday looking at John chapter 2, seeing the
water turned to wine. As we look at this text,
again, John 4, 46 -54, note, I hope you will
note some of the similarities there. The biggest
similarity is what we said last week, that when
Jesus performs signs or miracles, they are called
signs in the book of John, and all of these signs
are significant. they all point to something
beyond themselves matter of fact the book of
John gives us a bit of a purpose statement for
the miracles the signs that Jesus performs before
I read our text for today that we're going to
elaborate upon I want to read to you John 20
verses 30 through 31 so keep your finger in John
4 But listen to John 20 33 31 for a purpose statement
For the miracles and a purpose statement really
for the entire book of John It says now Jesus
Did many other signs in the presence of the disciples
which are not written in this book? But these
are written So that you may believe that Jesus
is the Christ the Son of God and that by believing
You may have life in his name. So once again
you see this is the purpose for the miracles
this is the purpose for the book of John and
So, let's see this sign that Jesus performs reading
now from John 4 46 through 54 So he came again
to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water
wine. And at Capernaum, there was an official
whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus
had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him
and asked him to come down and heal his son,
for he was at the point of death. And so Jesus
said to him, unless you see signs and wonders,
you will not believe. The official said to him,
sir, come down before my child dies. Jesus said
to him, go, your son will live. The man believed
the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on
his way. And as he was going down, his servants
met him and told him that his son was recovering.
And so he asked them the hour when he began to
get better. And they said to him, yesterday at
the seventh hour the fever left him. The father
knew this was the hour when Jesus had said to
him, your son will live. And he himself believed
in all his household. This was now the second
sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea
to Galilee. This is God's holy word. Let's pray.
Father in heaven we bless you and we thank you
and we praise you for this word and Ask that
as we study this text as we look at this incredible
sign this wonder that Jesus does That you would
help us to know that Jesus He is the miracle
worker the Jesus he is the Christ That Jesus
is at work now as Jesus is at your right hand.
Oh father interceding for us We ask Lord that
you'll grant us understanding this we do ask
in Christ's name amen When is the last time that
you walked through our cemetery When's the last
time Some of you know our cemetery next door
all too well. For your closest loved ones are
buried there. You walk within those stone walls
and you experience pain. And you experience comfort.
But prayerfully, you also experience just incredible
hope. When you're in the cemetery, do you ever
stop? at the smallest of tombstones. Do you ever
look at those? Maybe you know those too. Maybe
you knew what happened with that child. Is there
anything worse than the loss of a child? I cannot
imagine. Today's sermon, this text, teeters on
the edge of such a loss. You see within this
story, the Father is desperate, and He goes to
the only one who can truly help Him. This text
here illustrates how we need Jesus, but sometimes
we don't even realize the extent to which we
need Him. Two statements that are true of every
person within this sanctuary one Trouble is coming
and two We need to be saved from our sin These
truths are illustrated in this text. We need
Jesus because we live in a fallen world And because
we have a fallen nature we live in a fallen world
And we have a fallen nature. Let's focus on fallen
world first. If you were reading all of John,
you would see this, even as we're skipping around
a little bit. And by the way, we are studying
John in the fellowship Sunday school class. You
should come to that. But if you were reading
all through John, you would see that Jesus is
for everybody. You would see in the beginning
towards the beginning of John and end of chapter
1 into chapter 2 Jesus comes and he selects Disciples
for himself and these disciples are not people
that you and I would probably have selected They
weren't making the a team on the sports team.
They're mostly riding the bench But Jesus selects
them anyway But Jesus also meets with people
of incredible influence and authority, like when
Jesus met with Nicodemus, right? A religious
ruler. Again, a man of authority. And then Jesus
meets with a Samaritan woman at a well. And we
know the Jews and the Samaritans didn't get along,
and that doesn't stop Jesus. And then we get
to this text, and we see Jesus meeting with this
nobleman. some sort of a like a royal official
inherits court. This nobleman would have had
influence. He would have been similar to Nicodemus
in that way. He would have had authority. He
probably had plenty of money. But his influence,
his wealth can't save his son. And so the official
goes looking for a miracle working carpenter
named Jesus. and you see by this point the news
of Jesus is spreading and so the man hears of
Jesus he hears that Jesus who has just turned
the water into wine he hears of this Jesus and
he goes to him the man within our text goes from
Capernaum to Cana which is probably something
like 20 miles and we don't know how the man got
to Jesus but that's not the point the man would
have gone much, much further than 20 miles for
the sake of his son. Why? Because look at verse
47. The son of this man was at the point of death.
This is the sad fact of our fallen world, that
there is death. It's a product of the fall. Perhaps
you remember Romans 6 23 for the wages of sin
is death because of sin we have sickness Because
of sin we have death And so this man goes looking
for Jesus the great physician he goes to Cana
now we don't know All that was going on in the
man's mind. We don't know what he thought of
Jesus, but he gets to Jesus and he has this request
for him. Come to my house. The way this is written
makes it sound as though the man is persistent,
that he's begging Jesus, come to my house and
heal my son. But Jesus has an interesting reply,
doesn't he? Look in verse 48. Jesus says, unless
you see signs and wonders, You will not believe.
What a thing to say to a man whose son is desperately
ill on his perhaps death bed. Why does Jesus
talk in this way to this man who is so sad and
desperate? Why would Jesus say this? Jesus is
addressing a heart issue with this man. but not
only this man. Jesus is addressing a heart issue
with all kinds of people in Cana. If you look
carefully in verse 48, the ESV says, unless you.
If you're using an ESV, English Standard Version,
you might see a footnote there. If you're using
the NASB, the NIV, or the New King James, you
might see something that's I think a little more
helpful it says you people within the English
language we don't have a second -person plural
form of you maybe we do now maybe it's in the
dictionary haven't looked at the dictionary in
a long time but in the south we would just say
y 'all right so don't be mistaken here Jesus
is talking not just to this man Jesus is talking
to this crowd. And he's calling people to believe,
not to be entranced with yet another sign. It
is true, obviously, as we will see, Jesus performs
these signs, but Jesus, there's always purpose
behind these signs. One commentator says, his
complaint, Jesus' complaint was the people did
not worship him as Savior and Lord, but merely
sought to employ him as a useful wonder worker.
They were consumers, not worshipers. They were
admirers, not followers. But friends, this rebuke
is not just for this man, and it's not just for
the crowd. This rebuke is for us, too. Because
people come to church for a whole variety of
reasons. Some of them are good, some of them
are not so good, and some of them are not the
greatest good. People come to church because
I hear you guys have really good food during
your fellowship meals. I hear you've got a really
great choir. I hear you've got a great youth
group. I hear you've got a beautiful sanctuary.
I love what you guys do with outreach or VBS.
People might say these things and they all sound
very, very good. But what is our chief reason
for being here? It's Jesus. It's Jesus. You remember
the shorter catechism number one? What is man's
chief end? It's to glorify God and to enjoy him
forever. All those other things are good. But
they all point. They should all point. To our
Savior Jesus. Our primary goal, the primary thing
that we do. Is worship. It's worship. I saw someone
this week. We all love fireworks, don't we? We
love them. They go off. They're really bright.
They're really loud. They're really fun. But
think about it. When people shoot off fireworks,
there's usually a very good reason for that.
We celebrate holidays with fireworks. We celebrate
the victory of the home team at the baseball
game with fireworks. There's usually... a purpose
behind the firework, except for where I live.
Some people shoot them off on random Tuesdays.
But we need to look beyond the firework. Not
be so caught up in all the lights and the sounds,
but be caught up in the one behind it all. Perhaps
think of it like Thanksgiving. Many of you, if
not all of you, will have Thanksgiving this week.
And there will be a table. And on it, you might
have some good turkey to eat. You might have
stuffing. You might have, I hope you have macaroni
and cheese and mashed potatoes and warm buttery
rolls. And cap it all off with pumpkin pie. But
let's say that you've got all that before you
on the table. But before the meal is ever served.
Before you ever get your plate. Before you have
to wait in that long line behind everybody else.
you fill up on cheese and crackers. Sometimes
that's the way we treat Jesus. We get caught
up with all this stuff on the periphery. We don't
focus on the very fact that Jesus is the meal,
that Jesus is the firework, that Jesus is the
reason for everything that we do. And so what
does Jesus say? He says, don't get caught up
in the signs, get caught up in me. He calls the
man here to believe. Look in verse 50. Sometimes
we see Jesus touching the sick, which others
wouldn't do. Sometimes we see Jesus touching
the dead, which others definitely would not do.
Think of Jesus touching and healing Jairus's
daughter. Think of the woman with the issue of
the blood flow who actually touches him, but
sometimes Jesus heals from afar. The nobleman
here is called to believe without sight to see
it happen. And isn't that, isn't that what faith
is? You might remember Hebrews chapter 11 verse
1. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen. Right now
in this life we need faith because we do go through
those times of trouble. We need to trust in Jesus
that one day our faith shall be turned to sight,
but that tells us something else. that there
is substance to our faith, right? That there
is something to see. We do not have blind faith.
Scripture gives us historical testimony and other
evidence of the unseen. He gives us miracles,
but we are called to exercise our faith as we
look at these miracles. We are called to believe.
This man here this nobleman did not have the
benefit the luxury if you will of seeing his
son get better in his presence He had to really
trust Jesus here If he had not trusted Jesus
he probably would have clung to Jesus and said
I'm not letting you go until you come to my house
But you see what he does in verse 50 The man
believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and
went on his way. The man believed. In a lot of
ways, this scripture is very similar to another
miracle that Jesus performs. They're similar,
but they're different. You might remember the
Centurion's sick servant from Matthew chapter
eight. Let me read Matthew eight, five through
eight. It says, When he had entered Capernaum,
a centurion came forward to him, appealing to
him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home,
suffering terribly. And he said to him, I will
come and heal him. And this is amazing. The centurion
replied, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come
under my roof. But only say the word and my servant
will be healed Just say the word That highlights
a bit of difference between that story and this
one from John 4 the centurion when he came to
Jesus He already had faith in Jesus but the nobleman
He comes to Jesus and perhaps he has faith that
Jesus can do something But I think we can definitely
say when the nobleman comes to Jesus, he doesn't
quite know who Jesus is. But he comes to faith
quickly because the Holy Spirit moves in his
heart to believe. And so he comes to Jesus and
he doesn't quite know what he's in for. He needed
more than to be healed. He needed more than for
his son to be healed. He needed to believe. and
his household needed to believe. And this takes
us to our second point, our fallen nature. This
man comes to Jesus needing help, but when he
leaves, he goes in faith in Jesus Christ. Friends,
the condition for salvation for people who are
dead and are trespasses, the condition is faith,
right? We are made alive in Christ remember the
purpose For the signs within the book of John
that you may believe in Jesus and in him have
eternal life We have that fallen nature. We had
that sinful nature, but in Christ We are made
a new creation But you might say well if all
that is so Why does verse 53 say that he himself
believed? Because verse 51 has already said it.
So why does 53 have to repeat this if he's already
been so -called converted or something? You know
this about yourselves is that belief is not a
one -time thing. Belief is not just something
that happens in one moment. No, we grow in our
faith. We are sanctified in our faith. We trust
Jesus more and more. And so the man believed,
but when he meets his servants on the road, his
heart swells with belief. Especially when they
figure out the timing of it all. They figure
out the time that the son started to get better
was the time at which Jesus said, go, your son
will live. And so you see, Jesus did not have
to be in the man's house to heal. He didn't need
to see him or to touch him. Jesus simply said
it, and there it was. This is very similar to
another sign, and I won't spend too much time
on this because we'll cover it in a future sermon,
Lord willing. But perhaps you remember the story
of Lazarus. You remember Jesus' friend, Lazarus,
right? Jesus is not near Lazarus when he dies.
And Jesus, if I can say it this way, takes his
time getting to Lazarus after his death. So Jesus
gets to Lazarus on the fourth day to show us
that Lazarus was really dead, but then Jesus
does something remarkable. He doesn't go into
the tomb and touch Lazarus who has died. He simply
says, Lazarus, come out. This should show us
two things Again, the miracles are designed to
show that Jesus is divine and so there is a link
between what Jesus does his healing and How God
created the heavens and the earth? For you remember
this that God spoke it all into existence And
that's what Jesus does here He speaks healing,
if you will, into existence. Jesus is at least
20 miles away from this dying son, but he's able
to promise that the son will live. And it was
so. But secondly, this miracle right here, along
with Lazarus and along with this centurion servant,
it foreshadows something amazing for us. All
of this, these healing miracles foreshadow Jesus'
death and resurrection. It shouldn't surprise
us that the one capable of raising the dead is
also the one who was raised, right? Jesus' death,
though, goes far beyond these. Because here's
something very, very special about Jesus' death
and resurrection. Every person that Jesus healed
and every person that Jesus raised they would
all die again but not so with Jesus because Jesus
is victorious over sin and death and the grave
Jesus doesn't die again and in that what Jesus
does is he takes away the sting of death because
death does not have the final say, Jesus does.
And so today, if you are listening, do you believe
that Jesus died on the cross for you? That's
really the greatest point of all of these healing
and resurrection miracles. This shows us our
greatest need is to trust that Jesus conquered
sin and death on the cross, that he said it was
finished and then he was raised on the third
day. But this also all tells us what to do with
these things and what to make of a God who performs
such incredible miracles. We get to my favorite
part as I begin to land the plane. Look at verse
52, 53, 54. All of this began with the nobleman
requesting help, right? But God had a greater
plan than just healing this one person. This
actually reminds me of our previous sermon series
through Jonah. You remember how Jonah ran away
from the call upon his life. He ran away from
the call to go to Nineveh to go to Tarshish and
he's on the boat and there's the great storm
and Jonah tells the sailors about his God, right,
and they believe. Here we see something very
similar. We see through this miracle not just
the dad believing and not just the son living
we see the whole household believing Jesus what
he does within this passage is he's saving souls
and Yet what we do with this is to see that the
nobleman did something really good this man acts
on his faith This man lives out his faith, exercising
his faith before others. If we look back on the
whole story, we see this man and his faith growing
throughout. Spurgeon points out that the spark
of faith for this man is the hearing of the reports
of other people about Jesus, the fire of faith.
is him standing before Jesus and begging for
help. The flame of faith is him believing Jesus
and departing. And then the inferno of faith
is the whole household believing. And so I quote
from Spurgeon who said, from that day forth he
became a disciple of Jesus. He followed him not
as a hearer only or as a prophet. or as a savior
only, but as his Lord and as his God. And so
friends, final points of application. Like the
nobleman and his family and his servants, you
believe. But how are you living out your belief?
How are you living out your faith? No doubt this
man had an incredible story to tell. Are you
telling your story? Are you telling your testimony
of how you came to Christ? Let us be quick with
our testimonies. It's like someone once said,
I'm just one beggar trying to tell other beggars
where to find bread. Secondly and lastly, friends,
trouble is coming. Trouble is coming. We live
in a fallen world. Everybody is either coming
out of trouble, in trouble, or going into it,
what will you do when trouble comes? Friends,
if I could say it like this, don't waste the
trouble. Do not waste what God brings you through.
Because the way to strengthen your faith is just
like exercising. It's by exercising your muscles.
We must exercise our faith. Exercise your faith
in times of trouble. Run to Jesus. Because he's
the only one who will get you through it and
along the way He will strengthen your faith.
Let's pray