Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.onetwentysixfive.com/sermons/48210/john-443-54/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] We'll begin reading in verse 43.айте says now after two days, ye departed thens, and when into Galilee, for Jesus himself testified to prophet efforts had no honor in his own country.

[0:25] When Jesus came again into Canaan of Galilee, where he made the water wine, and there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick of cupernium. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went under him, and the sought him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

[0:45] Then said Jesus unto him, except ye see signs and wonders, he will not believe. The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down here, my child, die.

[0:55] 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 going down, his servants met him and told him, say, thy son liveth.

[1:09] 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. So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said unto him, thy son liveth, and himself believed in his whole house.

[1:26] This again, this is again the second miracle that Jesus did when he was come out of Judea into Galilee. And that ends that passage there.

[1:37] We'll back back up to where we began reading. It says, now after two days he departed then, so went into Galilee for Jesus himself testified that the prophet hath no honor in his own country.

[1:48] So Jesus spent two days in the area of Samaria here. He spent two days here. And like I said, we read there at the end of that particular passage of Scripture that the people were believing upon Jesus Christ because of the words that he spoke, his belief, this revival, if you'd like to call it that, it began with the words of the woman that had meant Jesus saith unto him, well, she ran into town.

[2:17] And I ran into Samaria saying, come see a man that told me all that I ever did. Come see this man. Come see this prophet. Come see this Messiah. Come see the cross. She had told Jesus Christ while they were there after a while.

[2:32] She said, I know that Messiah will come and he will teach us all things. He will tell us all things when he comes here. And Jesus tells her, he says, I am he that speaketh with thee.

[2:44] I am the Messiah that cross that you are speaking of, I am he. So when she goes into town and she begins telling the people, and then Jesus ends up spending two days there with people.

[2:57] If we don't read how many people were converted to an exact number, there was obviously and evidently a number of people that believed on Jesus Christ there in Samaria because of the testimony of one convert of Jesus Christ and two because of the word of God proceeding from the Son of God, the very words that he spoke.

[3:21] There were converts, folks, if we are to be converted, if we ever were converted, it was because that word of God was preached at some time.

[3:31] The word of God, we entered into our ears, it seeped into our heart and the gospel had shown itself in the deep dark crevices of our heart.

[3:42] It showed us how simple a creature that we are. It showed us the hidden things that spouses never knew, that children never knew, that parents never knew.

[3:54] It showed that Almighty God knew everything about us, that there was to be known God knows us better than we know ourselves.

[4:05] How can I say that? Because he knows what I'm going to do tomorrow. I don't know what I'll do tomorrow. I know what I intend to do tomorrow. I intended, as I said, when I first got up here, I intended to preach from the Old Testament tonight.

[4:20] That was my intentions to look where we're at in the New Testament in one of the Gospels, the Gospel of John, others in their own that I love, the Gospel of John. It's the easiest book to understand and all of Scripture.

[4:35] It's the Gospel of love. How could we not love and admire God and adore God for having this Gospel in his sacred writ of Scripture?

[4:46] But Jesus Christ, he leaves Samaria after two days, after every Bible was taken place. He goes into another house, then when he was coming, the Galilee, the Galileans received him.

[5:04] Having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast, they also went onto the feast. Now, we don't know everything that Jesus Christ did in Jerusalem. At this feast, the Scripture doesn't tell us everything that Christ done.

[5:17] There are all we know is that He done some things and that people saw these things and that people believed these things. So don't dwell too much on that. Hey folks, I've got some of the best advice that I ever gave that I can give anyone is be dogmatic about what Scripture is dogmatic about.

[5:35] And don't be dogmatic about what Scripture is not dogmatic about. It doesn't go into the specific details of what these people in Jerusalem saw. We need not dwell on these things.

[5:47] But it doesn't have things that God has done or people out there that have spent years trying to figure out who this nobleman was. Trying to figure out by name who he was, folks. If God had wanted us to know that, if God had wanted us to care what the nobleman's name was, he would have had John inspired by the Holy Ghost of God to write it in the Scriptures.

[6:08] Don't get lost and caught up in things that do not matter. There's been churches all out over silly stuff. Tell you what, one of the greatest things I ever heard a preacher say.

[6:21] Some of y'all may know the debate, especially between certain denominations of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Some people think it's gonna be a thousand years.

[6:32] Some people think it's gonna be longer than that. Some people think it's gonna be 10 years. My Bible says it's a thousand years. And there's people that argue over whether or not Jesus is gonna come riding on a white horse or not.

[6:44] When scripture plainly says he will, the revelation's not being. One of the greatest things I ever heard, I heard a preacher say, I'll carry if he comes back riding and help the magic dragon as long as he comes back.

[6:54] And I agree, who cares? Who cares in the manner that he comes back? As long as the man comes back here from Revelation one to Revelation 22, it says, cross is coming, cross is coming, cross is coming, that's what the book of revelation is all about.

[7:11] It is to reveal Jesus Christ and who he is and how he is coming back and why he is coming back. That's why it's called the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[7:23] Don't get caught up in silly, my new things that do not matter. Hey, hey, hey. Pay attention to what the scripture says. If, be dogmatic, be dogmatic about that.

[7:34] Now, hold on dogmatic about the birth and birth. You never convinced me that Christ wasn't born on a virgin. And there's people out there that will say that he wasn't saying that it was impossible.

[7:45] Folks, that's what makes it so great. It was impossible. It is impossible for any baby to be born of a virgin. It is impossible. And that's what makes it so great. My God specializes in the impossible.

[7:58] My God sent the Holy Ghost of God to conceive that baby in a virgin's womb. Had he been conceived of Joseph or any other man, he would not have been the son of God.

[8:12] Hey, baby. But he was conceived of the Holy Ghost. That's what made him sinless. Not to mention he was the son of God. That's what made him sinless.

[8:22] Not to mention he was God. That's what made him sinless. God cannot commit sin. He cannot do these things. So Jesus came again in the kingdom of Galilee, where he made the water wine.

[8:34] And there was a certain noble who's son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was coming out of Judea into Galilee, he went under him and missought him, that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

[8:49] So there's no one. He sought Jesus. He sought Jesus. Obviously, the miracles of Jesus Christ. Now, remember, this was Canaan of Galilee. This is where the water was turned into wine.

[9:01] Obviously, this man and this noble man was from Capernaum. Capernaum was about 20 miles away from Canaan, from where they were now. About 20 miles, give or take a couple.

[9:13] But either way, this man comes seeking after Jesus. He came seeking. He had heard the doings of Jesus Christ. He had heard about the miracles.

[9:23] No doubt in Jerusalem. He may have even heard about the woman in Samaria. But I can guarantee you, he heard about the water being turned into wine. He did city of Canaan that he was in right now.

[9:36] And he comes seeking this miracle worker from Galilee. He came seeking the one that he thought could heal his poor son that was at the point of death.

[9:46] This man, he comes to Jesus. He says, my son, is at the point of death. Would you come? Would you come with me? Go with me, folks. This man had faith in Jesus Christ.

[9:58] He had faith that Jesus Christ could heal him. He didn't have perfect faith. He didn't have unaltered faith. He didn't have any of these things. But nevertheless, as imperfect as it was, and as weak as it was, it wasn't anything that was unbornable.

[10:16] It wasn't anything that was out of the way. He had faith in the correct object, in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Amen. That's what matters.

[10:27] His faith was imperfect, just like Abraham's faith was imperfect. Just like Moses' faith was imperfect. Just like Paul's faith was imperfect. Just like Peter's faith was imperfect.

[10:39] And your faith is imperfect. And my faith is imperfect as well. It doesn't take perfect faith to get saved. Hey, folks, there was a lot about God I didn't know at the moment that I got saved.

[10:52] And there's still a lot about God that I do not know. Now my faith is not perfect and will not be perfect. But it was in a perfect God.

[11:02] Amen. That God dealt to every one of us. Every one of us, according to what Paul wrote to the churches, wrote to the church of Rome, I believe. Said, as God had dealt thee measure of faith.

[11:16] Yeah. V, not A. If it had said A measure of faith, that could mean you got more faith than what I did. He dealt the measure of faith. God gives every man the same measure of faith.

[11:29] And it's where we put that faith. Yes, Lord. It's where that faith is in that matters. Now that faith can grow. We're about to see that in this nobleman here. Let's do it. That faith can grow.

[11:40] It can grow quickly. It can grow slowly. I recommend that you let it grow slowly. The folks, even the disciples, my goodness, after they had spent all that time with Jesus Christ, they had seen Him open up the blind eyes.

[11:51] They had seen Him under the sun. Stop the deaf ears. They had seen Him perform miracles, heal the lepers, heal the paralyzed, and still he did. The disciples said, Lord, increase our faith.

[12:04] What else do you have to say to believe? There's a man in Mark chapter nine. His boy. His boy was possessed.

[12:16] In Mark nine, there was a boy possessed. And his son, his father, come to Jesus. He said, I brought him to you, the disciples. I couldn't do anything with them. They couldn't help him. They couldn't cast out the demons.

[12:27] Jesus said, oh, he have little faith. Speak into his own disciples. He have little faith. He says, bring him here. Now, folks, that's a direct contrast to what we're reading here.

[12:40] That's a direct contrast. Jesus says, bring him here. Bring him here where I'm at. And the father says, sometimes it causes him to stumble over into the fire. It makes him fall down and foam at the mouth.

[12:52] It makes him do all kinds of horrible things. And Jesus casts that demon out. But before he does, he tells the father, he says, if you believe in my word, if you believe in who I am, if you believe that I can do this thing, your son will be made whole.

[13:07] Your son will be healed. This demon will be out of him. And that father said, Lord, I believe. Help out my unbelief. He believed. He believed.

[13:17] And yet, he admitted to his unbelief. How many times have we not believed God? As Christians, I'm talking about as born-again believers, how many times have we not believed God?

[13:29] I have. I might be alone, raise my hand and admit it. But I have, since I've been saved, there's been times that I haven't believed God.

[13:40] There's been times that I haven't trusted God like I should. And if you tell me there's been times in your life that you haven't, I'll call you a liar or your face. Every one of us are guilty of it.

[13:51] Every one of us are guilty of it. God healed me of this. God healed Grandma of this. He'll daddy of this. He'll my son or my daughter of this. And they don't get healed. And next thing they know, you're screaming, Todd, where are you?

[14:05] That's unbelief. That is unbelief. Praise God, He don't just kick us to the curb when we do this. Praise God, He don't do that. My God's patient, my God's home suffering.

[14:17] Hallelujah for that. Just no woman comes to Jesus. He says, my son's at the point of death. My son's at the point of death. He says, he besought Him that He would come down, that Jesus would come with Him and heal His son.

[14:33] He was at the point of death. And Jesus said, I'm in. Accept, accept, you see signs of mourners. You will not believe. You will not believe. There's something interesting about this scripture here.

[14:46] And I don't, I get into this more when I'm teaching, rather than preaching, but it needs to be brought out. This word ye, I know the scripture says Jesus told him, speaking to this noble man.

[14:59] But this word ye, in the original Greek that it was written in, is plural. Right. It's plural. Meaning not only the noble man, but to everybody that was around there too.

[15:11] Like when I say y'all, it's plural. It means everybody in this sanctuary or you all, if you want to use proper English grammar for that. It's the same way.

[15:21] This word is plural for ye. But he was speaking to the noble man, and he was speaking to the crowd that was around him. Who would this crowd mostly have been? Jews.

[15:33] Jews. Paul told the church of Corinthian, 1 Corinthians chapter one. He said, the Jews seek for a sign. And Gentiles, they seek after wisdom.

[15:43] The Jews have always sought after signs. Why was that? Because in the Old Testament, that's what God gave them. God gave them signs. That's all they had to go on. Now listen, they had the word of God.

[15:54] They had the Torah at the very least. After Moses pinned it down under inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they had the law. They had the first five books, half the scriptures, and over the centuries, they ended up with the Old Testament in its entirety.

[16:11] They had that word, but they're still dependent upon signs. Folks, my Bible says, in Hebrew, the chapter went of God who had sundry times and had diverse manners.

[16:22] Spoken to his people through the prophets, and through these signs, and through other various manners, half in these last days. Spoken unto us by Jesus Christ.

[16:33] If you're waiting on a sign from Almighty God, that he is with you, you may not get it. Jesus Christ is the last word spoken by God.

[16:44] Hey, baby. So if you're waiting on a sign, be careful. Be careful. And they's, quote unquote, Christian denominations right now.

[16:54] That's what they depend on, the signs and wonders. They depend on the signs and wonders. They depend on miracles. They depend on these things. Now listen, my God still heals.

[17:04] My God still works miracles. You don't believe that if you're sitting here and you're born again tonight, you are a miracle. Folks, the part in the Red Sea was a wonderful miracle in Scripture.

[17:14] One of the greatest miracles you can read about in Scripture, the speaking of the universe into existence was a great miracle that is in Scripture. Shabbat, Meshach, and Abednego, surviving the fiery furnace and coming out of it, would not even the smell of smoke on their clothes.

[17:31] That was a great miracle. Daniel, surviving tonight, it is the lines in the dead of life. That was a great miracle. But the greatest miracle in all of Scripture is that the sinless, blameless, unspotted lamb of God came here and took your sin and my sin upon himself.

[17:51] That's a miracle. Praise the Lord. That's the greatest miracle in Scripture that God would save me. That God would save me. I think sometimes we sing amazing grace and we sing about God saying, we're on the rich like me.

[18:05] I think we just sing the line and don't think about it. We are nothing more than sinful wretches that God has chosen in his sovereignty, in his omnipotence, in his omniscience.

[18:17] He has chosen us to save us. He chose us to save us. Most he chose to say he didn't have to do it. He wanted to do it. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

[18:30] As it was said this morning, he didn't just love one or two or this race or this group of people. He loved the world. Hallelujah.

[18:41] And made our way to the entire world, including this nobleman, including this nobleman who had very weak faith.

[18:52] This nobleman felt that Jesus had to be present. He had to be in his son's presence in order for him to be healed. Don't look down on that nobleman for thinking that.

[19:03] Don't look down on that. When we read about the Gospels with an issue of blood, she thought that she had to touch the hem of his garment. And Jesus turned around and said, thy faith has made me whole.

[19:15] It wasn't her touching the hem of his garment. It wasn't her touching the tassel of his robe. It was not only it was her faith that did that. Now, there's reasons that it's written in the scripture that it is.

[19:27] And there's very good reasons that it is. But it boils down to faith. And it takes faith like this nobleman had. Not perfect, not perfect, not without thought, but just faith and faith in the right thing.

[19:40] Yeah. Faith in the right thing. How many people do you want to? One of the saddest things I've seen recently was that a revival meeting a while back. There was a girl who went to the altar at the end of one night's meeting.

[19:53] And I heard that girl praying. I couldn't hear exactly what she was saying, but I heard her praying. And when she got up off of the altar, she said, I've still got so much I have to do.

[20:04] We can't do anything. And that's what I told that girl. We don't do it. God does it. Amen. God does the saving. And she was down on that altar.

[20:16] And something whispered in her ear that there is still something you need to do. That went nothing more than a demon straight out of the pits of hell that was screaming back to her, or whispering that to her.

[20:28] There is nothing that we do. It is of God. It is for God, for his Lord. Nothing to do with you or I. Right.

[20:38] Salvation is of the Lord. The Lord is salvation. Amen. We cannot forget that. We cannot forget that. This noble man, he thought Christ had to be present with his son.

[20:48] He said, come down. Come down to where my son's at. Come down and heal him. For he was at the point of death in Jesus. He said unto him, accept your sins and wonders.

[20:59] He will not believe. The noble man said unto him, serve. Come down, or my child die. Jesus just rebuked this man. He just rebuked him.

[21:10] He said accept his sins and wonders. He will not believe. But that didn't stop the man. He said, come down with me. Heal my son.

[21:20] There he died before he died. This man understood the shape that his son was in. My goodness. We need parents, we need grandparents and aunts and uncles that understand the shape that their lost folks are in, that their lost children are in, that their lost grandchildren are in.

[21:39] They need to understand that those children are not just sick. They don't just have disease. Those children are best with deadls. Right.

[21:49] We need that attitude. That Sarah Phoenician woman I was talking about, she understood that. She didn't go to Christ and say, well, she's got this disorder, or she's got that going on with her.

[22:03] She has a short attention span. She said she's fixed with a devil. She owned the problem that her daughter had. We as parents and grandparents and uncles as relatives, if we don't pray for these people, and we don't own what's wrong with these people, if we ain't praying for them to get infected, the world's going to know.

[22:25] We have got to be the ones to pray for. Right. We're the only ones that we'll. We're the only ones that can. They might have her face go for insane.

[22:36] I'll send prayers right after I get back from the bar, right after I get back from the dance club, right after I get back from a third date with how it made people this week.

[22:48] I'll send up a prayer for it, or my favorite, send them prayers your way. Don't send them to me. I can't do anything with them. Send them to God. Send those prayers under the one who has the power to not only hear it, but the power to act upon it.

[23:04] Amen. I'm about to get off track, way off track. That's OK. Then said Jesus on the end. Except you see signs of worship when I believe that no one said nothing of sir, come down here my child, die.

[23:17] Jesus said, and go thy way, thy son, live with the man, believe the word that Jesus had spoken on the end and he went his way. Folks, this is, this is how her faith here. This is how her growth and the faith.

[23:29] This man believed just a few moments ago that Jesus Christ had to be present at his son's side. He had to be somewhere in the vicinity in order for his son to be healed.

[23:40] But Jesus Christ spoke the word. He said, thy son, live with him. And suddenly this no one believed the word that Jesus Christ spoke when the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached when the gospel goes out, whether it be to Jew, whether it be to Gentile, whether it be to boy, girl, man, woman, it may be believed when the gospel goes out, salvation can and does happen.

[24:09] Praise God. Amen. Yes. How the whole plan was made by God. Thank you Lord. That's how the entire thing was planned by an omniscient God before the world was ever created.

[24:23] When the gospel was preached, as Isaiah not say, or does the book of Isaiah not say, my word might go out and return to boy. It will accomplish that, which I said it had to do.

[24:35] It will accomplish what I said it had to do when the word of God is preached. It will accomplish what it sent out to do. It'll convict the hearts of the lost.

[24:45] And hopefully, it will comfort the hearts of the saints, the hearts of those that are already born again. It'll help those that are born again. It'll help those that have already been saved.

[24:56] But folks, it'll hurt those that aren't saved. This book cannot comfort you before it convicts you. Right. It cannot do it. There is no comfort that can come from this book to a lost person.

[25:11] We can preach to you so we're blown to face. We can preach to the most beautiful passages out of Psalms, or out of Ecclesiastes, or out of Proverbs, at funeral services, or celebration of life services, whatever you want to call them.

[25:25] We do it to a will in the face. Those words cannot comfort the lost. They can't do it to come and understand, and they don't have the Spirit of God showing them what those words mean to them.

[25:36] They don't have the Spirit guiding them in the truths of the Holy Spirit of God. They don't have the Spirit to show them those things. Therefore, it can't help the lost.

[25:47] But it can certainly help those of us who are saved. There's no one here. We can see them go from weak faith to stronger faith in just a few moments. And what caused it?

[25:57] The words of Jesus Christ. The words that Christ spoke. That's what caused it. And nothing more. Jesus, I read nothing about any hand gestures that He made.

[26:08] I don't read that He nodded at the man. I don't read that He winked at him and nubs him in the shoulder. It was simply the words that Jesus Christ spoke that caused this man to believe.

[26:20] He already had a little bit of faith. But boy, in just a few moments, just an averser to here, we see that spark of faith grow into a roaring flame of faith.

[26:30] In just a few, just a couple of verses here. And it has been caused by the words that Jesus Christ spoke himself. Hey, Vinnie. Our faith should grow that same way.

[26:43] Our faith should grow every time God does something for us. It should increase our faith. Yes, sir. And it might very little while. Some of you have prayed for loved ones.

[26:54] Some of you may have prayed for spouses. Some of you may have prayed for children, grandchildren, whatever for years and years and years. I know I'm a product of a praying mom. I know I am.

[27:04] And a praying wife, too. I can't leave her out. But you pray, and you pray, and you pray that salvation can be brought to one individual, two individuals, or to an entire family, whatever the case is.

[27:17] And finally, one day, you get that phone call, or you get a visit from them, or you get a text message or an email from them saying, hey, I got saved last night now from meeting at the local church.

[27:28] And those prayers after years and years have been answered, praise God. Hey, I'm not people I'm praying for now that I know. I know beyond the shadow of the doubt God's going to chase them straight through the gates of hell.

[27:43] And that is what it takes. But my God, will not give up on them. For that is what I've asked of him. Yeah, praise the Lord. My God's going to chase them. I'm positive of it.

[27:53] I can't save them. And I can't promise you that God's going to. But I can promise you He can. Amen. I can promise you. And I know there's some people I pray for.

[28:03] I feel like I'm the only person that does. I feel like I'm the only person that prays for salvation for some people. And you all know people like that too. Everyone else has got people like that.

[28:14] Help people. But I, me personally, I'm going to get into no great detail. I was a lost cause. I was a lost cause. I hated the church. I hated the Bible. I hated God's people.

[28:24] I hated it all. But God got to hold them in one day. Praise God. Praise the Lord. I got to hold them in one day. Chased me for three days before I finally gave in.

[28:35] I remember this morning I was actually shaving this morning. I thought about that. The morning I got saved, I was, believe it or not, I used to shave.

[28:45] The morning I got saved, I was standing in front of the mirror. And I was shaving before I went into work. And I was arguing with God. He chased me for three days.

[28:55] He handed me down for three days. I couldn't work. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't eat. I couldn't do anything. And I was arguing with God. And I was trying to get God to do exactly what Jesus told this nobleman here.

[29:08] Signs and wonders. God, if you're real, if I've been wrong all this time, you do this and I'll believe. You do that and I'll believe. Make this tube of toothpaste.

[29:18] Raise up off of the sink. And I'll believe in you. I mean, I remember having that kind of, well, I shouldn't say conversation, but God wasn't speaking back to me. But I remember saying these things the morning I got saved.

[29:31] All the way to work. I was fighting with God. And he came. I got into work or in the church whatever I was driving that morning. And trying to say, do this and do that, he didn't do any of it.

[29:44] The boy, he pinned me down far enough. And he got me far enough down in that honorary clay. And he showed me just how far, not the bottom of the barrel, that I was that morning.

[29:55] And I finally gave him into the call. And I finally got saved. Praise God for that. And that may be what it takes for some of ours. Thank you, Lord.

[30:05] Oh, it's this young man, this boy, this son of this nobleman. We don't have his exact age. We can assume that he was a child. I think I preached the last time I was here.

[30:17] Maybe the time before that. That's no respect to a person. It's just like God, no respect to a person. Yeah, don't care how old you are, how young you are.

[30:27] And if you ever think that it is, you remember the first grave ever dug on planet Earth wasn't for Adam. It was for his son.

[30:38] The first one to ever die wasn't for the father. It was for the son. It was for the younger. You remember that. Missing I used to do a few prints while everyone's great free will.

[30:51] And I told them that a couple of times, the teenagers that were over here. And I know what it's like to be a teenager. You think that you're 10 feet tall and bulletproof, and you ain't going to die for another 150 years.

[31:02] Ain't nothing can take you out of this world. That ain't so. And it's biblical that it's not so. And it's biblical that it's not so. This nobleman's son had to be brought to the point of death.

[31:15] But what happened? What happened? And listen, hey, God sends affliction. We can blame the devil all we want to. You can say the devil's been after me.

[31:26] The devil's been on my heels. The devil's done this. The devil's done that. Who sends affliction? God says to himself, I kill. And I make a lie.

[31:37] The book of Hosea, it actually comes out in the says of Hosea. God has sent these afflictions. Why had he done it? So that he can bind up our wounds.

[31:48] Read it for yourself. And don't take my word for it. God sends affliction. And sometimes we're very affliction on ourselves. We're granted. We do. But God will send affliction.

[32:00] This boy, this son, this nobleman, was brought to the point of death with a favor. But what happened? I'm giving you this reading again. Jesus said, if I'm near the way, thy son liveth.

[32:12] 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 inquired him of them the hour when he began to amend.

[32:25] And they said unto him, yes, be it the seventh hour, the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at the same hour which Jesus said unto him, thy son liveth. And himself believed the nobleman and his whole house.

[32:37] This boy was brought to the point of death. And I am persuaded it was to save this nobleman. And it was to save his household. Sometimes bad things happen to us.

[32:49] And we don't like it. I don't like it any more than you all do. I don't like being in the hospital bed. I don't like my wife being in the hospital bed. I don't like anybody. I love being sick or being afflicted or suffering an ailment of any kind.

[33:04] I don't like it. And yes, I pray and I pray fervently that God heals those things. He heals those people. He heals their diseases. He heals their problems, whatever the case is.

[33:15] Yes, I pray for those. But God, in the grand scheme of things, the God that knows the end from the beginning, He has a purpose behind it. He has a plan behind it.

[33:25] He knows how He can use it. Who am I to ask Him to heal something that He can use for His own glory and for His own good and possibly to save some poor lost, dying soul from the flames of hell?

[33:40] I think this young man, this boy, was brought to his affliction by God's laws. He was just so that this nobleman could be saved, not only you, but his whole house.

[33:51] I want you to read something again with me. About then. Bless you, boy. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, thy son lived, that's verse 31, or 51, verse 52.

[34:07] Then inquired him of them, the hour, when he began to live, they said to him yesterday, yesterday, at the seventh hour, once again, that shows the great faith, the weak faith, turned into great faith.

[34:27] Like I said, Canaan was about 20 miles from Capernaum. He could have made that journey from Canaan to Capernaum, depending on who he had with him, depending on what animals he was using as in, four to six hours.

[34:42] He could have walked that far. He didn't even go home. He came to Capernaum the next day.

[34:52] He stayed the night in Canaan. That's how comfortable he was with the words of Jesus Christ. That's how comfortable he was when Jesus Christ said, thy son lived with. That's all it took.

[35:03] That's all it took for this man. He didn't even jet home to see if Christ was correct or not. He had that much faith at that point. He went from having an insanely weak faith to having a greater faith than you or I, either one have.

[35:19] And just a few verses of scripture. In less than a day's time, this man's faith grew that much. How would we treat such a circumstance?

[35:32] If we pray, and God puts it on our heart, God gives us peace of mind. And we say, I think God's got this. I think God's going to mint this in the bud.

[35:44] God's going to heal. God's going to make it all better. God's going to bring the funds in, whatever the case is. God's giving me peace about it. But boy, we're on the phone just an hour or two, saying, hey, have we got the funds.

[35:56] Hey, have they quit coughing. Hey, has this quit happening? Hey, are they off of the oxygen yet? Is this happening? This man had greater faith than any one of us could bring of heaven.

[36:09] And in less than a day, he acquired that thing. Yesterday, at the 7th hour, listen, he didn't ask his servants what time.

[36:21] Well, they came to him saying that his son was healed. But he didn't ask him what time he was healed, because he was dying cross. He wanted to replay it in his mind.

[36:32] That's what I believe. Those folks, he spent the night in Canaan. But wherever it was, he spent the night. Maybe he'd done a halfway trip and spent the night somewhere else and went on the convert.

[36:43] I don't know, but he didn't go straight home. And the scripture backs that up. He believed Christ. He asked him to confirm it.

[36:56] He didn't come to them saying, well, at such and such an hour, Christ told me this. The servants told him that way he could go to his own house and say, at the very hour that those servants said that my son was healed.

[37:12] That is the very hour that this man, this prophet, this massage, this miracle worker that I've heard about, this miracle worker that I went to Canaan to find.

[37:22] That's the very hour that he said that his son lived. He ended as a witness and as a testimony to the rest of his household. And the rest of his household believed in Jesus Christ.

[37:36] And all of them were saved, praise God. So the father knew that it was at the same hour which Jesus said unto him, not suddenly, but then himself believed in his whole house. And this is again the second miracle that Jesus did when he was come out of Judea and to Galilee.

[37:54] This was the second miracle that he had done in the city of Canaan. The first thing we know was in turning water into wine.

[38:05] And word had spread about that. Word had spread about the miracles of Christ. The miracle of Christ. Wine ran out of the wedding feast.

[38:16] And Christ stepped in. Now listen, there's some comparisons here. There's some comparisons that we can make. There's also some contrasts that we can make.

[38:26] That would make for a better Sunday school lesson. But either way, Christ healed this little man's son.