The Man Behind The Miracle
Notes
Transcript
Doxology:
This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!
Scripture Reference: John 4:43-54
Context
Context
I want to start today by reminding us of the purpose of this Gospel.
31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
Remember John’s purpose in writing his Gospel. He wrote this Gospel so its readers might believe the Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, and that through that belief they might have life in His name.
This means that everything written throughout this Gospel, at least in John’s eyes, was written to lead one to Jesus.
The text we have before us today, is a text that deals with unbelief.
Unbelief is the ultimate sin. It is the sin of condemnation. It is the only sin for which someone is sentenced to hell. All other sins are covered under the blood of Christ, but if one refuses to believe, then the blood is never applied.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
So unbelief is rooted in the rejection of Jesus as the Christ.
In our text today, Jesus is dealing with unbelief.
Let’s pray....
Content
Content
The Explanation
The Explanation
Jesus’s time with the Samaritans has come to an end. It is time for Him to move on to His next destination, which is Galilee.
43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.
But the text now gives us some information that is useful to understanding not only the rest of this text, but also this most egregious sin of unbelief.
44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
Jesus claims that a prophet has no honor in his own country. This is a somewhat troubling statement, but I want to attempt to add some clarification here.
Remember that we are dealing with the concept of belief, and conversely, the sin of unbelief.
John MacArthur points out that throughout the Gospels, there are multiple levels of unbelief outlined:
There was unbelief due to lack of exposure.
This is the shallowest level of unbelief. This group of unbelievers are what we would call those “ripe for harvest”. This was the illustration Jesus used last week in Samaria.
This group of unbelievers are on the cusp of believing. Their hearts have been prepared through:
Other people’s witness
Their own struggles
Through deep contemplation of the meaning and purpose of life.
They await only the revelation of truth. Once that truth has been presented, they are ready to believe in Jesus as the Christ. All they need to see is the Man of Christ.
There was unbelief due to lack of information.
This type of unbelief required more than mere exposure to the Man of God; their hearts were not as prepared as those within the first group, so they needed to hear the Message of Christ, along with seeing the Man of Christ.
The Samaritan woman at the well would fall into this category. She saw the man but that was not enough. After that Man presented the message, then she was willing to believe.
There was unbelief due to a perceived lack of evidence.
Those who fall into this category had seen the Man, heard the Message, but still required more evidence to those claims. They are described as those who need to see the works, or miracles, of Christ.
Jesus performed many miracles during His time on Earth. Those who fell into this category, like the one we will see today, were converted from unbeliever to believer through these miracles.
There was unbelief due to deliberate hardheartedness.
Those at this level of unbelief refused to believe that Jesus was the Christ. They had seen the Man, heard the Message, witnessed the Miracles, and still stubbornly rejected the fact that He was the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, the One who come to save them.
Jesus warned of the consequences of this type of unbelief:
24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
Now that we have outlined these levels of unbelief, we can go back to our text with some form of reference. Jesus claimed that a prophet had no honor in his own country. Why?
Jesus grew up here. Though each of these people did not know Him personally, they were familiar with His story. He was the illegitimate child of Mary and Joseph. He was a carpenter. They thought they knew the Man, as well as His Message, so they required further evidence. They fell into this third level of unbelief.
45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.
Notice that this verse does not say they believed in Him, but rather that they received Him. Why? Because of the miracles He had performed in Jerusalem. They also went to the feast and had seen all that He had done.
They received Him, because they were eager to see more miracles. It was the miracles that fascinated them, not the Man behind the Miracles.
It forces me to wonder if there are so many today who would be considered modern-day Galileans? Many people have no qualms with Jesus. In other words, they receive Him when He comes by their way. But do they receive Him simply because of the miracles He can perform for them, or do they genuinely believe in the Man behind the Miracles?
Let me give just one illustration:
Suppose you get in your car, drive down the road, and then have a tire blow out. You do not wreck, the car is not damaged, no one got hurt in the process, the spare tire is still aired up though you have not checked on it in years, all the tools you need to swap it out just so happen to be in the car, you get it swapped out, and you get back on the road without much complication.
I don’t know about you, but I would call that a miracle on some level. What do most people do in this scenario? Thank you Lord for watching over me. Right? Thank you for watching over me.
But let’s say another person experiences the exact same circumstances. The difference is that person did one thing different. When they first got in the car, they took a brief moment before setting out on the journey to ask God to accompany them. “Father, thank you for this car you have blessed me with. Thank you for the money to go buy these groceries I am about to pick up. Lord, will you go with me along this journey today and keep me safe? Amen!”
Now when that same set of circumstances unfold, they are not going to say “Lord, thank you for watching over me!” Rather, they are going to see, “Lord, thank you for being with me!”
See one of those individuals only acknowledged Jesus when a miracle showed up. The other acknowledged Jesus before there was ever a need for a miracle in the first place.
One of those individuals are captivated by the miracles, the other by the Man.
The Exposition
The Exposition
Now, we get to see first hand what this looks like in action.
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.
Notice the emphasis here in this verse on miracles.
First, we see that Jesus comes to Cana, which is where He performed His very first miracle. These people have already seen the results of what Jesus can do.
Secondly, we see an individual who is in need of a miracle. There is a nobleman, whose son is sick.
The term “nobleman” refers to the fact that this man is a royal official. This means he serves under Herod Antipas. The fact that he is part of the royal administration would also lead us to believe that he is a wealthy individual. This would also lead us to believe that he has exhausted every other means of treatment for his son: doctors, medicines, remedies, etc. Unfortunately, nothing has worked and nobody has been able to provide any answers.
The extent of the illness is outlined for us in the next verse:
47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
There are a couple of things to note here in this verse.
He heard that Jesus was coming into Galilee. Cana was roughly a hard days journey, somewhere between 16-20 miles from Capernaum. This man has heard of the stories concerning Jesus, probably from those in Galilee as well as from the royal courts.
The second thing to note is the serious of his sons sickness. It says he is at the point of death. This sickness is very serious. Likely, without the help of Jesus’s miracle-working actions, his son will die. Knowing this, it says in the middle of the verse that, “he went to Him.” He leaves his son, at the brink of death, to travel an entire days journey away, which means at least two days total. His son could die what time he was gone, but there was no other way. He was desperate and needed a miracle.
He implored Him to come down and heal his son. This means that he literally begged Jesus for a miracle of healing. He loved his son, as we all love our children, so he begged. Begging was not customary in this day, especially if you were of the royal court. The act of begging was frowned upon, unless of course you were indeed a beggar, which meant you had no other option. Desperate people will do desperate things. We all know this.
But then we get a word from Jesus on the matter:
48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”
I think it is important to see here, that Jesus is not just speaking to this man alone. The pronouns used in this statement are plural: “You people”.
Everywhere Jesus went, there was a crowd of people. People loved to stand off in the distance and watch Him work. They loved to see Him perform these miracles.
His comment then is not just to this man, but to all of those who are present at the very moment. He is speaking to all of those Galileans who are in the same boat as this man is. The only difference between this man and the rest of them is the fact that he is more desperate than they are.
Furthermore, the statement Jesus makes here is matter of fact. He is speaking truth. He knows the hearts of every single one of these people present. He knows what they are looking for, and it is not Him. It is rather the miracles that he can perform.
I personally do not think this comment is a jab. I don’t think this comment was made out of frustration or anger. I think this comment is one of sadness, or maybe disappointment.
He is not fussing at them, He is rather trying to point them to the most important thing, which is believing in Him. These miracles are proof that He is who He says He is. There miracles are proof that He is the Christ. Instead of putting two and two together, they cannot get passed the miracles.
Notice that he says, “without miracles, you will never believe.” Believe in what? Believe in Him. So this comment is not to fuss at them, but to point them to the greater truth. Yes I can perform miracles, but the question you should be asking is....why? Why am I able to perform miracles? It is because I am the Christ, the Son of God, the prophesied Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
This man totally misses the meaning of what Christ is saying:
49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
Instead of reading into what Jesus just said, “What do you mean believe? Believe in what? What am I missing here?” he rather jumps straight back to the only thing he is concerned with at the moment, which is his son. “Sir, please come down before my child dies!”
He goes straight back to begging. He is not concerned with who Jesus is, only what Jesus can do.
This man does not believe in Jesus at this point. Some might argue that fact saying, “But what about the fact that he came to Jesus in the first place? Doesn’t that mean that he believes on Jesus to save his son?”
No, it just means that he believes that Jesus can perform miracles. There are a couple of indicators within this text that show us he is an unbeliever.
He addresses Jesus only as “Sir”. He doesn’t call Jesus Lord, Master, Rabbi, Teacher, or any other religious title....only sir.
He believes that Jesus must be present in order to save his son. He does not realize that Jesus is the Word, that Jesus can simply speak this miracle into existence. This is exactly what Jesus does by the way.
He does not believe that any hope exists after death has occurred. He says, “Please come before my child dies.” He does not believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He sees no hope beyond the grave.
Now, after reverting back to begging once again, Jesus fulfills his request:
50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.
Jesus spoke the words. That’s all it took. The miracle worker said that my son lives, so it must be done. It said that he believed Jesus’s words, but notice that it does not say that he believed in Jesus…not yet.
After receiving this promise from Jesus, it says that he went his way (he headed for home).
Now some might ask, “Well why would Jesus perform a miracle for an unbeliever?” Jesus performed many miracles for people who were unbelievers, so that they might believe.
It is important to note that this is not always the case. There are some within that fourth level of unbelief that we talked about earlier who will never be convinced that Jesus is the Christ, regardless of the evidence that is produced. It is most unfortunate, but it is the truth.
I think it is just as important to note, that it is not our job to decide what level of unbelief a person is at. If we dare to venture into the realm of thinking, we venture into the responsibility of God. We cannot see the hearts of men. Only God can do that. Only God knows who will be converted and what circumstances it will take for that conversion to take place. Our job as Christians is to simply be faithful in sharing the Gospel to anyone and everyone that will listen. To go beyond that is to go too far.
The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment
As this man is on his way home, he is met by some of his servants. I don’t know about you, but if that were me headed home, my heart would have sunk at the very moment I saw them coming my way. We have a tendency to expect the worst, don’t we. I can see him losing his breath, feeling sick at his stomach all of a sudden, his knees buckling beneath him, just waiting for them to say, “Sir, I am so sorry. Your son didn’t make it.”
But no, that is not what they say. Instead, they say “Your son lives!”
Now this doesn’t just mean that he is still alive, this means that he is healed. He is better. The sickness is gone. He is cured.
That pit in his stomach turns to happiness. I can see him embracing his servants, hugging them tightly, and rejoicing for several minutes, maybe even screaming out loud in utter thankfulness.
After a moment of celebration, he does something that probably seemed most unusual to his servants:
52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”
He stops to ask at what hour his son became well. He wasn’t looking for a vague answer here, he wanted a specific time.
Now we all know where this is going. He is trying to figure out if this had something to do with Jesus, or could it be that some of the medicine they had tried finally kicked in and made the difference?
They tell him that his son’s fever broke at the seventh hour.
53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.
After he heard that, he instantly knew that this healing came through Jesus, the miracle worker he spoke with the day before. That was the same hour when Jesus said, “Your son lives.”
What this man does is key. He measures out the miracle.
In other words, he plays the miracle back through his mind and begins asking questions. Who is this man that he could simply speak this miracle into existence? He didn’t even come to my house. He didn’t lay hands on my son. He has never even seen my son. How is this possible? Is there any explanation that is feasible?
Yes! There is an explanation that makes sense. Matter of fact, there is only one explanation that makes sense. He must be the Christ! He must be the Son of God. He must be the Savior we have been waiting for.
Every adult in this room, and maybe even some of the kids, can look back at your life right now and think of many miracles that has taken place over you, your family, or something relating to you. I hear people say it all of the time:
When I look back at it now, I don’t know how I survived that accident.
When I look back at how bad our marriage was, I honestly don’t know how we made it through.
When I look back at how poor we were, I truly don’t know how we were able to put food on the table.
When I look back at how severe my addiction was, I am not sure how I ever got free from it.
At some point, if we are even somewhat logical, we must come to a place of measuring out our miracles. How did we get through? How did we make it? How did I survive?
If you haven’t answered those questions yet, I encourage you to do so now. What you are going to find is that there is a Man behind those Miracles. Not just any man, but the God-Man, Jesus Christ. He performed those miracles in your life so that one day, a day just like today when you decide to measure out those miracles, that you will see Him for who He is.
Have you met the Man behind the Miracle? He is the Son of God. He is the Savior of the world. He loves you unconditionally. He wants, above everything else, for you to believe in who He is.
The only thing standing in your way, is your unbelief. If you are willing to accept the evidence before you and believe in who He is, He will forever change your life.
Commitment
Commitment