BELIEVING IS SEEING

Introduction

-There’s a lot of things in the world I believe in, but have never seen. I believe that there is a Grand Canyon here in the US. But I’ve never seen it. I believe there are some very ancient pyramids in Egypt. But, you know what, I’ve never seen them. I believe there is this continent called Antarctica. Never seen that one either.

-I believe, even without seeing, because I take it by faith based upon the word of trusted sources (or at least sources that I see as having no reason to lie). There are people who have claimed to have been to these places and have even shown pictures of these places. So, I just go along with what they say because it seems credible to me.

-Now, the Grand Canyon, the pyramids, Antarctica, don’t really have an impact on my life. There is nothing about them that is particularly life-changing. My belief in these things doesn’t cause me to act in any particular way. The faith that I have in these landmarks is nothing more than an assent to the knowledge of their existence.

-However, there is a God of the universe Who places certain demands upon us and Who gives us certain promises. He calls us to act in obedience to His demands and promises, with the understanding that there will be certain beneficial blessings and results for acting upon them.

-But I have never once seen this God. And of the things He calls me to do, I cannot immediately see what the result or outcome will be. He calls me to step out on faith. Whether I choose to step out on faith or not can literally be life-changing (as well as eternity-changing).

-Our Bible tells us that we cannot please God without this faith. That is, unless we believe Him and act upon this belief, we can’t please God. So we need to live out this faith.

-So, let me give you a definition about faith that I see comes to life out of the passage we will read today:

Faith goes beyond mere verbal assent of the possibilities, but is a believing trust that causes action before seeing the result.==it is more than just saying something is possible, it is trusting God enough to act upon His Word based on His character

-You have heard it said SEEING IS BELIEVING. But in God’s economy, it goes in the opposite direction: BELIEVING IS SEEING. First you believe God, and then you see the fruit that is born from your faith. That is a living faith=a true, biblical faith.

-That is the faith I want to lead you to today. This is a faith that I want all of us fathers to demonstrate to our families. I, as a father, want to have a faith that believes before it sees, and acts on it before knowing the results. That is the faith we see in a certain official who encounters Jesus.

John 4:46–54 ESV

46 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. 47 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. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 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.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

-here is an official, a father, with a dying son who desires Jesus to do a healing miracle—like any of us fathers would do, he seeks out whatever he can to help his child.

-But in this exchange that he has with Jesus, he is taken on a rollercoaster ride of faith, and eventually led to a stronger faith where believing is seeing

-Today I want to look at 3 lessons Jesus teaches us for a faith, not only for us fathers, but for everyone where believing is seeing:

I) Jesus prompts us to persevere in faith

-perseverance is a very important part of faith, because true faith in God doesn’t give up (that is, if it is faith based upon God’s character and Word)

-We are told that this official came all the way from Capernaum to Jesus in Cana----meaning he had enough faith at the time in what Jesus could do, that he made the 20 or so mile trek—that doesn’t sound like a lot to us because we can jump in our cars and get there in 20 or 30 minutes—but if this official walked it would have taken up most of a day

-So the official was desperate enough that he makes that long trip himself (not sending servants or other representatives); and this official is desperate enough that he humbles himself before Jesus to make his request, something he normally doesn’t do for anyone but the king he works for

-But at first it appears as if Jesus was just kind of blowing the guy off—I don’t believe Jesus did this to be mean (obviously), but there were many lessons this official needed to learn about faith, and one of them is that God is looking for a persevering faith

-I believe that in delaying the official’s request, Jesus was making the man realize not only his desperation for his son to be healed, but his desperation for Christ Himself

-Jesus cultivated such a desperation in the man that the man would not give up asking until he received; he would not stop seeking until he would find; he would not stop knocking until the door was opened

-A living faith in God, believing before we see, requires perseverance to continuously seek God until we do see—not giving up

-Maybe there is a situation in your life, and God has given you a word through His Word that if you step out on faith you will see something spectacular. And you have stepped out but you haven’t seen any fruit born from it yet. You’ve stepped out on faith and you haven’t seen an improvement in your financial situation...in your marriage----Does that mean you give up? Has God changed? Has His Word changed? Why then would you quit believing just because you haven’t seen yet? We keep believing until we do see!

-Look at the official. He had enough faith to make the trip to Cana. And finally coming to Jesus he tells Him: I need You to come down and heal my son! Jesus blows him off. And it’s as if the official says: I don’t know about this other stuff, all I know is I need you to come down with me otherwise my son will die

----he wasn’t about to allow a setback throw off what little faith he had; he wouldn’t give up—true living faith, a faith that believes before it sees, perseveres until it finally does see

-but there is another lesson:

II) Jesus pushes us to perfect our faith

-The official had a certain amount of faith, but it was far from being the true faith that Jesus looks for----and so not only did Jesus prompt him to persevere, Jesus wanted to perfect His faith= or as one author said it:

Jesus is clearly portrayed in the Gospel as one who seeks to lead persons through stages of inadequate believing to satisfactory believing.

-What was wrong with the official’s faith? Well, I believe a clue is given to us in

So Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." (Jn. 4:48 ESV)

-Now he was talking to the whole crowd around Him, not just the official; but the official had the same mindset----here’s what Jesus is saying: THE ONLY REASON ALL OF YOU ARE SEEKING ME OUT IS BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU THINK I CAN DO FOR YOU, AND THAT’S JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH

-Jesus is saying that a living, vibrant faith is not based solely on visible works He can do, or whatever it is you think you can get out of Him—there is so much more to faith, and Jesus in His exchange here with the official is pushing him to perfect his faith=go farther in his faith==and He wants to do the same with you and me

-The lowest form of faith is merely seeking Jesus for what He can do for us—if your faith in Jesus is merely “to get your life on track;” “to heal your family;” “to bless you and prosper you”, then that’s not the faith Jesus wants from you—he wants a more perfect faith from you

-there is a next step in faith: it goes from faith in signs and wonders to a faith in the Word of Jesus—Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. (Jn. 4:50 ESV)

-This is a very good faith=trust Jesus’ word, not just His works==when Jesus says something, you believe what He says before you see the work/wonder/sign/answer

-Yet, even that could be inadequate if it stops there—because the faith that Jesus is seeking is a faith that is fully committed to Who He is as Lord and Savior

-so by way of what He did thru His Word, Jesus pushed the official to an even deeper faith—The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." And he himself believed, and all his household. (Jn. 4:53 ESV)

-Here they believed in Who Jesus was and fully committed their lives to Him—the ultimate level of faith is a commitment to the person of Christ

-There may be some here still stuck on the lowest rung of faith—your confidence in Christ needs to be fed by signs and wonders----but Jesus wants to lead you to something more: a faith in His word even when it is not accompanied by a sign/wonder or answer; and ultimately a faith in His person: character, attributes, nature, and the salvation that He offers

-3rd lesson:

III) Jesus persuades us to practice our faith

-When Jesus finally acknowledged the man’s request, He didn’t go about things the way that the official expected

-the official specifically requested (at least 2x recorded in Scripture) that Jesus make the long trek down to Capernaum and heal the boy—the official figured that Jesus and the boy had to be together in order for the miracle to work

-but Jesus doesn’t go that route-- Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." (Jn. 4:50 ESV)—the ESV doesn’t translate this right—it should says YOUR SON LIVES—the tense of the verse “lives” is present tense—not future tense as some translations have it—Jesus is saying: YOU CAN GO BACK HOME, BECAUSE YOUR SON LIVES NOW, HE IS HEALED RIGHT NOW

-But this official is brought to a crisis of faith—his mind is telling him that if Jesus doesn’t come down to Capernaum and lay hands on his son, then his son will die

-on the other hand, Jesus commanded him to go (that word GO there is imperative, a command)--and if he doesn’t obey and act on the word of Jesus, maybe the miracle will be taken away because of a lack of faith----Jesus is forcing him to put feet to the faith he is proclaiming

-Or to put it into perspective by one author who said:

If he followed Jesus’ order, he would be returning to the dying boy with no outward assurance that the lad would recover. He was forced to make the difficult choice between insisting on evidence and thus showing disbelief and of exercising faith without any tangible proof to encourage him.----{believing is seeing}

-Put yourself into the shoes of the official for a second—you have this major decision to make on whether or not you will act on faith—{and this is not like making a decision about what clothes to wear, or what job to take}—HIS SON’S LIFE IS ON THE LINE, and he has to make a decision on who/what he is going to trust

-Is he going to trust his feelings and continue to beg Jesus to come, or is he going to trust Jesus and obey and take action based on Jesus’ word

-Let me ask you, who do you trust more (yourself or Jesus)----sure, it’s easy to sit in the pew and say: “WELL OF COURSE I TRUST JESUS MORE” because that’s the churchy answer--and yet, if you look back on the choices you have made in your life it shows something completely different because you usually go by your gut feeling or your own understanding instead of obeying what Jesus has said

-Faith, true faith, living faith, is only faith when acted upon when all you have are the words and promises of God, and the character of the person of Jesus Christ--and ask yourself, is that enough…

Conclusion

One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you." The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters." Finally, even without being able to see what was below, the boy jumped and was caught in the loving arms of his father.

-What is it that God is calling you to step out on faith to do? You may not be able to see what is on the other side of that step, but if you know God’s Words and character, isn’t that enough?

-He wants to take your faith, make it persevere, He wants to perfect it, He wants you to practice it, and then see the fulfillment of the promises—but you need to believe in order to see

-Christian, maybe you need to come to the altar and wrestle with God over a step of faith----some of you need to make a step of faith and join this church, to serve God and expand His kingdom thru this fellowship

-But there are some who haven’t made the step of faith of committing themselves to Jesus Christ—here is the ultimate fate, trusting Jesus with your eternal souls…