Faith: Desperate to Deliberate

Introduction

John 4:43–54 KJV 1900

43 Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. 45 Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilaeans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast. 46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. 48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. 49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. 50 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. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. 52 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. 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. 54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.

Before we dive into these thoughts tonight let’s once again look at John’s purpose for this his Gospel record.

John 20:31 KJV 1900

31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

John D. Propagation of Gospel Witness (4:43–54)

John’s purpose in this Gospel was not just to bring people to saving faith, but to increase the faith they already had, to teach Jesus’ followers to believe in such a way that they could live life abundantly.

This should be the purpose of each one of us. It is a great thing to lead someone to the place where they see Jesus and accept the gift of salvation. But that is only part of the Great Commission. We must place a high priority on continuing to point people to the Lord Jesus Christ after salvation.

John’s main goal in writing his Gospel record was not miracles. Now he certainly doesn’t avoid them because we are going to see another summarized for us before this chapter ends. John’s main goal was to make sure that everyone that read his account would understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

In this section of Scripture, we are going to look at how a man’s faith went from desperate to deliberate.

But we will begin by looking at the transition from Samaria to Galilee. I don’t want to just skip over this little portion of Scripture because I believe there are some important things to understand in verses 43-45. Let’s read them again and let’s mark some things in these verses.

John 4:43–45 KJV 1900

43 Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. 45 Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilaeans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.

I few things that I noted...

In verse 43 mark “he departed thence...” Jesus knew when it was time to move on even if what He was doing was successful. I certainly do not know why God does what He does in certain situations. All I know is that Jesus left when things were going great. Remember these people compelled Him to stay two more days in Samaria after the woman at the well was converted. I think there is a principle here that we should always be led by the Spirit of God in making decisions when it comes to what we do for the Lord and where we do it.

In verse 44 mark “a prophet hath no honor in his own country.” Jesus own country strictly would have been Nazareth. He went to Galilee but He did not go to Nazareth. He didn’t go home. He was close to home but He didn’t go. Jesus didn’t do what He did so men would give Him honor and neither should we. But he also wasn’t going to put himself in the vicinity of people that had no desire to follow Him. Jesus didn’t force His doctrine or belief system on anyone. Why didn’t he go to Nazareth? He didn’t go to Nazareth for the same reason he had to go through Samaria. He knew what was waiting for Him there. I think we see the principle of healthy boundaries here. John 2:24-25 tells us exactly why Jesus didn’t go to Nazareth on this trip.

John 2:24–25 KJV 1900

24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

There are sometime in life when people are unable to be ministered to or they are not willing to do what God wants you to do. And we need to come to a place in our lives where we know that that is ok. I think this is an example we see more than one time from the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew their hearts so He did not expel the energy it was going to take to go to Nazareth. Jesus knew that he was going to have honor with some and not with others.

In verse 45, mark “the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went to the feast.” The principle I see here is that your ministry, when done with the right heart, will benefit some.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume John 4:43–54

The miracles were wrought for the benefit of those at Jerusalem; yet the Galileans who were accidentally there got more advantage by them than they did for whom they were chiefly designed. Thus the word preached to a mixed multitude may perhaps edify occasional hearers more than the constant auditory.

Keep doing what you know is right and let the harvest up to the Lord. The only to things that I have control over in my Christian life is my own personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the quality of service I give to the Lord. If I keep those two things right, some will be benefited by my ministry and the same goes for you.

Now that we’ve gotten through those introductory notes, let get into the main thoughts of our message this evening.

The Inadequacy

John 4:46 KJV 1900

46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.

The term nobleman literally means “little king.” This man was in some way connected to the king’s household.

The Bible does give us some accounts of saints being a part of Herod’s household and maybe those people told this nobleman that there was a man that could help his son.

Luke 8:1–3 KJV 1900

1 And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, 2 And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, 3 And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.

and again in

Acts 13:1 KJV 1900

1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

No doubt there was someone in the kings house that told the nobleman about Jesus.

But that’s not the point here.

The point is that this was a rich man and this rich man in this particular circumstance in his life was no different than the pauper because he had a sick son. How many of you have had a sick child?

In September of 2019 one of our children was very sick. We could not figure out what was wrong. This child of ours who was usually the height of energy slept for most of the day and was just lethargic as a rule. We visited urgent care and was told it was something that it wasn’t and then met with his pediatrician. The day of his pediatrician appointment his fever spiked to 104 and the Dr. moved him immediately from the examination room to a hospital room. After multiple test we found that Hudson had 5 infections simultaneously running rampant through him.

I know what it’s like to have a sick child. I know the helpless feeling that this man was experiencing that day.

The riches he had acquired were inadequate in his situation

The power that he had attained was inadequate in this situation.

We must all come to the place in our life where we understand that we, in ourselves, are inadequate to handle life.

This nobleman understood that he could not fix this.

Then I want you to see...

The Individual Responsibility

John 4:46–49 KJV 1900

46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. 48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. 49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.

Notice in verse 47...

HE went unto Jesus

I’m thankful for the people that may have told this man about Jesus and what He could do.

I’m thankful for the people in my life that have great faith.

But at some point I have to understand my individual responsibility to trust Jesus by myself.

This man could have sent servants but he went to Jesus himself. In fact it would have been a 20 mile journey from Cappernium to Cana.

I’m sure there are people in this room that pray for me and I am grateful to the Lord for that. But there must be a time in every Christian’s life where we lean on Jesus more than other people.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m for gaining counsel from people but make sure you run their counsel through the filter of Scripture. I think it’s important that if you go to someone for counsel it would be a good idea to ask them to give you biblical principles to back up their council.

If you are giving someone counsel it’s always a great idea to give biblical principles even over life experience.

I am a strict biblicist. If the Bible majors on it so do I. If the Bible doesn’t neither do I.

You have individual soul liberty. You will not answer to God for someone else. You will answer to God for you. Pastor will stand before God for everything he says from this desk but He will not give an account for your life or mine.

There must come a point in our lives where we understand our individual responsibility to get to Jesus for ourselves.

And then I want you to see...

The Irrefutable Faith

John 4:50 KJV 1900

50 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.

I want you to understand that faith is simply believing and obeying what Jesus says. This man’s faith was irrefutable in verse 50 because it was cut and dry. Jesus said to do something and this man did it.

I was really convicted over this because how many times in my life has my faith faltered? How many times have my kids seen my faith falter? There have been times in my life when my faith wasn’t irrefutable. It wasn’t strong.

This man’s faith, in this instance was irrefutable. There was no question he was exercising faith.

God help us to be people of irrefutable faith.

Then I want you to see a principle that is again repeated more than once in the New Testament. I want you to see the

The Inside Knowledge

John 4:51–52 KJV 1900

51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. 52 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.

The ones that were serving knew about the miracle before anyone else.

I see this principle back in chapter 2.

John 2:7–9 KJV 1900

7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. 9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,

Very simple thought here. When you serve the Lord with an obedient heart, you not only get to see amazing things happen like the servants in chapter 4 but you also get to know why they happened like the servants in chapter 2.

The last thing I’d like you to see is

The Increased Faith

John 4:53–54 KJV 1900

53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. 54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.

All it takes to exercise faith is one act of obedience and the direct result of exercising faith is increased faith. The man went from physically obey to internally believing to sharing this faith with everyone around him. The Bible says that the whole house believed.

Increased faith is contagious sometime.

I pray that we will understand our inadequacy.

I pray that we will understand our individual responsibility.

I pray that we will have irrefutable faith.

I pray that we will be the servants who have inside knowledge and see first hand what God is accomplishing.

I pray that our faith will increase as we trust the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer