The healing of the royal off..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. John? Chapter 4, verses 43 through 54.

After the two days, he departed for Galilee, for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his hometown. So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast. So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water into 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 to heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 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. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 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 that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, your son will live. And he himself believed and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee. Amen.

This is the word of the Lord. Well, this week, by God's grace, the verses that we have before us are going to show us a little bit of a contrast to what we've seen of the people that are so despised by the Jews, the Samaritans, and how they received Jesus, by what faith, by what joy they received Him. and now how the people of Christ's own hometown, the people of Galilee, and how they received Christ. Now, at surface level, you may not see that it's a contrast or a dissimilarity. It may look like it's very similar, but I believe we are meant to look beyond the superficial, beyond the facades.

And John is giving us some tools and some clues in this text to be able to see these things so that we can get to the heart motives behind the actions. It's not always as it seems. The question one needs to ask is this, at least in the first three verses that we have before us from 43 through 46 or 45. And this is the question we need to ask ourselves. Are the people in Christ's hometown, are they really honoring Him when they welcome Him to their region?

Or are they only giving him lip service in hope to see more of a spectacle of signs and wonders? Now, it's no surprise that Jesus has finally made it to Galilee, because if you remember, in the beginning of the chapter, back in verses 1 through 3, we're told, now, when Jesus had learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples, Verse three, he left Judea and departed again to Galilee. You see, departing from Judea, his purpose or his intention was to make it to Galilee, but now in the last three weeks, we've spent some time looking into the time Jesus spent and his disciples in Samaria. Now, we should never think of Samaria as a meaningless parentheses, because certainly it was not. I think we can all agree at least that his time in Samaria was an incredible success, an incredible successful mission.

And it all started with our Lord taking the time to lovingly have a simple conversation with a woman that most would despise. and his icebreaker, give me a drink. He was thirsty. Give me a drink. And so from surface level, you may look at that and think, well, Jesus is the needy one.

But of course, as we've examined in the last three weeks, we know that Jesus didn't come to take. He came to give, and indeed He gave this woman living water that welled up inside of her into a spring of eternal life. And in her excitement, in her exuberance, she goes back to the town of Sychar, her own town, and she could not be quiet. She needed to profess. She needed to proclaim to the people.

Look who I have found. Let me tell you about the man I met at the well who has told me all that I have ever done. All that I have ever done. Many of us in this place could remember and identify with that overwhelming joy. that excitement, that experience of our first experience when we came to know our Lord and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, when our eyes were opened to see our desperate need for a Saviour to redeem us from our sins, from our filth, from our unrighteousness, and to see Him as Lord, as God, and to see Him as the only Saviour of the world who's able to remove the filth and the wretchedness of our depravity.

We can associate with the actions of this woman. We can see the excitement in her and we can relate, many of us at least can relate to this. We too used to be at one stage busting at the seams to tell of our Saviour at every opportunity. But beloved, we spoke about this last week, somewhere along the line for many of us, and I speak from experience. That busting, that excitement, went from wanting to proclaim to everyone we know, and we became a little bit more diplomatic in our gospel proclamation.

Maybe a little bit more careful, a little bit more selective. As new converts, we didn't care about being awkward. We didn't care about a conversation that was spoken of about the sports or weather or politics. We just intervened. We needed to tell you about our Savior because there was an urgency and we knew that everyone needs this Savior.

He's the Savior of the world and there is no other that can redeem from unrighteousness. We knew the urgency. And the fact of the matter is we weren't waiting for the opportunities, we made the opportunities. And every day, every day we saw many opportunities to share our faith, but maybe that's not the case anymore. And the question we need to ask ourselves is this, or at least this was what I asked last week, is it indeed the opportunities that have diminished, or is it our zeal that has diminished?

Because what we had before us in the Samaritan woman is a woman who, no doubt, had zeal. And although her testimony would not have been recognized in that day and age, because A, she was a woman, she was an immoral woman, so whatever she said would not stand up, we said, even in court, but she did not care. She went to her people and she proclaimed, let me tell you about this person that I met. And because of her excitement and because of the zeal, they take her up on her offer and they come and meet the Lord themselves. And when they do, we're told in verse 41, and many more believe, hear this, because this is important, because of Jesus's word.

because of Jesus' word. They believed on the account of what Jesus said. In other words, they heard what he had to say, and not the signs that he did. Because there's nothing in that account that speaks of signs. We don't know whether Christ did do any miracles in that place, but John certainly has not listed any other, apart from Christ peering into her soul and revealing the contents of her heart.

There's no signs, there's no wonders listed. But they believe on account of His Word. And because of their faith, their eyes were opened and they were illuminated to this climactic truth that the Messiah is the saviour of the world. What a beautiful declaration from a people despised by the Jews. Now with that in mind, after spending two days in Samaria, we're told in verse 43, now Jesus, our Lord, departs for Galilee.

He resumes the trip that he began back in verses 1 through 3. But what comes next has baffled scholars. So verses 44 through 45, believe it or not, may look quite obvious for us or straightforward, but it has baffled scholars and commentators for centuries. You see, in our ESV Bibles, we're told the Apostle John writes, for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his hometown. Now this was a proverb that Jesus has used on more than one occasion.

In fact, every one of the synoptics, every one of the Gospels has these proverbs in it. But believe it or not, there is about 10 explanations to this verse, and it's because of the first word, for. It seems to imply Jesus made the trip to Galilee for or because a prophet has no honor in his hometown. Now you think about that for a moment, and it does sound a bit strange. The question needs to be asked, why did Christ depart to Galilee if he already knew that he would not be honoured there?

You see, this sort of thinking has led many commentators and many scholars to Maybe try a different interpretation of what has been translated in our Bibles as hometown. You see, they've said maybe it's not Galilee that is spoken of here because literally the word is the fatherland or the land of the father. Some were hoping to take Galilee out of the equation and make Judah the hometown of Christ because after all Jesus was born in Bethlehem and Bethlehem is in Judea. So, he left Judea, where he received no honour, they would say, to come to Galilee, where he possibly does. Others have suggested a more spiritual meaning, the Fatherland being possibly heaven.

Now, there's no doubt, after reading the prologue, that the Father of Christ is indeed God Almighty, and He is in heaven. So some have said that, but we have to look at this text in the context, and we cannot agree to either one of these two. Why? Because Homeland is used six times in the Gospels, apart from its use here in John, and every one of those in Matthew 13, in Mark chapter 6, and in Luke chapter 4, every time we have Nazareth at the core in the immediate context. And of course, Nazareth is in Galilee.

So the natural reading of this text suggests, even though it may sound awkward on face value, I do believe that John gives us some clues how to interpret it. But on face value, we must say that Galilee is the region, Galilee is the hometown spoken of that Jesus enters into. So that's problem solved, right? No. No, there's more, because verse 35 or 45 tells us, So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him.

So if we conclude that Galilee is the homeland referred to where Christ received no honor, then how do we explain the warm greeting he receives by them? So I submit to you, it's not by changing the natural reading of the text, but rather being careful readers of it, because there are clues in the text to show us why Galilee is the hometown. and how we can explain the welcoming of the Galilees. It comes really in the first words, so when, or literally, therefore. Therefore explains the previous verse.

In other words, John is saying that Jesus came to Galilee to prove a point, that his homeland or his hometown will not give him the honor that he deserves, the honor due his name. It's a demonstration of what John has already told us back in chapter 1. If you remember chapter 1 verse 11, he writes, he, speaking of Jesus, came to his own and his own people did what? They did not receive him. His own people would reject him.

This will be seen as we continue through John. We'll see time and time again how his own people will continue to reject Christ. But it's also in the other Gospels. An example of this is in Luke chapter 4, when Jesus is in his actual hometown in Nazareth, and he preaches a sermon. And then afterwards, what do the people want to do?

They want to push him off a cliff. That's not honor. That's not honor. But you might say, brother, they did receive him. They welcomed him.

That's what the text says. They welcomed Christ in verse 45. And I'd say you are right, but that's the next clue. Why did they receive him? You see, the gospel according to John has a theme that runs throughout the gospel.

And for us to understand why John wrote or included the narratives or the miracles, we need to go to the purpose statement. And I've shared this with you on many occasions. Chapter 20 verse 31 through 30 through 31. And his purpose statement is, he's written all these things so that we would know, or his readers would know, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. And by believing in Him, you'll have life in His name.

It's about faith. It's about faith in Christ, in who He is, and what He has done in His Word. So throughout the Gospel of John, we'll see contrasts. True faith and counterfeit faith. The real deal, the genuine faith, and faith that dishonours Christ.

So the question we need to ask here this evening is this, are the Galileans demonstrating a true faith? Is this a true welcoming because they're welcoming Jesus Christ as Messiah, as Savior, or as the Samaritans would say, the Savior of the world, or is this something else in their mind? Because he goes on to say, verse 45b, having seen all that he has done in Jerusalem at the feast, For they too had gone to the feast. This is why they welcomed him. See, they welcomed him because they saw, they were in Jerusalem.

Why were they in Jerusalem? Well, we've shared this before. The Jew would have to, or at least the Jewish men would need to go to Jerusalem at least three times a year for the feasts. And the Passover was the main feast. And they were there.

They saw Christ there. They saw his wonders. They saw his miracles. So now they welcome him back. Why?

Well, probably not as Savior, not as Messiah. They're welcoming him back as the performer who's come to town. We've seen his show in Jerusalem. We were there. We saw the spectacle and we saw him perform.

It was amazing. Jesus, it's wonderful to have you back. Welcome, Christ. It's wonderful to have you back. What signs will you perform for us now?

Surely we he'll perform something greater and more mighty in his own hometown. You see, the Samaritans rejoiced and they received Jesus, a Jew. Normally a nation despised. Normally a nation, a people, they would avoid at all costs. Yet they received him in gladness.

We see that they pleaded with Christ, why don't you stay with us two more days? It wasn't the case of go. It was stay with us. Well, they received him in joy. And what are we told?

We're told they believed upon his word. And in the end, they declare that he is the savior of the world. Their face... caused them to declare that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. And you have to ask yourself the question, what does a Savior do?

He saves. Now, the context of John has not given us the discussions, and I would have loved to be there. The two days he spent with the Samaritans, they would have been glorious. But although we weren't there, and we're not told what was spoken, it'd be fair to say, and I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that Jesus indeed, He proclaimed to these people who He is and what He has come To do. It wouldn't be too much of a stress to assume at least, that when he walked away, the confession of John the Baptist was true in their heart.

That Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God indeed, who takes away the sins of the world. He saves people from their sins. And therefore, he's the Savior of the world. Not just the Jews, but the world. However, there is a faith that is rooted only in the spectacle, a faith other than what the Samaritans showed, a faith that is not a saving faith.

You see, there are so many similarities, and I think John is pointing to the Galileans having that type of faith, because there's so many similarities in what we read in verse 45 to what we read in chapter 2. And if your minds would go back, actually turn your eyes with me. Chapter 2, verse 23. Go back to chapter 2, verse 23. I want you to think about chapter 4, verse 45, what we just read, and look at the similarities between the words.

I'm going to read 45 to you once more. It reads, So, it says here, so when he came to Galilee, the Galilees welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast. Chapter 2, 23. And when he was in Jerusalem, same place, at the Passover feast, same feast, many believed in his name. Why?

Because they saw, like they had seen in Galilee, the signs that he was doing. How many similarities do we have? I think John is wanting his readers to make the link, that these people are the ones who don't have the saving faith, but rather they have a faith that is predicated upon signs and wonders. After that passage in chapter 2, we're taken to Nicodemus. And Nicodemus is a man that comes to Christ, and if you remember the first words he says, Rabbi, I know that you're from God, because no one can do the things you do unless God is with him.

He's seen the signs. He believed the signs. But did he believe in the Messiah? Did he believe in the one who was performing the signs? So, beloved, the context suggests that the Galileans who received Christ, it seems, with joy and welcomed Him, are counted among those who believed in a superficial way.

believing in the signs, but not the person or his teaching that the signs point to. Seeking signs will not save, nor does it honour our Lord. In fact, if we continue reading in chapter 2 we read only verse 23 but if we read 24 and 25 listen to what he says he says but but they believed and we should be excited these people believe they they saw the signs are at the feast and they believe are we to be excited well don't don't you get excited too early because we need to read the rest. 24. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man for he himself knew what was in man.

He saw right through them. This is a counterfeit faith and Christ will have no part in it. None. And if you're still unsure that the Galilees or Galileans, my apologies, have this type of faith, then verse 48 hits that nail on the head. You see, Jesus' rebuke is not directed only towards the royal official for seeking signs, but also his countrymen.

You see, it's not clear in the English, but the you is actually plural. So it would read something like this, unless you use or you all, See signs and wonders you will not believe. It looks like he's directing the word simply to the official, but in fact he's directing it to the countrymen. He's speaking to the Galileans. We know the majority of Jesus' countrymen will end up falling away.

Only a few chapters later, a swarm, a swarm of them will turn their backs and show their true colors and completely abandon Christ in the thousands. Chapter 6 is what I'm speaking of, revealing that their faith is not a true faith. Believers, beloved, it's a faith that seeks the exhibition. It's a faith that seeks the excitement, the ecstasy. It's not a faith.

that sees Christ for who He is. It's not predicated on their desperate need to be forgiven of their sins, of their unrighteousness. It's not a faith trusting in Christ as the Savior, as the one who can forgive their sins, and the one who can rescue them from the wrath of God to come. But it's a faith in the immediate excitement. However, in chapter 6, When these people turn away, there are those who do have a genuine faith.

Among them, the disciples of Christ. And when Jesus turns after the mass exodus and looks at the twelve and says, will you two leave? You remember what Peter says? Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the, hear this, the words of eternal life.

The Samaritans believed in the word of Christ. Peter says here, where are we going to go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed, believed in what Jesus has said, and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. You have the words of eternal life.

They believed not in the signs. The disciples had seen their fair share of miracles and wonders. Only a day earlier, 5,000 men, probably 20,000 people, were fed miraculously. Two pieces of fish, five loaves of bread. They've seen the signs.

Peter doesn't say, we're going to stay because we've seen you perform all these miracles. No. You have the words of eternal life. The Samaritans heard the words of Christ, verse 41, and believed. And now in the story before us in verses 46 through 54, we have an instance where a crisis compels a desperate man from Capernaum to be drawn to Christ.

He's drawn because he knows he's a miracle worker who can get him out of his predicament, out of his calamity. Initially, at least, he had a Galilean type faith. However, by God's grace, he encounters our Lord and his faith shifts from seeking the spectacle of signs and wonders to seeking the person who performs them. His faith shifts from trusting in the work of Christ that are seen, to trusting in the Word of Christ that is unseen. In other words, believing in Christ not as the miracle worker, although that is what brought him there in the first place, but walking away believing in Christ as Lord over all.

So let's together walk through this second sign recorded for us in this gospel. And it occurs in the same place as the first one. If you remember, it's Cana and it's where Jesus was at the wedding and he makes the water into wine. So we're introduced to an official from Capernaum whose son was ill to the point of death. Now speculation is made to who this man is and there are different opinions out there.

I think there are two plausible opinions or possibilities and both these possibilities are men who are directly related not by birth or by blood but probably more occupationally to King Herod II. Antipas. Now King Herod Antipas was the king of the region of Galilee and Perea to the east of the Jordan River. Now he took over that region when his father King Herod the Great died in 4 BC. The whole land, Herod the Great was king over the whole land.

He wasn't, you wouldn't say he was a real king, but he was deemed as a king over the land. And when he died, the regions were split into three, and his three boys, his three sons, all took one portion. You have Achilles, Achilles, Achilles, that's how you pronounce it, Antipas, and of course, Philip as well. So Antipas had this big region of Galilee and Piraeus. Now the reason, and we know that Antipas wasn't a noble man, Jesus stood trial before him, and we know that he beheaded John the Baptist, which if you remember a few weeks ago I said that happened most likely just before, probably only a few days ago, probably one of the motivating factors for Jesus to leave Judea and then go into Galilee.

Now the reason why men would say that I would say those two possibilities are very plausible is simply because in our Bibles we have the official, the official from Capernaum, but in the original, the actual literal, the literal word is the royal official, or the king's official. And because there was only one king in the region, one would say that it's very possible that it was linked to that king, King Antipas. And the first possibility, the first possibility is a man called Cusa. Cusa, he who's listed for us in Luke chapter 8, and he was described as the household manager, Luke 8.3, household manager of King Herod, King Herod Antipas.

Or otherwise, sometimes in our Bibles we read him as the Tetrarch, or the Herod the Tetrarch, which just means ruler. And the interesting thing about Cusa is that his wife, Joanna, his wife was a faithful disciple of Christ. And we're told that she used her own means to faithfully serve Christ and his disciples. It's a possibility. The other possibility is a man called Menean.

Menean is also described for us by the same author, Luke, but not in the Gospel of Luke, but in the second volume in the Book of Acts, chapter 13. Luke tells us that Menean was a lifelong friend of King Herod, of course, referring to King Herod. Antipas, and Menean was a faithful servant. In fact, he was numbered among the teachers and the prophets in the church of Antioch, the Syrian Antioch, not the Pisidian Antioch in Asia Minor or modern-day Turkey, but the one in Syria, also known as Antioch on the Orontes River. He was numbered among them.

We don't know. It's speculation. It's possible, but both these men were related to King Herod, and it's a very good possibility he could have been one of those men. We cannot be sure, but if it is, it would be a wonderful demonstration how true saving faith is lasting faith and it's acting faith. Because both these men are recorded to continue to be faithful disciples of Christ.

But I want to clear one more misconception for us as well, before we get straight into the narrative. This is not the centurion in Matthew 8 or Luke 7. Many have tried to sort of twist it out and to make it fit. This is not that man. You know that man, the man with great faith that Jesus says, and all of Israel have not seen.

Yeah, you remember. So this is not that story. It's just too many dissimilarities, too many differences between the two accounts. One is a centurion, this guy is a royal official. One comes to Christ because his servant is in paralyse and in agony.

The other comes because his son is on the brink of death. One is commended for his faith, and the other is rebuked among the people for seeking signs. Too many differences. It's not the same person. This is unique to the Gospel of John.

It's a different narrative. It's a different story. So what do we have? We have a loving father. We have a loving father doing what any parent would do if one of our children was to become sick and on the brink of death.

He hears that there is a possibility that there's someone who's come, Jesus has come up from Judea into Galilee and he has the power to heal his son and bring him back from the illness that will cause his death. So what would a loving father do? He's going to make the journey. The 25 kilometer journey over hilly terrain is not going to be an obstacle for a father if there's a slither of a chance that he can bring his son back from death to life. I could only imagine how difficult it would be for a parent to bury one of their own.

It would be unbearable. Beloved, the long arm of sickness and death reaches everyone with no distinction. This is a royal official and we have to remember that royal officials people like this in this day and age they carried a lot of honor not only in their social status but they also had means if they wanted something they normally would have the means to get what they want if it wasn't in and of themselves they had connections and associations which brought them what they wanted there was a big chasm between the lay person and the royal officials in this day. Beloved, there is nothing this man could do for his son. Nothing.

Nothing. It's a solemn reminder for all of us that sickness and death has no respect for position, for prominence, for power, for your possessions. The long arm of death will reach out to every single one of us if the Lord tarries and doesn't come back earlier. No exceptions. When this will happen, none of us will know, but we do know it will apprehend everyone, rich and poor alike, young, young and old alike.

Whether we're healthy or whether we're unhealthy matters not. None of us know the time, nor the hour, that we will meet with our Creator. But beloved, we ought to be ready. And that's the question we need to ask ourselves. Are we ready?

Only days earlier, this official would not have had death on his mind. His son was vibrant and healthy, probably playing out in the yard, kicking a ball, or whatever they used to do in the first century, I'm not sure. But he wouldn't have thought about death. This wasn't on his mind. But from the time he was healthy and vibrant, kicking that ball, or the can, or whatever, or the rock, to the point in one moment, and then in the next moment, he's lying on bed with a fever that's going through the roof, and he's on the brink of losing his life.

He's a young one. He's a young one. It's devastating. But it's the human reality. It's the effect of sin on our world.

Paul says in Romans 5.12, Death is completely unavoidable. It's inevitable. And the funny thing is that our society and the culture we live in avoids it at all costs. They don't want to speak about it.

They don't want death to be on their mind. It gets in their way of their enjoyment. Beloved, death is but a gateway into the rest of eternity. They don't want to hear it. Why don't they want to hear it?

Because it scares them to bits. It scares them to bits because they know that there is beyond this life. Beloved, and what comes next is scary if you're not trusting in Jesus Christ. So this calamity, this crisis, brings this father with this gut-wrenching pain that he may lose his son to Christ. And little does he know at this point that that anguish that he's going through will lead him to the greatest blessing that he would ever imagine.

That his affliction he may be complaining about, he may be upset about, he may be thinking, why me? That affliction will bring him to a place where he has never imagined and that is he will come to know the Savior and the salvation that is offered by His hand. So what we have before us is a man who comes to Christ, a desperate man with a desperate plea. He says, Jesus, come with me and heal my son. It's recorded twice, those words, come with me to heal my son.

Twice, on verse 47 and 49. And the plea we need to realize is what we call the imperfect indicative. And that just simply signifies that it is a continual asking. Our Bibles say asked. It's more like asking.

It was akin to, there's a tenacity about this person. There's a stubbornness about this person. He wanted Please, Jesus, come. He was fervent in his request. You're the miracle worker, and my son needs a miracle.

I'm not leaving without you, Christ. I'm not leaving. You're my son's only hope. Please, Jesus, come with me. It's only a day's journey to the East.

Come, please. My son needs you. All credit to this father. He's persistent. And he doesn't flash his credentials.

He doesn't say, do you know who I am? Do you know my position? Do you know my authority? None, no, none of that. Only a desperate plea from a father's broken heart.

But it's clear at this point, I think, that this is not the centurion in Matthew 8. Their faith differs so much at this point. And I just want to give a quick contrast between the two. You see, one says, come Jesus. Come with me back home.

My son needs your presence. My son needs you to be there, to lay a hand, to be where he is, to heal him from his sickness. And the other says, don't come. Don't come. I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof.

Don't come. I'm a man of authority. Centurion is one who normally had about a hundred soldiers under his authority and he understood authority. I'm a man who has authority. I understand how it works.

I tell one person to do and he does. You don't come. I'm not worthy, but if you speak the word, That sickness will leave. That sickness will obey you. What's he saying?

You have ultimate authority, Jesus. Incredible faith. No wonder why Jesus says to him in all of Israel, in all of Israel, I've seen no one with faith such as this. It's a different type of faith that they had However, this Galilean official on both recorded occasions, and as I said in 47 and 49, implores Jesus to take the journey back with him to Capernaum. He did have a type of faith, but it was a deficient faith.

He thought Christ needed to be in the same room as his boy. Such was his understanding of Jesus' authority. Such was his understanding of who it is he speaks to. But this is the beautiful thing. Jesus will graciously work with him.

In compassion and in love, he'll bring him where he needs to be. But not before he gives a sweeping rebuke. to the people about a superficial faith that they hold and an unhealthy interest they have in signs and wonders. Verse 48, Jesus says, unless you, again, unless you all, all you people, unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. Now it's interesting that he uses both signs, this is John, uses both signs and wonders.

And we've spoken about signs previously when we looked at the first miracle in the same place, Cana, when Jesus turns the water into wine, because it was a sign. And I said back then, I'm not going to spend too much time on that this evening, because I explained back then what a sign is, but it'll suffice to say that a sign normally points to the divinity and the authority of Jesus Christ. In other words, its purpose is just as a road sign to draw attention, not to itself, the sign is not designed to draw attention to the sign, but rather to the divine doer of the sign. The sign points to someone, and it points to Christ. But there is the word wonder here, and wonder is only used once with the Gospel according to John, and it's used right here.

And it connotes something like it stimulates a shock or a stunned response. See, a wonder provokes excitement. It provokes ecstasy for the spectator. It's meant to stop someone in their tracks and take attention to the one performing the wonder. But Jesus' rebuke is to a people who seem to have adopted an appetite for more and more excitement in the supernatural for the wrong reasons.

Their interest is not in the person doing the wonder or his message, but their carnal thirst for the sensation and the pleasure that that wonder brings to their hearts. In other words, they mistook the sign and the wonders that Christ performed, which were supposed to be means to a much greater and more profound ends, and they mistook them as the ends in and of themselves. And this is the thing. They were hungry for more. They wanted more and more.

However, this official, he's heard the rebuke. He stood in the face of Christ when Jesus rebuked him, but he's still desperate. He still wants to see his son healed, and he doesn't move away because he knows that it is only Jesus Christ who can do that healing. So at this point, he doesn't care about the spectacle. He doesn't care about the wonders.

He doesn't care about the exhibition. He doesn't care about any of these things. He only wants his son to live. With one last plea, he asked the Lord, come. And then he says, before my son dies, help me, Jesus.

So Jesus does help him in a far greater way than he could imagine. He'll now, that's Christ, he'll now teach this man the essence of true faith. In fact, the faith that is a gift from himself. This faith requires complete trust, not in the signs, but in the person and the words of Christ. Again, hear that, the words of Christ, that keeps coming up.

It's a trust that His ways are better than our ways. It's one thing to see a sign or a wonder and marvel, and to be stunned, and to be shocked, but it's another completely to have faith in the yet unseen. This is what this man was compelled to do, because Jesus' response is this, go, your son will live. He's been pleading, come, come with me. Come, come with me to Capernaum and heal my son.

You need to be there. And Jesus says, you go, your son will live. You believe that if I come and lay my hands on your son, he'll get better? I take it that he does. Now you need to believe that I have the power and the authority to heal him, to heal him in Capernaum when I'm here in Cana.

What's he saying? This is a whole new category of faith. Because now you have to believe in something you do not see. And now he needs to acknowledge that, well, only God can do what Jesus has done. he needs to acknowledge his divinity.

Because only God can have, or does have, that power and that authority. And so he says, go, remain here no longer, go to your family home, go back to Capernaum and be greeted by a son that has been made well. Why? Because I have spoken and I have authority, even from where I am, to heal at a distance. That incredible Jesus has declared your son is on the brink of death but I have the power over death and life and I have declared that this illness will not cause your son to die this illness will not cause you to bury your son not from this illness go and meet with your son Faith now has to be stepped up.

It's a different type of faith. To seeing someone do a miracle in front of your eyes, to now believing he has to turn his back and Jesus is his last hope. His son was at least a day ago on the brink of death because it's about an eight or nine hour journey to get to Galilee in the first place. Now, if he turns his back and goes back, well, either he's going to be confronted with a boy who's happy and healthy or a boy who's dead. You see, Jesus' word can be relied upon.

He tells us heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Furthermore, the father will need to believe, despite not being able to see with his eyes, he would need to prove his faith is not the Galilean type of faith that Jesus has so rebuked. If he takes Christ at his word, he would prove that he has gone beyond the faith that only sees to the faith that trusts even though he doesn't see. So John tells us in verse 50, What's the next words? I love that.

How often is it? What's John trying to tell us? What's the message that John is trying to tell us? Believed the word. It's the same sort of belief that the Samaritans believed.

That Jesus spoke to him and went on his way, proving he's apprehended, not the signs or the miracles, but the person and word of Christ. And he acted upon that which is not yet seen. It's the type of faith that we see in Hebrews 11 verse 1. You remember, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. You see, he didn't have a mobile phone to call home.

Hey, is my son well? He didn't have that luxury or that pleasure. He needed to turn his back. and make that journey and trust the Living God. Trust the Son of God and trust that He has power to heal.

He simply needed to take Christ at His word. So on the way back, He's met with His servants. They've just witnessed a remarkable recovery. And they can't wait to tell their master. So they can't wait for him to come back.

So what do they do? They get on their feet and they start to make the trek towards Galilee. And I'm hoping, I'm assuming there's probably one main way to get there, otherwise they wouldn't have met each other. But they meet somewhere along the line. They probably knew the route that the master takes.

And when they do, our ESV Bibles tell him, his son, they tell him, your son is what? Recovering. But this is the strange thing. From my study, I could not find any indicators at all to speak of a continued recovery, but an immediate one. You see, the literal reading of what the servant says is nothing about recovery, but rather, your son lives.

They're the exact words. Now, I take it, it may be, it may be that the interpreters have looked at the response of the royal official and then looked back and thought, well, maybe it's a recovery more than an immediate healing because you see the response of the official in verse 52 says he says what hour did he begin to get better this is the question he asks his servants but their response again this really does suggest a immediate recovery because their response is yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him now we have to realize if that word left Is it a gradual leaving or is it an immediate leaving? Well, it's the exact term and it's the exact tense that is used in Matthew chapter 8 when Jesus comes to Peter's home and he sees that Peter's mother-in-law is unwell with a fever and this is what the text says. He, that's Christ, saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. Jesus, he, Jesus, touched her hand and the fever left her.

And hear this, she rose and began to serve him. He may have left her and she may have been just lying in bed to regain her strength. Well, that's not what he says. He says he left her, she got up on her feet and began serving Christ. And I have to look at this text and say it must be an immediate recovery also for this young boy.

And it happened when this official heard that response on the seventh hour, he then knew that the very exact time that he met with the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Son of God said, go, your son will live, that's the exact same time his son recovered completely. The power of the Son of God. So what is the result of this? It's beautiful. He himself believed, we're told, and all his household.

Now, we don't want to assume that the belief or the saving faith happened in that moment, because I do believe that John is telling us that when he believed in the Word of God and made the trip, that that was true faith. Because I believe that what he's saying here is his faith was deepened and strengthened. Because it's the same thing that we read about again, Back in chapter 2, again in Cana, and again the first miracle that Jesus does, water into wine. Because when He does that miracle, the disciples who are already His disciples, the ones who already believe upon the Savior, their knowledge is not complete, of course, but they still believe. We're told after that miracle that the disciples believed.

The same thing. So I think what he's saying here is his faith was strengthened, his faith deepened. Because as someone comes to know Christ and his work, and as someone reads and explores the words of Christ and sees his faithfulness through life, And His promises are always fulfilled. And we've gone through the Old Testament and we're seeing how our God always keeps His promises. As we see those promises fulfilled one after the other in our lives, the promises that Christ has given us in His Word, that strengthens our faith.

It deepens our faith. It deepens our resolve. It gives us a greater sense of comfort, a greater sense of rest. That no matter what happens, I'm safe in His hands. I believe that.

The world may say opposite, the world may go against it, but I believe it. And He gives us these opportunities, even sometimes as we go through crises, afflictions, sickness, pain, losses. Beloved, they're difficult. And we may ask the question in the moment, why me? But those who are in Christ know, from every fibre of their being, that they are safe in His hands.

And if those things come toward us, then it is only for our own good, so He can conform us into the image of the Saviour, the image of our Lord, who's the author and the perfecter of our faith. And in doing so, He strengthens our faith. And in doing so, He deepens our faith. And in doing so, our joy in Him, it grows. Our peace, our blessings of knowing who we believe, our Savior, just grows and deepens and strengthens.

Because He is all about making you and I, if you're in Christ, more like His Son. Who would have thought? Who would have thought that from a woman's testimony in Sychar, Samaria, a whole town, or many in a town, would come to Christ? who would have thought for a man seeking a miracle for his boy, a miracle that would bring a few extra years for him to enjoy his son physically on this earth, would have that, God is compassionate towards him, but also he would see his whole family believe and will enjoy eternal life in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Is our God great?

He is great indeed. So yes, I think The Galileans, for the most part, do reject Christ. We will continue to read these things and we'll see that his home people, his people of his own hometown, do, for the most part, reject him. But if you remember early on, I did read chapter 1 verse 11 to show you the rejection. But I want to end on reading the rest of that passage.

Because although they do reject him, there are exceptions. Because our Lord says that he will save from every tribe, from every nation, from every people, from every tongue. And that includes many of the Galileans. Listen to what he says. Chapter 1, verse 11.

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him, but... Oh, you've got to love the buts in the Bible. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. Beloved, the credit here does not go to a royal official who conjured up faith in and of himself. It's not as though he came seeking a miracle worker and then thought, well, you know what, I'm going to try to strengthen my faith.

That's not how it works. The way it works is this. One is blind and one is made to see. And that supernatural miracle in and of itself is the work of our God in regeneration who gifts us with faith. And that man was able to turn his back and walk back to Capernaum knowing his son would be well because he was made a child of God.

He trusted in the Savior. And Beloved, I pray and hope that we all have trusted in the same Saviour, for He is the only Saviour that saves. He is indeed, as the Samaritans have said, He is the Saviour of the world. Amen.