Sermon notes from Sunday 26 April 2015
JOHN 4 VERSES 46 – 54
The miracles of Christ
The very first public performance
of Christ noted the importance of the first miracle, the marriage in Cana when
the wine ran out. His mother came to him
and said “they have no wine.” He asked
the servants to fill the jugs with water and he turned them into wine. Now look at what John speaks of as the second
miracle which takes place in the home. Today Jesus comes to the home of a
nobleman, a Roman officer of some description.
I want you to notice the miracle and the faith going hand in hand here. It began as a little thought in his heart
until it developed into something very strong.
Miracles and faith still go hand in hand. God can work outside of our faith too. He can work alone. You will find time and time again God answers
prayer as result of faith. When he was
in Nazareth we read “he didn’t do many mighty miracles there because of their
unbelief.” (Matthew 13 verse 58) The
people knew who Jesus was, who his parents were. He was familiar with those people and he
didn’t strike a chord there to perform miracles. Have you come expecting the Lord to do
something in your life? Have you come
believing he could do that or is this just another Sunday morning when you come
to the house of God, listen to the hymns and sermon but go away again. It has lost the appeal.
The experience of this man’s faith in regards to the miracle. Here was an experience that came about in
this man’s life. His home was totally
devastated. It brought a burden to him,
brought him to a difficult place. His
faith was being tested. Are you going
through a time of trial? Does the way
seem difficult, uphill, lonely? That is
what this man was going through. Verse
46 “he had a son who was sick, he had a fever.”
He didn’t know what to do. I’m
sure he thought of a doctor, no doubt he had loads of money to spend on a
doctor but there was no hope for him.
Maybe it was this that stirred a desire to have Jesus come and heal his
son. The son was at the point of
death. He had deteriorated. His faith was being tested. The experience of this man’s faith in regards
to this miracle. Verse 49 “come down,
heal my son or he will die, you are my last hope.” Notice this burden this man has. A real burden for his family. Have you got a burden for your family? A burden like this man had? He knew the boy was about to die. Maybe our families are in the very best of
health but they are dying, eternity is coming.
Have you a burden for them? To
see them coming to faith? Whether this man
was a believer at this point we don’t know, it was maybe a strengthening of his
faith. Your faith can be tested at the
most severest time. Here was a man, if
it had not been for this ill child who was so near death this man might not
have seen a mighty miracle even in his own home. Maybe the trial you are going through now is
that you will see something marvellous from the very God of heaven. In Elisha’s day there was a woman who
realised he was a man of God. How many
would really think that of you and I?
Could they say there is something different about you? This woman did something special for
Elisha. She made him a room, set it
aside for him so that when he was in the area he could stay there. Elisha asked God to answer her prayer for a
child. The woman was delighted when she
conceived and gave birth. She nursed the
child until one day something happened to that child. He was out working with his father one day
when he complained of his head hurting.
The father sent him back to his mother who nursed him until he
died. The tragedy of the time was a test
and trial to her faith. She sent a
servant off to find Elisha who brought the child back to life again.
The expression of his faith.
This experience brought about an expression which manifested itself in
this man going to look for Jesus. Is
that experience you are going through, does it manifest itself into an
expression of faith? This experience
brought him to Christ. It brought him a
faith expressed in his actions. It
expressed itself in his thoughts. It
expressed itself in his feet, in his tongue, in his lips. It expressed itself in all these means in
holding onto the God of heaven for an answer to prayer. Where has your recent trial taken you
to? We are not tested and tempted to
destroy our faith. It is to strengthen
our faith. Peter when writing to people
going through difficult times wrote “the trial of your faith being much more
precious than of gold” (1 Peter 1 verse 7)
Romans 3 verse 10 “he knoweth the way that I take when he have tried me
I shall come forth as precious gold.” I
am prepared to come to the place of prayer, open myself up and leave it all
with the Lord. As you go through the
trial he wants you to lean your whole weight on him. We need to bring it to the Lord. Have we that burden?
The evidence of his faith in regard to this miracle. We see Jesus rebuking the man. The man brings his awful plight to the Lord
himself verse 48. For a moment or two
this man is not worried about signs.
This man simply replied “come and heal my child before he dies.” He had one thing on his mind – the state of
his son. I wonder does the state of our
society move us today? To get down
before Christ and pray and seek God’s help?
We have people in our families not saved – does it bring us right to
Christ’s feet? Jesus said to this man in
verse 50. The Lord tells him to go his
way and his son lived. When he let his
house the son was at the point of death.
He felt he would slip into eternity at any minute. He has already travelled a distance to find
Christ yet he believed against all the odds that what the Lord told him was in
fact true. Remember Peter out fishing
all night but caught nothing. Jesus told
him to go back out and let down his nets.
Peter told him he had fished all night “nevertheless at thy word I will
do it.” He went out because he believed
the Lord against all the odds. Just
because the Lord said it he believed it.
This was the evidence – the nobleman turned from the Lord and started to
make his way home.
The excitement of faith in regard to this miracle. The man came near to his home, he had the
word of God in his heart. There was
excitement when he heard the servants tell him his boy was well again. The time the fever broke was the exact time
when the Lord had spoken. Maybe God
wants to do the same miracle for you today.
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