Looking for Miracles — Erlo Stegen

We'll read from John chapter 4 and verse 46. Once more he visited Cana in Galilee where he had turned the water into wine and there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son who was close to death.

Jesus Heals the Royal Official’s Son

Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, Jesus told him, you will never believe. The royal official said, sir, come down before my child dies. Jesus replied, you may go, your son will live.

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, the fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.

Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, your son will live. So he and his household believed. Let us pray. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity that we may gather together at this place.

Won't you sanctify and hallow this place, Lord, that it might be like Moses when he saw that burning bush. And he heard your speaking to him. To such an extent, so much so that he took off his sandals from his feet.

Hearing God’s Word and Approaching the Passage

And as we look at your word, may it be alive amongst us and work amongst us and change us. We ask this, Lord, because of your grace. Amen. Now, let's have a closer look at this word which we have read.

It is said here that there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. He was an official from royalty of the king. And being there in Galilee, he must have been an official of the king of Galilee.

Now, the country was ruled by the Romans at that time. And they ruled over the known world at that time. And this king was appointed by them. His name being Herod. But not the same Herod who killed all the young boys at the time that Jesus was born.

This was another Herod. Now, we're not sure, but there are those who claim that he was a Jew. Because he leaned in the direction of the Jewish religion. Now, it might be that this official of his, this royal official, was also a Jew, but he might also not have been.

We're not sure. But it's quite clear that him being a royal official, he had a high position and was highly respected. Because you wouldn't just take any old body and place them in that position of being a royal official.

So he was a man of high position. All of that is not of much importance, I'm just saying it in passing. This royal official had a son. And he contracted a fever and was seriously ill. And it's obvious that they must have tried everything in their means possible to try and help this son that he might be healed.

Human Helplessness and the Need for Christ

They tried taking him from one doctor to the next, but instead of it getting better, it only grew worse. No person had the ability, was able to help this child. The illness only grew worse and more serious.

And at this time of where we read here, he was at death's door. And the father, this highly placed royal official, man of authority and means, he was said that he was helpless. Here his son was dying before his eyes.

After all, as a father, he had feelings for his son of empathy and sympathy. And at the end, it was sore to him to see his son dying before his very eyes. And together with the mother as well. And when it seemed like everything was coming to the end, he then heard that Jesus had arrived there in Galilee.

Coming from Judea. And so he went off to Jesus. And when he arrived at Jesus' house, he saw that his son had been taken from him. Now, it must have been quite a distance that he traveled to get to Jesus.

Because afterwards, after he had been to Jesus, when he was on his way back home, his officials came and met him along the way. And when he inquired of them as to when the son got better, they said yesterday at seven, at the seventh hour.

That was when the fever left him. So in the end, the son became well. But the beginning of it all was here, when the father went to Jesus. Now, he went to Jesus when everything came to the end, but we shouldn't end with Jesus.

We should actually begin with him. By that, I'm not saying it's wrong, that it's a sin to make use of proper medication. But it can be a sin, if you place your trust in that medicine, even if it is not anything to do with the occult, anything bad.

For in everything, our trust must be in God alone. We need to place our trust in Jesus, and we need to thank him if he gives us some medication, and then ask for his blessing on that as well. Obviously, I'm not speaking here about anything that has to do with the occult, where people go to witch doctors and witches, and they get their muti and all sorts of things from them, and then in the end, if they don't get help, they come to the Lord Jesus.

Now, that's a sin that you've got to confess. The first thing is that we should begin with God, with the Lord Jesus. And even if in the end, we do go to the doctor, we shouldn't place our trust in the doctor, and in his injection, and the pills that he gives us.

Our trust must remain in God. The Bible says, cursed is he that places his hope and trust in the arm of flesh. We shouldn't place our trust in the flesh, we are under a curse if we do that. Our complete trust must be in God.

Now, I'm just saying in passing, they probably tried to get some sort of medical help for him, but all of that was in vain. And when this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he decided to go to him.

And so he went there, and I'm sure he was in a great hurry. He had heard about the Lord Jesus, he had heard stories of how the Lord Jesus had healed others, how he had come to their homes, and how their sick were healed.

It was a good and commendable thing, however, that after they had tried everything in vain, he then decided, let me go to Jesus. And he also came with faith to the Lord Jesus. He wouldn't have travelled all that distance if he had any doubt that the Lord Jesus would be able to help him.

Jesus Challenges Preconceived Expectations

And just after he had arrived to the Lord Jesus, or at the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus then spoke amazing words. He said, unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe. You will never believe.

Now, if one just reads it, it doesn't sound like it fits here. Because after all, this man came to the Lord Jesus with the faith and hope that Jesus would heal his son. Now, how does this apply to him?

That unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe. And one might think, well, how does this apply to him? And one might say, but Lord Jesus, surely this isn't applicable here.

This is the wrong time to say something like this. You should have thanked this man for coming and putting his faith in you. These sharp words that you speak here, that unless you see signs and wonders, you won't believe, are surely not appropriate in this case.

Saying, unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe. We might say, but you can say that to others, Lord, but not to this man. He didn't need to hear these words. Maybe the Pharisees needed to hear that, but not him.

But we don't see him becoming offended, getting upset and turning around and walking away, stomping off. No, in humility, he accepted what the Lord Jesus said. So what is this that the Lord Jesus saw and that he rebuked where he said, unless you people see these signs and wonders, you won't believe?

What did Jesus see in him? Jesus would always hit the nail on its head when he would meet with people. He never missed the mark. So what is it then that Jesus found fault with in him? I believe the Lord Jesus' intention was to build him up through these words, to help him.

This royal official came to Jesus, begging him to come with him, to come to his home there and to come and heal his son there. He had no other choice. He had his own preconceived ideas with which he came to the Lord Jesus, where he had all this worked out in his mind, what the Lord Jesus would do.

That if he would come to the Lord Jesus, he would leave everything, he would go with him to his home there in Capernaum, lay his hands on his son, or whatever the Lord Jesus was going to do, and heal him there.

And that there would be some miracle that the Lord Jesus would perform. The Lord Jesus said, no, unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe. And he then said, sir, come down before my child dies.

So he had this idea that the Lord Jesus had to come down to his house with him and there come and heal his son. According to the way that he thought it would work. And Jesus said, no, doesn't work like that.

If you don't see miracles, you don't believe. You wanted me to come with you and come and perform that miracle there. Not in that way. Not in that way. He said, go. Your son will live. The Lord Jesus didn't go down to his house with him.

He didn't do it the way that he expected, that he had worked it out and planned it so well. No, the Lord Jesus worked in a totally different way, coming in through a different gate. So let us learn from that, because if we ask the Lord Jesus something of him, we expect him that he will answer that prayer in a certain way and go about it in a certain way that we have worked out according to our idea and thinking.

And then the Lord Jesus works in a totally different way. Not according to our preconceived ideas. Where we've heard, in this person's case, the Lord Jesus worked like this. In that person's case, he worked like that.

God’s Healing Is Not Limited to One Method

And we hear how he worked. You know the story of the two men that met and they started sharing with each other. And the one said, you know, I was blind. And then the Lord opened my eyes. And the other one said, well, you know, you might as well have been saying my testimony, because I too was blind.

And the Lord Jesus opened my eyes as well. Why is it how? And he said, well, please relate to me. How did it go? He said, well, I was standing next to the road and I heard a big noise and I heard that Jesus was coming by.

So I started crying out saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And he said, well, you know, it might as well be my testimony that you're sharing. It's exactly how it went with me. And the other one said, no, you must be playing with me.

You must be joking, because you must have heard what had happened to me. And now you're relating it as if it happened to you. But he said, nevertheless, please continue. And then he said, he called me to him and I went to him.

And when I got there, he placed his thumbs on my eyes, on the lids of my eyes. And my eyes were opened. Is it just that? I got Luku Zanga. Tell them. I'm not a pansy. Of ugaga. I fuck. I got in the 80.

I am. Tungene. We okay. So car. What? What? Oh, wait. Cause you're shooting. Angela's. Who are. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. He said, no, there's something missing from your testimony, didn't he spit into the ground and made mud and place smear that on your eyes and then asked you to go and wash in the pool.

He said, no. And then he said, well, then our ways have to part because there's something wrong. It doesn't work like that. It has to be like this, that he spits on the ground and makes some smear some mud on your eyes and then tells you to go and wash.

Otherwise it's not the right way. Maybe you hear of a way in which a person was helped and then you too want to be helped in the same way. But God, the Lord Jesus doesn't work like that. That other man's response should have been, well, the fact that he didn't smear mud onto your eyes and tell you to go and wash.

That is irrelevant. The crux of the matter is that you are blind and now you can see, and that is for which we should praise God. So this man of which we read here must have heard somewhere that people had asked Jesus to come to their home and heal their son or their child.

And Jesus went there and laid hands on the child and they were healed. And so he expected something of the same kind, that Jesus would come to his home, would either lay hands on him or he touched the hem of his garment.

There was some sign that he was looking for and Jesus criticized him or rebuked him for that. And where one person maybe testifies that when the Holy Spirit came down and filled them and they were baptized with the Spirit, they couldn't stay seated anymore.

They had to lie down. And then the other person who heard that thought, well, that must then be the sign that you are filled with the Spirit. And also expected that it will happen in the same way that the person will fall down onto the ground.

But it doesn't work like that. Jesus doesn't always work in the same way. And when you come to the Lord Jesus and ask him for something, you need to accept it the way that the Lord Jesus gives it and you need to place your trust in him.

And Jesus said, you people want to see miraculous signs and wonders. You want to see those signs, otherwise you won't believe. And then he still said to the Lord Jesus, Lord, come down with me quickly.

And Jesus said, you my girl, your son will live. Jesus said to the Lord Jesus, Lord, come down with me quickly. And Jesus said, you my girl, your son will live. And that very moment, this man dropped his own preconceived ideas.

Taking Jesus at His Word

He obeyed the Lord Jesus. He believed that that which the Lord Jesus said would be and would happen. He turned around there and he went back home. He didn't carry on pleading with the Lord Jesus to go down with him to his house.

He accepted it like that. And through his faith in the Lord Jesus, God was at work at home and his son was made well that the Lord Jesus said to the Lord Jesus, Lord, come down with me quickly. And Jesus said, you my girl, your son will live.

I'd be so happy if you would have the strength to grasp hold of this mystery of what the Lord Jesus said here, that unless you see these miraculous signs and wonders, you won't believe. But when he said to that man, go, your son will live.

He immediately dropped all his ideas of what the Lord Jesus was going to do, going to his home, getting the people out of the house, going into the room with the parents. He dropped all of it immediately.

He believed in the Lord Jesus. And he turned around and he went back home. This man placed his faith in the Lord Jesus. First of all, he believed in the Lord Jesus. He believed in the Lord Jesus. And he believed that that which the Lord Jesus said would happen and would be fulfilled, that he is the Savior and that he won't tell him a lie.

And because of his faith, he was helped. Not like many people today who don't believe in the Lord Jesus. They say, Lord, come and help my son and heal my son. The Lord Jesus says, go. And they say, but Lord, come with me.

And the Lord says, go. They don't want to believe in the Lord Jesus. And you pray and you ask the Lord Jesus for something and you ask him to show you some signs and wonders and they don't come. It's because the Lord Jesus is not answering as you expect him to.

And you are waiting for those signs and wonders. And to you, it seems as if the answer never comes. The man took Jesus at his word. He believed that it would be as the Lord Jesus said it would be. He was satisfied.

He believed, so he turned around and went back home. And while he was still on the way, his servants met him along the way. He was an important man. He had many servants that served him. And they came and they reported to him, your son is well.

Unity and Love in the Household

These servants, when they were there at home and they saw the son becoming well, immediately, they said, we must rush over to the Lord Jesus. And they said, go and tell our master that. And that just shows you the good relationship that they had with him, how they loved him.

And he must have loved them. There was a good fellowship between them. If it wasn't like that, they would have just said, well, he'll see it when he gets back home. But they went there to go and tell him, oh, how wonderful it is when there is a good relationship between people in that way.

And where people honor and respect one another. By a zondana, by a telega, umayakon, ovezugushugana, noguzondana, noxolana, kotwa kulenduna, neineguzake, sibonugunye, sibonizulu, sibonutando, sibonukshanipana, sibonukshanana, ubunye.

We see something different in the relationship of this master and servants to that which is the normal run-of-the-mill relationship that you get between masters and servants, people that are employers and employees in this world today.

We see them striking and there's always that people are always at loggerheads. But between them, there was a unity. There was something of heaven amongst them. There was a wonderful relationship between them.

And we see that how these servants dearly loved and respected and honored their master and he must have treated them well and loved them in return. There was this wonderful relationship between them. It's wonderful if it's like that in this world and it's not like hell on earth.

And that is where God commands His blessing. And it's wonderful if it's like that, where there's not that kind of thing where you say, well, this person is black, that one is white, I'm like this, that one is like that.

But where there is that unity, and that is where the prayer that the Lord Jesus taught us to pray is fulfilled. May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. And they came to him to come and bring him this good news as if it was their very own child, meeting him along the way and saying, Master, your son has been made well.

When he asked, and I said at the seventh hour yesterday, And even the long distance to travel to get to him to bring the good news wasn't too much effort for them to go there or travel. No, they gladly went there.

They didn't have the attitude that some people have. Oh, well, now his son as well. He's now he's being seen right now things God is working and he'll soon see the light when things go like that in his own family.

Nothing of that amongst them. And when he inquired as to when the child got well, they said it was the seventh hour yesterday. And then he realized it was the exact moment when Jesus had said to him, Go, your son will be well.

He believed in the Lord Jesus. He took him at his word and that caused God's hand to move and to work. And so they joyfully traveled together back home now. And when they got there, what great joy mustn't there have been when they were reunited with the son who is now well and the rest of the family?

Household Faith and the Cost of Unbelief

I don't know whether he sat on his bed and how he was physically, whether he was very thin already because he was ill for a long time, but he was made well and they all rejoiced. And then the whole household believed in the Lord Jesus and placed their faith in him.

And when it says his whole household, all his household, and the olden days, the household, wasn't just the parents and their children, not included everybody in the house, the servants, those who worked out in the fields, the person working in the kitchen, and the whole household here believed.

Now realize if a person who works for you doesn't yet believe, then there's something not quite right yet in your household. Things aren't as they should be before that person has placed their faith in the Lord Jesus.

That means there's still work to be done in your household if it's like that. But here the whole household believed and there was great joy in heaven. It's not something small when something like that happens.

It's not something small. If the whole household believes, it's something that one should thank God for and praise him for, because very often it's like that where there are three against two, three believe and two don't, or vice versa, and where there is a sword that comes in between that family, there is also such a thing.

There is such a thing where there is separation, like the one girl who placed her faith in the Lord Jesus, and then when the mother saw that she had got converted, she chased her out of the house, didn't want to have anything to do with her, and said, I'll worship God, and I'll worship God.

There is something like that where there are mothers that have got the devil in their hearts, and also with children, where they also split. And that's why I say, here, where a whole household comes to the faith, it's something for which we should thank God and a great feast should be held.

But if there are some in the household who do not believe, I remember a certain minister invited me to his place and where he said that we have got two children, they have already grown up, they are out of the house, but you know how much trouble we have because of them.

I and my wife, we both preach the gospel, but they don't want to have anything to do with the gospel. But I and my wife constantly pray for them and say, oh God, won't you please visit them wherever they are and work in their hearts.

And then the father passed away, the mother passed away, with these two children still unconverted, going Satan's way. Woe to you, child, who do not believe where you have got believing parents and their desire for you is that you should also come to the faith because those tears that they cry and the pain and a heartache that they experience, God will preserve that until the day of judgment.

They might become ill, they might experience various types of physical ailments and die prematurely because of the hardship that you cause them and the heartache you cause them. Instead of you thanking God and saying, thank you, Lord, that I have believing parents and therefore I too will place my faith in you.

But after their death, both the son and the daughter got converted and today he preaches the gospel. But today they regret it. They say, oh, how our parents desired that we should serve the Lord, how they would have rejoiced to have seen me leaving my job and going to preach the gospel full time.

But oh, we were just trouble at home and we were like the fire of hell troubling them daily. But they say, we repent of that and we ask you for forgiveness, oh God. I don't doubt that when these servants reported to their master that his son is well and is alive and living, that he must have said to them that, that, and when they told him it was at seven o 'clock that it happened, he must have said, it was the very time that Jesus told me, go now, you may go, your son will live.

Faith That Speaks and Testifies

And they probably there or along the way knelt down and thanked God. You cannot believe and have real faith and then keep quiet about that. But you get people, they say, well, we believe, but they cannot speak about their faith.

They cannot testify. They can't speak about the Lord Jesus. Such faith is dead. And the father, when he got back home and they were reunited with the mother there and the other children and the servants, how he must have related to them with joy, what he had experienced, what had happened because he had now experienced true faith.

He believed, even though he hadn't yet seen the fulfillment of that which you asked of the Lord Jesus and what the Lord Jesus said he would do, but he believed nevertheless, but there are those who are like Thomas who say, unless I put my hand into his side, where he was pierced with a sword and my finger into his words, I won't believe.

Those who want to see signs before they believe, but blessed are those who believe even though they haven't seen, though they haven't seen. When he had come to the Lord Jesus, begging him to go down with him to his house and heal his son.

And the Lord Jesus said, unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe. When he heard that he wasn't offended. He didn't have a long coffee pot face, but a duck mount. No, humbly.

He accepted it. He welcomed what the Lord Jesus said he believed in him. And because of that, God could work. And he was blessed. They are infectious diseases in this world, where it gets spread through the air to other people.

But true faith is also infectious. It will infect those around you. If it's true and real, you can't be a person that believes and remain on your own. It will also infect the others around you and spread to them.

Wherever you might be, whether at school, whether at work, your faith will spread. It will be disseminated to those around you. If it's alive and it's well, it's true living faith, unless you did like a stone.

And so it was with this royal official. He believed together with his whole household, how wonderful it is when people met up with real faith. When people meet up with real faith, if you are well and able to stand, let's rise.

Prayer for Living Faith

We thank you Lord, that we have your word. Even though Lord, we cannot physically see you. And we say how privileged those people must have been to have been able to be with you physically and see you physically.

But Lord, even though we cannot see with our physical eyes, but we hear your word, we read it. And through it, you speak to us that we too might be blessed. Help us Lord, not to look for miraculous signs and wonders, but that we might fix our eyes on you and place our faith and hope in you.

That we might have true and living faith. Lord grant work through your Holy Spirit, that your word that we have heard might not be like seeds being eaten by the birds of the sky, but that it might fall into fertile soil, germinate, that it might receive rain, grow and bring forth much fruit.

Amen.