Lars Larson Live Stream

Jesus’ Prayer for God’s Will and a Right View of Christ

Where Jesus Christ did in his life as he cried out not my will but your will. Oh lord. So lord help us to have a right view of you a right view of christ. Help us to have a right view of ourselves and a right view of our salvation.

Lord we pray that in our own lives it will be your will that we seek and not our own. So lord help us to empty ourselves help us to cast aside our wants and our desires and i pray lord that we would find fulfillment in accomplishing your will and your desires.

Lord we pray that you would guide us and lead us in this endeavor. Help us to walk as christ did in the power of the spirit. Thank you lord.

In jesus name amen. Well let's turn in our bibles to their passage that we've been considering. Moving on a little farther today. We're at toward the end of john chapter 4 and here we have the account of jesus healing a noble son but he's actually set forth as giving life to this son who was at the point of death.

And so today in our consideration of this gospel we move onward in our study that was penned long ago by the apostle john. And so through the narrative before us here in john 4 we follow our lord and his disciples northward from samaria into galilee.

And after his arrival in the city of cana of galilee jesus performed a miracle by giving life to the dying son of a nobleman. And he did so through a distance through his word and that's an important point of this account.

It was through his word that this boy was healed and john who wrote this gospel described this miracle as a second sign that jesus did the second which is out of a total of seven signs that are identified specifically by john in his gospel.

This account will direct us to consider several matters respecting our faith as we attempt to understand it and apply it. Principally there are some lessons for us regarding the nature of afflictions.

This nobleman had an affliction and it was it hurt deeply it was his son and how the lord employs afflictions in bringing souls to faith. And we also may receive instruction on how we're to react and respond to afflictions which every one of us encounter at different times.

And then we'll also consider the nature of faith in the lord and how the lord increases our faith and how that faith is manifested in our lives in and through afflictions. And then lastly we'll learn something about the nature of the lord's word itself and how the lord employs his word in accomplishing his purposes in his people.

And so there are applications here that we will receive lord willing. We read in verse verses 43. And following that after a two-day stay with the samaritans who were hated by the jews and they hated the jews jesus and his disciples traveled into galilee which lie just to the north of samaria.

And we read of john's description of our lord's arrival there in that region in john 4 43 through 45. Now after the two days and that would have been his stay in samaria in the town of sychar. After two days he departed from there and went to galilee.

For jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when he came to galilee the galileans received him having seen all the things he did in jerusalem at the feast for they also had gone to the feast.

The Significance of Jesus’ Rejection and Reception in Galilee

And so this paragraph begins an entirely new section of the gospel. After six sundays we depart the woman of samaria and we arrive in galilee. John the evangelist established the time and occasion for our lord to depart from samaria and arrive in galilee.

And a lot of times a statement of place a statement of time will be an indicator that a new narrative unit begins with these verses. And a narrative unit in the gospels is commonly referred to as a pericope.

Jesus stayed two days with the samaritans and not only were the samaritans most certainly influenced and affected spiritually but we should assume that his disciples also experienced quite an adjustment in their thinking about the identity of the people of god these samaritans were to be included and of god's plan to expand his kingdom beyond the borders of israel.

I suspect that with the apostles witnessing this encounter of jesus with the samaritans it enabled them. It enabled the apostles to embrace the later conversions of the samaritans to christianity that are recorded that's recorded in acts chapter 8.

The statement of verse 44 seems to be somewhat out of place. You might have noticed that when we read those three sentences it reads. For jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

And it's put within this context of leaving samaria and going up into galilee. Although jesus was greatly welcomed and received with honor by the samaritans he knew he would have no honor conferred upon him by his own countrymen.

There's a contrast here between the samaritans and the way they regarded him and what he anticipated among the galileans his own people. The galileans would not honor him actually for who he truly was but rather as we will see the galileans would only desire jesus for what he could do for them.

And that's significant. There's a lot of people that are in churches this morning not because they've come to truly worship god worship jesus christ for who he is but because they want something from him and they think they're going to get it from him now you know that's a good beginning motive.

Oftentimes the lord brings us to himself through difficulties and needs but hopefully we grow past that and we recognize jesus for who he is and we desire to honor him for who he is not simply because he gives us the things that we want from him.

This is was a deficiency on the part of the galileans. The sentence of verse 44 is set forth as an explanation but it's really not clear what verse 44 explains now. The expression itself is found in all three of the synoptic gospels.

In each of those instances however it was our lord's comment upon his rejection by the inhabitants of his hometown of nazareth of prophets not without honor except in his own country in his own hometown.

But here in this account it's placed prior to jesus's entrance into galilee. Some have suggested therefore that what john was declaring that judea was actually jesus's home and not galilee maybe a reference to bethlehem.

In other words they say the reason jesus was going into galilee was that his ministry in judea had not been received by most. He was without honor there in judea among his own countrymen and so he was going to galilee as this quote sought to describe that position.

Some it is true argue that his own country refers to judea which would have been south of samaria which he was just leaving both by fact and the current interpretation of prophecy. Judea alone could receive that title that is that title of his home.

Judea was the home of every true jew. Similarly huskins he was a commentator about the middle of the 20th century maintains that jerusalem was the home of every jew and pre-eminently must it be so in the case of the messiah.

It's often added that only this interpretation accords with the circumstances jesus had been rejected in judea his own country so he turned to another region galilee. That's a wrong view though all right.

But it's it's a proposal that a number some make the problem with his view is that the gospel john's gospel does not portray jesus as it having been rejected by the people of judea they had actually responded greatly to jesus and his message.

And further john recorded that it was not due to difficulty or rejection of jesus that he left to judea for galilee. But actually it was because he'd been so successful and his fame so spread. That's why he left judea and went to galilee.

And so it's more likely that jesus made this statement in verse 44 because he did not anticipate a true welcome of him and his disciples when he arrived in his own country of galilee. This would then be consistent with what he declared in the synoptic gospels.

Maybe in his human nature he is quite surprised at the warm welcome that he and his disciples received. And yet again even those who welcomed him there in galilee did not seem to have true faith. It was a faith based on what they saw.

A faith based on seeing signs and wonders rather than faith in jesus for who he was the very son of god. And i might just interject this. Frankly that's the christianity of much of the world today so-called evangelical christianity.

It's the benny hen ministries that are so popular worldwide. And what does he purport to do. He offers signs and wonders in the name of jesus and people flock in the hundreds of thousands to his meetings.

But that is not the kind of faith that the bible sets forth faith in jesus christ. It's not signs and wonders that generate faith. Jesus said a sinful and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. Those who have true faith believe jesus because of who he is and therefore they believe his word.

They believe his word not because what they see signs and wonders and miracles but they believe his word because of who he is. And that's the emphasis of this passage for us by the which we'll get to.

And so as one wrote although he will be accepted by those in galilee verse 45 it was dependent on the wonder arising from their sight of the signs that is miracles not a realization that jesus was indeed the christ the savior of the world.

Their acceptance of him was in its own way a rejection. But perhaps what is suggested by this statement that jesus traveled to cana is that he would not travel to his hometown in nazareth. And i think that's probably the more specific idea here.

He's going up into galilee. But a prophet is not without honor except in his own country. He'd already been rejected in nazareth. And if you look at a map of the first century you can actually see that they went to cana but they apparently bypassed nazareth to get there.

And so it seemed to me that he avoided going to his hometown and went directly to cana. This was the view of matthew henry by the way whither christ went into galilee into the country of galilee but not to nazareth which was strictly his own country.

He went among the villages but declined going to nazareth the head city for a reason here given which jesus himself testified who knew the temper of his countrymen the hearts of all men and the experience of all prophets.

And it is this that a prophet has no honor in his own country. And so he wasn't going to go into galilee but he'd stay away from home that is nazareth. And he went to cana. Well when he arrived in galilee jesus discovered some perhaps many galileans who had witnessed firsthand his teaching ministry in jesus in jerusalem pardon me which had been accompanied with the performance of miracles.

Now we're reading about seven signs in john's gospel but that doesn't mean there are only seven miracles he performed. He performed many miracles but john identifies seven specifically as signs and we'll talk more about those signs and their meaning at a later time.

We read in verse 45. So when he came to galilee the galileans received him having seen all the things he did in jerusalem at the feast. For they had also gone to the feast. Large numbers of galileans of course would travel to jerusalem regularly and they would have to pass through samaria to get there.

That was the shortest route. They would go to observe the major feasts. This journey would have been in compliance to god's law the law of moses as we read back in exodus 23. Three times you shall keep a feast to me in the year you shall keep the feast of unleavened bread.

You shall eat unleavened bread seven days as i commanded you at the time appointed in the month of bib and in it you came out of egypt none shall appear before me empty. That would be the first feast.

And the feast of harvest the first fruits of your labors which you have sown in the field. And the feast of in gathering that would be the harvest at the end of the year when you've gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field three times in the year all your mails shall appear before the lord god.

And so galileans would travel to jerusalem rather frequently. The feast mentioned here was the feast of unleavened bread the feast that the galileans had gone up to and they'd seen jesus there teaching and performing miracles.

And of course the feast of unleavened bread was in conjunction with the passover. The passover was observed during this feast of unleavened bread and we read about that earlier in john 223. Now when he jesus was in jerusalem at the passover during the feast that would be the feast of unleavened bread.

Many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he did. And so when jesus returned to cana of galilee they were present there. Many galileans who had seen and heard jesus when they had recently been in jerusalem they had been eyewitnesses of miracles that our lord had performed while there.

It had impressed them and they believed on him again. I'm not saying they had saving faith but they believed on jesus and he had the power to perform great works great miracles. Now again it's true that john did not speak of jesus having performed miracles while in jerusalem but it certainly implied here and by the way this also reveals to us that john as well as the gospel writers did not record everything that jesus did.

These galileans saw miracles he did but they're not recorded for us in john's gospel nor in the synoptic gospels as one rightly wrote. Once again we're reminded that jesus did many things which are not recorded.

It's not john's purpose to attempt a complete chronicle but only select such events and teachings as will bring out his thesis that jesus is the christ the son of god. So now he does not mention what things what the things were that so impressed the galileans but contents himself with pointing out that their attitude to jesus was conditioned by what they had seen in jerusalem.

And that's the point their faith in jesus was a shallow faith and it was based upon what they saw. And so many galileans welcomed his arrival which was perhaps somewhat of a pleasant surprise. However although they had in a sense received him that's what the text says.

And we shouldn't understand that they received him with full honor. They gave him honor of a sort but it was not the honor that was due him as our lord himself would say so shortly. Well now we come to the episode that's just been introduced for us the occasion in which jesus healed the nobleman's son which means actually that he gave life to the nobleman's son because he was at the point of death.

Jesus Heals the Nobleman’s Son by His Word

And so we'll read the account in verses 46 through 54 of john 4. So jesus came to cana of galilee where he'd made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at capernaum when he heard that jesus had come out of judea into galilee he went to him and implored him to come down and heal his son for he was at the point of death.

Then jesus said to him unless you people see signs and wonders you will by no means believe. The nobleman said to him sir come down before my child dies. And jesus said to him go your way your son lives.

And so the man believed the word that jesus spoke to him and he went his way. And as he was now going down his servants met him and told him saying your son lives. And then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.

And they said to him yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. And so the father knew it was at the same hour in which jesus said to him your son lives. And he himself believed and his whole household.

And then this summary statement. This again is the second sign jesus did when he'd come out of judea into galilee. So we read in verse 46a. So jesus came again to cana of galilee where he had made the water wine.

We consider this first sign of jesus turning water into wine at the wedding reception in cana. And perhaps john made this statement here in verse 46a to connect this miracle with the first one because this is the second sign and that was the first sign.

And so what's being presented by john he's attempting to remind us as readers of the major miracles that he's recorded of jesus. Why did jesus go here to cana. Well not only had he been there before but nathaniel one of jesus's disciples who was traveling with him was from cana of galilee.

And it's likely that jesus's mother mary had relatives in cana. She had a prominent position and role in that wedding earlier that we considered indicating she. It was probably the the wedding of a relative and therefore jesus and his disciples could probably be assured that they would find accommodations in cana while they were in that region.

We then read in verses 46 actually b in verse 47. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at capernaum and when he had heard that jesus had come out of judea into galilee he went to him and implored him to come down and heal his son for he was at the point of death.

This nobleman was a man of wealth and influence but his son fell ill seriously. So this nobleman was probably an influential political figure in galilee. He was probably connected with king herod. In fact in another place of the scriptures it speaks about one of the disciples being of herod's household.

Some translate nobleman as royal official because that's what the greek word really means. This nobleman must have traveled the distance from capernaum to cana a distance of about 10 to 15 miles. He knew of jesus's reputation as a great healer but he probably also knew of jesus's compassion and his willingness to help those in need.

And that this nobleman this influential and probably rich man made the effort to make this journey to jesus shows the great concern that he had for his son to live. If he was to be healed his son it would have to be jesus who would heal him.

The man's concern for his son brought him to jesus and often the lord will use the burden of parents for their children to bring those parents to jesus. Over the years i've known people that started attending the church not out of concern for themselves but out of concern for their children.

And the lord will often use other kinds of motivations to get people initially into the house of god where they hear the word of god and the spirit of god begins to work in their souls. It's interesting that in all the gospels we never read of any sons or daughters coming to christ on behalf of their parents.

It's always the parents coming on behalf of their children. The lord rebuked the man saying to him unless you people see signs and wonders you will by no means believe. Here our lord revealed that he knew the state of this man's soul even the nature and the degree of his faith.

It was due to this man hearing or perhaps seeing jesus bring forth miracles that moved him to seek out jesus. He had faith in jesus but it was flawed it was weak. He did not imagine that jesus could heal his son at a distance repeatedly twice he says come down and heal my son.

But in spite of this man's deficient faith nevertheless the lord had compassion on him and the lord saw to it that when this man returned to his son his faith would be much stronger and of a much purer nature.

This man undergoes a development of his faith and the lord jesus was producing this in him and the way he dealt with him. There's good lessons for us in dealing with souls. Our lord made a generalization about this man's faith generalizing it.

This is the faith of all these galileans of many people. And it's very clear in the text that he did so he spoke to the man but when he did he rebuked them all. Unless you people see signs and wonders you will by no means believe.

Now that english text makes it clear. The greek text makes it clearer. The lord again was telling was saying that the faith that faith in him that's based on signs and wonders is not true saving faith.

And there's a lot of people who would claim to have christ or be christians because they believe in the miracles that god has wrought. But that's not enough. The samaritans had believed on jesus solely due to his word to them.

Remember that the samaritan said to the woman now we believe jesus not because of your word but because we heard his word. The galileans were believing on jesus because they saw a miracle signs and wonders.

Their faith was deficient. It was not of a saving kind. And so this man had a kind of faith when he came to jesus or else he would not have come. But his faith was based only on what he could see. As one wrote what the galilean saw in jesus was not who he truly was.

It was who they selfishly wanted him to be. They thought themselves to be healthy when true in truth they were already dead spiritually. This is why jesus speaks right past the father to the crowds right past the concern of that father to the concern of his father in heaven.

I thought that was a good word and so understand what happens. The man comes. Jesus clearly says you know he has faith. But the only reason you believe on me because you have signs and wonders. But when he said the only reason you believe on me he doesn't use the singular pronoun you.

He uses the plural pronoun you all this characterized the faith of the Galileans. And this man exhibited that when he came into his presence. So the Lord used this occasion really to to point out the weakness and the faultiness of these people and their faith.

They wouldn't have believed unless they saw signs and wonders. And so this man had a kind of faith. But it was not true saving faith. But thankfully our Lord's words to this father drew a higher and nobler faith from him.

And so we read the father's response. In verse 49 the nobleman said to him sir come down before my child dies again there's a limited faith here. He thinks that unless he got the Lord down to Cana he had to be there physically present.

And if he didn't get there in time before his son died there's no point in going. It would be hopeless. He had he was desperate. But he didn't have faith in the Lord ability to just say the word and that man will be healed that son will be healed.

He didn't have. He didn't have faith that the Lord could heal that man from a distance. It was a deficient faith this man had in Jesus. As one wrote Jesus does not deny the poor faith which this official had but declares that this is not enough is thus calling for a better faith.

One that is real must however not lead us to the hasty generalization that Jesus wrought signs only an answer to real faith and never where faith is absent. And that's oftentimes the teaching of these health and wealth guys he signs and wonders.

Guys the reason Jesus hadn't done a miracle for you or the reason I can't do a miracle in your presence is because you don't have faith. And this writer was pointing out that when you make a study of miracles in the gospel it reveals that the Lord Jesus healed people sometimes when there was faith and he healed people sometimes when there was no faith.

In other words it's not faith itself but it's a sovereign Lord that brings forth healing. The fact is the man was not dissuaded from pleading with Jesus by Jesus's initial rebuke of his faith and that of the Galileans in general desperation drove the man to look to Jesus himself and not simply what Jesus could do but to look to him for the healing of his son.

To look to Jesus for who he truly was. Jesus first attempts to turn this man's faith in a higher direction namely upon Jesus's own person and his heart. And Jesus succeeds with pleading reverence. The man lays all his distress upon Jesus's heart.

It's as though Jesus said to this man oh that you would think less about the wonders and more about me. And I think that's one of the emphases that you have in John's gospel pointing people that they might know Jesus as the true Christ the Son of God not simply as someone who can give you good things.

We read in verse 50a Jesus said to him go your way your son lives. And the response of the man was a fuller true faith in Jesus Christ. We read in verse 51. So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and he went his way.

If you mark that mark your Bible you might under underline that that expression that the man believed the word and that's significant. A significant point in this episode I might say a quick word about verse 50 the New King James Version which we're using reads go your way your son lives.

Present tense. The English Standard Version which many of us have which is a good translation. Generally reads go your son will translates it in the present tense. And that's not accurate. The Greek text has a present tense your son's living not.

Your son will get better. Your son will be living. Your son lives. And that's significant. We read in verse 50b. So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and he went his way. God wants us to believe his word not because we see some physical evidence as proof that we can believe on him again.

A sinful and adulterous generation expects or demands to see a miracle before believing on Jesus. And that's very dishonoring to the Lord. I'm not going to believe you Jesus till you prove it by doing something for me that reveals a sinful heart an unbelieving heart not a heart of faith.

And then we read in verses 51. And following as he was now going down his servants met him told him saying your son lives again. Present tense. And he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.

He was immediately healed at that seventh hour. And so the father knew it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him your son lives. And he himself believed in his whole household. Here you have a higher degree of faith.

He and his household believed on Jesus. They became his disciples. He had saving faith. He believed Jesus's word not because he saw his son healed but he believed Jesus's word. And then it was. It was he believed.

And then he went and he saw. It was true. So when the man inquired what time his son was restored he was told the seventh hour probably one o 'clock in the afternoon the previous day. Not that the boy began to recover but that he was fully healed at that seventh hour.

It was then that the fever left him. The boy was completely destroyed or restored so completely that the servants were at once hurried off to the father. Let's go tell him his son's living. He's been delivered.

And then the last verse of this pericope is a summary statement positioning the account within the narrative of the larger gospel. And so verse 54 reads. This again is the second sign Jesus did when he'd come out of Judea into Galilee.

And so John's gospel sets forth the ministry of Jesus is manifesting seven signs. And this is the second of those seven. The gospel writer declared this to be the second sign in order to bring remembrance of the first sign.

He's setting forth an account to lead to a true understanding of who Jesus is. And for also for us to remember the mercies of God as Matthew Henry wonderfully wrote fresh mercies. In other words when the God intervenes and gives you a fresh manifestation of his mercy fresh mercy should revive the remembrance of former past mercies as former mercy should encourage our hopes of further mercies future mercies.

And so the writer is drawing our attention to this is the second of two signs. Thus far now that's the account basically but with not a great deal of application. So now let's try and consider some lessons that we may glean from our passage.

Mortality, Providence, and the Foolishness of Ignoring Death

First let's acknowledge that there is no one that is not vulnerable to the afflictions in this life. And even this young man this son we don't know how old he was but I would assume he was relatively young.

Here we read of a son who was deathly ill. Though he was a young man perhaps just a boy. We might think that he would normally have strength and vitality. Nevertheless we read that this boy is near death.

This son is near death. Perhaps a time before death seemed to be quite distant to this boy but now it's upon him. Death was at his door and was knocking Christians. Even all human beings should be mindful of their own mortality.

That's an important lesson that is found throughout Scripture. Death might be at our door if it were not for the mercy and the grace of God. If we would think rightly we would be cognizant of the uncertainty of life.

And I put uncertainty in quotation marks uncertainty from our perspective. And we'd live accordingly. Yes from God's perspective the duration of every lifetime is a fixed certain day. God appointed the day you were to be born and God appointed the day that you will die.

And it's nothing's going to change. That as J .I. Packer once expressed Christians should view their own forthcoming death as an appointment in Jesus's calendar which he will keep faithfully keep every one of us unless the Lord returns first.

God has declared for everything. There is a season a time for every matter under heaven a time to be born a time to die. And this time to die is fixed by God in his eternal decree before even creation.

God determined everything that happens in history from the greatest to the least event. I love Spurgeon's quote. He says I believe that that the feet of an aphid unsettling the dust on a rose petal is as much ordained of God as the marching of armies to vanquish the world.

From the least to the greatest of events in history is in the decree of God. That's fresh on my mind because I just had to write some class notes for our institutes there in Kenya and in India and emphasize this matter of God's God's decree.

Everything has been decreed including the time of your death. But from our perspective of course we have no clue as to when that will be. David once confessed my times are in your hands. But the fact is we should be mindful of our own mortality.

The certainty of our death and the uncertainty of when that will occur should shape how we think and how we live. And yet there's something about fallen man that he will ignore or even suppress the thought of his own mortality.

The Lord Jesus described this kind of man as a fool. We read of our Lord's parable of the man who lived with no regard to his death that it whether it be sooner or later. In Luke 12 Jesus said one of them from the crowd said to him teacher tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me settle this estate between my brother and me.

He said to him man who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you. And he said take heed of covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses. And he spoke a parable to them saying the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.

And he thought within himself saying what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops. So he said this I will do this I will pull down my barns build greater and there I will store all my crops and my goods.

And I will say to my soul soul you have many goods laid up for many years take your easy drink and be merry. But God said to him fool this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you've provided.

And so he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God we ought to each live if we're thinking rightly and living rightly we ought to live each day as though tonight the Lord is going to call us into his presence.

However younger people will often have little thought of their own death. And actually this is a rather paradoxical matter because on the one hand it would seem the younger generation has a preoccupation with death.

It's considered the Halloween season. We just went through the television commercials that you see this preoccupation with death. And yet that may be said generally. But when you speak to an individual younger person directly they think that they're going to be the exception.

And again I'm speaking from experience as a young man thought I was invincible and I lived accordingly incredibly and the Lord was merciful sparing me. But in the Lord's providence one of my good friends with whom I was out having a wild time on a Friday night the next morning he was tragically killed in a hunting accident through a stray .22 bullet and the Lord used that event to put the fear of God in my own soul regarding the uncertainty of life and the fact I was mortal.

And for the first time I became aware of the fact that I'm not necessarily guaranteed a long life in this world. And within a couple weeks I was converted to Christ. And oftentimes it's a person's sense of their own mortality that'll bring them to consider the matters of eternity.

But as Christians we should think of these terms always. Job expressed the words in his prayer my days are determined. The number of his months my months is with you. He was mindful of his own mortality.

And so should we be. And so may the Lord help us to be mindful of the wonderful life he's granted us. May we enjoy and value the life he's given us as we live before him. But may he also enable us to keep our own mortality before us.

No not in a morbid fearful way but that it might help us and lead us to wisdom knowing how to order our lives rightly in the light of who God is and in the light of the truth the fact that we are accountable to him.

We should take to word the warning that God gave to Israel. Prepare to meet your God. And we ought to live each day prepared to meet our God. None of us are guaranteed that we're going to be here next Sunday.