Saving faith in Jesus illuminated

[0:00] Father, we ask that you would gently but deeply and powerfully pour out your Holy Spirit upon us now as we open your word. Father, we confess before you that we hide from you, that we run from you, that we judge you, that we turn our backs on you.

[0:18] And we give you thanks and praise, Father, that you seek us, you seek to bring life to people like us, that we might be worshipers in spirit and in truth, who trust you and honor you and welcome you and obey you.

[0:38] And Father, we need your help. So, Father, may your Holy Spirit be poured out deep within us and may the words, your word written, Father, may it be written in the very command center of our lives.

[0:53] And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's be seated, please. Amen.

[1:04] Amen. So, I don't know, how many of you remember or have heard of Catherine Kuhlman? Okay, you've all aged yourself because I think she's been dead for 30 years or something like that, maybe even longer.

[1:17] But Catherine Kuhlman was a sort of a fascinating woman and she had an evangelistic ministry and she was a little bit like a female Benny Hinn. She went around doing miracles, like miracle services and I had only been a Christian for about a year or two and she came to Ottawa and at the time I had a summer job.

[1:39] The only time I actually have worked for any level of government and it was for the city of Ottawa, I worked in the section of the government where we processed your parking tickets.

[1:51] So, back then, if you had had a parking ticket that year, my hands were on it at one point in time. I moved it from one pile to another. I can't remember what I did.

[2:01] But anyway, so Catherine Kuhlman was coming and I'll be honest, I wanted to go and see a miracle. I'll be honest, that's what I wanted to do. I mean, that's how it was advertised, she was famous, I wanted to go see a miracle.

[2:15] I know, yeah, anyway, so I did. So, I went, there was a huge lineup and she filled like 10,000 people, 12,000 people, the Scotiabank place or whatever it's called now, wasn't built.

[2:29] And so, it was the old, you know, the underneath the Lansdowne Park, whatever that used to be called. And she filled that place and she's very dramatic and very flowery.

[2:40] And, you know, she had people coming up saying that miracles happened, but I didn't see anything happened. And I have to confess, I was very disappointed. This is just me sharing it with you. I was disappointed.

[2:51] When I got to work, during the, over the course of the May and June, the people in the office had discovered that I was a Christian. There were about 10 of us in the office. I was the only Christian.

[3:04] In fact, the others, none of them, I think most of them were sort of some type of Roman Catholic, but the type of Roman Catholic, they just basically went to Mass on Christmas and Easter.

[3:15] Or I guess when they'd maybe done something really bad and they felt guilty. But they basically, they didn't say they were Christians. They said they might have been Catholic. But anyway, so it came up that they knew that I was a Christian and somehow or another it had come up and they'd asked me different questions.

[3:30] And about a week or so after the Catherine Kuhlman event, it came up that one of the guys had gone to the Catherine Kuhlman event. And I said, oh, what did you think of it?

[3:42] He said, well, it was the weirdest thing, he said. I was sitting beside a woman and the woman had a disfigured arm. And as Catherine Kuhlman prayed, the arm went straight and I saw it.

[3:56] And I said, inwardly, I'm going, wow, I wish that was me. And he said, it was the darndest thing.

[4:08] And I said, well, what do you think it meant? I don't know. It's the darndest thing. Did you go to, like, are you interested in Jesus? No. It was the darndest thing. That's all he kept saying.

[4:19] It was the darndest thing. He was a, you know, one of those proper people of the old school who would never have said the DA, you know, the rest of it. He'd said darndest all the way.

[4:31] And the rest of the summer, he had no interest in talking to me about Christianity. To my knowledge, he never went to church once afterwards, but he saw what I want. He saw a miracle. Didn't do a difference to him at all.

[4:43] Now, I never saw him again afterwards. Who knows? Maybe he became a Christian later. But it made no impact on him other than that was the darndest thing. And I have had, over the years, I have had many, many people say to me, George, if God wanted me to believe in him, all he'd have to do is just do a miracle in front of me and I'd believe him.

[5:03] Like, if God wanted, like, if God either doesn't exist or he doesn't want me to believe in him because he doesn't do a miracle in front of me. I've had many people say that. And I have to confess, there's been times in my life I've wanted God to do some type of a miracle because I thought it would help my faith.

[5:17] So what's going on with all of this type of story? Like, many of us have this thing. Many of you could relate to it. Many of you might say you wish you could see a miracle. Maybe some of you have seen a miracle. I've actually had, maybe I'll tell you later on about it, I actually have more than once, but one very dramatic time that there was a miracle.

[5:33] But what's going on with our desire for miracles? Why is it that sometimes it just seems as if God doesn't do anything? Well, the story that happens in John's gospel is very helpful for us to understand what goes on with God, what he does, what he does, and why he doesn't do what he doesn't do.

[5:51] So if you turn to John chapter 4, we're going to read this story. And it goes like this. So remember what I just said a little bit earlier, in the beginning of John chapter 4, God leads Jesus into a place where the people are semi-pagan, semi-Jewish, half-Jewish, half-Jewish, half-Pagan.

[6:17] And they've been at enmity with the Jewish people, and the Jewish people have been at enmity with them for 800 years. There's an 800-year-long argument, and God sends Jesus into Samaria.

[6:28] He ends up initiating a conversation with a woman at the well. She ends up coming to believe in him, and she witnesses to the crowd, the village, many in the village come.

[6:39] And after two days of talking with Jesus, in verse 42, they say to the woman, John chapter 4, verse 42, they say to the woman, It is no longer because what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.

[6:58] And after two days, the two days, he'd spent two days with them, he departed for Galilee. For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.

[7:13] 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. Now just sort of pause there. Some of you are probably a little bit puzzled.

[7:26] Why does it say that he's not having any honor, and why does it say they welcome him? And is that a bit of a contradiction or what's going on? Well, it's a very, very important part of the story, which is going to be developed as we go on.

[7:38] But here's the first thing. If you could put the first point up, Andrew, that would be very helpful. The very important thing is that Jesus goes to where he is not honored.

[7:51] It's actually a really significant thing. We Canadians tend to think that, in fact, actually, we don't honor, I mean, you know, we just sort of, we want to go where we're honored.

[8:08] We don't like going where we're not honored. But Jesus intentionally goes to where he knows he is not being honored. And he doesn't go with a big stick. He doesn't go to sort of say, I'm going to beat these people up.

[8:22] I'm going to overwhelm them. I'm going to do things to force them to honor me. But it's just very significant that he goes where he's not honored. And it's an important thing for us to understand about the gospel, that what the gospel is all about, it is not about the human race crying out to God and saying, God, why are you abandoning us?

[8:42] Why are you leaving us all alone? Father, why are you doing this? Please come to us. We desperately need you to come to us. The gospel is not all about human beings crying out to God and saying, God, you know, please stop doing whatever you're doing.

[8:59] Stop just spending all your time with the Son and the Holy Spirit. Please come down to us. It's not like that at all. The heart of the gospel is that human beings do not honor God. And because we don't honor him, we don't really want God to come as God.

[9:14] But he comes anyway. And in the previous story, if you go back earlier, one of the things which we talked about this a little bit last week, is that it's not the case that human beings are really seeking after God, but human beings, we hide amongst our idols.

[9:34] We turn our back on God. We walk away from God. We run away from God. And God seeks us. The question never is for us to say to God, God, why is it that you have no interest in us?

[9:45] The question always should be, Father, why is it that I'm hiding from you amongst my idols? Because you are seeking me. And here we see this lesson continue to be taught, that Jesus willingly is going to where he is not honored, but he is welcomed.

[10:01] He's welcomed, but he's not honored. That's an important part of the dynamic of the story. But Jesus comes to us even when he is not initially honored.

[10:17] So, now some of you, you know, might say, okay, George, that's, well, that's sort of a very curious thing. I'm going to be interested to see how this all sort of, you know, all sort of develops out.

[10:31] But, like, I don't know, George, you'd sort of think that if they're welcoming Jesus and they're pretty excited to see him, that that's a good thing.

[10:46] You know, in fact, I like going places where I'm welcomed. And, but, you know, if you think about it for a second, and the word here, honor, doesn't mean that it's not like when Charlie comes here and we all go, oh, oh, oh.

[11:03] And there's a whole big line up to kneel and kiss his ring, and he just walks down the aisle slowly with his ring out, everybody rushing forward to kneel and kiss his ring.

[11:14] And if that's not going to happen, he's not coming, you know. And it's not like that at all. But it's a matter of recognizing you for who you are. That's, you see, that's sort of what is at the heart of this particular story.

[11:31] So, like, for instance, in one of the things which is complicated in relationships is, you know, when I first asked my wife out on a date, what happens in dates is you start to try to get to know the other person, yet you have an impression about the other person.

[11:52] And maybe you try to make, obviously, you try to make a good impression on your date. But as you're going on, it's not, what you really want in a marriage is you're looking for somebody who you believe that you can start to reveal who you are to them and that they will respect and honor who it is that you are.

[12:12] And in a marriage, we want somebody that we can reveal ourselves to, at least begin to reveal ourselves to, and they can begin to reveal themselves to us, and that we know them as they are.

[12:30] But if, in my relationship with Louise, I always relate to her in terms of thinking that she's like a different type of person, that's not going to build the relationship at all whatsoever.

[12:46] And so the dynamic that's going on in the text isn't that Jesus is sort of forcing himself to be honored, but he recognizes that they welcome him, but they welcome him in the same way that we might be very excited to find out that a really good magician was going to be able to be here and do all sorts of works of wonder.

[13:07] And Jesus just, he knows that they are trying to get something out of him, they just want to be dazzled, they just want to be amazed, that there's other deeper heart things going on, but fundamentally, they haven't caught on as to what the miracles mean and what his teaching means.

[13:29] But he goes there anyway. So what happens? Well, that goes on in verse 46. So he came to Cana in Galilee where he had made the water wine, and at Capernaum, there was an official whose son was ill.

[13:44] So Capernaum is about 35 kilometers downhill from Cana. And verse 47, When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, the man went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

[14:05] The son was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, And it's really important that you notice that what Jesus says here now is a plural you. Jesus makes a general comment about the people in Galilee.

[14:22] And it's a surprising comment, and it's a bit of an offense to the man and to the people who are listening. Or it's a very, they would probably take it as an offense.

[14:32] It's not meant as a compliment. It's meant as a description of what's going on in their lives, and it isn't good. And he says this, Unless you, or unless all you all, if you're from South Carolina or Georgia, or unless yous, if you're from Northern Ireland, unless yous see signs and wonders, yous will not believe.

[14:59] It's not a good thing. And the official responds to this by saying, Sir, come down before my child dies.

[15:19] Now, first of all, why is it that Jesus says, here is on one level, Jesus is performing miracles, but he says to them, unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.

[15:36] Well, first of all, if you think about it, the story that I began with, the fellow who worked in the office, he saw, from my point of view, quite a dramatic miracle, and it appeared to make no difference to him whatsoever.

[15:48] But there's sort of a different heart issue which is going on here, and if you could put up the next slide, Andrew, it would be very helpful. And the deeper issue that's going on, even the issue of seeing signs and wonders, is I think I have the criteria to judge and evaluate God, but God always ignores my criteria.

[16:14] I think I have the criteria to judge and evaluate God, but God always ignores my criteria.

[16:27] So this is a very, very common problem for many people today in our culture. Unless God, like if it really is God, God will bless the gay movement, or he'll bless the transsexual movement, or just in general, he'll bless the sexual revolution.

[16:47] Like the real God wouldn't do something that's going to interfere with how I want to express myself or identify myself sexually. For many people, if you read academic commentaries, at the heart of academic commentaries is this idea that if it's going to really be God, it's going to have to be some type of event that has multiple sources in non-biblical materials that allow it to be shown to actually have been happening in history, or that if it really is God, it's just going to be something private in my heart.

[17:23] And for many of us, we might have to say that if it's going to be something that's coming from God, it has to have not sort of a certain type of shape of the wisdom of the world, but it has to be some type of overwhelming thing.

[17:34] Like the people who said, if God really wanted me to believe in him, the criteria is that if God really is God, that he has to perform the miracle in front of me. We have some type of criteria by which we think we can judge and evaluate whether God is really God, or whether he is in fact up to our standards.

[17:54] Because that's what's at heart of it, that we have certain standards to keep, and God has to meet them. And one of the things that the Bible reveals about God is that God is completely and utterly untameable.

[18:10] He's good, but he's untameable. And God isn't like, if you come to my house, Louise has trained our German shepherd to close the door when Rocky comes in.

[18:24] She'll say, so Rocky comes in the house, the door is open, and she says, Rocky, close the door. And it's really funny because Rocky has also trained Louise. In the sense that Rocky then goes and sits down and puts his butt against the door.

[18:43] And he never closes the door all the way the first time. He closes it, but there's still about this much. And he looks at Louise, and Louise has to say a second time, Rocky, close the door all the way.

[18:56] And then Rocky closes the door all the way, and then he trots over to where he knows he's going to get a cookie from Louise. As a bit of an aside, sometimes when I'm there on my day off, Rocky keeps wanting to go out, and I say, Louise, he's only going out to get cookies.

[19:11] He keeps wanting to go out because he knows if he comes in, he closes the door, he gets a cookie. And when it's minus 30, and I'm grumpy, and I don't, I have dogs, not because I like dogs, but because I love Louise, and Louise loves dogs, so that's why we have dogs.

[19:27] That's why I have dogs. I'm not a dog person, but I married a dog person, and I love my wife, so I have dogs. Anyway, so I get a bit grumpy about it, but the dog is trained, Louise, but God's not like that.

[19:41] That's why God just ignores our criteria. And in fact, he is not going to allow us to continue to have the attitude that somehow or another we deign, we say, well, God, I guess you're worthy of hanging out with me because of all the miracles you've done or because you have my views on politics because I can now tell you don't like Trump or you do like Trump or you do miracles or you like the gay movement or you don't like the gay movement or whatever it is.

[20:14] He ignores our criteria. If you could put up the next point, Andrew, I am not God's superior or is equal that I can judge him. I am a creature in need of health and salvation from my creator.

[20:27] That's who I am. I am not God's superior or is equal that I can judge him or evaluate him. I am a creature in need of health and salvation from my creator.

[20:40] And if you could put up the next point, Andrew, saving faith does not set up conditions for God to meet. It responds to God as he chooses to make himself known by word and action.

[20:57] Right? Saving faith does not set up conditions for God to meet. It responds to God as he chooses to make himself known. And by the way, see, God is no different.

[21:08] This is just how it works for us as human beings. I can tell you if I had met Louise the first time and I began the date by saying, well, Louise, I have certain criteria. You have to reach my standards before I'm going to ask you out on a second date.

[21:22] That first date would have ended right then if I communicate to her that, you know, I have these very high standards and I have a checklist to see if you're going to meet them. End of the thing.

[21:33] So why is it that we can't do that with human beings on a date but we somehow unconsciously think we can do it with God? Even if the criteria are very noble or spiritual criteria like the ability of him to perform signs and wonders.

[21:48] It doesn't work with Louise. It definitely doesn't work with God. He says, I ignore your criteria. So what's happening in this story is that Jesus makes this general comment and that people only seem to want to see him perform signs and wonders.

[22:08] They only welcome him so that they can see signs and wonders. And so the Roman official who's come to have his son healed and really at this point in time the man doesn't have any faith.

[22:23] I had an uncle. His name is Uncle Joe. My favorite uncle. He died of cancer about 20 years ago. My Uncle Joe was a meat and potatoes type of guy.

[22:35] And it was meat and potatoes. type of guy. And preferably with gravy and all sorts of butter or something on the vegetables and gravy.

[22:47] He was a meat and potatoes guy. But when he got cancer and it was some very bad prognosis, he and his, he and my Aunt Lillian, they scoured the internet and stuff like that and for a brief while he was on all sorts of very kooky and extreme diets.

[23:02] Anything to try to make himself better. But they didn't work and now he's in glory. He's a very devout Christian. He's now with Jesus.

[23:13] But what this man is, he's not really seeking signs and wonders. He's just doing what any of us would do if we had something like an operable cancer or a kid had an operable cancer and if we heard that there was a treatment in Mexico or there was a treatment in California or there was a special diet that worked.

[23:30] We just want our kid to live and we're willing to try it. And Jesus makes this other comment and the man responds in verse 46.

[23:40] We'll read it again. The official said to him, Sir, come down before my child dies. In verse 50, Jesus says to him, Go, your son will live.

[23:53] Go, your son will live. And in other words, it's a command. The implication is not to go away but to go home. That's sort of implied.

[24:04] Go, your son will live. And the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. We'll just sort of pause here. One of the interesting things about the Bible is it doesn't describe what goes on in the man's heart.

[24:20] And I don't know if he just sort of stands there and looks at Jesus for quite a while or if he just immediately goes. But Jesus says this surprising thing to him.

[24:34] Go, your son will live. And then the man believes what Jesus says. I don't know if he just somehow senses that there's some power or authority there.

[24:46] He himself has never seen Jesus perform a miracle. But there's something in Jesus' speech and we don't know if he immediately goes or spends some time but he does it.

[24:57] He begins the 35 kilometer trek downhill to go back to where his son is. And verse 51, as he was going down his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering.

[25:15] So the man asked them the hour when he began to get better. So the man hasn't kissed his brains goodbye. He's really curious.

[25:26] So he said, well, when did this happen? And they said to him, yesterday, so he would have had to sort of probably slept over somewhere, begun the journey, slept over somewhere, continued on the next day.

[25:41] They say, yesterday at the seventh hour, one o'clock in the afternoon, the fever left him. The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, your son will live.

[25:55] And he himself believed in all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

[26:06] And the implication of the text here is that what this man does is he now has saving faith. Now, by the way, this is a very, very encouraging thing for each one of us.

[26:18] This man does not know very much theology. And Jesus hasn't died on the cross for him yet. And he has no idea about theories of propitiation.

[26:29] He has no ideas about theories of atonement. He just, he doesn't know all of these things. But what he's, what he's done is he's honored, trusted, and obeyed Jesus for who he is to the extent that he understands him at that time.

[26:52] He, he has this basic sense that Jesus has the authority and the ability that he is, he's not just ordinary, he believes in a saving way.

[27:06] In fact, see, one of the things which is remarkable about this, so I'll tell you my most dramatic miracle story. Not that, and my faith isn't based on it.

[27:16] I was in my country parish and I was in a, Eganville, and I was on call for the minister in Renfrew. And Renfrew was a half hour drive. The hospital was a half hour drive.

[27:27] And I got a call at about 7.30 in the morning on a Sunday because I was on call for the minister on holidays and they said, there's a man, he's going to die.

[27:38] We almost didn't even call you because he's about to die, but the family have asked that I call you and that you could come down and give him the last rites. And I said, I'm really sorry, I have a service in 15 minutes and after that I have another service at 9, another service at 11.

[27:56] The earliest I can possibly come down is about 1 or 1.30 this afternoon. And they said to me, well, we really insist, the family really wants you. And I said, I'm really, really sorry, I can't leave all of my services to go down.

[28:08] I'll say a prayer for him and I'll call you after my last service and if he's still hanging on I'll come right down to be with him. And so I prayed for the man and then I did my services and we mentioned him in all of the prayers.

[28:25] 12.30 or whatever it was when my 11 o'clock service was finished I called him up and he said, he's still hanging on, we can't believe that he's still hanging on, the family's exhausted, could you still come down?

[28:36] I said, sure, I'll come down. They said, he might be dead by the, we don't even like calling now, we're amazed he's still alive, you might very well come down for nothing. They said, I'll come down. I come down, the family's still there, I say a few words to them and I always pray what I always pray, I pray over the man, I said, Father, this man is close to death but I ask that if it still is your will that you would bring him healing and if you don't bring him healing of his body, Father, he's unconscious, he can't hear me but I know that Jesus can be underneath this coma and Jesus can meet him in his coma so Father, even if you do not heal his body, may your son Jesus be present with him where he is, where we can't reach him and may Jesus, may you bring, may you minister to him at this time, may he be prepared to see you face to face but if it is your will may you heal him and I say amen and the man said, thank you very much and his wife and daughter started crying and I can tell you right then they weren't interested in me anymore because they hugged their husband and their dad and they hugged their husband and their dad and he lived another three years so that's my miracle story but here's the thing

[30:03] I pray to God to heal the man I acknowledge that only God can heal and I acknowledge that only Jesus can be with this guy where he is I'm nothing I have no power all I can do is call out to my heavenly father this story Jesus just wills the healing of the nobleman's son 35 kilometers away and he's healed only God can do that Jesus doesn't pray he just wills it and I'm guessing that's partially what struck this man why maybe in heaven we'll find we'll get to meet this guy and we'll ask him what went on in his mind the story doesn't tell us but there's just something about the word of command and the promise that Jesus makes and the man responds with obedience obedience and trust and goes and when he goes he finds out that Jesus has healed the guy and now he has a saving belief in the man see here's one of the things about signs and wonders you can't obey a miracle you can't obey a miracle but you can obey Jesus when he says go your son will live if Jesus only died on the cross and rose from the dead and there was no message about it you know all we could say in the room that's the darndest thing that's the darndest thing

[31:57] Louise there's a guy who died and three days later he came back to life that's the darndest thing but what Jesus does and John's gospel is it's Jesus's it's John's writing an intimate biography of Jesus and John has chosen certain key miracles of Jesus he understands that Jesus has come to introduce God to make God truly known and his first miracle shows that God is not like religion expects that God is going to be a God where we have to be ascetic and we have to purify our lives and we have to sort of take all of the joy and happiness out of our life and if we've really purified ourselves and really denied ourselves then maybe God will know us and maybe he will make himself known and Jesus introduces God as the God who makes wine for a wedding party and unlike all of the other gospels almost immediately after the very

[32:59] John chapter 2 for the first time Jesus says if you kill me I will rise and he doesn't just say that I will rise he describes himself as the temple as the place that people go to meet God and he said if you kill me on three days the place where people will go to meet God will rise in three days and then the very next miracle that he does the next conversation is he says to Nicodemus he says to Nicodemus you have to be born in a way that only God can give you life human beings can only produce what human beings can produce but God can give a life that human beings cannot have and then in John chapter 4 the very very next thing what is it he describes to the woman he says to the woman at the well he says to the woman well if you knew who was asking you for water you would ask him and he would give you a stream of eternal life living waters like a stream of waters that will flow in you into eternity and now we see that God it's a continuing this message that God is pro-life that God is the source of health and life other gospels talk about Jesus and they use other images of salvation they use images of being redeemed freed from slavery they use images of being taken our debts away they use images from the courts they use military images of victory and in John's fundamental image is that apart from God we are dying and death is our doom and apart from God not only is death our doom but that which causes death which is our separation and alienation from God there is no fixing of that and in John's gospel the image of being sick and being healed is the image of what the gospel will do for us if you could put up the next slide oh sorry

[35:10] I got something out of it here's the thing about this I can have obedience without intimacy or trust in fact that's what Islam is Islam is the first half of that statement no intimacy with God and not even trusting God inshallah inshallah maybe I'm going to die a gruesome death inshallah maybe I'm going to hell inshallah it's obedience but no intimacy and trust but I cannot have intimacy without trust and obedience and God is not only calling us to life but to intimacy with him which is why mere signs and wonders isn't enough you see if I am to have intimacy with Louise and I never trust her she's going to draw back there's not going to be any intimacy and if I want to have intimacy with Louise and I never trust her and she never asks me and every time she asks me to do something

[36:18] I don't do it she's going to draw back there'll be no intimacy and God wants us to be intimate with him he's going to give us life he is a source of health and here's if you put on the next one Andrew that would be great what the gospel is going to show I can't remember now if it's Ephesians or Colossians but it describes how apart from God's grace we are cadavers we are corpses in the funeral home and a corpse can do nothing to make itself alive and it's a very very glaring image of God has to do everything to bring us life it's like Ezekiel can these dry bones live it's like Isaiah 43 verses 4 and 5 where it talks about by his wounds we are healed that he himself bore our sins our iniquity our sickness to give us life and the

[37:19] Bible is going to describe and John is going to describe that Jesus bore my sickness unto death so that I might receive his health unto eternal life that Jesus on the cross and in his whole ministry he's bearing the sickness and all sickness is a sign of our coming death it's a sign of our separation from God it's a wonderful image that things just aren't right we desire health we long for health and Jesus will bear my sickness unto death when he dies upon the cross so that I might receive his health unto eternal life could you put up the final point so here's what the text is teaching us saving faith see what's going on in this gospel is that John is not only helping us Jesus is revealing who God is God is not the

[38:19] God in the earlier thing God is not the God of lies he's the God of truth if you know a lie it's not God God is the God of truth God is the God of joy God is in this in this story we're seeing God is not like Rocky who can be trained to close a door God is untamable and good who else is God God is where health is God is where life is and saving faith and so Jesus is revealing who he is and he's also revealing how we're to respond and saving faith welcomes Jesus it honors Jesus it trusts Jesus it obeys Jesus for who he is and what he has done and is doing and will do now we don't do it perfectly welcoming grows honoring grows trusting grows obedience grows but it's possible to think like many people in our culture

[39:45] Jesus is a good guy he's a teacher he's a wonderful guy I'm fine with him I just don't like Christians in church but Jesus doesn't want to be welcomed like that that's not saving faith saving faith welcomes honors trusts and obeys Jesus for who he is what he has accomplished or done is doing and will do he is the one who can give me eternal life he is the one who can come and give my dying body eternal life just one final thing some of us maybe even are struggling with cancer when a Christian prays to God for healing there's three different ways that he responds he can heal us slow with medicine and doctors he can heal us quickly through a miracle like that story that

[40:52] I shared or he can heal us perfectly in our death and seeing him face to face and the ultimate destiny of everyone who puts their faith and trust in Jesus is perfect healing and more than perfect healing it is a life that will not end in the new heaven and the new earth that is what putting our faith and trust in Jesus does that is what he accomplishes in this mighty resurrection please stand it might be very distressing to hear that apart from God we are like a corpse in a funeral home but it's only distressing news if that's all the news if the news is that

[41:57] God can make you alive than for me to first tell you the bad news and then tell you the good news that's only great and if you have not yet put your faith and trust in Jesus there is no better time than right now to do it and you know I don't like telling you the sinner's prayer because I know I for so many years in my Christian life I was confused by it because I didn't get the words right it wasn't working and that's just the devil confusing me I want that to be me I want that to be me Jesus have mercy on me I want that to be me and there's no better time than right now to do it and for all of us the cry of our heart can be father help me to welcome

[42:59] Jesus more help me to honor him more help me to trust him more help me to obey him more help me father to be more gripped by who he is and what he's done and what he promises he will do and what he's promised he's done with putting a stream of living water in the center of me father help me to honor him and trust him more and more in everything I do a cry of our hearts let's bow our heads in prayer father pour out your holy spirit upon us thank you for Jesus thank you father that he alone bore our sickness on to death on the cross he alone dealt with it on the cross that he alone tasted all there is to taste of death with nothing left out that he alone has conquered death and conquered that which causes death which is our rebellion and sin against you that he has conquered that defeated death defeated the devil defeated all sin in his mighty resurrection father we thank you for Jesus and what he has accomplished and we thank you father that when we put our faith and trust in him when we honor and welcome him and put our trust in him that he that you make us alive that you make us alive in a way that will go on into all eternity so father make us disciples of

[44:18] Jesus who are gripped by the gospel who love life and want to lift Jesus high father make us disciples of Jesus gripped by the gospel welcoming him honoring him trusting him obeying him and this we ask in Jesus name amen