WEBVTT 00:00:00.300 --> 00:00:06.480 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee. 00:00:08.019 --> 00:00:14.480 So we're thinking about signs, the signs that Jesus performed, and let's begin by reminding 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:23.120 ourselves of the proper use of signs. I imagine when we think about long journeys that seem to 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:29.839 last forever, we probably all have one or two in our mind. One that came to my mind was one 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:35.759 summer Saturday. That sort of clues you into how bad it's going to be. Trying to drive from Devon 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:45.320 through London to the far end of London and traveling on the North Circular Road, which 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:52.000 seemed to last forever. So when you get to that point after hours and hours and baking heat of 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:59.299 being in the car, seeing the city of London signs, it's a cause for celebration. 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:08.100 But it's not the destination, is it? We don't reach the sign of the city that we're heading 00:01:08.100 --> 00:01:13.680 to and we pull over, we find the nearest lay-by and we start unpacking. No, we follow the signs 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:22.659 so that we get to our true destination. But sadly, when it comes to Jesus, we find, and John's gospel 00:01:22.659 --> 00:01:30.859 shows this, many people stop short and are content with the signs but never getting to the true 00:01:30.859 --> 00:01:40.780 destination. It is entirely possible to come to Jesus and to treat him as some kind of vending machine. 00:01:41.739 --> 00:01:48.500 Jesus, I paid my dues with a level of religious performance. Now I'd like you to do this for me. 00:01:48.500 --> 00:01:56.620 Or it's possible to come to Jesus as some kind of spiritual emergency service. Most of the time 00:01:56.620 --> 00:02:01.460 thinking nothing of him, but when trouble comes, that's when we might think to pray. And when 00:02:01.460 --> 00:02:09.599 the drama resolves, we're back to life as it was. It's very easy to think about God who meets my needs, 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:16.240 like the people just seeking signs and wonders, not seeking God as Savior and worshiping him. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:21.840 Because that's the true destination that John's gospel wants us to get to. That's where Jesus wants 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:27.719 us to get to, that we would use the signs that Jesus performs, that we would see Jesus truly is 00:02:27.719 --> 00:02:35.200 God's Son and he's the Savior, so that we would worship him, that we would submit to his rule, 00:02:36.340 --> 00:02:40.439 that we would understand that he is the only way to life with God. And so we wouldn't settle for just 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:48.319 seeing something of Jesus, we would want to know him and to know him better. So today's sign is one 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:52.699 in which John is going to highlight a contrast. And John, as gospel writer, likes contrasts. And 00:02:52.699 --> 00:03:00.079 the contrast today is that some people come to Jesus looking for signs, miracles, wonders, while others 00:03:00.079 --> 00:03:09.060 come to Jesus as Savior. And John wants to remind us that often it's surprising people that come to 00:03:09.060 --> 00:03:18.280 Jesus as Savior and it shows God's amazing grace. John is going to focus then on one man, this royal 00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:24.759 official, who comes seeking a sign from Jesus. He wants healing for a son. But by the end, what do we 00:03:24.759 --> 00:03:29.560 see? We see him following the sign that leads to the true destination he and his household believe. And 00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:41.360 that's our goal for today, that we would see clearly Jesus as Savior and so that we would worship and 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:52.699 believe. So let's begin with a question, seeking a sign or a Savior. Verse 43 of our text reminds us that 00:03:52.699 --> 00:04:00.119 Jesus has returned to Galilee. He's been in Samaria and he's come back to Galilee. And then in verse 44, 00:04:00.619 --> 00:04:06.339 there's this observation that comes from Jesus himself that a prophet doesn't receive honor in 00:04:06.339 --> 00:04:16.919 his own country. And then we find in verse 45, when he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. 00:04:16.920 --> 00:04:22.379 So we need to figure out what's going on there. How is it possible for a group of people to welcome 00:04:22.379 --> 00:04:30.600 Jesus, but at the same time not to honor him? The two seem contradictory. But the clue is there in verse 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:37.560 45, if we keep reading, they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover festival. They had 00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:44.879 seen Jesus do miracles. They welcome him because they want some signs, some miracles for themselves. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:56.199 They don't honor him as Lord and as Savior, as the Son of God. Jesus' assessment of the crowd is clear. 00:04:56.339 --> 00:05:02.659 Verse 48, unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe. They're coming to Jesus 00:05:02.659 --> 00:05:09.959 interested simply in what they can get. They are here, as it were, for the show, rather than wanting 00:05:09.959 --> 00:05:16.939 to know him and to worship him and to submit to him. So John, who likes to show contrast, is giving us 00:05:16.939 --> 00:05:24.939 a clear contrast between the Jews of this town in Galilee who welcome for signs versus the welcome 00:05:24.939 --> 00:05:32.259 that he's just had in Samaria. And it's really striking because what we know of Samaritans and the 00:05:32.259 --> 00:05:37.740 place of Samaria is that the people that lived there, they weren't Jewish. They were regarded by 00:05:37.740 --> 00:05:46.920 the Jews as half-breeds, as dogs, unclean, practicing a different form of worship. 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:55.079 But we read the whole of chapter 4, almost the whole of chapter 4, to show the welcome that they gave to 00:05:55.079 --> 00:06:02.359 Jesus. And as we see that, just in the passing, wouldn't this be an amazing culture for us as a 00:06:02.359 --> 00:06:14.719 church, if we had the same kind of responses that the Samaritans had? So, turn with me to verse 29, 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:22.419 to remind ourselves what happens when this woman meets with Jesus. Come, see a man who told me 00:06:22.420 --> 00:06:28.080 everything I've ever done. This lady has found hope and she's found life because she's found a 00:06:28.080 --> 00:06:32.980 Savior in her first instinct. Let me tell the other people, those people who have despised it up until 00:06:32.980 --> 00:06:46.480 this point, she knows that they need Jesus too. Then verse 41, because of his words, many more became 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:53.580 believers. So, they hear from the women, they're drawn to Jesus, they listen, they become believers. 00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:59.060 And verse 42, they say to the women, we no longer believe just because of what you said. Now we have 00:06:59.060 --> 00:07:04.660 heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world. So, these Samaritans, 00:07:04.740 --> 00:07:09.879 they get the identity of Jesus. He's the Savior, and they're worshiping him. And this is important. 00:07:09.879 --> 00:07:17.579 They're worshiping, not because they saw signs and wonders. Why are they worshiping Jesus? Why do they 00:07:17.579 --> 00:07:26.279 honor him as Savior? Because of his words. They have heard his teaching, and they respond in faith. 00:07:27.500 --> 00:07:32.240 It's the same opportunity that we have every time we open God's Word, or we come to church. We 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:39.740 hear the words of Jesus, the invitation of the gospel. And they trust his identity, and they 00:07:39.740 --> 00:07:48.340 trust his claims. In other words, they understand who Jesus is, where so many of the Jews, they just don't. 00:07:50.280 --> 00:07:58.259 John Owen, a theologian from another generation, warned that an imaginary Savior provides an imaginary 00:07:58.259 --> 00:08:09.720 salvation. His point being that you take Jesus on his terms, or you don't take Jesus at all. 00:08:09.740 --> 00:08:18.000 Jesus didn't come to be known as a great man. Jesus didn't come to be known as a miracle worker. Rather, 00:08:18.420 --> 00:08:25.639 those miracles are, as it were, for Jesus, an ID card. You think about when your meter needs to be 00:08:25.639 --> 00:08:30.240 read at home, and the guy comes from Scottish Gas, or wherever he comes from, and he's got his lanyard, 00:08:30.300 --> 00:08:37.299 and it tells, here's his company, and here's who he is. It's his calling card. Well, the miracles 00:08:37.299 --> 00:08:44.319 are Jesus' calling card to say, I am from God. I am operating here with the power of God. I have the 00:08:44.319 --> 00:08:50.579 life-giving power of God. And we need to recognize that identity and that authority. 00:08:50.580 --> 00:08:59.600 There's some implications as we think about that. When we come to Jesus, we're not in a position to 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:06.040 bargain with him. Jesus, if you'll do this, that, and the next thing, then I will trust you. Now, 00:09:07.139 --> 00:09:10.480 because God is so merciful and patient, sometimes he'll do that, but that's 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:20.139 not the way we should treat our God. Nor should we base our worship of Jesus on our circumstance. 00:09:20.259 --> 00:09:27.539 Jesus, I'll follow you and worship you if my life plan pans out exactly the way I anticipate. 00:09:28.019 --> 00:09:35.300 But the moment trouble or suffering comes, we're done. It's not the way it goes, because Jesus is God. 00:09:35.299 --> 00:09:45.279 And nor should we settle for habits. You know, we can tick the religious box, because we come to church 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:52.959 regularly. Tick the box that we've read our Bible today, or we've prayed. We come to church, we come 00:09:52.959 --> 00:10:01.279 to God's Word, so that we would find Jesus. We read God's Word to hear the gospel, to see more of the 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:08.019 greatness of the greatness of the Lord Jesus. And that's why we come to church. We enjoy friendship, 00:10:08.259 --> 00:10:17.019 and we enjoy spending time together, but we need more than that, don't we? We need to meet with Jesus. 00:10:19.699 --> 00:10:26.159 To go back to verse 42, the Samaritan said, now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:36.459 really is the Savior of the world. Have you heard the gospel? Do you know who Jesus is as the Son of God? 00:10:36.500 --> 00:10:42.579 Do you understand that he came to be our Savior, to die in our place for our sins, to give us eternal life? 00:10:43.139 --> 00:10:49.480 Have you seen his goodness, and his love, and his mercy? Now let's follow the Samaritans. 00:10:49.480 --> 00:11:03.100 Let's submit to Jesus as King, to believe in him, and to follow. Are we seeking a sign, or seeking a Savior? 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:11.700 And now John focuses on this royal official who comes looking for a sign from the Savior. This is 00:11:11.700 --> 00:11:21.100 verse 46 to 52. So we discovered in verse 46 that once more Jesus visited Cana in Galilee. So our first 00:11:21.100 --> 00:11:28.259 sign, a wedding in Cana, Jesus turned water into wine. The point, Jesus is the King who gives deeper joy. 00:11:28.660 --> 00:11:33.840 Jesus, through his death, brings us to God and gives us true life and lasting joy. 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:42.080 The focus shifts from the Galilean crowds to this one man to this royal official. The question is, 00:11:42.280 --> 00:11:48.180 why does he come? Why does the royal official come? And how does Jesus respond? 00:11:49.960 --> 00:11:56.420 Well, I think John shows us really clearly why he came. He comes because of need. Verse 46, 00:11:56.419 --> 00:12:05.099 there was a certain royal official whose son lay ill at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had 00:12:05.099 --> 00:12:13.059 arrived, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son who is close today. His son is seriously 00:12:13.059 --> 00:12:19.839 ill. That's what's driving him, not principally at this stage the identity of Jesus. Rather, he has 00:12:19.839 --> 00:12:25.699 presumably heard what Jesus did at the wedding, or he's heard, or perhaps saw what he did, 00:12:25.700 --> 00:12:34.200 at the temple and around the Passover time. And so he comes to Jesus as his only hope to find healing 00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:42.220 for his son. It's one of the things about God's providence. So when we remember that God controls 00:12:42.220 --> 00:12:53.879 everything, we recognize that God in his wise design sometimes uses a sense of need or a sense of being 00:12:53.879 --> 00:13:02.340 helpless to be helpless to awaken us to the fact that we need to look for someone greater and someone 00:13:02.340 --> 00:13:08.059 higher to be with us and for us, not just in that moment but in all of our lives. 00:13:10.700 --> 00:13:19.000 Spurgeon, the famous 19th century London preacher, once said that afflictions, trouble, 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:31.559 hardships, afflictions may be sent as sacred excavators to make more room in the heart for Christ and his 00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:41.879 love. So we live really close by the old blind school. And the blind school just now is undergoing a 00:13:41.879 --> 00:13:49.460 major transformation. They've torn down a lot of the old, well, the modern extensions, and they're 00:13:49.460 --> 00:13:55.399 redesigning the interior to make some flats, building some townhouses. Just now they're laying pipe work 00:13:55.399 --> 00:14:03.159 and sewage work. And so it's a building site, and there's diggers everywhere. So let's think about 00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:09.799 that image of what does a digger do when it's on a building site? It clears room, doesn't it? It clears 00:14:09.799 --> 00:14:16.079 room for something new, something different. And Spurgeon is saying to us, this is what God does 00:14:16.079 --> 00:14:26.039 through trouble. He can use that to make room that perhaps we never had before in our hearts 00:14:26.039 --> 00:14:35.599 for the love of Jesus, to think about who Jesus is. I think it recognizes that by nature we tend towards 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:46.340 contentment, we tend towards self-reliance. You think about this royal official as an example, 00:14:46.820 --> 00:14:53.000 no doubt he would have found his power and his influence and his status were very helpful in 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:59.600 most of his day-to-day life. And we, in our comfort and self-reliance, 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:07.200 maybe it's hard to make room for Jesus. We have little or no thought of him when life is going 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:15.159 well, perhaps. But what do we see from the royal official in his life? This illness that comes to 00:15:15.159 --> 00:15:23.540 his son, all of a sudden he's realizing, here is a need that I cannot meet by myself. Now, all of a 00:15:23.539 --> 00:15:31.860 sudden there is space in his heart for Jesus and his love. There is that awakening. 00:15:35.059 --> 00:15:44.039 Now, how does Jesus respond? So, the official comes in his need. How does Jesus respond? 00:15:44.039 --> 00:15:53.019 He responds in mercy. Notice he says in verse 48, unless you people see signs and wonders, 00:15:53.599 --> 00:16:02.839 you will never believe. Now, flip that round another way. We can hear Jesus say to the royal 00:16:02.839 --> 00:16:09.559 official, when you see this sign, you will believe, because that's the way it works out. So, many of the 00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:17.539 crowd doubtless saw the sign and didn't respond in faith, but this man will. How does Jesus respond? 00:16:17.639 --> 00:16:29.119 He responds with that sign. Verse 50, go, Jesus replied, your son will live. The man took Jesus at 00:16:29.119 --> 00:16:35.559 his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy 00:16:35.559 --> 00:16:42.839 was living. And it turns out that the healing came at the exact moment that Jesus spoke. Jesus speaks, 00:16:43.579 --> 00:16:53.919 and it is done. So, in God's mercy, this boy's illness becomes God's excavator, 00:16:55.000 --> 00:17:02.339 opening this official's heart up to Jesus' identity and Jesus' love. 00:17:02.340 --> 00:17:12.920 How does God awaken people today? Be an interesting thing to reflect on in our own lives, 00:17:13.420 --> 00:17:20.240 perhaps in our conversations over the lunch table, to think about what was it in my story, 00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:26.180 in your story, that led us to seriously consider the claims of the Lord Jesus and to trust in him? 00:17:28.039 --> 00:17:31.819 I think we'd all find that there are different ways that God awakens people. For some, 00:17:31.819 --> 00:17:37.379 it's longing. That sense that there must be something more than this. 00:17:38.700 --> 00:17:47.139 I read an interview last week with Karsten Warholme, who, if you follow the Olympics, he smashed the 00:17:47.139 --> 00:17:54.019 400-meter hurdles record. And he was honestly saying, since then, he's been thoroughly demotivated 00:17:54.019 --> 00:18:01.779 and has no idea what's going to come next. He has had that perfect race in his mid-twenties, 00:18:01.819 --> 00:18:11.420 and now he's like, now what? And sometimes, God uses that sense of longing to point us to the deep 00:18:11.420 --> 00:18:17.740 longing, the eternal longing in all of our hearts, that longing to know God through Jesus. 00:18:17.740 --> 00:18:26.039 Sometimes, like the royal official, we probably find it's being helpless. It's a time of need. 00:18:26.099 --> 00:18:31.500 Whenever I think of stories, I always think of the elder in my church back home who was a fisherman, 00:18:32.460 --> 00:18:38.740 and he came to faith in the middle of a storm, praying to God, God, if you are real, if you are 00:18:38.740 --> 00:18:46.940 there, may I please save me. God answered and rescued him, and he turned to faith. Maybe that's our story. 00:18:47.019 --> 00:18:52.640 Maybe that's what brings us here today, a sense of being helpless and looking for God. 00:18:54.660 --> 00:19:04.039 Sometimes, it's regret that awakens us to a need for God. Maybe we make a mess of our lives. We 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:11.379 cause damage in our relationships. We long to be free from a sense of guilt and shame. 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:19.920 Again, this makes me think of the politician from a previous generation, Jonathan Aitken, 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:25.779 who was found guilty of perjury and sent to prison, and there in prison, he found faith in the Lord Jesus. 00:19:25.779 --> 00:19:37.240 Maybe it's the need for love that awakens us to the God who is love. We can think about this Samaritan woman. 00:19:38.619 --> 00:19:45.099 She's seeking love and value and security from a whole host of different men, and Jesus, in effect, 00:19:45.099 --> 00:19:52.519 says to her, come to me for deeper love as your Messiah, as your Savior. 00:19:52.519 --> 00:20:02.139 I wonder if you recognize any of this in your own stories. You think about your past or even what 00:20:02.139 --> 00:20:13.500 brings you here today. And do you recognize that Jesus alone is the one who would fill that God-shaped 00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:22.500 hole in our hearts and lives? Blaise Pascal, the 17th century mathematician, 00:20:22.519 --> 00:20:27.940 used to say to skeptical friends, friends who were skeptical of the reality of God. He gave him a 00:20:27.940 --> 00:20:33.519 challenge. He said, why not pray this? Pray, God, if you are real, make yourself real to me. 00:20:34.660 --> 00:20:43.720 And he said to them, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. And so many people can testify 00:20:43.720 --> 00:20:49.879 to crying out to God, God, if you're real, show yourself. And God, in his mercy, Jesus, 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:56.840 in his kindness does that. Because we come to a Savior who is full of mercy and grace and love. 00:20:59.120 --> 00:21:03.420 Jesus understands this royal official will only believe if he sees a sign. And so what does Jesus 00:21:03.420 --> 00:21:10.700 do? He gives him the sign. Because Jesus wants him to believe and be saved. We need to understand 00:21:10.700 --> 00:21:20.039 that Jesus is more ready to show love often than we are to believe that. Jesus is more quick to give mercy 00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:31.580 than we are to receive it. So today, if you're awake to who Jesus is and to your need of him, 00:21:31.579 --> 00:21:42.220 then give thanks for God's work in your life and believe in him. Submit to him, worship him, trust him. 00:21:45.220 --> 00:21:51.519 Last thing to notice, and it's that the sign points to the Savior. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:22:01.119 As a culture, as society, as people, we instinctively love happily ever after stories. 00:22:01.779 --> 00:22:07.319 Even in a day and age where a lot of books and movies tend to dwell in the darker, bleaker side 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:13.500 of life, we do appreciate the happily ever after stories. When we come to this gospel story, 00:22:13.500 --> 00:22:22.119 when does the happily ever after moment happen? Have a look at the text. When does it happen? 00:22:25.019 --> 00:22:32.019 Does it happen in verse 51? While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that 00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:38.299 his boy was living. Sounds like a happily ever after, doesn't it? We could probably stop the text 00:22:38.299 --> 00:22:43.400 there and go away feeling glad at what Jesus has done, but that's not where the happily ever after comes. 00:22:43.500 --> 00:22:53.799 in this story. It comes in verse 53. When the father realized that his boy was healed at one in the 00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:59.619 afternoon, the exact time when Jesus said to him, your son will live, he and his whole household believed. 00:23:02.259 --> 00:23:08.720 That's the happily ever after moment because that's where the sign is pointing to. So, all the signs in 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:14.779 John's gospel point to, John chapter 20, verse 31. What's the goal of John's gospel in recording these 00:23:14.779 --> 00:23:20.839 signs so that we might believe that Jesus is Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing, 00:23:20.980 --> 00:23:29.380 we might have life in his name? So, when John writes his gospel, he didn't just celebrate the sign and then 00:23:29.380 --> 00:23:38.900 stop. He showed the final destination. Here's a family that become worshipers because they've seen 00:23:38.900 --> 00:23:48.220 the true identity of Jesus. They see that he is the Savior of the world. Think about the signposts 00:23:48.220 --> 00:23:54.260 that they have received to the identity of Jesus. This royal official has discovered Jesus is the greater 00:23:54.259 --> 00:24:00.720 king. So, he works for a king. But being close to King Herod in this moment, don't give him any help. 00:24:01.619 --> 00:24:09.519 Don't give him any hope. Herod doesn't have the power to deal with illness. But, verse 50, when this man 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:19.119 takes Jesus at his word, when he trusts him, his family receives this miracle. His family receives 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:27.039 salvation. Jesus has more power, more glory, more authority than this king or any king. 00:24:29.019 --> 00:24:35.279 And beyond that, every miracle, and especially every healing miracle that Jesus performs, 00:24:36.019 --> 00:24:47.519 serves as a window into the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of Jesus. What will Jesus' eternal future 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:54.980 kingdom be like when he returns as he has promised? When he establishes the new heaven and earth as he 00:24:54.980 --> 00:25:02.139 has promised? What will it be like? There'll be a restored world. We'll have resurrection bodies, 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:11.259 and there'll be no sickness, and no pain, and no death. This miracle from King Jesus is a signpost 00:25:11.259 --> 00:25:18.119 towards what his kingdom is like. And incidentally, we'll be thinking about that from the Old Testament 00:25:18.119 --> 00:25:26.700 this evening. So, do come back. But there's another signpost for us, and it's that Jesus, and Jesus alone, 00:25:26.819 --> 00:25:37.940 is the life giver. When John was introducing Jesus in chapter 1, Jesus as the Word, he said that 00:25:37.940 --> 00:25:44.299 through Jesus, the Word, all things were made. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. 00:25:45.080 --> 00:25:52.240 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. It's John saying, saying Jesus is both 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:59.400 creator and sustainer of life. And then as we read the Gospels, we discover Jesus is the one who gives 00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:07.240 life in all its fullness, not just physical, but spiritual. Life of knowing and enjoying relationship 00:26:07.240 --> 00:26:19.980 with God. We need to remember that though this boy was healed, he would still die. His parents would 00:26:19.980 --> 00:26:31.000 still die. We, all of us, unless Jesus comes back, we too will die. Jesus is pointing to true life, 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:40.200 which is spiritual. In Jesus, we have a guarantee of resurrection life, of eternal life, because of 00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:48.559 what he came to do. Jesus came to die on the cross as our substitute, taking the place of sinners, 00:26:48.740 --> 00:26:58.079 bearing on himself the punishment that our sin deserves. Jesus faces death. And then Jesus rises 00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:04.299 again with the promise that if we believe in him, we will live even though we die. 00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:17.799 Jesus is the life giver, because only Jesus forgives. Only Jesus brings us life with God. Only Jesus will 00:27:17.799 --> 00:27:21.559 bring us to eternal life with God. 00:27:21.559 --> 00:27:29.759 So, as we close, let's be sure to use this sign correctly. 00:27:31.220 --> 00:27:36.259 There are some iconic signs in the world, aren't there? Perhaps we can think about the Hollywood 00:27:36.259 --> 00:27:42.339 sign up on the Hollywood Hills, or to make it a bit closer to home, we might think of the new 00:27:42.339 --> 00:27:50.220 North Coast 500 signs that pop up everywhere in the Northern Highlands. Now, if you were a traveler 00:27:50.220 --> 00:27:59.380 and you were wanting to experience the North Coast 500, if you show up at the sign, you take your selfie 00:27:59.380 --> 00:28:06.920 and then head home, you've missed out. You've seen the sign, but you've never gone on the journey. 00:28:08.380 --> 00:28:15.120 Now, we need to recognize that Jesus does spectacular signs. He is unlike any other. 00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:23.299 But he always does those signs so that we would make the journey, that journey towards God through 00:28:23.299 --> 00:28:34.179 him. So, John's gospel would say to us, don't settle for a sign. Don't settle for Jesus meeting my felt 00:28:34.179 --> 00:28:44.039 needs as and when. Come to him as Savior and Lord. When we have that sense of him awakening us, 00:28:44.039 --> 00:28:54.339 respond in faith and in worship. Believe in Jesus as the Savior of the world because of his identity 00:28:54.339 --> 00:29:00.940 and because of the gospel word and the gospel hope that he brings. Let's pray together. 00:29:00.940 --> 00:29:04.720 Lord Jesus, we thank you. 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:04.759 Lord Jesus, we thank you.