WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.679 I was thinking as we were singing that wonderful old hymn, 00:00:06.900 --> 00:00:10.500 On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. 00:00:11.179 --> 00:00:12.620 The song's older than Canada. 00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:15.160 You know, you think about it. 00:00:15.660 --> 00:00:17.019 The song's older than Canada. 00:00:17.260 --> 00:00:19.719 And I can tell you this, that if Jesus doesn't come back, 00:00:20.140 --> 00:00:23.160 Canada can come to an end and that song will still be sung. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:28.780 And in a sense, the song itself, you know, is an illustration of the truth 00:00:28.780 --> 00:00:31.740 that the song is testifying to. 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:36.359 That was just an impromptu moment. 00:00:37.660 --> 00:00:42.620 I never quite know how to describe how I came to faith in Jesus Christ. 00:00:43.219 --> 00:00:44.799 And the reason is this. 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:50.180 Like on one level, I probably never stopped believing in Jesus. 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:54.100 And I have a very clear memory of when I was probably five. 00:00:54.340 --> 00:00:57.520 One of my earliest memories is being with my mom 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:00.400 and asking Jesus to live within me. 00:01:00.980 --> 00:01:02.640 And I have a memory of that. 00:01:03.180 --> 00:01:07.820 But like a lot of people, once I hit puberty, 00:01:08.540 --> 00:01:13.240 other things start to become far more interesting than a relationship with Christ. 00:01:13.980 --> 00:01:18.480 And Christianity, in the words of Nicky Gumbel, seemed boring and irrelevant. 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:22.980 And lots of other things seemed far more relevant and far more interesting. 00:01:22.980 --> 00:01:29.240 And humanly speaking, you know, whether this was the first time I came to believe 00:01:29.240 --> 00:01:32.600 or whether it was just a return to something which had been planted in me 00:01:32.600 --> 00:01:33.880 when I was a very young child, 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:39.159 in grade 11, in high school, through a series of circumstances, 00:01:39.859 --> 00:01:44.840 I started to think that maybe this Jesus person wasn't boring and irrelevant. 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:52.719 And over the course of a year, the real turning point came when I started to meet true Christians. 00:01:53.659 --> 00:02:00.200 And there was something about them that just seemed as if there was a sense of purpose 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:02.820 and peace and presence in their lives. 00:02:02.819 --> 00:02:05.259 And that made me curious. 00:02:06.119 --> 00:02:11.859 And I had this increasing longing and drawing to having something like what they had. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:17.659 And it led me eventually to, whether it was committing my life to Christ for the first time 00:02:17.659 --> 00:02:19.299 or recommitting my life to Christ, 00:02:19.900 --> 00:02:23.479 in heaven God can tell me all the accounting and processes. 00:02:24.180 --> 00:02:25.979 That's sort of irrelevant, you know. 00:02:25.979 --> 00:02:31.519 So, but I did sort of, you know, it was actually in a church where I had an altar call 00:02:31.519 --> 00:02:37.179 and I went to the front and I asked Christ, I repented and asked Christ to come into my life. 00:02:39.739 --> 00:02:44.199 This, you know, miracles and all that type of stuff or signs and wonders, 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:46.419 in my case it didn't really have any place whatsoever. 00:02:46.419 --> 00:02:52.459 I know that there's some people here who could testify how it was seeing God work with miraculous power 00:02:52.460 --> 00:02:56.800 that started to open them up to Christ in a new and living way. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:58.680 But for me it was nothing to do with that at all. 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:04.659 It was actually meeting people who seemed to have something in their lives that I realized I had to have. 00:03:05.379 --> 00:03:09.680 And the gospel text talks about this sort of dynamic, 00:03:09.860 --> 00:03:13.400 about how God works in some people's lives, leading them to himself. 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:15.560 So I ask you to take your Bibles. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:20.620 You can use your pew Bibles or you can use your own Bible. 00:03:20.620 --> 00:03:24.360 And it's John chapter 4, verses 43 to 54. 00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:27.900 If you're using the pew Bibles, it's page 922. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:37.560 We're a mainstream Anglican church. 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:40.620 The Diocese of Ottawa doesn't always view us this way. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:45.740 But, you know, probably if you went to Nigeria or Uganda or Kenya, 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:48.420 you know, a place where most of the Anglicans in the world are, 00:03:48.480 --> 00:03:50.000 we're a mainstream Anglican church. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:55.580 And that means we open the Bible and try to learn from the Bible during our time of the sermon. 00:03:55.780 --> 00:04:01.099 So open your Bibles, John 4, 43, page 922. 00:04:01.819 --> 00:04:04.879 And the story here, we're going through John's gospel. 00:04:05.020 --> 00:04:11.300 The story here follows immediately upon Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. 00:04:11.300 --> 00:04:18.879 And after Jesus had met the Samaritan woman at the well, he spent two days with the Samaritans. 00:04:19.100 --> 00:04:24.000 And this story is well known to Christians, him meeting this woman at the well. 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:27.519 And the story now takes place immediately after that one, verse 43. 00:04:28.080 --> 00:04:32.080 Now, after the two days, that's the two days he spent with the Samaritans, 00:04:32.620 --> 00:04:35.439 he departed from there and went to Galilee. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:40.719 For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 00:04:41.219 --> 00:04:44.439 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans received him, 00:04:44.819 --> 00:04:47.879 having seen all the things he did in Jerusalem at the feast. 00:04:48.379 --> 00:04:50.120 For they also had gone to the feast. 00:04:50.120 --> 00:04:54.939 I just want to pause here for a second. 00:04:57.300 --> 00:05:02.079 I have some friends that when they speak in an ironic manner or in a facetious manner, 00:05:02.139 --> 00:05:04.319 I'm not entirely sure if they're being facetious. 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:08.620 And I have other friends that when they're being ironic, you know, they change their voice. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:11.959 Or when they're being facetious, they do some visible or visual, 00:05:12.500 --> 00:05:15.360 an audible or visual cue that they're doing this. 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:19.480 But these three verses might sound a bit confusing. 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:22.920 And the reason they're a bit confusing is that the writer, John, is being ironic. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:25.720 And we're not used to reading the Bible. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:29.860 And, you know, we don't think the Bible will be ironic. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:31.819 We think the Bible will be pious. 00:05:32.580 --> 00:05:38.240 And that's a big problem, you see, because we bring pious expectations to the Bible. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:41.100 And so we're offended when we read the Old Testament. 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:44.800 And there's pillaging and raping and this and that. 00:05:44.860 --> 00:05:47.259 And if anything, you know, you read the book of the Old Testament, 00:05:47.259 --> 00:05:49.080 it does not seem pious. 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:54.259 And we often bring our standards of piety to Jesus and are sometimes offended 00:05:54.259 --> 00:05:58.460 because Jesus isn't pious the way that we think he should be pious. 00:05:58.620 --> 00:06:00.860 That's our problem, not his, by the way, folks. 00:06:01.319 --> 00:06:06.340 Because, you know, being a Christian means that he's the master, we're the disciple. 00:06:06.540 --> 00:06:08.720 He's not the disciple and we're the master. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:09.600 It's the other way around. 00:06:09.939 --> 00:06:11.420 So John here is being ironic. 00:06:11.420 --> 00:06:16.199 He's been ironic, as it will be seen in the rest of the story, 00:06:16.199 --> 00:06:19.860 that the Samaritans, with no miracles at all, 00:06:20.340 --> 00:06:24.060 come to believe that Jesus is the savior of the world. 00:06:24.060 --> 00:06:32.500 And the people in Galilee, Jesus' own people, the chosen people, they can't get it. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:36.240 All they want to do is see some spectacular miracles. 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:40.840 And so Jesus is going on one level, there's a superficial, 00:06:40.840 --> 00:06:48.899 superficial, like rock star type of quality that's going on in some parts of the Jewish nation. 00:06:48.899 --> 00:06:53.219 But fundamentally, they don't sort of get it and they don't really hear his word. 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:55.439 It's like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Jesus. 00:06:55.620 --> 00:06:57.359 Get the words out of the way. 00:06:57.560 --> 00:06:58.839 Show us something dramatic. 00:07:00.019 --> 00:07:03.799 And so Jesus is being ironic as he speaks here, 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:09.199 as we'll be seeing in a moment when Jesus rebukes the people for only wanting signs. 00:07:10.060 --> 00:07:13.620 And the other thing we see about this is that Jesus doesn't go where it's easy. 00:07:13.699 --> 00:07:14.779 He goes where it's called. 00:07:14.779 --> 00:07:18.299 He goes to where people are going to ultimately reject him 00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:20.139 because, you see, at the end of the day, 00:07:20.699 --> 00:07:24.040 Jesus came to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 00:07:24.840 --> 00:07:25.920 He came to die. 00:07:26.280 --> 00:07:28.160 It's the only purpose he came for. 00:07:28.600 --> 00:07:33.139 He came to die as God's Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:35.699 So we continue reading verse 46. 00:07:36.139 --> 00:07:40.460 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where he had made the water wine. 00:07:40.860 --> 00:07:45.080 And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:49.419 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, 00:07:49.859 --> 00:07:54.000 he went to him and implored him to come down and heal his son, 00:07:54.719 --> 00:07:56.259 for he was at the point of death. 00:07:56.939 --> 00:07:58.539 Then Jesus said to him, 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:04.259 Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe. 00:08:04.259 --> 00:08:07.019 Now just sort of pause here. 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:10.120 This verse, this rebuke, is key to the whole story. 00:08:10.980 --> 00:08:16.000 And the rebuke, this version of the Bible captures it by saying you people. 00:08:16.659 --> 00:08:20.980 It's as if there's crowds to see Jesus. 00:08:21.599 --> 00:08:24.879 The nobleman, in a sense, breaks through the crowds to see Jesus. 00:08:25.180 --> 00:08:27.779 And you have to look at the whole context of John's Gospel. 00:08:27.779 --> 00:08:31.779 But almost definitely this nobleman works for Herod. 00:08:32.339 --> 00:08:35.699 And those of you who know your Bibles know what happens to Jesus 00:08:35.699 --> 00:08:39.259 when he goes to see Herod just before he's crucified. 00:08:39.439 --> 00:08:42.500 Remember, Herod's all excited that he's going to see Jesus 00:08:42.500 --> 00:08:44.600 because he hopes to see a miracle. 00:08:46.019 --> 00:08:49.720 And so one of Herod's noblemen comes to see Jesus, 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:51.959 breaks through the crowd and says, 00:08:52.199 --> 00:08:53.480 Come down and heal my son. 00:08:53.639 --> 00:08:56.939 And Jesus delivers a general rebuke. 00:08:56.940 --> 00:09:00.320 He says, once again, he says, 00:09:00.840 --> 00:09:05.860 Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe. 00:09:06.160 --> 00:09:07.720 And it's clearly a rebuke. 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:13.320 When I was in St. Paul University, 00:09:13.760 --> 00:09:16.780 that's where I went to prepare for the ordained ministry. 00:09:17.740 --> 00:09:19.960 I went there thinking that, 00:09:20.160 --> 00:09:23.040 I sort of knew that there were these liberal Christians 00:09:23.040 --> 00:09:25.880 and Orthodox Christians or Bible-believing Christians 00:09:25.879 --> 00:09:27.860 that there was a difference there, 00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:29.799 that liberals didn't really believe in miracles. 00:09:29.799 --> 00:09:34.120 And I naively went thinking that if I could just, you know, 00:09:34.179 --> 00:09:36.879 tell them about C.S. Lewis's Fern, Seeds, and Elephants, 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:40.000 if I could share Josh McDowell's Evidence That Demands a Verdict, 00:09:40.059 --> 00:09:43.740 if I could talk about F.F. Bruce's The New Testament Documents, 00:09:43.819 --> 00:09:45.979 Are They Reliable?, and a couple of other books like that, 00:09:46.039 --> 00:09:47.339 they would change their thinking. 00:09:47.340 --> 00:09:51.600 And to my shock, I discovered that when I was there, 00:09:51.660 --> 00:09:53.980 the very, very first class where there was a lecture, 00:09:54.060 --> 00:09:55.240 within one minute of the lecture, 00:09:55.300 --> 00:09:57.040 I could have gotten into an argument with the professor, 00:09:57.440 --> 00:09:59.580 and the next minute, and the next minute, 00:09:59.700 --> 00:10:01.680 and the next minute, and the next minute, and every minute. 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:09.079 And to remove the idea of God being able to sovereignly move 00:10:09.079 --> 00:10:14.039 in his created order, to remove the idea that God is sovereign 00:10:14.039 --> 00:10:16.439 and can act and can perform miracles, 00:10:16.599 --> 00:10:18.819 to remove that idea from Christianity, 00:10:19.559 --> 00:10:24.939 isn't like Anglicans and Baptists disagreeing over baptism of children. 00:10:24.940 --> 00:10:29.040 religion. It actually means, to my horror, 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:31.780 I discovered that it was a completely different religion, 00:10:32.560 --> 00:10:36.600 and that it affected everything virtually that we could talk about. 00:10:37.180 --> 00:10:39.640 And it would lead to this, one of my best memories 00:10:39.640 --> 00:10:42.600 of my first year at St. Paul's, I came out of a lecture 00:10:42.600 --> 00:10:45.220 where I could have argued constantly with the professor, 00:10:45.380 --> 00:10:48.280 and I left thinking, that was the biggest pile of rubbish 00:10:48.280 --> 00:10:49.320 I've ever heard in my life. 00:10:49.460 --> 00:10:52.040 And I'm sitting down to have coffee with my classmates, 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:57.019 and they go, that was the most profound thing 00:10:57.019 --> 00:10:58.860 I've ever heard in my entire life. 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:02.039 And I started to wonder if I was going completely and utterly insane 00:11:02.679 --> 00:11:04.360 because of the complete difference. 00:11:05.199 --> 00:11:10.459 Now, a text like this can sometimes be used against Christians 00:11:10.459 --> 00:11:13.000 to say that the belief in miracles 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:15.079 is completely and utterly irrelevant. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:17.860 In fact, that it somehow lowers Christianity 00:11:17.860 --> 00:11:19.819 to be concerned with miracles. 00:11:19.820 --> 00:11:22.879 And we can't go there whatsoever. 00:11:24.020 --> 00:11:27.379 One of the things which Jesus is warning us about here with signs, 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:34.720 is that, you know, as I shared in my opening remarks 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:36.140 about how I came to faith, 00:11:37.800 --> 00:11:41.160 miracles, in a sense, at least like visual miracles, 00:11:41.220 --> 00:11:42.620 any time a person comes to faith, 00:11:42.680 --> 00:11:44.180 it's the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, 00:11:44.220 --> 00:11:44.800 and it's a miracle. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:47.659 But in terms of what we think of as miracles, 00:11:48.179 --> 00:11:51.339 miracles played no role whatsoever in my life. 00:11:51.879 --> 00:11:54.039 It was the love of Christians, 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:55.699 it was the peace of Christians, 00:11:55.959 --> 00:11:58.099 it was being with them when they prayed 00:11:58.099 --> 00:12:01.459 and sensing that something was going on in this room 00:12:01.459 --> 00:12:03.359 that I just couldn't put into words, 00:12:03.539 --> 00:12:05.079 and that was what led me to faith. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:07.599 But after I became a Christian, 00:12:07.779 --> 00:12:11.159 I realized that everything about Christianity involves a miracle. 00:12:11.159 --> 00:12:16.419 The fact that Jesus was incarnate is a miracle. 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:18.719 The fact that he was born of a virgin is a miracle. 00:12:18.860 --> 00:12:21.959 The fact that he rose from the dead is a miracle. 00:12:22.079 --> 00:12:23.500 The fact that he performed miracles. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:25.659 The fact that the Bible itself is a miracle. 00:12:26.019 --> 00:12:28.819 That everything about Christianity is a miracle. 00:12:29.579 --> 00:12:33.019 And to have no miracles is to have no Christianity. 00:12:33.019 --> 00:12:41.139 That Christians who tell you that it is crass or unspiritual or wrong 00:12:41.139 --> 00:12:44.259 to talk about miracles or to believe in miracles, 00:12:44.899 --> 00:12:46.480 that really what they're trying to do 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:50.539 is they're trying to avoid the fact that God has authority 00:12:50.539 --> 00:12:52.059 and that he is sovereign in the world, 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:55.259 and they're really expressing that which is a different religion 00:12:55.259 --> 00:12:59.100 from what biblical Christianity is. 00:12:59.100 --> 00:13:02.680 Like, without Jesus performing miracles, 00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:05.019 without Jesus being a miracle, 00:13:05.680 --> 00:13:06.940 Jesus is irrelevant. 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:10.340 Like, it means he just died. 00:13:11.040 --> 00:13:13.259 Like, get on with it, folks. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:14.080 Like, move on. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:16.720 It's like, I don't know how many of you read the Post, 00:13:17.080 --> 00:13:19.180 and they had this long couple of articles, 00:13:19.320 --> 00:13:20.240 I think it was yesterday, 00:13:20.340 --> 00:13:22.519 about this Hungarian poet who just died, 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:27.779 and George Jonas ended it by talking about a poem 00:13:27.779 --> 00:13:30.639 that the guy wrote about when he dies. 00:13:30.939 --> 00:13:33.100 And he says, and the poem basically says, 00:13:33.159 --> 00:13:34.980 you know, when I die, I'm dead. 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:36.779 Like, and get on with it. 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:39.220 It's basically the thrust of the poem. 00:13:39.299 --> 00:13:40.639 And if Jesus is just a guy, 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:41.879 if Jesus isn't a miracle, 00:13:42.019 --> 00:13:43.720 if everything about Christianity isn't a miracle, 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:47.299 then, folks, we should probably be at Starbucks right now, 00:13:47.439 --> 00:13:49.379 and we should probably be reading the paper, 00:13:49.559 --> 00:13:50.840 and we should be having a nice latte 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:52.059 and not wasting our time here. 00:13:52.059 --> 00:13:53.659 I mean, that's my view, folks. 00:13:54.579 --> 00:13:58.639 Like, everything about Christianity is a miracle. 00:13:59.579 --> 00:14:02.199 So, while miracles didn't have a role 00:14:02.199 --> 00:14:03.759 in me becoming a Christian, 00:14:04.379 --> 00:14:05.959 after I became a Christian, 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:09.019 I realized that they're absolutely central 00:14:09.019 --> 00:14:10.099 to the Christian faith, 00:14:10.199 --> 00:14:13.579 and I can't understand prayer, or redemption, 00:14:14.099 --> 00:14:16.159 or the Bible, or the Christian life, 00:14:16.439 --> 00:14:19.799 or anything if I don't understand that God can act. 00:14:19.799 --> 00:14:23.019 If God hasn't, in fact, raised Jesus from the dead, 00:14:23.099 --> 00:14:25.779 defeated death, and sin, and hell, 00:14:25.879 --> 00:14:27.479 and hostile spiritual powers, 00:14:27.579 --> 00:14:30.359 if Jesus has not, in fact, through his death, 00:14:30.459 --> 00:14:31.779 opened the gate of heaven for me, 00:14:31.839 --> 00:14:35.199 if Jesus has not been able to send his Holy Spirit 00:14:35.199 --> 00:14:37.759 into my life, spiritually changing me, 00:14:38.019 --> 00:14:39.859 and making me a child of God, 00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:43.060 and what on earth is anything at all about? 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:46.519 We don't need more moral rules. 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:51.519 Now, what Jesus is talking about here, then, is not, 00:14:51.580 --> 00:14:54.560 in fact, the story isn't Jesus denying the role of miracle, 00:14:54.659 --> 00:14:56.240 because he's going to perform a miracle. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:59.220 That's what he's going to do. 00:15:00.019 --> 00:15:01.279 He's not saying, 00:15:01.580 --> 00:15:03.120 I came not to perform miracles. 00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:05.019 What he's talking about is something else. 00:15:05.100 --> 00:15:07.680 He came, this rebuke is telling us 00:15:07.680 --> 00:15:10.879 that we are not in control when it comes to God. 00:15:11.779 --> 00:15:13.220 That's what Jesus is saying. 00:15:13.580 --> 00:15:17.259 We are not in control when it comes to God. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:23.139 You see, if we come to God demanding signs and wonders, 00:15:23.139 --> 00:15:27.899 then what we are saying is that I have my conditions, 00:15:28.620 --> 00:15:31.319 and until God meets my conditions, 00:15:31.659 --> 00:15:32.960 I am going to ignore him. 00:15:34.460 --> 00:15:37.899 I, you know, I've talked to many people over the years 00:15:37.899 --> 00:15:39.840 who've said, like, if God really wants me to know him, 00:15:39.860 --> 00:15:42.240 why doesn't he perform a miracle right before my eyes? 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.620 I've had many, many people tell me that. 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:47.659 If God really, really wanted me to be his, 00:15:47.779 --> 00:15:50.899 he would perform a miracle in front of me right now. 00:15:50.899 --> 00:15:53.439 I mean, you know, you get this idea 00:15:53.439 --> 00:15:56.240 of some strutting poppycock of a man, 00:15:56.360 --> 00:15:57.500 some strutting pigeon, 00:15:57.659 --> 00:15:59.699 sort of demanding that the almighty God, 00:16:00.100 --> 00:16:02.139 the creator of all, sustainer of all, 00:16:02.419 --> 00:16:05.059 that God has to sort of get off his high horse 00:16:05.059 --> 00:16:07.000 and come and bow down to this pigeon, 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:09.000 you know, strutting around, 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:10.539 looking very, very important. 00:16:10.740 --> 00:16:12.039 I hope I'm not offending any of you 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:13.399 if you have that view, 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:14.860 but, you know, if you think about it, 00:16:14.860 --> 00:16:15.899 if God really does exist, 00:16:16.019 --> 00:16:17.819 it's a preposterous demand. 00:16:17.820 --> 00:16:21.720 And sometimes the idea sounds very preposterous, 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:24.540 but often it sounds very learned and educated. 00:16:25.060 --> 00:16:27.100 It's the scientist or the philosopher 00:16:27.100 --> 00:16:31.200 who demands that if God is really worthy of being worshipped, 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:33.400 he has to have the appropriate political beliefs 00:16:33.400 --> 00:16:34.600 or the appropriate beliefs 00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:36.480 about the relationship of men and women, 00:16:36.560 --> 00:16:38.420 or he has to act in particular ways. 00:16:38.740 --> 00:16:40.240 He can't violate the laws 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:42.540 which the scientist or the philosopher, 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:43.780 the academic believe, 00:16:43.900 --> 00:16:46.120 have to govern the universe in a particular way. 00:16:46.120 --> 00:16:48.340 Or maybe it's very, very pious 00:16:48.340 --> 00:16:50.860 or super spiritual or new agey 00:16:50.860 --> 00:16:52.840 and the real God has to act in this way 00:16:52.840 --> 00:16:54.299 or this way or this way or this way. 00:16:54.740 --> 00:16:56.399 And so the Jewish people, in a sense, 00:16:56.460 --> 00:16:58.159 what they're doing in this particular story 00:16:58.159 --> 00:16:59.720 is they have a whole degree, 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:02.960 a whole list of pious conditions 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:04.940 that God has to meet 00:17:04.940 --> 00:17:06.619 and they want him to meet them. 00:17:07.460 --> 00:17:09.500 And Jesus says, no. 00:17:09.500 --> 00:17:09.579 No. 00:17:11.900 --> 00:17:13.019 He says no. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:16.279 I mean, he does it sort of in an odd way. 00:17:16.339 --> 00:17:17.339 He just sort of ignores it 00:17:17.339 --> 00:17:19.039 and he rebukes it when he sees it. 00:17:19.500 --> 00:17:21.160 It's an issue of control. 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:25.079 It's an issue of control. 00:17:25.420 --> 00:17:27.400 And Jesus says, you know, 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:28.759 this is going to get you nowhere. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:34.160 The sign in this particular story comes, 00:17:34.440 --> 00:17:35.759 and this is really important, 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:36.599 we're going to see in a moment. 00:17:36.599 --> 00:17:38.899 The sign in this story comes 00:17:38.899 --> 00:17:43.099 after the man has trusted the words of Jesus. 00:17:44.779 --> 00:17:46.519 That's when the sign comes. 00:17:46.980 --> 00:17:48.539 Let's continue reading the story. 00:17:51.579 --> 00:17:53.039 Still not used to glasses. 00:17:53.879 --> 00:17:54.399 49. 00:17:54.819 --> 00:17:56.459 So verse 48, there's this rebuke. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:57.399 Then Jesus said to him, 00:17:57.480 --> 00:17:59.199 unless you people see signs and wonders, 00:17:59.299 --> 00:18:00.439 you will by no means believe. 00:18:00.919 --> 00:18:03.219 The 49, I mean, this is so wonderful. 00:18:03.419 --> 00:18:06.039 This noble man's heart is revealed here. 00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:09.220 The noble man hasn't come down to see Jesus 00:18:09.220 --> 00:18:11.139 make chairs spin in the air 00:18:11.139 --> 00:18:15.000 or make horses talk or do anything like that. 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:16.779 He just loves his son. 00:18:17.740 --> 00:18:21.240 And he just has heard that Jesus might be the one 00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:22.659 who has the power to heal him. 00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:26.220 And all he does is want help for his son. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:28.519 He's not there for anything else. 00:18:28.659 --> 00:18:29.940 And so the nobleman said to him, 00:18:30.039 --> 00:18:32.740 sir, come down before my child dies. 00:18:32.740 --> 00:18:34.079 Verse 50, 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:35.599 Jesus said to him, 00:18:35.859 --> 00:18:37.859 go your way, your son lives. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:42.140 So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him 00:18:42.140 --> 00:18:43.420 and he went his way. 00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:47.000 Go your way, your son lives. 00:18:47.120 --> 00:18:50.700 So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him 00:18:50.700 --> 00:18:51.559 and he went his way. 00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:52.779 You know, folks, that's a verse, 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:54.160 part of a verse you should memorize. 00:18:54.700 --> 00:18:57.599 So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him 00:18:57.599 --> 00:18:58.879 and he went his way. 00:19:00.419 --> 00:19:03.219 Jesus is revealed here as the Messiah 00:19:03.219 --> 00:19:06.879 who has true healing authority. 00:19:08.980 --> 00:19:11.819 Jesus is able to effortlessly perform a miracle. 00:19:12.599 --> 00:19:15.159 He doesn't pray to God. 00:19:15.719 --> 00:19:18.480 He's 40 kilometers away from the young man 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:21.240 and he just says, your son will live. 00:19:21.939 --> 00:19:24.719 The man, without having any visible evidence 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:27.519 that Jesus has done what he said he has done, 00:19:28.059 --> 00:19:33.440 immediately turns around and walks back. 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:37.160 He trusts that Jesus has healing authority 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:39.839 and he just goes. 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:43.620 He trusts, he abandons himself to the word of Jesus. 00:19:43.819 --> 00:19:45.279 He trusts the word of Jesus. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:48.299 He trusts that Jesus has this healing authority 00:19:48.299 --> 00:19:50.019 and he goes. 00:19:50.279 --> 00:19:52.680 It's the beginning of the Christian life, folks. 00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:57.259 You know, one of the things that used to really, 00:19:59.320 --> 00:20:00.840 I mean, one of the things which I've been learning 00:20:00.840 --> 00:20:03.340 more and more and more as I get older as a Christian 00:20:03.340 --> 00:20:08.740 is that God doesn't leave us to try to figure things out 00:20:08.740 --> 00:20:11.560 all by ourselves with wild speculation. 00:20:12.320 --> 00:20:15.360 That if we attentively read his word, 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:18.880 God himself will show us and tell us 00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:20.799 what it is that he desires of us. 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:25.639 And so here we see he rebukes these people 00:20:25.639 --> 00:20:27.119 for their desire for control, 00:20:27.220 --> 00:20:29.259 even though their control is very pious. 00:20:29.819 --> 00:20:32.720 He speaks a word and the man, 00:20:33.259 --> 00:20:34.539 just like the Samaritans, 00:20:34.779 --> 00:20:36.659 purely on the word of Jesus, 00:20:37.379 --> 00:20:38.879 trusts the word of Jesus 00:20:38.879 --> 00:20:41.899 and visibly shows that he trusts the word of Jesus 00:20:41.899 --> 00:20:43.899 by leaving and heading home. 00:20:43.900 --> 00:20:47.440 And that's what God asks of us, 00:20:47.580 --> 00:20:49.040 to hear the words of Jesus 00:20:49.040 --> 00:20:50.460 and to trust them 00:20:50.460 --> 00:20:53.060 and act as if they're true. 00:20:54.519 --> 00:20:57.840 It's the first step of faith. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.259 The Bible passage itself here is going to tell us 00:21:00.259 --> 00:21:02.840 the point that it's the first step 00:21:02.840 --> 00:21:05.300 and that this extra step is going to be needed, 00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:07.460 but it's the beginning of true faith in him 00:21:07.460 --> 00:21:09.040 when we hear the words of Jesus, 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:12.339 we trust them and we start to live 00:21:12.339 --> 00:21:13.899 as if they are true. 00:21:14.579 --> 00:21:17.159 Let's continue reading and see what happens. 00:21:18.460 --> 00:21:19.299 Verse 50, 00:21:19.379 --> 00:21:20.299 Then Jesus said to him, 00:21:20.359 --> 00:21:21.619 Go your way, your son lives. 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:24.139 So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him 00:21:24.139 --> 00:21:25.319 and he went his way. 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:28.039 And as he was now going down, 00:21:28.159 --> 00:21:30.259 and that's because Cana is higher than Capernaum, 00:21:30.379 --> 00:21:31.799 so he's literally going down. 00:21:31.799 --> 00:21:34.159 As he was now going down, 00:21:34.259 --> 00:21:36.059 his servants met him and told him, 00:21:36.180 --> 00:21:36.399 saying, 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:38.180 Your son lives. 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:40.919 Then the man inquired of them 00:21:40.919 --> 00:21:42.599 the hour when he got better, 00:21:42.919 --> 00:21:43.740 and they said to him, 00:21:44.099 --> 00:21:45.559 Yesterday at the seventh hour, 00:21:45.659 --> 00:21:46.680 the fever left him. 00:21:46.759 --> 00:21:48.139 That's one o'clock in the afternoon. 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:49.680 So the father, 00:21:49.819 --> 00:21:50.579 verse 53, 00:21:50.700 --> 00:21:53.259 The father knew that it was at the same hour 00:21:53.259 --> 00:21:54.859 in which Jesus said to him, 00:21:54.919 --> 00:21:55.819 Your son lives. 00:21:56.619 --> 00:21:57.799 And he himself believed, 00:21:58.700 --> 00:21:59.759 and his whole household. 00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:02.119 He himself believed, 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:03.819 and his whole household. 00:22:05.940 --> 00:22:08.240 We see here that to believe in Jesus, 00:22:09.079 --> 00:22:11.700 that to believe that Jesus has come from God 00:22:11.700 --> 00:22:13.500 and has healing authority 00:22:13.500 --> 00:22:16.220 is the response that God desires of us. 00:22:16.839 --> 00:22:18.720 Now one of the things that we're going to see 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:20.299 over the next few weeks 00:22:20.299 --> 00:22:21.759 as we go through John's Gospel 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:24.579 is what believing in Jesus, 00:22:25.220 --> 00:22:26.559 what does that mean? 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:30.659 That's going to continually be opened up before us 00:22:30.659 --> 00:22:33.179 in terms of what it means to, 00:22:33.879 --> 00:22:34.119 you know, 00:22:34.139 --> 00:22:35.480 to hear Jesus' word, 00:22:35.579 --> 00:22:36.659 to trust his word, 00:22:36.759 --> 00:22:38.159 to open ourselves to him, 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:40.440 to just trust that he's a trustworthy person, 00:22:40.539 --> 00:22:41.980 that he is who he says he is, 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:44.339 to in a sense stake our lives on him 00:22:44.339 --> 00:22:45.879 and to stake our lives on this. 00:22:46.279 --> 00:22:48.659 This is going to continue to grow 00:22:48.659 --> 00:22:49.519 and grow and grow 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:53.220 as John's Gospel continues to unfold 00:22:53.220 --> 00:22:55.079 to describe to us what that means. 00:22:55.079 --> 00:22:56.859 But the thing I'd just like to leave you with 00:22:56.859 --> 00:22:57.359 in closing, 00:22:57.500 --> 00:22:58.699 because I'm going to close right now, 00:22:58.819 --> 00:22:59.559 is with this. 00:23:02.379 --> 00:23:05.279 God is a spectacular God. 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:09.500 And maybe today you're saying to yourself, 00:23:09.619 --> 00:23:11.740 I'm not quite sure what this believing means. 00:23:11.799 --> 00:23:14.179 If you just say to God right now in prayer, 00:23:14.779 --> 00:23:16.379 God, whatever that means, 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:18.980 whatever this means in verse 53, 00:23:19.139 --> 00:23:19.839 believed in him, 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:20.919 make it so. 00:23:22.460 --> 00:23:23.579 Make it so in me. 00:23:23.579 --> 00:23:26.119 Whatever that says in chapter 4, 00:23:26.220 --> 00:23:26.980 verse 53, 00:23:27.139 --> 00:23:28.639 I want that to be true in me. 00:23:29.259 --> 00:23:30.399 And God will make it so. 00:23:30.740 --> 00:23:31.299 Let's pray. 00:23:31.299 --> 00:23:31.339 Let's pray. 00:23:31.339 --> 00:23:31.779 Let's pray. 00:23:31.779 --> 00:23:31.980 Let's pray. 00:23:31.980 --> 00:23:32.339 Let's pray. 00:23:32.339 --> 00:23:32.899 Let's pray. 00:23:32.899 --> 00:23:33.339 Let's pray. 00:23:49.619 --> 00:23:52.039 Jesus, thank you so much that you love us. 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:53.959 Thank you, Father. 00:23:54.119 --> 00:23:54.819 Thank you, Jesus, 00:23:54.980 --> 00:23:56.480 that even when you rebuke us, 00:23:56.740 --> 00:23:58.079 you rebuke us out of love. 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:01.019 You rebuke us not to belittle us 00:24:01.019 --> 00:24:02.399 or to demean us, 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:05.179 not to crush us or to hurt us, 00:24:05.179 --> 00:24:07.519 but that even when you rebuke us, 00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:09.299 you do it because you love us, 00:24:09.939 --> 00:24:12.059 that you desire us to come to you. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:14.759 Loving Father, 00:24:14.879 --> 00:24:17.139 may your Holy Spirit be poured out upon us 00:24:17.139 --> 00:24:18.199 with fresh power 00:24:18.199 --> 00:24:21.299 that we might be able to slow down 00:24:21.299 --> 00:24:23.199 and hear the words of your Son 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:24.519 and take them to heart 00:24:24.519 --> 00:24:26.960 and live the words of your Son. 00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:28.779 And Father, 00:24:29.160 --> 00:24:30.240 for those of us 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:32.240 who have an idea 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:34.019 about what verse 53 means 00:24:34.019 --> 00:24:35.259 about believing in your Son, 00:24:35.880 --> 00:24:36.799 may your Holy Spirit 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:37.980 just deepen us 00:24:37.980 --> 00:24:38.680 and deepen us 00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:39.380 and deepen us 00:24:39.380 --> 00:24:41.440 so that all that is within us 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:42.920 might be just one yes 00:24:42.920 --> 00:24:43.759 to you 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:46.460 and to your moving in our lives. 00:24:47.340 --> 00:24:47.720 And Father, 00:24:47.799 --> 00:24:48.660 for those of us 00:24:48.660 --> 00:24:49.660 who are still trying 00:24:49.660 --> 00:24:50.519 to figure that out, 00:24:50.519 --> 00:24:53.480 may all that is meant 00:24:53.480 --> 00:24:54.680 by verse 53, 00:24:55.240 --> 00:24:56.379 may it be true 00:24:56.379 --> 00:24:58.619 in our lives. 00:24:58.859 --> 00:24:59.740 All that is meant 00:24:59.740 --> 00:25:01.160 by verse 53, Father, 00:25:01.259 --> 00:25:02.480 may it be true in our lives. 00:25:02.900 --> 00:25:03.599 This we ask 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:04.900 in the name of Jesus, 00:25:05.059 --> 00:25:05.579 your Son 00:25:05.579 --> 00:25:06.319 and our Savior. 00:25:06.980 --> 00:25:07.339 Amen.