John chapter 4, verses 42 to 54, for a sermon I've entitled, Faithing Life's Troubles. Here's what it says. After two days, he went forth from there into Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they themselves also went to the feast. Therefore they came again to Canaan of Galilee, where he had made the water into wine, and there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, imploring him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe. The royal official said to him, Sir, come before my child dies. Jesus said to him, Go, your son lives. The man believed this word of Jesus, spoke to him, and started off. As he was now going down, his slave met him, saying that his son was living. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, your son lives. And he himself believed in his whole household. This again was the second sign that Jesus performed when he had come out of Judea into Galilee. If you walk into any large bookstore and go into the section for self-help, it becomes crystal clear that many Americans are trying to find a way to deal with the stress of modern life. So you'll see titles like, Worry Less, Live More, or Calming the Emotional Storm, or 50 Ways to Rewire Your Anxious Brain. Now, many of these books suggest that you can find the power to overcome these negative emotions by digging deep down within yourself. They're pick-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps-using-our-proven-method types of books. Usually the authors suggest that you need to change the way you think and approach the problems that you face. So you have titles like, Winning the War in Your Mind, or You Become What You Think, or The Mastery of Self. But in the last few years, there's been an increasing number of people who've been looking not to modern ideas, but to an ancient philosophy. not to writers like Oprah or Deepak Chopra, but to Zeno and Marcus Aurelius. They're drawing from the well of Stoicism. The philosophy of Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Citrium, that's Cyprus, about 250 years before Jesus. But the greatest devotee of that teaching was the Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, who ruled from 161 to 180 AD. Well, when it comes to theology, the Stoics were pantheists. Nature wasn't created by God. Nature is God. They didn't believe in a personal God like the God of the Bible. And that being the case, they obviously didn't believe in the providence of God, whereby He directs the affairs of human history for His own glory and for the good of His people. They did, however, believe in fate, which they saw as an immutable force in the universe which determines all things that happen. So it's futile to resist or it's impossible to change your fate for whatever's going to happen is going to happen. So you should accept what comes into your life and deal with it the best you can. So a Stoic would have said something like this, look, you have no control over the troubles and difficulties that come into your life, but you do have control over how you view and respond to those troubles. According to the Daily Stoic website, those who follow this philosophy embrace nine core beliefs. I want to give you seven of them. Here's the first one. If you want a smooth flow in life, live according to nature. There's a logic to the way the universe works, not only physically, but morally. Live in accord with that logic. If you understand how gravity works, you don't jump off a cliff and expect to float upward. Number two, happiness is not found in things, but in virtue. It's all about the choices we make and the values we hold. Now that's biblical. Jesus said, beware and be on guard against every form of greed, for even when a man has great abundance, his life does not consist of his possessions. There's a third one. We don't control external events. We only control our thoughts, opinions, decisions, and duties. It's not what happens to us, but how we respond and react to what happens, which matters. Number four, we must eliminate toxic emotions. Responding in hope, fear, anger are always the worst strategies. Number five, we must remain a unified self. We can't complain or blame others for our situation. Number six, we've all been given inner resources that we need to thrive. And number seven, persist and resist. It's all about progress, not perfection. So the ideal Stoic would be like the character Mr. Spock in the 60s television program Star Trek. He was rational and logical and above all non-emotional. For the Stoics, facing life in calmness encourages what matters. And it's all a matter of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it really doesn't matter. And it wasn't just in facing life, but also death, that they encouraged people to keep a stiff upper lip, as the British would say. This was very popular among Roman soldiers, this belief system. Now, while we could agree with some of those core beliefs, others are patently false. Is it true that whatever the difficulties, hardships, and heartaches that come into your life, you already have the inner resources? to get through it? Hardly. I mean, how many times do we find David in the Psalms pleading, Help me, O Lord my God, save me according to your kindness. And as for the idea that you can be detached emotionally from the problems that you face, that's simply not the truth. Well, here we have a story filled with emotion. For a man whose son is at death's door comes begging Jesus for help. And rather than facing his problems with inner strength, he's faithing them by trusting in Christ. Well, today as we look at this story, we want to see how this man's faith grew, and not only in the healing of his son, but also led to the salvation of his soul. So let's pray and get into the text. Father God, I do pray for grace and mercy as we look at it. Open up our heart and mind, because we're all going to face heartaches and difficulties, and we need to do it by trusting in Christ. So give us that to that end, for we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, by the way, you might think I'm trying to make a pun with the word faithing, life's difficulties, but I looked it up. That is an actual word. It means to practice your faith. Well, there's a number of emotions that come forward in this story, and the first one that we find is curiosity. Curiosity. This is verse 43 to 44. Now, when I was working on my sermon, outlining the text, I was just sitting on my bed, writing on a notepad, and I thought, hmm, is curiosity actually an emotion? I hadn't asked this out loud. I wasn't on my phone at the time. But when I did a Google search typing in the words, is curiosity, the first thing that came up was an emotion. Now, I think it's strange and a little fearful that when I type things on my computer for my sermon, things will come up later on the internet, which means they monitor you. And I know that even having your phone near you, even if it's not on, they're listening to you. But when they start getting into your thoughts, that gets a little worrisome to me. You know, they say you're not paranoid unless they're really after you. Well, I guess there you go. By the way, the answer to that question is yes, curiosity can be considered emotion. According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, curiosity can have several meanings. One is an interest leading to an inquiry. As we saw earlier in chapter 3, the religious leader Nicodemus was interested in Jesus, trying to decide what to make of him. He came to inquire of him at night. But another definition they give is this, something that arouses interest, especially because of its uncommon or exotic characteristics. Susanna and I were recently at the Ringling Brothers Museum in Florida. When that circus had its sideshows of bearded women and three-legged men, those were curiosities. Well, sadly, for a lot of those people who were coming to see Jesus, it was like coming to a circus to see a religious sideshow. Hurry, hurry, step right up. See Jesus of Nazareth, miracle worker extraordinaire. Look what it says in verse 43 to 44. about Jesus and why the crowds came to him. It says, also went to the feast." Now some of the commentators struggle to understand how 44 and verse 43 come together. Jesus leaves Samaria, he goes into Galilee, and we're told that he did so because he himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. And yet when he gets to Galilee, the people receive him. So was Jesus wrong when he quoted this proverb and applied it to the Galileans? The people where he grew up? No, I think what John is telling us is that he went into the region of Galilee, but not specifically to his hometown of Nazareth. Because you remember when he had been there earlier, they gave him a very poor reception. Remember that when he was done speaking in the synagogue, it says in Mark 6, 2-6, many listeners were astonished. Saying, where did this man get these things? And what is this wisdom given to him? And such miracles as these performed at his hand. Is this not the carpenter? The son of Mary, and the brother of James, and Joseph, and Judas, and Simon? And are his sisters not with us?" And they took offense with him. Jesus said a prophet is not without honor except for in his own hometown, and among his own relatives, and his own household. And he could do no miracles there except for he laid his hand on a few sick people and healed them. And he wondered at their unbelief. I had a chance to quote this proverb earlier this week. My nephew texted me telling me he wanted to get together with me if I had time because there's some questions he wanted to ask me. Although he was raised in the church, I don't believe he's a Christian, but recently he bought a Bible and he's been reading it. Well, when we first sat down at the restaurant, he started by telling me that it was really hard for him to reach out to me to ask me these questions. And the questions really had to do with where he was at spiritually. I said, uh, why's that? And he said, well, you know, it's not like I have anything bad memories about you growing up or anything against you, but you're my uncle. I'm like, why would I talk to you for spiritual help? Well, John MacArthur, he's pastored for 56 years. He's written 131 books. He has a radio and internet ministry that's listened to by millions of people around the globe. I heard him say one time that one of his sons came up to him and said, dad, I got a question for you. What's that? Why are you a big deal? I don't get it. Well, Jesus' own brothers didn't believe in Him until after the resurrection. They say familiarity breeds contempt. Well, here the people are coming to Jesus because they've heard of and some have witnessed some of His miracles. It's good to be curious about Jesus. That's a place to start, but it's not enough. You don't honor Jesus by simply seeing Him as a miracle worker. The signs and the wonders that He performed were designed to make you consider and give thought to His claims. Well, the next emotion we see in the story is desperation. This is 46-47. "...therefore he came again to Canaan of Galilee, where he had made water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. And when he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and he was imploring him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death." Now, we're told this man was a royal official. That means he probably worked for Herod Antipas, the king who later was the one who killed John the Baptist. Usually those involved in politics have little time for religion except for to use it to further their own political ends. I've read two books recently on the faith of the presidents, the various presidents, and though all these presidents profess to be Christians, from my reading it seems that maybe perhaps one or two were actually born again Christians. Well, what drove this man to come to Jesus? It wasn't politics. It wasn't a desire to get his poll numbers up. For this man, it was personal. His son was dying. As Bob Dylan said, he was knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door, except for, at this point, you couldn't be sure that he was going to heaven once he passed through that door. For a lot of people, they just simply don't have time for God, because they don't see a need for God. But this guy was desperate. I have to say, by God's common grace, most people love their children. And the loss of a child is probably the most painful emotional experience a person can go through. Did you know that 75% of couples who lose a child end up divorcing? Abraham Lincoln lost two sons. Edward died when he was 4 years old and Willie died when he was 12. Lincoln said that the loss of a child is of such a nature that the only thing that can remove the pain is to have that child back. Charles Lindberg, the American aviator. His son was kidnapped from his crib. The kidnappers who took the boy demanded $50,000. That's a million dollars in today's currency. He would have given him every penny he had to get the toddler back. The ransom was paid, but the child was never returned. They discovered his body out in the woods. Compare that story to the kidnapping of the grandson of J. Paul Getty. The American oil tycoon. The grandson, John Paul Getty III, came up with a plan to fake his own kidnapping so that he could get ransom money that he was planning to share with some of his shady Italian friends who were going to help him pull off the plan. Well, he changed his mind, but the Italians didn't. They actually kidnapped him. Then they sent a letter to the family demanding $17 million. But the grandfather suspected it was a trick. So to convince him that they were not kidding, they sent him a package containing a lock of the teenager's hair and also his severed finger. They told him if the ransom wasn't paid, they would send him home bit by bit. But even after that, the grandfather said he would only pay out $2 million, and the rest the boy's father could borrow from him at a 4% interest rate. Most people are not that cold in calculating, and certainly this noble man wasn't. The next emotion we see in the text, though, is frustration. The Oxford Dictionary defines frustration as a feeling of being upset or annoyed, especially because of inability to change or achieve something. You might get frustrated with your co-workers at times, or your co-workers might get frustrated with you. You might get frustrated with your kids, or just the driver who's sitting in front of you who doesn't take off when the light turns green. When you read through the Gospels, you'll find there's a number of times that Jesus is frustrated. Sometimes it's with his disciples, sometimes with the crowd, sometimes with the religious leaders. The two things, though, that seem to bother him the most was the dullness of people's minds and the hardness of people's hearts. Well, here it's the latter, the hardness of heart, shown by their slowness to believe. We read in verse 48, Jesus said this, Well, that's kind of harsh, isn't it? A man's son is dying, he comes to him, throws to Jesus, throws himself down in front of his feet and begs him to heal his son, and he gets a rebuke. I mean, what gives? I mean, this man has at least enough faith to come to Jesus, believing that he could heal his son, otherwise he wouldn't seek him out. Now, it's important to see, though, who this rebuke was aimed at. When Jesus says, unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe, the you is in the plural. It's not directed so much against the man as the crowds who only have come to see the signs and the wonders. You know, many were religious spectators hoping to see a show rather than people sincerely seeking for the truth. And folks, it's the same today. Once you think about faith healers, the people who go to their crusades, are they there to hear the gospel? No, because clear presentations of the gospel are seldom given. What they want is health and wealth, and to be told that if they name it, they can claim it. Years ago, there was a man named John Wimber, part of the Vineyard Movement, who wrote a book entitled Power Evangelism. He argued that the problem with our evangelism today and why we get so little results is because we are missing an element that was there in Jesus and the disciples' ministry. That is the working of signs and wonders. Now, believing that Christians still are empowered today to do miraculous signs, he said that is the key in converting people. But think about it. Is that the case? Did those who were eyewitnesses of Jesus' miracles all come to believe in him? Listen to what it says in John 12, 36-38. While you have the light, Jesus is speaking, believe in the light, so that you might become sons of light. Then John tells us this, These things Jesus spoke, and he went away, and he hid himself from them. But though he had performed so many signs, they were yet not believing in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, which he spoke, saying, Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? You know, they say that seeing is believing. That's not always the case. In fact, with the supreme miracle that Jesus did, His resurrection, it didn't result in faith on the part of the religious leaders. They knew He rose from the dead. That's why they bought off the guards. But they still wouldn't believe. Paul later would write this, Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jew, a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles, foolishness. But to those who are being called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. It may be the case, though, that some are slow to see and understand and even slower to believe, but this man, all he knew is that he needed Jesus' help and he needed it now. It says in verse 49, the royal official said to him, Sir, come down before my child dies. So the next thing we see in the story, though, is a simple command. A simple command. In verse 50, Jesus said to him, Go, your son lives. Now, some pet owners are pretty good at training their dogs. They give the pooch a command and the dog obeys. Sit. Beg. Roll over. Fetch. But the commands have to be rather short and simple. I mean, it's not like you can say, hey, Fido, go out into my car, open up the glove compartment, look for my insurance card, and see if I'm insured until the end of the month. Here, Jesus gives a simple one-word command. Go. And then he gives the reason. Your son lives. Do you remember when we were looking at chapter 2, when they had the wedding at Canaan and they ran out of wine? Mary tells Jesus about the situation. Jesus said to her, Woman, what have I to do, or what does it have to do with us? My hour has not yet come. Now that's a rebuke, a gentle one, but a rebuke. But Mary isn't giving up hope that Jesus can somehow fix the problem. So she turns to the servants and says, Whatever he tells you to do, do it. Whatever your government tells you to do, Do it. Not if they tell you to embrace and celebrate sin, or close down your church for a year or two. Whatever your religious leaders tell you to do, do it. What if they're cult leaders like Jim Jones? 918 people obeyed him when he told them to drink Kool-Aid laced with cyanide. You can't give absolute, unconditional obedience to anyone other than God. In this case, God the Son. But think about it. This man was actually faced with a dilemma at this point. Jesus tells the man to go because his son lives. But what if he goes home and finds out that his son hasn't actually gotten any better? What if the boy dies even before he gets home? On the other hand, if he responds by saying, no, Jesus, I want you to come with me right now and lay hands on him so that I know for certain he's healed. If he did that, he would be saying, Jesus, I don't trust you and I don't trust what you just told me. You're either lying to me or mistaken. So if his son is healed, there's no need for Jesus to go. If he still insists Jesus comes, he doesn't believe Jesus' word. And Jesus' word is all that he had to go on. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus just to take him at his word. Just to rest upon his promise and to know, thus saith the Lord. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. And there was no other way for this guy to have his son healed. You came to Jesus because you believe He could heal your son. He just told you He has healed your son. But do you believe it? Jesus gave a simple command, and the next thing we see is an immediate response in this verse 50. The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he started off. Now, before he was facing life's troubles, but now he's faithing life's troubles. He was standing on the promises of God. And by the time he gets home, Mr. Royal Official, you're going to find out that when you stand on the promises of God and of Christ, you're standing on solid ground. Better yet, you're standing on the rock. Because it says in Isaiah 28, 16, I like the way the King James Version renders it. We're going to find in the next couple of verses how that fits with that. It brings us to our next point though, a display of power. This is verse 51. As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him. He is able, he is able, I know he is able, I know my Lord is able to carry me through. For he heals the brokenhearted, he sets the captives free, he made the lame to walk again, and he causes the blind to see. Jack Prescott, the bankruptcy lawyer, always ended his commercials with these words, I'm Jack Prescott, this is all I do, and I do it well. The people said of Jesus, you do with all things well. Jesus alone has the power to heal your body, change hearts, remake lives, restore broken relationships, return wayward children. Whatever troubles and problems you're facing today, He's there to give help and aid. That's why we sing songs like, I must tell Jesus all of my trials. I cannot bear these burdens alone. In my distress, he kindly will help me. He ever loves and cares for his own. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear these burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me. Jesus alone. What trials are you facing today? What are the burdens that you have to bear? Go to Jesus, ask Him for help, and then trust Him. A display of power. Finally, we find an experience of grace. Experience of grace. Now, remember just a moment ago, I said that the King James Version translates Isaiah 28-16 to read, He who believes in Him, meaning the stone, the Messiah, shall not be in haste. I want you to catch the time reference in this story. When did Jesus heal this boy? Well, it says it was at the 7th hour, which would make it 1 o'clock in the afternoon. And yet, this guy's getting home the next day? He met Jesus 10 miles from his house. And no doubt, as a royal official, he didn't walk there. He would have taken a chariot. And I had to look this up, but an ancient chariot could run at about 35 to 40 miles per hour. And so, if he had gone right home after Jesus spoke these words, he would have returned to his place in about 20 minutes. Why didn't he go home until the next day? It's because he who believeth does not need to make haste. He probably had some business to do there, and trusting Jesus' word, he went home leisurely. There's a Phoenix comic strip. Lucy and Linus are looking out the window, and it's just pouring outside, and Lucy says, boy, look at the rain. What if the whole world floods? Linus says, it'll never happen. In the ninth chapter of Genesis, God promised Noah that he would never again flood the earth, and the rainbow is a sign of that promise. Lucy, you've taken a great load off my mind. Linus, sound theology has a way of doing that. If you know who God is and what he's like, you're going to sleep better at night. This royal official started by believing Jesus could heal his son. He then believed when Jesus said that he had healed his son. And when the father knew that it was the hour that Jesus had said, your son lives, he himself believed along with his whole household. Some of you are sitting here who aren't Christians. I want to talk directly to you. God makes an offer that if you return from your sins and trust in Christ, as the payment for your sins, He would take away all your sins and impute Christ's righteousness to you, so that you could stand before Him justified and accepted. He's given His word. The only question is, do you believe it? Do you believe it enough that you would actually turn to Jesus, turn from your sins, and trust Him? You're either going to take Him at His word or you're not. And it wouldn't matter whether you saw a miracle or not. because it all comes down to this question, do you believe what he's saying? This man believed, and it not only resulted in healing for his son, but salvation for himself, his family, and his son. It always comes down to this question, do you believe? And if you're thinking, I can't make myself believe, couldn't you ask God to give you a heart to believe? Couldn't you ask him to forgive you? And couldn't you lay claim to the promise that He's made, just believing it? Yeah. Let's pray. Our Father God, is it this simple? We sinned, Jesus paid it all, all to Him we owe, and if we would just trust Him, He would forgive us of all our sins and give us eternal life as a free gift? Lord, hell is not only for those who are wicked, it's for those who are stupid. How could anyone turn down that offer? Father God, I do pray for grace and mercy. There are going to be people listening to this over the internet and over the radio who have never heard the gospel message. I pray that you would transform them even today through this. And for those of us who have heard it time and time again, Lord, help us bank everything that we have in our life on these great truths. For we ask now in Jesus' name, Amen.