Join us now for the chapel hour, coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Our speaker is Dr. Sid Cates, principal of Bob Jones Academy. The title of his message is Three Steps to Salvation. The text is from John chapter 4, verse 46. Alright, John chapter 4. Now this is an interesting story. As a matter of fact, This is a true story that occurred in the life of Christ that we have listed for us here in the in the gospel of John, but it's not mentioned anywhere else in scripture. When I was a student at Clemson, one of the things I did and I did later on while I was principal academy and preach the series of lessons on old taste and see that the Lord is good. And I talked about the jewels the Holy Spirit put into the the gospels and to take one little set in the gospel, one little portion. The Schofield Bible breaks it down very well into small little parables and segments in the life of Christ and read it over and just mull over what's being said like you would a good steak. Just taste and see how good the Lord is and then ask the Lord to tell you exactly or ask you to say, why did you put that in the scripture? Of all the things that happened in the life of Christ, hundreds if not thousands of things, why were just a few hundred actually put, a few dozen actually, really put in the four Gospels? Why was it put there by the Holy Spirit if it wasn't to teach us something? And so when I was at Clemson, I would read portions like this and then pray and say, Lord, help me to understand why did you put that portion of Scripture in there? And I want to share with you one of these jewels, one of these instances in the life of Christ. And we're going to mull it over this morning and taste and see that the Lord is good. It's found in John chapter four and begins in verse forty six. It's called the nobleman's son. Heal is a reference that Schofield puts into his word here. And let me tell you the story and then we'll read some of the verses. Jesus had up to this time performed a number of miracles. We know that he had been in Canaan of Galilee, which is the cities in now, and had turned water into wine at the wedding feast. You recall that that miracle that was the first miracle. He also had preached it to Jerusalem at the past over there. He had performed many miracles there. He had spoken to the lady at the well and told her all things that she had done. And of course, she went back to her country and told this man who knew all things that she had done. So we had gotten around the countryside that this man was a healer and this man was unusual. And he just might be the Messiah that the prophet Moses and the prophets had talked about in the Old Testament. Well, there was a very rich man, probably a general in the army. A man who certainly would dine with the king. We don't know his name. We just know he's a nobleman. And he lives in a city which is about 20 miles from Canaan and Galilee, a city called Capernaum. And he hears that Jesus, this miracle performer, has come to the city of Canaan about 20 miles away. Now, the unusual thing about this story is that the nobleman has a son that is about to die. And perhaps even this day that he decides to walk 20 miles from Capernaum to Canaan in Galilee, perhaps the doctor that morning or so, if they had physicians back then, would tell him that your son probably will not live out the day. He certainly will not live very long. This is a desperate man, a rich man, a desperate man. And so he walks to Canaan of Galilee, where he hears this Jesus of Nazareth is to be found. And he goes there and he goes up to Jesus of Nazareth and he says, Sir, he says, come down to my house and heal my son, for he's about to die. And the Lord said to him, except you see signs and miracles and wonders and healings, you will not believe. He said, Sir, come down to my house, lest my son die. And the Lord says, go your way. Your son now liveth. God healed his son. Christ healed his son at that very moment. And the man turned around and he began to walk the 20 miles back home. And along the way back home, he runs into some of his servants who said, master, master, you won't believe it, but your son is now going to live. He's come out of his fever. He is now healed. And the man said, about what hour did this occur? And he said about the seventh hour. And the man, the nobleman, the rich man realized that that was exactly the same time that Christ had said, go your way, your son. He lived. And the Bible says that this man believed then on the Lord Jesus Christ and his whole house. Now, we're going to take and look at some of the verses in this portion of scripture here found in John chapter four. And we're going to look at each one of these verse, a couple of these verses here, because we're going to see that it's the exact plan of salvation that you went through when you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Three steps that we see here that this nobleman took with Jesus Christ in order to be saved and it's the same for all rich or poor reminds me a little bit of the. A portion of scripture found in Matthew 19, where it says a rich young ruler came to Christ and said, Master, I would like to be saved. And Christ said to him, well, you have to keep the commandments. And he named some of the commandments there. And you rich young man said to him, he said, well, yes, yes, I've kept all the commandments. No problem whatsoever. And Christ says to him, well, then go sell all that you have and give to the poor. He didn't do that. And Christ made this interesting statement. He said, you know, it's hard for a rich man. It's hard for a rich man to get into heaven. In other words, they have so much here. What do they need with Christ? And here is a good example. Sometimes the Bible is the best commentary on itself. And here's a good example of a rich man who comes to Christ. All have to come to Christ the same way. Now let's take a look at some of the verses here. Verse 46, it says, So Jesus came again unto Canaan of Galilee, where he had made the water into wine. And we, of course, recall that. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum, 20 miles away. When he had heard that Jesus came out of Judea unto Galilee, he went under him and besaw him. When he had heard, when the nobleman had heard of God's works, When he had heard of his miracles, he thought, well, just maybe this might be the Messiah. I remember when I was growing up, I had a cousin. His name was Travis. He was the oldest of all the cousins. And when he was born, the doctor dropped the baby and landed on his head. Travis landed on his head. And from then on out, he lived in a crib, as old as I can remember. He lived until he was about 16 years old. He finally passed away. He never walked. He never talked. He drank from a bottle his whole time. They continued to make the crib larger and larger because he grew. His legs were probably no bigger than my thumb. It was just very small legs. They crimped up. And I would sometimes go see Travis and feel bad. And one day, we were watching TV, and at that time, there was an evangelist who would go across the country. I think he's still living, that would go across the country and he would set up a tent. And at that particular time, people would come and they would be healed. And I remember seeing that on TV and one Sunday we were watching that and we found that this evangelist was going to come to Raleigh. Now I was raised on a tobacco farm not far from Raleigh in eastern North Carolina. And so we decided that we were going to go to see this televangelist and take Travis, that maybe something could be done. Because we believe the works that this man was doing. And we went, they met with some of the pre folk that are there and they found out that no, he was too far gone that this evangelist could not heal him. But we'd heard of the works of this evangelist. We decided we were going to go try and see if Travis could be healed. This man had heard of Christ's works and he believed in Christ's works. But you know, it's not enough to believe in the works that Christ has done. It's not enough just to say this creed that we believe that God inspired the Bible. It's not enough to believe that he came in the flesh, born of a virgin, born a miraculous birth, lived a life that is sinless, that he healed many, that he walked on this earth and was tempted in every point such as we are, but without sin. It's not hard for us to believe that he died on the cross and he rose again after three days. It's not hard for us to believe that at all. We believe in God's works. This nobleman believed in God's works, but it's not enough just to believe in God's works. And when he had heard that Jesus was come out of Judea and the Galilee, verse 47, he went unto him and besought him. And he said, come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Come down and heal my son. This is a man who could have sent one of his runners up to bring Christ down to Capernaum if he wanted to. He was rich enough. He was probably powerful enough to order Jesus to come to Capernaum. But no, he was humble enough that he went to Galilee, to Canaan of Galilee, and there to meet this one because he believed in his works. He believed in what he was doing. And he said, listen, will you come down and heal my son? You know, it's interesting to say, come down. Remember that many times when we pray, we want God to do exactly what we ask him to do. Come and do this, Lord. Heal my mother. Give me this car. Give me this tuition money. Give me this. Give me this. And many times we forget to pray. Thy will would be done. Recognize this. That the greatest, one of the greatest prayers on this earth would have to be the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul, you know, when he prayed would get hold of the throne. And in 2 Corinthians, it says that Paul prayed and beseeched the throne three times, three times to take a thorn out of his flesh. Three times he prayed that. And I'm going to tell you, as I said, this was no lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep kind of prayers. Paul got hold of the throne. He shook the throne when he prayed and he prayed three times. And God's answer was, Paul, no, I'm not going to take this thorn away. It was not God's will to take it away, but God did say this and it gave him the grace to accept the thorn that was put in his flesh. And we have to recognize that we sit down and we pray and we know those verses. We pray those verses. If we pray thy name, believe in it will take God. If we have but the faith of a grain of mustard seed, he can move mountains calling to me and I will hear thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. And sometimes we pray and we ask and we ask without really going on to say, but I will be done and give us the grace to accept. I will when it's different from what we want. Sometimes it's not God's will for him to do what he wants us to do. We have to pray God's will. And he said, come down and heal my son. Let's do it this way, sir. He'd always commanded and he's commanding the Lord to come down and do it. And the Lord said this to him. Jesus said, except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. In other words, you want to see some kind of miracles before you believe. Christ did not come into this earth to seek and to save that which needs to be healed. Christ came into this earth to seek and to save that which is lost, that which needs to be saved, that's why Christ came. And so you missed the whole point, I came to help you to believe, I came to give you a way of salvation, not simply to heal, except you see signs and wonders that you will not believe. I was talking to someone the other day, Dr. Taylor And I own county council and somebody had called about some concerns they had about spending of finances in the county. And they wanted to know why some fat cats were getting money and they were poor all through Greenville County. And why wouldn't we be concerned with the poor first before these fat cats get extra money, raises? And then the person who's talking to me said, you know, sort of like Bob Jones, where you work. And it's kind of like, you know, they get out there and they just winning souls, winning souls, but they're people who are hungry. They don't seem to care about people's stomach. All they care about is their heart. And, you know, when it comes right down to it, if all we cared about was their stomach, they could go to hell with a full stomach. But you have to reach their heart first. Sure, you have to feed. Sure, you have to work on the physical. But reaching their heart first is the most important element. And that's all Christ is saying, except you hear, see the wonders and so forth, he said, then you won't believe it was kind of a mild rebuke to him. But the nobleman consisted. He kept on persisting. He kept on asking, just as Christ told us to do. He asked again, the nobleman said unto him, sir, and this time the commentaries say that he recognized with this word, sir, that this is someone special. Maybe this indeed is the Messiah that Moses and the prophets talked about, sir. Come down, ere my child die. Does he not know that this is the God Who can heal the dead if one should die? Does he not know the story of Elijah, who brought a young lad up from the grave, a lad who had died and brought him back to life? Surely this Messiah is greater than Elijah. Did he not realize that he did not have to go down 20 miles to heal his son? I mean, this is the guy that spoke the universe into existence in six days. This is the Messiah, the God, the part of the train that simply thought the Red Sea to be parted. And it was parted or held the sun in the sky for an extra 24 hours. He doesn't need to go down to Capernaum 20 miles away to heal this. And if he did die, he could raise him from the dead. Even though this man had a lot of faith, he didn't have complete faith. This indeed was. the Messiah, and so he warned him, please come down, lest my son die. And, you know, I think at this point. I think the heart of Jesus. And I don't know how to think like a God can, I can think like a man. The heart of God probably went out to a father who was pleading for his son to live. I remember when My youngest child, April, who teaches in the academy, was about one. Someone loaned us a recreational vehicle, and we went up to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. And we were at this recreational place, and I went out to the pool with my two girls, my oldest daughter, Christy, and I went into the middle of the pool. There were a lot of people there, and I sat April on the edge of the pool, dangling her feet in the water. And I remember turning around. It's just as vivid, and this got me 30-something years ago. It's as vivid as it was yesterday. I turned around and I saw her under the water. And I was a good 20 yards away from her. And I remember trying to get to my daughter and the water was pushing against me and there were people in the way and I just had to get to my daughter and pull her out from under the water. layer upon layer and she strangled a little bit, but everything's OK. But I'll never forget the desperation that I had. I had to get to my daughter. And I can't think like a God, but maybe this is what Christ thought, this is a man who's desperate. Maybe he thought ahead a few years to the time where he was going to be in the garden. And be there. on his face there in the garden praying, take this cup from me. You know, God, the father had to be there. And maybe he could see the father and and the turmoil, the desperation of seeing a son who was begging that this cup be taken from him. Three times he begged the cup be taken. His dad had to be there. God, the father had to be there. And he said no. And hanging on the cross, my God, my father, why have you forsaken me? Turned his back on his own son. Maybe his thoughts went to that. He's God. He knew those things were going to take place. But he saw a loving father. And I don't know, but he says these words next. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way, thy son liveth. He did not say angels, would you please go to Capernaum and heal this son? Did he say anything? Did he pray a prayer? Did he put his hand? Nothing was done. It just occurred. The thought made it occur. God's ways are higher than our ways. And notice this, we've already said that he believed in God's works. Now, it's he believes in God's word and the man believe the word that Jesus has spoken to him in his way. This past weekend, my daughter and wife and I went to I think it's called Copper River, Cooper River or something in Greer, it's a restaurant. Sit down and I talked to a boy who was our way. I do this a lot. Always ask the waitress if you died right now, you know, you go to heaven. And he said, he said, well, since you asked me the question, let me just tell you something. He sat down and he began to talk about how he grew up in a pastor's house. And I said, I'm not talking about you growing up, not talking about your father. I'm talking about you and what Christ did for you. He said, I've memorized those verses where God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. I got a little Bible for doing that. I know those things. He says, I take my two sisters who live with me now to City View Baptist Church here in town. He said, I take them to church with me and I know what goes on in that church, but I don't want to be a part of it. It's not about you. It's about what Christ has done for you. He believed in God's works. He believed in God's word. But it's not enough to just believe in Christ's works or believe in Christ's word. You have to believe. For God so loved the world, that boy said. He gave his only begotten son, whosoever believeth in him. Well, anyway, it says that he believed his word and then he went his way. He put feet to his prayer because he believed it. I believe it's true. He said it. Therefore, it's true. And he went his way. And the Bible says he was now going down, his servants met him saying, thy son liveth. And then he didn't say, are you kidding me? This is amazing. All he said was, when did it happen? Because I know it happened. I believe his word. I believe his works. I believe him. But still not enough salvation. And then he inquired of them the hour in which he began to amend or he was well, and they said to him yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him. Yesterday, at exactly the same time that Jesus said, go, thy son liveth, his fever went away. So the father knew. A lot of things we know, but one of the things we do know As if we believe on Christ, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, we know that we believe on Christ. Salvation is there. The father knew that it was the same hour in which Jesus said in him, my son lived and he himself believed. The same word that's used in John 316, he now is saved. He believed his works, but it wasn't enough. He believed his word, but it wasn't enough. And now he trusted in Christ. The beautiful part of it is, it goes on to say, and his whole house. Mind you, the Philippian jailer, doesn't it? Who was born again and his house. When the father saved, we see a home that is changed. The jewels of a nobleman who comes to Christ. Ask for healing of his son. I told you when I would read these, Clemson, I would ask Lord, why did you put that in there? Did you put that in there just to give us a historical episode that occurred in your life? Maybe. I don't believe that. Is it to show us that a rich man can be saved because he's he'll say in Matthew 19, we talked about it earlier. It's hard for a rich man to be put in and show a rich man. I don't think so. Did he put that in there to show us the three steps of salvation? No, I don't think that either. I'm going to tell you why I thought, at least for the time that I first read it, because I've got it written in my old Bible, these words here. And that is some of the greatest blessings come out of times of affliction. Here, the son was almost dying. What a great affliction. But because of that problem, he was saved and his house. The cross was a great affliction, but looking back, what a blessing. Whatever is taking place in your life today for a Christian, the afflictions that come to us can be the greatest blessings. I'll tell you, as I told somebody just the other day who had a problem with a boyfriend. And I said to her, I said, you know, the problems you're going through today, God is allow it so you can say, no, remember this and never forget it. So you can say to someone else, God put me through that, too. I walked in your shoes and truly mean it. I know what you're going through. The afflictions we go through many times can turn into a blessing, not just for us. but for others. For a cassette or compact disc copy of today's message, send a check for $6 to Campus Store, Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina 29614. Be sure to mention the name of the speaker and today's date. The Chapel Hour has been sponsored by Bob Jones University.