Saving faith in Jesus illuminated

Father, we ask that you would gently but deeply and powerfully pour out your Holy Spirit upon us now as we open your word.

Father, we confess before you that we hide from you, that we run from you, that we judge you, that we turn our backs on you.

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

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

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

Amen.

Amen.

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

But Catherine Kuhlman was a sort of a fascinating woman and she had an evangelistic ministry and she was a little bit like a female Benny Hinn.

She went around doing miracles, like miracle services and I had only been a Christian for about a year or two and she came to Ottawa and at the time I had a summer job.

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

So, back then, if you had had a parking ticket that year, my hands were on it at one point in time.

I moved it from one pile to another. I can't remember what I did.

But anyway, so Catherine Kuhlman was coming and I'll be honest, I wanted to go and see a miracle.

I'll be honest, that's what I wanted to do.

I mean, that's how it was advertised, she was famous, I wanted to go see a miracle.

I know, yeah, anyway, so I did.

So, I went, there was a huge lineup and she filled like 10,000 people, 12,000 people, the Scotiabank place or whatever it's called now, wasn't built.

And so, it was the old, you know, the underneath the Lansdowne Park, whatever that used to be called.

And she filled that place and she's very dramatic and very flowery.

And, you know, she had people coming up saying that miracles happened, but I didn't see anything happened.

And I have to confess, I was very disappointed.

This is just me sharing it with you. I was disappointed.

When I got to work, during the, over the course of the May and June, the people in the office had discovered that I was a Christian.

There were about 10 of us in the office. I was the only Christian.

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

Or I guess when they'd maybe done something really bad and they felt guilty.

But they basically, they didn't say they were Christians.

They said they might have been Catholic.

But anyway, so it came up that they knew that I was a Christian and somehow or another it had come up and they'd asked me different questions.

And about a week or so after the Catherine Kuhlman event, it came up that one of the guys had gone to the Catherine Kuhlman event.

And I said, oh, what did you think of it?

He said, well, it was the weirdest thing, he said.

I was sitting beside a woman and the woman had a disfigured arm.

And as Catherine Kuhlman prayed, the arm went straight and I saw it.

And I said, inwardly, I'm going, wow, I wish that was me.

And he said, it was the darndest thing.

And I said, well, what do you think it meant?

I don't know.

It's the darndest thing.

Did you go to, like, are you interested in Jesus?

No.

It was the darndest thing.

That's all he kept saying.

It was the darndest thing.

He was a, you know, one of those proper people of the old school who would never have said the DA, you know, the rest of it.

He'd said darndest all the way.

And the rest of the summer, he had no interest in talking to me about Christianity.

To my knowledge, he never went to church once afterwards, but he saw what I want.

He saw a miracle.

Didn't do a difference to him at all.

Now, I never saw him again afterwards.

Who knows?

Maybe he became a Christian later.

But it made no impact on him other than that was the darndest thing.

And I have had, over the years, I have had many, many people say to me, George, if God wanted me to believe in him, all he'd have to do is just do a miracle in front of me and I'd believe him.

Like, if God wanted, like, if God either doesn't exist or he doesn't want me to believe in him because he doesn't do a miracle in front of me.

I've had many people say that.

And I have to confess, there's been times in my life I've wanted God to do some type of a miracle because I thought it would help my faith.

So what's going on with all of this type of story?

Like, many of us have this thing.

Many of you could relate to it.

Many of you might say you wish you could see a miracle.

Maybe some of you have seen a miracle.

I've actually had, maybe I'll tell you later on about it, I actually have more than once, but one very dramatic time that there was a miracle.

But what's going on with our desire for miracles?

Why is it that sometimes it just seems as if God doesn't do anything?

Well, the story that happens in John's gospel is very helpful for us to understand what goes on with God, what he does, what he does, and why he doesn't do what he doesn't do.

So if you turn to John chapter 4, we're going to read this story.

John 4 · chapter mention

And it goes like this.

So remember what I just said a little bit earlier, in the beginning of John chapter 4, God leads Jesus into a place where the people are semi-pagan, semi-Jewish, half-Jewish, half-Jewish, half-Pagan.

John 4 · chapter mention

And they've been at enmity with the Jewish people, and the Jewish people have been at enmity with them for 800 years.

There's an 800-year-long argument, and God sends Jesus into Samaria.

He ends up initiating a conversation with a woman at the well.

She ends up coming to believe in him, and she witnesses to the crowd, the village, many in the village come.

And after two days of talking with Jesus, in verse 42, they say to the woman, John chapter 4, verse 42, they say to the woman,

John 4:42

It is no longer because what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.

And after two days, the two days, he'd spent two days with them, he departed for Galilee.

For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.

So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast.

Now just sort of pause there.

Some of you are probably a little bit puzzled.

Why does it say that he's not having any honor, and why does it say they welcome him?

And is that a bit of a contradiction or what's going on?

Well, it's a very, very important part of the story, which is going to be developed as we go on.

But here's the first thing.

If you could put the first point up, Andrew, that would be very helpful.

The very important thing is that Jesus goes to where he is not honored.

It's actually a really significant thing.

We Canadians tend to think that, in fact, actually, we don't honor, I mean, you know, we just sort of, we want to go where we're honored.

We don't like going where we're not honored.

But Jesus intentionally goes to where he knows he is not being honored.

And he doesn't go with a big stick.

He doesn't go to sort of say, I'm going to beat these people up.

I'm going to overwhelm them.

I'm going to do things to force them to honor me.

But it's just very significant that he goes where he's not honored.

And it's an important thing for us to understand about the gospel, that what the gospel is all about,

it is not about the human race crying out to God and saying, God, why are you abandoning us?

Why are you leaving us all alone?

Father, why are you doing this?

Please come to us.

We desperately need you to come to us.

The gospel is not all about human beings crying out to God and saying, God, you know, please stop doing whatever you're doing.

Stop just spending all your time with the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Please come down to us.

It's not like that at all.

The heart of the gospel is that human beings do not honor God.

And because we don't honor him, we don't really want God to come as God.

But he comes anyway.

And in the previous story, if you go back earlier, one of the things which we talked about this a little bit last week,

is that it's not the case that human beings are really seeking after God,

but human beings, we hide amongst our idols.

We turn our back on God.

We walk away from God.

We run away from God.

And God seeks us.

The question never is for us to say to God, God, why is it that you have no interest in us?

The question always should be, Father, why is it that I'm hiding from you amongst my idols?

Because you are seeking me.

And here we see this lesson continue to be taught, that Jesus willingly is going to where he is not honored, but he is welcomed.

He's welcomed, but he's not honored.

That's an important part of the dynamic of the story.

But Jesus comes to us even when he is not initially honored.

So, now some of you, you know, might say, okay, George, that's, well, that's sort of a very curious thing.

I'm going to be interested to see how this all sort of, you know, all sort of develops out.

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

You know, in fact, I like going places where I'm welcomed.

And, but, you know, if you think about it for a second, and the word here, honor, doesn't mean that it's not like when Charlie comes here and we all go, oh, oh, oh.

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

And if that's not going to happen, he's not coming, you know.

And it's not like that at all.

But it's a matter of recognizing you for who you are.

That's, you see, that's sort of what is at the heart of this particular story.

So, like, for instance, in one of the things which is complicated in relationships is, you know, when I first asked my wife out on a date,

what happens in dates is you start to try to get to know the other person, yet you have an impression about the other person.

And maybe you try to make, obviously, you try to make a good impression on your date.

But as you're going on, it's not, what you really want in a marriage is you're looking for somebody who you believe that you can start to reveal who you are to them

and that they will respect and honor who it is that you are.

And in a marriage, we want somebody that we can reveal ourselves to, at least begin to reveal ourselves to,

and they can begin to reveal themselves to us, and that we know them as they are.

But if, in my relationship with Louise, I always relate to her in terms of thinking that she's like a different type of person,

that's not going to build the relationship at all whatsoever.

And so the dynamic that's going on in the text isn't that Jesus is sort of forcing himself to be honored,

but he recognizes that they welcome him, but they welcome him in the same way that we might be very excited to find out

that a really good magician was going to be able to be here and do all sorts of works of wonder.

And Jesus just, he knows that they are trying to get something out of him, they just want to be dazzled,

they just want to be amazed, that there's other deeper heart things going on,

but fundamentally, they haven't caught on as to what the miracles mean and what his teaching means.

But he goes there anyway.

So what happens?

Well, that goes on in verse 46.

So he came to Cana in Galilee where he had made the water wine,

and at Capernaum, there was an official whose son was ill.

So Capernaum is about 35 kilometers downhill from Cana.

And verse 47,

When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee,

the man went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son,

for he was at the point of death.

The son was at the point of death.

So Jesus said to him,

And it's really important that you notice that what Jesus says here now is a plural you.

Jesus makes a general comment about the people in Galilee.

And it's a surprising comment, and it's a bit of an offense to the man and to the people who are listening.

Or it's a very, they would probably take it as an offense.

It's not meant as a compliment.

It's meant as a description of what's going on in their lives, and it isn't good.

And he says this,

Unless you, or unless all you all, if you're from South Carolina or Georgia,

or unless yous, if you're from Northern Ireland,

unless yous see signs and wonders,

yous will not believe.

It's not a good thing.

And the official responds to this by saying,

Sir, come down before my child dies.

Now, first of all, why is it that Jesus says,

here is on one level, Jesus is performing miracles,

but he says to them,

unless you see signs and wonders,

you will not believe.

Well, first of all, if you think about it,

the story that I began with, the fellow who worked in the office,

he saw, from my point of view, quite a dramatic miracle,

and it appeared to make no difference to him whatsoever.

But there's sort of a different heart issue which is going on here,

and if you could put up the next slide, Andrew,

it would be very helpful.

And the deeper issue that's going on,

even the issue of seeing signs and wonders,

is I think I have the criteria to judge and evaluate God,

but God always ignores my criteria.

I think I have the criteria to judge and evaluate God,

but God always ignores my criteria.

So this is a very, very common problem for many people today in our culture.

Unless God, like if it really is God,

God will bless the gay movement,

or he'll bless the transsexual movement,

or just in general, he'll bless the sexual revolution.

Like the real God wouldn't do something

that's going to interfere with how I want to express myself

or identify myself sexually.

For many people, if you read academic commentaries,

at the heart of academic commentaries is this idea

that if it's going to really be God,

it's going to have to be some type of event

that has multiple sources in non-biblical materials

that allow it to be shown to actually have been happening in history,

or that if it really is God,

it's just going to be something private in my heart.

And for many of us,

we might have to say that if it's going to be something that's coming from God,

it has to have not sort of a certain type of shape of the wisdom of the world,

but it has to be some type of overwhelming thing.

Like the people who said,

if God really wanted me to believe in him,

the criteria is that if God really is God,

that he has to perform the miracle in front of me.

We have some type of criteria

by which we think we can judge and evaluate

whether God is really God,

or whether he is in fact up to our standards.

Because that's what's at heart of it,

that we have certain standards to keep,

and God has to meet them.

And one of the things that the Bible reveals about God

is that God is completely and utterly untameable.

He's good, but he's untameable.

And God isn't like,

if you come to my house,

Louise has trained our German shepherd

to close the door

when Rocky comes in.

She'll say,

so Rocky comes in the house,

the door is open,

and she says,

Rocky, close the door.

And it's really funny

because Rocky has also trained Louise.

In the sense that Rocky then goes

and sits down

and puts his butt against the door.

And he never closes the door

all the way the first time.

He closes it,

but there's still about this much.

And he looks at Louise,

and Louise has to say a second time,

Rocky, close the door

all the way.

And then Rocky closes the door

all the way,

and then he trots over

to where he knows

he's going to get a cookie from Louise.

As a bit of an aside,

sometimes when I'm there on my day off,

Rocky keeps wanting to go out,

and I say,

Louise, he's only going out

to get cookies.

He keeps wanting to go out

because he knows if he comes in,

he closes the door,

he gets a cookie.

And when it's minus 30,

and I'm grumpy,

and I don't,

I have dogs,

not because I like dogs,

but because I love Louise,

and Louise loves dogs,

so that's why we have dogs.

That's why I have dogs.

I'm not a dog person,

but I married a dog person,

and I love my wife,

so I have dogs.

Anyway,

so I get a bit grumpy about it,

but the dog is trained,

Louise,

but God's not like that.

That's why God just ignores

our criteria.

And in fact,

he is not going to allow

us to continue

to have the attitude

that somehow or another

we deign,

we say,

well, God,

I guess you're worthy

of hanging out with me

because of all the miracles

you've done

or because you have

my views on politics

because I can now tell

you don't like Trump

or you do like Trump

or you do miracles

or you like the gay movement

or you don't like

the gay movement

or whatever it is.

He ignores our criteria.

If you could put up

the next point, Andrew,

I am not God's superior

or is equal

that I can judge him.

I am a creature

in need of health

and salvation

from my creator.

That's who I am.

I am not God's superior

or is equal

that I can judge him

or evaluate him.

I am a creature

in need of health

and salvation

from my creator.

And if you could put up

the next point, Andrew,

saving faith

does not set up

conditions for God

to meet.

It responds to God

as he chooses

to make himself known

by word and action.

Right?

Saving faith

does not set up

conditions for God

to meet.

It responds to God

as he chooses

to make himself known.

And by the way,

see, God is no different.

This is just how it works

for us as human beings.

I can tell you

if I had met Louise

the first time

and I began the date

by saying,

well, Louise,

I have certain criteria.

You have to reach

my standards

before I'm going to ask you

out on a second date.

That first date

would have ended

right then

if I communicate to her

that, you know,

I have these very high standards

and I have a checklist

to see if you're going

to meet them.

End of the thing.

So why is it

that we can't do that

with human beings

on a date

but we somehow

unconsciously think

we can do it

with God?

Even if the criteria

are very noble

or spiritual criteria

like the ability

of him to perform

signs and wonders.

It doesn't work

with Louise.

It definitely

doesn't work

with God.

He says,

I ignore your criteria.

So what's happening

in this story

is that Jesus

makes this general comment

and that people

only seem to want

to see him

perform signs

and wonders.

They only welcome him

so that they

can see signs

and wonders.

And so the Roman official

who's come to have

his son healed

and really at this point

in time

the man doesn't

have any faith.

I had an uncle.

His name is Uncle Joe.

My favorite uncle.

He died of cancer

about 20 years ago.

My Uncle Joe

was a meat

and potatoes

type of guy.

And it was meat

and potatoes.

type of guy.

And preferably

with gravy

and all sorts

of butter

or something

on the vegetables

and gravy.

He was a meat

and potatoes guy.

But when he got cancer

and it was some

very bad prognosis,

he and his,

he and my

Aunt Lillian,

they scoured

the internet

and stuff like that

and for a brief while

he was on all sorts

of very kooky

and extreme diets.

Anything to try

to make himself

better.

But they didn't work

and now he's in glory.

He's a very devout

Christian.

He's now with Jesus.

But what this man is,

he's not really

seeking signs

and wonders.

He's just doing

what any of us

would do

if we had something

like an operable cancer

or a kid had

an operable cancer

and if we heard

that there was

a treatment in Mexico

or there was

a treatment in California

or there was

a special diet

that worked.

We just want our kid

to live

and we're willing

to try it.

And Jesus makes

this other comment

and the man responds

in verse 46.

We'll read it again.

The official said

to him,

Sir,

come down

before my child dies.

In verse 50,

Jesus says to him,

Go,

your son will live.

Go,

your son will live.

And in other words,

it's a command.

The implication

is not to go away

but to go home.

That's sort of implied.

Go,

your son will live.

And the man

believed the word

that Jesus spoke to him

and went on his way.

We'll just sort of

pause here.

One of the interesting

things about the Bible

is it doesn't describe

what goes on

in the man's heart.

And I don't know

if he just sort of

stands there

and looks at Jesus

for quite a while

or if he just

immediately goes.

But Jesus says

this surprising thing

to him.

Go,

your son will live.

And then the man

believes what Jesus

says.

I don't know if he just

somehow senses

that there's some

power or authority

there.

He himself has never

seen Jesus

perform a miracle.

But there's something

in Jesus' speech

and we don't know

if he immediately

goes or spends

some time

but he does it.

He begins the

35 kilometer trek

downhill

to go back

to where his son is.

And verse 51,

as he was going down

his servants

met him

and told him

that his son

was recovering.

So the man

asked them the hour

when he began

to get better.

So the man

hasn't kissed

his brains goodbye.

He's really curious.

So he said,

well,

when did this happen?

And they said

to him,

yesterday,

so he would have

had to sort of

probably slept

over somewhere,

begun the journey,

slept over somewhere,

continued on the next day.

They say,

yesterday at the

seventh hour,

one o'clock

in the afternoon,

the fever left him.

The father knew

that was the hour

when Jesus had said

to him,

your son will live.

And he himself

believed

in all his household.

This was now

the second sign

that Jesus did

when he had come

from Judea

to Galilee.

And the implication

of the text here

is that what this man

does is he now

has saving faith.

Now,

by the way,

this is a very,

very encouraging thing

for each one of us.

This man does not

know very much theology.

And Jesus hasn't

died on the cross

for him yet.

And he has no idea

about theories

of propitiation.

He has no ideas

about theories

of atonement.

He just,

he doesn't know

all of these things.

But what he's,

what he's done

is he's honored,

trusted,

and obeyed Jesus

for who he is

to the extent

that he understands

him at that time.

He,

he has this basic sense

that Jesus

has the authority

and the ability

that he is,

he's not just ordinary,

he believes

in a saving way.

In fact,

see,

one of the things

which is remarkable

about this,

so I'll tell you

my most dramatic

miracle story.

Not that,

and my faith

isn't based on it.

I was in my country parish

and I was in a,

Eganville,

and I was on call

for the minister

in Renfrew.

And Renfrew

was a half hour drive.

The hospital

was a half hour drive.

And I got a call

at about 7.30

in the morning

on a Sunday

because I was on call

for the minister

on holidays

and they said,

there's a man,

he's going to die.

We almost didn't even

call you

because he's about

to die,

but the family

have asked

that I call you

and that you could

come down

and give him

the last rites.

And I said,

I'm really sorry,

I have a service

in 15 minutes

and after that

I have another service

at 9,

another service

at 11.

The earliest

I can possibly

come down

is about 1 or 1.30

this afternoon.

And they said to me,

well,

we really insist,

the family really wants you.

And I said,

I'm really,

really sorry,

I can't leave

all of my services

to go down.

I'll say a prayer

for him

and I'll call you

after my last service

and if he's still

hanging on

I'll come right down

to be with him.

And so I prayed

for the man

and then I did

my services

and we mentioned him

in all of the prayers.

12.30 or whatever it was

when my 11 o'clock

service was finished

I called him up

and he said,

he's still hanging on,

we can't believe

that he's still hanging on,

the family's exhausted,

could you still come down?

I said,

sure,

I'll come down.

They said,

he might be dead

by the,

we don't even like calling now,

we're amazed he's still alive,

you might very well

come down for nothing.

They said,

I'll come down.

I come down,

the family's still there,

I say a few words to them

and I always pray

what I always pray,

I pray over the man,

I said,

Father,

this man is close to death

but I ask that

if it still is your will

that you would bring him healing

and if you don't bring him healing

of his body,

Father,

he's unconscious,

he can't hear me

but I know that Jesus can be

underneath this coma

and Jesus can meet him

in his coma

so Father,

even if you do not heal his body,

may your son Jesus

be present with him

where he is,

where we can't reach him

and may Jesus,

may you bring,

may you minister to him

at this time,

may he be prepared

to see you face to face

but if it is your will

may you heal him

and I say amen

and the man said,

thank you very much

and his wife and daughter

started crying

and I can tell you right then

they weren't interested

in me anymore

because they hugged

their husband and their dad

and they hugged their husband

and their dad

and he lived another three years

so that's my miracle story

but here's the thing

I pray to God

to heal the man

I acknowledge

that only God can heal

and I acknowledge

that only Jesus can be

with this guy where he is

I'm nothing

I have no power

all I can do

is call out

to my heavenly father

this story

Jesus just wills

the healing

of the nobleman's son

35 kilometers away

and he's healed

only God can do that

Jesus doesn't pray

he just wills it

and I'm guessing

that's partially

what struck this man

why

maybe in heaven

we'll find

we'll get to meet this guy

and we'll ask him

what went on in his mind

the story doesn't tell us

but there's just something

about the word of command

and the promise

that Jesus makes

and the man responds

with obedience

obedience

and trust

and goes

and when he goes

he finds out

that Jesus

has healed the guy

and now he has

a saving belief

in the man

see here's one of the things

about signs and wonders

you can't obey a miracle

you can't obey a miracle

but you can obey Jesus

when he says

go

your son will live

if Jesus

only died on the cross

and rose from the dead

and there was no message

about it

you know all we could say

in the room

that's the darndest thing

that's the darndest thing

Louise

there's a guy who died

and three days later

he came back to life

that's the darndest thing

but what Jesus does

and John's gospel

is it's Jesus's

it's John's writing

an intimate biography

of Jesus

and John has chosen

certain key miracles

of Jesus

he understands

that Jesus has come

to introduce God

to make God

truly known

and his first miracle

shows that God

is not like religion

expects

that God is going

to be a God

where we have to be ascetic

and we have to purify

our lives

and we have to sort of

take all of the joy

and happiness

out of our life

and if we've really

purified ourselves

and really denied ourselves

then maybe God

will know us

and maybe he will

make himself known

and Jesus introduces God

as the God

who makes wine

for a wedding party

and unlike all

of the other gospels

almost immediately

after the very

John chapter 2

John 2 · chapter mention

for the first time

Jesus says

if you kill me

I will rise

and he doesn't just say

that I will rise

he describes himself

as the temple

as the place

that people go

to meet God

and he said

if you kill me

on three days

the place

where people

will go

to meet God

will rise

in three days

and then the very

next miracle

that he does

the next conversation

is he says

to Nicodemus

he says to Nicodemus

you have to be born

in a way

that only God

can give you life

human beings

can only produce

what human beings

can produce

but God

can give a life

that human beings

cannot have

and then in John

John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4

the very very next thing

what is it

he describes

to the woman

he says to the woman

at the well

he says to the woman

well if you knew

who was asking you

for water

you would ask him

and he would give you

a stream

of eternal life

living waters

like a stream

of waters

that will flow

in you

into eternity

and now

we see that God

it's a continuing

this message

that God

is pro-life

that God

is the source

of health

and life

other gospels

talk about Jesus

and they use

other images

of salvation

they use images

of being redeemed

freed from slavery

they use images

of being taken

our debts away

they use images

from the courts

they use military images

of victory

and in John's

fundamental image

is that apart

from God

we are dying

and death

is our doom

and apart

from God

not only

is death

our doom

but that

which causes

death

which is our

separation

and alienation

from God

there is no

fixing of that

and in John's

gospel

the image

of being sick

and being healed

is the image

of what the gospel

will do for us

if you could put up

the next slide

oh sorry

I got something out of it

here's the thing

about this

I can have obedience

without intimacy

or trust

in fact

that's what

Islam is

Islam is the first

half of that statement

no intimacy

with God

and not even

trusting God

inshallah

inshallah

maybe I'm going to

die a gruesome death

inshallah

maybe I'm going to hell

inshallah

it's obedience

but no intimacy

and trust

but I cannot

have intimacy

without trust

and obedience

and God

is not only

calling us

to life

but to intimacy

with him

which is why

mere signs

and wonders

isn't enough

you see

if I

am to have

intimacy

with Louise

and I never

trust her

she's going to

draw back

there's not going

to be any

intimacy

and if I want

to have intimacy

with Louise

and I never

trust her

and she never

asks me

and every time

she asks me

to do something

I don't do it

she's going to

draw back

there'll be no

intimacy

and God

wants us

to be intimate

with him

he's going to

give us life

he is a source

of health

and here's

if you put

on the next

one

Andrew

that would

be great

what the gospel

is going to

show

I can't remember

now if it's

Ephesians

or Colossians

but it

describes how

apart from

God's grace

we are

cadavers

we are

corpses

in the

funeral home

and a corpse

can do

nothing to

make itself

alive

and it's

a very

very glaring

image of

God

has to do

everything

to bring us

life

it's like

Ezekiel

can these

dry bones

live

it's like

Isaiah 43

Isaiah 43:4

verses 4

and 5

where it

talks about

by his

wounds

we are

healed

that he

himself

bore

our sins

our

iniquity

our

sickness

to give

us

life

and the

Bible

is going

to describe

and John

is going

to describe

that Jesus

bore my

sickness

unto death

so that I

might receive

his health

unto eternal

life

that Jesus

on the cross

and in his

whole ministry

he's bearing

the sickness

and all

sickness is a

sign of our

coming death

it's a sign

of our separation

from God

it's a

wonderful image

that things

just aren't

right

we desire

health

we long

for health

and Jesus

will bear

my

sickness

unto death

when he

dies upon

the cross

so that I

might receive

his

health

unto eternal

life

could you put up

the final

point

so here's

what the text

is teaching

us

saving

faith

see

what's

going on

in this

gospel

is that

John

is not

only

helping

us

Jesus

is revealing

who God

is

God

is

not

the

God

in the

earlier

thing

God

is not

the

God

of

lies

he's

the

God

of

truth

if you

know a lie

it's

not

God

God

is

the

God

of

truth

God

is

the

God

of

joy

God

is

in this

in this

story

we're

seeing

God

is

not

like

Rocky

who can

be

trained

to

close

a

door

God

is

untamable

and

good

who

else

is

God

God

is

where

health

is

God

is

where

life

is

and

saving

faith

and so

Jesus

is

revealing

who

he

is

and

he's

also

revealing

how

we're

to

respond

and

saving

faith

welcomes

Jesus

it

honors

Jesus

it

trusts

Jesus

it

obeys

Jesus

for

who

he

is

and

what

he

has

done

and

is

doing

and

will

do

now

we

don't

do

it

perfectly

welcoming

grows

honoring

grows

trusting

grows

obedience

grows

but

it's

possible

to

think

like

many

people

in

our

culture

Jesus

is

a

good

guy

he's

a

teacher

he's

a

wonderful

guy

I'm

fine

with

him

I

just

don't

like

Christians

in

church

but

Jesus

doesn't

want

to

be

welcomed

like

that

that's

not

saving

faith

saving

faith

welcomes

honors

trusts

and obeys

Jesus

for

who

he

is

what

he

has

accomplished

or

done

is

doing

and

will

do

he

is

the

one

who

can

give

me

eternal

life

he

is

the

one

who

can

come

and

give

my

dying

body

eternal

life

just

one

final

thing

some

of us

maybe

even

are

struggling

with

cancer

when

a

Christian

prays

to

God

for

healing

there's

three

different

ways

that

he

responds

he

can

heal

us

slow

with

medicine

and

doctors

he

can

heal

us

quickly

through

a

miracle

like

that

story

that

I

shared

or

he

can

heal

us

perfectly

in

our

death

and

seeing

him

face

to

face

and

the

ultimate

destiny

of

everyone

who

puts

their

faith

and

trust

in

Jesus

is

perfect

healing

and

more

than

perfect

healing

it

is

a

life

that

will

not

end

in

the

new

heaven

and

the

new

earth

that

is

what

putting

our

faith

and

trust

in

Jesus

does

that

is

what

he

accomplishes

in

this

mighty

resurrection

please

stand

it

might

be

very

distressing

to

hear

that

apart

from

God

we are

like

a

corpse

in

a

funeral

home

but

it's

only

distressing

news

if that's

all the

news

if the

news

is

that

God

can

make

you

alive

than

for

me

to

first

tell

you

the

bad

news

and

then

tell

you

the

good

news

that's

only

great

and

if

you

have

not

yet

put

your

faith

and

trust

in

Jesus

there

is

no

better

time

than

right

now

to

do

it

and

you

know

I

don't

like

telling

you

the

sinner's

prayer

because

I

know

I

for

so

many

years

in

my

Christian

life

I

was

confused

by

it

because

I

didn't

get the

words

right

it

wasn't

working

and

that's

just

the devil

confusing

me

I

want

that

to

be

me

I

want

that

to

be

me

Jesus

have

mercy

on

me

I

want

that

to

be

me

and

there's

no

better

time

than

right

now

to

do

it

and

for

all

of

us

the

cry

of

our

heart

can

be

father

help

me

to

welcome

Jesus

more

help

me

to

honor

him

more

help

me

to

trust

him

more

help

me

to

obey

him

more

help

me

father

to

be

more

gripped

by

who

he

is

and

what

he's

done

and

what

he

promises

he

will

do

and

what

he's

promised

he's

done

with

putting

a

stream

of

living

water

in

the

center

of

me

father

help

me

to

honor

him

and

trust

him

more

and

more

in

everything

I

do

a

cry

of

our

hearts

let's

bow

our

heads

in

prayer

father

pour

out

your

holy

spirit

upon

us

thank

you

for

Jesus

thank

you

father

that

he

alone

bore

our

sickness

on

to

death

on

the

cross

he

alone

dealt

with

it

on

the

cross

that

he

alone

tasted

all

there

is

to

taste

of

death

with

nothing

left

out

that

he

alone

has

conquered

death

and

conquered

that

which

causes

death

which

is

our

rebellion

and

sin

against

you

that

he

has

conquered

that

defeated

death

defeated

the

devil

defeated

all

sin

in his

mighty

resurrection

father

we

thank

you

for

Jesus

and

what

he

has

accomplished

and

we

thank

you

father

that

when

we

put

our

faith

and

trust

in

him

when

we

honor

and

welcome

him

and

put

our

trust

in

him

that

he

that

you

make

us

alive

that

you

make

us

alive

in

a

way

that

will

go

on