John 4:43-54 - ”What Are We Looking For?” - Abundant Life (Gospel of John)

Forever and ever. Amen.

The Old Testament reading today is taken

from the book of Exodus 4:es

1 to12. Let's hear God's word.

Then Moses answered, "But behold, they

will not believe me or listen to my

voice, for they will say, 'The Lord did

not appear to you." The Lord said to

him, "What's that in your hand?" He

said, "A staff." And he said, "Throw it

on the ground." So he threw it on the

ground and it became a serpent. And

Moses ran from it. But the Lord said to

Moses, "Put out your hand and catch it

by the tail." So he put out his hand and

caught it, and it became a staff in his

hand, that they may believe that the

Lord, the God of their fathers, the God

of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the

God of Jacob, has appeared to you.

Again, the Lord said to him, "Put your

hand inside your cloak." And he put his

hand inside his cloak. And when he took

it out, behold, his hand was lepous like

snow.

Then God said, "Put your hand back

inside your cloak." So he put his hand

back inside his cloak. And when he took

it out, behold, it was restored like the

rest of his flesh. "If they will not

believe you," God said, or listen to the

first sign, they may believe the latter

sign. If they will not believe even

these two signs, or listen to your

voice, you shall take some water from

the Nile and pour it on the dry ground.

and the water that you shall take from

the Nile will become blood on the dry

ground.

But Moses said to the Lord, "Oh my Lord,

I'm not eloquent either in the past or

since you've spoken to your servant, but

I am slow of speech and of tongue." Then

the Lord said to him, "Who has made

man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf

or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the

Lord? Now therefore go and I will be

with your mouth and will teach you what

you shall speak.

Our gospel reading today is from the

book of John

4:es 43- 54.

After the two days 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.

So he came again to Canaa and Galilee,

where he had made water, wine. And at

Capernaum there was an official whose

son was ill. When this man heard that

Jesus had come from Judea and Galilee,

he went to him and asked him to come

down and heal his son, for he was at the

point of death.

So Jesus said to him, "Unless you see

signs and wonders, you will not

believe." The official said to him,

"Sir, come down before my child dies."

Jesus said to him, "Go. Your son will

live." The man believed the word that

Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.

As he was going down, his servants met

him and told him that his son was

recovering. So he asked them the hour

when he began to get better. And they

said to him, "Yesterday, at the seventh

hour, 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

Judah to Galilee. This is the word of

the Lord.

>> Thanks be to God.

Many, many moons ago, I was taking a

history of Christianity class and I was

asked to write a paper. So, I decided to

write one on revival and I had not known

much about it. So, my prof professor

told me that I should go and look up

what was known as the Cane Ridge

Revival. It happened in Kentucky in

1805.

And he probably wanted me to look at it

because some Presbyterians were

involved. Though this is the most

non-presbyterian story you're ever going

to hear.

God has a sense of humor.

So he took this young fella, Barton

Stone. Now, does that guy look like a

shaker and a baker? Does he look like a

Pentecostal?

He wasn't.

He was just a guy that came in. He was a

Calvinist almost to the point of a

determinist. He uh he basically believed

God is in charge of everything and we

just go through life. And his church

wasn't doing well. Kucky's uh spiritual

situation had dropped. They had gone

from about uh I think they said 13% of

the population were worshiping. By the

time he was worshiping, it was down to

7%. His own little church was down to

about 80 little people. and they were

out on the frontier and it was because

of the rise of spiritualism and all

kinds of other things, universalism, all

kinds of other things were coming out

and he decided he would have communion

in the outdoors. So he starts having

communion in the outdoors except what he

next happened he couldn't believe. There

was a lady she was very proper as they

all were very dressed for church. They

had they were sitting outside having

this communion after the dinner and she

starts to shake

and groan.

Now the rest of them ignored it. Well,

the doctor came to make sure she wasn't

having a stroke.

But this started to happen. Then another

lady, then another lady had happened.

And then he, like a typical

Presbyterian, instead of, "Hey, let's

keep going," he ended the service cuz

that's crazy.

So he drove down and he got his

Methodist friend. Now Methodists like

that's where you get the holy rollers.

They like the shaky bakey stuff, at

least back then.

And so he says, "Hey, why don't you come

with me and come check this out?" So

they came down. They built this little

preaching thing. I said, "I'll preach

first, you preach second, and then we'll

do communion." Next thing you know, they

have 40 people doing this.

So all of a sudden, the Baptists hear

about it. So they come down. They are

not going to miss out on this. So they

came down and they got to preach. And

then by the end of this

by the end of this thing and this is

where we get the the word camp uh tent

revival cuz there was no houses to stay

in. So people came from all over

Kentucky. Sometimes 25,000 at a time.

This is in a time when Kentucky had

80,000 total population.

And they would go and these incredible

events would happen. And I just I mean

this is not a picture, it's a painting,

but you can kind of see some weird stuff

out front and then you've got the guys

preaching out there and you can see the

tents behind them. Here was the recorded

comments. The first one is from Barton

Stone of what happened. The scene to me

was new and passing strange.

Many very many went fell down as men

slain in battle and continued for hours

together in an apparently breathless and

motionless state. Sometimes for a few

moments reviving and exhibiting s

symptoms of life by a deep groan or

piercing shriek or by a prayer for mercy

most fervently uttered with astonishment

did I hear women men and children

declaring the wonderful works of God. A

newspaper reporter was sent and here was

his report at that time.

Their heads would jerk back suddenly,

frequently causing them to yelp or make

some other involuntary noise. Sometimes

the head would fly every way so quickly

that their features could not be

recognized.

I have seen their heads fly back and

forward so quickly that the hair of the

females would be made to crack like a

carriage whip.

but not very loud. The noise was like

the roar of a of the Niagara.

The vast sea of human beings seem to be

agitated as if by a storm.

What do you do with that?

>> Praise the Lord.

>> Do you?

>> All right. So, we got some pennies and

we got some of people like me. All

right.

The question was they didn't know what

to do with it either. This is 19th early

19th century Victorian moral values and

this stuff is going on.

What do you do with it? And sure enough,

what did the Presbyterians do? Well, we

want to know why something's happening.

So, we called Barton into the office and

we said, "Barton,

what's going on?" and he said, "All I

can say is there's a lot of enthusiasms.

They fired him.

Should they? What do you do when

something crazy happens?

What should we do? And how should we see

it?"

This isn't the first or last time in the

history of the church that this stuff

kind of stuff has happened. Well, what

if I told you our little text today

gives us a strong hint on how to deal

with it.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your

amazing love. We thank you for whatever

you're doing and we pray that your Holy

Spirit will fill us and give us eyes to

see. Amen.

So, we got the situation. And Jesus has

just left the Sam Samaritan community,

the place he shouldn't be at. He's

taught there for two days. People are

believing. It's a wonderful story,

right? And right after that, he leaves.

And after two days, and after the two

days, what happens after the two days?

What's that next day?

Third day. What happens on a third day?

Resurrection. Right? That's a hint. He

puts these things in for a reason.

So this is going to have something to do

with the resurrection. That's our first

hint for Jesus. And then he says he had

departed for Galilee. And then John adds

in a section that seems really weird.

For Jesus himself had testified that a

prophet had no honor in his own town

hometown. Well, Galilee is where he's

from. Nazareth.

What's he mean by that?

Note the word honor because these same

people who are going to honor him now

are going to not honor him later. And

this text is going to tell us why.

So when he came to Galilee, the

Galileans welcomed him having seen. Why

do they like him? They've seen what he

can do.

Having seen all that he had done in

Jerusalem at the feast. Do you remember

that?

And for they too had gone to the feast.

So he came again to Ca Canaa in Galilee.

And here's our first hint that this is

all connected. Where he had made the

water wine. Do you remember what that

was about? And for those of you who

weren't here, let me tell you that was

the first sign. Do you remember that?

And that first sign when they turned the

water to wine and I can't repreach it.

It would take another 40 minutes. But

the main point out of it is that the

purification jars he turns into wine

represents the purification of the

outside of a human. And then he said the

hour has not come when the mum asks. And

we know the hour is the cross. And then

you see Jesus raised up on the cross and

they put the spear in his side. Only in

this gospel do you see water and blood

come out. And the sign is that Jesus'

crucifixion is going to lead to the

purification of human beings, the

salvation of the sins on the inside.

That's the point. Okay? So that's the

what he wants you to remember.

And at Capernium, he so so remember that

as your number one. And at Capernium,

there was an official whose son was ill.

When this man heard that Jesus had come

from Judea to Galilee, he went down and

asked him to come down and heal his son.

This son thing means very little son.

It's very important to our

interpretation. This doesn't mean like a

grown son. This is like a baby, an

infant.

For he was at the point of death.

Remind yourself of that. This is about

death.

It's about a son.

So Jesus said to him, "Unless you see

signs and wonders, you will not

believe." So there's your critique.

He says, "They're not going to honor a

prophet of their own town." They say,

"Hey, no, welcome. We saw what you could

do. We saw what you could do." And then

Jesus comes back after the man says, "My

son is sick." and he looks right at him

and he uses the the plural and says,

"Y'all

will not believe without signs and

wonders." What's he saying? He's saying

that signs and wonders is not the way to

faith. That if you're always seeking

signs and wonders, you will never come

to a genuine faith. Hear that?

So signs and wonders in John's gospel

surprisingly he's quite critical of at

least the seeking of them as an end of

itself.

>> Do you understand that? Now you say why

Emmery did I put in that reading about

Moses and him doing all those signs? You

know what I mean? And putting his hand

in and it comes a hand out. He's not

doing a dance.

You'll notice when he says, "How will

they recognize me?" Moses goes back and

he says, "You got to do this sign, this

sign, this sign." remember that? And he

does this sign, this sign, this sign.

How does it go for the Israelites? Do

they follow Moses the whole way, happily

dancing?

You ever notice the Exodus community is

always complaining to Moses

and they only stop complaining when they

see a sign and wonder.

Remember that.

I mean, they saw the 10 plagues and two

weeks later in the wilderness, they

start complaining because the food's not

good.

Let's go back to where

they want to go back to the old way.

Because signs and wonders does not make

you follow God.

And that's the point going on here. If

you're looking for the ecstatic, the

shaky bakey, if you're looking for that

as your faith,

you will never see the God

who does it.

Because guess what I'm convinced of is

God is not interested in you seeking his

show.

He's interested in you seeking him.

Okay?

So signs and wonders in the Bible are

very much put with a question mark. God

still does it and I'll explain why but

it never I mean within one chapter we're

going to re meet about a guy in a pool

remember the guy in beta and he goes and

he says hi to Jesus. Jesus serves it up

and he gets healed and all that good

stuff. And what does he do right away?

He goes to the Pharisees and rats out

Jesus.

He actually got healed.

So always in John's gospel, he's trying

to sell us tell us there's something

deeper. So he says, "Unless you see

signs and wonders, you will not

believe." The official said to him, he

cut through. He's desperate. "Sir, come

down before my child, this baby son

dies."

Jesus said to him,

the words of God came out, "Go, your son

will live."

The man believed the word that Jesus

spoke to him and went on his way. I'm

going to tell you something right now.

What you just heard is the very

foundation of why you're saved.

Let me say that again. That little

section there is encapsulating what true

justification by faith is.

I promise I'll finish and you'll you'll

at least not doubt me as much.

This is probably one of the most

powerful moments in a text and you don't

see it unless you're looking hard. So

he's critiqued them for the signs and

wonders. The guy comes back and he says,

"Your son will live." The word of the

God came out of him and all of a sudden

he believed and left.

So what happens as he was going down?

His servants met him.

He believed enough. He didn't see it,

did he? But he believed it. And the

spirits went down and met him. And they

told him that his son was recovering. So

he asked them the what?

What did I tell you? Hour points to the

cross and resurrection, the

glorification of God. Guess how many

times he's going to say hour.

What did we say about three? Really

important.

So he asked them the hour when he began

to be get better and they said to him

yesterday at the

>> what's seven mean

complete divine

beautiful healed woo

the seventh hour. Why did they say the

seventh hour? Because this action of the

cross and the resurrection is going to

be complete and divine and done.

And it's pointing to that.

And that's the hour the fever left him.

And what does fever have to do? What did

they believe the fever was about? The

curse.

What's going to be undone on the cross?

Yeah. It's almost like God helped them

write this. Okay.

The father knew that the a that was the

that Jesus had said to him, "Your son

will live." That's the key point. He

says it twice. Why does he say that

twice?

Because the point of faith is not to see

the sign.

The point of faith is to believe the

promise of God's word.

When you've seen the sign, why would you

have to have any more faith?

But to believe that God says something

and he says, "Your son will live." He

believed it and left and he becomes a

hero. He stops being one of these ones

that are looking for signs and wonders.

And not only that, all his household. I

know that doesn't do well in our

individual age, but that's how it

worked.

This was now the second sign. Now he

uses a perfect use of the sign. The

second sign, the first one was the cross

and the second one was what? Your son

will live. It's pointing to the

resurrection.

Should it be any surprise that in our

next chapter, the whole thing will be

about how Jesus is the son of the

father?

The whole thing.

Because who's really the son that's

going to die?

Jesus Christ. And who is the one who's

going to live?

The son. The second sign is pointing to

the true son. This is a a type of what's

going to happen.

And when he had come from Judea that

Jesus did when he had come from Judea to

Galilee. So the beauty of this story,

what it's telling us is that these

people came out to meet him and they

were he looked at him and he said, "You

don't even honor me." And they say, "Oh,

welcome, welcome, welcome. We've seen

what you've done." And then the the

leader comes down, doesn't he, down off

the hill and he goes, "My son is sick.

My little son is sick." And he goes,

he doesn't say anything, but gives him a

truth, a word, a promise.

He doesn't see it, but he believes it

and he walks away and he sees that it is

true after.

And then this is pointing to Jesus and

his resurrection. I want you to remember

all that stuff because it's really

important.

So, how then does this answer the

question about signs and wonders? What

do I do with my fellow Presbyterian

friend who's long been with the Lord?

Should he have been fired?

What do you do with signs and wonders?

Well, I studied it and I studied it a

lot. I came to this conclusion because I

always get asked what I think of this.

First of all, it's happens all the time.

We can find it in the medieval times. It

happened in Scotland. Can you imagine a

bunch of Scots doing that?

It happened in England through the

Methodist movement. It happened in the

first great awakening. It happened in

the second great awakening hundreds of

years apart. It happened in Cane Ridge.

It happened in I mean there are so many

stories of this and they're always the

same and whatever it is people are not

able to keep their um nice sophisticated

selves whenever it happens.

>> What about Isuza Street? What about the

third wave that hit in the 70s? I still

talk to old folks who are like, "Oh

yeah, we were shaking."

I really do.

this stuff does happen. And then I hear

the other argument, well, it must be

Satan. Well, why would Satan build the

church?

That doesn't make any sense. If everyone

wasn't going to church and everyone was

fast asleep, he's not going to come in

and go, "Oh, let's have some fun.

Let's start the macarina."

Spiritual macarina.

So if it's not Satan,

the only other thing it could be is mass

psychosis. And I have no doubt studied

psychology as my background that there

was some of that in there. But doesn't

make sense why they all are the same and

how they start the same and how people

who would hate that do that.

My prediction is this. I tell people

this every time. Absolutely. I think

God's in those things. And I absolutely

know the devil's in them, too. And I

absolutely know human beings flesh are

in there too. And that's why please

don't ever start that here

because it is impossible to lead this

stuff.

Why does God do it? Because he wants to

wake us up.

I believe that. And I believe in

Kentucky, the church was almost dead.

Second great awakening, the church is

almost dead. God does not give up on his

church. And sometimes he has to shake

them around. And sometimes heads go

around like ponytails whipping or

whatever.

But he doesn't stop there. He doesn't

keep it going. Those things only last a

short time

and then because they are not faith.

They are actions that make us maybe

excited. Maybe from the moment we see

it, we go, "Oh, God's real." But that's

not the kind of faith he's looking for.

The problem I have with the sun signs

and wonders movement is not that that

happened. It's when people expect it to

happen after

when they start telling God what he must

do for it to be genuine. That's

idolatry.

Listen to Lesie Nubigan. The demand for

a phys visible sign means that the one

who makes the demand keeps ultimate

sovereignty in his own hands. In other

words, you've got to do it like this or

I won't believe.

He has himself prescribed the test by

which divinity must prove himself.

That's the Exodus community, isn't it?

They would follow G Moses as long as

Yahweh kept doing the stuff. They told

Moses and Yahweh how they had to do it.

And when they didn't do it the way they

thought they should, well then they

weren't good enough God. And what

happens is I'm going to take my net and

go home and go to Egypt, right?

All of these movements die out in part

because people say, "No, God must do

this."

And God, by the way, doesn't have to do

this.

So that's my first thing.

My second reason is signs and wonders

are not the kind of faith that lead to

salvation.

So, even if you went and saw one of the

people here do the funky chicken and

speak in tongues and grow an arm back or

something like that, whatever.

If you saw that maybe, okay, that's that

was intense. But,

but if you want, even if you saw all

that,

not long later, you would either want to

see that again or God didn't exist.

It's not the signs. Listen to Piper. I

don't usually quote Piper, but this

one's a good one.

>> Okay, good. Amen.

Well, then you'll like this sermon.

Signs and wonders do not save.

They are not the power of God unto

salvation. They do not transform the

heart. Signs and wonders can be imitated

by Satan. We know that. We've seen that

in the Bible. But the gospel is utterly

contrary to his nature.

So he does the signs of wonders. But

here's what I think. Why did the

Kentucky revival end? Why did they all

end? Because he wants a deeper faith. He

comes into a Galilee who wants that kind

of stuff. He they want the God to do the

incredible.

And he runs into a man and he sees real

faith by what?

The word of his mouth.

Not by the shaky bakey, just looking at

him and telling him a promise.

The kind of faith that God is looking

for is the faith that comes from the

power of his word.

Anytime you read scripture and it is

breathed on by God, you are hearing the

words of the living God.

Okay? And anytime you hear Jesus speak,

you are hearing the words speaking

directly to you.

And that, my friends, is much greater

than a sign and a wonder. You're

actually hearing God to you.

old happy guy John Calvin.

We ought to bring nothing of our own

when we worship God, but we ought to

depend always on the word of his mouth.

What Jesus Christ wants you to do is

trust in his word

because in trusting in his word, you get

to know him.

You want to guarantee

that your Christian walk will not go

well is if you go around to places where

they're constantly seeking signs and

wonders and they stop preaching the

word.

I promise you, you will stop going to

church or whatever church you're in will

not look anything like what Jesus

imagined.

The Bible is so powerful, you guys. It

is such the word of God

that it changes us. Has anybody ever

been reading your scriptures and maybe

just the the word came alive to you

when that time where you're sitting

there and it speaks right to your your

challenge in your life or maybe

something that you're celebrating. You

ever been there and you're like, "Holy

crow, God's real." Have you ever had

that?

>> That's the power you want to seek.

That's the power that God has given us.

That's why the Bible is so beautiful and

we preach it. Carl Bart said, "I have

read many books, but the Bible reads

me."

That's the power of this word.

When we're reading the Bible, we're

reading the words of God and we're

reading his life. No wonder it speaks to

us because his spirit is in us and he's

speaking his very words to our soul.

Every other religion I run into, they

look at their Bibles and their

scriptures like their divine text that

they have to memorize and get to know.

Ours is a power text that gets to know

us

because the living God is in it.

And here's where the foundation of your

salvation is. You ready? You listen

closely because this is important.

It's believing in the promise of his

word.

When did belief come for this young man,

this young leader? He came in. He said,

"Your son will live." There was a

promise there, wasn't

there? There was just a promise.

And he believed him,

right?

I wonder if Paul was reading this when

he was talking about how we know we're

saved.

He writes in Romans, "Justification by

faith." You've all heard that. He says,

"This is how you're saved. You're saved

through justification by faith." Right?

We all agree. Okay. No. Yes.

But what are the actions that lead to

that faith? What does that faith mean?

That's where we stop. We sometimes I

hear it preached as uh justification by

faith is that you understand who Jesus

is and and you understand that he's a

second member of the Trinity and he had

blonde hair, blue eyes, or something

like that. He didn't, by the way.

In other words, we learned facts about

him. But that's not what it means to

believe in Jesus.

What it means to believe in Jesus is to

believe in his promise

because that's what saves you.

So Paul is writing and he's trying to

explain justification by faith to this

little church in Rome. And what does he

do? He goes back to a story way back

when of a guy named Abraham. You all

know that story.

And Abraham was an old dude when he was

told, "Guess what? You're having kids."

Right? And his wife was really old, too.

So crazy was that promise

that she laughed.

Okay.

When Paul sees that story, he says, "Oh,

the only place it says that it was

attributed to Abraham as righteousness

for his faith was in that section when

he believed that

because he believed that something could

come back from the dead.

Her womb was dead.

He believed in God that could bring life

out of nothing."

It says it like this. Paul goes, "As it

is written, I have made you the father

of many nations." This is Yahweh to

Abraham in the presence of God in whom

he believed. He g who gives life to the

dead to the dead and calls into

existence the things that do not exist.

He believed in that God

in hope. He believed against hope that

he should become the father of many

nations. as he had been told, "So shall

your offspring be."

He did not weaken in faith when he

considered his own body, which was as

good as dead

since he was about a hundred years old,

or when he considered the baroness of

Sarah's womb.

No unbelief made him waver concerning

the promise of God, but he grew strong

in the faith and gave glory to God,

fully convinced that God was able to do

what he had promised.

So Abraham was set right because he

could not do anything. It was

impossible. His body was as good as

dead. And he believed in the God who

said, "Guess what? You're going to be a

daddy."

Now, I I I got older parents now,

and that would take some great faith if

God came to me right now and said,

"Guess what? You got a bro coming."

Because in realistically,

I don't think there's a lot of things

working right.

I don't know how it all breaks down, but

they sure going to for a lot of

tune-ups. Anyways,

so if that's true that he is saved

because he has he's as good as dead and

God would have to do the impossible but

that's the salvation and he says that is

what is given to him as righteousness is

believing that then why does that

correlate to a Christian

because Paul says oh Christian just like

Abraham you have to believe that a man

went into a tomb for three days

and he came out and he was as good as

dead. He was dead

and yet you believe he's alive.

Why do you believe? Did you see it?

Nobody actually saw him pop out of the

tomb, by the way. He was out of there by

the time they got there.

Because you believe because you heard it

and you trusted.

And through that Jesus showed that he

has conquered death.

He has defeated sin. You are a Christian

if you are because you believe that God

has defeated death

and no other reason. And by believing

that you believe the greatest sign that

ever happened.

Because what you're saying is you

believe that this world as it is isn't

it.

You're saying that all your worst days,

all the worst stuff that's going to

happen to you is not it because he won.

He's alive. And by believing that, you

become saved because you believe in the

God as he truly is, the one that

conquers the darkest.

This young man who heard, "Your son will

live was saved because he believed in

the God who could conquer death."

Abraham

believed because he believed in a God

who could conquer death in a in his body

and have a child. And we are saved

because we believe in the God who has

conquered death.

That's salvation, my friends. Salvation.

Salvation by faith alone means you

believe the promise.

That's it.

No works, nothing.

Charles Spurgeon. Is not the gospel its

own sign and wonder? Is not this miracle

of miracles that God so loved the world

that he gave his only begotten son that

whoever believeth in him shall not

perish.

Surely that precious word, whoever will,

let him come and take the water of life

freely. And that solemn promise, he that

cometh unto me, I will by no I will in

no wise cast out, are better than the

signs and wonders.

A truthful savior ought to be believed.

He is truth himself. Why will you ask

proof of the veracity of the one who

cannot lie?

The greatest part of this story is those

people in Kentucky are living in a world

where your average lifespan is 35.

Guaranteed they'd lost children in

childbirth. Guaranteed tons.

And a God came in and showed him he was

real. But now what they had to believe

is he's the God who conquers death.

That's where salvation is.

Because if you believe God has conquered

death, guess what? You're never going to

look at the world the same.

Because one thing I know, been

ministrying for 25 years, is we're

terrified of death.

We build our lives to keep ourselves

safe from death.

And he's already won.

So, and once we're saved, well, what do

we do now? Once we believe it, we live

by the promise.

The most important point in the story

that I just saw was not just that he

believed Jesus,

but he got up and he left and he started

walking to his son because he believed

it.

He started making his life like it's

true.

He believed his son would live.

Right now, you and I have heard

that Jesus Christ has died for our sin

and he is resurrected. But none of us

have seen the resurrected Christ, have

we?

So what do we do?

We believe it and we start living our

lives like it true. And we start walking

that way.

We start walking the way of Christ

knowing that one day it will be

fulfilled.

The hinge moment in all of this, you

guys,

is whether you believe that tomb is

empty.

Because if that tomb is empty,

nothing that you worry about,

nothing of all your pains and hardships,

none of the people that have gone before

you

are lost forever.

It means that you can walk in confidence

and grace because you are his child

that's going to live forever. Amen.

>> That's salvation by faith. That changes

lives.

The worst thing I hear

when these people talk to me about signs

and wonders or the word is they separate

them.

Well, we'll seek the signs and wonders

because the word can be boring. Jason

gave me a word one time that what was

that thing when they love the word too

much. We people who love the word too

much.

Biblicists or something? I don't know.

There's a word that people say, "Well,

you're trusting in the word too much."

My point is I trust in the word every

day because it's the word of God.

That doesn't mean I don't love the

spirit or don't love when God does crazy

things. I do.

But my foundation of my salvation is the

word.

John Calvin said, "God does not bestow

his spirit on his people in order to set

aside the use of his word, but rather to

render it f fruitful."

the spirit of God. The best part of our

story is when we heard the son will

live, which is Jesus, he also puts the

spirit within us. So we can actually

begin to live like that's true.

I'll end on this.

Every Christian that has that I have

looked for for mentorship the one thing

they have

is they believe that the tomb is empty

that the son will live

and they make their lives and they

design their lives as that first

and that's the joy and the peace that

comes with it.

If that is true, my friends, you are the

children of eternity.

And your worst day here in your life

will not be your last.

Embrace it and walk in the freedom.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this

incredible word.

We thank you for the love that you have

poured upon us.

We ask you Lord to

enhance our faith.

We believe that you are the resurrection

and the life because we've heard it.

Help us to believe and to walk as if

it's true.

Help us to walk out the fruit of our

salvation

which is totally relying on your power.

Make us a people who believe and is no

longer afraid.

Make us a church where your resurrection

life breathes in here and that your Holy

Spirit comes.

And Lord, I mean this with all our

heart. You are sovereign. Whatever you

wish to do in our midst, you do.

But please Lord always direct it to the

truth of your word.

He your son will live.

Amen.