The Birth and Growth of Faith

It's really great this morning.

We have a very full brass section, I see.

Really nice.

Thank you, guys.

This summer we've been studying what the Bible says about faith.

Some of the lessons of on faith we've looked at, after a while, I think, seem to be repetitive, but that's because the elements of faith we see in the Bible are very consistent throughout the Bible.

Now, if you'd like a sermon outline today, just lift your hand.

Our users would be happy to give you one so you can follow along.

And a reminder to our children who are here who've been participating in the challenge of taking your notebook and drawing pictures or writing things you pick up from the sermon.

Once you do that, come up after the service and I will stamp your picture.

And after four stamps, you'll receive a special prize which Miss Lydia will distribute to you.

If any of you have four stamps today, come down front.

You can then receive your special prize.

Now, a couple weeks ago, I noticed some adults started to come up and wanted a stamp from me for their notes.

And you know what?

That's fantastic.

You go ahead and do that, bring it up, I'll stamp it, and I'll have a special prize for the adults too, after four stamps.

Open invitation.

That way I know you're paying attention, okay.

Once I heard a uh I heard a man praying incorrectly.

Um, and since I knew what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount, I had to correct him.

Here's how he began praying.

Father, I approached thee in prayer today, brachial, pulmonary, renal, and superior vena cava.

And I said, hold it right there.

I said, Jesus said, when you pray, don't have vain repetitions.

Well, while I may be repeating some of the same principles of faith each week, they are not vain repetitions.

Um, my wife Linda, sorry, gave me a very personalized Father's Day card last Sunday.

I thought I I thought I'd share it with you.

Um it says, may people laugh at your jokes like they're as funny as you think they are.

Okay, isn't that good?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Happy Father's Day.

Okay.

This is what I get.

When I, you know, I work hard in these sermons.

I go home.

No, she's very supportive, and uh we we do laugh a lot about a lot of things.

So thank you, Linda.

Today we're gonna look at the very foundation of faith in the Bible.

Um, in the Gospel of John chapter 4, if you brought a Bible, you want to turn there, that's where we'll be today.

John 4 · chapter mention

Uh, in John chapter 4, we're gonna see three different people and how they found faith in Jesus, how faith was born.

John 4 · chapter mention

You realize John is the is only one of a few biblical authors who tell us why he's writing his gospel, the purpose he's writing.

In John 20, verses 30 to 31, John says, Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of his of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

John 20:30–31

John is writing then to give us information we need to believe about Jesus, the promised Messiah, and as a result, believing that we'll receive the gift of eternal life.

So, first, let's turn to John chapter 4 and look at how this unnamed woman at the well in Samaria came to faith in Jesus.

John 4 · chapter mention

I'm just going to read this portion in John chapter 4, beginning in verse 7.

John 4 · chapter mention

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water.

Jesus said to her, Give me a drink.

For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

Therefore the Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, asked me for a drink, since I'm a Samaritan woman?

For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.

She said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw, draw with, and the well is deep.

Where do you get that living water?

You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you, who gave us the well and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?

Jesus answered and said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again.

But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst.

But the water that I give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.

The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, or nor come all the way here to draw.

He said to her, Go call your husband.

Come here.

The woman answered and said, I have no husband.

And Jesus said to her, You have answered correctly, I have no husband, for you've had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband.

This you have said truly.

The woman said to Jesus, Sir, I perceive you are a prophet.

Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say, in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

Jesus said to her, Woman, Believe me, in hours coming, when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem you will worship the Father.

You worship what you do not know, we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

But an hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

For such people the Father seeks to be his worshipers.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.

The woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ.

When that one comes, he'll declare to us all things.

Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He.

In his conversation with this woman, Jesus reveals three parts of genuine faith that the woman crossed in order to believe in him as the promised Messiah.

As we've seen before, a person needs to have the right information about Jesus in order to believe in him.

After asking her for a drink of water, Jesus explains who he is and what he can do for her.

She can receive eternal life just by asking him for it.

He tells her he knows all about her life situation, even though he never knew her.

With that information, the woman concludes that Jesus is a, he must be a prophet.

Tells him, well, she's still waiting for the Messiah.

He's going to clear all that other stuff up, religious stuff.

And then Jesus reveals the second part of faith.

She's been given the information.

Now she must recognize that Jesus is the object of her faith.

So having the right object of faith comes by basing your trust on the information you just received.

In a startling way, Jesus speaks these words to her.

I just read.

The woman said to her, I know the Messiah is coming.

He was called Christ.

When that one comes, he'll declare all things to us.

And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He, the Messiah.

He point blank tells her, I am the Messiah.

This is one of the few times in the Gospels he actually reveals his true identity.

He tells her, He's not just a prophet, but the Messiah she's been waiting for.

And that brings us to the third part of genuine faith.

Person, after having the right information, sees Jesus as the object of true faith, now must take that information, seeing Jesus as a person she can trust and commit to act on that, on what we believe is true.

The woman's commitment to believe in Jesus, the promised Messiah, you can see in her response to what Jesus said.

She left her water jar there, the very reason she came to the well.

If she didn't believe in Jesus, she probably would have dismissed his words and kept right on working her task.

But in an instant, this woman went from waiting for the Messiah to finding the Messiah and believing in him.

We see the evidence of her commitment of faith when she went into town to tell others about Jesus.

She invited them to go check him out.

Is he the Messiah?

Is he the Christ?

Through this woman, Jesus shows us the three parts of genuine faith.

You must have the right information about Jesus.

Jesus must become the object of who you're believing in, the object of your faith, and then we act on that, believing that information and so on is true.

We believe he's the promised Messiah.

The next part, we'll see how faith was born in a person.

Faith is born.

This is interesting in the scripture.

By receiving the words of truth about Jesus, which is the focus of this whole passage in John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

Listen to John 4.39.

From that city, many of the Samaritans believed in him, Jesus, because the word of the woman who testified, he told me all the things I've ever done.

And in his letter to Timothy, Paul links salvation, receiving salvation, with knowing the truth of the gospel.

In 1 Timothy 2, verses 3 to 6, Paul says, This is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:3–6

Saved, come to the knowledge of the truth.

And what's the truth?

The next verse, the gospel.

For there's one God, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.

Saved by coming to the knowledge of the truth.

That truth is that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again.

The gospel.

And she received the gift of eternal life.

When the woman ran from the well and told the men in Samaria about Jesus, faith was born in the men because they believed the word the woman was telling them.

The good news, this is the Messiah.

Faith was born in other Samaritans because of the words they heard from Jesus himself.

Listen to John 4, 4042.

So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.

And many more believed because of his word.

That's the truth.

They're believing the word about Jesus, the gospel.

That's how faith is born.

Faith in Jesus is born is in us through receiving the truth of God's word, of the gospel in our hearts.

Listen to what Paul says in Romans 10:17.

Romans 10:17

So faith comes by hearing.

Hearing by the word of Christ.

Or listen to what Peter says.

We are born again by the word of God that reveals the truth of the Messiah.

1 Peter 1:23.

1 Peter 1:23

You have been born again.

Not of seed which is perishable, but of imperishable.

That is, you know how?

Through the living and abiding word of God.

We hear it, we believe it, we act on it.

That's how faith is born.

But there is a caveat.

However, unless God's word is met with faith when we hear it, in other words, believing it's true, it doesn't profit us at all.

We will not receive what has been promised.

Listen to Hebrews chapter 4, verse 2.

Hebrews 4:2

For indeed, we have had good news preached to us.

Good news, gospel.

We have had good news preached to us just as they also, but the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith.

In those who heard.

He says in Romans 1:16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, word of truth.

Romans 1:16

That's it.

It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek.

Do you see the pattern through this?

How faith is born?

Comes by the word person hears.

If they see it as true and reliable and act on it, that's when it becomes profitable.

Fruit is born, eternal life is given.

From the woman at the well and the Samaritans, we learn that faith is born by hearing the word of truth, believing it, and acting on it.

Now, what's happening next is Jesus leaves Samaria and goes to Cana in Galilee, where we see the third example of faith in this account, a basic lesson of faith, when Jesus helps a royal official and shows us through him how faith grows in our life.

There are three steps to faith: right information, right object, and then acting on that.

The woman and the Samaritan shows us that we must, we faith is born by hearing the word of Christ, the word of the gospel, the truth that can come in, and we act on that to believe.

Now we're going to learn how faith grows.

John 4, verses 46 to 47.

John 4:46–47

Therefore, Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee, where he had made the water wine, and there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum.

And when he had heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him and was imploring him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

When Jesus came into the town of Cana, he was received very well.

After all, he had just done an amazing miracle there, turning water into wine.

Now, the royal official from Capernaum heard Jesus was back in Galilee, so he traveled to Cana to see Jesus because his son was homesick.

The royal official, by the way, was part of Caesar's staff, administrative staff, stationed in Capernaum, which where Jesus lived for some time.

And Capernaum was about 25 miles from Cana.

So he traveled from Capernaum to where Jesus was 25 miles to Cana to see Jesus, asking him if he could help his son.

And the royal official shows us three basic stages of how faith grows.

First, the royal official has a very rudimentary basic belief in Jesus.

He believes that Jesus can do miracles of healing.

That's why he's there.

And no doubt what's happening is the man who's from Capernaum and Jesus had his home base in Capernaum, and we know from the earlier gospel messages that Jesus healed a whole lot of people in Capernaum.

A whole city would turn out sometimes.

So he had enough information about Jesus to seek him out.

He's seen people, probably seen Jesus heal people.

That's the first stage, remember, of having faith, having information about Jesus that we believe is true and reliable.

He can help the helpless.

But now we're going to see the second stage of faith's growth.

How Jesus helps our faith.

We see in this royal official right away.

So the royal official comes to Jesus and says, Please, he's in Cana.

Please come back to Capernaum and heal my son.

He's sick at the point of death.

Okay.

Jesus now takes him, he's going to stretch his faith.

Jesus said to him, He challenges the basis of the royal officials' faith.

And it's a great challenge for us too.

John 4 48.

So Jesus said to him, to him, you know what, unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.

On what basis are you asking me to go back to Capernaum 25 miles and heal your son?

Jesus, what's happening?

He's bemoaning the fact that people need to see miraculous signs like healing before they believe in him as the promised Messiah.

See, the the royal official believes Jesus can heal, he can do miracles.

He's seen the signs.

Now he's asking him to come back.

Do one of those other things?

I think Jesus is wondering.

Are you are you just like all the others?

You you just want to want me to do a sign so that'll give you enough confidence to know that, hey, I'm I may be the Messiah.

The challenge of faith is this.

Do you need a miraculous sign before you will believe in Jesus, or is his word enough?

What condition have you attached to your faith?

How much does God need to do to prove to you, convince you?

You that Jesus is the promised Messiah?

How much?

That's what Jesus is asking and probing.

On what basis will you believe in me?

The royal official, though, pleads with Jesus, verse 49, John 4, 49.

The royal official said to him, Sir, come down, go to Capernaum before my child dies.

The royal official from Capernaum obviously had seen Jesus healed before, and he was physically present to see it.

Let me show you this.

His faith in Jesus right now, at this point, and this is why Jesus is going to stretch it.

It's going to grow.

His faith in Jesus at this point assumes that Jesus has to be physically present in order to heal somebody or save somebody.

Got to be physically present.

Come to Capernaum.

I need you to come down.

He asks him to go to Capernaum 25 miles away to heal his son.

I'm telling you, Jesus, what Jesus is doing is stretching the sky, probing where is your faith in me.

At this juncture, Jesus presses in further on the royal official to believe in him without any signs.

To help him grow.

You know what Jesus said?

No.

I'm not going to Capernaum.

I can heal your son from here.

John 450, go your way.

Your son lives.

Now, all the royal official has is Jesus' word, his promise, without actually being there.

Is that enough?

Will he believe Jesus without seeing him actually do the healing?

Without a physical sign before his own eyes?

Let me ask you, if Jesus promised his word to give eternal life to you, if you believe in him, is that enough?

Or does he first have to prove himself with a sign?

Or do you first have to prove yourself worthy?

Is his word enough?

His promise enough?

Where's your faith?

Is it growing?

Are you moving beyond?

I believe he's a good, he's a prophet, he's a messiah.

But you're still waiting for some sort of good sign to close the deal.

You don't neither.

This man's faith grew just a little more.

Listen, John 450.

The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off to go back to Capernaum.

Wow.

Oh now.

That's good.

That's good.

His promise is enough.

His view of Jesus just uh exploded.

Only God, the Messiah, could do that, not be there, actually.

He believed in Jesus, just as promised that he could heal without being physically present.

You know why?

Because who he is, the Son of God.

And he committed to his faith to Jesus and started home, not knowing for sure if it happened or not.

His faith has just grown.

Is it enough just for you to believe what he said?

Or are you still there with, well, I'm waiting for a sign.

I don't know if uh if God does God really love me.

And does God really love me if all this awful stuff is happening in my life?

What did he say?

Is that enough?

Or won't you believe it until he takes all that garbage away?

What condition have you put on your faith?

I'm telling you right now, for every Christian who's present, God wants us to keep growing in our faith, and he's going to present us with challenges that's going to stretch it.

To move beyond needing to have a sign to you said this in your word, and I'm just going to go home now.

Where are you at?

But that brings us to the third stage.

We see this man's this royal official's faith grow.

Uh he he really now does believe Jesus, who he is, the son of God, without any signs.

And you know what's happening?

He's becoming a believing person.

That's the third stage.

Um, you know what?

He's the son of God.

And if he said this, I don't need anything else.

When the man got home and found his son healed, he asked, What what time did uh did this happen?

And he confirmed it was the exact time Jesus told him that his son was healed.

As a result, the royal official backed away and it just filled him with belief.

John 4, 51 to 53, as he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living.

He inquired of them of the hour when he began to get better.

They said, Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him.

So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, Your son lives.

And he himself believed.

Believed in all his household.

He became a believing person.

We just watched him, this man's faith grow.

It began with just a basic belief: Jesus has tremendous power, he can heal my son.

Faith grew when he believed Jesus' word, his promise.

And then it grew even more when he found out Jesus' word came to pass.

Okay, I'm convinced, basically.

So there's a few basic lessons we can take away from this about faith.

This is important.

And we've seen this pattern throughout.

Faith begins by seeking Jesus' help, not his signs.

Not signs, he has to prove himself to you.

You can see Jesus confronted that, he said, unbelieving nation, seeking signs.

Faith grows when we commit ourselves to trusting his word, his promise.

And every time we trust God, stretches our faith, we see him work through our prayers, our faith's going to grow every time.

Deeper, stronger.

The royal official went from believing Jesus can heal to actually becoming a believing person.

Hebrews 11:6 says that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him, not those who seek signs and proof, but those who seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6

It takes faith to believe in Jesus, and it takes faith not to believe in Jesus.

Either way, what do you need in order to believe in Jesus?

Listen, read through the Gospels.

Jesus has done many miracles and signs in the Gospels.

Powerful things.

The testimony cries out this man is the Son of God.

He's unique.

There's nobody like this.

We also have eyewitness testimonies in the New Testament that Jesus rose from the dead and is the promised Messiah.

And Jesus has promised over and over and over again in the Gospel of John that we can be forgiven of our sins, we can be saved, we can receive eternal life just by believing in him and his promise to give it to you.

Just like he said to the woman, if you knew who who's speaking to you, you would just ask him.

He would give you eternal life.

Even though Jesus knew all about her, she didn't have to prove herself worthy.

I'll give it to you.

What do you need in order to believe?

I'm not sure where you are in your faith journey progress.

Maybe you're still at the gathering information stage about finding out about Jesus, and that's great.

Keep gathering.

Get in the gospel testimonies, learn.

Dig in.

Let those counts fill you until you somehow are convinced.

You know what?

I believe this.

He he's uh the Messiah.

Or maybe you're seeking him out because something in your life has made you uh willing to consider Jesus can help you.

Maybe you've got a problem, maybe you got an obstacle in your life that you don't see any other answer.

Well, Jesus invites us, come, he says, come to me all you later, and I'll give you rest.

Ask him.

Go to him in prayer.

Perhaps that will give birth to your faith in Jesus when you see how he touches you.

Maybe though you have believed in Jesus, received the gift of eternal life, but you still have doubts.

Um, well, let me give you a challenge.

Claim a promise from the Bible, trust that promise, and ask God to give you the sense that you keep your promise, that he keeps his promises.

When you see God work in answer to prayer or fulfilling a promise he's given you, that's when things start to happen.

Do that over and over again over time, your faith will grow.

I can give you my own testimony of being starting out in minimal true faith in Jesus, but God does not want us to stop in baby faith.

He wants us to keep growing.

And to keep growing will require challenges, stretching.

Will you trust him for this?

If he just if he said this, are you wavering?

Has your confidence in him?

Have you lost sight of who he is?

Challenge yourself.

Stretch.

Get yourself in a position where um it's not God proving himself to you, it's it's trusting that what God said he can, just like Abraham, what God's promised he can actually do.

That's faith.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for your word, the word of the gospel that gives birth to our faith in Jesus.

If we haven't yet, please help us to believe in Jesus and receive the free gift of eternal life He promised just by asking.

And help us who have believed in Jesus to continue to trust you more and more and more and grow stronger and stronger in our faith as we see you work in our lives just as you said.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.