The Royal Official- John 4:46-54

Good morning and happy Memorial Day weekend.

If you are new here and visiting with us, we

just want to welcome you. If you're coming back

and joining us, we are glad you're here. And

here at Cornerstone, you probably hear this a

lot, but we know that you are here for a reason,

and we firmly believe every week that God has

brought us together for a reason. We are excited

to be here, excited to continue on our series

through the Gospel of John. So if you would turn

in your Bibles with me to John chapter 4, John

John 4 · chapter mention John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 today. I don't know what is in the

air right now, but I know I'm not alone in battling

some allergies or something. So bear with me

today, and we will get through this together.

As you are turning to John chapter 4, I just

John 4 · chapter mention

want to bring just a few things real quick from

the bulletin to light for you. First ever dessert

auction next Sunday. That is at 6 p .m. here

at the church. So please be here next Sunday

at 6 p .m. at the church. We were talking last

Sunday about the ways that you can pay for the

desserts you will buy. There's kind of three

ways you can pay for desserts that you buy. First,

you can bring cash. That's always an option.

Second, you can bring a check. And third, you

can actually give online. So even if you don't

carry cash or checks, don't worry. You can still

come, can still participate in our dessert auction

that is next Sunday. One second. Okay. So dessert

auction next Sunday. Let me open this up with

a word of prayer. God, I just ask that you would

just be with us this morning, God. We are so

thankful for this time together. God, we are

thankful for the ability that we have to gather

here freely this morning, God. And God, we recognize

how blessed and how fortunate we are that we

can gather freely and openly, God. That we don't

need to worry about that, God. God, I just ask

that you would be with us today. Father, I ask

that you would just be glorified. through our

time together, God. Lord, would you move any

distraction from us, God? Lord, help us just

now as we dive into your word, just to learn

directly from you, God. We ask all these things

in your name. Amen. We are in week two of our

series looking at the seven signs in the gospel

of John. And if you remember last week, we started

this series talking about how there are seven

different signs or seven different miracles that

John records in his gospel. And so in John chapter

John 2:1–11

2, verses 1 through 11, we see the first sign

that Jesus does. And you might remember that

this first sign, Jesus goes to a wedding. This

wedding's on a Tuesday. We talked about how that

was pretty standard in culture, but I don't know

about you, if I got invited to a wedding on a

Tuesday afternoon. I'd probably be a little confused

as to why it's on a Tuesday. So Jesus goes, and

as they're at the wedding, as they're at this

feast after the wedding, Mary comes up to him

and says, listen, Jesus, we have run out of wine.

And Mary, clearly afraid that she's going to

be looked down on, maybe thought to be a little

poorer than other people because they've run

out of wine, says, Jesus, you've got to do something

to help us figure this out. We've got to come

up with more wine somehow. So she looks at Jesus

and says, Jesus, make this happen somehow. And

Jesus gives this response, you know, woman, my

time has not yet come. And we read that and we

go, wow, Jesus was really brave. In reality,

he's just saying, hey, Mary, you're not in charge

of me. I'm Jesus. God is the only authority I

listen to. And so Jesus has the servants go and

he takes these water jars and the water gets

turned into wine. And of course, what I love

so much about that passage, it's not just that

Jesus turns it into wine. In fact, the head waiter

goes to the groom and says, you saved the best

wine of all for now. Like, the absolute best

wine at this wedding is coming out here right

after Jesus has made it. And we talked about

how every miracle has an audience or somebody

that it specifically is intended to reach. And

I think a lot of times when we read John 2, 1

through 11, we think that it's intended to show

the entire wedding who Jesus is or that it's

intended to show Mary who Jesus is. But instead,

if we look at John 2, 11, we see who the audience

is. It says, Jesus did this, the first of his

signs in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory

and his disciples believed in him. So who is

the audience for this first sign? It is his disciples.

The disciples are the first audience for his

miracles. But this is not the only thing that

will take place in Cana. In fact, our passage

today also takes place in Cana. But we're skipping

ahead to John chapter 4. That's where the second

John 4 · chapter mention

sign takes place. Let me just very quickly recap

what happens in John 3 and in John 4. In John

3, Jesus goes down to Judea. He actually starts

leaving in John chapter 2. In John 3, he's probably

John 2 · chapter mention

most famous for a conversation that Jesus has

with a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a Pharisee.

He's a ruler of the Jews. And one night he comes

to Jesus in the middle of the night because he

doesn't want to be seen with Jesus. That would

look bad for him. And he shows up and he talks

to Jesus and says, basically, Jesus, what do

I need to do to be saved? So he has this conversation

with Nicodemus. And of course, that's where John

3, 16 comes from, that very famous verse that

says, for God loved the world in this way, gave

his one and only son. Everyone who believes in

him will not perish, but have eternal life. That

comes from John 3 in this conversation with Nicodemus.

Then we see that Jesus interacts with John the

Baptist in John 3. John 4 starts off with one

of probably the more famous things that happens

in the Gospel of John, and that is Jesus with

the Samaritan woman, right? Jesus goes to this

well, and he's talking to this Samaritan woman,

and everyone treats her as an outcast because

she's known as an adulterer. She's got multiple

husbands. In fact, Jesus says she's been married

many times, and that the man she lives with now

is not even her husband. And we think, Jesus,

why are you with this woman? And Jesus goes and

talks with her to show her the way to be saved.

And that's exactly what happens. And then Jesus

continues on with his travels and teaching through

Israel with his disciples. But then he begins

to return home. We see that starting in verse

43. So let me read verses 43 through 45, just

kind of to give us some context for our passage

today. It says, after two days he left there

for Galilee. Jesus himself had testified that

a prophet has no honor in his own country. When

they entered Galilee, the Galileans welcomed

him because they'd seen everything he did in

Jerusalem during the festival. for they also

had gone to the festival. So Jesus goes back

up to Galilee, and he's actually going to return,

as we'll see in verse 46 in a minute, to Cana.

But before we get there, I want to give us our

main point for today. What is it that we're going

to see in John 4, 46? What is going to be our

major thing that we sit on today? Here we go.

It's that faith is not a blind leap into the

unknown. The miracles help us know who Jesus

is, including his mercy. Faith is not a blind

leap into the unknown. The miracles help us know

who Jesus is, including his mercy. See, John

4, 46 -54 really shows us that part of Jesus.

If John 2, 1 -11 shows us Jesus' power and his

authority, John 4 shows us Jesus' mercy and his

care for people. But it also shows us something

about our faith. And that's that faith is not

just a blind leap into the unknown. So let me

encourage you to take a minute and to look at

verses 46 and 47 with me. We read this. He went

again to Cana of Galilee, where he had turned

the water into wine. There was a certain royal

official whose son was ill at Capernaum. And

when this man heard that Jesus had come from

Judea into Galilee, he went to him and pleaded

with him to come down and heal his son, since

he was about to die. So John starts off the second

sign of Jesus by giving us the setting again.

He tells us that Jesus goes, back to Cana of

Galilee where he did his first miracle. In between

verses 46 and 47, John actually lists five different

locations. And so there can be a lot to kind

of take in. It's a lot of different locations,

a lot of places that we're not super familiar

with. And so it can be really tempting for us

to skim over those details and just kind of to

skip to the good part, if you will. To skip to

the fun part where Jesus is talking with this

guy and what's Jesus going to do next. And after

all, why does this location even matter? Why

does it matter if Jesus is in Cana or Capernaum

or any other place? But let me challenge you

not to do that. See, these details show us that

these events truly happened because it shows

us that John himself saw what he writes about.

And I know it's a lot to keep track of with these

five different locations or regions of Cana of

Galilee and Capernaum and Judea back into Galilee,

and it's a lot to keep track of. But this level

of detail is crucial for showing us that Jesus

actually did what we're about to read. Let me

give you an example to put this into our own

context. This week, I went to a place in central

Illinois and I spoke with a few people. Well,

I can say that. It's broad and it's probably

true. I mean, we live in Champaign. It's roughly

central Illinois. So I guess technically right

now I went to a place in central Illinois and

I spoke to a few people. But who knows what I'm

talking about? I could have gone anywhere. Maybe

I went to Decatur this week. Maybe I went to

Springfield. Maybe I went to Bloomington or to

Jacksonville. Maybe I went to Beardstown or Mount

Sterling. Maybe I went to my favorite town from

when I lived in Hamilton of Rushville. Who knows

where I went? No one knows. Because I just said

I went to some place in central Illinois and

I talked to a few people. Who did I talk to?

No one has any idea. But what if I said this?

On Thursday, Ken and I went to Springfield, Illinois

to meet with Kevin Jones and Michael Aubrey and

to see Josh Bledsoe's new office to talk with

some IBSA guys about campus ministry and youth

ministry. Well, now it makes sense what happened.

There's a lot more detail to that. It starts

to make sense and paint a picture of what's going

on. It's also more believable, right? I can say,

I went to Central Illinois. Well, great. What

does that matter? See, if someone read that first

statement in 100 years, they would have no idea

what I did. But if they read that second statement,

they could theoretically start to piece together

what was going on. They could say, okay, we'll

find another historical document that tells us

who worked at IBSA at that time. Okay, well,

that's who that is, and that's who that is, and

oh, that's what they worked with. Okay, great.

The same is the case here. See, John shows us

Jesus' travel not to bore us or to confuse us,

but to make sure that we understand what is going

on and is a reminder that we can rely on his

account, that John's account is in fact trustworthy

and it is valuable for us to hear from. And so

Jesus goes with his disciples to Cana of Galilee,

and at the same time a man comes from Capernaum

to see him. And this man is specifically a royal

official. He comes after he hears that Jesus

has returned to Galilee. And so we know where

this sign is going to occur. It occurs in Cana,

but what about the who? So John introduces us

to a certain royal official. It's probably a

Jewish royal official who would have worked for

Herod Antipas, who was the king of Israel at

the time. But John doesn't tell us who it is.

Let me tell you why. There's two reasons. First,

it's not essential for what John's recording.

This story really is not about this royal official.

It's not really the point of this story. But

secondly, because if it's a minor official, like

it probably is, then what does the name even

mean to us? Like what does the name really matter

to us if it's somebody that we're not going to

know anyway? Let me give an example of this.

If I was to ask a group of University of Illinois

students, non -athletes, and I went up to them

and I said this, name me the four football coaches

before our current head football coach. How many

of them would be able to get that right off the

top of their head? Maybe. Maybe they might recognize

the name Ron Zook because he's got a banner in

the stadium. But how many people are going to

remember Bill Cubitt? What if I made it even

harder? What if I asked this same group of students

and said, name the first four coaches in the

history of football at the University of Illinois?

No one's going to look at me and say, yeah, Robert

Lackey. Robert Lackey is my favorite football

coach in the history of all football. No one

knows these things off the top of their heads.

The name is absolutely meaningless. But here's

the truth. Robert Lackey was one of the first

head football coaches. Those are people that

were well -known in their time at the University

of Illinois. Now imagine if I asked you something

even more difficult. Imagine if I asked you the

name of the assistant offensive line coach in

1978. Unless you personally knew that man, there's

no chance that you would know who that is. And

that's the same thing going on with this royal

official. Unless John's audience personally knew

who this guy was, they're not going to know this

name anyway. So why get caught up by saying,

listen, it was actually this guy right here.

He went by the name of Joshua, and he was awesome.

Because it's not going to mean anything to his

audience 2 ,000 years later. We're going to say,

great, who is this Joshua? What did he do? Oh,

Joshua just had a random court job. Good for

him. And so John doesn't give us that detail

because he doesn't want us to get lost in this.

And so instead of giving us a name or trying

to enhance our understanding of what happens,

John would have actually been drawing our attention

away from what Jesus is doing. So instead he

just tells us where this royal official is from.

He's from the town of Capernaum, which is about

20 miles or one full day of walking away from

Cana. And this man comes to Jesus because his

son is sick. So there's kind of a few key people

in this passage. There's Jesus, there's the official,

and there's the son. But there's another group

also. There's also the crowd this is going to

be happening in front of. And so the son is really

sick. In fact, the son's actually about to die,

we read. And so this royal official comes to

Jesus, and he pleads with Jesus to come to Capernaum

to heal his son. The word here is aruda, which

means that this man urges Jesus. He's pleading

with Jesus. He's begging with Jesus. He's on

his knees with Jesus. Please, Jesus, please come

heal my son. This is his all -out, last -ditch

effort. This is his Hail Mary here. He's saying,

please come heal my son. Don't let my son die.

You are the only person that can do this. Heal

my son. There's something different about this

dad. Have you seen it yet in verses 46 and 47?

This man recognizes that Jesus is different.

This man recognizes that Jesus isn't like any

other rabbi, that Jesus can both teach, but Jesus

can also heal. In fact, the only Jesus could

heal his son. He might be a royal official, but

he doesn't go to Giamaliel, who is the leading

Jewish scholar of the day, and say, Mr. Giamaliel,

please come save my son. He goes to Jesus. He

doesn't find a doctor in town. He goes to Jesus.

He doesn't try some other treatment form. He

goes to Jesus. In fact, as his son is on his

deathbed, this man leaves his son and spends

all day walking to Cana to go find Jesus. The

man's showing something that's different than

so much of Israel at this point in time. This

man is showing that he has faith. He has some

form of faith in Jesus. But it's not just blind

belief. See, Jesus at this point in his ministry

healed other people. He's done other miracles.

He's turned water into wine. So this man's faith

is not blind faith. It's faith that knows who

Jesus is. It's faith that says, I know that Jesus

is more than capable of doing this. I'm putting

my faith in Jesus that he will do this. So let's

see what's about to happen. So the man comes,

he pleads with Jesus, and then verse 48 says

this. Jesus told him, unless you people see signs

and wonders, you will not believe. So the official

said to him, come down before my boy dies. So

how does Jesus respond to this official? He hears

the father's pleading, then he gives a rebuke

of a lack of faith. And on the surface, it looks

like Jesus is rebuking the father here. But he's

not. He's warning the Father, but his statement

has actually a much larger audience. See, Jesus

says you as a plural here. Jesus is saying, y

'all. Y 'all people out here have a lack of faith.

It's like Jesus is pointing at the crowd and

saying, all of you have a lack of faith and rely

on a sign. He knows the hearts of the crowd and

their typical view. And the typical view is,

Jesus, just do another miracle and then maybe

I'll believe. Do another miracle, Jesus, and

then I'll put my faith in you. John 2 .23 shows

us that people believe, but they don't believe

until they see the sign. They don't believe in

his teaching in Jerusalem in John 2. Instead,

their hearts were still too hard. But when we

read John 2 .23, we do see this. While he was

in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many

believed in his name when they saw the signs

he was doing. The signs are what brings them

to faith, not Jesus' message. There's a lot of

great examples of Jesus rebuking his hardness

of heart. But one that struck me as I was reading

the Bible this week is in Mark chapter 8. In

Mark 8 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 8, the Pharisees get in an argument

Mark 8 · chapter mention

with Jesus. We read this. The Pharisees came

and they began to argue with Jesus, demanding

of him a sign from heaven to test him. Sighing

deeply in his spirit, he said, why does this

generation demand a sign? Truly I tell you, no

sign will be given to this generation. And then

he left them, got back into the boat, and went

to the other side. So Jesus here, in a similar

way, addresses the crowd and says, listen, you

guys only have faith because of the signs you

guys see. You don't actually have faith because

you have faith in me. You have faith because

you've seen something that makes you feel a certain

way. You have an emotional response to what you've

seen and what you've witnessed. And that's not

actual faith. But look at the response of this

royal official. He doesn't give up. Instead he

says this. Jesus, come and heal my son. His response

is to continue asking Jesus. His faith is seen

before there is ever a sign given to him. Because

I think what we're seeing here is this man truly

believes that he knows that Jesus is capable

of doing this. And so he repeats it again, come

down to Capernaum and please heal my son before

my boy dies. Saying, Jesus, listen, this is the

only way that my son will be saved. This is the

only chance. My faith is in you right now. To

use some 21st century language, this man is broken.

He's broken before Jesus and he desperately needs

Jesus to save him. He knows that the only solution

for him is Jesus, and he needs specifically Jesus'

mercy. He needs Jesus to take mercy on him and

decide to spare his son. See how Jesus meets

the father where he was as he addresses him in

verse 50. Verse 50 says, go, Jesus told him,

your son will live. The man believed what Jesus

said to him and departed. So Jesus responds to

this man by giving him an instruction. The man

is to go. And why is he to go? He's to go because

your son will live. So before we get to the second

half of this verse, let me just unpack something

about Jesus here. Cana is 20 miles away from

Capernaum. We've said that. Jesus is 20 miles

away from the sick and dying child. Talk about

power, though. That Jesus can heal this child

from 20 miles away. That's pretty remarkable

to me. When I had my shoulder surgery done, When

I was in college, 2018, my shoulder surgeon required

that I went back to Laramie to do my shoulder

surgery. It wasn't like he just sat up there

in his office in Laramie, Wyoming, doing surgery

on something that I just like magically got better.

I had to go to him in person. That's typically

how medicine works, but not with Jesus. Jesus'

power is so great that from 20 miles away, he

can just say the word and the boy is healed immediately.

Jesus doesn't even need to be with the boy. He

just heals the boy. But in this even, I think

we see a test of the father's faith. Because

look into that first part of the verse. Jesus

doesn't say, I'll go with you. Jesus tells the

man, go. Go, your son will live. The man needs

faith to go. Like, just think about this with

me. I think of this this week. What if this doesn't

work? What if the man goes home and his son is

not better? The man goes home, and his son's

dead at that point. The entire trip is in vain.

He's wasted his time. His son is going to die

if he has not died already. But he trusts in

Jesus, and so we see the man's going to believe

and obey. The man's faith carries him forward,

and he does, in fact, depart from Jesus and return

home. He hears Jesus, and he goes in belief.

And so I want to take a minute to apply this

to our own lives. Because really what this man's

done is he's given us kind of three steps that

we need to follow. First, we need to hear Jesus.

We need to hear what Jesus tells us. And this

man hears Jesus. We hear Jesus when we get in

God's word. Secondly, he trusts in Jesus. In

this moment of facing a really hard situation,

this man makes an active decision that he will

trust Jesus. That he will go. It's a form of

trust. And finally, he obeys Jesus. Jesus gave

him an instruction on what to do. He said, go.

And then the end goes. It's the same for us.

We need to be willing to go. We need to be willing

to take seriously what it is that God tells us

to do. We need to hear it, we need to trust it,

and we need to obey it. Let me give you this

as an example of it. Let's say you're struggling

with a health thing that you just can't seem

to beat. You know, that sickness keeps coming

back, that cancer just doesn't seem to go away.

And over and over and over again, you find yourself

going to God. And you're saying, God, why isn't

this getting better? God, why isn't this going

away? God, would you just heal me? Then you go

to God's Word. You open up your Bible that day

to the next place in your reading plan, and maybe

it's Psalm 103 .3. Then you are reminded that

God is a God who heals. That verse says, He forgives

all your iniquity. He heals all your diseases.

And from there, you choose to trust Jesus. You

say, listen, I'm going to trust Jesus that he

will heal me. And that might be that Jesus will

give the doctors wisdom in order to treat me.

But that one way or another, Jesus is going to

be with me through this entire situation. I'm

going to put my trust in Jesus rather than my

trust in anxiety. And then finally, we choose

to obey God. We go to that doctor's appointment

we have. We take care of what we can control.

Instead of ruminating on this or staying up late

at night being anxious, we release this to God.

It's kind of like we're going through the process

laid out by Peter in 1 Peter 5, 6 -7 that we

humble ourselves therefore under the mighty hand

of God so that he may exalt you at the proper

time, casting all your cares on him because he

cares about you. We've humbled ourselves before

God and we've cast all of our anxieties on him

and we do this day after day and hour after hour

as we hear from God, as we trust God and as we

obey God. That's what the Father does here. He

hears what Jesus says. Go, your son will live.

He trusts what Jesus says. My son will live.

And he obeys what Jesus says. And he goes in

faith. So let's look at John 4, 51 through 53

to see what happens next. It says this, while

he, the father, was still going down, his servants

met him saying that his boy was alive. He asked

him at what time he got better. Yesterday at

one in the afternoon, the fever left and they

answered. The father realized this was the very

hour at which Jesus had told him, your son will

live. So he himself believed along with his whole

household. The father goes on his way back to

Capernaum and has to stop overnight. And so then

the next day, we've gone from this first day

he's with Jesus. Now the next day, he runs into

his servants as he's walking home. And his servants

tell him some really awesome, great news. They've

gone to find him to let him know that everything's

okay. His son has gotten better. And so understanding

the father's like, listen, when did this happen?

Like, what is going on here? I left and my son

was going to die. Like, I've been gone for two

days. My son went from he's going to die to he's

better now. What's going on here? And then it

starts to hit him. When did it happen? It happened

at 1 p .m. the day before, just when Jesus told

him, go, your son will live. I can't help but

just stop and see the power of Jesus in that.

Just to stop and behold the power of Jesus. But

beyond that, I can't help but see the mercy of

Jesus. That Jesus sees this father who's hurting,

this father who's brokenhearted, he's going to

lose his son. And Jesus has mercy on him and

heals his son. This man is hurting, he's scared,

he's struggling. But instead of mocking him or

rebuking him for a decision he's made in life,

And let's be clear, Jesus could have done that.

He would have been well within his rights to

say, hey, official, do you remember that time

you did this or that time you did that? Shouldn't

have done that. But instead of doing that, Jesus

meets him where he is in gentleness and mercy

and heals his son. And look at verse 53. The

man believes and so does his household. That's

going to include the servants that just went

by there. Understand that when the word household

is used in the New Testament, that covers all

people, not just the immediate family, that's

the family, that's the servants, that's everyone.

They have all just seen what Jesus did and they

all believe. They believe that Jesus isn't just

powerful or that Jesus is good. They believe

that Jesus is the Son of God. They believe that

Jesus truly is who he says he is. What we've

seen here in this passage really is a progression

of faith. Because faith is a progression. See,

we can hear the gospel and we can know mentally

that Jesus was good. that Jesus was a nice man,

that Jesus was a good teacher, that Jesus did

a miracle. That's great. But we need to believe

the whole thing, including that Jesus is the

Son of God, the Savior of the world. And that's

what's happening right here for this man and

his family. They hear what Jesus did, they see

what Jesus has done, and they believe. Last week

I made the comment that every miracle has a specific

audience. This is the audience of the miracle.

The audience is this man and his family. And

when they're confronted with Jesus and with who

Jesus is, their response is really simple. They

believe. They believe. They put their faith in

Jesus, reflecting on what they've seen, on what

they've heard, and on who Jesus is. Understand

this, Cornerstone. When you meet Jesus, when

you truly meet Jesus, your life will never be

the same again, just as it was never the same

for this royal official in his household. So

let's look at John 4, 54. It's kind of a summary

statement of sorts. It says this. Now this was

also the second sign Jesus performed after he

came from Judea to Galilee. So it's the second

sign that Jesus does in Cana, but why does John

make such a strong point about this? Why does

John feel the need to remind us that this is

the second sign? Well, John's showing us something

as he goes through his seven signs. There's a

progression of sorts. See, John is helping us

to see who Jesus is. We just talked about how

the royal official and his family needed to see

who Jesus was in order to believe. And as John's

writing this gospel under the leadership of the

Holy Spirit and under the inspiration of the

Holy Spirit, he's showing us who Jesus is through

these seven miracles. First in John 2, we saw

that Jesus had power and authority that could

only come from God. There is no other way to

just take a barrel of water and turn it into

wine without some form of an outside impact,

unless you are God. So we saw Jesus's power and

his authority. And here we see Jesus's power

again. Yes, healing somebody from 20 miles away

is incredible, but more importantly, we see Jesus's

mercy highlighted. See, each one of these seven

signs we're going to see this summer shows us

something else about Jesus and our relationship

with Jesus. So John's summary statement is designed

to remind us of what we have learned about Jesus.

That first, we saw the power, and now we see

mercy. And after next week's sign, we'll see

that was the third sign that Jesus has done.

John's summary statement should prick our heart

a little bit by reminding us of how we are seeing

Jesus revealed to us, just one passage at a time.

And it's the perfect point for us to transition

into our applications this morning. We've got

four of them. First, first application point

today is your faith. Your faith. So much of this

miracle has to do with faith and with what you

believe or what you don't believe about Jesus.

And so I want to take a minute to talk about

our faith. What is it that we believe in? See,

we live in a broken and a fallen world. We live

in a world that is not perfect, a world with

pain. We live in a world where day after day

there are parents who lose their children. Where

day after day there are people who lose loved

ones. Where day after day there are people who

are sick and struggling. And it can be hard.

Maybe we're the ones who are sick and struggling.

I don't just mean sick with like a cold. I mean

sick with like cancer. And sick with severe health

issues that are hard and that weigh on us. And

why do we live in brokenness? Why would this

ever happen? Well, it happens because of something

called sin. See, sin causes brokenness because

sin separates us from God. Sin is anything that

is not totally perfect in the sight of God. And

we first see sin in Genesis chapter 3. And ever

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

since Genesis 3, every human is born with a sin

nature. That is that we are naturally inclined

to sin and that we are distanced from God because

of sin. As Romans tells us, sin entered the world

through one man for all. But that same verse

in Romans gives us hope also. Because just as

sin entered the world through one man, so did

something else. So did hope. Because there's

hope now for us. We might live in this broken

world because we're separated from God. But we

don't have to stay there. See, Romans 6 .23 says

this. The wages of sin is death, is this brokenness,

this separation from God. But the gift of God

is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. See,

because of Jesus, this Jesus that we've been

talking about this morning, this Jesus that can

heal somebody from 20 miles away, this Jesus

who has mercy on this Father, because of Jesus,

we can be saved. Because Jesus didn't just come

to earth to heal one person or two people or

to come around and turn water into wine. Jesus

came to earth and lived a perfect life. And Jesus

was crucified for us. But Jesus wasn't just crucified

because, you know, that needed to happen. Jesus

was crucified carrying the weight of our sin,

the weight of all the wrong things that we would

do. Everything would separate us from God. And

he carried all of that to the cross. And Jesus

paid the ultimate price by giving his life for

us. Jesus was the final sacrifice that we ever

needed. He was the total fulfillment of the sacrificial

system of the Old Testament, carrying all of

that sin and all of that guilt. And Jesus paid

that price. But Jesus didn't stay dead. Jesus

rose from the dead and defeated death. He defeated

sin. He defeated death. And now we can be saved.

That's great news because once we are saved,

we are now a new creation who lives in relationship,

a new relationship with God. See, previously

in brokenness, we are separated from God, and

that's where brokenness comes from. But now that

we are saved, we live in personal relationship.

with God. And then we are commissioned and we

are sent out. We are challenged to take this

good news to the people around us who live in

brokenness. Because we want everyone on this

earth to hear the best news ever. That they don't

have to be separated from God. That God has made

a way for them to have a personal relationship

with him and that they can be saved. And so let

me challenge you this morning to enter that new

relationship with Jesus today. Know where your

faith is. Be like this father. This isn't blind

faith. You're seeing what Jesus did. You're seeing

who Jesus is. So take that and believe it and

enter that new relationship with Jesus. Secondly,

we need to hear Jesus. We need to hear Jesus.

This week, Hope and I were reading in 1 Samuel

together. And it was such a great time. I love

1 Samuel. I love the Old Testament. But in 1

Samuel 3, Samuel's... pretty young, and he hears

God crying out to him multiple times throughout

the night, and every time he thinks it's Eli,

and so he gets up and goes, hey Eli, what do

you need? And Eli's like, that wasn't me. He

gets up again, hey Eli, what do you need? He

goes, that still wasn't me. He gets up again,

and Eli's like, listen, if you get up again,

it's going to be God, okay? Please leave me alone.

And so one more time, God wakes him up, and what

does Samuel do there? Samuel stops and listens.

And really from then on in Samuel's life, we

see this beautiful pattern. Where Samuel hears

God clearly. Where he slows down and listens

to God. Where he makes sure that he takes seriously

his chance to hear from God. And friends, I want

to challenge us that we need to do the same thing.

We need to slow down to take time to hear from

God. And I'm not saying you're going to be hearing

the audible voice from God waking you up in the

middle of the night. I mean, that would be incredible,

don't get me wrong. I don't know about you, it's

a lot more common for me to wake up because somebody

doesn't have a muffler on their car as they're

driving down my street than it is that I'm hearing

something audible from God. But there is a way

that we hear from God on a daily basis, and that's

when we're in God's Word. But I want to challenge

us also, it's really easy for me at least to

just start reading God's Word quickly, check

it off on the checklist. Great, I did my quiet

time, awesome, moving on with my day. I took

that 15, 20 minutes and awesome, now I can go

do everything else that my day holds. Okay, I

can go mow the lawn, I can go to work, I can

do whatever I need to do next. But what if we

really slowed down? What if we really made that

time a priority and said, listen, I'm going to

make sure I'm awake for this, I'm not just going

to be half asleep in bed when I do this. What

if I make sure that I've had my coffee, that

I'm sitting there eating breakfast, I'm really

just focused on this, my phone's on silent. It's

on do not disturb. I can't get distracted by

that. You know, great, somebody called me, whatever.

They can wait until a little later. It's not

necessarily easy, but it matters because we need

to give ourselves time to hear from God. We need

to give ourselves a chance to really dive into

God's word, to hear what it is that God has for

us that day. I just want to challenge you. We

need to hear Jesus. I want to give us a very

practical thing this week. Next week, we will

be looking at the third sign that Jesus does,

which is in John 5, 1 through 16. And so let

me challenge you this week. This week, for five

days, let me challenge you just to read one chapter

of John 1 through 5. It's not quite a chapter

a day this week, but slow down and just really

take some time to read John 1, John 2, John 3,

John 4, John 5. Do it slowly. Just really focus

on hearing from God. What is it that's standing

out to you? That's always a question I love to

ask people when I'm meeting up with them and

talking about what they're reading in the Bible

is, what is something that's been standing out

to you in God's Word? What's something in this

passage that just catches your eye over and over

again? And listen, there's always something.

There's always something. And so let me challenge

you. Take that time to think on that. What is

it in this chapter that really caught my attention?

Take that time and slow down so we can hear Jesus.

Secondly, we need to trust Jesus. We need to

trust Jesus. If I was to put this in the form

of one question, where do we go in hard times?

We need to trust Jesus. The father in this passage

has a really hard situation on his mind. It's

one that honestly I hope that none of us ever

find ourselves in, of potentially having to bury

their child. That is a horrific situation. And

you may not have that going on in your life.

I hope you don't. And if you do, please tell

us. We want to be praying with you. We want to

be with you in those hard situations. But I can

promise you there's something going on in your

life. There's something in your life right now

where you need to trust Jesus. Let me give you

potentially seven thoughts of something in your

life that might be going on where you need to

trust Jesus. First, your family member is not

saved. That cousin, that grandparent, that grandchild

is not saved. Secondly, your job is not going

well. You're worried you might get fired. You're

a little unsure financially where you're going

to be at. Third, your health is not great. You're

sick. You're struggling with something. Maybe

that surgery didn't go the way you wanted it

to. You're not healthy. Fourth, you're about

to or you are currently going through a life

transition. Life transitions are really hard.

Let's just be honest about that. Life transitions

are super hard. I thought this was super overblown.

The first six months I was married to Hope, I

had so many people like, you guys got married

and you moved and you started new jobs. And I

was like, it was easy. And I look back and I

wish I could go back and just say thank you to

everyone that said that to me. Because life transitions

are really hard. So maybe you're going through

a life transition and I guess that's a great

place to trust Jesus. Fifth, listen, life just

feels a little overwhelming day by day. It's

just death by a thousand paper cuts. This went

wrong. You stubbed your toe this morning. You

spilled the coffee on your thumb. You got in

your car and you banged your knee on the dashboard.

Whenever I get hopes, that happens to me. Maybe

you went to go get through that light and the

car in front of you stopped on the yellow light

and you're just frustrated. Whatever it is, there's

just a million little things going on. It's just

overwhelming. You're just like, this stinks.

This is just too much for me to keep going. Trust

Jesus. You're overjoyed maybe. Things are awesome.

You just finished up school. You just graduated

high school, for instance. Things are going super

well. Trust Jesus. Maybe you find yourself in

a season of answered prayer. Hey, my health has

improved. Hey, this situation has resolved itself.

Hey, this person I've been praying for is saved

now. Great. Trust Jesus. Regardless of where

you are, whether you're in one of these seven

situations or something else. I had like 11 of

these at one point. I just tried to tighten it

down to seven. But wherever you are at, I can

assure you of this. Trust Jesus. Whether everything's

great, whether everything's awful, we must trust

Jesus. There's no option for anything else. Everything's

been great. Your golf handicap's going down.

Great. Trust Jesus in that. Everything's awful.

Your life is on fire and melting down around

you. You are the dog in the meme with all the

flames around you. Great. Trust Jesus in that.

Life's just up and down right now. Let's be real.

That's most of us all the time. Don't ride that

wave. Trust in Jesus. Life is not about surfing.

Life is instead about trusting in God who keeps

us secure. And this miracle right here shows

us what our trust should actually look like.

I think it's really easy for us to say, I trust

in Jesus. Just kind of throw it out there, you

know, drop that platitude when we're talking

to somebody. Life's terrible, but my trust is

in Jesus right now. But our trust needs to be

an active trust. That father actively trusts

Jesus. Jesus, you are going to heal my son. And

so I'm willing to take action because of that.

Jesus, all of my eggs are in one basket. I'm

relying on you to heal my son. That is an active

and a complete trust. See, our trust in Jesus

is not just an emotion, it's a way of living.

It's something that sets us free. It frees us.

The Father can leave Jesus because he has total

trust. His trust in Jesus is free. I promise

you this, it will lower your stress, it will

lower your anxiety, and it will set you free

from those struggles. Your situation may not

improve right away, but trusting Jesus will make

it better. And so how do we trust Jesus? How

do we do this? Let me challenge you with this.

If we hear Jesus in God's word, we talk to Jesus

in prayer. See, we have a relationship with Jesus,

so let me encourage you to talk to Jesus. Think

about it like this. If you're married, think

back to when you first met your spouse. If you're

not married, think about maybe a relationship

with your parents or a good friend. If I was

to go through something really bad, if I got

a good, terrible, horrible diagnosis from a doctor,

I'm going to want to talk to Hope about it at

some point at least. Probably sooner rather than

later. If you're married, you know waiting on

that conversation would not be wise. But you're

going to talk to that person who's around you.

When you have that hard day, and you don't want

to talk about what went on, you want to talk

to that close friend. You want that relationship

and that person with you. You trust them in that

moment. I can trust that I can share this difficult

thing. I can trust I can share my struggle with

you. And we have that with God all the time.

But it is so easy for us when we go through a

hard season to say, okay, I don't see God in

this exact instant. So God, you must not be there.

So we just stop talking to God. We cut God out

of the equation. We begin to rely more on ourselves.

We put our trust in ourselves rather than Jesus.

So let me challenge you very practically. When

you're going through one of these seasons, the

highs, the lows, the in -betweens, make sure

you're praying. Make sure you're talking with

Jesus. Make sure you're taking that time as you're

in God's Word to also talk to Jesus and share

what's going on. Share your concerns. Share what's

on your mind. So let me just challenge you with

this question. Where do you need to trust God

in your life this week? Where do you need to

trust God this week? Final point of application.

We need to obey Jesus. We need to obey Jesus.

There's kind of two parts of this. We see the

Father's obedience to Jesus when Jesus says go

and the Father says, okay, I'll go. But there's

another part as Christians of obeying Jesus and

that is living a life that imitates Jesus. And

that's what I want to challenge us with this

morning. See, there's something really incredible.

that Jesus does here. Jesus meets the Father

where the Father is. Jesus meets the Father right

where he is, in his hurt, in his turmoil, in

all of that pain. And I think it's easy for us

to read this over and over again, to see Jesus

meeting somebody who's sick, somebody who's hurting,

somebody who's in pain, and say, well, I'm not

Jesus. I can't heal his son from 20 miles away.

I'm not Jesus. I can't turn water into wine at

that wedding that I'm going to. I'm not Jesus.

I can't make this person better all of a sudden.

But what we can do is we can meet the people

around us like what Jesus does. I think about

Job's friends as an example of this. A bad example.

It's a negative example of this. Job's sitting

there. He's lost everything. His kids are all

dead. His wife's like, listen, just curse God

and give up on this Job. This isn't worth it.

And Job's friends sit there and basically say,

yeah, Job, you are a terrible human being. In

that moment, they have the chance to meet him

where he is in his sadness and say, Job, we know

it's not your fault, and we're going to be here

with you right now. We're not going anywhere.

And they don't. They don't because they have

no compassion on the people around them. And

one of the most powerful things I think we can

take away from a passage like this is Jesus'

mercy and his compassion on the people around

him. We all see this in Matthew 9, 36, where

it says this, when Jesus saw the crowds, he felt

compassion for them, or quite literally a compassion

that comes throughout all of his being, because

they were distressed and dejected like sheep

without a shepherd. So he said to his disciples,

the harvest is abundant, but the workers are

few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest

to send out workers into his harvest. I have

some awesome news here this morning, Cornerstone.

You are those workers that God is calling into

the harvest. And we're not talking about a harvest

of like, go out with Jennifer and pick some ears

of corn this year. We're talking about a harvest

of going to that neighbor who's hurting. A harvest

of going to that coworker who's struggling. That

coworker who's going through that messy divorce.

That friend who just went through that breakup.

We're talking about that harvest. The harvest

of the people all around us on a daily basis

who are hurting that we may not even take the

time to notice. But that's not really an excuse.

Think about what Jesus says to us in the Sermon

on the Mount. You are the salt of the earth.

You're different. You are the light of the world.

You are a city situated on a hill that cannot

be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under

a basket, but rather on a lampstand it gives

light for all who are in the house. In the same

way, you let your light shine before others.

So that you may see your good works and give

glory to your Father in heaven. Let me add one

more onto that. You are the laborers who can

meet people where they are. You are the people

who can have compassion on your lost friends

and your lost family. Friends, you are the people

who can take this with you to your unique sphere

of influence on a daily basis. I don't often

shout people out from the pulpit. But I will

in this case. My apologies, Parker. Parker works

for the University of Illinois Athletics. He

interacts with a group of people that I don't

currently have access to. If I walk in there

tomorrow and just say, hey everybody, my name's

Daniel. I'm here to help you out with all your

biggest issues in your personal life. Even my

own wife laughs at that. Ouch. It's not going

to work. It's going to go nowhere. They're like,

that guy's weird. Please get him out of here.

Call security. Call campus police. Let's ban

this guy. Take away my season tickets. We don't

want that. But Parker can be there. Parker can

be there for that coworker. He can be that light.

I love challenging students with this, too. I

can't go into your junior high or your high school

and just walk in the front door and go up to

your friend and say, hey, listen. I'm here for

you. We got you. But you can. You can go to that

friend over summer break and say, hey, I know

you're having a really hard time at home. Let's

hang out. Dude, come over to my house. We'll

go play some video games. You can do that. Friends,

listen, we are called to obey Jesus, and that

includes us obeying Jesus by meeting people where

they are. And here's the most beautiful part

about this. That's where we can take our trust,

and we can really put it into action and choose

to live differently. So let me challenge you.

Do you have a relationship with people around

you, and are you willing to slow down enough

to obey Jesus and to meet people where they are,

to meet people in their suffering, to meet people

in their pain, to meet them when they're having

that hard day and they just need a friendly ear

to talk to? Let's be faithful to do that this

week. God, we just come before you today, and

we are so thankful, God, for who you are. God,

we are thankful for your goodness. We are thankful

for the fact that you demonstrated this thing

so well, God, of what it looks like for us to

meet people where they are, of what it looks

like, God, for us to faithfully reflect you.

God, I ask that you would help us to live this

out this week, God. Help us to slow down, to

build these relationships with people around

us who are struggling, who are hurting. God,

and for us to be people who they feel comfortable

going to and talking to, God. Father, I just

ask that you would be with us now, God. Would

you help us even now, God, just to know of people

in our lives, people that we cross paths with

all the time, God, who are hurting and who need

you, God. God, help us to see our coworkers and

our clients and our patients, God, or whoever

it is that we are working with this week, God,

our neighbors, our family members, God. Help

us to see them, to see how we can love them the

way that you do. Thank you, Jesus, for your mercy.

Thank you for your mercy on us and help us to

take that to others. We ask this in your name.

Amen.