REVIEW
So we have been learning how one can be made whole. No, not just the fact that He wants us healed & whole, but how we all can receive from God His will for us. And we’ve learned that God wants us healed & whole from our golden text for this series among many other Scriptures. First Thessalonians 5:23 saying, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” You see, this verse tells us that God cares about every aspect of our lives. It’s not just our spirit that God desires to be healed & whole. Sure, He wants His salvation to come to our spiritual nature to where we are saved & born-again, but he also cares about that same salvation being experienced in our souls. Yes, he wants us our soul – which includes our mind, will, and emotions – to be “saved” and made new. This means that He wants all of that tattered soul that has been damaged by the world to receive a complete transformation. But not only does He want all of our soul to be made whole, He likewise desires our physical body to experience the same salvation. Yes, God wills that our physical bodies experience freedom from sickness, deliverance from disease, and healing from infirmities just like our spirit & soul. Church, “salvation” describes much more than simply getting our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and saved from sin. The Greek word for “saved” describes being saved from more than just the power of sin and its penalty. The Greek word used for “saved” – the word sozo means to “save, heal, cure, preserve, keep safe and sound, rescue from danger or destruction, and deliver.” The Spirit Filled Life Bible says that this Greek word means “to save from physical death by healing, and from spiritual death by forgiving sin and its effects.” So there is a whole lot more that Jesus saved us from other than eternal death and punishment. He saved us from hell on earth too—which is any and every form of physical suffering or infirmity. Amen! So we are learning how we receive this salvation and wholeness because it’s obvious that it is not automatic. If it was, then we would all be made whole already. Yes, if it were just up to God’s will, every person would be healed & whole just like if it were totally up to God, every man & woman would be saved. But no, we understand that everybody is not saved and going to heaven, and why? Because the Bible is clear – everyone must believe! Yes, they must put faith in the finished work of grace. Then, and only then, can one become saved from their sin & it’s consequences. So if that is how it works with the most important part of salvation, that must be the same way it works with the rest of “sozo.” Yes, we are saved in our soul and body the same way we are saved spiritually. You see, it is crystal clear that we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Colossians 2:6 teaches us this: It says, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” So, how did you receive Him? By grace! So how are you supposed to walk in Him (speaking of our everyday conduct)? The obvious answer is by grace! God sanctified our spirit completely by grace when we received Him, and now He is wanting to sanctify our soul by grace while we are living in this body. Yes, church, we are saved by grace through faith – and this is how it works with all three parts of our whole person – spirit, soul, and body. And this is why we’ve seen such a common denominator between faith and salvation in all of these people who came to Jesus to receive physical healing. It’s because faith is the only way to receive being made whole. Can I get an Amen? THE NOBLEMAN’S SON So this week, I want us to look at another example of healing where faith certainly played a big factor. This is the story of the healing of the nobleman’s son found in John 4:46-53. Verse 46 begins with John telling us that “Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine …” Good news travels fast when it comes to miracles, doesn’t it? So, I’m sure that this nobleman had heard of Jesus’ first miracle that He performed in Cana, and when he heard that Jesus came again to their town, He made a bee line from Capernaum to come on behalf of his son. So an important lesson here is that this is where this certain nobleman got faith for his son because of what he had been hearing. So never underestimate the power of sharing the supernatural things God has done for you in your life. Not only will it increase faith in others, but it will increase your own faith as you recall the wonderful works of God. Amen! Then we are told – “And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.” Now the root word for the Greek word used for “nobleman” here is the word for “king.” It literally described a royal official. Therefore, this man had some clout, prestige, and notoriety. Some commentators even believe that he was one of Herod’s officers. So, this guy might have been likened to what we would recognize as a governor or senator who represents our state. This is actually a common example in the Gospels—where someone with some notoriety and a position would come to Jesus on behalf of someone they loved and humbled themselves to implore Him for that person. It was in the example here with the nobleman, and was also used in the healing of the Centurion’s servant and in the healing of Jairus’ daughter. Therefore, this shows us the humility in this man to come to Jesus and essentially beg Him to come heal his son. Again, we see how the Scriptures make a point to tell us about the ones who had to humble themselves in coming to Jesus. Why do you reckon this is so? It’s because a person’s faith is closely connected to their humility. You see, the Bible makes a point in telling us that the humble get more grace from God (See James 4:6). On the contrary, the proud get resisted by God. And don’t just think of pride as being the more vocal braggart or boastful person. That’s just one end of pride. The other, more hidden side of pride, is the quieter one – the person who cares too much about what other people think, who leans on their own abilities, etc. This is the same kind of pride that will keep one from receiving the grace of wholeness. We’ve got to get real, not caring what others think or the fallout. When we get to that place, we get more grace. Amen? So, I see two things as the catalyst for these prominent men’s miracles—their humility and their love. Their humility in coming to Jesus in spite of their power and position and their love for the one they came on behalf of. Just as our Lord was moved with compassion, our passion for the thing we desire plays a major role in the moving of ourselves into the position to receive. Now I want you to specifically notice that this man came from Capernaum to Cana of Galilee. Galilee was a region kind of like we might refer to as a state here in the United States. And just like our state of Georgia has various cities within it, Galilee had towns or cities within it as well— and two of those towns were Cana & Capernaum. The specific location of these two towns is an important point in this story because notice what this man did in verse 47 … Verse 47 tells us – “When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.” So Capernaum was a city located right alongside of the Sea of Galilee and was about 20-25 miles northeast of Cana. So, for this nobleman to “come up” from Capernaum was a serious step of faith because they obviously didn’t have the modes of transportation that we have today. This man was likely traveling on foot through some extreme temperatures & difficult terrain. Not only that, but notice how that this nobleman implored Jesus to “come down” and heal his son. Now we would usually use terminology like this if someone were coming from somewhere north of us such as Atlanta. But we just saw that where this nobleman came from was actually more north of Cana, right? So why did this man say for Jesus to come “down”? Well, bodies of water are generally at a much lower sea level, right? Also, near to Cana was a more mountainous region. So, when he said to come down, he was not referring to where they were geographically but to where they were at sea level. So what this does is it shows us that what this man did to come to Jesus was even more difficult because it was all significantly uphill for 20-25 miles. That’s a lot of effort, my friends. This nobleman went through a lot to come to Jesus in hopes of Him granting his request, much less him even being able to locate Jesus. I’m not so sure a lot of people who say they want to be made whole would do the things this man did. But this is the kind of stuff that true faith will do. Yes, it will climb a mountain. It will travel a long distance on foot. It will lose its dignity. This is what someone who believes that Jesus is the answer will do. Amen? Verse 48 goes on to say, “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.’” This was certainly not a commendation being given to this nobleman by Jesus. He was likely referring to how these people of Galilee who had heard of His miracle of turning the water into wine were looking for more miracles without yet believing on Him. This was actually a very common thing with God’s chosen people. Paul taught us that the Jews seek after a sign (See First Corinthians 1:22). In other words, the Jewish people had the tendency to need proof in order to believe. But, you see, while we certainly should desire things like the gifts of the Spirit and the supernatural signs and wonders of God, we should not depend on them in order to believe God and His Word. No, while the saying, “seeing is believing,” might be true to some, it is not truth to a believer. Seeing is not believing—for the Bible teaches us that we walk by faith and not by sight (See Second Corinthians 5:7). This statement by Jesus reminds me of the story of doubting Thomas and what Jesus said to him when He revealed Himself to Thomas: You see, Thomas wanted physical evidence, and was unwilling to simply believe the testimony of the other disciples. But when Jesus showed Himself to Thomas and the others, he turned to Thomas and said, “Do not be unbelieving; be believing” (See John 20:27) I see Jesus here correcting Thomas’ tendency to not believe. In other words, I don’t believe this was an isolated case of Thomas doubting. I see it as a heart issue here where Thomas’ tendency to question what he was hearing had become commonplace. And the reason I believe this is because of this thing Jesus told him – to not be faithless but to be believing. You see, a lot of times the problem is not that we don’t believe one specific thing, but that our tendency is to not believe most things. In other words, it’s the spirit behind the action that is the problem. So if our tendency is to “be unbelieving,” then doubt will be our bent. But if our tendency is to “be believing,” then we will be more apt to believe when it doesn’t make sense, or we don’t have any evidence. Again, it’s all about the heart, and we certainly want to possess a “believing” heart. But one thing that I just love about what Jesus said to Thomas here is that Jesus just simply said be one way and don’t be another. There was no – “I understand that you may have to work at it” or “Try your best even though it might be hard.” No, Jesus said stop being this way and start being that way. Church, faith is a choice, not a feeling. We can choose to “be believing.” So if we call ourselves believers, then let’s be believers! Amen! Verses 49-50 go on to say, “The nobleman said to Him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your son lives.’ …” Now at this point, this man had a decision to make, didn’t he? Either he was going to believe what Jesus said and turn around and travel that same 20-25 miles back home believing His Word or he was going to stay there and continue to plead with Jesus to come with him because he wasn’t willing to believe His Word. I think most believers today would have failed this test. I believe that most would have persisted in trying to get Jesus to come down to Capernaum with us. But not this man! He did what the Lord Jesus told him to do, believing what He said! That’s the way I want to respond. Verse 50 goes on to say, “… So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.” So essentially, this man believed what Jesus said and then acted on it. Church, when are you and I going to believe that we are healed? When the doctor tells me I am healed? When the symptoms go away? When we feel like we are healed? No, we need to believe the word even if we never feel or see anything changed because this is what our faith God expects out of His people of faith. This is what Mark 11:23-24 teaches us—that faith believes it receives when it prays, not when it sees the answer manifested. We are not to base our faith on our feelings: I’ve come to find that there are three times that I see someone get healed. There’s the time where I don’t feel anything, but the person I’m praying for does, and they get healed. There’s also the time where I feel something, but the person I’m praying for doesn’t, and they get healed. But there is also the other time where I don’t feel anything and they don’t feel anything, but they get healed. Do you know what this teaches me? That we can’t base these things on our feelings! Sure, it’s nice when we have them to confirm something is happening, but they are not the proof that something is happening or has happened. Our faith alone is the evidence of things hoped for (See Hebrews 11:1). Notice that this nobleman not only believed the logos – the word that is used to describe the written word – but he believed the word that Jesus “spoke” to him, which is another way of describing a rhema word from God. So this shows us that yes, we need to believe the Bible, but we also need rhema’s too. Both work towards us having faith and where faith comes from. So, we are told that he went his way. This was maybe 10-20 miles of casting down of imaginations, 10-20 miles of resisting the fears, 10-20 miles of bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Have you ever walked the road before? Sometimes that road is a difficult one because doubts & fears pervade us. So just as this nobleman had an uphill climb to get to Jesus, his walk of faith back to Capernaum had the tendency to be a downhill slide. What do I mean by that? I mean it’s just natural for our flesh & heart to try and get drug down by unbelief and doubt. It’s a lot like gravity, because there will be plenty of natural, physical things that will try and bring us back down to earth. So I say this to say, don’t think somethings wrong with you because you are tempted to fear & doubt. That is not the case. It’s just the journey of faith while living in this natural, carnal world. You and I will have to fight the temptation to not believe & trust God as long as we live in this carnal world. Verse 51 goes on to say, “And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!” Can you imagine the jubilation of this man when he got this news! Well, this same news came to Jesus’ disciples after He was raised from the dead. Most of us have heard the story, where Jesus first revealed Himself first to the woman, Mary Magdeline, and then she goes to tell Jesus’ other disciples that He was alive. So pretty much the same good news came to Jesus’ disciples that came to this nobleman – “He lives!” Then in Matthew’s Gospel, we are told that Jesus appeared to three of the women. But when His disciples heard that He had been raised from the dead, they did not believe. In other words, they doubted the word that they heard. So what if I came to you and said, “You live!”? Or if I said, “Your brain cells live!” or “Your kidney lives!”? What will you believe? Verse 52 says, “Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” So why did the nobleman ask this question? It was obviously because he was interested in knowing if it was about the time that Jesus told him that his son lived. But I want you to notice something about the time when the fever left his son – It was at the seventh hour! Now what does the number seven mean in Biblical numerology? It means completion. It’s the day after God finished His work of creation. So, do you know what this teaches us? It’s that the work is finished, it is done and complete, not when we see it or feel it, but when He said it! On the seventh hour, it is done! Finally, in verse 53, we are told – “So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.” Boy, Jesus’ words are powerful, are they not? Simply by speaking the word all the way in Cana, something was affected in Capernaum, showing us that there is no time or distance in the spirit. Therefore, we should not put any limitations on any of God’s Words. If we will just believe the Words He speaks to us, in that very same hour, we can receive the fruit of them. So I for one choose to take the things Jesus has said to me and believe them, knowing that the fruit of His Words come the moment He speaks them to me. Therefore, Words like “He has delivered me from the power of darkness and translated me into the kingdom of the dear Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13) are what I take as Jesus speaking to me. Words like “no weapon formed against me shall prosper” are truth to me. Yes, the same way I believe that my sins are taken care of because it is written they are, I believe the rest of Isaiah 53 that says, “He Himself bore my sicknesses and carried my pains.” In other words, it’s as good as done in my book because it is written in His Book. Amen! Now I love feelings, but they are not my diet. They are desserts and they are nice when we get them, but what we need is the Word that He speaks to us. Let’s be believers, believing that we have been made whole by the Words He has spoken to us. Yes, let’s be “noblemen” and “noblewomen” and honor God’s Word above all else, believing that just one word spoken by Him can make us whole. Amen!
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