As we ended with v. 38 last week, there is the thought LABOR. Sowing, cultivating, and harvesting are difficult tasks, not only in the physical realm, but also in the spiritual. There is no place in the harvest for lazy people. The work is too difficult and the laborers are too few.
Pastor...wanted to be a prophet...his spiritual gift is exhortation. What did he mean??? Scripture says that all of us should desire the gift of prophecy...that is not speaking of the motivational gift of prophecy...it is saying that regardless of what your fit is, you should always proclaim the truth.
v. 39-42 Many of the Samaritans believed because of the testimony of the woman, and then many more believed when they heard Jesus personally. So excited were they about Him that they begged Him to stay with them; and He stayed for 2 days. During that short time, His word produced fruit in their lives.
It is important that new converts be grounded in the Word—the Bible. These Samaritans began their spiritual walk by trusting in what the woman said, but they soon learned to trust the Word taught by the Lord. Theirs was no “secondhand” salvation. They knew that they were saved because they had believed His message. “Now we know!” was their happy testimony.
It might seem that these Samaritans would have been narrow in their faith…seeing Jesus as the Savior of the Jews and the Samaritans, but they declared that He was “the Savior of the world v. 42. They had been saved only a few days but they had become quickly missionary visioned.
Let’s look at the Lord’s movements that brought Him to Samaria…
Jerusalem – John 2:23; Judea 3:22; Samaria – 4:4…and the Samaritans declared Him “Savior of the world!”
This is a perfect parallel to Acts 1:8 … “And ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Looking at the BAD Samaritan – the Woman at the Well: She was a fruitful believer: she bore fruit – “many believed”, more fruit “many more believed”, and today continues to bear “much fruit” to the glory of God John 15:1-5. We cannot know how many lost sinners have come to the Savior because of the witness of this woman.
v. 43-54 Why did Jesus return to Cana? Could it be that He wanted to cultivate the “seed” He had planted there when He attended the wedding feast? Nathanael came from Can…maybe it was a personal reason for this visit. The nobleman from Capernaum (20 miles away) met Jesus at Cana. His son was dying and he had heard of the miracle at Cana, so he came.
Was the nobleman a Jew or a Gentile? We do not know. Whatever his standing or position, he was a desperate man/father. He kept pleading with Jesus to go to Capernaum with him to heal his son. The father believed two inaccurate things: Jesus had to go to Capernaum to heal his son and that if the boy died it was too late!!!!!
“Seeing is believing” has always been the pragmatic philosophy of the lost world, even the religious world.
The admonition of the LORD in v. 48 about people always seeking signs and wonders is not simply directed at the Nobleman but has general application. Jesus is seeking those who believe not just because of seeing miracles.
We must admire these people of faith: The Samaritan woman believed Jesus immediately, the nobleman believed Jesus and started to return home as soon as the Lord said, “Go thy way, thy son liveth. V. 50 -53…the incident led to his whole household coming to faith.
The boy was healed when the Lord spoke and the servants set out to tell the father. Just as in the water to wine transformation miracle, the servants knew what is going on. When the father and the servants met the nest day, their report confirmed his faith. The father had thought that it would be a gradual healing, but the servants reported a complete instant recovery.
The Lord performed several miracles “at a distance”. The LORD demonstrated that Messiah came to minister to Gentiles as well as Jews; and the awesome power of God to speak from a distance and heal in the hopeless case. You might enjoy pursuing the details of the miracles from a distance.
The turning of water into wine and the healing of the son were private rather than public miracles. Mary, the disciples, and the servants knew where the excellent wine had come from, but the guests did not. The nobleman’s son was healed at Capernaum, not Cana.
Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding revealed His power over TIME> The Father is always making water into wine, but He takes a season or two to finish the work. Jesus made the wine instantly. In this sense, our Lord’s miracles were only INSTANTANEOUS copies of what the Father is always doing. “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work 5:17. The Father is constantly multiplying bread, season after season, but the Son multiplied it instantly.
In the healing of the son of the nobleman: Jesus showed His power over SPACE. He was not limited simply because He was in Cana and the sick boy was in Capernaum. The fact that the father believed the word and did not know the results until the next day is evidence that he had confident faith. He trusted the word that Jesus spoke, and so should we!
This nobleman/father began with CRISIS faith, which the LORD CONFRONTED. The nobleman was about to lose his son. Many people come to Jesus with their crisis!...then and today! After speaking with Jesus, the nobleman’s faith became a CONFIDENT faith…he believed the Word and had peace in his heart. His confident faith became CONFIRMED faith. He believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and he shared this faith with his family. The nobleman’s faith was strengthened and multipled as he had CONTAGIOUS faith…he was willing to bear witness to his household of what Jesus had said and done. And they, too came to faith!!!
THE focus in the block of Scripture today might well be WALKING IN OBEDIENCE! God will confirm and strengthen the simple faith of those who respond to Him in obedience.
CONCLUSION: God will test our faith to show us if it is genuine (James 1:2-4, I Peter 1:3-9. What He desires is that we respond in obedience John 2:5. Biblically, KNOWING (confident faith) follows OBEDIENCE (John 7:17, 3:21, 36) It is not you will obey if you know, but you will know if you obey!
No comments:
Post a Comment