The Gospel Of John: The Royal One

to the holy one [Music] you plead my cause you ride my runs you break my chains you overcome you gave your life to give me mine [Music] [Music] further along [Music] understand why so cheer up my brothers [Music] live in the song one shine will understand [Music] thrives in jesus christ cause [Music] a mirror full of smoke confusion illusions i've seen but where did i go wrong i sang along to every chorus of the song that the devil wrote like a piper at the gate leading my cement down to their fade some will courageously escape the seductive voice with the heart of faith while walking back and forth there's so much more to life than we've been told is full of beauty that will unfold and shine like you struck gold my wayward wash away all the things you've done forgiveness [Music] know [Music] live in the sun [Music] will understand this [Music] i am [Music] i got no place left to go cause i got changed by what i've been shown it's more glory than the world has known it keeps me rambling on and skip it like okay [Music] [Music] let [Music] and one day when the sky rolls back on us some rejoice in the other's fuss cause every knee must bow and tongue confess the son of god is forever blessed his is the kingdom and we're the guest so put your voice up to the test [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] live in the sun oh [Music] down [Music] raindrops street lights got the pavement [Music] and where would i be without you i'll be packing [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] there's you [Music] and where would i be [Music] [Applause] [Music] just to watch it fade away it's true [Music] [Music] [Music] where would i be [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] me you [Music] we're going to talk about saying goodbye i don't like saying goodbye me neither but there are some fun ways to say it like see you later alligator out the door dinosaur see you soon raccoon in a while crocodile toodaloo caribou adios amigos love peace and chicken grease so long king kong peace out girl scout wait just a minute why are we saying goodbye well because this is our very last kid size video well that's sad yes it is we've had a good run but we've been told it's time to move on to other things maybe our fan base was getting too large too much fan mail for the office to handle whatever exactly whatever out of all our kid-sized videos that's the one thing we want you to remember oh yes philippians 4 8 in fact this verse is the apostle paul's farewell to the church in philippi so it may as well be ours this verse tells us what we should fill our minds with instead of all the junk the world tries to fill it with whatever is true whatever's honorable whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is commendable if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise think about these things whatever and remember kids you can come see us live and in person every sunday morning so come on over to the kids building and make that happen toodaloo kangaroo time to scoot little newt whatever [Music] well good morning bethany church how's it going out there great to see everyone here today great to see our students here in the front rows love having you guys up here with us so good to be together as the church to worship god to to study his word to pray together to to be the family of god it's just a blessing every week to join together and to be here so thank you for being here to those of you joining us online thank you for tuning in we just hope that you will also engage with us worship along with us participate and it's just a pleasure to to be here to to sing with you guys and to to worship god together so i do want to encourage you to fill out our connect card let us know you're with us you can do that online or with the card in the seat pocket in front of you if you have any prayer requests or praise reports just let us know if you just have any life updates just put a line there or even just to say that you're here with us we love hearing from you guys well today i just hope that we will all be blessed and filled with god's word as we hear from the final passage of our drawn series for now until it picks up next year we're gonna we're gonna take this series over several years to hopefully get through the whole book of john but today is the last one for this year and i just hope that we will all be filled with the gospel and the good news and just reminded that jesus can change our lives and that he has changed us and that he puts us on a trajectory to love others to serve others to be his light to the world amen church amen well let's stand together then and worship god with that in mind just giving him the praise and glory for who he is for how great he is let's just lift up our voices to him and just praise his name our god is worthy [Music] oh lord my god when i in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hands have made sing it up i see the stars i hear the rolling thunder thy power throughout the universe display then sings my soul my savior god to thee how great thou art how great thou art then sings my soul my savior how great thou art how great [Music] can take it [Music] [Music] away [Music] how great thou art how great thou art [Music] [Music] how great thou art [Music] [Music] and take me home [Music] my is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] amen [Music] [Music] we worship the god who was we worship the god who is we worship the god whoever more will be he opened the prison doors he parted the raging sea my god he holds the victory there's joy in the house of the lord there's joy in the house of the lord today and we won't be quiet [Music] we will cry [Music] we sing to the god who heals we sing to the god who saves we sing to the god who always makes a way cause he hung upon that cross then he rose up from the grave my [Music] quiet there's joy in the house of the lord [Music] [Music] we were the bakers now we're royalty we were the prisoners now we're running free we are forgiven accepted redeemed by his grace let the house of the lord sing praise [Music] [Music] [Music] there's joy in the house of the lord there's joy in the house of the lord today and we will be quiet on your graceless [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] yes [Music] you are surely with us amen god is with us we worship him because he is great he is awesome he's worthy of all praise [Music] you give life you are love you bring light to the darkness you restore every heart that is [Music] so we pour out our praise pour out our praises your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise to you [Music] you give life you are love you bring light to the darkness you give hope you restore every heart that is [Music] so we pour out [Music] [Music] it's your [Music] oh for who you are for all you've done for us thank you lord all the earth our hearts will cry these bones will sink [Music] our hearts will cry these bones [Music] all the earth will shine [Music] he's [Music] is [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] are you hello come on church let's just sing that out sing great are you [Music] great [Music] [Music] let's clap to our great god he is worthy of all praise of our lives lived for him so great to sing together with you all would you turn and say hello to someone next to you before you take a seat good morning welcome to bethany church it is good to see you i am so happy to see all of you out there my name is lori o'toole i'm the ministry coordinator here and as we start today i want to see a show of hands and if you're online you can just put that in the comments how many of you are students or teachers raise your hand keep them held up how many of you have started already okay so usually it used to be the last sunday in august is kind of that getting ready for school i'm sorry i guess school has started for a lot of people but it's kind of the end of summer right and it's exciting but there's also a little bit of oh a new season but we have here at bethany had our summer reconnect and after being a part for so long it has been so good to gather together again whether it's in here or in small groups do i have any ladies that came to our women's dinner and game night the other night thank you yes i paid them for that um pastor jeff's going to say something about it but we are working on our cornhole skills just so he knows we had a great time together the other night men you have a bonfire on tuesday night if you haven't heard about that yet pastor tim jeff and jacob are all going to be down at the beach at bolsa chica and they're doing a fire on tuesday night kind of a way to end summer completely so more information about that is in your bulletin we've also got to to just finalize our summer reconnect and get ready for the fall we're going to have an all-church barbecue next sunday after church all that is required of you is to get out of your seat when the service ends and go that way and come join us for a hot dog we're just going to have some time to connect over just a hot dog and have fun in the courtyard together so i hope you'll join us for that you know but as you've heard bethany as we connect grow and go so we don't just connect um just to enjoy ourselves which we do but we also want to go deeper in our relationships with each other and with god and as we move towards the fall we have some opportunities for you to do just that and also in your bulletin we've got youth group starting wednesday night we gotta kick off okay we need a little bit more than that but we'll work on it okay they've got to kick off on wednesday night it's going to kick off the whole student ministry season for the year so we hope you'll join us for that we also have hannah circle coming up and there's more information that went home in an email this week and then we have two fall studies one for men and women so don't just connect but come join us for the next part as we go deeper in our relationship with god so i hope that you will join us for that one easy way to make sure that you're getting all of that information is using our connect card if we don't if you don't get an email from us already we send out an email on thursdays and one on sunday mornings if you're not getting any of those would you make sure that we've updated your information in the connect card because we want you to connect with us and we want to make sure you have all the information you need but also we want to be able to pray for you so you can use those connect cards in front of you or on the qr code on the back of your bulletin to just let us know how we can pray for you and what god's doing in your life you know there are a lot of ways that bethany serves people but one of them is through our care team and i just want to take a minute in just a few moments to to share with you that we have a care team of people and even as i emailed them this week asking them telling them that we were going to recognize them so many of them said i don't want to stand up i don't want to be recognized but there are people behind the scenes who are serving god's people in very tangible ways we have some volunteer companions who connect with some of our widows and homebound seniors who write notes who make phone calls just to share the love of god with people we also have a support team of men and women who go and change a light bulb when a light bulb needs to be changed or help in very tangible ways and that team of people is led by some of our deacons and deaconesses so um i'm going to ask first of all we have john darjani one of our former elders and gloria craig jean chung and barbara long if they are in the audience i'm going to have you stand first and then stay standing this is the group of people that leads our our care team they kind of coordinate we've got gene in the back and john and i think barbara's right there it's good to see you thank you they are leading and coordinating and praying but also we have a team of people who help behind the scenes so if you are one of our care team people would you just stand up very quickly i know it's just real quick i won't make you talk in this last season it has meant so much to be able to reach out to a team of people to be able to care for those in need and so we need help in all of these different areas if you feel like you have the gift of mercy or you have the gift of driving someone to a doctor's appointment or you have the gift of making a meal we would love to have you join our team and just be available to serve um when the need arises so if that's something that you feel like you would like to do you can also write that right care on the back of the connect card and i would love to get you plugged in with our leadership team and they can help you serve in a way that helps care for our bethany body so we're also going to be taking a benevolence offering later on that also goes to help people in need so we do want to connect we want to grow together and then we want to go and make a difference in people's lives and so our care team is one way that helps us do that so we're gonna look forward to the series finale of the gospel of john today would you pray with me as pastor jeff comes up and shares the word dear heavenly father i just thank you that you are at work at this place god i thank you for those that you have brought to this place for a reason there are people in this room today who are here for such a time as this so god i pray that as pastor jeff shares your word as he just speaks would your spirit speak through him would you allow his word to transform hearts and minds allow your word to transform hearts and minds god we thank you for this day and may our worship be a sweet aroma to you today it's in your name we pray amen [Music] [Music] well good morning bethany church it's good to see you guys those of you who are joining us online thank you for being there we have reached the end of our series in the gospel of john now i gotta be honest i was feeling a little bit emotional this week because i've truly enjoyed just the prep and investing and learning about the gospel of john it's been just a great reminder for me of the otherness of this book that as i read through the gospel of john i am left convinced that what we have is truly god's word to us that he has spoken to us through his son we've seen that from the beginning of this series that jesus himself is the explanation of the father that full deity dwelt in bodily form and that as we see him we see god's self-disclosure but that even just the coherence of john's gospel in light of the full revelation of god through the old testament and that you hear these echoes of god's unfolding drama we started the year with the series in the book of genesis and we saw how genesis prepares us for all the themes that we're going to encounter throughout the rest of scripture and as we've been in john we've heard the reverberations of the book of genesis and that in the same way that god said let there be light in the same way that he spoke in the world came into existence so in the beginning was the word the word was with god and all things came into being through him i think it's also just reminded me of the centrality of the gospel in all things that as we read through this we've seen jesus and it has pushed us towards him the very purpose of this book would cause you to believe that jesus is the son of god that he is the messiah but then also just the practical application of this book that you can sit down with it and it is high theology it is an opportunity to think of god on cosmic levels and yet it has the practical application of saying we have been called to be witnesses as followers of jesus over and over this presentation of those who encounter jesus the most natural thing that they do to respond is to say to those who have yet to believe in him come and see come and see is this the christ yes come and see the one who told me everything about myself and still wants me come and see and so my hope is that this series has been those things for you as well if you are new and and you're coming into this series not having been a part of all of the previous teachings all of this is online i would encourage you guys as you're driving in the car go back and just listen to this we're going to come back next year to the gospel of john we're going to take another section of it and we're going to do that in the fall of next year but this final story and it's really um you know i guess an oversight on my part is as we prepared the teaching schedule uh i had prepared all all the way up until this story and i had forgotten to include it so we ended up extending this series and as i i sat with this story it this series would not make sense if we had missed this it's how important the story of the healing of the royal official is to the development of this story and ultimately we're going to see this this royal officials encounter with jesus in the development of his faith and we're going to be called into the same posture of believing jesus at his word and being obedient as a reflection of that faith so this is john chapter 4 verses 43 through 56 it says after the two days jesus went forth from there into galilee for jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country so when he came to galilee the galileans received him having seen all the things that he did in jerusalem at the feast for they themselves also went to the feast therefore he 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 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 so jesus said to him unless you people see signs and wonders you simply will not believe the royal official said to him sir come down before my child dies jesus said to him go your son lives the man believed the word that jesus spoke to him and started off as he was now going down his slaves met him saying that his son was living so he inquired of them the hour when he had began to get better they said to him yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him so the father knew it was at that hour in which jesus said to him your son lives and he himself believed in his whole household this is again a second sign that jesus performed when he had come out of judea into galilee this is the word of god now we've already seen throughout this series the intentionality of john as a writer right so every story that we're reading is historically true and yet it's compiled in such a way that his stated goal was accomplished at the beginning of this series we reflected on the purpose of this book and that at the end john says these things have been written so that you may believe that jesus is the christ the son of god and that by believing you may have life in his name so he's writing everything he's writing is to that that as you sit with this as you read these stories the most logical thing that you would conclude is that jesus is the one that we should put our faith in now a couple of weeks ago we looked at the contrast of nicodemus and the woman at the well we said that these stories were to be read together because as you sit with both of them they provide not only a contrast so you see the difference between their interactions with jesus but also a model how not to respond to jesus how we should respond to jesus now our passage this morning is written in the same way only it's to be held up against the story of the wedding at cana now this story functions like a bookend right so so as you're reading from john 2 to john 4 these two stories encapsulate what's in between and that when you consider the chiastic structure of john 2 through the end of john 4 it's the very center that stands out for the reader as a lens through which to see the whole so what is the center of chapter two in chapter four it's the passage that jacob taught on and specifically the end as the evangelist is explaining what he's just written john chapter 3 verses 33-36 he who has received his testimony has set his seal to this that god is true for he whom god has sent speaks the words of god for he gives the spirit without measure the father loves the son and has given all things into his hand he who believes in the son has eternal life but he who does not obey the son will not see life but the wrath of god abides on him right so the wedding the conversation with nicodemus the conversation with the woman at the well the healing of the nobleman's son only makes sense in light of these verses because what you're seeing is the practical application of these verses or the non-application of those verses you see those who believe in jesus and have eternal life and you see those who do not believe do not obey the son and on them the wrath of god abides go back to john 3 right men love the darkness more than the light for fear that their deeds would be exposed but those who come to the light we're going to see this desperate father come to the light that that they are the ones who come desiring that their deeds would be manifested as having been wrought in god now verses 43 and 45 are transitional right they get us back to cana of galilee and they help us understand the response of the people when jesus gets there so this is verses 43 and 45 after two days he goes down from there into galilee for jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country so when he came to galilee the galileans received him having seen all the things that he did in jerusalem at the feast for they themselves also went to the feast so jesus has now left samaria he returns to galilee and john is going to frame out this scene with the proverb that jesus used a prophet has no honor in his own country a more modern way of saying that is familiarity breeds contempt right that those who were familiar with jesus those who saw the miracles that he had performed there in judea those who lived with him would not show him the honor that he deserved so to contrast this jesus has just left a group of people who not only received his teaching but received him right so this woman at the well the samaritan woman comes to faith goes to her town tells them to come and see jesus and there's this moment where they say to her it's no longer because of what you said that we believe but we ourselves have heard and have come to believe that this is the savior of the world they have fully received him and this is going to stand in sharp contrast to the reception that jesus receives in galilee and says the galileans received him but then it qualifies it by saying that they had seen all the things that he did at jerusalem at the feast and so there's this play on seeing and hearing and the kind of faith that it produces that's going to be at the heart of our passage this morning and john is a writer he likes to use irony and so while receiving jesus because of his signs they are in one sense rejecting him because they are not receiving jesus on jesus's terms but in their own self-interest they're not receiving him as christ they're receiving him as a miracle worker as a spectacle to behold we're going to follow jesus around and maybe we'll see something supernatural not we will receive what he is teaching and bring it to bear on our lives as one commentator said it's the difference between a short-sighted superficial acceptance and a long-termed informed commitment to follow you see this all throughout the gospels these people that come to jesus i'll follow you wherever you go right if you're going to follow me you have to die to yourself take up your cross and follow me jesus says to a man follow me he says let me first go bury my father and he says let the dead bury their dead you follow me. and it doesn't mean that jesus doesn't care about our family relationships but he's saying to them i become the highest priority over everything in life an exacting demand on us and one that that goes so far beyond what we see from him or what we experience in terms of being around his people or being in a worship service that it's not just this emotive feeling it's a dying to ourselves it's a full surrender to him so now as we read the story of jesus's interaction with the royal official the question that we're going to have to answer or at least that you're set up as the reader to expect is what kind of faith is he going to have and then even for us as we're reading the story kind of asking the question in the end what kind of faith are we going to have john 4 46 therefore he came again to cana of galilee where he had made the water wine and there was a royal official whose son was sick of capernaum now this is where we start to see the verbal links to the wedding at cana that invite us to read these two stories together right then when you hold these two stories next to each other you see that there are these incredible similarities i'm going to show you a few of them first is this idea of request remember at the wedding jesus's mom says to him they've run out of wine and in essence what she's saying to him is jesus do something and here's this man who comes down to jesus and he says to him heal my son jesus do something you see the presence of rebuke jesus's response to his mother woman what does that have to do with us my hour has not yet come she's interpreting things within the immediate context jesus is speaking to things from the perspective of heaven this man comes and says to jesus heal my son and he says to him unless you people see signs and wonders you simply will not believe this man's coming to him with the immediate need of his son who is sick and jesus is speaking from heaven over the condition of men's hearts he's offering a commentary on what he's witnessing you see a response of obedience jesus's mother says to the servants whatever he says to you do it jesus says to them fill the water pots they fill them to the brim this man comes to jesus and jesus says to him go your son lives and it says the man believed the word that jesus spoke to him and started off this responsive obedience you see restoration right jesus takes the water turns it into wine jesus takes the sickness and brings the boy to health and you even see the resulting faith those who were witness to this at the wedding jesus disciples it says that they believed in him and here this man seeing jesus heal his son it says that he and his household believed even even the the reference this is the only time in the gospel of john where he adds a number to a sign that jesus performs we said at the beginning of this series you see seven signs these are the only two that he accounts for he offers this reference because both of them are pointing to something greater and we're going to see that later this morning now um again you hold these two things together and what happens when you take the story of the wedding at cana and the water turned to wine and the story of the son who's healed you get the blood of a son who gives life to those who believe in him it's wanting you to pull that meaning out there are also important differences we saw that the wedding at cana was steeped in old testament imagery and concepts right to understand the wedding at cana you had to know the historical backdrop of it that this idea of purification and blood providing a covering for sin is all throughout the old testament but specifically in leviticus this lamb that would be slain in order to sprinkle the people with blood in order to provide atonement for them and jesus pulls all of that into this moment and demonstrates that he's the one that brings true purification or even the idea of god as a husband and we looked at a few passages in hosea and isaiah and just this idea that you know no longer will you call me master but you will call me husband that you see the imagery of both atonement and covenant two of the most important themes throughout the old testament the way that god relates to his people he makes promises and he keeps them and he makes a way for his sinful people to be restored in relationship to him the wedding has this rich old testament background the story of the healing of the nobleman's son there's no old testament reference there's no no old testament theme that you're drawing from because the new covenant has come and so the story of the nobleman's son is only going to make sense through the lens of the gospel the prologue right the law was given through moses grace and truth are realized in jesus now there's another way these two stories cohere but i'm going to save that for the end now this man is identified as a royal official in the greek it literally is translated the royal one it's likely that he was a representative of herod's court but honestly we're speculating and it's not the point of this passage didn't matter who he was a royal official for it was that he was a royal one very quickly we're going to see that his identity as this royal official is going to be eclipsed by his identity as a father right that that position is not going to mean much when it's the life of our child that's at stake john 4 47 when they heard that jesus had come out of judea and to galilee he went to him and was imploring him to come down and to heal his son for he was at the point of death there is just an empathy that wells up in the heart of an honest reader and i know sometimes these stories can be so familiar and the limited amount of time that we devote to sitting in god's word can cause us to rush past the humanity of this passage but as i was thinking about this and you know i have a three-year-old daughter named scarlet we we welcomed little marigold june back in may june may there there's this moment at the end of each night so scarlett gets a bath lauren's got goldie and um we'll get her out of the bathtub and i'll wrap her up in the towel and she'll sit just facing me and we'll be eye to eye and she'll lean in with her nose and our noses will touch and she'll start giggling then there's these moments where she just pauses and i'm looking into her eyes and all i'm thinking is how deeply i love her and that as you you sit with the relationships that god allows us to have you realize that as you open your heart to love you can experience an incredibly deep and rich love you are also opening yourself to the most excruciating being and you can't have one without the other you can't have that deep kind of love without also making yourself vulnerable to the most intense kind of pain and so when i sit in this story and i listen i i hear it from that perspective of here's this man and it didn't matter his position it didn't matter his prestige or his power he could not stop what was happening to his son and he was desperate desperate the verb imploring it's not strong enough literally he is begging jesus to come and heal his son in the greek it carries this continuous aspect so over and over he's falling down before jesus and is just undone by his circumstances and is holding out hope that jesus will hear him and respond now it's significant that when he heard that jesus was there it compelled him to seek him it's unclear what he had been told about jesus it's very possible that he was in jerusalem at the feast and saw some of the signs but whatever it was that he knew about jesus it was sufficient enough for him to believe or at least to believe enough to cause him to move to cause him to seek out jesus and this speaks to how our faith develops that the primary way that god gets to our hearts is through our ears and not through our eyes it's so important because i think there's a part of us that's like if i just saw it like if you would just write in the sky right or if you would just send somebody and it says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of christ what we're doing right now as you're listening to the word of god being spoken as you're hearing that's what produces faith we walk by faith and not by sight so how does he get us to listen how does he get our attention in a world characterized by sin and brokenness he often speaks the loudest through pain right and i know that there are people who proclaim that following jesus will lead to life and abundance and peaches and strawberries and flowers and that is not the jesus i read in the new testament that he calls us into the act of dying to ourselves but even beyond that he doesn't preserve us from the the challenges and the conflict and the difficulty that we'll experience in this world in this life jesus says you will have troubles now come follow me and i'm going to take all the problems away oftentimes following him makes it even more difficult in this life you'll have trouble do not fear i've overcome the world in the midst of our troubles in the midst of our pain god's voice is often loudest notice the sting of death and sin it doesn't discriminate it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor doesn't matter if you have power and influence or if you live in relative obscurity it doesn't care what complexion your skin is it doesn't care whether you're male or female it doesn't matter what zip code you live in this is the equalizer this is the shared human experience this painful struggle of life in a fallen world and i'll say this about what he does in the midst of pain sad hearts are seeking hearts sad hearts are seeking hearts they search for relief they search for comfort they search for answers and sad hearts are listening hearts confronted with the potential loss of his son this man is listening his ears are open his heart is open verse 48 so jesus said to him unless you people see signs and wonders you simply will not believe i know this may seem like a harsh response from jesus but jesus is just taking the opportunity to speak to a larger issue a misguided faith that's focused more on what they're seeing than what they're hearing it's a belief that's founded on the sign and not the object of the sign now in our english translations you can't catch that this is a second person plural so he's not just saying you the man he's saying y'all y'all won't believe unless you see signs and wonders certainly this man would have to make a decision about what it was that he was going to place his faith in but jesus is speaking to all of those who saw the signs in jerusalem and who welcomed him received him what kind of faith are they going to have that's not to say that the signs that they witness got in the way of faith right they were always pointing to something greater to someone greater but a faith that's built on what we see won't be sufficient for when we can't let me say that again a faith that is built on what we see will not be sufficient when we can't see when we can't see how god is at work in our lives and we can't see how god is going to reconcile his expressed love for us with what we're experiencing when we can't see how anything good can come from the pain that we're in we need a different kind of faith for that what we need is this one commentator said a deep trustful attachment and that that is the essence of faith faith is the assurance of things hoped for the convictions of things unseen but at the core it is an abiding trust that everything that god has said is true and that jesus himself speaks the word of god to us the question is will we receive will we receive with abandon and surrender the word that he speaks to us the word that he speaks over us john 4 49 the royal official said to him sir come down before my child dies i love this man's response he doesn't defend himself right hearing jesus's rebuke to the crowds he doesn't say but no jesus that's not me he doesn't argue with jesus maybe the more common response when we don't hear from god the things that we want to hear is that we bail right we leave that wasn't what i was expecting god that's not what i wanted to hear god i'll figure it out on my own he doesn't leave he presses in he simply appeals to jesus and i want us to just imagine the posture of the father in this moment to to imagine the tone that would have been in his voice that he's in despair but he hasn't given up hope and i just picture this father unable to lift his eyes just exhausted and surrendered and praying lord help and this is the evolution of his faith he goes from seeking jesus believing that he can do something for him by healing his son and he leaves fully dependent upon jesus praying to god as he asks jesus to come and heal his son john 4 50. jesus said to him go your son lives the man believed the word that jesus spoke to him and started off you know and i'm sorry maybe maybe it's just that i'm kind of in this season and i i have you know a daughter and a baby this story more than any is just kind of um i don't know you just try and imagine what it would be like to be this guy and i try to feel these words falling on the father's ears he's asking jesus come heal my son and jesus says to him go you are going to have to demonstrate your belief through action not earning but expressing go and how i would receive that your son lives do you believe me is my word enough and this man's response provides for us a model of how we should respond to believe the word of god to believe the word of the word the one who has been sent to speak the word of god to us and that we would live our lives as an exercise demonstrating that faith that exists within us john 4 51-54 as he was now going down his slaves met him saying his son was living so he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better they said to him yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him so the father knew that it was at that hour in which the son said to him your son lives and he himself believed in his whole household this is again a second sign that jesus performed when he had to come out of judea into galilee a couple observations a day has passed and the father still hasn't made it home yet he still hasn't seen his son so so when they explain to him your son is better he says to them what time and they say yesterday now from using jewish time the seventh hour would have been 1 pm there would have been enough time from the interaction that this man had with jesus to get all the way back to capernaum before seven o'clock at night eight o'clock at night and it doesn't tell us why he camped maybe it was he was resting his animals maybe he was old older right sorry old dirt i'm going to move on now but you get the sense that his abiding faith meant that he didn't need to rush that if what jesus said was true it would be true that day it would be true the next day it would be true a week from now a year from now matthew 24 35 heaven and earth will pass away heaven and earth will pass away everything that you know about life as a created being it'll pass away but my words will not pass away i love that because i was written 2000 years ago and it's still here right gives you a little bit of confidence second corinthians 1 19-20 for the son of god jesus christ who was preached among you by us by me and sylvanius and timothy was not yes and no but is yes in him for as many are the promises of god in jesus in him they are yes therefore also through him is our amen to the glory of god through us amen now i said there's another way the story of the wedding at cana and the healing of the royal official sun cohere and that when we went back to the wedding what we saw i mean it was a real historical wedding there was a man being married to his bride and yet through jesus's words and actions we recognize that he's the true bridegroom that story provided an object lesson their wedding provided an object lesson of jesus's relationship to the believing church that you saw jesus there as the bridegroom the one who's fully able to provide for his guests and his disciples those who had come to believe in him or his bride or the six water pods now you remember the six water pots for purification and the end of that message we said six is still an incomplete number so where's the seventh pot we saw that jesus is the seventh pot filled to the brim completely filled with the blood that would cleanse us well there was a real royal official and there was a real dying sun and yet through these real historical situations we get an object lesson of the gospel that jesus is the true royal official he's the true royal one the one who leaves his heavenly home to pursue the redemption of his people back to the prologue as many as received him to them he gave the authority to be called children of god we were children who were dying dead in our transgressions and sins made alive through the sun the royal official who was sent to redeem us he's the one who declares the words of god as god explaining the father to us a father who would give up everything because of the great love that he has for us and he's the son who lives his resurrection secures our salvation so that we as his sons and daughters would live very specific language destroy this temple and in three days i'll raise it again these promises the one who's lifted up to everyone who looks at him they will be saved your son lives now it's not often that john makes time references or counts days for us so you know it's important when he does we've already seen the significance of the third day right the beginning of the wedding at cana starts on the third day jesus makes the promise of the seventh sign destroy this temple and in three days i'll raise it up again well this proclamation of your son lives happens on the third day it says from samaria coming into galilee two days and then this father comes to jesus and stays overnight and it is on the third day that they come to him with the message your son lives but what about the seventh hour you remember six is incomplete seven is perfect he says his son was healed when jesus said he was it was the perfect hour where the word of god as it was proclaimed came to its complete fulfillment you remember the hour is shorthand in john's gospel for the cross and we have this powerful reminder in this story that the perfect hour is the hour of his death that the hour in which our shame is taken away is the hour of his public humiliation that the hour in which our death sentence is removed is the hour in which he's executed in our place the hour in which we find healing is the hour in which he's wounded for our transgressions by his stripes we're healed the hour that we find acceptance by god is the hour that he was forsaken paul says to the romans at the right time christ died for the ungodly at the perfect hour so what do we do with this a word about the words words right in the word was the beginning the word has spoken to us a word about the words words first thing his word is sufficient his word is sufficient everything that is necessary to believe and to receive the gift of salvation and new birth has been given to us in his word there's nothing lacking there's nothing missing that what jesus has said is enough his word is powerful his word is powerful it's powerful enough to restore it produces life go back to genesis it is his spoken word that creates everything let there be light and there was light like just the power that that conveys when's the last time you ever spoke something into existence i mean don't get me wrong our words are powerful we can really mess up relationships with them we can hurt people really badly our words can bring healing but i can't speak something into existence he says and it happens go your son lives power i think sometimes we come to this like it's primarily a historical book and we don't come to it realizing its power to change us the word of god is living and active it's living and active it's powerful to produce life it's powerful to produce faith this is the beauty of my role is that outcomes belong to him there's nothing that i can say from upfront that will produce faith in you and i think that's why i lean so heavy into just reading his word to you because this is what changes your heart his word heals i think is psalm 107 it says that he sent his word and he healed them and i realized this creates a little bit of conflict within us what happens when he doesn't heal what happens when he doesn't heal the way that we want him to heal i sometimes feel this pressure as a pastor like you're supposed to have all the answers like you are the one that's supposed to have the faith that moves mountains and we're going to follow you because you've got the answers and you've got the faith and there have been more times in this last year where i have felt so disoriented by what i'm seeing by what people are experiencing people that i love times where i i i know god is good and i know god is loving but i'm like i cannot see how anything good can come from this and i'm having a hard time reconciling your love with what this person is seeing and experiencing and i i appreciate that there is a grace that we have from god we can sit in that tension that we can find ourselves grieving weeping may last for the night sometimes it feels like a long night while we're waiting for the joy that will come in the morning and sometimes we begin to lose heart but having faith doesn't mean that we don't have questions having faith is about a posture that we take as we ask our questions it is a tension of trust and dependency and that that's where the story of this father he hears jesus say go your son lives and in the moment of deepest pain he is being called to deepest trust in the midst of circumstances that he has absolutely no power to control it's the place where he's being called to surrender to the one who is totally and completely in control of my favorite psalms where it talks about you know trust in him at all times o people pour out your heart before him god is a refuge for us it's both of those things trust him trust him beyond what makes sense to you trust him beyond what you can explain but feel free to be real this hurts god i feel lost god all right parents pray for your children pray for them your primary responsibility is to pursue jesus in such a way that it makes it attractive to your children to come to the light and i think this is a really important truth that we have to live with is that we don't we don't start saved we start dead i i love my daughter scarlett i love her to death i would give anything for her dead in her transgressions and sin a weird way to think about your kid right she will have to make a decision about who jesus will be to her i should be begging him begging him and persist persistent prayer his father doesn't give up he doesn't get the answer that he wants it first and we can't give up no matter how long the night is we can't give up embrace your part in the story right embrace your part in the story jesus is the royal official jesus is the son who lives but we're the servants that meet the father on the road we're the ones who meet people on the way and tell them that the son lives we have a part in this story and that's what's so beautiful is that we get invited into the drama of redemption we get invited into god's salvific plan which gives us purpose where we take all of our gifts we use them for his glory embrace your part in the story let me pray god i pray for scarlet when she was in the womb i prayed that she would be a joy to everyone that she meets and you have answered that prayer so faithfully i also realize jesus that she will have to come to a place of trusting dependence in you that you alone have the power to make her alive and i pray that she would have just a rich robust trust in you and that is imperfect as it will be god that you would help me model that for her for goldie as well for all of the children that are here in this church for every student that would be influenced by our student ministries for every grandson and granddaughter great grandchildren may we not see our role in their spiritual development as a passive one help us jesus we thank you for sending your son he's our true royal official and i pray that we would receive his words with faith in jesus name amen all right next week i know i've got a slide up there hold that thought for a second next week labor day weekend we are going to do a series just a a one part series on membership we're gonna take a look at a passage in first corinthians we're gonna talk about what does it mean to be actively invested in the life of of the church right and and honestly i just wanna invite you to go beyond just coming and watching it's coming and being right i want you to be in this with me with us with our staff i want us to all be pulling together to the same vision then the following week pastor dave is going to kick off we're going to start a series in zephaniah called in the balance right you probably have not heard zeph and i have preached on a sunday morning there's reasons for that you're going to find out really quickly why it is a powerful powerful witness of two aspects of god's nature that he is holy and just and wrathful toward sin he is loving and compassionate and gracious and makes us as a people for himself i think our tendency is we like to lean into the god's loving god's gracious i think we don't necessarily like to hang out with god's holy god has a disposition towards sin but that if we're going to understand god rightly if we're going to respond to him correctly we have to sit in the balance we have to hold both of those things to be true so i'm looking forward to that we are going to transition to a time of offering i would encourage you guys our benevolence offering is just kind of an above and beyond it allows us to meet the the needs of people in our congregation um it's it's one of the um most powerful ways the church serves those connected to it and i would encourage you if you weren't prepared for that today you can still go online go online and do that just above and beyond thank you for your faithfulness thank you for your faithfulness [Music] [Music] without you i fall apart you're the one that guides my heart lord i need you oh [Music] [Music] my righteousness [Music] [Music] [Music] is where [Music] lord i am [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] when temptation comes my way [Music] [Music] jesus you're my hope [Music] hey [Music] just [Music] my righteousness [Music] as a parent i i get to have little scarlet and goldie in my office every once in a while but i'm on the other spectrum and as parents sometimes we feel like that's my prayer every day lord i need you how do i parent an adult how do i parent a two-year-old how do i parent in between but i am so grateful i think of the story of moses in battle and aaron holding up his arms right and as parents pray that you have people that will hold up your arms i think of sweet buddy travis in the back and regina copeland and my mom who have prayed for my kid be a prayer warrior for your kids but also for our students for our kids ministry god we need you and something i was reading yesterday said god help my child help my friend help my spouse know how much they need you we need jesus right the royal official he knew there was nothing in his power to do he needed jesus i'm so glad that you've been with us today as you've connected with us this summer we hope that you will end um summer with us next week on labor day weekend with a barbecue outside in the um courtyard everyone is welcome please come and then join us this fall as we not only connect but we grow together alright have a great week we'll see you next week god bless you [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hello [Music] [Music] oh [Music] this world has nothing for me this life is so i will never fear

Channel: Bethany Church Long Beach

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Id: YNIP_CEaMhU

Length: 92min 27sec (5547 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 29 2021