John 4:19-54 - Part C

Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We're glad you've joined us for today's program. When you do, you'll also receive Skip's weekly devotional email to inspire you with God's Word each week. So sign up today at ConnectWithSkip.com.

That's ConnectWithSkip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. I read something by Evangelism Explosion that sort of changed my thinking a little bit.

They put out these statistics. If you could fill a stadium of people every night of the week, every week of the year, for 35 straight years, and every night you had 50,000 people in that stadium, and every night you had 1,000 people coming to Christ, which is about the typical percentage. It's about a 5% yield in Stadium Evangelism. 5% of the crowd will come forward to receive Christ. So let's say you could fill a stadium of 50,000 people, every night different people, every night 1,000 people come to Christ, every night, every week, every year for 35 years. By the time you're done in 35 years, if you had that kind of budget, when you're done and all those thousands of people come to Christ, you will be, at the time you are done with the 35 years, further behind the task of world evangelization than the day you started.

You heard what I just said. You will be further behind it. And that is because the exponential birth rate, people are being born on the earth so that if you look at the ratio, the percentage of saved souls in the world after that kind of evangelism, you'll be further behind. The same report said if there were no Christians on the earth and you were the only one, and in one year you led one other person to Christ, so that after one year there were two believers, and at the end of year two, those two believers personally led somebody to Christ, so after two years there's four believers, after year three, eight, and then 16, and then 32 and 64, by the end of 35 years there would be no more unbelievers left. The world would be one to Christ.

Isn't that interesting? The power of a single conversation, a single witness. So Jesus needed to go through Samaria, touched a woman's heart.

This woman now goes out to speak. Look at verse 30. Then they went out of the city and came to Him. In the meantime, the disciples urged Him, saying, Rabbi, eat. Remember, they came, they went into the village to buy food. Jesus is at the well having a conversation with a woman. The woman goes out after the conversation, tells people, now people are starting to come to see this Jesus at the well. In the meantime, the disciples are there, they're thinking about food.

They're just guys. You gotta eat, Jesus. And He said this to them. I have food to eat, which you do not know.

Therefore, His disciples said to one another, has anyone brought Him anything to eat? I love these guys. I love them because they don't get the spiritual meaning. I say I love them because I so often am just like them. So often, so often, spiritual truth goes over my head till I give it a second, third, fourth, fifth, tenth look. So I relate to these guys.

That's why I go, I like these guys. Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. Now, Jesus said, I have food to eat that you don't know of. He's speaking spiritually.

They're thinking physically, right? It's similar to Deuteronomy 8, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Don't misunderstand what the Lord is saying. Jesus isn't saying, really, spiritual people don't eat. He's not saying that. What He's saying is there's nothing more satisfying in life than doing the will of the Father. That's what He means by it. And if you have ever led any person to Christ, personally, you've actually spoken to them, shared the gospel with them, and then led them to Christ just out and about, you know what I'm talking about.

You know the elation of that. It's interesting, when I met my wife, she was with a mission organization. And when we married, though she was involved in evangelism and involved in mission work, she said, you know, I have never personally prayed with a person to receive Christ. I've witnessed to several. I've shared with several.

I've offered to pray, but I've never yet been able to lead a single person to Christ. That's when we first got married. So shortly after we were married, we went to India. And people we found were very receptive.

And I remember my wife having a conversation with this Indian man. And he was listening and listening. And she said, are you ready?

Do you want to receive Christ? This was all done through a translator. And he shook his head like this. And she thought, oh, OK, he's not ready. So she kept sharing with him. And she said, are you ready now? And he kept going like this. And so she took that as a no.

And this went on a while. And finally, the interpreter said, I hope you know that this means yes here. That shaking of the head that way is like like this in our country. He's been saying yes to you for the past 10 minutes. Finally, she was like, I didn't know.

I wish you'd have told me 10 minutes earlier when he did this. Ravinder, you know what that's like, right? Yes. So you go, yes, I would like to pray.

And so, so the exhilaration I saw in her. We didn't think about food. It was like my food, my meat is to do the will of him who sent me in to finish his work. Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest?

Now, notice here, please. Jesus is changing the metaphor from eating to farming. He's now talking about harvesting. Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest.

I'm guessing that it was around December or January when Jesus was speaking. In four months from that time, it would be the harvest time. But at this point, the seedlings that had been planted were just, because of the winter rains, just poking through the soil. And so people would be saying, now is not the time to harvest.

This is just a time to wait and see what grows. Picking up on that, Jesus said, don't say that. Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest.

I have a guess when he said that. When he said to his disciples, look at the fields, you could at that point see the Samaritans coming from the village toward Jesus and his disciples wearing their white robes, which is common. Perhaps since it was winter, wrapped their head in white. So it looked like white heads on a stalk, just this movement of white robes coming toward them. Lift up your eyes and look, look at the harvest.

Look at these people who are coming. And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this, the saying is true. One sows, another reaps. I sent you to reap.

For that which you have not labored, others have labored and you have entered into their labors. The physical reality of those little seedlings, those little green shoots coming out of the ground, Jesus uses for a spiritual reality. Don't say it's four months.

I know you would say that physically in four months is going to be the harvest. But on a spiritual level, look, look at these people who are coming out from the village. Now is the time. Now is the time to speak to them.

Now is the time to share. You know what? I bet you, if you would have sent in a crusade or a mass evangelistic committee to Samaria to assess the idea of having a meeting there, they'd probably come back and they say, you know, Jesus, we've scoped it out. And we think that someday Samaria is going to be ready for it. But not now. It's a little too early for it. Different, you know, a different worship system and a rival temple. You know, they don't like Jews around here.

They get a little antsy about that. But give a few years down the road and it'll be primed for it. Jesus said, nope. Time is now.

Right now. As long as there are people with needs, speak to them so truth into their hearts. And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life. You know, the problem with evangelism is not that the fields are not ready. It's that the workers are not ready. Jesus said in Matthew 15, he saw people coming. He's filled with compassion for them. He said, pray that the Lord of the harvest sends out laborers into the harvest. Not foremen, not supervisors, not analyzers. Just people who roll up their sleeves and do the work of evangelism.

Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest field. And look at verse 39, and many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified. What she said was he told me everything I ever did. I'm sure seeing this woman come, the men said, oh, here she is. We know her well. But this woman is changed. She goes, I just talked to somebody who told me all of the sins, all of the adulteries, all of the divorces, all of the relational junk.

He knows all about it. And I'm believing in him and I want my life changed because of him. So many of them believed in Jesus because of her witness. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, we want to help you and the children in your life see the timeless story of Christ from cradle to cross with Nate Heitzig's new book, Christmas Under the Tree. Told through the eyes of an unlikely character and graced with illuminating illustrations. This gripping tale is rooted in the limitlessness of Christ's love and helps young readers understand why Jesus left heaven to be born under and die upon a tree. This exciting resource, along with a companion audio experience, are available to you now as our way of saying thanks for your gift of $25 or more to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. So when the Samaritans had come to him, they urged him to stay with them and he stayed there two days and many more believe because of his own word. Then they said to the woman, now we believe not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world. So many believed because of her personal witness, many more believe because of his powerful word. They listened to her, they were driven to him and in being driven to him, they made personal investigation and they surrendered their hearts to him.

It's a beautiful, beautiful story. Notice what they said in verse 42 at the end. This is indeed the Christ, the Messiah, the savior of the world. Now you see that little phrase, the Samaritans are giving Jesus the title for the first time in the Bible, the first group ever to call Jesus the savior of the world was the Samaritans.

It's very interesting. And they would know because they know that Jews don't come through Samaria. Why is this Jew coming through to Samaria? And now they're coming to believe he is the Messiah, they go, so the Messiah isn't just a Jewish entity, nor is it just a privately Samaritan entity.

He's the savior of the world, the Jew and the Gentile, the Jew and the non-Jew. Now after two days, he departed from there and he went to 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 the things he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also had gone to the feast. So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where he had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 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. And Jesus said to him, unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe. The nobleman said to him, sir, come down before my child dies.

Okay, now back up. This man is called a nobleman, a nobleman. The Greek word basilikos, ever heard of a basilica?

Basilica is a medieval church or a medieval worship center structure. But the original term basilikos means one who belongs to a king, one who belongs to a king. So this nobleman, this basilikos, is one who belonged to a king.

Which king? It was probably Herod Antipas. Remember there was Herod the Great who killed the babies in Bethlehem and lived down in Jerusalem.

He's now dead. One of his sons, Herod Antipas, ruled in Galilee. So this nobleman probably worked for Herod Antipas. Probably lived in the city of Tiberias. Jesus never visited Tiberias.

There's never a record that he did. But that was the capital Gentile city on the Sea of Galilee. On the other side of the sea was Capernaum, that little lake.

On the other side was Capernaum. This man heard the news of this miracle worker. He's gotten quite a reputation. He heals people. So we are told that this nobleman had a son who was sick at Capernaum.

How did that happen? Well, he's living in Tiberias. He hears about Jesus. He hears that Jesus is in Capernaum. That's his headquarters. So he probably by boat goes across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, expecting to find Jesus. Well, Jesus is not here. They say he's been down in Jerusalem at the Passover. But now we hear he's in Cana. That's 20 miles away. So the man leaves his son at Capernaum. He can't travel 20 miles with his son.

He's sick. He walks 20 miles or takes an animal 20 miles to see Jesus at Cana. At this point, the only thing this nobleman knows, this government official knows, is that there's a guy named Jesus who heals people. He doesn't have faith in Jesus personally. But he has faith in a higher power. And I bet if you were to interview him, he would say, you know, I don't know who this Jesus is. And I don't really care who heals my son.

I just want to make sure my son is healed. Jesus was an ends or a means to his end. And that is he had a sick son. He didn't care theology.

He didn't care source or origin of his power. He just wants his son healed. And if this guy heals people, I want him to do it.

That's probably as much faith as he had. So he sees Jesus and he asks him, heal my son. Verse 48, Jesus said to him, unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe. Can I please nominate this verse for some of the most surprising words Jesus ever spoke? Of all the statements he ever spoke, I'd like to nominate this phrase as one of the most shocking, most surprising phrases, sentences Jesus ever said. Unless you see signs and wonders, you will by no, it just sounds like Jesus is having a bad Messiah day. He is just so put off by this.

Like, go away, kid, you bother me. Now, I nominate that as one of the most surprising verses. There are others that are shocking. When he said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. That ranks up there pretty high.

Or the woman, or the man who was at the pool of Bethesda, there for 38 years he was lame. And Jesus asked him, do you want to get better? What, what, what? What kind of a question is that? There are several things Jesus said that seem shocking or puzzling.

This ranks up pretty high. This is what some commentators call, one in particular, an arrow of sweet rebuke. He's not rebuking the man himself. He's rebuking the, it's in the plural. That's why, I think the old King James says, unless you see signs and wonders, the new King James adds, unless you people, because it's a plural pronoun.

Unless you, as a crowd, this whole group of people, unless you, in other words, what he's saying is, these are crowds of people who are interested in me because of my miracles, not because of my mission, not because I am the Messiah, the Savior of the world. They just want a free lunch. They want to get their family better. They want health and wealth. That's all they want. They're following me for the health and wealth gospel. Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe. It's an arrow of tender rebuke.

The nobleman said to him, sir, come down before my child is. Can you hear the desperation? Look, I'm not here to argue signs and wonders or theology.

I just have a sick kid. And it's in the continuous tense in the Greek. Over and over again, Lord, please heal him, please heal him, please come. Jesus said to him, go, your way, your son lives. Do you see the contrast? The man says, come, Jesus, go.

Let me tell you what's going on here. This is called getting a faith lift. Not a face lift, a faith lift. Jesus is lifting this man's faith, which is at a low level to a high level. He believes in Jesus, is a miracle worker. He has faith in a higher power. He says, come, come and heal my son. Jesus says, go your way.

What he's doing is putting more weight on the bench press to see how the nobleman can lift it. What will he do if I just give him a promise, a promise? Here's the promise, go, your son lives. Now there's a promise.

I'm gonna add that way to your bench press to see what you do with that, if you lift it or not. So the man believed, watch this, the word that Jesus spoke to him and he went his way. He rose to the occasion, it worked.

He lifted the weight. He left, he went away with just the promise that his son was healed. He believed the word. First he had faith in faith or faith in a higher power. Now he has faith in the promise, the word of God.

Now watch this as we close it off. As he was now going down, it's a 20-mile journey. As he was going down, down into Capernaum, his servants met him and told him saying, your son lives. Interesting they chose the same statement that Jesus said to the man. Jesus said, your son lives. They said, your son lives. And I'm sure he went, that's exactly what that man told me.

Your son lives. Then he inquired, I like this, he had a probing mind. He inquired of them the hour when he got better and they said yesterday at one o'clock in the afternoon, the seventh hour, the fever left him.

No, wait, wait, wait, wait. Yesterday? You mean to tell me that that man didn't come that day after one o'clock when he said your son lives the day before? He didn't rush down to Capernaum to see if it worked?

It's 20 miles. He could have made it there before sunset easily or as sunset began. He could have made that journey. No, it would seem that the man spent the night in Cana and then went to Capernaum the next day. Now that's faith in the word.

I'm going to sleep here tonight. I believe that man's promise, I'll go tomorrow. Yesterday the fever left him at one o'clock. He got a faith lift. So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, your son lives and he himself believed in his whole household. Do you see how the faith is being lifted? First it's just faith in a higher power, then it's faith in the promise of Jesus. Now it's faith in Jesus himself. He believed. The implication is he believed in the person of Jesus, not just the promise, not just the power, but the person of Jesus and his whole household. This guy's evangelizing already, leading them to faith. This again is the second sign Jesus did when he had come out of Judah or Judea into Galilee. We're glad you've joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $25 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you Nate Heitzig's new children's book, Christmas Under the Tree, which includes a companion audio experience.

Just in time for Christmas, this book will help young readers understand why Jesus left heaven to be born under and die upon a tree. To request your copy, call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. For more from Skip, be sure to download the Connect with Skip Heitzig app where you can access messages and more content right at your fingertips. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.