From His Heart

Speaker 1

Did you know that there are people who have faith, but they don't have saving faith? They have a faith that says, well, you know, of course I believe in God and Jesus will, sure, I believe in him. And you know what kind of faith they have? It's all in their head. The vast majority of people believe in Jesus like they believe in George Washington. Just in their head. They just believe facts about him.

Let me tell you something. The scripture says, hey, do you believe in God? Whoop de do. The devil also believes and trembles. It doesn't really say whoop de do; that's kind of in my version, but it basically says that. So what, you believe in God? Big whoop. The demons believe and they tremble. They have a knowledge of God, but they don't trust God; they don't have true faith.

Speaker 2

The word "believe" is a key word in the Christian faith. The definition you put behind the word "believe" could be the difference between spiritual life and spiritual death—a very critical difference. So it matters what you believe.

The word "believe" really means something profound. This is from "His Heart" with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today as we begin another powerful lesson from the series "It's All About Jesus." As you've guessed already, today we'll uncover what it really means to have true faith.

If you can't be with us for the entire broadcast, you can always listen online again after it’s aired at fromhisheart.org. Click the "Listen" link.

Open your Bible now to the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John, as we have a clear proclamation about what it means to have true faith.

Speaker 1

Today we want to look at the second miracle that John points out. It's a miracle of the healing of the nobleman's son. Now, the first miracle, John points out, was turning water into wine. The second miracle is one that's a little more pressing. It's a bigger deal; you know, if you don't have any wine at the wedding, it's embarrassing, a social faux pas, but nobody's going to die over that. You lose some face, but nobody goes to the morgue because of that. But now he runs into a situation where a son is getting ready to die; he's at the point of death. And Jesus does this second miracle, and he does it from a distance. The boy is in another place. He's in Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus is in Cana, about 20 miles away. He heals this boy from a distance, from 20 miles away, to show not only is he Lord of time, he's also Lord of space.

So let's look at John, chapter four. It says this, verse 46: "He came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him and was requesting him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death." Jesus therefore 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 way; your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he started off. As he was going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him." So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household. This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when he had come out of Judea into Galilee.

This is a cool story, an awesome miracle that takes place. In this story, you can see true faith, saving faith, and you see how it grows and evolves. I almost was going to entitle this sermon "The Evolution of Faith," because in this story, this guy, this nobleman, goes from knowing very little about Jesus, and at the end of the story, he has his name written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and his tickets are secure, and his place is secure in heaven—true saving faith. I want you to see the journey that he went on and the stages and the steps that you see in true saving faith.

I believe, as so many do, that in the average church, you have lots of people who are going through the motions, lots of people who show up on a Sunday morning and they believe in their head about the Lord. They don't have heart knowledge. They don't have a real, true relationship with Jesus Christ. They don't have true saving faith, and they're on the highway to hell. What is so sad is they don't even realize it. It's horrible for people to go to hell from the pew of the church, having heard the Gospel over and over again. It's just like the people in Noah's day, how they heard him preach over and over again. Can you imagine how many sermons that guy preached? Over 100 years as he's building the ark. People listened, blew it off, and ignored it. They said, "I'm fine because I believe in God, and my God is a God of love." They did not know until the flood came and took them all away. Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be."

So we want to listen extra close to find out what does the scripture really say about true saving faith? Can the faith that you have save you? The faith that that woman who came to Jesus in Luke 7 had—her faith saved her. For Jesus said to her, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace." She had put her faith and trust in Jesus and Jesus alone. So let's look at how true saving faith actually comes into being.

**Four steps.**

**Step number one. True faith begins with a need.** Look in verse 46. "And Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum." A certain royal official. We don't know a lot about this guy. Obviously, he's from Galilee. Herod Antipas is King tetrarch of that area. They called him King Herod. He is the son of Herod the Great. Remember that guy? Herod the Great was the one who wiped everybody out, tried to kill all the babies in Bethlehem. He is a psycho king. Well, he had these four sons, and one of them was Herod Antipas. His four sons took his kingdom, all this area in Israel, and they divided it up. Herod Antipas was the ruler, the king, so to speak, over Galilee. He had a royal court. So this nobleman is obviously involved and works in Herod's court. He's some kind of official for King Herod. He was a big shot.

But he had a need. His son was sick at Capernaum. I've been to Capernaum, and it's right there on the Sea of Galilee. It's about 20 miles to get to Cana, which is right by Nazareth. Here he is, a big shot with a need. Did you know that I don't care how big a shot you might be, everybody has needs? Everybody has problems. Problems come even to Bill Gates and people like that. Everybody has issues and situations that come into life. Most of us don't like problems. We don't like needs. But those are good things because faith starts and begins with a need. It's a need that drove him to Jesus. His son being sick, there's nothing he could do to fix it. Doubtless he tried all the doctors that he could possibly try to help his son who has this fever and is at the point of death. But nothing worked.

And so he has a need. I remember a few years ago, I had the great privilege of being on a phone conversation with just a few people and one specific individual who was being interviewed, and his name was Sylvester Stallone. Myself and about four other guys were on this phone call, a conference call with Sylvester Stallone. I've always just loved Sylvester Stallone from Rocky Balboa. Rocky Balboa is my favorite all-time movie character. He's just the best. I was sitting there on the phone, drooling, talking to Rocky Balboa. It was so cool. I remember he said this. He was talking about how God had been working in his life. He said, "When my daughter was born, she was born with a hole in her heart, and it was really touch and go. They didn't know she was going to live, and they didn't know if they were going to be able to fix her situation. I was so overwhelmed. I went into the chapel at the hospital, and I just came before God and prayed, 'God, this is more than I can handle. I have a need, and I just turn it all over to you.'"

Now, I don't know if Sylvester Stallone is a Christian or not. I don't know if he got saved or not. But I know this: he had a need that was greater than anything he could do, and he took that initial step toward the Lord. That's what this nobleman is doing. True faith begins with a need. Hey, do you have a need today? Is there a problem in your life today? That's a good thing because God uses those things like an on-ramp that leads us to the Savior and true saving faith.

**True faith begins with a need.**

**Second step. True faith moves to an investigation.** Verse 47: "When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him." He heard about Jesus. News about Jesus was traveling fast because Jesus was doing miracles. No one else was doing miracles. They hadn't seen any kind of miracle for hundreds of years. And then all of a sudden, bam, they start to see about miracles. John the Baptist's father had a miracle; he was mute because he didn't believe the angel, and everybody knew, "Hey, something's happened here because he can't speak." His wife, his old lady, is all of a sudden pregnant, and wow, what's up with this? God is at work here.

There were things that surrounded, obviously, miracles that surrounded the Lord's coming into this world and the angels appearing to the shepherds. But other than that, they hadn't seen any miracles. Those were private miracles really, just to a few individuals. But now Jesus comes on the scene, he turns the water into wine, and man, that word about that got out. Then he's doing other things with healings and stuff that the scripture doesn't, especially in John, go into any detail, but it just says that they were beholding the signs that he was doing, and they were blown away.

This nobleman, he's heard about Jesus; he's heard that he can do miracles. This guy that was a carpenter from Nazareth, somehow something happened to him, and now he is preaching and doing miracles. This guy is going to investigate. Here I am, I have a need, and then I have a hope because I heard that maybe this guy can help me. So he takes another step and walks the 20 miles or rides the 20 miles, whatever he did, to get to Jesus, to investigate, to see, "Hey, is there something about this? Is this real? Is this true? Could he perhaps help me?"

You know what's interesting? When you and I have a deep need, a health-related need, somebody's getting ready to die, or you're getting ready to die, we are looking, and our ears are open for anything, for any kind of medicine, any kind of treatment that will hopefully work for us, that will turn the tide. Well, the nobleman heard about Jesus, and he made the 20-mile trek. "Lord, I'm here; you're here. I heard what you can do."

**True faith begins with a need. It moves to an investigation.**

But now remember this: this guy coming to Jesus doesn't have saving faith. He's not on the ark yet; he's just moving in this direction. Maybe you're here today, and you say, "You know, this is my first time or second time to be at this church, and I have a need in my life." Maybe your marriage is cratering, maybe you are sick, maybe you're facing cancer or something else that's just overwhelming to you. Maybe you're like Sylvester Stallone, and you have this huge situation in your life that says, "This is greater than I can bear. I don't know what to do." So maybe I'll go to church. Maybe God can do something in my life. Maybe there is something to this Christianity stuff.

You're here, and you're investigating. I want to tell you, I am so glad that you're here because you're moving in the right direction. You haven't arrived yet, but you're moving in the right direction. The Lord wants us to take our needs to him.

**True faith begins with a need. It moves to an investigation.**

**Step number three. True faith advances to a request.** Look at verse 47: "When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him and was requesting him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death." He was requesting; he was pleading, begging, asking. This man obviously loves his son. His heart is broken because his son is right at the door of death. He's swirling the drum; he's so close to death. This guy knows that, and he knows time is of the essence.

So he comes to Jesus in humility. A royal official coming to a man who just a few months ago was just an unknown carpenter. He comes to this guy, humbles himself, and asks him to help him and to come to Capernaum. I think the Lord's response is interesting. In verse 48, he says, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe."

Well, man. Lord, that's kind of rough, isn't it? I don't think Jesus just said it to that one guy. I think he said it to the people that were there, the Jews that were there. We don't know if this royal official, this nobleman, was a Jew or a Gentile. I tend to think he was probably a Jew. The scripture says that Jews seek after a sign. He said, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe."

Now think about that for a minute. When people come to the Lord with their requests, many people come, and they want the Lord to prove himself to them. "Prove yourself to me, Jesus, with a sign, with a miracle, with some kind of wonder, something I can latch onto, something I can say, 'Yes, okay, I see your credentials. I see what you can do.'" We have that saying, "Seeing is believing." They would ask Jesus often for signs. "Show us a sign. Show us a sign."

In John, chapter 6, verse 30, the people said to Jesus, "What then do you do for a sign that we may see and believe?" Amazing. That's in John chapter six. He's already done a bunch of miracles by the time you hit John chapter six, and the people are still asking, "Do a sign so that we can believe." Jesus said, "An evil and an adulterous generation craves after a sign, seeks a sign." Those people were just basically revealing their hearts. They were evil; they were adulterous. They were craving a sign and looking for a sign.

They put out a hoop and say, "Well, you know, jump through this hoop, Jesus. If you jump through this hoop, maybe then I'll believe you." Do you remember even on the cross, what they said to him as he's dying on the cross for the sins of the world, for the sins of the people, mocking him, spitting at him, and jeering him? They said to him, "Come down from the cross, show yourself to be the Christ, and then we will believe in you." What a bunch of liars. They weren't going to believe in him no matter what.

He rose from the dead, and they knew he rose from the dead because the soldier said, "Hey, he wasn't there." The disciples didn't steal his body away. The angel came and sat on the stone, and wow. They told the chief priests and the religious muckety mucks that. What did those guys say? "Well, I guess I believe now." They paid him some money and said, "You just tell everybody the disciples stole his body away." Man, they were poking out their own eyes. They didn't want to see. They weren't going to believe no matter what.

A lot of people come to the Lord and say, "Prove yourself to me." If the Lord does something to show them, if he is patient and generous and gracious and kind and shows someone something, then what do they do? They put up another hoop. "Well, show me this. Jump through this hoop, Lord. Well, you did that. How about this hoop? I keep putting up these hoops. You keep jumping through the hoops." But they say, "Show me a sign, and then I'll believe."

Let me tell you what sign-demanding faith does and says to God. It basically says to God, "God, I think you're a liar. The only way I would believe you is if you could prove it."

Speaker 2

Wow. When you think about the arrogance it takes to look God in the face and say, "Hey, prove yourself." Frankly, that's living in dangerous territory. You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve today in part one of the lesson called True Faith. And he's posing the question for each of us to answer: Are we challenging God to prove Himself to us today? Pastor Jeff will return in a quick moment with an illustration of the absurdity of this attitude. Stay with us.

All people are searching for meaning in life. They're searching for something solid, something real, something they can build their lives on that matters. But our culture has messages they hear each day that pull them in every direction except toward God. This confusion is not accidental; it's absolutely intentional. That is why it's important to realize that fake news didn't start with cable television or social media. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, where in Genesis chapter 3, verse 1, we hear the devil quietly whisper, "Did God really say that?"

And the truth is, the devil hasn't changed his lying ways. He still disguises himself as an angel of light. He still speaks subtle, blatant, and twisted lies. He still tries to get people to doubt the goodness of God, the truth of scripture, and the hope we have in Jesus.

And that's why Pastor Jeff Shreve wrote a brand new book called The Devil's Newsroom: Muting Satan's Fake News and Tuning in to God's Truth, which we want to place into your hands as a gift to thank you for your support this month of any amount. It'll help you discern the enemy's lies and counter them with the real truth of God's word.

Again, this book is our gift to you for your support of any amount to From His Heart this month. To get your copy, make that gift and request it when you call 886-640-BIBLE (8640) or go online to fromhisheart.org. Thank you for being so faithful to God's still small voice as he whispers in your heart.

Now let's conclude today's lesson called True Faith.

Speaker 1

Suppose my daughter Amy, who is at college at the University of Texas, called me tomorrow and said, "Hey Dad, I gotta pay some bills. Some bills have come in. I need $500 in my checking account. Can you put $500 in my checking account so I can pay these bills and write the checks and send them out? They'll just bounce if you don't put the money in."

She calls me Monday morning and asks me that. I say, "Amy, sure, I'll do that for you." So, I go to the bank and deposit $500 into Amy's account. Then I call her and say, "Amy, the money is in your account."

She responds, "Well, Dad, can you send me the bank statement to show that you actually did that?" I ask, "Why do you need that? I told you I did it." She replies, "Yeah, I know, Dad, but I'd just feel a lot better if I saw the bank statement. If I had proof that you actually did that. Because you just saying that, I don't know if I can trust that. But if I see the actual bank statement, then I can trust you."

That basically says, "Dad, I can't trust you as far as I can throw you. Dad, I think you're a liar. You told me you put that money in there." I can hear her saying, "Oh, yeah, right. I bet. I have to see it to believe it."

Do you have a sign demanding faith? It calls God a liar. And Jesus said, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe."

Speaker 2

Well, so far, we've seen three steps to how true faith actually comes into existence in a person. Genuine saving faith begins with a need. It moves to an investigation and then advances to a request. Tomorrow, Pastor Jeff will review these and go on to the fourth important step of true faith.

Well, our time is gone for today. Thank you for listening. I'm Larry Nobles. Trusting the program has been a blessing to you and that we can be a blessing to you again in the days to come.

From His Heart with Pastor Jeff is seen across the nation and around the world on television each week, as well as heard on 850 radio stations across the United States every day and also always online everywhere. Hope you'll join us for part two of the true faith message tomorrow when Pastor Jeff will open up God's word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from God's heart.

God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more at fromhisheart.org.

Speaker 1

Sam.