The Gospel of John records seven miracles. Today we will be studying the last of these seven miracles: Jesus’ raising Lazarus, who had already been dead for four days, back to life. This can be called the greatest miracle, because this miracle defeated death and sin. The Bible says: “It is destined for man to die once.” From history’s beginning till now, no one had been able to overcome death by his own power. Even in China’s thousand years of history, many had sought to find the elixir of life.

During Qin Shi-Wang’s era, he sent 3000 young boys and girls to seek the elixir of life, but in the end, he still died. Some people said it well – death is like a pair of invisible hands, when it has caught you, you cannot escape it no matter how you try. Death is frightening. But this miracle tells us death and sin had been overcome. The Bible says: “For the wages of sin is death.” Death is the result of sin, thus all men are destined to die once, because all men have sinned.

However, this miracle brought forth a man, four-days dead, back to life. This miracle not only proves that death has been defeated, but sin has also been defeated. No one has ever defeated sin and death except the Lord of Life, He proved that death and sin can be defeated.

Today, I want us to study this great miracle from another perspective – how to resurrect the spiritually dead. The Book of Ephesians tells us we are all dead in our sins, we are all spiritually dead. But the Lord Jesus made us alive, that is, we were born again. How do we become born again?

In this miracle, Jesus spoke three commands:
1st: Take away the stone;
2nd: Lazarus, come out;
3rd: Take off the grave clothes and let him go.
These three commands resurrected the 4-day dead man.

By the same principle, these three commands can bring a spiritually dead person back to life:

I. Take Away the Stone – Preparatory Gospel Work

This is the first step towards the resurrection of a dead man. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” This can be called preparatory gospel work. This is a very important step although the gospel is not directly preached. If the stone is not taken away, the dead cannot come out even if he returns back to life. The longer a non-believer lives in this world, the deeper the influence the world will have had upon him, including cultural and religious ones. It would not be easy for us to make him believe in the Lord. The younger a man is, the easier it is for him to come to Christ; the older he gets, the harder it is for him to become a believer.

E.D. Starbuck, the founder of Religious Psychology in the United States, pointed out an alarming statistical finding: “The earliest age a person becomes a believer is at about 7 years old; from 7- 11 years old, the number increases, while the number peaks during the period from 11 to 16 years of age. From 16 -20 years of age, the number begins to decline, by 30 years and above, the number who turn to the Lord continue to decrease.” The reason is simple, the stone that obstructs their way to believing in the Lord gets bigger and bigger! So, on one hand, the sooner we lead a child to the Lord the better. On the other hand, we must learn to take away the stone that obstructs men from coming to the Lord.

Today, we would like to specifically take away two pieces of big stones that obstruct the Chinese people from believing in the Lord:

1. Ancestral Stones – Many people don’t want to believe in the Lord because they know they can no longer worship their ancestors after they accept the Lord. If they do not worship their ancestors, they will be called un-filial. Failure to exercise filial piety is a great offense especially for many traditional Chinese families. To resolve this issue, we need to tackle it from its origin.

Ancestral worship originated from teachings on filial duty. Therefore, we must begin our pre-evangelism work by addressing the aspect of filial piety. We must honour our parents, respect our ancestors; we must not make people feel that Christians are un-filial and do not respect their ancestors. However, what is true filial piety, what does it mean to truly honour our parents? Truly honouring our parents is to honour them while they are still living, not after they are dead. Isn’t it so much better to bring your parents out to eat more siomai’s while they are alive than offering a whole roasted pig before their tombs? Nowadays, many parents are more open, they are beginning to understand this simple principle. So, if we want our parents to come to know the Lord, we must begin by honouring them now. Regarding ancestors, we don’t worship our ancestors (because our ancestors are not gods); but we remember them. On special days, we can bring flowers in order to show that we remember them. Do not make people feel that we renounce our ancestors after we become Christians. To put it simply: the way we honour and respect our family is our best pre-evangelism work.

2. Stone Idols – The Chinese have so many gods and deities. Before many of us became Christians, it was a normal thing to have many different idols in our houses, the most common of which are the ` tho ti kong, kuan kong, kuan im’,etc. My parents had also been idol-worshippers before they became Christians. In our house, we used to have `tho ti kong’ and `kuan kong’ . Some people don’t want to believe in Jesus because they are afraid that the idols will be displeased if they do so. Actually, idols are not anything. We must help them understand this concept: “The true God created man, and man created the false gods.” Idols, which are made by the hands of men are false gods, they do not have any power at all.

Psalm 115 describes the powerlessness of idols –“They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”

Idols are made from gold, silver or wood, they don’t have life in them at all. But sometimes, evil spirits may enter into them and deceive people. However, we need not be afraid, because the spirit that is in us (that is the Holy Spirit) is greater than all other spirits. 1John 4:4 “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” Our God is a great God, He is greater than all idols, He is greater than any evil spirit. I have already been a pastor for more than twenty years, I have helped many people get rid of their idols. Idols are nothing, we don’t need to be afraid of them, because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. Our God is the only true God, the greatest, most awesome, glorious and true God!

Of course there are other stones that need to be taken away. But the principle is: if we are to bring people to Jesus’ saving grace step by step, we must take away the stones that hinder them from coming to Christ, one by one. However, I discovered a strange thing: when Jesus said take away the stone, someone opposed it. This person was Martha. She told the Lord, “But, Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” I believe that among all the people there, Mary and Martha were the ones who would have wished most intensely for Lazarus to return to life. But now, one of them is opposing the act that can bring him back to life again. We, who serve the Lord, must be careful not to allow our experiences, our actions, our views, our testimonies to become stones that keep people from believing in the Lord.

II. Lazarus, come out – The Power of the Gospel

When the men took away the stone, Jesus approached the tomb and did two things:

1. First, Jesus prayed. Jesus didn’t pray in all the other miracles he performed before. This is where Jesus and the prophet’s miracles differ primarily. Jesus is God, so he didn’t need to pray for power to perform miracles, because power was within him. The prophets had to pray first before they performed miracles, they had to draw power from above. The greatest prophet in the Old Testament, Elijah, had once called down fire as well as rain from heaven, but every time he performed a miracle, he prayed first. He needed to draw power from God above to perform miracles. But Jesus didn’t have to. But with this one, why did Jesus pray first? Jesus said, “…for the benefit of the people standing here…” so that they may believe that He has been sent from God. So, this is not a request, this is a testimonial prayer.

2. Jesus called for Lazarus to come out. After Jesus prayed, he called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” This was a very simple command – `Lazarus, come out.’ The Bible says, “The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.” Probably, Lazarus must not have come out by stepping out, he must have jumped out. Lazarus had been dead for four days; his body had begun to smell due to decomposition, he couldn’t have come out. Try calling out the dead in the funeral parlors, see if they will stand up; even if you shout till you are hoarse, no dead man will rise up. But this amazing thing happened, Lazarus came out. Although he could not walk because his whole body was wrapped in burial cloths, because the Lord’s words are full of power, he came out!

The Book of Genesis records that the Lord created everything in six days. All things were created by his word. The Lord said let there be light, and there was light; the Lord said let there be the heavens and there was the heavens; the Lord said let there be land and there was land. The Lord said let there be birds in the air, fish in the sea, and there were birds in the air and fish in the sea. God said let there be animals on the ground and there were animals on the ground. Not one word of the Lord is spoken in vain. Every word of the Lord is true for God’s word is powerful.

The Lord Jesus said, “Lazarus, come out.” When Jesus said this, the power of resurrection came upon Lazarus’ body, the power of resurrection overcame death and caused Lazarus’ spirit to return to his body and his decomposing body to return to life again. 2Kings 5 tells the story of a commander of an army, Naaman. He was a very powerful man, but he became afflicted with leprosy. When he came to Elisha for healing, the prophet told him to wash himself in the Jordan River seven times. When Naaman did so, he was healed of his leprosy. And not only so, the Bible says, “…his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.” What is flesh like that of a young boy – beautiful smooth skin, just like what all women desire. If there is such a river in this world, where if a 50 year old dips in it, her skin would become like that of a baby’s, then all the women in the world would be there. Actually, not only women, even the men will rush to that river. The skin of Japanese and Korean men are said to be as fine as the ladies’ nowadays, because men today seek cosmetic surgery too.

Lazarus had been dead for four days, his skin had already decayed, but when resurrection power came upon him, not only did he rise back to life, his skin was restored like that of a baby’s. If I had been there, I would have tried to touch him and see his skin texture. Resurrection is being born again. Jesus told the Jewish rabbi, Nicodemus, “no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” The Gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. We are all dead in our sins, we are in bondage to sin, we are not free, but when resurrection power comes upon us, we find true freedom. This is not the work of man, it is the work of God. The only thing we can do is believe and accept. O Church! We must spread the Good News, tell the world to believe and they can be like Lazarus, they can come out from their bondage to sin, rise from the dead. The Gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.

III. Take off the grave clothes and let him go – This is Follow-up Gospel Work

Taking away the stone is preparatory work, Lazarus coming out is the power of the gospel at work; taking off the grave clothes and letting him go is follow-up gospel work. Probably, this is the aspect that many churches tend to neglect the most. We share the gospel, but we do not do follow-up work. After accepting the Lord, many do not receive nurture; thus, many do not grow spiritually; many do not know have a sound knowledge of the truth. If you tell these believers to open the Bible to the Book of Zephaniah, they will stare at you blankly, because they don’t even know that there is such a book in the Bible. Their spiritual life failed to grow. When Lazarus came out, his whole body was wrapped in cloths, he couldn’t walk at all; so Jesus said, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

A baby can’t walk; it is the same with a spiritual baby. We need to walk beside them, care for them, support them, so that they will grow up into maturity. In 1999, we began holding Classes 101 to104, later on we added Classes 201-203. Our purpose was that we will have a curriculum that will equip our brothers and sisters to grow spiritually and in the knowledge of the truth. This year, on Thursday nights, we started “Equipping Nights”. The purpose is the same, we want all brothers and sisters to grow in their knowledge of the truth, and not remain spiritually immature. Many problems in the church happen because of spiritually immature believers. As decades-old believers, old Christians presume they already know everything, because they have been listening to sermons for 30 to 40 years long. They are full of knowledge (actually they only know half of it) and as a result they do nothing but criticize and complain endlessly. These people only grew old but not into maturity.

Many years ago, I heard a seminary president state in one of her messages, “Many churches only fulfill half of the Great Commission. They neglect the other half of the Great Commission.” She said, “When Jesus issued the Great Commission, there was only one goal and that is to make disciples of all nations for the Lord. To fulfill this Great Commission, we need to divide it into two parts: first, make believers of all nations – baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; second – turn believers into disciples, teaching them to obey everything the Lord have commanded. And this second part, we have neglected to do.”

When I heard her message, I felt that the Church had indeed neglected this part, so I decided to do my best to educate the brethren in the truth. Four years ago, I began in the Friday night bible study class a chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse study of the Book of Genesis. When I finished Genesis, I proceeded to Exodus. After four years, we have already gone through ten books, now we are in 1& 2 Kings. I hope to be able to do that with the whole Old Testament. But I feel this is still not enough. So, this year, we started the `Equipping Nights’ classes. I have already taught the Pentateuch and 1&2 Thessalonians in these classes. Ptr. Danny Balete had also taught many truths from the Bible. I hope you will build yourself up in the truth, grow in your knowledge of God. This is the follow-up work of the gospel.

Lastly, I want to point out a special principle. When Lazarus came out, he couldn’t even walk, because his whole body was wrapped in cloths. A newly born-again person is like a new-born baby. He doesn’t know anything at the start, just like a baby. A baby only knows to sleep and eat; later on, he sits up, crawls, stands, and much later on, he learns to walk. In this whole process, how do his parents help him? By encouragement. When he says his first words, his parents are thrilled, they tell everyone “He can say papa/mama now!” When he first learns to sit up, they are ecstatic. With his first step, we applaud him endlessly. When he falls, not only do they pick him up, they encourage him and tell him, “Don’t be afraid, you can do it.” By this, he is encouraged to stand up again. As a result not only does he learn to take a few steps, he learns to walk. But what is strange is that the more the child grows up, the less we encourage him. We tend to replace encouragements with rebukes. If our parents had endlessly rebuked us when we were babies, we probably wouldn’t have learned to walk at all, because we would have been afraid to stand back up! With new believers, we should rebuke less, encourage more; criticize less, help them more. Give them time to grow up. Take off the grave cloths that are binding them, let them go.

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During the 2004 presidential election in Taiwan, an assassination attempt involving two bullets occurred. Then incumbent president, Chen Shui-bian, won the election by a narrow 0.228 percent margin over his opponent. There was great dispute between the two political parties, the Kuo Min Tang (KMT) and the Progressive Party. The KMT alleged that Chen Shui-bian faked the assassination. The Progressive Party, of course, denied such allegations. Later, Detective Henry Lee from the United States was invited to investigate the incident. However, a KMT leader said: “No matter what Henry Lee says, I will not accept it.” Why? He had already formed an opinion; for him Chen Shui-bian faked the assassination attempt against himself. Similarly, the Progressive Party also had its own conclusion – it was an attack from the KMT’s. No matter how much evidence was presented to them, both sides were not willing to accept the report from the investigation, because each had their own prejudices.

This is the message we want to reflect on today. In chapter 9 of John’s gospel, Jesus healed a man born blind. This was a glorious and exciting thing. But after reading the 41 verses, one realizes that no one felt excited, no one gave glory to God, apart from the blind man who was healed. The blind man’s neighbors and those who often saw him beg for alms only asked one thing: “How were your eyes opened?” The Pharisees asked his parents, “Is this your son who was born blind? How is that now your son can see?” Although they got answers to their questions, in fact, firm evidence proving that the man was born blind and that Jesus made his eyes see, they refused to accept them. In their hearts, Jesus was a sinner who breached the Sabbath. No matter what good he did, their minds were already set on the idea that he is a sinner. This is called prejudice. This is spiritual blindness. Jesus said: “The blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

We must be like the blind man and turn from darkness to light; do not be like the Pharisees, who turned from light to darkness. Let us study this miracle by reflecting on how the blind man gradually came to recognize Jesus:

1. He is Jesus 10 -12

This man was born blind. He had never seen another human being before, including Jesus, so he had only heard of Jesus’ name. This man was not the first blind man Jesus had healed, for he had healed many blind men before. We have reason to believe that this man had heard of Jesus healing the blind before. In his heart, he must have longed to meet Jesus and ask Jesus to heal him. Maybe he had prayed to God, asking for Jesus to come and heal him. Anyway, this day, Jesus did come; putting some mud mixed with his saliva on the man’s eyes, He told the man “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam”. So the man went and washed and came home seeing. The Lord employed a special means to heal this blind man. Sometimes, Jesus healed by simply saying “your faith has made you whole”; sometimes he just touched a blind man’s eyes; sometimes he used saliva, rubbed it on the man’s eyes and healed the man. We discover that Jesus, the Great Healer, heals people in marvellous ways. This shows us that the method is not what is important, what is important is the God who employs these methods. We must simply follow what he wants us to do.

Jesus told the man born blind to wash in the Pool of Siloam. Siloam means to send. V.4 Jesus told his disciples, “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me.” V.33 The blind man said, “If this man (Jesus) were not from God, he could do nothing.” When we connect these two verses, we see that Jesus was sent by the Heavenly Father. Jesus obeyed the Father’s will, he came down to earth from heaven to do the Father’s work. Now Jesus is sending the man born blind to the Pool of Siloam to wash; as long as he obeys Jesus’ command, his eyes can be healed, for that is how obedience and restoration work. Some Bible interpreters say the Lord made man from the ground, thus, Jesus is using mud from the ground and his saliva to perform restoration on the man’s eyes. I find that very interesting. However, what is important is that if the man didn’t obey, his eyes wouldn’t have been healed. Let us understand the principle of obedience: the Heavenly Father sends Jesus, Jesus sends us. Jesus obeyed the Heavenly Father, as a result he accomplished the great salvation work; we must obey Jesus and accomplish the great and holy task of saving men.

He is Jesus – this was how the man born blind first identified Jesus. He had heard of Jesus’ name, he had heard stories about Jesus. His faith in Jesus came from having heard about him and it produced in him a faith that was submissive; what Jesus told him to do, he did. He was willing to be sent, as a result he received great blessing. Church, are we willing to obey Jesus’ command, to be his messengers?

II. He is a Prophet 16- 17

The man born blind was brought to the Pharisees who were investigating this incident. It was right that they do this, for they had the responsibility to find out whether this miracle was from God or from the devil. But they had already made a conclusion: Jesus did this miracle on a Sabbath; they concluded that since Jesus did not observe the Sabbath, therefore he could not have come from God. First, we need to understand that the Pharisees were not necessarily wrong. For since the Law was given by God, how can someone who violates God’s Law have come from God? For example: The second command in the Ten Commandments says do not worship idols. How can someone who worships idols come from God? Do not commit adultery, do not steal – how can any man who steals or commits adultery come from God?

So, the Pharisees’ conclusion was not without reason. They used the 4th command in the Ten Commandments to convict Jesus. They concluded that Jesus is not from God because he didn’t observe the Sabbath. To resolve this issue, we must first return to God’s purpose for establishing the Sabbath. Let us first look at Jesus’ explanation regarding the Sabbath. In Luke 14:5, Jesus said, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” Of course, one would pull it out. If we are unwilling to let an ox die, would we let a man die because it is a Sabbath day? Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” This is the essence of the Sabbath. The Jews observe the Sabbath legalistically and so it became “man was made for the Sabbath”. However Jesus said, “No, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath”.

Let me ask you, was the church established for the pastor, or the pastor established for the church? The pastor was made for the church; because if there were no churches, there would be no need for pastors. Similarly, the Sabbath was made for man. If there were no human beings, then, there would be no need for the Sabbath.

But the Jews regarded the Sabbath as greater than men. They observed the Law legalistically; as a result, no one can do anything on Sabbath days. There is a 60-storey Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv. During Sabbath days, pressing the elevator button is prohibited. If you live on the 60th floor, what will you do? You have to take the stairs up to the 60th floor, how truly rested would you be?! And so, the Jews thought of a solution. They programmed the elevator to stop at every floor automatically during Sabbath days so they won’t have to press the button. However if you live on the 60th floor, you will have to go through the elevator doors’ opening and closing for 60 times before you can reach your floor. This is called legalistic observance of the Law.

Actually, during Sabbath, God does not cease to function, for Jesus said, “My Father is always at his work to this very day.” The author of the Book of Hebrews says God sustains all things by his powerful word. If God literally ceased to work, Satan will be very happy, because the Sabbath day will become Satan’s day. He will take the opportunity to attack God’s Church, right? This is exactly what happened in World War II. Japan took advantage of the United States’ observance of the Lord’s Day, and launched a successful attack on Pearl Harbour. Sabbath was established so that man and God may commune, that man may find renewed strength to serve God even better. Jesus’ healing of a man born blind on Sabbath – isn’t this the very purpose of Sabbath? But the scripturally well-educated Pharisees observed the Law legalistically. Paul said: The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Do not be a legalist. The man born blind said, “Jesus is a prophet.” Because in his heart, he understood that a mere man cannot have done such a thing. It had to be the work of a man of God, so he said, “Jesus is a prophet.”

III. He is a Man Sent from God 30-33

The Pharisees refused to believe that this man had been born blind, so they called for his parents. They asked his parents the same question, “How is it that now he can see?” His parents replied, “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” The Pharisees already had a decision; for them, whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. What does it mean to be put out of the synagogue? In our contemporary language, it is to be excommunicated. This was a frightening thing. So the parents didn’t want to deal with the question. The Pharisees asked the man born blind once more, and told him, “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” And they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” What they meant was: `With what kind of evil spirit did he make your eyes see?’

This was not the first time they accused Jesus of such. Once, when Jesus drove out an evil spirit from a man, and the Pharisees couldn’t prove that there was no healing, they said publicly, “Jesus drives out demons by the prince of demons, Belzebub.” Because the Pharisees were prejudiced, they couldn’t accept that Jesus was from God. Jesus is the Christ. The man born blind said, “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” He meant Jesus was sent from God.

Why did he say so? He stated two reasons:

1. He used his experience as proof – v.25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” This is the famous line in the hymn “Amazing Grace” – I once was blind, but now I see. This was the blind man’s experience. No matter what others say, this was a reality that could not be changed. Experiences are important to our faith. In Exodus, when God wanted to bring out the Israelites, he performed ten plagues. Actually, there was no such need; the Lord could have simply sent his angels and killed Pharaoh and all his high officials. The Israelites could have simply left Egypt then. But God sent ten plagues, afterwards, the Israelites left Egypt. Why? The Lord not only wanted to deliver the Israelites from Egypt, the Lord wanted the Israelites to experience and know Him. The ten plagues were meant to dispute the ten well-known gods of Egypt. For example: turning water into blood was a challenge against the Nile god of Egypt. The plague of frogs was to oppose the god of fertility. The Lord wanted the Israelites to experience him, to know him, to know that He alone is the one true God. Church! May we truly experience Him, just like Job said, “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.”

2. His Common Sense as Proof – v.30-33 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” This blind man, having been born during that time, must probably not have been able to go to school, more so he couldn’t have studied theology, but his theology was more correct and more clear-cut than that of the Pharisees. That is because he used the common sense God gave him to arrive at an accurate conclusion. God does not listen to sinners. No one, apart from the God of creation, can open the eyes of a man born blind because he didn’t have eyes at all. The man was able to make a simple yet accurate claim, Jesus was sent from God. Church! Sometimes we are too complex, we must seek to be simple. The ‘Bible says: “The Lord protects the simple.” Simple doesn’t mean the fool but the simple man, those whose hearts are pure towards God. Such people are truly blessed by God.

IV. He is the Son of God 35-38

This man born blind was thrown out of the synagogue, Jesus found him, and asked “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. At the beginning, he only heard of Jesus’ name, later on he felt that Jesus was a prophet (servant of God). When the Pharisees denied Jesus, he insisted that Jesus was sent from God. Later, he recognized Jesus as the Son of God.

There is only one reason he was able to recognize Jesus as the son of God: God’s revelation. In Matthew 16, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Peter said, “You are the Son of the living God.” Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” After Jesus rose from the dead, Mary Magdalene was crying at his tomb because she couldn’t find Jesus’ body. Jesus appeared to her and Mary didn’t recognize him, she thought he was the gardener. Only after Jesus called her “Mary”, did she realize it was the Lord. After Jesus rose from the dead, he had a glorious body, Mary didn’t recognize him by his physical appearance, but when Jesus called her name, her heart knew that it was the Lord. This is called revelation. In John 21, after the disciples went fishing, Jesus stood by the shore and told them, “Come and have breakfast.” The Bible mentions something unusual – no one of disciples dared ask him “Who are you?” It was because they knew it was the Lord. From his physical appearance, he didn’t look like Jesus, but in their hearts, they knew it was the Lord. This is revelation.

Apart from God’s revelation, no one can know God. Whether now or in the future, we can only know God through his revelation. But why did the Lord reveal himself to the blind man and not to the Pharisees? Again and again, the Lord revealed himself as the Christ, but the Pharisees were prejudiced against Jesus. They didn’t believe in Jesus, no matter what Jesus said, they refused to believe. Paul said we must combine faith with action. If we don’t have faith in Jesus, if we are prejudiced against Jesus, not only will we not acknowledge him as the son of God, we will even be angry, because we will think Jesus speaks nonsense, this is the reason the Pharisees opposed Jesus. HG Wells is a historian, he wrote a short story called “Blind Man’s Valley”. Everyone in the Blind Man’s Valley is born blind. One day, a plane crashed in the valley and the pilot who survived began to live among them. The man would often describe to the people in Blind Valley how the world looked like, he told them about the sun, the moon, the trees, the plants, the fruits, etc. The people in Blind Valley began to hate him more and more, because they cannot see anything. When they couldn’t stand it anymore, they gouged out the man’s eyes and he became blind. The people felt glad because all of them are now alike, they are all blind.

Isn’t that how our world is like? Jesus is the Light of the world, He is the true light that had come to the world; but the world hated the light and loved the darkness. People would rather live in darkness. We must let go of our prejudices, have faith in Jesus, only then can we know Jesus as the Son of God. Have you come to know Him?

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We have already reflected on the first four miracles in the Gospel of John. The first is the miracle of water turned into wine. This miracle proves that Jesus is the Lord of creation. The second miracle is the healing of the royal official’s son. It revealed that Jesus is sovereign over time and space. The third miracle is the healing of the 38-year invalid, this miracles gives hope to those who are hopeless. The fourth miracle is the miracle of the five loaves and two fish. It was a miracle that resolved the problem of food. Jesus is the expert on solving difficult problems.

Today, we continue and examine the fifth miracle in the Gospel of John, how Jesus walked on water. The Gospel of John’s narration of this miracle is relatively simple. So, let us examine also Matthew 14:22-32. In this passage, we will see that Jesus appeared in three places: first, he was on the mountain, second, he was on the sea, and thirdly, he was on the boat. Jesus was praying on the mountain. He is our intercessor. Jesus saved the disciples at sea, he is our deliverer. Jesus was worshipped on the boat, he is our creator.

1. Jesus on the Mountain – He is our Intercessor John 6:15/Matthew 14:22-23

After Jesus had performed the miracle of the five loaves and two fish, the crowd intended to make him king by force, why? Because Jesus solved one of the greatest problem of mankind – food scarcity. This is the most basic problem of mankind. Our generation is very fortunate; our problem is not having enough to eat, quite the opposite, we are afraid to eat. We are afraid that if we eat, many things will increase- our blood pressure, our cholesterol, our uric acid, our blood sugar… because the foods we consume are too rich. But when a man experiences a lack in his basic needs (food, clothing, shelter, livelihood), he can commit the worst crime and even the most shameful things.

In Thailand and Vietnam, a girl is willing to sell her body in exchange for a piece of bread. During World War II, inside a camp in Japan, a British military officer, once a gentleman, betrayed his friend for a piece of bread. We begin thus to understand how important man’s basic needs are. Jesus solved one basic need of man with five loaves and two fish, as a result, all the people wanted to make him king. However, Jesus withdrew by himself to the mountains.

With this, two questions emerge:
First, didn’t Jesus come to be king? Now that people wanted to make him king, why didn’t he grab the chance? Why did the Lord reject it?
Second, what did Jesus do alone up on the mountain?

The answer to the first question is: Jesus came to be king, but Jesus rejected any method that was not of God. Before Jesus began his ministry, Satan tempted him thrice. Once, Satan told Him, “I will give you all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour, if you worship me, it will all be yours.” What Satan meant was, “You don’t need to be crucified on the cross, you don’t need to be flogged, you don’t need to be shamed. In other words, you can have glory without having to go to the cross. Do you want it?” Praise the Lord, the Lord Jesus immediately replied: “Away from me, Satan!” But in this passage we are studying, it is not Satan who is trying to make Jesus king, it is the crowd demanding him to become king. Jesus’ response was the same. He dismissed the crowd. Jesus rejected the glory that both Satan and men wanted to offer.

The answer to the second question is: he went up to the mountainside by himself to pray (Matthew 14:23). Why did Jesus go alone? Why didn’t he bring along his disciples? He could have at least brought along Peter, James, and John. At the Transfiguration, at Gethsemane, he took along Peter, James and John, why didn’t he take any of them along this time? Personally, I believe, his 12 disciples were among the crowd wanting to make Jesus king. Because if Jesus was willing to be king, the 12 disciples would be raised up to exalted positions- Peter might be made general, Judas the finance minister, John most probably would be minister of internal affairs, and all the other disciples would be head of different departments. So, Jesus not only dismissed the crowd, but also made his disciples get on a boat ahead of him to the other side. Then, Jesus went up the mountainside alone to pray.

What did Jesus pray about? I believe he must have prayed for himself, and he must have also prayed for his disciples. Jesus had kept a low profile before this miracle. He often told those he healed to refrain from telling people about their healing. But now a ten thousand-large crowd saw him perform this miracle. If only by word of mouth, in a few days’ time, the whole nation would have heard about his miracle.

The Chinese say: “Men fear popularity as pigs fear being fat.” I often say it is best to be an ordinary person, neither too beautiful nor too unattractive; because ordinary-looking people will not attract attention. We, pastors, often stand before crowds. Do you think it is easy? After a worship service, the members go home and have “steamed pastors’ attire”, “fried pastor’s sermon”, and “fried pastor” for lunch. It is already difficult to be standing before a crowd, the pressure of being popular is even greater. Jesus became more and more well-known, the pressure he faced kept increasing. Could he go without prayers then? Hebrews 7:25 tells us “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Hebrews 8:1 also tells us “…(he is) at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven.” What is he doing there? Romans 8:34 tells us “(He) is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Even now, Jesus, our Great High Priest, is interceding for us, he is praying for us.

II. Jesus on the Sea – He is our Deliverer (John 6:18-20/Matthew 14:24-31)

When he had finished praying, Jesus stood up. We must understand the circumstances then- Jesus was on the mountain while his disciples were on the boat. The disciples couldn’t see Jesus because it was dark. But Jesus could see his disciples because there was light on the boat. Jesus saw their boat buffeted by the wind out on the sea. Shortly before dawn, at the darkest time of night, Jesus walked on the water towards the disciples. The Lord wanted to save them from their difficulty.

We must note three things as the Lord sought to deliver them from their predicament:

1. The Lord Knows – Jesus had made his disciples go on the boat and ahead of him to the other side. But the disciples encountered the wind and the waves; and Jesus was not with them. What were the 12 disciples to do? Where was Jesus? They must have thought, “Don’t you know we are about to die!” But actually, Jesus knew all about it, even from the start. Jesus was praying for them on the mountain. Jesus saw how they were being buffeted by the wind, how they were struggling against the wind. But Jesus didn’t immediately appear to help them, why? There is a term called “overprotectiveness”. Sometimes as parents, we are not willing to see our children suffer, so we pamper them like princes and princesses. But praise the Lord, our Lord knows when we need a bit of trial, he knows when to come and help us. The Lord knew that the disciples were being buffeted by the wind, but he also knew that this was necessary for them. The Lord knows that trials are valuable in life.

In Revelation 2-3, the Lord wrote to the seven churches. To every church, the Lord said, “I know” – I know the strength and I know the weaknesses of each church. The Lord knows. Brothers and sisters, human knowledge is limited. But the Lord knows everything. He knows every side of every issue. A pastor often told his members: “I know.” He would tell everyone who came to him with their problem: “I know.” But he didn’t actually know everything. One time a sister who suspected that her husband had a mistress came to the pastor. She told the pastor her problems. The pastor told her `I know.’ The sister went home and fought with her husband. She told her husband, “You have a mistress, even the pastor knows about it. Would you still deny it!” Actually, the pastor doesn’t know. But our Lord knows, he knows and he understands everything.

2. The Lord Acts – That, the Lord knows, is one thing; but it is another thing when the Lord acts on what he knows. In Exodus 3, the Lord told Moses, “I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians.” The Lord sees, the Lord hears, the Lord came down. Jesus sees, Jesus hears and now Jesus had also come down to his disciples, but because there wasn’t a road, Jesus walked on water. No one had ever walked on water, so the disciples couldn’t have thought it was Jesus walking on water. Many times, the Lord helps us in ways beyond what we envision. Our God is very amazing.

The Bible says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.” O Church, do not limit God’s work. God works in ways beyond what we can imagine and ask for. CBCP is one example: In 1987, when the church met for the first time there were only 81 people including children and adults. Later on, we bought this lot and three years after, we had a church building. Our co-workers tell me that at that time, they planned only to build a sanctuary with a seating capacity of 200; also, they felt that this place was too big for them. Did you notice that there is a stand-by for a balcony there; but because they found the church too big then, they didn’t push through with its construction. Yet now, we find this place too small, thus we have to build a bigger church building. Truly, God’s works in ways over and above what we can imagine.

3. The Lord Saves – When the Lord walked on water towards the disciples, the disciples thought it was a ghost. Jesus told them, “It is I, do not be afraid.” Peter replied, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” And the Lord told him, “Come.” Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. Step by step, he walked toward Jesus, but when he saw the wind, he became afraid. Beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. Our Lord saves.

Let us look at this interaction between the Lord and Peter. Peter was a very impulsive person, he speaks as he thinks, sometimes, he didn’t even know what he was saying. When he saw Jesus walking on water, he immediately said, “Lord, tell me to come to you on the water.” And in the end, Jesus had to save him.

However, we can learn two things from Peter:

a. He dared step out of the boat. This is the path of faith. A man without faith wouldn’t have been able to step out of the boat. Thus, aside from Jesus, Peter is the only other person to have walked on water. This is Peter’s most unique experience in life.

b. He walked on water with Jesus in the midst of the wind and the waves. After Jesus rescued him, I believe Peter didn’t dare let go of Jesus’ hand, and so he walked with Jesus hand in hand on water in the midst of the wind and waves. This is an amazing experience. What about the other disciples? They remained on the boat. They felt safer, but they failed to have such a precious experience. O Church, the path of faith is risky, yes; yet we are not telling you to take foolish risks. If Jesus didn’t tell Peter to come, and Peter stepped out of the boat on his own, that would be foolish. Peter stepped out because of Jesus’ command, as a result, even though he almost drowned, he experienced the Lord’s deliverance. O Church! We need to walk in the Lord’s will although it is difficult, for the Lord is our deliverer.

III. Jesus on the Boat – He is Our Creator (John 6:1/Matthew 14:32-33)

When we connect these two passages, we find that two amazing things happened proving that Jesus is the creator of the universe:

1. The Wind Died Down – This is a very amazing thing. The wind and the waves didn’t stop while Jesus was walking on water, but the moment Jesus stepped into the boat, the wind and waves died down. It is a frightening thing to see the wind and waves dying down so suddenly! In the Old Testament, a similar thing happened. When Jonah fled from the Lord toward Tarshish, a storm suddenly came up and the ship was about to sink, later on, when they threw Jonah overboard, the Bible says, “…the raging sea grew calm.” Just like that, the sea grew calm. The Bible says, “At this the men greatly feared the LORD.” I believe that at this point, the disciples also felt the same thing. Only a moment ago, the wind and the waves were raging, their boat had been about to sink, but when Jesus stepped into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” That is what the Gospel of John meant to show us – that Jesus is the Son of God. The God that the Jews believe in is the God who created the world and everything in it, the whole universe is under his control. The God who is in sovereign control of the whole universe is the only true God. During Elijah’s time, Elijah challenged 400 prophets of Baal. He said, “The god who answers by fire, he is God.” Baal wasn’t able to send down fire, but the Lord sent fire down from heaven, because the Lord is the creator of all things. The disciples saw Jesus calmed the storm, the wind and the waves obeyed him, they knelt down and worshipped him, saying, “You are truly the Son of God.”

2. The Boat Reached Shore – John 6:21 “Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.” Matthew 14:22 says Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side. The Sea of Galilee is actually a lake. It is only about 21 kilometers long, and 12 kilometers wide. I had been to the Holy Land with my wife, and we had taken a boat across the Sea of Galilee. It was only about an hour long trip. In the olden days, with row boats, it might probably have taken them one to three hours to reach their destination. But John 6:19 says `when they had rowed about ten miles …’ meaning the boat seemed to be stuck in the same place, it didn’t move forward. Of course, it was because they were being buffeted by the wind and waves. But when Jesus stepped into the boat, the boat immediately reached shore.

What does immediately mean? It may mean it quickly reached its destination or that all obstacles disappeared. I feel that both of these happened. It must have been a truly amazing thing for the boat to have immediately reached shore. But however it happened, this shows us an important truth – how wonderful it is to have the Lord with us! When the Lord was on the mountain, the disciples struggled against the wind and waves, the whole night they were only able to move 10 miles. Relying on their own human strength, they fought against the wind and waves in vain. But when the Lord stepped into the boat, they didn’t even have to lift a finger and the boat immediately reached its destination. We have two sayings that sound similar, but are actually in complete contrast of each other. One is “get half the results with twice the effort” and the other is “yield twice the result with half the effort”. We can say: With the Lord, we yield twice the result with half the effort. Without the Lord, we get half the result with twice the effort. How important it is to have the Lord with us!

In the Great Commission, the Lord told his disciples: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations… And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Provided we go, the Lord will be with us, not only as we labor for the gospel, but in our homes, in our companies, in our businesses, He will be with us. With Christ in our vessel, we can truly smile at the storm!

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There are seven miracles in the Gospel of John. Each one of these miracles proves that Jesus is the Son of God and that we can believe in him and have eternal life.

The first miracle is water turned into wine. This shows us that Jesus is the Lord of all creation, He can change the basic quality of matters.

The second miracle is the healing of the royal official’s son. This miracle proves that Jesus is sovereign Lord over space and time. With one word, he transcended time and space and healed a man 30 miles away.

The third miracle gave hope to the hopeless. A man invalid for 38 years, who had lost all hope for himself, was able to get up and walk when the Lord told him, “Get up, take up your mat and walk.” This proves that Jesus is our hope in life.

Today, let us reflect on the fourth miracle – the miracle of five loaves and two fish. With five loaves and two fish, Jesus fed 5000 men; if women and children were included, the number could possibly reach 10,000 or so. It must have been a sensational occurrence during that time; that is why this miracle is recorded in all four Gospels. Providing food for 10,000 people in a remote area was indeed an enormous problem. But we discover here how Jesus is the expert on solving difficult problems.

In this incident, we see how different people tried to solve the problem with different methods. At least three methods were tried:

I. The Disciples’ Method – Let the People Solve Their Own Problem (Mark 6:35-36)

Mark 6:35-36 “By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”” This was the disciples’ approach to solving the food problem, in other words, they meant ‘let the people solve their own problem.’ Initially, we may feel that the disciples were being irresponsible and unloving, but when you think about it, you will realize that their idea was not that unreasonable. Finding food was actually their own problem, too.

After our worship service today, if you don’t have lunch to eat, let me ask you, whose problem is it? Actually, this is not an easy question to answer, because it is an issue between responsibility and grace. If you say it is the church’s problem, that the church must provide for those who have no food for lunch, are you saying that the church is not exercising love if it fails to provide for you? But let me ask you, ‘Is it the obligation of the church to provide you lunch?’ The Bible says he who does not work must not eat. Did you work? If yes, why don’t you have food to eat after working? It must be that you have a bad employer. If that is so, the church will surely help you. But if you don’t work, and want to be given free food, the church will only be harming you if it helps you. Because people who want to eat but don’t want to work are being lazy.

A story is told of a man who, as he goes to work each day, passes by a man lying on the sidewalk. He would hand the man 10 bucks every time he sees him. It was the same, year after year. One day, when he passed by, he only gave the man 5 bucks. The man became angry and questioned him, “How come you only gave me five bucks and not ten?” The man answered, “We just had our third baby and we are experiencing heavier financial responsibilities. So I can only give you 5 bucks.” The man unhappily replied, “That is your family’s problem. It’s wrong to deduct 5 bucks from me.”

We don’t know whether to laugh or to cry upon hearing this story. But there are such people in this world. We have encountered similar people in the church. A sister got sick, the church helped her, but when she received the love gift, she was not pleased and said, “How come it is such a small amount!” In her heart, she felt as if the church owes her. Brothers and sisters, the church owes no one anything. It is out of God’s grace that the church helps people; we must do our best to fulfil our own responsibilities.

The disciples told Jesus: “This is a remote place, and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” There is really nothing wrong with this, for there were no restaurants or 7-11’s in the desert, and it was already late; yet they could still leave to go find food; if they don’t leave soon the problem will become worse.

So, the disciples’ solution wasn’t exactly bad. But it was not enough. They didn’t show enough love and concern. In fact, they avoided facing the problem. The Chinese say, “Let each man mind his own yard.” This is a selfish way of handling a situation. If every man will do so, the world will be a cold place. May the Lord help us, that we will balance grace and responsibility. We have two sayings: “Offer coal on a snowy weather” and “Add flowers to an embroidery”. Both are good. But which one is better? Of course, to offer coal on a snowy weather is better, because this will add a little love into this world, it will bring warmth to this world. Let us not forget what Jesus said: We are the salt of the earth, we are the light of the world.

II. Philip’s Method – The Issue of Money

Mark 6:5-7 “When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”” The Bible tells us Jesus knew what he was going to do, but he asked this question to test Philip.

Christians, we will often meet 3 T’s in our life: Temptations, Trials, and Tests. Temptations come from Satan. Trials are allowed by God. In the original language, the same word was used for temptation and trial; the difference is temptation’s purpose is to defeat us, to cause us to sin, to cause us to fall away from God. However, the purpose of trial is to strengthen us, and make us love the Lord more. Tests come from God. God doesn’t tempt us, but he tests us. The Lord tests us not because he doesn’t know us, but he wants us to know ourselves more. God tested Abraham, asking him to sacrifice Isaac. Jesus tested Philip by asking him, “Where shall we buy bread for these people?” Philip’s answer or his approach is the method we often use: that is taking into account the issue of money. Someone said: “Money is not all-powerful, but without money, there are a lot of things we cannot do.” Many people, whenever they are faced with problems, will immediately think of money. That is how it was with Philip. Although this isn’t wrong, I hope we will have a correct concept of money.

“Money is the answer for everything.” This is what King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 10:19 “A feast is made for laughter, wine makes life merry, and money is the answer for everything.” Money is a good servant, but it is a most terrible master. If we know how to use money, money can truly be the answer for everything. Why did we have to use a lot of time to plan for the construction of the new church building? It was because of the issue of money. When we first got the budget proposal from the contractor, the minimum amount quoted was P 220 million; including the interiors and finishing, it would amount to P 280 million. It would be good if we would be able to stick to the budget, but often actual cost outlay would go beyond the budget, so, it would probably reach P 300 million. Of course, we know that our God is able to provide richly, but God will not just drop money from the sky. The Lord moves you to give. We do not want your burden to be too heavy, so, we tried again and again to cut down the cost by bargaining with them. We also changed the original design, hoping to cut down cost by 20-25% (about 20,000,000). If someone says: “Rev. Cheung, I will take care of P 200 million.” Then, we can immediately sign the contract. Money can be the best servant. But we must not forget, it can be a terrible master. We must not let money become our master!

In my many years in the church, I have also seen co-workers whose immediate answer to every proposed program is “Money, where is the money, do we have the money? How much money do we need? ” This is not wrong. Jesus did not censure Philip for thinking about money. But it was clear the Lord didn’t approach this problem thinking of money, because the Lord had a much better method than money. Money can solve many problems, but money isn’t everything. In ordinary situations, money can be an answer to everything, but in extreme situations, money isn’t everything. For example, in the wilderness, would money be useful? If you were in the desert and starving to death, suddenly you find a pouch full of gold, would you be happy? You are about to die of thirst and hunger, how can those gold help you, can you eat them? A popular poem says: “Money can buy you a house but not a home. It can buy you a bed but not sleep. It can buy you a clock but not time. It can buy you books but not knowledge. It can buy you blood but not life. It can buy you sex but not love. It can buy you a position but not respect. It can buy you medicine but not health.” May we have a correct concept of money. Money can be the best servant, but it not an almighty servant, only our God is almighty, He is Almighty God. Giving your problems to Him is so much better than relying on money.

III. Andrew’s Method – God and Man Cooperate

Andrew surrendered the five loaves and two fish into Jesus’ hands. Actually, this is a little funny. There were 5000 men present at that time, not including the women and children. What good were five loaves and two fish? Even Andrew himself said, “How far will they go among so many?” Andrew felt that it wasn’t much help, but why did he give them to the Lord? For example: the church needs 200 million to build the new building. But I have 200 pesos. Can P 200 build a P 200 million church? Of course not. Similarly, it was impossible to feed 10,000 people with five loaves and two fish. Yet, the fact is, Andrew succeeded. With 5 loaves and 2 fish, 10,000 people were fed, and there were even 12 basketfuls of leftovers. The 12 disciples had one basket each for take home. I call Andrew’s method `cooperation between God and man’.

1. Man must hand all resources over to God – All that Andrew had were 5 loaves and 2 fish. He didn’t keep any for himself. When he found the 5 loaves and 2 fish, he gave them all to the Lord. Although he felt these couldn’t solve the problem, still he did his best. Doing his best – this is an important matter.

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The Lord wants our all, our best. When Dr. John Sung was about to leave this world, he uttered something very touching, “With regards to communication skills, I can’t compare with Rev. Chi Wen, With regards to interpersonal skills, I cannot compare with Wang Ming Dao; With regards to preaching, I cannot compare with Watchman Nee, but the Lord knows, I have done my best.” He said, “The Lord knows I have done my best.”

This is a great reminder and encouragement for us. Paul, when he was about to die, also said something like that, he said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Fought, finished, kept – Paul had done his best. When Jesus was on earth, he saw the widow gave her two mites. The Lord said she had given all she had. We see therefore a principle here, when we say God and man cooperates, it is not a 50-50 arrangement, not 50% from man and 50% from God to make 100%. No, it is 100% from man and 100% from God and together they complete 100%. Actually, our 100% are puny, yet the Lord wants our all. If you are lazy, and irresponsible, the Lord will not cooperate with you. You have to give your best, your all, then, you will see God’s grace and God’s power. He can help you solve your impossible situation.

2. God can use limited resources to show forth his glory – When Andrew gave the five loaves and two fish into Jesus’ hands, the Lord didn’t say, “Why so little?” The Lord knew it was all they had. Although our resources are limited, if we put them in the Lord’s hand, he can demonstrate his great power. Jesus had the people sit down, took the loaves and fish, gave thanks and broke them and the more he broke, the more they multiplied and five loaves became 5000, two fish became 200, 2000, 20,000 fish. When we give our limited resources to God, his power is made evident.

I had once shared with you the story of “57 Cents”. It is similar to the story of these five loaves and two fish. A little girl stood crying before the door of a church, the pastor saw her and asked her why she was crying. She said, “I am not able to join the Sunday School class today because there are no seats left.” The pastor saw that the little girl had an unkempt appearance and was in rags, and he immediately understood. So he took her hand and led her into the classroom and found a seat for her. That evening, the little girl recalled how she was able to join Sunday school that morning and felt very grateful. But she thought of the many children and how they couldn’t join and know the Lord Jesus, because the church was too small. So she determined in her heart to help build a bigger church. After two years, the little girl fell ill and died. Her family asked the pastor to officiate at the funeral. They found that she had a small purse which contained a note. On it the little girl had written: “This is for the Lord, to expand our small church, so that more children can come to church and know and worship the Lord Jesus!”

Inside the purse were 57 cents. The little girl had been saving them for two years. Upon reading the note, the pastor cried. During worship service, the pastor related the story of the little girl’s purse and her wish. He then encouraged the congregation to help make the little girl’s wish come true. A newspaper learned of the little girl’s story and published it. A real estate developer read of the article and was moved by the little girl’s story. He sold a piece of land to the church for 57 cents! Within 5 years, the people in the church gave and all those who were touched by the story sent in money. Her 57 cents grew to $250,000, and that was a big amount during that time. Today, if you go to Philadelphia in the United States, you will find the Temple Baptist Church which can seat 3300 people, and you will know that the little girl’s dream had come true. In that church, you will find a framed picture of a little girl smiling and her 57 cents offering.

The disciples’ method was for the people to solve their own problem. This is a bit selfish. There wasn’t enough love and concern, but this also reminds us we must fulfil our own part and responsibility. Philip’s approach was to take into account the issue of money. This was a very practical approach, but it was not the best method, because some problems cannot be solved by money. Andrew’s method was the best. He did his best and gave all the resources to the Lord and allowed the Lord to solve the problem. God and man cooperating- this is the best method for solving a problem.

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The Gospel of John records seven miracles. All the miracles had the same purpose, that is, to prove that Jesus is the Son of God. The first miracle Jesus performed was turning water into wine. Water and wine are two totally different elements, but Jesus turned water into wine, this shows us that Jesus is the Lord of creation. He can change the substance of anything. He is the Lord of creation.

The second miracle is the healing of the royal official’s son. The royal official asked Jesus to go with him to Capernaum to heal his son, but Jesus said, “Go, your son will live.” And his son lived. This shows us that Jesus is sovereign Lord over space. With one word, he transcended distance and healed the royal official’s son.

Today, we will be looking at the third miracle in the Gospel of John. This is a miracle of hope for the hopeless. In this miracle, we discover Jesus made three statements: 1st- Do you want to get well? 2nd – Get up! Pick up your mat and walk. 3rd – See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. I entitled this miracle as the “Three Word Miracle”.

I. Do you want to get well? This is a question which ignites hope in the hopeless.

Do you want to get well? This sounds like a question, but reflecting further, we will realize this was not simply a question. Verse 2 tells us there was this place called Bethesda which is surrounded by five covered colonnades and great number of disabled people used to lie there. The people came there for a reason- that is to wait for the moving of the waters. According to legend, from time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had. We will not debate over whether this is true or not, but one thing is certain, there were many sick people there. The place looked like a hospital because a lot of sick were there. When you go to a hospital today, you find many sick people there and you ask them, “Do you want to get well?” People will say you are asking a senseless question. If I were one of the patients there, I will retort, “Of course! Why do you think I am here!” However we must understand that Jesus is not talking nonsense, because the Lord’s words are full of power, He never speaks needlessly. Why did Jesus ask this question?

The Bible tells us Jesus saw the man lying there, and learned that he had been in that condition for a long time. The man had been ill for 38 years. How many 38 years does a life have? It seems the man had spent his best years lying in his sickbed. How pitiful! Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?” From his answer, we realize that the man had lost all hope. He did not say he wanted to get well, he said, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” He meant I have no hope.

Thirty-eight years of illness made life lose its meaning for this man. In his heart he thinks, `I am bound to this bed for life.’ Maybe you are wondering why he even came to Bethesda. That’s the contradiction of life. On one hand, we feel like we are hopeless, but in our hearts, we seem to hold on to a little bit of hope, because our God is our hope. Ecclesiastes 3 says God has set eternity in the hearts of men. This is from God. Because we have this sense of eternity from God, we have hope.

For example, many wives have given up on their husbands or vice-versa (husbands have given up hope on their wives). They feel that their spouses will never change, that they will always remain the same. But deep in their hearts they continue to hold on to a little hope, that one day the person will change. Even though the probability is very slim, many wives, many husbands continue to hope. We do not lose hope, because the Lord Jesus is our eternal hope.

Now we must understand more clearly why the Lord Jesus asked him that question. Jesus knew that the man had lost hope, that he had lived for a long time in hopelessness. But in every man’s heart, there remains a tinge of hope. Jesus wanted to renew his hope; for if he loses hope, he loses faith, then he will become truly hopeless.

Brothers and sisters, no matter how great the difficulty is that you are facing, do not lose faith, do not lose hope. I love the word of the father whose son had been demon-possessed in Matthew 17. When Jesus asked him if he believed, the man replied, “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.” I believe, but I don’t have enough faith.

May the Lord help us! Our faith, our hope may be small, but let us ask from the Lord! “Do you want to get well?” This question ignited hope in the hopeless. This question made the man realize what he really needed. What he needed was healing, not going down into the pool. Going down into the pool was only a method, but our Lord is Almighty God, he has amazing way of helping us. Brothers and sisters, do not limit God and his work, believe only in Him and you will see His glory.

II. Get up! Take Up Your Mat and Walk. – This is a command to not turn back

This is Jesus’ second command for the man. This command can be divided into two parts: The first part is `Get up.’ This is a command. `Take up your mat and walk.’ This is the second part. This second part completes the healing. If he didn’t obey Jesus’ command to walk, the 38-year invalid’s healing wouldn’t be complete.

1. Get up – This is the first command. How could an invalid, who had been lying in bed for 38 years, get up! But the Lord told him to get up and he was able to get up. I recalled Acts 3. Peter and John healed a man who had been lame from birth. The man was already 40 years old, he had never walked a step all his life, but when the apostles told him: `In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!’ He walked.

Brothers and sisters, no matter how long you had been sick (whether it is a physical or spiritual illness), as long as the Lord commands you to get up, you must get up, because you can get up. Sometimes, we are not willing to get up. Have you ever seen patients who are unwilling to get up? These patients want to lie in bed all the time, they want people to take care of them. How pitiful they are! They are unwilling to get up because for them “I am sick, I am pitiful, come help me!” Four years ago, I had undergone surgery. When I came out of the operating room, two tubes were attached to my body, but after a few hours, I stood up to go to the bathroom. My wife refused to let me up, but I said, “I want to get up, because I know I can.” As a result, I got up. The second Sunday after my surgery, I was already up at the pulpit, preaching.

Do not lie down if you can sit; do not sit if you can stand; do not stand if you can move; do not just move if you can walk. Of course, we all understand our own bodies, we shouldn’t push ourselves beyond our limits, but neither should we pamper ourselves too much. It is the same with our spiritual life. The Lord Jesus told the 38 year invalid, “Get up.” God’s power is able to make him get up. I believe when the Lord said that, power filled the man’s body; with the strength given by the Lord, he really stood up. I do not know how long you had been suffering in your spirit; but today, the Lord is telling you: `Get up.’ For as long as you are willing, the Lord’s power can lift you up and make you stand up, are you willing?

2. Take up your mat and walk! – This is the second command. It seems like there is nothing special about this command, because when the 38 year invalid stood up, he was already healed. Since he is already well, why did he have to take up his mat? Once more, it sounds like a needless command, but once more, let me remind you that nothing the Lord speaks is unnecessary. There is always truth in his word.

What does take up your mat mean? It carries at least two meanings:

1. You are totally healed. For 38 years, this man had been lying on a mat. The mat carried his problem, his illness. But once he took up the mat, the circumstances changed. The mat no longer carried his problem. On the contrary, he now carried the mat. While he used to need the mat, now the mat needed him. He has been healed. He has overcome his need for the mat. Whereas, we used to be defeated by our problems, now we defeat them. Family problems, marriage problems are resolved, why? Relying upon the Lord, we take up our problems. If we don’t, the problems will overcome us; that is why the Lord told the man to take up his mat.

2. The Lord didn’t want the man to continue lying on the mat. This piece of mat had been used for 38 years, the man had lived life as an invalid for 38 long years. We, humans, are affected by our habits, whether good or bad. Of course, we have no problem with good habits. But bad habits can negatively affect our whole life. It is wonderful when we become willing to change, but if we aren’t determined, we will surely return to our old ways once we encounter difficulties. This man had been ill for 38 years. Although his condition had been pitiful for 38 years, but because he couldn’t walk, he had people to take care of him. Now that he can walk, he must be responsible for himself; no longer will people take care of him like a nurse; if he doesn’t make a firm determination, he will revert to his mat and seek to be taken care of by others once he meet difficulties.

I have really encountered such a case. He was a young man I met when I first arrived in the Philippines. About 8 or 9 years ago, he came to ask me for help. Of course I helped him. Then, he came back again and again. Later on, I tried to find out about his situation. I discovered that he was using drugs, stealing money, and was driven away by his family. When he came to me again, I rebuked him and he cried saying he was repentant. He asked me to help him. He promised that he would change. I helped him once more. Later on, I paid for him to enter a rehab center. He stayed in the rehab center for a year, and started to change. I felt so happy, but when I was about to send the payment for his second year there; the people there told me he had escaped, because he had gone back to his old lifestyle. Later on, he came back to see me. I didn’t give him any money this time, only some daily necessities. Later on, I discovered he had returned to the company of his old friends. In those 8-9 years’ time, he had once stood up, but he returned to lying down. If the man will not set his will to take up his mat and throw it away, he can never leave that old mat. So, Jesus told the man, “Get up, take up your mat and walk.” Stop lying around; do not return to your old ways.

III. You are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. – This is a warning.

Of course, this command was a warning. From this warning, we realize two things:

1. This man’s sickness resulted from sin – I dare not say carelessly that all sickness is because of sin, because many charismatics often say we are sick because we have sinned, so we don’t need the doctor, only confess your sins and you will be healed. They oversimplify the matter. It is true that some sickness result from sin. Jesus told the 38 year invalid, “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you”, meaning, the man became sick because of sin. But in John chapter 9, there was a man who was born blind. Jesus said, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” Thus, we shouldn’t be quick to judge that someone is sick because of sin. When we become sick, we must examine ourselves; if we have really sinned, then we must ask for the Lord’s forgiveness and ask for healing. If it is not because of any sin, we must pray and see the doctor. Jesus didn’t say what sin the 38 year invalid had committed, but Jesus knew that his illness was related to sin. If his sin is not forgiven and resolved, his sickness will not be healed. But praise the Lord, Jesus has the power and grace to forgive sin. Jesus told him: `Get up’, meaning your sins are forgiven, you can get up. As a result, he got up. Praise the Lord, He forgives our sins.

2. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. – This is a clear warning – stop sinning. The Lord forgave him his sin from 38 years ago. The Lord told him, “From now on, stop sinning.” John 8 records a woman caught in adultery. They asked Jesus if she should be stoned to death or not. Jesus didn’t reply but kept writing on the ground. Because the men kept asking him, Jesus answered: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Those who heard began to go away one at a time, until only Jesus and the woman was left; meaning only Jesus would stone her, but Jesus told her, “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.”

All of us were once sinners. All of us have only been forgiven by God. And, we must stop sinning, lest something worse happen to us. To be ill for 38 years is a fearful thing; can anything be worse than that? Yes, to be condemned to hell 3800, 38,000, 380,000 years and suffer eternally! Don’t you think this is the most fearful thing that can happen! The 38-year invalid received healing and forgiveness, but if he only savour the gift of healing and forget the Lord who gave him the healing, he only received grace in the past, and will fail to receive grace in the future and even eternal life. Brothers and sisters, we must not only love the blessings God gives us, we must love the Lord who gives us the blessings, for the Lord is so much more precious than the gifts he gives us.

In this miracle, we heard the Lord uttered three statements:
1. Do you want to get well? This gives hope to those who are lost in hopelessness. Jesus is our hope forever.
2. Get up, take up your mat and walk! This proves that God’s healing was complete. The man could stand up and take up his mat; yet man must also do his part and turn from his old ways;
3. You are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. This warning is issued out of love. It is good when we experience God’s gifts, but to love the gifts and not the gift-giving Lord is the greatest mistake a man can make.

May we not just love the gifts, may we love the Lord, the gift-giver, more!

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We have already discussed the first miracle Jesus had performed, that is “Turning Water into Wine.” Today, we want to reflect on the second miracle in the Gospel of John. I entitled this miracle “One-Word Miracle” because Jesus only spoke one word to the royal official “Go, your son will live!” The Bible says the man took Jesus at his word and his son lived! So, this is a one-word miracle.

In this miracle, we want to reflect on three different kinds of faith:
1. Crisis Faith
2. True Faith and
3. Propagating Faith

I. Crisis Faith 46-50

The Bible says that there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. In fact, the child was dying. We must understand that this man was not an ordinary official, he was a royal official. He was connected with royalty, he was not just a high official, he was a very high official. His son was sick- we can imagine he must have done all he could to find a cure for his son, probably he had tried the best doctors and the best medicine, but all to no avail. It was during this time that he heard of Jesus, especially of how He had turned water into wine. In this seemingly hopeless situation, he saw a ray of hope. He, therefore, traveled from Capernaum to Cana to look for Jesus.

There is a distance of about 30 miles from Capernaum to Cana. Although it is not very far, but neither is it very near; especially back in those days, when modes of transportation were not as developed as in our time, it wasn’t an easy trip to make. This father’s faith emerged out of a time of crisis, because his beloved son was sick; I call this `crisis faith’.

But Jesus’ response towards this royal official was strange. Imagine, if a powerful man comes, asking us to go down with him to heal his sick child, we would immediately go with him, because we would see it as a great opportunity. When they don’t have any problems, such powerful people wouldn’t even come to meet us even if we want to see them. Now that he is the one coming to see Jesus, didn’t the Lord see this as a great opportunity? If I were Jesus’ disciple, I would have told him: `Lord, we are all fishermen, now that a royal official has come to see you, you must go. It will be a great boost to your preaching ministry in the future. This is a big fish.’ However, Jesus told the royal official: “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

This statement was a rebuke, why did Jesus say this? Because Jesus wanted him to understand two things:
1. Is your faith in the miracles or in God?
2. Is your faith in the miracles or in God’s word?

1. Is your faith in the miracles or in God? – When people find themselves in a crisis, they run to the Lord. Of course this is a good thing, because God begins when man is at the end of his rope. But Jesus wanted them to realize: “Is it the miracle you want or the miracle-working God? Is it me you believe in, or is it the miracles I do?” When we get sick, we ask the Lord for healing. We tell the Lord, “Lord, if you heal me, I will believe in you.” Meaning, if the Lord doesn’t heal us, then we will not believe in him.

Such faith is based on miracles, not on God himself. Jesus wants us to understand that our faith must be founded on God himself, not on his miracles. Because we only seek miracles, we turn God into a genie like Aladdin’s genie from the magic lamp. With a few swipes, we expect God to come out and say, “Master, what is your wish?” We become the master, while the Lord becomes our servant. But the truth is, He is our Lord, we are his servants. He should not be the one asking “Master, what is your wish?” We are the ones who should be asking Him, “Master, what is your wish, your servant is awaiting your command!”

2. Miracles or God’s Word – Jesus said, “Unless you people see signs and wonders you will never believe.” And then he told the man, “Go, your son will live.” This is very interesting, let me explain.

In Chinese, the character for faith is made up of the characters for man and speech. So, the Chinese say a man’s word is his credibility. Credibility is very important. Without credibility, it is difficult for a man to succeed. Recently, I read the book, “Biography of Li-Kashing.” Li-Kashing is Hong Kong’s richest man. This book is about his life. Li-Kashing is a dealer of plastic material. He is called the plastic king and one of his most successful export products is plastic flowers. The book narrates an incident wherein American businessmen had sought to do business with him. Everything had gone well, and they were about to sign the contract, however, they needed a guarantor. Li-Kashing couldn’t find any, he told the Americans, “I am sorry, I couldn’t find anyone to guarantee for me. The deal may not push through, but we can continue to be friends.” However, the Americans told him: “We have already found a guarantor – it is you.” They said, “We have observed and investigated you, we find that you are a very honest businessman. Your credit is good, your credit is your guarantee.”

As a result, Li-Kashing’s business flourished further. A man’s word is his credibility. When we say we believe a man, it is actually his words we believe. Jesus told the man, “Go, your son will live!”, the man took Jesus at his word and departed. Jesus wanted him to move from believing in the miracles to trusting in Jesus’ words. Do you trust Jesus? Do you trust Jesus’ words?

II. True Faith 50- 53

Upon hearing Jesus’ word, the man departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. He inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” Then he realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.”

From his conversation with his servants, we realized that the man couldn’t have known or wasn’t certain that his son would get well, but he trusted Jesus’ word and went home. Later on, he realized at the moment Jesus told him his son will live, his son indeed lived. We discover here the process of faith’s development: Faith in God’s word +Faith in action = True Faith.

In this process, there are two important elements:
1. Faith in God’s word
2. Faith in action.
If any one of the two is absent, then it is not real faith.

1. Faith in God’s Word – Faith must have an object. Without an object, faith is simply superstition and not faith. In fact, the depth of your knowledge of the object of your faith will determine the depth of your faith. For example: there are two chairs here. One can carry 200 pounds of weight, another can carry 100 pounds. If you are a 200 lb. man, you will not dare sit on the one which can only carry 100 pounds. You do not have faith in that chair. You dare to sit on the other one, because you know it can carry a 200-lb. load of weight, you have faith in it. But when you sat on it, you fell out, and you realize you had been deceived, it actually could only carry 180 lb. weight. You had been deceived. You have mistakenly placed your trust in the wrong object.

The object of our faith is very important. God is the object of our faith, but do not be deceived. You must know which one is the true God, the one worthy of your trust. We said a while ago: a man’s word is his credibility. We believe a person because we believe his words. It is the same with God. We believe in God because we believe what He says. The Bible is God’s Word. Psalm 119:89 “Your word, LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.” God’s word is eternal, unchanging. Even if heaven and earth pass away, God’s word will remain the same. God’s word is very trustworthy. Twenty-three years ago, because of one word from the Lord, I came alone to the Philippines. Twenty-three years ago, I didn’t even know what kind of place the Philippines was, but I came, because of God’s word in Jeremiah 1:8 `“Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.’ In these 23 years, I have witnessed the trustworthiness of God’s word.

2. Faith in Action – Faith must have an object, but faith must be accompanied by deeds. Faith and deeds are inseparable. We have a saying in Chinese, that is `talking about strategies on paper’, meaning empty talk. In the Bible, true faith is coupled with action. The Lord told Abraham, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” The Lord told Abraham, “Take your son, Isaac, sacrifice him.” Early the next morning, Abraham got up and went about doing what God told him to do.

As Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, they came to the Red Sea, and so before them was the sea, behind them was the pursuing Egyptian army. The Lord told Moses, “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that you can go through the sea.” And by faith, the people walked across the Red Sea. Every action borne out of faith entails some risks, that is why we call it act of faith.

Jesus told Martha, “If you believe you will see the glory of God.” Why? John 14:21 “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” Actions borne out of faith bring God’s blessings. The author of “It is Well with My Soul”, Spafford was a lawyer. Originally, he was going to travel with his wife and four daughters to England for a vacation, but because he had urgent matters to attend to, he sent his wife and daughters ahead of him. He was going to follow them afterwards. But their ship met tragedy and sunk to the bottom of the sea. His wife telegrammed him saying “saved alone”. He immediately boarded a ship to meet his wife. As his ship neared the place of the tragedy where his four daughters perished, his heart felt extreme sorrow, but God’s word came to comfort him, so that his soul found peace. He immediately took pen and paper and wrote “It is Well with My Soul”. But the story doesn’t end there. In 1881, he left Chicago, took his wife and two other daughters to Jerusalem, where they established a center for the poor and sick. He also founded the Spafford Children’s Hospital. In his deep pain, he was able to stand back up because his faith was real, his faith was founded on the right object, he was able to live out his faith, the Lord was glorified in his life.

III. Propagating Faith 53

“So he and his whole household believed.” We see from this verse that two groups of people came to believe. First, he himself believed. Second, his whole household believed. He himself believed – he represents those who have personally experienced God’s grace. His whole household believed – these represent those who had been influenced, just like a sick man contaminating many others.

1. The Royal Official Experienced God’s Grace – He believed, this we all can understand because he himself experienced Jesus’ power. Before he sought out Jesus, his heart had two misconceptions: v 47 “When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.” He held two beliefs in his heart: 1. Jesus needed to go down to heal his son. His son was in Capernaum, while Jesus was in Cana. There was a distance of 30 miles between these two places. For a doctor to heal a sick man, the sick man has to go to the doctor; but if the sick man can’t go, then, they have to ask the doctor to go see him. “Look, Listen, Ask, Analyse” – these are the four steps that must be undertaken by doctors in Chinese medicine, therefore, the idea is that if the doctor and the sick person don’t see each other, then there can be no healing. So the royal official told Jesus, `…come down…’ 2. Before the child dies. If the sick man dies, then the best doctors in the whole world would be useless. So he begged Jesus to go before his son dies.

However Jesus didn’t go, Jesus told him “Go, your son will live.” While he was still on earth, Jesus had performed at least three long-distance healings.

a. Matt 8:5-13, the healing of a centurion’s servant. At that time, Jesus was in Capernaum. A centurion came to ask Jesus to heal his servant. Jesus said, I will go and heal him.” The centurion replied, “Lord… just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Thus, Jesus didn’t go, but said to the centurion, ““Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed.

b. Matt 15:21-28, Jesus healed the daughter of a Canaanite woman from a distance. The woman pleaded for Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus told her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” The Bible tells us, “And her daughter was healed from that very hour.”

c. Healing of the royal official’s son. Jesus told him to go, Jesus did not go with him, but his son was healed. The royal official experienced the amazing healing power of Jesus, and he believed, because he experienced the grace of God.

2. The royal official’s whole household believed – This clearly includes all his family, his son who was ill, as well as his servants. Apart from him, no one knew why his son had suddenly become well. After he left to seek Jesus, his son suddenly turned around and got well. At that time, Jesus didn’t come to them, his whole family wouldn’t simply presume it was Jesus who healed the boy. They may have believed it was a miracle, but probably from the idols they worshipped; they couldn’t have assumed it was Jesus’ healing, because Jesus didn’t come at all. But later on, they all believed, and the only explanation could be because the royal official told them the story, he testified of Jesus’ work, as a result, they all believed. That is why I call this propagating faith. O Church, we must spread the faith, so that many may find God’s grace!

Jesus’ first miracle in Cana, turning water into wine, tells us that our Lord has the power to transcend over time. Water cannot just turn into wine. Wine comes from grapes. Grapes must first become grape juice, and only after a time, can it turn into wine. But Jesus turned water into wine in a moment’s time because he is the God who transcends time.

Jesus’ second miracle in Cana, healing of the royal official’s son, tells us that our Lord has power to transcend space. With simply one word from the Lord Jesus, a boy who was sick 30 miles away got healed. Our God is not limited by space. Brothers and sisters, our Lord is sovereign over time and space, He is the God of the universe, He is the Lord of creation. Is there need for you to worry about anything? Surrender everything to Him! Proclaim Him!

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The Bible records the life story of Jesus in four gospel books. Why was it necessary to use four books? Because Jesus is too amazing, he is perfect man, he is also perfect God, thus, four different perspectives were needed to present him clearly.

The Book of Matthew was written for the Jews, the author emphasized Jesus’ Jewish origin, that he was the awaited Messiah of the Jews. Mark was written to the Romans, the author presents Jesus as God’s servant. Luke was written to the Greeks, the author presents Jesus as perfect man. John was written for the whole world, the author points out that Jesus is the Son of God.

John 20:30-31 “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Jesus performed many miracles while he was on earth; those that were recorded numbered about thirty-five. John recorded seven of these miracles. These seven miracles were written down to prove that Jesus is the Son of God. In the original text, the word miracle meant sign.

With seven miracles, we have seven signs. Signs are meant to point out matters more important than the signs themselves. A one-way sign tells us we may not enter the road the wrong way. You may ignore the sign but still you cannot enter, because you may endanger yourself or others.

These seven great miracles tell us Jesus is the son of the eternal God, and those who believe in his name have eternal life. I want to discuss with you the seven miracles in seven sessions, so that we will understand more clearly that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the eternal God, and that we may spread this good news.

Today, let us look at the first miracle: `Water Turned into Wine.’

V.11 “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” This is the first miracle Jesus performed while he was on earth and his disciples believed in him, meaning they came to believe in him all the more. In this passage, we find that Jesus assumed three identities: 1. He was a guest 2. He was a son 3. He was a master.

These three identities revealed his glory:

I. He was a guest 1-2

1. Jesus joined a social gathering – Jesus and John the Baptist were different. John lived a reclusive life. He lived in the wilderness, ate wild honey and locust. He didn’t attend wedding parties or any kind of parties. But Jesus was the opposite. In the Gospels, we see Jesus was often invited by people to dine with them; in fact, even the Pharisees invited Jesus. Jesus enjoyed eating! Matthew 11:18-19 “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” Jesus is telling us we cannot please everybody. When John came neither eating and drinking, the Pharisees said he had a demon. When Jesus came eating and drinking, the Pharisees said he was a drunkard and glutton. But wisdom is proved right by her deeds. We must understand why we eat and drink, or why we won’t eat or drink. 1Cor 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” We eat and drink unto God, we abstain from eating and drinking because of God. We do everything for God. There are some gatherings you don’t want to attend, but for the Lord’s sake, you go. And there are gatherings you want to attend, but for the Lord’s sake, you choose not to attend. May the Lord grant us wisdom to make right decisions, because wisdom is proved right by her deeds.

2. Jesus was invited to the wedding party – The Bible says: “…and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.” Jesus was clearly invited and the disciples were invited because of Jesus. Jesus wasn’t that popular yet as he had just begun his ministry. Turning water into wine was his first miracle. Before this, Jesus had not performed any miracle yet. So Jesus was not invited because he was famous. Most probably the reason he was invited was because his mother was related to the newlyweds. Because it seems that his mother played an important role in the wedding for when the wine was gone, the first person informed was Jesus’ mother.

But in any case, what I want to say is: this newlywed invited Jesus to their wedding and it was truly wise of them to have done so. Once, I saw a plaque in a bookshop which had this inscribed on it : “Christ is the head of this house, the unseen guest at every meal.” How about you, did you invite Jesus to be the guest of honor at your wedding? In your marriage, have you invited Jesus to help? In this wedding at Cana, if Jesus had not been around, it would not have ended happily as it did. Because they invited Jesus, their wedding party ended joyfully. If Jesus is in your marriage, in your family, in your work, in all areas of your life, your life will be wonderful; if not, it will end unhappily. This is a choice you must make, may you make the right decision.

II. Jesus was a Son 3-5

Traditionally, Jewish wedding celebrations last for a week. So, the groom has to prepare enough food and wine, or it would be embarrassing. We do not know why the wine ran out – was it because not enough was prepared? or there were too many guests? or the guests drank too much? No matter the reason, what was urgent then was how the problem could be solved. Jesus’ mother handed the problem over to Jesus. Why? Jesus’ mother knew who he was.

Before Peter publicly recognized Jesus as the son of God, Mary already knew that Jesus is the son of God. Before conception, the arch angel Gabriel already told Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” Mary knew that no one could solve this problem – she knew that there was no place they could go to buy wine, that it would take more than one or two days to turn grapes into wine.

Mary knew that apart from Jesus, no one could solve this problem. But we must be mindful that Mary only expressed the predicament to Jesus, she did not instruct Jesus on how to solve it. She didn’t have any idea that Jesus would turn the water into wine, but she told the people: “Do whatever he tells you.” Maybe because the Catholics worship Mary, we become hesitant to praise her; but actually, Mary had many qualities that are noteworthy, for one, she had complete faith in Jesus. Yet, we must recognize that Mary didn’t have power to solve the wine problem. Mary was the first one to know the problem, but she was powerless to do anything about it. Only Jesus could solve the problem, because Jesus wasn’t simply Mary’s son, Jesus is the son of God.

When Mary told Jesus, “They have no more wine”, Jesus answered her, “Woman, why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come.” He seemed to be disrespectful. Actually, in using the term woman, Jesus was not being disrespectful to Mary. When Jesus was on the cross, as he suffered terribly, hardly able to utter a word, he spoke only seven words. One of those was when he told Mary: “Woman, your son.” And then he told John, “Your mother”. Jesus entrusted the care of his mother to John, the disciple he loved. The term mother he used on the cross is the same term he used in John 2.

We therefore realize Jesus was not being disrespectful towards Mary by addressing her in that manner. Jesus was telling Mary that from this point on, he no longer will submit to her authority, he will no longer follow her instructions, he will only obey the Heavenly Father’s bidding.

Eighteen years earlier, when Jesus was only 12 years old, he already told his earthly parents (Joseph and Mary) the same thing. When his parents found him at the temple after looking for him for three days after the Passover Festival in Jerusalem, they told him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” Jesus didn’t answer them with `I am sorry.’ Have you noticed how Jesus never said I am sorry while he was on earth? We often have to say I am sorry, but Jesus never did say so for he had no need to do so. Instead, he told his parents: “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Still, he obeyed his parents and went home with them. After submitting to their authority for 18 years, the time had come and he is telling Mary that from then on, they no longer have anything to do with each other, that `I (he) will be after my (his) Father’s affairs.’ But what was most important was Mary’s response. She didn’t get angry at all; she told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Because she knew Jesus will do what is right. May our children be like Jesus, concerned about the Heavenly Father’s affairs; may we as parents be like Mary – have confidence in our children.

III. Jesus was a Master 6-8

Jesus went as a guest, but because of the crisis, the wine running out, Jesus became the master at this wedding. Wine running out was the master’s problem, not the guest’. But Jesus solved the problem and in fact, Mary told the servants, `Do whatever he tells you.’ Thus, he became the master. We often say: `Jesus is our Savior and Lord.’ If he is truly our lord, have we submitted the authority to him? May we let Jesus be our lord! For He alone is the greatest Master we can have in this life! From the incident of water turning into wine, we realize how great and wonderful a master he is:

1. He can transform the quality of our life – Water is water and wine is wine. Water cannot turn into wine, wine cannot turn into water. This is an issue about the basic nature of the elements. If you leave a jar of water here, it will remain as water even after a hundred years had passed. It can never turn into wine. This is the problem we face. We are sinners. We were born in sin, we are born sinners. Education cannot change our true nature, morality cannot change our ways, even if we live a hundred years, we will remain the sinners that we are. We can never become righteous men. Only Jesus can transform the quality of our life completely. We must understand that Jesus does not improve our life, He completely changes our nature. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come. Our nature is transformed.

2. He can bring true joy to our life – The seven miracles recorded in John had been specially chosen. In fact, you will discover that Jesus often explained the meaning of the miracles after he did them. When he healed a man on Sabbath who had been ill for 38 years, he said: “I am the Lord of Sabbath.” When he healed a man born blind, he said, “I am the light of the world.” When he fed 5000 men with 5 loaves and two fish, he said, “I am the bread of life.” What do you think Jesus could have said when he turned water into wine? I believe he could have said “I am true joy.” He would tell the world, “The joy that the world gives last only for a day.” Just like what we say: “There are no parties that last forever.” But he can give us everlasting joy. Wine in the wedding represents joy, and the wine Jesus transformed from water was the best. The master of the banquet told the bridegroom: “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” Jesus always gives us the best, he gives us joy that lasts.

3. He causes us to enjoy his abundant grace – John 1:17 “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Our God is a God of grace. Grace is something we do not deserve. There were six stone jars, each jar could carry 20 gallons. With six jars, there was a total of 120 gallons. If that isn’t grace, what is? What is most amazing is this – when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, he performed ten plagues (ten miracles) and the first miracle was turning water into blood, and that was judgment. Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine, and that is grace. Our Lord is a Lord of grace! A drunkard who became a believer, often testified of the Lord to his friends. His friends would make fun of him and say: “Do you really believe that Jesus turned water into wine?” He answered them, “Of course, I do. Jesus not only turned water into wine. In my family, Jesus turned wine into appliances, food for my family, clothes, and even into a car.” I believe you know what he meant. Everything is from His grace and mercy. May this be our motivation to testify of the Lord, may the world find the grace that our Lord can give.

This miracle revealed the glory of Jesus. His disciples believed in him (believed more). This miracle makes us see the Lord, the glory of him as a guest, a son, and a master. May we follow Jesus’ example, and be the best guest, the best child, the best master, not for our own sake, but for the Lord’s sake.

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