Sermon 1865. The Nobleman's Faith

(No. 1865)

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 11, 1885,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"There was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee,he went unto Him, and besought Him that He would come down, and heal his son: for he was at thepoint of death. Then said Jesusunto him, Except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. The nobleman said unto Him, Sir, come down before my childdies. Jesus said unto him, Go your way, your son lives. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him and hewent his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Your son lives. Then inquired he ofthem the hour when he began to mend. And they said unto him, yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the fatherknew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said unto him, Your Son lives: and he believed, and his whole house." John 4:46-53.

THIS narrative illustrates the rise and progress of faith in the soul. While I try to speak of it, I pray that we may experimentallyfollow the track, desiring that such faith may have a rise in our hearts, may make progress in our spirits and may becomeeven stronger in us than it was in this nobleman. The point, my Brothers and Sisters, is not to hear about these things, only,but to have them repeated in your own soul. We need to come to real business and to make the things of God matters of downrightfact to ourselves. We need not only to hear about this nobleman from Capernaum, or anybody else-but to see in our own soulsthe same work of Grace as was worked in him. The same living Christ is here and His help we as greatly need as ever did thisnobleman. May we seek it as he sought it and find it as he found it! Thus will the Holy Spirit, who inspired the narrativebefore us, be found writing it over again, not upon the pages of a book, but upon the fleshy tablets of our hearts!

Observe then, at the commencement, that trouble, first of all, led this courtly person to Jesus. Had he been without trial,he might have lived forgetful of his God and Savior. But sorrow came to his house and it was God's angel in disguise. It maybe, dear Friend, that you are in trouble this morning and, if so, I pray that affliction may be the black horse upon whichMercy shall ride to your door! It is a sad, sad thing with some men that the better the Lord deals with them in Providence,the worse return they make. On the other hand, there are hearts that turn to the Lord when He smites them. When they driftinto deep waters, when they can scarcely find bread to eat, when sickness attacks their bodies and especially when their childrenare smitten, then they begin to think of God and better things. Blessed is the discipline of the great Father in such a case!It is well for the troubled if their tribulation bruises their heart to repentance and repentance leads them to seek and findpardon.

The particular form of trial which visited this nobleman was the sickness of his child. He had a little son whom he dearlyloved and who was down with a deadly fever. The father appears to have been a naturally kind and affectionate person. Hisservants evidently took a great interest in him and in the domestic affliction which grieved him, for you observe with whateagerness they came to meet him, to tell him of the recovery of his child. The father's heart was sadly wounded because hisdear boy was at the point of death. No doubt he had tried all the remedies known to the times, had sent for every physicianthat could be found within miles of Capernaum and now, having heard of one, Jesus of Nazareth, who at Cana had turned waterinto wine and at Jerusalem had done many mighty works, he resorts to Him with eager petition and desperate hope.

He might never have thought of seeking Jesus if it had not been for that dear dying boy. How often does it happen that children,though they are not angels, yet are used to do better work than angels could accomplish, for they sweetly

lead their parents to God and Heaven! They twine themselves about our hearts and then, if we see them sicken and mark theirpains, our sympathetic hearts are wrung with anguish and we cry, "O God, spare my child! Lord, have mercy upon my little one!"The first prayers that come from many hearts are, under God, fetched forth by grief for little ones most dearly loved. Isit not written, "And a little child shall lead them"? It was so with this man-he was brought to Jesus by trouble-brought toJesus by anxiety about a child. I have it strongly upon me, at this moment, that I am speaking to certain persons who arenot converted, but they have come here because they are in great sorrow-possibly a dear little one is pining away-and theirhearts are crying to God that, if possible, the precious life may be spared. In the House of Prayer they feel somewhat comforted,but their hearts are ready to break because of the loss they so much dread. How much I pray our Lord to make this troublea means of Grace!

Trial was the occasion, the preface to the work of Divine Grace. We will now proceed to look upon the saving part of it, namely,the faith which was born in this nobleman's heart. We will first spy out the spark of faith; then the smoldering fire of faith-muchheaped over and dampened, so as to be smoke rather than fire. Then, thirdly, we will look upon the flame offaith, or faithat last showing itself decidedly. And fourthly, the conflagration of faith, when faith, at last, blazed up in the man, firedhis whole nature and spread to his whole house-"And he believed, and his whole house." Again, I say, let us try to followin fact as well as in meditation.

I. I want you carefully to mark THE SPARK OF FAITH, all the while saying-I am going to look and see if I have such a sparkof faith. And if I find it, I will prize it much and pray the Holy Spirit to breathe softly upon it, that it may rise to somethingmore permanent and powerful.

The faith of this nobleman rested, at the first, entirely upon the report of others. He lived at Capernaum, down there bythe sea. And among the newsmongers it was common talk that there had risen a great Prophet who was working great wonders.He himself had never seen Jesus, nor heard Him speak, but he believed the report of others and he was right in doing so, forthey were credible persons. No doubt many were in the early stages of faith-they have heard friends say that the Lord Jesusreceives sinners. That He puts away sin. that He calms the conscience. That He changes the nature; that He hears prayer; thatHe sustains His people under trouble. These things they have heard from persons of good repute, whom they esteem and, therefore,they believe them.

Friend, are you saying to yourself, "I have no doubt it is all true, but I wonder whether it would be true for me. I am introuble this morning-will the Lord Jesus help me? I have a present pressure upon my spirit-will prayer to Him relieve me?"You cannot say that you know, from anything you have ever seen of Him, that Jesus would thus bless you, but you infer thatHe will do so from what friends have told you. Well, faith often begins in that way. Men believe the report which is broughtto them by well-known persons who have experienced the power of Divine Love and thus, at first, like the Samaritans, theybelieve because of the woman's report. In future time they will come to believe because of having heard, seen, tasted andhandled for themselves, but the beginning is good. This faith which comes of a report by others is a spark of true fire. Takecare of it! May God grant you Grace so to pray about it, that that spark may increase into a flame!

Observe that this faith was such a little faith that it only concerned the healing of the sick child. The nobleman did notknow that he needed healing in his own heart-he did not perceive his own ignorance of Jesus and his own blindness to the Messiah.He did not, perhaps, know that he needed to be born again. Neither did he understand that the Savior could give him spirituallife and light. He had little knowledge of the Savior's spiritual power and thus his faith had a very narrow range. What hedid believe was that the Lord Jesus, if he would come to his house, could prevent his child from dying of the fever. He hadreached as far as that-and such faith as he had, he turned to practical use at once. Friend, you do not as yet know how greatmy Lord is and what wonderful things He does for those who put their trust in Him. But you are saying, "Surely He could helpme, this morning, in my present trial, and deliver me out of my present difficulty." So far, so good. Use what faith you have.Bring before the Lord the trial of the hour. Let me encourage you to do so. If you cannot come to Him for heavenly things,you may, for the present, begin with the sorrows and trials of earth.

If you cannot come to Him for an eternal blessing, you may come to Him for a passing favor and He is ready to hear you. Thoughyour prayer is only about worldly things and nothing more than a merely natural prayer, yet pray it, for, "He hears the youngravens when they cry," and I am sure they do not pray spiritual prayers! All that ravens can ask for will be for worms andflies-and yet He hears them and feeds them! And you, a man, though you may but pray at this

time for a very commonplace mercy-one of the slighter blessings-yet you may pray with confidence if you have any faith inthe gracious Lord. Though that faith is only a spark and nothing more, I would not blow it out, nor will the Lord Jesus doso, for He has said that a smoking flax He will not quench. If you have any desire towards Him and any degree of faith inHim, let it live and lead you to the dear Master's feet!

The nobleman's faith was so feeble that he limited the power of Jesus to His local Presence. Hence his prayer was, "Sir, comedown before my child dies." If he could but induce the Lord Jesus to enter the room where the sick child lay, he believedthat He would speak to the fever and the fever would be cured-but he had no idea that the Lord Jesus Christ could work atthe distance of 25 miles! He had no notion that the Word of the Lord could operate apart from His Presence. Still, it wasbetter to have that limited faith than to have none at all! You, children of God, when you get to limiting the Holy One ofIsrael, are guilty of gross sin! But if those who are seeking the Lord, through ignorance and weakness of faith, are foundlimiting Him, it is far more excusable in them. The Lord Jesus treats it graciously and removes it by a gentle rebuke. Itis not the same thing for a beginner to be weak of faith as for you who have enjoyed long experience of God's goodness, tofall into mistrust of Him. Therefore I say to you, in whom the Lord is beginning to work, if you have no more faith than justto say, "The Lord Jesus could heal me if He were here-the Lord would help me and answer my cry if He were here"-it is betterto have such a faith than to be unbelieving! Your narrow faith limits Him exceedingly and shuts Him up in a very close placeand, therefore, you may not expect Him to do many mighty works for you- and yet, up to the measure of your faith, He willgo with you and bless you.

As a matter of unpromised Sovereign Grace, He may even do exceeding abundantly above what you ask or even think. ThereforeI would treat your faith like a little babe-I would nurse it until it can stand alone and hold out my finger to help it tillits tottering steps become firm. We will not blame the babe because it cannot run or leap, but we will cherish it and urgeit to greater strength-to which strength it will come in due time. Our Lord Jesus Christ deserves the largest faith from eachone of us. Grieve Him not by suspicions of His ability! Give Him what faith you have and ask for more.

The nobleman's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, though it was only a spark, yet influenced him. It led him to take a considerablejourney to find our Lord. From Capernaum he went up the hills to Cana that he might plead with Jesus. And he went personally.This is the more remarkable because he was a man of rank and position. I do not know whether he was Chuza, Herod's steward.I should not wonder if he were because we do not hear of any other noble family being on the side of Christ. But we do hearof the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, as among those that ministered to our Lord of their substance. We hear, also, of Manaen,foster-brother to Herod. It may have been one of these. We do not know, but noblemen were scarce birds in the Church in thosedays as, indeed, they are now! We naturally expect, therefore, to hear of such a person as this again. And as we have honorablemention of those two, we are not very rash in conjecturing that this nobleman may have been one of them.

Now noblemen do not, as a rule, think of taking journeys themselves while they have so many servants at their disposal. Butthis nobleman came to Christ, himself, and personally sought Him that He would come and heal his son. If your faith is weakin some respects and yet strong enough in others to drive you personally to Christ, personally to pray to Him, it is faithof an acceptable order! If it leads you to pray to our Lord with all your heart, beseeching Him, then your faith is of theright sort. If it leads you to beseech Christ to have mercy upon you, it is the faith which saves the soul! It may be littleas a grain of mustard seed, but its importunity shows that there is pungency in it-it is true mustard! Dear Sir, are you beginningto pray, at this time, because of sorrow? In the silence of your soul are you crying, "O God, save me today! I have come upto London to see other things and I have dropped in here, this morning-oh, that this may be the day in which I shall be helpedout of my trouble and myself be saved"? If your faith brings you to prayer, it is the acknowledged child of Grace, for true-bornfaith always cries! Your faith helps you to lay hold of Jesus with a resolute grip, saying, "I will not let You go, exceptYou bless me!" It may be little faith, but it is true faith. It is worked in your soul by the Spirit of God and it will bringa blessing with it. You shall be saved by this faith, to our Lord's Glory and to your own comfort!

I notice that this man's faith taught him how to pray in the right style. Notice the argument he used. He sought Him thatHe would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. He urged no merit, but pleaded the misery of the case.He did not plead that the boy was of noble birth-that would have been very bad pleading with Jesus. Nor did

he urge that he was a lovely child-that would have been a sorry argument. But he pleaded that he was at the point of death.His extremity was his reason for urgency. The child was at Death's door and, therefore, his father begs that Mercy's doormay open. When you, my Friend, are taught by Grace to pray aright, you will urge those facts which reveal your own dangerand distress-and not those which would make you appear rich and righteous. Remember how David prayed. "Lord," he said, "pardonmy iniquity, for it is great." That is evangelical pleading. Most men would have said, "Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it wasexcusable and by no means reached to the heinousness of my fellow men." David knew better. His cry is, "Pardon my iniquity,for it is great." Plead with God, poor Sinner, the greatness of your necessity, the direness of your needs! Say that you areat the point of death. Say that the matter about which you plead is a matter of life and death-this will be an argument calculatedto move the heart of Infinite Compassion.

Any tint of goodness that your pride would tempt you to throw into the picture would spoil it. Lay on the black colors thickand three-fold. Plead with God for His mercy's sake, for mercy is the only attribute which you can hopefully address whileyou are an unforgiven sinner! You cannot ask the Lord to bless you because of any desert or merit you have, for you have notrace of any such thing! But you will be wise to plead your necessities. Cry, "O God, have mercy upon me, for I need mercy!"State your child's case and say, "For he is at the point of death." This is the key which opens the door of Mercy!

Do you follow me, dear Hearers, you that are not yet converted? Is there, at any rate, in you some desire to come to the LordJesus Christ, though it is only because a temporal trouble is pressing you sorely? A horse does not need a dozen spurs tomake it run. The one which now wounds your flank is sharp enough and it is plunged in so deep that you must feel it. Yieldto it, lest there should be need of whip as well as spur to make you stir. If you are the Lord's chosen, you will have tocome and the more readily you do so, the better will it be for you. Come at once! Be you not as the horse or as the mule whichhave no understanding-but come to Jesus while He gently draws. Though it is with such a feeble faith that you fear it is ratherunbelief than faith, yet draw near to Him! Come just as you are and look up to Jesus and pray-for in that prayer shall liethe hope, no, the certainty of relief! The great heart of Jesus will feel your prayer and say, "Go in peace."

II. Thus have we seen faith in the spark. We will now look at THE FIRE OF FAITH struggling to maintain itself and graduallyincreasing. Let us see how the fire smolders, the heap begins to smoke and thus betrays the inner fire.

This man's faith was true as far as it went. That is a great thing to say. He stood before the Savior resolved not to go awayfrom Him. His only hope for his child's life was in this great Prophet of Nazareth and, therefore, he did not intend to leaveHim till his request was granted. He does not, at first, get the answer that he wants, but he perseveres and pleads on. Thisshowed that his faith had heart and vitality in it. It was no whim or sudden impulse, but a real persuasion of the power ofJesus to heal. What a mercy it is to be delivered from all sham faith! Better to have little faith and that faith real, thanto possess a great creed and give the Lord Jesus no hearty credit! Tell me, my Hearer, have you any real practical faith inthe Lord Jesus?

The nobleman's faith was true as far as it went-but it was hindered by a desire for signs and wonders. Our Lord, therefore,gently chided him, saying, "Except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe." Now I know that many of you believe thatthe Lord Jesus can save, but you have fixed in your mind the way in which He must do it. You have been reading certain religiousbiographies and you find that such a man was driven to despair, had horrible thoughts and so on-therefore you settle it inyour minds that you must have similar horrors or you will be lost. You lay it down as a program that you must be saved inthat way, or not at all. Is this right? Is this wise? Do you mean to dictate to the Lord?

Perhaps you have read or heard that certain eminent persons were converted through amazing dreams, or by remarkable movementsof Providence and you say to yourself, "Something equally singular must happen to me, or I will not believe in the Lord Jesus."In this you err like the nobleman! He expected the Savior to come down to the house and perform some act peculiar to His propheticoffice! In fact, this nobleman is the New Testament reproduction of Naaman in the Old Testament! You remember how Naaman said,"Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand, and call on the Lord, His God, and strike his hand over the placeand recover the leper"?

Naaman had planned it all in his own mind and had, no doubt, arranged a very proper and artistic performance! And, therefore,when the Prophet simply said, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times," he could not receive so simple and bald a Gospel-itwas too commonplace, too free from ritual! Many persons, by their mental prejudices, would bind

the Lord of Mercy to such and such a way of saving them! But our Lord will not be thus laid under constraint! Why should He?He will save whom He wills and He will save as He wills. His Gospel is not, "Suffer so much horror and despair, and live,"but, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." He comes to many and calls them effectually by the soft whispersof His love-they do but trust Him and they enter into immediate rest. With little striking feeling, either horrible, or ecstatic,they quietly exercise a child-like confidence in their Crucified Lord and they find eternal life! Why should it not be sowith you? Why should you keep yourself out of comfort by laying down a program and demanding that the Holy Spirit should payattention to it? Let Him save you as He wills! Away with foolish prejudices!

Yet this is to be said of the nobleman's faith-it could endure a rebuff. Think of the Master only saying to this poor anguishedfather, "Except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe." It was sadly true, but it sounded honestly sharp. Oh, thedear lips of Jesus! They are always like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh! Myrrh, you know, is bitter to the taste andthere was a seeming bitterness about this speech to the nobleman. Yet the father did not give up his suit and turn on hisheels and say, "He treats me harshly." He said within himself, "to whom should I go?" and, therefore, he went not away. Hewas like that woman for whom the Lord's lips dropped a far more pungent morsel of myrrh, as He said, "It is not meet to takethe children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." Yet she found a sweet smell in that myrrh and perfumed her prayer with it asshe said, "Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." This man answered our Lord bystill greater importunity. He would not go away, not he! Oh, dear Heart, may you have such faith in Christ that though Heshould rebuke you, you will not leave Him! Jesus is your only hope, therefore do not turn away from Him. Imitate Bunyan whenhe spoke words to this effect-"I was driven to such straits that I must of necessity go to Jesus. And if He had met me witha drawn sword in His hand, I would sooner have thrown myself upon the edge of His sword than have gone away from Him, forI knew Him to be my last hope." O Soul, cling to your Lord, come what may!

Then see how passionately this man pleaded. He cried, "Sir, come down before my child dies." As much as if he had said, "Lord,do not question me just now about my faith. O my Lord, I pray you do not think of me at all, but heal my dear child, or hewill be dead! He was at the point of death when I left him: do hurry down and save him." Limited was that faith, for he stillasks Christ to come down and seems to think it essential that our Lord should make a journey to Capernaum to work the cure.But note how intense, how eager, how persevering was his pleading! If His faith failed in breadth, it excelled in force! Dearanxious Friend, keep close to the example now before us! Pray and pray again! Hold on and hold out! Cry on and cry out! Nevercease till the Lord of Love grants you an answer of peace.

III. We come to a higher stage and watch THE FLAME OF FAITH. The spark increased as a smoldering fire and now the fire revealsitself in flame. Observe that Jesus said to the petitioner, "Go your way, your son lives." And the man truly believed-andwent his way.

Here note that he believed the Words of Jesus over the head of all his former prejudices. He had thought only that Christcould heal if He came down to Capernaum, but now He believes, though Jesus remains where He is and only speaks the Words.Friend, will you, at this moment, believe the Lord Jesus Christ on His bare Word? Without laying down any rules as to howHe will save you, will you trust Him? You have prescribed dark convictions, or vivid dreams, or strange sensations-will youcease from such folly? Will you believe in Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the Scriptures? Will you believe that He canand will save you right now upon your simple trust? Have you not heard of His passion and death upon the Cross for the guilty?Have you not heard it said that all manner of sin and of iniquity shall be forgiven unto men if they believe in Him? Do younot know that he that believes in Him has everlasting life? Will you have done with your nonsense about, "Come down and saveme," or, "Make me feel this and I will believe You"? Will you believe in Him, now, despite all your former thoughts, pretensionsand desires-and just say, "I will trust my soul with Christ, believing that He can save me"? You shall be saved as surelyas you do thus trust!

The next thing this man did to prove the sincerity of his faith was that he at once obeyed Christ. Jesus said to him, "Goyour way," that is, "Go home"-"your son lives." If the man had not believed the Words, he would have lingered there and kepton pleading and looking for favorable signs. But as he has believed, he is satisfied with the Word of the Lord and goes hisway without another word. "Your son lives" is enough for him! Many of you have said, when you have heard the Gospel preached,"you tell us to believe in Christ, but we will continue in prayer." That is not what the Gospel

commends you. Do I hear you say, "I shall continue to read my Bible and attend the means of Grace"? That is not the preceptof the Savior. Are you not satisfied with His Word? Will you not take that Word and go your way? If you believe in Him, youwill go your way in peace-you will believe that He has saved you and act as if you knew it to be true. You will joy and rejoicein the fact that you are saved. You will not stop to quibble and to question, or to follow after all kinds of religious experiencesand feelings but you will exclaim, "He tells me to believe Him and I believe Him. He says, 'He that believes on Me has everlastinglife' and I do believe in Him and, therefore, I have everlasting life! I may not feel any peculiar emotion, but I have eternallife! Whether I see my salvation or not, I am saved! It is written, 'Look unto Me, and be you saved, all you ends of the earth.'Lord, I have looked and I am saved. My reason for believing it is that You have said it. I have done as You have bid me andYou will keep Your promise." This mode of reasoning is due to the Lord Jesus. He deserves to be taken at His Word and trustedin real earnest.

Now, the nobleman's faith has flamed up, indeed. He believes not upon mere report, but upon the Word of Jesus. He does notwait for a sign, but he hears the Word and on that Word he hangs his confidence. Jesus said, "Your son lives; go your way"-andhe goes his way that he may find his son alive! O seeking Soul, may God, the Holy Spirit, bring you to this state at once,that you may now say, "O Lord, I will wait no longer for any sort of feeling, or evidence, or sign, but on Your Word, Yourblood has sealed, I will trust my everlasting all, for I do now accept Your promise and since I believe it, I will go my wayin peace."

Still, I am bound to say, concerning this man's faith at this stage, that it still fell somewhat short of what it might havebeen. It was a great thing for him to have come so far, but he had farther yet to go. He expected less than he might haveexpected and, therefore, when he saw his servants, he asked them when the dear child began to mend. He was overjoyed whenthey virtually said, "He never did begin to mend. The fever left him all at once; at the seventh hour he recovered." You see,he expected a gradual restoration. He looked for the ordinary course of Nature, but here was a miraculous work! He receivedfar more than he reckoned on. How little we know of Christ and how little we believe in Him, even when we do trust Him! Wemeasure His boundless treasure by our scanty purses. Yet the faith that saves is not always full-grown-there is room for usto believe more and to expect more of our blessed Lord. Oh, that we would do so!

But one thing I want to mention here, though I do not quite understand it-perhaps you can make it out. The father traveledwith the leisure of confidence. It was about 25 or 30 miles to Capernaum and I have no doubt the good man started off as soonas the Master said, "Go your way." No doubt he would go at once in obedience to such a command and make progress on the roadhome. But we read that the servants met him. Did they start as soon as the child was cured? If so, they might meet him half-way,or thereabouts. It was uphill. Say, therefore, that they came 10 miles and that 15, or even 20, remained for the noblemanto travel. The servants said, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." The seventh hour was about one o'clock inthe day and that day was "yesterday." I know that the day closed at set of sun, yet one would hardly talk of "yesterday" withouta night between.

Did the nobleman take 15 or 16 hours for that partial journey? If so, he did not travel with any excessive speed. It is truethat 25 miles was a good day's journey for a camel, for in the East the roads are very bad, but still, it seems to me thatthe happy father moved with the ease of a Believer rather than with the hurry of an anxious parent! A nobleman's usual progressthrough the villages was slow and he did not alter the usual pace because he would not even seem to hurry, now that his mindwas believingly at rest. He felt quite sure that his son was all right and, therefore, the fever of anxiety left the father,even as the fever had left his child! Anxious minds, even when they believe, are in a hurry to see-but this good man was sosure, he would not allow parental love to make him act as if the shadow of a doubt remained! It is written, "He that believesshall not make haste" and in him it was literally fulfilled!

He journeyed on in such style as a member of the royal household would be expected to travel, accompanied by a fitting retinue,and thus all saw that his mind was at ease about his son. I like this consecrated restfulness. It befits a solid faith. Iwant you all, when you believe in Jesus Christ, to believe right up to the hilt. Give Him not a half faith, but a whole faith-whetherabout a child, or about yourself-believe in earnest. Say, "'Let God be true, but every man a liar.' On His bare Word, my soulreposes. I will 'rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.' What, though no amazing joys flash through my spirit? God hassaid, 'He that believes on Me has everlasting life' and, therefore, I have everlasting life! What if I do not rise up anddance for joy? Yet will I sit still and sing within my soul because God has visited His believing servant. I will wait untilhigh joys shall come to me, but meanwhile I will trust and not be afraid."

Dear Hearer, are you accompanying me in all this? Are you ready, in this manner, to exercise a substantial, restful confidencein Jesus?

IV. So far, the nobleman's faith has grown, but now we shall see it become THE CONFLAGRATION OF FAITH. As he went home, hisservants met him with good news. In the quietude of his faith, he was exceedingly delighted when they said, "Your son lives."The message came upon him like the echo of the Words of Jesus. "I heard that," he said, "yesterday, at the seventh hour, forthen Jesus said, 'Your son lives.' Another day has come and, behold, my servants salute me with the same words, 'Your sonlives.'" The repetition must have astonished him! I often notice about the preaching of the Word of God, how the sentencesstrike you as to their very words when God blesses them. People say to me, "You said, Sir, the same thing that we were talkingof when we were on the road-you described our cases even to our thoughts and you mentioned certain expressions which had beenused in our conversation-surely God was speaking through you." Yes, it is often so. Christ's own Words find many echoes fromthe mouths of His commissioned servants. The Lord's Providence rules words as well as deeds and makes men say the right wordswithout their knowing why they say them! God is so graciously Omnipresent that all things reveal Him when they are bid todo so.

Now the nobleman's faith is confirmed by the answer to his prayers. His experience has come in to the aid of his faith. Hebelieves in a more assured sense than he did before. He has proven the truth of the Lord's Words and, therefore, he knowsand is persuaded that He is Lord and God. The faith of a sinner coming to Christ is one thing. The faith of a man who hascome to Christ and has obtained the blessing is another and stronger matter! The first faith, the simpler faith, is that whichsaves, but the further faith is that which brings comfort, joy and strength into the spirit.

"My prayer is heard," he said and then he spoke to the servants, and after enquiry his faith was sustained by each detail.He cried, "Tell me all about it: when was it?" When they replied, "At the seventh hour the fever left him," he rememberedthat at that very moment, when over there above the hills at Cana, the Lord Jesus Christ had said, "Go your way; your sonlives." The more he studied the case, the more wonderful it became! The details were singularly confirmatory of his confidenceand, by their means, he rose to a clearer and firmer faith. Brothers and Sisters, how many such confirmations some of us havehad! Doubters attempt to argue with us about the simplicities of the Gospel and they want to fight with us upon their ownground of mere speculative reasoning. Dear Sir, this is hardly fair to us! Our own ground is of quite another kind! We arenot strangers to the business of faith, but adepts in it-and you ought to allow something for our personal experience of thefaithfulness of the Lord our God!

We have a thousand treasured memories of happy details which we cannot tell you. We do not call you swine, but at the sametime we dare not throw our pearls before you! We have a host of things laid by, but we cannot repeat them, for to us theyare too sacred-thus we are not able to use those reasons which to our own hearts are the most convincing! We have other argumentsthan those which we choose to bandy in open court. Be not surprised if we seem obstinate-you do not know how intensely surewe are. You cannot argue us out of our secret consciousness-you might as well try to argue our eyes out of their sockets!We know and are sure, for we have seen, heard, tasted and handled of the good Word of the Lord. Certain things are so intertwistedwith our lives that we are anchored by them. "Coincidences," you say. Ah well! Say what you please-to us they are other thanto you! Our soul has cried out, time after time, "This O Sir, this seems a very cold-blooded remark!"

If you had been where I have been and experienced what I have experienced, you would acknowledge that the Lord stretched outHis hand and saved His servant! You would have the same solemn conviction as I have that God was there, working out salvation.I know that I cannot create those convictions in you by telling you my story. If you are determined not to believe, you willnot accept my testimony, but will think me a deluded person, though I am no more apt to be deluded than you are. However,whether you are inclined to believe or to disbelieve, I am in no such hesitation. I am forced to believe, for the more carefullyI examine my life, the more I am convinced that God must have been at work with me and for me.

At the same moment that Christ said, "Your son lives," the nobleman's son did live! The same word that Jesus used to the fatherwas used, also, by the servants who had been 30 miles away and, therefore, the father felt that something more than humanhad crossed his path. Do you wonder at it? Besides, that dear boy, whom he found sound and well, was a potent argument. Youcould not argue the happy father out of a faith which had brought him such joy. The child was

at the point of death till faith received the Words of the Lord Jesus-and then the fever left. The father must believe- wouldyou have him doubt?

Strengthened in his faith by his experience, after having believed the bare Words of Jesus, the good man now sees that Wordfulfilled and he believes in Jesus in the fullest sense. He believes for everything-for his body and for his soul-for allthat he is and for all that he has. From that day forth he becomes a disciple of the Lord Jesus! He follows Him, not onlyas a Healer, nor only as a Prophet, nor only as a Savior, but as his Lord and his God! His hope, his trust and his confidenceare fixed upon Jesus as the true Messiah.

What follows is so natural and yet so joyous, that I pray it may be true to all of you-his family also believe! When he getshome, his wife meets him. Oh, the delight that sparkles in that woman's eyes! "The dear boy is well," she said, "He is aswell as ever he was in his life. He did not need to lie in bed for weeks to recover his strength after the weakening influenceof the fever! The fever is all gone and the boy is well. Oh, my dear Husband, what a wonderful Being this must be who hasheard your prayers and at all that distance has spoken our child into health! I believe in Him, Husband. I believe in Him."I am sure she would speak in that fashion! The same processes which had been working in her husband had been working in herby God's Grace!

Now, think of the little boy. Here he comes, so happy and cheerful. And his father tells him all about his fever and his goingto see that wonderful Prophet at Cana, and how He said, "Your son lives." The little boy cries, "Father, I believe in Jesus!He is the Son of God." Nobody doubts the dear child's faith-he was not too young to be healed and he is not too young to believe!He had enjoyed a special experience, more personal than even that of his father and mother. He had felt the power of Jesus-andit was no marvel that he believed. Meanwhile, the father is rejoicing to find that he will not be a solitary Believer, forthere are his wife and boy also confessing their faith. But we are not at the end of the matter, for the servants standingaround exclaim, "Master, we cannot help believing in Jesus, also, for we watched the dear child and saw him recover, and thepower which healed him must have been Divine."

One and all, by His Grace, they emulate their master's faith in Jesus. "I sat up with the dear boy," says the old nurse. "Iwould not go to sleep, for I felt that if I did sleep, I might find him dead when I awoke. I watched him and just at the seventhhour I saw a delightful change come over him and the fever left him." "Glory be to Jesus!" shouted the old woman, "I neversaw or heard of such a thing! It is the finger of God." All the other servants were of the same mind. Happy household! Therewas a grand Baptism soon after, when they all went to confess their faith in Jesus. Not only was the child cured, but thewhole household was cured! The father did not know, when he went pleading about his boy, that he, himself, needed to be saved-themother, also, probably thought only of her son-but now salvation has come to the whole family and the fever of sin and unbeliefis gone away with the other fever!

May the Lord work such a wonder as that in all our houses! If any of you are groaning under a burden of grief, I trust youwill be so relieved that when you tell your wife of it, she will believe in Jesus, too. May the dear child of your care believein Jesus while yet a child-and may all who belong to your domestic circle also belong to the Divine Lord! Grant, at this time,Your servant's desire, O Lord Jesus, for Your Glory's sake! Amen.