1865. The Nobleman’s Faith

No. 1865-31:565. 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 to him, and beseeched him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” The nobleman says to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus says to him, “Go your way, your son lives.” And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, “Your son lives.” Then he enquired from them the hour when he began to amend. And they said to him “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” So the father knew that it was at the same hour, when Jesus said to him, “Your Son lives”: and he himself believed, and his whole house, {Joh 4:46-53}

For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 317, “Characteristics of Faith” 308}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1865, “Nobleman’s Faith, The” 1866}

1. This narrative illustrates the rise and progress of faith in the soul. While I try to speak of it, I pray that we may experience the same thing, desiring that such faith may have a rise in our hearts, may make progress in our spirits, and may become even stronger in us than it was in this nobleman. The point, my brethren, is not to hear about these things only, but also to have them repeated in your own soul. We want to come to real business, and to make the things of God matters of downright fact for ourselves: not only to hear about this nobleman from Capernaum, or anyone else, but to see in our own souls the same work of grace as was accomplished in them. The same living Christ is here, and we as greatly need his help just as much as this nobleman did. May we seek it as he sought it, and find it as he found it! So will the Holy Spirit, who inspired the narrative before us, be found writing it over again, not upon the pages of a book, but upon the fleshy tablets of our hearts.

2. Observe then, at the beginning, that trouble first of all led this courtly personage to Jesus. Had he been without trial, he might have lived forgetful of his God and Saviour; but sorrow came to his house, and it was God’s angel in disguise. It may be, dear friend, that you are in trouble this morning; and, if so, I pray that affliction may be the black horse upon which mercy 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 strikes them. When they drift into deep waters, when they can scarcely find bread to eat, when sickness attacks their bodies, and especially when their children are touched, then they begin to think of God, and better things. Blessed is the discipline of the great Father in such a case. It is good for the troubled if their tribulation bruises their heart to repentance, and repentance leads them to seek and find pardon.

3. The particular form of trial which visited this nobleman was the sickness of his child. He had a little son whom he dearly loved, and he was down with a deadly fever. The father appears to have been a naturally kind and affectionate person. His servants evidently took a great interest in him, and in the domestic affliction which grieved him; for you observe with what eagerness they came to meet him, to tell him about the recovery of his child. The father’s heart was sadly wounded because his dear boy was at the point of death. No doubt he had tried all the remedies known to the times, had sent for every physician that could be found within miles of Capernaum; and now, having heard of one Jesus of Nazareth, who at Cana had turned water into 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 intertwine themselves around our hearts, and then, if we see them sick, and notice their pains, our sympathetic hearts are wrung with anguish, and we cry, “Oh God, spare my child! Lord, have mercy upon my little one!” The first prayers that come from many hearts are, under God, drawn out by grief for little ones most dearly loved. Is it not written, “And a little child shall lead them?” It was so with this man; he was brought to Jesus by trouble; brought to Jesus by anxiety about a child. I have it strongly upon me at this moment that I am speaking to certain people who are not converted, but they have come here because they are in great sorrow: possibly a dear little one is pining away, and their hearts 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 trouble a means of grace!

4. Trial was the occasion, the preface to the work of divine grace. We will now proceed to look into the saving part of it, namely, the faith which was born in this nobleman’s heart. We will first notice the spark of faith; then the smouldering fire of faith — much heaped over and dampened, so as to be rather smoke than fire. Then, thirdly, we will look at the flame of faith, or faith at length showing itself decidedly; and fourthly, the conflagration of faith, when faith at last blazed up in the man, fired his whole nature, and spread to his whole house — “And he himself believed, and his whole house.” Again, I say, let us try to follow in fact as well as in meditation.

5. I. I want you to carefully notice THE SPARK OF FAITH, all the while saying — I am going to look and see if I have such a spark of faith; and if I find it, I will prize it much, and pray the Holy Spirit to breathe softly upon it, so that it may rise to something more permanent and powerful.

6. The faith of this nobleman rested, at the first, entirely on the report of others. He lived at Capernaum, down there by the sea; and 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, for they were credible people. No doubt many are in the early stages of faith: they have heard friends say that the Lord Jesus receives sinners; that he puts away sin; that he calms the conscience; that he changes the nature; that he hears prayer; that he sustains his people under trouble: they have heard these things from people 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; I wonder whether it ever would be true for me. I am in trouble 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 bless you like this; but you infer that he will do so from what friends have told you. Well, faith often begins in that way. Men believe the report which is brought to them by well-known people who have experienced the power of divine love, and so at first, like the Samaritans, they believe because of the woman’s report. In future time, they will come to believe because of having heard, and seen, and tasted, and handled, for themselves: but the beginning is good. This faith which comes from a report by others is a spark of true fire. Take care of it. May God grant you grace to pray about it, so that that spark may increase into a flame!

7. Observe that this faith was such a little faith that it only concerned the healing of the sick child. The nobleman did not know 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 Saviour could give him spiritual life and light. He had little knowledge of the Saviour’s spiritual power, and so his faith had a very narrow range. What he did believe was that the Lord Jesus, if he would come to his house, could prevent his child from dying of the fever. He had gone 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 great my Lord is, and what wonderful things he does for those who put their trust in him; but you are saying, “Surely he could help me 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 favour, and he is ready to hear you. Though your prayer should only be about worldly things, and be nothing more than a merely natural prayer, yet pray it; for “He hears the young ravens when they cry,” and I am sure they do not pray spiritual prayers. All that ravens can ask for will be for worms and flies, and yet he hears them, and feeds them; and you, a man, though you may only 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 in the gracious Lord. Although that faith will be only a spark, and nothing more, I would not blow it out; nor will the Lord Jesus do so, for he has said that he will not quench a smoking flax. If you have any desire towards him, and any degree of faith in him, let it live, and lead you to the dear Master’s feet.

8. The nobleman’s faith was so feeble that he limited the power of Jesus to his physical presence. Hence his prayer was, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” If he could only induce the Lord Jesus to enter the room where the sick child lay, he believed that he would speak to the fever, and the fever would be allayed; but he had no idea that the Lord Jesus Christ could work at the distance of twenty-five miles: he had no notion that the word of the Lord could operate apart from his presence. Still, it was better to have that limited faith than to have none at all. You, children of God, when you start limiting the Holy One of Israel, are guilty of gross sin; but if those who are seeking the Lord, through ignorance and weakness of faith, are found limiting him, it is far more excusable in them. The Lord Jesus treats it graciously, and removes it by a gentle rebuke. It is not the same thing for a beginner to be weak in faith as for you, who have enjoyed long experience of God’s goodness, to fall into suspicion of him. Therefore I say to you, in whom the Lord is beginning to work, if you have no more faith than just to 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 better to have such a faith than to be unbelieving. Your narrow faith extremely limits him, and restricts him into a very close place; and therefore you may not expect him to do many mighty works for you: and yet up to the measure of your faith he will go with you and bless you. As a matter of unpromised sovereign grace, he may even do very abundantly above what you ask or even think. Therefore I would treat your faith like a little babe: I would nurse him until he can stand alone, and hold out my finger to help him until his tottering steps become firm. We will not blame the babe because he cannot run or leap, but we will cherish him, and urge him to greater strength; to which strength he will come in due time. Our Lord Jesus Christ deserves the greatest faith from each one of us. Do not grieve him by suspicions of his ability. Give him what faith you have, and ask for more.

9. His faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, though it was only a spark, yet influenced this nobleman. It led him to take a considerable journey to find our Lord. From Capernaum he went up the hills to Cana, so that he might plead with Jesus. And he went personally. This is all 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 was, because we do not hear of any other noble family being on the side of Christ; but we do hear of the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, as among those who ministered to our Lord from their substance. We also hear of Manaen, foster-brother to Herod. It may have been one of these; we do not know: but noblemen were rare birds in the church in those days; as, indeed, they are now. We naturally expect, therefore, to hear of such a person as this again; since we have honourable mention 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; but this nobleman came himself to Christ, and personally beseeched him so that he would come and heal his son. If your faith is weak in some respects, and yet strong enough in others to drive you personally to Christ, personally to pray to him, it is faith of an acceptable order. If it leads you to pray to our Lord with all your heart, beseeching him, then your faith is of the right kind. If it leads you to beseech Christ to have mercy upon you, it is the faith which saves the soul. It may be little as a grain of mustard seed, but its persistence shows that there is pungency in it — it is true mustard. Dear sir, are you beginning to pray at this time because of sorrow? In the silence of your soul are you crying, “Oh God, save me today! I have come up to 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 helped out of my trouble, and myself be saved?” If your faith brings you to prayer, it is the acknowledged child of grace; for true-born faith always cries. Your faith helps you to lay hold of Jesus with a resolute grip, saying, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me,” it may be little faith, but it is true faith. It is created in your soul by the Spirit of God, and it will bring a blessing with it. You shall be saved by this faith, for our Lord’s glory, and for your own comfort.

10. I notice that this man’s faith taught him how to pray in the right way. Notice the argument he used: he beseeched him that he 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; therefore his father begs that mercy’s door may open. When you, my friend, are taught by grace to pray properly, you will urge those facts which reveal your own danger and distress, and not those which would make you appear rich and righteous. Remember how David prayed. “Lord,” he said, “pardon my iniquity; for it is great.” That is evangelical pleading. Most men would have said, “Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it was excusable, 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 need; say that you are at the point of death, say that the matter about which you plead is a matter of life and death: this will be an argument calculated to 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 colours thick and fast. Plead with God for his mercy’s sake, for mercy is the only attribute which you can hopefully address while you are an unforgiven sinner. You cannot ask the Lord to bless you because of any deserving or merit you have, for you have no trace of any such thing; but you will be wise to plead your needs. Cry, “Oh 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.

11. Do you follow me, dear hearers, you who are not yet converted? Is there, at any rate, in you some desire to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, though it is only because a temporal trouble is pressing you severely? A horse does not need a dozen spurs to make it run. The one which now wounds your flank is sharp enough, and it is plunged in so deep that you must feel it. Yield to 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 to come, and the more readily you do so the better it will be for you. Come at once. Do not be as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding; but come to Jesus while he gently draws. Though it is with such a feeble faith that you fear it is rather unbelief than faith, still draw near to him. Come just as you are, and look up to Jesus, and pray; for in that prayer shall lie the hope, indeed, the certainty of relief. The great heart of Jesus will feel your prayer, and say, “Go in peace.”

12. II. So we have seen faith in the spark: we will now look at THE FIRE OF FAITH, struggling to maintain itself, and gradually increasing. Let us see how the fire smoulders, and the heap begins to smoke, and by this reveals the inner fire.

13. This man’s faith was true as far as it went. That is a great thing to say. He stood before the Saviour resolved not to go away from him; his only hope for his child’s life was in this great Prophet of Nazareth, and therefore he did not intend to leave him until his request was granted. He does not at first get the answer that he wants, but he perseveres, and pleads on. This showed that his faith had heart and vitality in it. It was no whim, nor sudden impulse, but a real persuasion of the power of Jesus to heal. What a mercy to be delivered from all sham faith. Better to have little faith, and that faith real, than to possess a great creed, and give the Lord Jesus no hearty credit. Tell me, my hearer, do you have any real practical faith in the Lord Jesus?

14. His 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, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” Now I know that many of you believe that the Lord Jesus can save, but you have fixed in your mind the way in which he must do it. You have been reading certain religious biographies, and you find that such a man was driven to despair, had horrible thoughts, and so on: therefore you settle it in your minds that you must have similar horrors, or you will be lost. You lay it down as a rule that you must be saved in that way, or not at all. Is this right? Is this wise? Do you intend to dictate to the Lord?

15. Perhaps you have read or heard that certain eminent people were converted through extraordinary dreams, or by remarkable movements of providence, and you say to yourself, “Something equally exceptional must happen to me, or I will not believe in the Lord Jesus.” In this you err like the nobleman. He expected the Saviour to come down to the house, and perform some act particular to his prophetic office. 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 place, and heal 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 Jordan seven times,” he could not receive so simple and bald a gospel: it was too commonplace, too free from ritual. Many people, by their mental prejudices, would bind down the Lord of mercy to such and such a way of saving them; but our Lord will not be laid under constraint like this; 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 in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” He comes to many, and calls them effectively, by the soft whispers of his love: they only trust him, and they enter into immediate rest. With little striking feeling, either horrible, or ecstatic, they quietly exercise a childlike confidence in their crucified Lord, and they find eternal life. Why should it not be so with you? Why should you keep yourself out of comfort by laying down a rule, and demanding that the free Spirit should pay attention to it? Let him save you as he wishes. Away with foolish prejudices!

16. Yet this is to be said of the nobleman’s faith: it could endure a rebuff. Only think of the Master saying to this poor anguished father, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” It was sadly true, but it sounded honestly sharp. Oh, the dear lips of Jesus; they are always like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh! Myrrh, you know, is bitter to the taste, and there was a seeming bitterness about this speech to the nobleman; yet the father did not give up his suit, and turn on his heel, and say, “He treats me harshly.” He said within himself, “to whom should I go?” and therefore he did not go away. He was like that woman for whom the Lord’s lips dropped a far more pungent morsel of myrrh, as he said, “It is not fitting to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.” Yet she found a sweet smell in that myrrh, and perfumed her prayer with it as she said, “True, Lord: yet the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” This man answered our Lord by still greater persistence. He would not go away; not he. Oh, dear heart, may you have such faith in Christ that, though he should rebuke you, you will not leave him! Jesus is your only hope; therefore do not turn away from him. Imitate Bunyan when he spoke words to this effect: — “I was driven to such straits that I must by necessity go to Jesus; and if he had met me with a drawn sword in his hand, I would sooner have thrown myself upon the edge of his sword than have gone away from him; for I knew him to be my last hope.” Oh soul, cling to your Lord, come what may!

17. 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. Oh my Lord, I urge you do not think of me at all, but heal my dear child, or he will be dead! He was at the point of death when I left him: hurry down and save him.” That faith was limited for he still asks Christ to come down, and seems to think it is essential that our Lord should make a journey to Capernaum to work the cure; but notice how intense, how eager, how persevering his pleading was. If his faith failed in breadth, it excelled in force. Dear anxious friend, keep close to the example now before us. Pray, and pray again; hold on, and hold out; cry on, and cry out; never cease until the Lord of love grants you an answer of peace.

18. III. We come to a higher stage, and watch THE FLAME OF FAITH. The spark increased as a smouldering fire, and now the fire reveals itself in flame. Observe that Jesus said to the petitioner, “Go your way; your son lives.” And the man truly believed, and went his way.

19. Notice here that he believed the word of Jesus more than all his former prejudices. He had only thought that Christ could heal if he came down to Capernaum, but now he believes, though Jesus remains where he is, and only speaks the word. Friend, will you, at this moment, believe the Lord Jesus Christ on his mere word? Without laying down any rules as to how he will save you, will you trust him? You have prescribed dark convictions, or vivid dreams, or strange sensations; will you cease from such folly? Will you believe in Jesus Christ as he is revealed in the Scriptures? Will you believe that he can and will save you 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 to men if they believe in him? Do you not know that he who believes in him has everlasting life? Will you stop your nonsense about “Come down, and save me,” or “Make me feel this, and I will believe you?” Will you believe in him now, despite all your former thoughts, and pretensions, and desires, and just say, “I will trust my soul with Christ, believing that he can save me?” You shall be saved as surely as you do trust him like this.

20. The next thing this man did to prove the sincerity of his faith was that he obeyed Christ at once. Jesus said to him, “Go your way”; that is, “Go home” — “your son lives.” If the man had not believed the word he would have lingered there, and kept on pleading, and looking for favourable signs; but since he has believed, he is satisfied with the word of the Lord, and goes his way 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 commands you. Do I hear you say, “I shall continue to read my Bible, and attend the means of grace?” That is not the precept of the Saviour. Are you not satisfied with his word? Will you not take that word, and go your way? If you believe in him, you will 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 be glad and rejoice in the fact that you are saved. You will not stop to quibble, and to question, and to follow after all kinds of religious experiences and feelings; but you will exclaim, “He tells me to believe him, and I believe him. He says, ‘He who believes in me has everlasting life’; and I do believe in him, and therefore I have everlasting life. I may not feel any particular emotion, but I have eternal life. Whether I see my salvation or not, I am saved. It is written, ‘Look to me, and be 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 told me to, and you will keep your promise.” This mode of reasoning is due to the Lord Jesus. He deserves to be taken at his word, and trusted in real earnest.

21. Now, the nobleman’s faith has flamed up indeed. He does not believe upon mere report, but upon the word of Jesus. He does not wait for a sign, but he hears the word, and on that word he rests his confidence. Jesus said, “Your son lives; go your way”: and he goes his way, so that he may find his son alive. Oh seeking soul, may God, the Holy Spirit, bring you to this state at once, so that you may now say, “Oh Lord, I will wait no longer for any kind of feeling, or evidence, or sign, but on your word your blood has sealed. I will trust my everlasting all, for I now accept your promise, and since I believe it, I will go my way in peace.”

22. Still, I am bound to say concerning this man’s faith at this stage, that it still fell somewhat short of what it might have been. It was a great thing for him to have come so far; but he had to go even further. He expected less than he might have expected, and therefore, when he saw his servants, he asked them when the dear child began to amend. He was overjoyed when they virtually said, “He never did begin to amend; 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 received far more than he counted on. How little we know about Christ, and how little we believe in him even when we do trust him! We measure his boundless treasure by our scanty resources. Yet the faith that saves is not always full-grown: there is room for us to believe more, and to expect more, of our blessed Lord. Oh, that we would do so!

23. But one thing I want to mention here, though I do not quite understand it; perhaps you can figure it out. The father travelled with the leisure of confidence. It was about twenty-five or thirty miles to Capernaum, and I have no doubt the good man started off directly after the Master said, “Go your way.” No doubt he would go at once in obedience to such a command, and make progress on the road home. But we read that the servants met him. Did they start off as soon as the child was cured? If so, they might meet him halfway, or thereabouts. It was uphill: say, therefore, that they came ten miles; and that fifteen, or even twenty, remained for the nobleman to travel. The servants said, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The seventh hour was about one o’clock in the day, and that day was “yesterday.” I know that the day closed at sunset, yet one would hardly talk of “yesterday” without a night between. Did he take fifteen or sixteen hours for that part journey? If so, he did not travel with any excessive speed. It is true that twenty-five miles was a good day’s journey for a camel, for in the East the roads are quite challenging; but still it does seem to me that the happy father moved with the ease of a believer rather than with the hurry of an anxious parent. A nobleman’s usual progress through the villages was slow, and he did not alter the usual pace, because he would not even seem to hurry now that his mind was 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 so sure that he would not allow parental love to make him act as if the shadow of a doubt remained. It is written, “He who believes shall not make haste”; and in him it was literally fulfilled. He journeyed on in such a manner as a member of the royal household would be expected to travel when accompanied by a fitting retinue, and so all saw that his mind was at ease about his son. I like this consecrated restfulness; it suits a solid faith. I want you all, when you believe in Jesus Christ, to believe right up to the hilt. Do not give him a half faith, but a whole faith — whether about a child, or about yourself, believe in earnest. Say, “ ‘Let God be true, but every man a liar.’ My soul reposes on his mere word. I will ‘rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.’ What, even though no amazing joys flash through my spirit? God has said, ‘He who believes in me has everlasting life’, and therefore I have everlasting life. What if I do not rise up, and dance for joy? yet I will sit still, and sing within my soul, because God has visited his believing servant. I will wait until high joys shall come to me, but meanwhile I will trust, and not be afraid.”

24. Dear hearer, are you accompanying me in all this? Are you ready in this manner to exercise a substantial, restful confidence in Jesus?

25. IV. So far the nobleman’s faith has grown, but now we shall see it become THE CONFLAGRATION OF FAITH.

26. As he went home, his servants met him with good news. In the tranquillity of his faith he was extremely delighted when they said, “Your son lives.” The message came upon him like the echo of the word of Jesus. “I heard that,” he said, “yesterday, at the seventh hour; for then Jesus said, ‘Your son lives.’ Another day has come, and, behold, my servants greet me with the same word, ‘Your son lives.’ ” The repetition must have astonished him. I often notice about the preaching of the word, how the sentences strike you as to their very words when God blesses them. People say to me, “You said, sir, the very same thing that we were talking about when we were on the road: you described our cases even to our thoughts, and you mentioned certain expressions which had been used in our conversation; surely God was speaking through you.” Yes, it is often so; Christ’s own word finds many echoes from the mouths of his commissioned servants. The Lord’s providence rules words as well as deeds, and makes men say the right words without their knowing why they say them. God is so graciously omnipresent that all things reveal him when they are bidden to do so.

27. Now the nobleman’s faith is confirmed by the answer to his prayers. His experience has come in to the aid of his faith. He believes in a more assured sense than he did before. He has proved the truth of the Lord’s word, and therefore he knows and 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 has come to Christ, and has obtained the blessing, is another and stronger matter. The first faith, the simpler faith, is what saves; but the more advanced faith is what brings comfort, and joy, and strength into the spirit.

28. “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 remembered that at that very moment, when over there above the hills at Cana, the Lord Jesus Christ had said, “Go your way; your son lives.” The more he studied the case the more wonderful it became. The details were exceptionally confirmatory of his confidence, and by their means he rose to a clearer and firmer faith. Brethren, how many such confirmations some of us have had! Doubters attempt to argue with us about the simplicities of the gospel; and they want to fight with us upon their own ground of mere speculative reasoning. Dear sir, this is hardly fair to us. Our own ground is of quite another kind. We are not strangers to the business of faith, but quite adept in it; and you ought to allow something for our personal experience of the faithfulness 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 same time we dare not throw our pearls before you. We have a host of things laid aside; but we cannot repeat them, for they are too sacred for us: so we are not able to use those reasons which to our own hearts are the most convincing. We have other arguments than we choose to bandy in open court. Do not be surprised if we seem obstinate; you do not know how intensely certain we 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 certain; for we have seen, and heard, and tasted, and handled the good Word of the Lord. Certain things are so intertwined with our lives that we are anchored by them. “Coincidences,” you say. Ah well! say what you please; to us they are different than to you! Our soul has cried out, time after time, “This is the finger of God.” A man who has been helped out of a very severe trouble cannot forget his deliverer. Do you reply, “You were fortunate to get out of it?” Oh sir; this seems a very cold-blooded remark!

29. If you had been where I have been, and experienced what I have experienced, you would admit that the Lord stretched out his 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 will not accept my testimony, but will think me to be a deluded person, though I am no more apt to be deluded than you are. However, whether you are inclined to believe or to doubt, I am in no such hesitation. I am forced to believe, for the more carefully I examine my life, the more I am convinced that God must have been at work with me and for me.

30. At the same moment that Christ said, “Your son lives,” the nobleman’s son did live; the same word that Jesus said the father was also said by the servants who had been thirty miles away; and, therefore, the father felt that something more than human had crossed his path. Do you wonder about that? Besides, that dear boy, whom he found sound and well, was a potent argument. You could not argue the happy father out of a faith which had brought him such joy. The child was at the point of death until faith received the word of the Lord Jesus, and then the fever fled. The father must believe: would you have him doubt?

31. Strengthened in his faith by his experience, after having believed the mere word of Jesus, the good man now sees that word fulfilled, and he believes in Jesus in the fullest sense; believes for everything; for his body, and for his soul; for all that he is, and for all that he has. From that day on he becomes a disciple of the Lord Jesus. He follows him, not as a Healer only, nor as a Prophet only, nor as a Saviour only, but as his Lord and his God. His hope, his trust, and his confidences are fixed upon Jesus as the true Messiah.

32. What follows is so natural, and yet so joyful, that I pray it may be true for all of you: his family also believes. When he gets home, his wife meets him. Oh, the delight that sparkles in that woman’s eyes! “The dear boy is well,” she said, “he is as well as he ever was in his life. He did not need to lie in bed for weeks to recover his strength after the weakening influence of the fever; but the fever is all gone, and the boy is well. Oh, my dear husband, what a wonderful Person this must be who has heard 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 way. The same processes which had been working in her husband had been working in her. Now, think of the little boy. Here he comes, so happy and cheerful; and his father tells him all about his fever, and his going to 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.” No one 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 — and it was no marvel that he believed. Meanwhile, the father is rejoicing to find that he will not be a solitary believer, for there are his wife and boy also confessing their faith. But we are not at the end of the matter, for the servants standing around exclaim, “Master, we cannot help believing in Jesus, also; for we watched the dear child, and saw him recover, and the power which healed him must have been divine.” One and all, they emulate their master’s faith in Jesus. “I sat up with the dear boy,” says the old nurse; “I would 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 seventh hour I saw a delightful change come over him, and the fever left him.” “Glory be to Jesus!” shouted the old woman, “I never saw or heard of such a thing; it is the finger of God.” All the other servants were of the same mind. Happy household! There was a grand baptism soon after, when they all went to confess their faith in Jesus. Not only was the child cured, but also the whole household was cured. The father did not know, when he went pleading about his boy, that he himself needed to be saved — the mother, also, probably thought only of her son; but now salvation has come to the whole family, and the fever of sin and unbelief is gone away with the other fever. May the Lord work such a wonder as that in all our homes! If any of you are groaning under a burden of grief, I trust you will be so relieved that, when you tell your wife about it, she will believe in Jesus too. May the dear child of your care believe in Jesus while still 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, oh Lord Jesus, for your glory’s sake! Amen.

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Joh 4:28-54]
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Names and Titles — Surety” 406}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Contrite Cries — ‘Jehovah Rophi’ ” 603}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Contrite Cries — Pity Me, Oh Lord” 595}

Jesus Christ, Names and Titles
406 — Surety <7s.>
1 Christ exalted is our song,
   Hymn’d by all the blood bought throng;
   To his throne our shouts shall rise,
   God with us by sacred ties.
2 Shout, believer, to thy God,
   He hath once the winepress trod;
   Peace procured by blood divine,
   Cancell’d all thy sins and mine.
3 Here thy bleeding wounds are heal’d,
   Sin condemn’d, and pardon seal’d;
   Grace her empire still maintains;
   Love without a rival reigns.
4 In thy Surety thou art free,
   His dear hands were pierced for thee;
   With his spotless vesture on,
   Holy as the Holy One.
5 Oh the heights and depths of grace!
   Shining with meridian blaze;
   Here the sacred records show
   Sinners black, but comely too.
6 Saints dejected, cease to mourn,
   Faith shall soon to vision turn;
   Ye the kingdom shall obtain,
   And with Christ exalted reign.
                           John Kent, 1803.

The Christian, Contrite Cries
603 — “Jehovah Rophi”
1 Heal us, Emmanuel, here we are,
      Waiting to feel thy touch:
   Deep wounded souls to thee repair,
      And, Saviour, we are such.
2 Our faith is feeble, we confess,
      We faintly trust thy word;
   But wilt thou pity us the less?
      Be that for from thee, Lord!
3 Remember him who once applied
      With trembling for relief;
   “Lord, I believe,” with tears he cried,
      “Oh, help my unbelief!”
4 She, too, who touch’d thee in the press,
      And healing virtue stole,
   Was answer’d, “Daughter, go in peace,
      Thy faith hath made thee whole.”
5 Conceal’d amid the gathering throng,
      She would have shunn’d thy view,
   And if her faith was firm and strong,
      Had strong misgivings too.
6 Like her, with hopes and fears, we come
      To touch thee if we may;
   Oh! send us not despairing home,
      Send none unheal’d away.
                     William Cowper, 1779.

The Christian, Contrite Cries
595 — Pity Me, Oh Lord <8.7.4.>
1 Pity, Lord, a wretched creature,
      One whose sins for vengeance cry,
   Groaning ‘neath his heavy burden,
      Throbbing breast and heavy sigh.
         Oh my Saviour,
      Canst thou let a sinner die?
2 No! thou canst not: thou hast promised
      To attend unto his prayer;
   Still he cries in faltering accents,
      Jesus, oh, in mercy spare!
         Spare a sinner,
      Jesus, oh, in mercy spare!
3 Oh, how swift Divine compassion
      Runs to meet the mourning soul;
   And, by words of consolation
      Makes the wounded spirit whole!
         I’m thy Saviour,
      Let this truth thy mind console.
4 Groans and sighs are turn’d to praises,
      Doubts and fears are chased away:
   Now with saints his voice he raises,
      Jesus hears the pious lay.
         Glory, glory!
      Hallelujahs close the day.
5 Angels that were hovering o’er him
      Spread their wings and leave the place,
   Bear to heaven the joyful tidings
      Of a sinner saved by grace.
         Myriads listen,
      Heaven rings with shouts of praise.
         J. Stamp’s Spiritual Song Book, 1845.