What Kind of Faith Do You Have?
John 4:43-54
43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.
44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.
47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”
49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.
51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”
52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”
53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.
54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
Here at the end of chapter 4 John points out to us that this healing of nobleman’s son is the second sign of His Gospel. John will present seven signs, seven outstanding miracles of Jesus, prior to His death and resurrection. At the end of His Gospel John reminds us that “truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” John purposefully chooses these signs in order that we should believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.
So this is a miracle story about healing. It demonstrates the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ through His supernatural power. But more than that, it is a faith story. It is a story about believing and what it means to believe in Jesus.
You see, in the Bible there are different kinds of faith and different levels of faith. And we see that demonstrated clearly in this passage today. Here we will see four kinds of faith, four levels of believing. As we look at them today, ask yourself, “What kind of faith do I have?” More →