Miracles of Jesus Part 1

 This message was preached by Micahel Eaton at  Word of Grace Church. You can listen or download the audio message by clicking here.

THE MIRACLES OF JESUS

Matthew 14:22

The Christian life begins by putting our faith in Jesus and then gazing upon Him. Hebrews 12 talks about running the race fixing our eyes on Jesus.

The Bible says we feed on Him i.e. we take Him into our minds and hearts.

We see His origins- He comes from glory- the son of God. He is not ordinary. He is God’s replica- He is united with His divine nature. He took on flesh- He did not stop being God- He took within Himself the human nature and became a man. He was like us in every way- He ate, drank, was tired, sad, perplexed and hungry but He did not sin. In humanity He did not know about His second coming.

His decisions: He knew about the cross right from being a boy. He knew this. He decided to join John the Baptist. We would launch ourselves with a big bang but not Jesus. He joined John because he was the one sent by God to prepare the way.

He started His ministry with 6 weeks of prayer. He lived the life we have lived and died what we should have died- He has done it all for us. He is coming back for us. When you see Him, you see His salvation. When you see Him you see a short time. You don’t have to live long to do something for God. What did He do? He preached a lot- sometimes to one. We like to preach to thousands. He answered and told them the truth of God.

He spent a lot of time- having meals with people. He even invited Himself- E.g. Zacheus, Nicodemus. He did a lot of miracles but John only recorded some. The first miracle, he turned water into wine, banished sickness from a town (when He healed Peter’s mother in law), raises the boy from the dead- all done by faith. At the depth of His soul, He was divine- had perfect faith. He had the spirit without measure which we don’t have.

Q. What are the miracles there for and what do you do with it? 

It is not for us to copy necessarily. People love miracles, especially healing miracles. People don’t go to walk on water, or find a coin in the fish’s mouth, or control the natural elements.

He is the only one who raised Himself up from the dead. He laid it down and took it up.

1.       They are signs of Messiah-ship: when the saviour came he would show that He was the creator and Lord- heal, control nature. The father has given everything in Jesus’ hands. You can’t get to God without Jesus.

The world is interested in the super-natural. Not many atheists- the world wanders into false gods not so much into atheism. When you reject the God of the Bible you get false gods.

Everyone has a sense of God. We have a conscience but it can lead to idolatry and superstition. The only way to contact God is through Jesus- the way, the truth and the life. The Father gets to you through Jesus.

When John the Baptist was imprisoned, he fell into doubt. Jesus sent a message that the blind see, the poor have good news preached to them. He is the only one who has a message for the poor.

Only the Christian faith says you are saved by doing nothing- Romans 4:5. Therefore, we need to be poor in spirit to be saved. If you have something, you are in trouble. There is only one thing you can do- identify with the poor- come empty.

If you try to save yourself, you block your salvation. Christ takes you up- Jesus takes you- you have nothing. Faith is putting out your empty hand. Miracles are proof of sonship.

2.       Flashes of glory: You see this in the raising of Lazarus. People were upset that He let him die. Jesus told them that He is the resurrection and the life. It’s a flash of the last, now. Every miracle is a flash of that. In the last day everyone will be raised. Every Christian will be healed. In heaven, you will not have faith or hope because you will only have love. Love will go on forever. The baptism of the spirit is a little bit of heaven now. We are people living in the future because we have a little of the future glory now.

In the new heaven and earth everyone will be able to walk on water. Everything Jesus could do, you will do- Philippians 3:20. The whole Christian life is a little flash of glory- the first fruits of what is to come.

3.       Every miracle is a proof of what He could do, even when He doesn’t: Don’t live on miracles- don’t be disappointed when it does not happen. We have limited faith. Jesus fed 5000, walked on water and then they have no bread and they are worried!! Jesus rebuked them. We don’t need to be afraid. He can always do something but He doesn’t necessarily do it. Dan 3:17-18 “Our God is able… but even if He doesn’t, we will not bow down…” This should be our outlook to miracles.

He is able and He loves us, but He is also sovereign- we trust Him anyway.

Jesus can deal with all kinds of problems of hearing- physical and spiritual. He, who has ears, let him hear.    

  

4.       Every miracle is a kind of parable: it contains a special (specific) lesson. There are 35 miracle stories in the 4 gospels.  If you read them, they are pointing to His power directly. John7-9- everybody is confused. People are wondering who He is. The Pharisees are against Him, the common man thinks He is the savior. In John 8 He stands up and says ‘I am the light ‘. In the Greek, ‘I and I only’. Only He can deal with people’s confusion. He is not educated or of political influence- He is only a carpenter. His biological father is a carpenter.

I am the light of the world- God humbles human pride. He takes a carpenter’s son. God does not save the world in a way that makes anyone proud. You cannot save yourself. God will not allow anyone to boast that they could save themselves- where a human can take glory.

In the eyes of man He was ordinary-peasant- salvation has a humbling side to it.

John 9 He takes a blind man and given him his sight. The miracle is a picture of what He just said and heals a blind man. He was blind not because of sin, he was born blind. This is so that they would see the glory of God.

Jesus is teaching that everybody is born blind about God, ourselves, our ideas of spirituality. We don’t even know ourselves. I am the only one who can get rid of your confusion and help you understand. Only Jesus can change the world- not a professor, Socrates, Plato or Aristotle. Jesus shall reign and the Kingdom of God shall stretch from shore to shore.

Jesus is in charge of the whole world and He does this for the sake of the Gospel and His church. The Romans left behind their roads, the Greek their language, the English their language- we can preach to the whole world.

So when you read your Bible, there is a story there- paralyzed, blind, deaf, fear, storms. He does these things not just physically but spiritually as well. As you received Jesus, live in Him, joined to Him, trusting in Him- Col 2:9. Be strong in the grace. Contact Jesus the first thing in the morning. 

Word of Grace Church is a spirit filled (charismatic), evangelical  ( Born- again) English speaking church that preaches from the Bible as God's inspired Word of life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to  put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.