Please remain standing in honor of God's word. We're continuing on this morning through the gospel according to John. This morning we'll look at John chapter 2 verses 1 through 11. John 2 beginning at verse 1. On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. And Jesus said to her, woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water, and they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, draw some water out of the jar and take it to the master of the feast. And they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water, now become wine, and did not know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew, he said, He called, excuse me, he called to the bridegroom, and he said, everyone serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then the poor wine, but you have kept the good wine for now. This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Heavenly Father, we are told that the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. So we ask you to open our eyes, that we may behold the manifestation of the glory of Jesus Christ in this passage. And as a result of seeing, may we believe And we ask these things confidently in Christ's name, amen. You may be seated. Verse one begins, on the third day, now stop right there. When the Bible says on the third day, what are you anticipating will happen next? If you are well-versed in the Bible, you are anticipating that something wonderful, perhaps even miraculous, will happen. Now, obviously, the greatest thing that happened on the third day was the resurrection of Christ. But other great works of God happened on the third day. In Hosea 6-2, we have this wonderful promise, given those who return to the Lord. After two days, he will revive us. On the third day, he will raise us up that we may live before him. In Exodus 19, God is preparing the people for the giving of the Ten Commandments. And we read this in Exodus 19, verse 10. The Lord said to Moses, Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And then we read this in Genesis 22. After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham. And he said, here I am. He said, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and rose and went to the place which God had told him. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar That's important on the third day. He saw the place and on the third day Abraham will receive his son back from the dead Hebrews 19 or excuse me 11 verse 19 says figuratively speaking he did receive him back from the dead and So in this chapter, after the end of a week of ministry, on the third day, we are anticipating that something glorious is going to take place, and we will not be disappointed. A dead wedding feast is going to be resurrected by Jesus, by turning water into wine, and this, the first of his signs, will manifest his glory. Now, remember that in John's gospel, miracles are always called signs. That's intentional. Because miracles are not just raw displays of power. They are signs. They are designed to show us who Jesus is. So who is Jesus? In the passage before us this morning, we have five answers to that question, if you're taking notes. And when we learn who Jesus is, we will also learn who we are. So the first one is, Jesus is the Lord of the feast. Let's begin where this narrative does. On the third day, there was a wedding at Canaan, Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, we have no wine. And Jesus said to her, Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. Now, raise your hand if you have ever referred to your mother as woman. Anybody ever referred to their mother as, I am so glad that no hands went up. Keep that hand down, Deb. Now, to our modern ears, this sounds rude, but it's not. When we get to John 19 26 and Jesus is hanging on the cross and He entrusts the care of his mother to John he is going to say to Mary Woman behold your son So it's not a rude term at the same time. I He does not address her as mother or mom, which is kind of interesting. In this passage, Mary is three times referred to as the mother of Jesus. She's never called by her name. Yet when Jesus addresses her, he calls her woman. Why? He is indicating that there is a change in their relationship, and he is making it clear that he is now taking his cues from his Heavenly Father. Now, you may have wondered why this was here. Verse 4, Jesus says, My hour has not yet come. What hour is he referring to? As we work our way through the Gospel of John, it will be really clear that his hour refers to his death and his resurrection. But why is he mentioned here, my hour has not yet come? Again, I think he is indicating that the Father has him on a divine timetable, one of which Mary knows nothing of. This is important because Jesus is going to fix the situation that his mother wants him to. However, he will perform this miracle because it is the will of his father and not the will of his mother. Jesus came down from heaven to do the will of his father. So in verse five, his mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. By the way, that's really good advice for any of us here. Do whatever Jesus tells you. Verse six, now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. Why are they taking it to the master of the feast? Well, let's first understand who is the master of the feast. Thayer's Greek lexicon says, it was the duty of the master of the feast to place in order the tables and couches, arrange the courses, taste the food and the wine beforehand, et cetera. Perhaps in our context, we would say that the master of feast is like a wedding planner. Their responsibility is to make sure that everything is provided for and that nothing falls between the cracks. How many guests are coming? Okay, then we better make sure we have this much wine so that everybody is provided for. But who is the real master of the feast here? making sure that everything is provided for. It's Jesus. Jesus is the true master of the feast. There's a fascinating prophecy in Isaiah 25, beginning at verse six, and it describes the coming of salvation and Jesus Christ. And the prophet writes, on this mountain, The Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine and well-refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the reproach of his people. He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, behold, this is our God. We have waited for him that he might save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. God's people have been waiting centuries for the Lord to come and make a feast and bring salvation and now the time has come. So Jesus is the Lord of the feast. But there's even more. He is the one who serves at the feast. Luke 12, 37 says, blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly I say to you, he, talking about Jesus, the master, he will dress himself for service and have them reclined at table and he will come and serve them. What a picture. Jesus is the Lord of the feast and he is the one who will serve us. He will have us sit down and he will wait on us. So Jesus is the Lord of the feast. We are the invited guests. Number two, Jesus is the bridegroom. Jesus is the bridegroom. Verse nine, when the master of the feast tasted the water, now become wine. and did not know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew, the master of the feast called the bridegroom. Now, why did the master of the feast call the bridegroom? Because he was the one who was responsible for providing the wine. In fact, he was responsible for the entire feast. It was one of the ways in which he could show that he was capable of providing for his bride. And then he says to the groom, Everyone serves the good wine first. And when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now. But had the groom kept the good wine until now? In actuality, it was Jesus who provided the good wine. So Jesus is putting himself in the place of the bridegroom. And if you think I'm reading too much into this passage, you should know that in John's gospel, he is very explicit about Jesus being the bridegroom. If you're open to John, turn ahead to the next chapter, John 3, beginning at verse 27. John answered, a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom, the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. In a sense, we could say that John the Baptist is the best man. Regardless, John refers to Jesus as the bridegroom. And we find this in other passages as well. In Matthew 9, verse 15, Jesus is questioned as to why his disciples don't fast. They were told, the disciples of John the Baptist fast, but why don't your disciples fast? And this is the answer he gave. Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. But in the meantime, the bridegroom is with his disciples. This is not a time for mourning. This is a time for celebration. So Jesus is the bridegroom, and we are the guests, but we can take this a step further. The church of Jesus Christ collectively is the bride of Christ. In Ephesians 5, 31, Paul recites Genesis 2, 24, which refers to the marriage of Adam and Eve, and he says, therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. And then he says, this mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. So in Adam and Eve, as in all marriages, we have a picture of Jesus with his bride, the church. And from one perspective, all of history is moving towards a wedding. In Revelation 19, beginning at verse seven, we read, let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. And his bride has made herself ready. It was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. And who is invited to the marriage supper of the lamb? is invited. In Matthew 22 verse 2, Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And then the parable goes on to say that servants were sent out and they were to invite everybody that they came across, whether good or bad. Everybody was invited and then they came back and they said the invitation has gone out, but some were too busy. And we're told that there's room for even more. Go out again and invite everybody you see. So if you're here this morning, you have an invitation to the Married Supper of the Lamb. All you have to do is RSVP. I will be there. And you sign that invitation in faith by turning to Jesus Christ. And you can be there at the marriage feast to beat all marriage feast. So it was Jesus. He's the Lord of the feast. He's the bridegroom. He also is the redeemer. He is the redeemer. Verse six. Now there were six stone jars there for the Jewish rites of purification. each holding 20 or 30 gallons. Now this reference to the stone jars specifically being for the Jewish rites of purification is not insignificant. R.C. Sproul writes, every Jew who came to this large wedding celebration had to go through a purification rite before he could enter. If nothing else, he had to wash his hands and feet when he arrived for the wedding feast. But we have to ask this question. Will this water purify the people from their sins? Of course not. So what will? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And maybe that will remind you of the hymn by that name. A couple of the lines goes like this. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. John Calvin notes, water was an important element of the Israelites' Passover feast. But at the last supper, Jesus gave the wine a new significance. He made it a symbol of his own life-giving blood. Thus, the redemption of Christ was foreshadowed in the very first miracle he performed. I agree with that. The Jews had water for purification, but it could only symbolize the ultimate purification from sin, which would come through the blood of Jesus Christ as symbolized by wine. So Jesus is the Redeemer, and those of us who have put our faith in Him are the redeemed, the forgiven, the purified. So Jesus is the Lord of the Feast, He is the Bridegroom, He is the Redeemer, He is also the Christ, the Son of God. Verse 11, this the first of His signs He did at Cana and Galilee and manifested His glory. Again, Jesus performs a sign, not a miracle. And the sign points to who Jesus is. At the end of John's gospel, he's going to give the reason as to why he wrote it. And he says in John 20 verse 30, now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that by believing, you may have life in his name. So the signs point to who Jesus is. They say he is the Christ, he is the son of God. The signs make it very clear that God is with him. In the next chapter, John chapter three, verse one, we read, now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God. For no one can do these signs unless God is with him. That's basic logic. If he is going to perform these signs, like turning water into wine, clearly God is with him. So these signs indicate that God is with Jesus. It is also divine validation that everything Jesus said about himself was true. He really is the resurrection and the life. He is the way and the truth and the life so that no one can come to the Father except through him. He really is the son of God. So that when he made himself equal with God by calling God his own father, he was not lying. And he is the good shepherd who will lay down his life for his sheep only to raise it up again. And he is the son of David who will sit on his throne and reign until all his enemies are made his footstool. And the signs indicate that everything he said about himself is true. And I love how verse 11, John adds that after the sign, Jesus manifested his glory. That could be an entire sermon right there. Let me remind you of the mission statement of our church. And you have it if you have your bulletin, because it's right on the front of the bulletin. We exist for the zealous furtherance of the glory of God, for the joy of all people through Jesus Christ. For now, I just want you to notice the connection between God's glory and our joy. When God displays his glory, it brings us joy. It's designed to bring us joy. Yes, it's designed to bring him praise, but at the same time, it's also intended to bring us joy. If you've been to this church for a while, you've probably heard me end a prayer more than once with these words. Father, we ask you to do this. for your glory and our joy. In Christ's name, amen. I love ending prayers that way because that's why I want God to work. I want God to answer prayers. I want God to move mightily so that he can be glorified, so that people can stand in awe of how great he is. And when that happens, that is also intended for our joy. And I would be remiss if I did not point out that this sign of turning water into wine is for the joy of the guests at the wedding feast. And at this point, you should ask, how much joy? Specifically, 120 to 150 gallons of pure joy. And you should understand that in the Bible, wine is a picture of joy. It's one of the reasons why God gave us wine, to make us happy. Psalm 104, verse 15, says that God gave wine to gladden the heart of man. In Judges 9, verse 13, we have this interesting statement. But the vine said to them, shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men? Wine brings us joy. Yes, we can add the caveat that there are other verses that talk about how it can be abused, that drunkenness is a sin, but the Bible also says that wine is a picture of joy. And here we have Jesus turning water into wine. The rabbis had an interesting statement. They said, without wine, there is no joy. Kent Hughes makes a good observation when he notes that when Mary says to Jesus they have no wine in essence she is saying they have no joy and thankfully Jesus is going to fix that problem and fix it in abundance in fact there is going to be such an abundance of wine that many of the commentators are going to be nervous when they read this passage One example is William Barclay, who says that we should not take the mount of wine with, quote unquote, crude literalness. In response, I say, yes, we should, unless John is lying, and he is not lying. Barclay goes on to say, no wedding party on earth could drink 180 gallons of wine. but he is missing the point altogether. The abundance of wine is symbolic of the abundance of grace and the abundance of joy that is available to all people through Jesus Christ. Are you lacking in joy? Has the wine of your life run out? Come to Jesus Christ because he has more than enough joy to fill your heart. A couple of weeks ago, we looked at Psalm 4, verse 7, where the psalmist says, you have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. Jesus is showing that he is able to provide more than enough joy for all the people there. And then verse 11 ends by saying, and his disciples believed in him. If He can perform this sign of turning water into wine, of course we should believe in Him. Why would we not believe in Him? Because nobody else can do that. So I have to ask you, have you put your faith in Christ? Do you see Him for who He is? Do you see the glory in this sign that indicates He really is who He says He is? Have you put your faith in Christ? Now when it says, and the disciples believed in Him, some think this means they believed for the first time. I don't think it does. I think it means they believed in Him further. They believed in Him, but now after seeing this glory, they believe in Him all the more. And isn't that how it works? Yes, we believe, but there's room for greater belief, right? And then God works mightily when we pray and He answers and we respond, Lord, I believe. I believed before, but now I believe even more. My faith is even stronger. It has increased. So we believe all the more. I think that's what it's indicating about the disciples. And then just quickly, one other point. Who is Jesus? He is also a faithful friend. He is also a faithful friend. Verse three, when the wine had run out, the mother of Mary said to him, they have no wine. And I think she said it something like that. I think there was great distress in her voice. Now, in our context, I don't think we can appreciate this. You know, it's not a big deal. You know, you don't necessarily have to have wine at the wedding. But in the first century, this was severe. So important was wine at a wedding feast that if the groom failed to provide it, he could be sued. That's how serious it was. So this lack of wine at the wedding feast, at the very least, would have been a disgrace for this bridegroom for the rest of his life. Everybody in this small town would have known about it and they would have talked about it for years. Wasn't it really sad when we went to the wedding feast and they ran out of wine? Never in my life have I been to a wedding feast where they ran out of wine. I can't believe that he wasn't able to provide for the wedding feast. But because of Jesus, who was a friend to this bridegroom, for years to come, the people are going to tell a different story. Do you remember that wedding feast? Never in my life have I been to a wedding feast where they provided so much wine. There must have been 150 to 180 gallons of wine. And that's the first time ever that I went to a wedding feast, and they brought out the good wine later. Usually they bring out the good wine, and then when people have drunk freely, they bring out the poor wine. But not this guy. He brought out the good wine later. And to this day, I can still remember when I had a glass of that wine because it was the best tasting wine that I ever had in my life. It was divine. And it was divine because Jesus had provided it. Isn't it fascinating? A groom runs out of wine, and it could be a crisis. And this is the place where Jesus performs his first miracle, to save a bridegroom from embarrassment. What a great friend, and that's the kind of friend we have, a friend who sticks closer than a brother. What a friend we have in Jesus. how blessed we are to bring all our sins and our griefs and our sorrows and our needs to Him, and to know that He will care for us, and to know that He has the answers, and to know that not only is He able to intervene on our half, but He is willing, because He cares for His people. He cares for His friends. Let's close in prayer. Father, how thankful we are for Jesus, the Lord of the Feast, the Bridegroom of the Church, our Redeemer, the Messiah, the Son of God, and our friend. Father, we thank you for his great love for us. And Father, I pray for all of us this morning, help us to see that when we turn to Jesus when we are in need, we are turning to a friend. We are turning to a God who cares about us and is willing to intervene on our behalf. Father, I know that every single one of us in this room, even this morning, has needs. Father, I wanna pray that you will work miraculously Maybe we don't even know what to ask. Maybe all we know to say is, I have no wine. I have no joy. I have no finances. I have no health. I have no spouse. Father, maybe all we can say is, Lord, this is what I don't have. Father, if that's all we can say, may we bring that to you. And I want to ask that you will intervene on behalf of these prayers. perhaps even the prayers that people don't even know to verbalize before you. But Father, I want to ask you to work powerfully. And I do want to ask that you will work powerfully for your glory and also for our joy. In Christ's name, amen.