Good morning, church. It's great to be back with you. If you're visiting this morning or if you've been, started coming over the last couple of weeks, you might not know who I am because I've been gone, but my name is Pastor Chris. I'm the lead pastor here at Pittsburgh Community Church. That said, please open your Bibles this morning to John chapter two. John chapter two. This morning we begin a new series, Revealed, which will take us all the way through the Easter season. In each of the gospels, the author lays out for us, right at the beginning of the gospel, a purpose statement, so that the reader might understand not only what they're reading, but why they're reading it. And so Mark begins his gospel with, the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. See, Matthew, he prominently features Jesus' lineage from David and his fulfilled prophecy of the Old Testament in order to highlight his royal status as God's promised coming king. Mark is even more clear in his purpose. He says, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, just want you to know. Mark emphasizes that everything that Jesus does, his actions, his deeds, he portrays him as a servant who has come. to suffer and to die for humanity as the Son of God. Luke, being the physician that he is, he aims to provide a reliable and trustworthy account of Jesus's ministry to a man named Theophilus, who is likely a new Gentile convert to Christianity. Why? He says, so that you may have certainty concerning the things that you have been taught, Luke 1.4, right? Things concerning the identity of Jesus Christ, who he is. But John's gospel is different. See, all three of these purpose statements come right at the beginning of their gospels. John 2 has a purpose statement, but his doesn't come until the end of his book. John 20, chapter 20, verse 31. He says, but these things 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. John writes his gospel differently. See, instead of simply telling you what's up, all along the path of his gospel, he posts signs, signs which point toward something. See, we all have taken road trips before. On my trip to visit Mark and Amy in Anderson, South Carolina, miles before we reached Anderson, South Carolina, on the expressway, we began to see these signs that say, Anderson, South Carolina, okay? Now, we do inherently understand this concept. No one, when they see that sign on the expressway, stops their car, gets out, and while looking at the sign goes, oh, I've arrived. No, no, no, it's a sign. It points to a destination, something beyond it. I was reminded this week of a quote by C.S. Lewis. He makes this observation about dogs in his book, The Weight of Glory, which I think is exceptionally applicable here. He says, you will have noticed that most dogs cannot understand pointing. You point to a bit of food on the floor, and the dog, instead of looking at the floor, sniffs your finger. A finger is just a finger to him, and that's all. His world is all fact, no meaning. And in a period when factual realism is dominant, we shall find people deliberately inducing upon themselves this dog-like mind. Here's the point. As dogs are prone to miss food because they don't understand the meaning of the finger, we, as humans, are often prone to miss the object or the greater truth that scripture points us toward, because we don't understand the meaning of the sign. And the question becomes, when we see these signs in God's word, what do we do with them? See, John lays out for us in his gospel seven signs, seven miracles that Jesus performed, each one revealing, each one pointing to a deeper truth about who he is. I don't think that it's by accident. that the first recorded words of Jesus in John's gospel are a question. What are you seeking? What are you seeking? As you come to church, as you listen to a message from God's word, as we sing the songs together, I think how you and I understand and answer that question will be telling as to whether or not we find anything. The Pharisees kept asking Jesus for a sign, but they had no desire to find the one that the signs were pointing to. And my prayer as we go through this series is that just as the disciples were encountering Jesus and asking themselves, who is this? So might we, as we study the signs, come to an encounter of the living God and his glory and his truth in our own lives and hearts. And so that was a long lead up to this passage, but let's read our passage this morning. John chapter two, we'll be reading verses one through 11 this morning. It says this. 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, we have no wine. Jesus said to her, woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to his servants, do whatever he tells you. Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification. holding 20 or 30 gallons. And 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. And so 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, the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, 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. This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him. Church, will you pray with me? Father, as we approach your word this morning and ask ourselves, God, what is this revealing to us? Father, I pray that in the power of your Holy Spirit, you might grant us wisdom, that we might be able to see the importance of the sign and to whom this sign points. So God, reveal that truth to us in your glory, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so the scene is a wedding, a bridegroom and a bride being united together in a covenant love relationship. This is the backdrop during which Jesus decides to perform the first of his miracles. Now, back in Jesus' day, weddings were not simply one day like they are today, but week-long events. One of the groom's major responsibilities during that event was to provide wine for the entirety of the event. So, as you can imagine, this was not only a fairly important piece for the festivities sake, but a very expensive one as well. And so what would often happen is that at the beginning of the ceremonies, they would serve the best wine that they had. All of the good wine, they would serve that first. And then over time, as a way of saving money, because it was a week long of drinking, as everyone got nice and loose, they would then switch out the good wine to the lesser quality, cheaper wine. Now, everyone knew what was going on. But at that point, nobody really cared. All right, what was not okay was to run out of wine. And this is exactly what happened, verse three. It says, when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. So then Jesus turns water into wine. Cool, right? But why did he do that? Was Jesus making a statement that he supported the drinking of alcohol in this passage? Is that why he did that? Did Jesus do this miracle simply to avert a social disaster so that the groom and his family wouldn't be embarrassed just doing somebody a solid? Is that why he did this? I don't think so. I think the meaning is much deeper than that. All right, take a look at our text this morning in verse one. John starts this miracle story in verse one with this phrase, on the third day. All right, now all eyes up here, all right? When I say the phrase, on the third day, Christian, what do you think of? Yeah, his resurrection, right? All right, Jesus' death, and then on the third day, he rose again, all right? That's not by accident If we look at the story in context if we flip back one chapter in John chapter 1 verse 29 John the Baptist who is not the author of the gospel of John by the way, it's a different guy John the Baptist was a forerunner of Jesus John the Baptist sees Jesus and he declared declares to his disciples behold a the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Now, that's an interesting statement, because Jesus hasn't done that yet. But then three days later, there's a wedding. See, this is a foreshadowing. Perhaps, even as Jesus is attending the wedding, he's beginning to think of his own wedding. The whole story of scripture is around God creating humanity to be in relationship with himself. But because of our sin, we were eternally ripped out of relationship with him. And because we couldn't do anything to fix our situation ourselves, God in the Son came to us to bring us back into relationship with himself by taking care of the sin issue through his death and resurrection. And because of that act of love, we celebrate now a restored relationship to God, which is painted throughout scripture as what? Yeah, you guessed it, a wedding. All right, with Jesus being the bridegroom and his church, not the building, his people being the bride. Hosea chapter two, this is Old Testament, this is pre-Christ. Chapter two, verse 16, it says, in that day declares the Lord, you will call me my husband. Verse 19, I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord. See, the book of Ephesians tells us that we are Christ's inheritance, right? We are what he came to earth to get, his beloved. And then if we look to the end of all things in Revelation chapter 19, verse seven, when God returns to make all things new, we read this. Let us rejoice and exalt and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come. and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and pure. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." What's that going to take? His death and resurrection. Listen, it makes complete sense that Jesus would first choose a wedding to reveal who he is. You don't think that in the midst of that wedding, he's not thinking about his own wedding? After all, that's what we do, right? If we're married and we attend a wedding, what are we thinking about? Our own wedding, reminiscing about that day. If you're not married and you're attending a wedding, what are you thinking about? Your future wedding and what you might want it to look like, what you might want it to be. And that's why when Jesus's mother comes to him with this problem, he responds to her, my hour has not yet come. We need to understand that when Jesus talks about his hour, what he's talking about is the hour of his death. Here's the point. The wine ran out because the groom was unwilling or unable or unprepared enough. to pay the cost. One source I read in my studies this week made the point that, in effect, by coming to Jesus, Mary was asking Jesus to act as or to step into the role of the bridegroom on behalf of all who were at the wedding. I thought that was pretty profound. Jesus is about to reveal that he is not only willing and able to pay the cost, but the wine that he will provide will be more and better than anything that they've had before. In Isaiah 25, a prophecy is given that one day God will do a work that will swallow up death forever. Listen to what it says, starting in verse 6, Isaiah 25, 6. It says, on this mountain, that's a reference to Mount Zion, the dwelling place of God, where he rules and reigns. And so, on this mountain, where God reigns, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine. A rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. All right? A feast. Rich food and wine more and better Then it goes on verse 7 says and he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples The veil that is spread over all the nations. What is that sin? Verse 8 he will swallow up death forever and The Lord will wipe away tears from all faces eyes appear Christian Does that remind you of anything? When you hear that phrase, wipe away all tears? Yeah. How about in Revelation, right? When the bridegroom comes to get his bride. The renewal and salvation of our God offered to us through the bridegroom, Jesus Christ. See, Jesus is revealing that what he has come to give us, his people, The world is more and better than anything that we could have apart from Him. More and better than anything that this world could offer. We see the sign. Do we understand the significance of Him to whom the sign is pointing? What are you seeking this morning? These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, in that by believing in Him, you may have life in His name. See, when the Messiah comes, Scripture says that's when the best wine is going to flow. Wine in the Bible is used to symbolize joy and celebration and blessing and life and the advancement of God's kingdom. And only when we lay hold of Christ When He is allowed to live and to rule and reign in our lives, that's when the best wine, God's best for us, is going to flow. Do you understand the meaning of the sign? Would you put your faith in Jesus this morning and devote your life to following Him? And in that, let's ready our hearts for communion. In John chapter two, verse six, Jesus notes that there are six stone jars. Now, nevermind that the number of six in scripture is often symbolic of man or humanity or new creation. After all, God chose to create the world in how many days? Six, right? But these jars were used for the purpose of ceremonial purification. Now given the context of this passage, could it be that the bridegroom was using them to show that in himself he would provide a new and better purification for humanity? God saying, behold, I'm doing something new, something more, something better than what was in place before. There is one thing that wine symbolizes in scripture that we haven't talked about. And that is the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Shed to atone for the sin of humanity. Hebrews tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. And it's a humbling thing for us to know that the bridegroom was willing to pay the cost for the sake of his bride. his beloved, you and me, in order to bring him into relationship with himself. And so by coming to his table this morning, we are not doing an act that saves us. We are recognizing an act that saves us. And as in Hosea, remembering our response to his marriage proposal to us. Will you? And if you've never responded to that this morning, you can do that right now. God is offering you salvation through Jesus Christ. And he's saying, will you take my hand? Will you come live in a covenant relationship with me forever? Will you do that this morning?