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Kevin Thacker

The Cana Wedding

John 2:1-12
Kevin Thacker September, 15 2021 Audio
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John

In the sermon titled "The Cana Wedding," Kevin Thacker explores the theological significance of Jesus' first miracle at the wedding in Cana as recorded in John 2:1-12. Thacker emphasizes that the miracle of turning water into wine is not merely a demonstration of Jesus' power but a manifestation of His glory that leads to the faith of His disciples. He argues that while the initial need was for wine, the greater need was for the redemptive blood of Christ, which is symbolized by the wine, reflecting on biblical themes of joy, fulfillment, and salvation. Thacker draws connections to various Scriptures, such as Psalm 104 and Proverbs 31, to illustrate the richness of joy found in Christ through His shed blood and how this divine joy is offered freely to believers. The practical significance is highlighted in the invitation for believers to come to Christ in their needs, recognizing Him as the ultimate source of joy and life, contrary to the insufficiency of man-made traditions and efforts.

Key Quotes

“If all we saw from this was that the Lord turned water into wine, His glory has not been manifested to us.”

“That wine is the blood of Christ, the required payment for sin to satisfy the Father.”

“Whatever He says do, do it. Lord, Your will be done.”

“The joy of the believer... is the wine of Christ that makes the heart glad.”

Sermon Transcript

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Well, let's open to John chapter
2. John chapter 2. Different parts of the country
and throughout the world too. Different countries. And throughout
time, I've talked to a lot of believers who just say, I can't
hear nothing right now. I just feel cold and I feel dead. And I'm going to services when
they have services and I just can't hear nothing. If we ask the Lord, if we petition
Him with our wants, needs, and desires, I hope we can see this
evening, He will answer. He'll feed us. It might be a
Senate. I don't know what He has, but
it'll be what's needful, it'll be what's right, and He will
feed His people if that's why we're there. Somebody somewhere
else had a hard time hearing. Somebody threw out time. I've
been that way. And when I put everything aside,
I said, I want to hear from the Lord. He speaks to us. What a blessing we have. Here
in John 2, we're going to look at this wedding. This miracle
at a wedding. This is right after Philip spoke
to Nathanael. He said, we found the Christ.
And Nathanael said, what good thing could ever come out of
Nazareth? And he said, come see. And Nathanael went and saw, didn't
he? He went and Christ revealed himself to Nathanael. And now
they go straight to Nathanael's hometown. What good could come
out of Nazareth? What good could come out of Cana?
That's where Nathanael was from. Here in verse 1, John chapter
2 verse 1. It says, And the third day there
was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
And both Jesus was called and His disciples to the marriage.
And when they had wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said unto
Him, unto our Lord, They have no wine. Jesus said unto her,
Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants,
Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six
waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the
Jews, containing two or three firkings apiece. Jesus saith
unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them
up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw
it out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they
bare it. When the ruler of the feast had
tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it
was, but the servants which drew the water knew, the governor
of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man
at the beginning doth set forth good wine. And when men have
well drunk, then that which is worse, but thou hast kept the
good wine until now." The beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana
of Galilee and manifested forth His glory and His disciples believed
on Him. If all we saw from this was that
the Lord turned water into wine, We run out of wine. He said,
well, give me some water and I can make you some wine. And
now we have wine. If that's all we had, His glory
has not been manifested to us. But His disciples will believe
on Him. He will manifest His glory to His disciples and they'll
believe Him. We looked at this passage last
year, last June. We looked at what the Scriptures
say concerning water. It's always the Word. Life. The Holy Ghost. We must be born
of water and the Spirit. Scriptures say. Christ is the
living water. What does that wine represent?
It's the blood of Christ. The required payment for sin
to satisfy the Father. That's what's required. The water
is also destruction, isn't it? And now what Jonah was cast into?
Raging sin? What the Ark protected Noah and
his family from was waters. Where does that come from? The
Word of God. His power. His Word. Moving on people. Both His command
and from His written Word. Mankind is given this preserved
Word of God. We're given His commandments,
His holy law. We're given His prophets, showing
us plainly who's to come. We're given the New Testament
now. He has come. He's coming again. Oh, what sweet
waters of life it is to His disciples that He manifests Himself to,
and what a vicious water of wrath it is to those that refuse it,
willingly refuse it. Turn over to Psalm 104. This wine is the blood of Christ,
but it's also the joy of the believer. The joy of the believer. Psalm 104. Psalm 104, we'll begin
in verse 13. Psalm 104, verse 13, "...he watereth
the hills from his chambers. The earth is satisfied with the
fruit of thy works. He causes the grass to grow for
cattle, the herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth
food out of the earth." We came to this very same psalm when
we looked through day three of creation. Did you know that?
David's describing to us what happened on day three of creation.
The waters were gathered together. The land appeared, the grass,
the herb, the fruit trees come forth. Grapevines were in that.
Did you know that? Grapevines were included in that.
And it was good, the Lord said. Look here at verse 15. And wine
that maketh glad the heart of man. The Lord made all these
things. He made grapevines and wine that
makes glad the heart of man. There in Judges 9.13 it says,
wine which cheereth God and man. Wine's a cheerful thing, isn't
it? It's good for the heart. It pleases
the Lord and pleases man. That's what His Scriptures say.
Now turn over to Proverbs 31. You that have eyes to see, this
is Christ's person and His work. That's what that wine is. It's
satisfying. The Father said from heaven,
this is my Son in whom I'm well pleased. It satisfies the Father. It pleases Him and it pleases
His people. Here in Proverbs 31, we'll see. Remember, as we go through John,
the Lord fed the 5,000. And then He said, I'm the bread
of life. He healed a blind man. He said,
I'm the light of the world. He raised Lazarus. And He says,
I'm the resurrection. He's the one that makes our heart
glad. He's the one it is. Here in Proverbs
31 verse 6. Give strong drink unto him that
is ready to perish and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his
poverty and remember his misery no more. Now do you think Solomon,
the wisest man on earth, said right before somebody dies, get
them good and drunk? If you're poor, drink your poorness away. Drink your poverty away. If you've
got a heavy heart, get you some whiskey and rub that out of it.
Of course he's not saying that, is he? He's a child of God just
like all of us. Christ is that wine that makes
the heart glad. If somebody's on their deathbed,
you're ready to perish. Give them strong wine. Cut to
the chase. Tell them plainly, all flesh
is grass. Christ is all. Run to Him. Seconds
count. Your breaths on this earth are
numbered. Be strong about it. Be plain. And to those with a
heavy, heavy heart, I don't know if I can get out of bed in the
morning. Want some strong wine? Booze ain't going to do it. This
will. That'll make a heart glad, won't
it? And let him drink and forget his poverty. I see my inequity. My debt, my sin debt, and I'm
ashamed. What misery. Oh, wretched man
that I am. Forget his poverty. Be glad in the heart with the
wine of Christ. Be glad with His blood. I cheer you up on
it. And you won't remember your misery
no more. Isn't that wise? When the Lord told us in Matthew
26, He gave that last supper. He said, take and eat. He gave
that unleavened bread and he broke it. He said, take and eat.
This is my body. And he took the cup and he gave thanks and
he gave it to them and said, drink all of it. Drink all of
it. For this is my blood in the New
Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Every
one of his people. Many of them. All of them. But I say unto you, I will not
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when
I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. He said, I
ain't going to touch this physical wine, this picture anymore until
I'm with you in glory. What a thought. That would be
cheerful, good tasting wine, wouldn't it? Now back in our
text here in John 2, we know David was telling us
about that third day of creation when all these plants that bear
fruit come forth. And it says here in John 2 verse
1, and the third day, After the Lord called Andrew and John,
then he called Philip and Nathaniel. Now this is the third day. You
think that's a quintet? He's going to make wine? I don't
think so either. And the third day, there was a marriage in
Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. The third
day, that well-pleasing wine. is going to be made. And it was
that third day when Christ rose out of that tomb, wasn't it?
And those He was married to, those He was espoused to, now
it's performed. It's finished. It's done for
eternity. The ceremony is over. That's
when that third day arose for us. And all this happened here
in Cana. That means the town of Reeds,
it's probably a swampy place. It's close to the Sea of Galilee.
Town of Reeds. Out here in this poor, undesirable
town, a bunch of undesirable people, God was pleased to reveal
his glory to some. Does that sound contrary to our
natural thoughts, doesn't it? We think he'd be out in the sticks,
out in the reeds. Shouldn't he be in some big town?
Shouldn't he be in the governor's mansion, entertaining the Queen
of England? She's had a couple of shooting
stars come through her palace, hasn't she? The Lord said in Isaiah 42, a
bruised reed shall he not break, and a smoking flax he shall not
quench. Come to a bunch of broken reeds,
didn't he? He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. Judgment
unto truth is about to come to this wedding in Cana. It says
there the mother of Jesus was there. Mary was likely helping
out with the wedding. We call them wedding planners
nowadays. She was doing something to assist those. It might have
been her cousins. We don't know who was getting married. We don't
know who these servants were. We don't know nothing about it.
But we knew she was kind of helping out there. She was keeping all
the basic things going so these others could rejoice. What a
blessed calling that is. to tend to the daily affairs
and the needs of those in the presence of the Lord. So all
they have to worry about is being in His presence. It says in verse
2, "...and both Jesus was called and His disciples to the marriage."
This is the beginning of His public ministry. This is where
it's going to start. When John the Baptist turned
30, he had his showing. At 30 years old, you'd go in
front of the Sanhedrin, and they'd see if you'd make the cut to
be a priest. They might be able to put you
in the ministry. Put you working. See if they made a cut. When
our Lord turned 30, He entered His public ministry. There was
no man that ordained Him. There was no organization that
officiated Him, that made this legal embodiment. He began His
ministry. That's who He was. and he came
to a wedding. He came to a marriage. He was
called, and he came to the marriage. Boy, what a wonderful and powerful
verse that is. You young people, you all grow
up, you get married, the Lord does a work in your heart, you
marry a believer, like we're told to there in 2 Corinthians
6, you pray the Lord be at your marriage. You pray the Lord stays
with you throughout your married life. Ask Him. that He's with
you, that He's glorified and magnified in your home. And you
know what? He'll come. He was bid to this
wedding. He came to it. God Almighty came
to that wedding. Oh, wouldn't we be fools not
to ask Him to be with us? And you that's been married a
long time, ask Him now. Oh, come to this wedding. Come
to this marriage, this home, and be with us. Be with us. Be in our presence. It's not
too late. Now we see, he's at this wedding,
and we see a picture of the believer's prayer and his mother here, the
mother of Jesus. In verse 3 it says, And when
they wanted wine, they was wantin' wine, the mother of Jesus saith
unto him, They have no wine. She stated a need, didn't she? Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His
mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. That's a prayer and an answer
to prayer and a completion of it all together. Three short
verses. The people, they physically wanted more joy. That wine is
cheerful to the heart, isn't it? Physically. We want more
joy. We want more good times. They
wanted and they'd run out. And then the Lord asked Mary,
what have I to do with thee? What if the people wanted the
Spirit? What if they wanted the joy?
The blood? Ask the Lord. Lord, I want to
have a joyful heart. I want to be merciful. I want
to be long-suffering. I want to be meek. Ask Him. Come to
Him and ask Him. Different versions of the Scriptures,
the Ethiopic version, the Persian version, and other translations,
they word this a little different. How does that affect us? How
does that affect me? Why are you troubling me with
these things? Each one of them has something different. The
result is always the same. My hour has not yet come. The
Lord didn't cave in to the wishes of His earthly mother, of His
physical mother. But He was pointing her, as He
does with all of His children, to the salvation He was going
to accomplish for them. He was turning her. They need
wine. Turn. Turn. That is the need. The wine is the want. They wanted
wine. They needed His blood. We may
want wine, we may want joy and happiness and comfort. We need His blood. That's what's
needed. They needed the blood of Christ.
And so she petitions, she asks Him, and He stirs up her pure
minds concerning that hour that was on His mind. Turn over to
John 12. John 12. There in our text, in
verse 11, it says that The miracles in Cana manifested, it exhibited,
it showed forth His glory. And His disciples believed on
Him. But the hour, that was an hour,
He performed this, but the hour of His glory and glorifying the
Father was still to come. Here in John 12 verse 23, it
says, And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come that
the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, It abideth
alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." That's what's
going to have to happen. That's the hour He's looking
at, and it's to come. Verse 27, Now is my soul troubled,
and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. He was about to turn
our troubled waters into His blood. That's what was going
to happen. And that's what was on His mind
always. Glorifying His Father. Accomplishing
the will of the Father. His jaw set like a flint. Not
deterred. Steadfast on Him. Christ came
in the form of a man to become something He was not and to die. He came to shed His blood on
that cross for an elect people. And that was what was always
on His heart, to accomplish the will of the Father, to glorify
the Father, to honor the Father. He said in John 6, For I came
down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him
that sent me. There in our text, Christ was
reminding Mary of His true purpose. They're out of wine. That hour
has not yet come. Christ is going to the cross.
He's going to save His people. He shall save His people. That
was on his mind. Is that on my mind all the time?
How would I walk through this world if I could just constantly
think, it's finished. God Almighty came to this earth
in human flesh representing me fully and perfectly before the
Holy God. Every jot and tell of that law
has been satisfied. Nothing can stay His hand. It
can't be undone. Not a dog can wag its tongue
against me or any of His people unless He allows it. And it's
for their good and His glory. Boy, what a nice way to walk
around, isn't it? That's how our Lord did. That
was on His mind all the time. The glory of the Father, honoring
Him, honoring His will. And He was reminding Mary of
this, and He'd been reminding her His whole life. Do you know
that? Turn over to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, verse 49. They
went up to Jerusalem, Mary, Joseph, our Lord, and probably a whole
convoy. He was 12 years old. And Mary
and Joseph, they left. They left Him at the temple there
in Jerusalem. They thought, well, He's probably
a couple of wagons back. They were gone three days until
they went back to get Him. Look here in Luke 2, verse 49. And He saith unto them, How is
it that ye sought Me? How was He looking for me? Wist
ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" Don't you
know that I've got to be about my Father's business? And they
understood not the saying which He spake unto them. And He went
down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them. But
His mother kept all these sayings in her heart. He said, don't
you know I've got to be about my Father's business? And she
had no idea what that meant. She didn't understand, but she
kept it in her heart. When Christ speaks to the heart,
whether we have a full working understanding of it or not, when
He speaks, His words stay there. It ain't gonna be undone. We're
brought into remembrance of those at the right time in His good
pleasure. Right when He wants. You teach
them children up, train them up from their youth, and they
won't depart from it. It'll be in their hearts and in their
minds when they're grown. And if the Lord chooses to use that,
boy, what a blessing that would be. And it will be for His glory. And He'll manifest Himself to
His people for their good. And boy, what gladness there
comes. That's glad to the heart. Now back in our text here in
John 2, verse 3. And when they wanted wine, the mother
of Jesus saith unto him, they have no wine. Jesus saith unto
her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet
come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith
unto you, do it. Just as in a prayer, we bring
our wants, needs, and desires, and complaints, and anything
we got, we bring it to that throne of grace. When the Lord is pleased,
He reminds us of the person and the work of Christ. how holy
He is, what He accomplished in and for His people. We see Him
on that cross. We see Him coming out to Him.
We see Him interceding for us with the Father, seated at the
right hand of the God. And when we're brought to see
His person and His work, we declare to our own hearts and we declare
to anybody else around us, Lord, Your will be done. They need
wine. Here's who I am and what I'm
here to do, Mary. Whatever He says do, do it. Lord,
Your will be done. Whatever pleases Him, do it.
Whatever He commands, You execute it. What did it please Him to
do for His children? In 1 Samuel 12, it says, It pleased
the Lord to make you His people. What a blessing. He will not
lose not even one. He will fully save them from
sin now and forever. Lord, do it. You promised you
will. Lord, do it. Here's a picture
to everyone there and to you and I still today here in verse
6. And there were set there six water pots of stone after the
manner of purifying of the Jews containing two or three firkins
apiece. Six stone water pots. Six of them. That's the number
of incompletion Failure. Man. Man was made on the sixth
day, wasn't he? There's a lot of talk going around
right now about, oh, the mark of the beast. 666. You know what
that is? That's man putting himself as
God to purpose everything. Man putting himself as the Redeemer
because he thinks his works can do something. And man making
himself the Revealer and the Defender. I'll take care of you.
Let me teach you something. That's a whole lot more dangerous
than what somebody can do to you. We tried to put ourselves
there. Six stone water plots. They were
stones dead. It ain't got no warmth. It ain't
got no life. It's just a vessel. These pots
represent you and me. And it says, after the manner,
the purifying of the Jews, they were used with the washing of
hands. They liked to wash everything. The Lord gave that, and in good
sense, too. How to wash your pots, and your field sanitation. Half an army's field sanitation
manual, you'd get out of Leviticus. Good sense. They didn't see germs
and things back then, did they? The Lord knew they couldn't see
them. They weren't smart enough to figure it out. He said, here's
what you do. The Jews wanted to wash their
hands. They had these pots out here to wash everything. They
wanted to wash the outside. They were earthly. And that's
all that these stone pots were good for. It was for rituals
and it didn't profit anything. That's our whole life until the
Lord gives us the gospel. We're going through the motions.
We're looking real religious. We're quoting a whole lot of
verses. Memorizing scripture. Feeding the poor. Trying to teach
people stuff. Trying to reveal stuff to people.
And then he comes to us. And it said they could hold two
or three firkings. That's a whole lot of debate how much wine that
was. It was a bunch. Between 60 and 120 gallons. I
think a gallon of wine is a whole lot. I don't know how many people
was there. It was a bunch of wine. It would
last that entire feast. In those days, sometimes the
celebration would last seven days. That wine will be provided
by Christ. It's going to be enough for the
entire feast. It will never run out. And His blood will not run
out and it will not be found to fail. It ain't going to expire. It says in verse 7, Jesus saith
unto them, Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them
to the brim. You take these as stone, clay
vessels. Fill them to the brim with water.
The Word of the Lord, through the preaching of the Gospel,
it pleased the Lord to use His disciples to fill these stone
pots, didn't it? He could have just said, water
be in it, or thought it, and it would have been full to the
brim with water. It pleased Him to have His servants go put water
in these vessels and fill them to the brim. They didn't fill
them themselves, somebody else didn't fill them, His servants
did. That's what He's saying. It pleased Him to do it. And
whenever that Gospel enters a dead, Stony human. First, we're going
to see the word of God and His law and His holiness. I told
you in the beginning that water can be wrath, can't it? We're
going to see that we deserve judgment. Now that I know what
I am, I see who I've offended. Uh-oh. That's right. The Lord
that killed me is right. We're going to see that, ain't
it? Boy, that's going to fill us to the brim with doubt, regret,
fear, Until we see the blood of Christ. Until He does the
work. You know, every time Christ comes to somebody, what does
He say? Fear not. Did they ever say, I wasn't scared. I'm fine. What are you talking about? There
was fear, wasn't there? Who's that? What is this? Fear not.
Because there was fear there. He commanded the fear gone, didn't
He? We see all that wrath of God that we rightfully and willfully
brought upon ourselves. It's laid on Christ our substitute.
And it's His blood that's the remission of our sins, and we're
saved to the uttermost. That wine's filled to the brim,
plumbed to the top, overflowing. A sinner that's had that work
done in the heart by God is overflowing with these waters, this life
of Christ. We overflow in joy and mercy
and forgiveness, cleansing, and there's no space of emptiness
in that new man. That old man ain't nothing but
empty dead stone. That new man in us, rivers of
living waters in him, overflows. My cup overflows. Verse 8, here's
the eternal result of the Almighty God filling an earthen vessel
to the brim with the Word of God, with the living waters.
And he saith unto them, draw it out and bear it unto the governor
of the feast, and they bear. What comes out is wine. It is
completely and fully satisfying to that governor. When Christ
gives a new nature to one of His children, a new heart, when
He circumcised that heart, and the people that He saves, everything
that comes out of these old vessels is nothing but perfect and pleasing
to God the Father. He's totally satisfied. Isn't
that amazing to you? Everything that you've done is
perfect. Because of Christ, because of
His blood, because of His substitutionary work, The Father looks just perfect. Perfect. Wonderful. Did you hear what Christ said
when He turned the water into wine? They filled them up to
the brim with water and He said, draw it out. And they stuck a
ladle in and out came wine. He didn't say abracadabra. He
just willed it, didn't He? It wasn't a fancy show. It wasn't
a big old ceremony. It wasn't a big hook-de-do. He
said, fill it to the top with water. Now, scoop it out. and
there was wine. He willed it to be so. Physically
speaking, He turned a thing into something that it was not. That
wine was not as if it's wine. That wine was not going to be
wine someday down the road. It wasn't grape juice waiting
to be wine. It was not still water, but we're all just going
to act like it's wine. It was wine. It was done. What does that translate to spiritually?
Physically, that's what happened. For He hath made Him sin for
us who knew no sin." He was made something He wouldn't. That we
might be made to righteousness of God in Him. We're made something
we wouldn't. With the wine, they didn't see
it happen. There wasn't any fancy words.
I can't chemically explain how that happened, but I know it's
so. Spiritually, when the Lord works in the heart of somebody,
and He gives them life, you probably don't see nothing happen immediately,
do you? You don't hear any fancy words. There's not a lot of showmanship
going on. And I can't explain to you fully
how that happens, but I know it's so. What used to be death,
destruction, and damnation is now life. Now it's cheerful to
the heart. Makes my heart glad, because
He commanded it. Isn't that good news? Doesn't
that have a wonderful taste to it? That's not the end of it,
is it? Look here in verse 9. When the
ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine,
and knew not whence it was, he couldn't say, well, you're bringing
me this, but you didn't make it. But the servants which drew the
water knew. The slave servants know what they're giving somebody
that they're preaching to. The people here may not know.
But his servants that's bringing the wine, they know what the
wine is. And the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,
someone else gonna get credit for this. And saith unto him, every man
at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have
well drunk, then that which is worse, but thou hast kept the
good wine until now. Good wine first and cheap wine.
If you've ever been under the age of 30, you may have experienced
that or heard a story about it. You can't afford nothing, so
you get the good stuff, get you a six-pack of the good stuff,
and then you get the old cheap stuff for once you drink the
six-pack. That's how that works. That's how everybody else is
doing it. There are young people out in Cana, out in the reeds, ain't
got much, poor, poor side of the country. We'll give them
a taste of a little bit of something, and they won't tell the difference,
can't care after that. That's man's thoughts and man's
religion. Do you know that? That's the thoughts of man's
religion. Oh, it starts out good at first. Oh, everybody's so
happy and everything's so wonderful. But at the end, it fails. She
said they wanted wine. It says the wine faileth. That's
how it's translated. The wine faileth. Man's religion
starts out squeaky clean and so tasty. Boy, it fails at the
end, doesn't it? It fails in judgment. The savor
on the taste buds of that governor are not satisfied, but not so
in Christ's kingdom. Not so at his wedding feast.
We will not come up short. We will not be found unsatisfactory
to the Father, to the Great Governor. At first when we hear, it's just
backwards isn't it? It's bitter at first. We start
hearing a sin. What I am. Who I've offended. What the cost of that is. Eternal
damnation. I see sin in me. Oh, it's bitter. It's bitter, isn't it? But the
Savior that willingly shed His blood for sinners, well, that's
sweet from the get-go. And it stays sweet, doesn't it?
Our amazement, our glorying in Christ, it's only going to continue
to grow. It's only going to continue to
get better. His manifested glory to us, it'll wax greater and
greater. And on this earth, we'll grow
in grace. We'll grow in love to our Master.
But after this race is run, When this life's over, we see Him
more and more as we grow. More and more through trials
as more trials come. But when this life ends, and
we're with Him, all the best is yet to come. Lord, You've
saved the best for last. He's getting sweeter to me as
these years go on. And I don't think that's going
to stop. But when it's over, I say, oh, now's the best wine. Now's the best flavor. The scripture
said, we'll be fine wine on the leaves. He says that in Isaiah
25. This mountain shall the Lord
of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast
of wine on the leaves. Feast of fat things full of marrow,
of wine on the leaves well refined. I made a little bit of wine in
my day. When you make wine, yeast has to eat it. It eats the sugar.
Sugar's bad for you. Turns it into alcohol. Anaerobic
respiration. And those yeasts die and they
fall to the bottom. And there's just an inch of sludge on the
bottom of them big old decanters. And you rack the wine, you siphon
the good wine off, and leave that dead yeast, that dead sin,
the remembrance of sin, is what that represents. It's gone. It
ain't there. It's just well refined wine.
Nothing but the good stuff. Nothing but the stuff that makes
our hearts cheerful. Pleases God and pleases man.
The man that he's done something for, doesn't he? Our feast forever
will only be the perfectly preserved fruit of the vine. No sin in
us and just worshiping our Savior for eternity with complete gladness. What a day that'll be. It says
in verse 11 there in our text. John 2 verse 11. This beginning
of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth
His glory and His disciples believed on Him. They didn't believe He
just turned water into wine. They believed on Him. On Him. The fact is, obviously the Lord
Jesus Christ was not a teetotaler. I know a lot of people, they
won't even take a thin bowl of wine at the Lord's table. I don't
pay any attention during those times. But people say, oh, I ain't drinking
that. That's sinful. That's bad. Our Lord drank wine
on this earth. They called Him a wine-bipper.
His disciples drank wine. He gave us wine at His table.
He made a whole lot of wine at this wedding, plenty of wine,
and we'll drink that wine in glory that He's made. What's
that a picture of? Oh, if we could get the picture.
That's just something people can argue about. That's a fact
that can set dinner and make their heads look bigger. Make
them feel important. What's a spiritual picture there?
His blood is plenteous. His people desire it. Lord, we
need your wine. We need your blood. And our hearts
are made glad by it because the Father's wealth is pleased by
it. It pleases God and it pleases man. And all of the glory throughout
eternity, eternal glory, will be glad for the rest of eternity
because of it. That's what we'll talk about
in there. Worthy is the Lamb. I pray His glory is manifested
here tonight. Somebody hears this, and His
disciples, those that are His, and they believe Him, He said,
this is My body, broken for you, take and eat. He said, this cup
is My blood, drink all of it. Drink all of it. They'll be glad in their hearts
if we do. Amen.
Kevin Thacker
About Kevin Thacker
Kevin, a native of Ashland Kentucky and former US military serviceman, is pastor of the San Diego Grace Fellowship in San Diego California.

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