Let's all stand together. Number
83. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. We love to call you by that name,
our Savior Christ Jesus. Jehovah said, Can you? The God-man lived for us, Bringing
eternal righteousness, Which God imputes to us. Jehovah Sidkenu, our substitute
who died. Your blood has put away our sin,
and we are justified. Jehovah Sidkenu, your love has
won our praise. Trusting your blood and righteousness,
we're saved by your free grace. Jehovah Sidkayu, we stand in
you alone. Our only fitness before God is
in our Lord, His Son. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. Christ Jesus, you alone we call,
the Lord our righteousness. Please be seated. David said, I will speak of thy
righteousness, even of thine only. The only righteousness
we can ever hope to have before a holy God is that which is found
in Christ. Pray the Lord will be pleased
tonight to reveal Christ to our hearts and enable us to trust
him for all our righteousness. I'd like to read from Hebrews
chapter 10. If you turn with me there in
your Bibles, Hebrews chapter 10. We know that this book is a revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we've seen that in so many times
in so many places. But there's a theme also in the
Word of God, and that is that law is set in contrast to grace. Law and grace is the is the theme
that is repeated over and over and over again in the Word of
God. You're not under the law, you're
under grace. Here in Hebrews chapter 10, the
Lord gives us a summary of that truth when he says, for the law,
having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image
of the things can never with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually make the comers there unto perfect. Now that's what we need. We're
the comers. If we're going to stand in the
presence of God, we've got to be made perfect. And the law
can't do it. Only the righteousness of Christ.
By grace are you saved. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers,
once purged, should have no more conscience of sin. If the sacrifices
took away sin, then they wouldn't have continued to do them. But
in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance, again, made of
sins every year. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offerings
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. He was
born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were
cursed by the law, by he is satisfying of the law. In burnt offerings
and sacrifice for sin, thou hast no pleasure. He's not pleased
with what you do, he's pleased with what Christ has done. Then
said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of
me, to do thy will, O God. The Lord Jesus Christ, the only
one that ever did the will of God. Only one that ever did it. And God's pleased with him. Above,
when he said, Sacrifice and offerings and burnt offerings and offerings
for sin, thou wouldest not, neither hadest pleasure therein, which
are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. I love the way the Lord's written
his word. He often repeats himself for the purpose of emphasis.
And when repetition is there, it draws our attention to it. I come to do thy will, O God.
He taketh away the first that he may establish the second. He taketh away the law that he
may establish salvation by grace, by the which will we are sanctified,
made holy. How? Through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once. Once. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we rejoice
in knowing that we have a righteousness before Thee, one who pleads our
case, one who has presented himself on our behalf, one who has satisfied
all the demands of Thy holy law, one who has covered the sins
of Thy people with His shed blood. sanctified once for all, made
holy in the person of thy dear son. We ask, Father, that you
would bless your word with your spirit, enable the speaker, enable
the hearer to see and to believe and to rest on the accomplished,
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in his name
we ask it. Amen. Number 272 from the hardback
temple. 272 from the hardback temple. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veils his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. Please be seated. Adam and I were talking before
the service, the only thing this world can offer anyone is moments
of fleshly pleasure. That's it. This world has nothing
to offer that will satisfy your soul and give you hope in salvation. It's all sinking sand. Christ
alone is the only one on which we can stand and find hope, peace,
comfort, forgiveness. I hope tonight the Lord will
be pleased to enable us to find him to be that for our souls. I want to welcome the brethren
in Sarasota. They're always encouraged when
we acknowledge them. They said they're all on the
other end waving at us like they're here, part of us. So it's good
for you to know they're there and it's good for them to know
that that we're aware of them, so. Would you open your Bibles
with me to John chapter two? John chapter two. I want to read the first 11 verses
of this very familiar passage in John chapter two. 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 wanted wine, the
mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And 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. And there were set there
six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of
the Jews, containing two or three farkins apiece. Now from what
I understand, that's 20 to 25 gallons each. These would have
been like small bathtubs. They were for ceremonial washing. And there's six of them there.
And Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water pots with water. And
they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw
out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.
And when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was
made wine, he knew not whence it was. But the servants which
drew the water knew. And 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. This beginning of miracles did
Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory, and
his disciples believed on him. You see in verse 11 that word
beginning? It's the word arch. It doesn't
just refer to the fact that this was the first miracle. In fact,
it means this is the preeminent miracle. This is the most important
miracle. That's what it means. So we're forced to ask what is
the significance of this miracle for the Lord to call it the chief
miracle, the principle miracle. If we call the archangel, that's
the first principle leader of all the angels. If we say an
arch enemy, that's the first principle person that is our
enemy, or an archbishop, that's the first. That's the word here.
So the Lord's called in this miracle, the arch miracle, the
first and the chief and the principal miracle. That means out of all
the miracles that our Lord performed, The raising of Lazarus from the
dead. You would think that was a pretty amazing miracle. The
miracle of blind Bartimaeus receiving his sight, being blind from birth. The miracle of the woman with
an issue of blood. The miracle of the man at the
Pool of Bethesda or the demoniac that was in the Gadarenes who
had the demons cast out of him. All these amazing miracles that
the Lord performed. And let me say this, the Lord
never performed a single miracle for the purpose of amazing anyone.
All of his miracles have a gospel message to them. He's not interested
in impressing men with his power. These miracles are for the purpose
of communicating his glory. You see that in the last verse,
verse 11, he manifested forth his glory and his disciples believed
on him. That's the purpose of the miracles,
to manifest his glory and for his disciples to believe on him. What is the significance of this
arch miracle? Was it as most commentators write,
well, the Lord was honoring the feast, the wedding relationship
between a man and a woman by his appearance there at the wedding
and performing his first miracle there. A lot of people, that's
all they have, that's all they see in it. Or that the Lord was
meeting the needs of his friends, his mother and his brethren who
had run out of wine. Is that the purpose of this miracle? No. No. I want to try to preach the purpose
of this miracle that our Lord might be glorified and that his
disciples might be caused to believe on him by asking four
questions. What was the occasion of this
miracle and what's the significance of that? Who are the people involved
in this miracle and what do they represent? What is the message
of the miracle itself, the changing of water into wine, and what
was the result of this miracle? If the Lord will enable us to
understand the answer to those four questions, I believe he'll
be glorified and our faith will be strengthened. I pray there
will be somebody that will come to hear the gospel for the very
first time as we go through this beginning of miracles, this arch
miracle, this principle miracle that the Lord in his sovereign
providence chose to perform first in his public ministry in order
to set the stage for everything else that he would do in glorifying
himself and saving his people. What was the occasion of this
miracle? Well, it was a wedding. It was
a wedding. A man and a woman had fallen
in love with one another and they were committing their lives
to one another in matrimony, in marriage. The scripture describes the Lord
Jesus Christ as the bridegroom. The scriptures describes his
church as his bride. In Ephesians chapter 5, when
it speaks of the husband and wife relationship, the Lord says,
but I speak to you concerning a great mystery concerning Christ
and his church. The Lord Jesus Christ, because
of his great love for his bride, came into this world in order
to redeem him to himself, in order to marry her, in order
to unite her to himself, and provide for her all the blessings
that he received as the firstborn, the only begotten of the Father,
and by inheritance, his bride enjoys the blessings of his person
and of his power and of his grace by virtue of her union with Christ. That's what this book's about.
It's all about the bridegroom coming into the world to redeem
his bride. And through the miracle of the
new birth, we discover ourselves as part of the bride of Christ,
that precious bride, that He speaks of in the song of Solomon
as his wife, which he loves. We see it so many times in the
scriptures. We see it all the way back in
the garden, don't we? When Adam sinned with his eyes
open. And what was the consequences
of that? Well, it was the fall, but what
was the consequences of that for Eve? Adam, Eve the scripture
says was deceived, and Adam went into the sin with his eyes wide
open, didn't he? And through Adam's fall, Eve
was redeemed. What a picture of Christ and
his church. We come into this world deceived,
not knowing the truth. And the Lord Jesus Christ, with
his eyes wide open, went to the cross and bore in his body the
sins of his people. He owned our sin as his own and
suffered the full penalty of God's wrath. For what purpose? To redeem his wife, to save his
bride. We see it in Hosea and Gomer,
don't we? Gomer selling herself as a prostitute. And that's what
we've done. Spiritually speaking, we've prostituted
ourselves to other gods, to other husbands. And Hosea, with his
great love, with he loved her, went and bought her off the auction
block. and redeemed her to himself and
made her to be his loving wife. All throughout the scriptures
we see it. We see it with Jacob and Rachel. We see it over and
over again. Christ and his church, the bride. That's what this is about. This
is about a marriage. This matter of salvation is a
marriage made in heaven. We often speak of that when we
talk about young people getting married, and we have great hopes
for them, that it'll be a marriage made in heaven, and sometimes
it is, and sometimes it turns out to where it's not. But this
truly is. This is a marriage that will
last forever. It's a marriage that was established
in eternity past. The fact is that the Lord chose
His bride before time ever began. And there's no way that that
bride's ever going to be lost. There's no way that she's ever
going to be separated from Him. There's no way that she's ever
going to lose her union with Christ. So the Lord Jesus Christ
came into the world in order to consummate that marriage through
His death on Calvary's cross. And now the Spirit of God is
revealing to His bride those for whom He died and bringing
them into union with Him. to live with Him for all eternity.
This wedding is called an arch, I mean, this miracle is called
an arch miracle. It's called a principal miracle
because of the occasion on which the miracle took place. It took
place at a wedding. What greater summary is there
of the gospel than the marriage union that Christ has with His
bride? The second question I want to
ask is who were the people involved in this miracle and what do they
represent? And the first person we come
in contact with is the mother of Jesus as she's referred to
in verse 1. 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
wanted wine And they ran out of wine. The mother of Jesus
said unto him, they have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, woman,
what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. For 30 years, Mary's role in
relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ was that of his mother.
She gave birth to him in Bethlehem. She cared for his needs as a
child. She cooked his meals. She washed
his clothes. She supplied him with all that
he needed. In public, she would have been
introduced as the mother of Jesus and he would have been introduced
as the son of Mary. No longer. No longer. That relationship is coming to
an end. It was necessary. It was necessary. And I don't say this with any
malice whatsoever, but it was necessary for Mary to be put
in her place. Mary's a sinner. Mary needed a savior. She didn't
need a son. She needed a savior. She needed
the Lord. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
very tenderly and mercifully bringing her to that place. Don't
you know that she would have, I mean, it was a blessed relationship,
no doubt. It was unique in the history
of mankind. What other person, what other
child of Adam was put in such a position to care for God? to give birth to God and to care
for God. Mary surely thought here when
she came to the Lord, they have no wine, that she had some special
privileges. She had access to the Lord Jesus
Christ that other people didn't enjoy. She was going to solve
this problem by taking advantage of her position as his mother. And he said to her, woman, woman,
what do I have to do with you? And that's the exact translation
here. The Lord Jesus Christ is saying to Mary, Mary, this is
not about you. and my relationship with you
as a mother and a son. And you enjoy no privileges in
terms of your relationship with me. This is on my time scale. My time has not yet come. Isn't
that what he said? My time has not yet come. This
is about the Father's ordained purpose in my saving my people,
and you're one that needs to be saved. Isn't that the way
we all are? Isn't it so that by nature we
think that we have special access, we think that we have privileges,
we think that we can call on God and that he would be obligated
to do what we ask him to do until he does what? Puts us in our
place. Puts us in our place. and causes
us to see that this is between Him and the Father, and that
we are completely dependent upon Him to do things according to
His will and His purpose, and we have nothing to say about
it. Mary is such a picture of that. The Lord was having mercy on
her to show her that she was completely dependent upon him
as her Lord and as her Savior. And this thing about being his
mother, even at the cross, the next time the Lord addresses
Mary is when he's hanging on Calvary's cross and what does
he say? Woman, behold thy son, speaking of John. And he speaks
to John, behold thy mother. He calls Mary the mother of John. In Matthew chapter 12, the Lord
is teaching in a very crowded place and someone comes in and
says, your mother and your brother are asking for you. And the Lord
asked the question, he says, who is my mother? Now this is
the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. He said, Mary's outside. She's
asking you to come out. And the Lord says, who is my
mother? And who are my brethren? And then he waved his hands and
he says, behold, my mother and my brethren are whosoever shall
do the will of the Father which is in heaven. He is my brother
and my sister and my mother. What is it to do the will of
God? It's to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. So this matter of being in union
with Christ, not only as a bride, but also as his child and as
his brother and as his mother, spiritually speaking, doesn't
come by birth. It's not by the rite of birth.
The Jews thought that. They thought, well, we're children
of Abraham. And the Lord said, I can raise
up children of Abraham from these stones. It's not by your birth. It's not by your will. It's not
of him that willeth. It's not of him that runneth.
It's of God that showeth mercy. That's what the Lord's saying
to Mary. Mary, you need me to be merciful to you. You need
to bow to me as your savior and as your Lord. You're a sinner
in need of grace. and you're not here to control
me or to tell me what I'm going to do. Matthew chapter 10 verse
35, the Lord Jesus Christ said, I am come into the world to set
a man at variance against his mother and against his brother
and against his father, his daughter-in-law, against her mother-in-law. I
did not come to bring peace. I came to bring a sword. Our family in Christ is the family
of God. It's believers. These are my
mother. These are my brothers. These
are my sisters. And that's what the Lord's saying
to Mary. It wasn't a matter of disrespect. It was a matter of
lovingly and mercifully putting her in her place. And that's
what you need, and that's what I need, for God to make us to
be sinners and to say to us, it's on my time schedule. It's
all according to my purpose. Look at verse five. Mary is not
the only person involved in this miracle. In verse five, she got
the message right away. I mean, she didn't ask any questions.
She didn't say, but, but, but, but, you know, I'm your mother.
No, she understood exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ was saying
to her. Look what she says in verse five. Immediately, his
mother saith unto the servants, whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. Here's the second person involved. The servants knew where the wine
came from. And when they, Mary said, whatever
he says to you, do it. There's the believer's rule of
life. Whatever the Lord Jesus Christ says, do it. Ask him. Ask him. You know, things aren't really
as complicated as we make them. Right and wrong's not complicated.
The gospel's not complicated. We're the ones that complicate
things. Why? Because we want to justify ourselves, we want
to manipulate the circumstances to make things work the way we
want them to be, we think we know what's best, and we're the
ones that make a mess of things. Bow to the Lord Jesus Christ
as his servant and say to him, what would you have me to do?
What would you have me to do? You lack wisdom? Ask it of God. He'll give it to you liberally.
He upbraideth it not. He delights in revealing Himself,
His glory, manifesting His glory to His disciples. Isn't that
our problem? Here's the servant of God. This
is what every child of God wants to be. Wants to be a bond slave. He knows that there was a time
when he couldn't believe. He knows that there was a time
when he was held captive by the power of darkness and only by
God's grace was he delivered from the gates of hell. and that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who led captivity captive. He made us to be his servants,
delivering us from the servant of sin, from the servant of darkness,
and making us to be his servants. And here's what God says to you
and to me. Whatsoever he says, do it. Just do it. And what'd they do? Did they
say, well, we'll do some of it. We'll fill up two of the six
bathtubs. We'll fill up five of them. We'll leave an inch left before
they get all the way full up because we don't want them to
spill over. Now, what's the scripture say? They filled all six water
pots to the brim. Isn't that what it says? Filled them up to the brim. He
said, fill the water pots. They filled the water pots. Didn't
ask any questions. What do you want us to fill the
water? If we fill them all the way up, people aren't going to be
able to wash their hands because the water's going to be going everywhere.
Fill them up. Fill them up. Here's the truth. You and I don't always understand
what God's doing. We don't know what He's doing. You know, the best thing to do
is just obey God. Just obey God. Just do whatever
He says. And he'll bless that. Turn with
me to John chapter one, back just one page. I'm sorry. I was thinking about
a passage of scripture and that's... Alright. I apologize. Forgive me. Who's the next person
in this story? Well, it's the governor of the
feast. It's the governor of the feast. Look back with me to our
text in John chapter two. And Jesus saith unto them in
verse seven, fill the water pots with water and they filled them
up to the brim. And he said unto them, draw out
now and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bear it. And when the ruler of the feast
had tasted the water that was made wine, he knew not whence
it was. But the servants which drew the
water knew. The governor of the feast didn't
know where the wine came from. He knew that they had run out.
He knew that he was about to be embarrassed with not having
enough provisions for the guests that had been invited to this
wedding. But he didn't know where the
wine came from. But the servants knew where it came from. What
a picture of the natural man who breathes into his lungs the
very air of God and doesn't know where it comes from. Puts into his mouth the bread
that God put on his table and doesn't know where it came from.
Enjoys waking up in the morning and living his life with relatively
good health and doesn't know where it came from. Isn't that
the picture of the natural man? Worse yet, it's one who sits
and hears the gospel and takes a taste. And maybe he understands
some doctrines. Maybe he gets the sovereignty
of God thing worked out in his mind. Maybe he is able to say,
well, I know I'm totally depraved. And he works through the doctrines
of grace, as they call them. And yet, he finds himself to
have ears, but he doesn't hear. He doesn't know Christ. He doesn't
know from whence these things come. These are the characters in this
story, Mary, the servants, and the governor of the feast. Might the Lord do for us what
he did for Mary, that we would be faithful servants and not
be found like that governor of the feast. This is the arch miracle. This is the first miracle. And
the real message of this whole passage is the message of the
miracle. The message of the miracle is
the same as the message of all of scripture. This book has a
theme to it. This book juxtaposes law and
grace over and over and over again. That's what it does. Why? Because we come into this
world bound to the law. We come into this world cursed
by the law. We come into this world vainly
thinking that we can satisfy the demands of the law. And the
gospel of God's free grace is set in direct contrast to the
law of God. Six water pots. Six being the number of man,
isn't it? Picture of the law here, isn't
it? It's the case all the way throughout. Aaron preached Sunday
morning on Cain and Abel. That's where it started, right
there, didn't it? Law and grace. Cain thought that he could present
himself to God based on his keeping of the law, based on something
that he had to offer God. Abel, on the other hand, knew
that if he was to be saved, it'd be through the shed blood of
a lamb. That was the only hope he had. Jacob and Esau, picture of law
and grace, aren't they? Jacob, the supplanter. Jacob,
the one whom God loved. Esau, the scripture says, God
hated him. What a picture all the way throughout
of Sinai. as the scripture describes it,
at Mount Calvary. Men who are under the law, men
who are cursed by the law, men who are desperately trying to
satisfy the demands of the law. That's what religion does. That's
what religion does. And the only difference between
one religion and another religion is the set of rules and regulations
given by each group as to what those laws are. You know, that's
it. One says, no, you've got to do
this. Another one says, oh, no, you've got to do that. Another one says,
well, you've got to abstain from this. It's all touch not, taste
not, handle not. It's all the works of man's hands
trying to earn favor with God. The flood came as a result of
the law. That's the judgment of God that
destroyed the earth and the ark. was a picture of Christ and his
grace providing safety for Noah and his family. Three things
I see in these six water pots in relationship to the law. The
first is that of superstition. Superstition. Nowhere in the
Old Testament did God command the Jews to do what they were
doing. There was six big water pots,
and when you came in the door, you washed in the first one,
washed in the second one, up to your elbows. I mean, you went
through the ceremony. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
7. We were in the I think I shared
this with you all once a couple of years ago. We were in Istanbul
and we visited the Blue Mosque and the young Muslim man was
showing us around and I noticed on the big door coming in the
front that there were five or six of these doorknobs that just
spun. on the door. And the door we
went out had five or six doorknobs that spun. And I asked him, I
said, what's that for? And he said, well, you spin them
clockwise when you come in, you spin them counterclockwise when
you go out, and it's just good luck. It's just good luck. That's what these six water pots
were. It was just good luck. You know, we're just gonna go
through the traditions and the superstitions of ceremony and
hope that maybe some luck will fall on us from God as a result
of us doing these things. That's exactly what they were
doing here. Look at Mark chapter, did I say Matthew? Go with me to Mark chapter seven. Mark chapter seven. Verse one,
then came together unto him the Pharisees and certain of the
scribes which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his
disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say with unwashed
hands, they found fault. Now, for sanitary reasons, there's
nothing wrong with washing your hands before you eat. But that's
not what the point is here. It's not what goes into a man
that defiles him. It's what comes out of his mouth. It's what he
says about Christ. It's what he says about law and
grace and salvation that defiles him. But they thought you would
be defiled if you didn't wash your hands properly, if you didn't
go through this ceremony. For the Pharisees and all the
Jews except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the traditions
of the elders. And when they came from the market,
except they wash, they eat not, and many other things there be,
which they have received to hold as the washings of cups and pots
and brazen vessels and tables." In other words, there was lots
of ceremony. There was lots of tradition.
There was lots of superstition. that they were following. These
things weren't given to them by God. They were the traditions
of men. They were the rules and regulations
set up in religion by men. And every religion has them. That's why we just stick with
the scripture, don't we? We don't have all that stuff. Look at verse five. Then the
Pharisees and the scribes asked him, why walk not thy disciples
according to the traditions of the elders? Even they couldn't
defend these things from the word of God. So even those who
were practicing it said, well, these are the traditions of elders.
Why don't your disciples follow the traditions of elders? but they eat bread with unwashed
hands. And he answered and said unto them, well, hath Isaiah
the prophet prophesied of you hypocrites? As it is written,
this people honoreth me with their lips, but their hearts
are fall far from me. Superstition, religious superstition
is for those who don't have the spirit and they don't have the
truth. And they're trying to fabricate
something to make it look like they've got the spirit and make
it look like they've got the truth. That's what these six
water pots were. The Lord said that he seeketh
after those, the Father seeketh after those who will worship
him in spirit and in the truth. And if it's not done by the Spirit
of God, if it's not according to the truth of God's Word, it's
nothing but the tradition of the elders. It's nothing but
superstition. And what'd the Lord say? Fill
it up. Fill it up to the brim. Don't
leave any place left for it. The second thing that these six
water pots tell me is that six is the number for man. Man was
created on the sixth day. Man is represented as 666. Six
is the closest number to seven that there is. But close doesn't count. Close
doesn't count when it comes to the salvation of your soul. Man
will never be able to save himself. Man will always fall short of
the glory of God. We're in need of the God-man. We're in need of the last Adam. We're in need of the Son of Man
to come and do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Fill
it up. Fill it up. And thirdly, thirdly, these six
water pots represent the law. They represent the law. The Lord
Jesus Christ himself is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe. You've never been able to keep
one of God's laws one time. Not once have you been able to
keep a law of God. Say, well, I've never murdered.
You don't know your heart. You don't know your heart. God
says you have. People just bring that one out
because, you know, they think, well, I haven't done that. Truth
is, you haven't kept any of God's laws. Look what the scripture
says in Romans chapter 8, for what the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, here he is, the son of man, and
for sin, condemned sin of the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us. For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He's
the only one that ever satisfied the demands of God's law. What
do you say? Fill it up. Fill it up. What does God say about the religionist?
Well, Romans chapter 10 says that they have a zeal for God. They're religious. But their
zeal is without knowledge. Being ignorant of God's righteousness. What is God's righteousness?
Christ is God's righteousness. They won't trust Christ by himself. They won't hang all the hopes
of their salvation on that nail. They're going to try to make
some contribution of their own. Whether it be by their will or
by their works, they're going to deny Christ his glory and
salvation. And they go about trying to establish
their own righteousness, being ignorant of God's righteousness. Six water pots. Fill them up. Fill them up. The traditions
of men, fill them up. The law, fill it up. What was it changed to? Wine. Wine. Revelation says he treadeth
the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ did when he hung on Calvary's cross. He suffered the full penalty
of God's wrath for the sins that he carried in his body on that
tree. And his blood became the covering
to justify us before God. Here's the, the old's been done
away. The old's been filled up. The new has come. This is the
arch miracle. This is the meaning of this miracle.
It's the establishment of grace and the putting away and fulfilling
of the law. The traditions of men, the ceremonies
of men, and the traditions of the law have all been fulfilled. Why? Because Christ fulfilled
them. He did that. And the only hope
that you and I have is to have all our trust, all our hope,
all our faith in the accomplishment of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fill
them up. Change it to wine. Now I remind
you, those water pots were for washing. Nobody would want to drink out
of them. That wine of the governor of
the feast? Boy, yeah, I've never tasted wine like this before. I can't imagine what that wine
was like. But I know something about the joy of the Lord that
comes to the soul when God enables you to trust Christ for all your
righteousness. What was the occasion of the
wedding? The miracle? It was a wedding. Who were the
people involved? Mary, the servants, and the governor
of the feast. What was the message of the miracle?
Law and grace. Law and grace. Satisfying of
the law, and the fulfilling of all righteousness, and the shedding
of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to satisfy God's justice.
And what was the result of the miracle? In conclusion, go with
me very quickly to verse 11. This arch miracle, verse 11,
did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth his glory. That's the reason for the miracle.
That's the reason for all of his miracles, to show forth his
glory. The gospel of God's free grace
in the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only
message of salvation in all the world that gives to the Lord
Jesus Christ all the glory for salvation. Every other message
gives you something to do. gives you something to perform,
something to abstain from, some prayer to pray, some will to
exercise, some work to perform. Every religion in the world,
it's just man's traditions. It's man's superstition. This miracle, when properly understood,
gives to the Lord Jesus Christ all the glory. His glory is manifested. Most can't see it. It's manifested
to the hearts of His people. It's manifested to His disciples
who believed on Him. You see that? His disciples believed
on Him. You see, the manifestation of
the glory of God to the heart and being a disciple that believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ is inseparable. Inseparable. They're two sides of the same
coin. You can't have one without the other. And that's the result
of this miracle. Can you see it? Can you believe? Has the Lord manifested his glory? Has He made you to be a believing
disciple? Or does this message, as it does
most people, anger you? It does. It angers most people.
Why? Because it robs them of the hope
of their salvation and exposes all of the hypocrisies of their
religious traditions. It manifests the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we ask that you would be merciful to us and that you would manifest,
make known to our hearts the glory of Christ and give to us
the faith to believe. For we ask it in his name. Amen. 186 and the hardback tenor, let's
stand together. The church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation by water
and the Word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her, and for her life he died. Elect from every nation, yet
one o'er all the earth. Her charter of salvation, one
Lord, one faith, one birth. One holy name she blesses, partakes
one holy food. And to one hope she presses With
every grace endued. Mid toil and tribulation And
tumult of her war, She waits the consummation Of peace forever
bore. Till with a vision glorious her
longing eyes are blessed, And the great church victorious shall
be the church at rest. Yet she on earth hath union With
God the Three in One, And mystic, sweet communion With those whose
rest is won. O happy ones and holy, Lord,
give us grace that we, like them, the meek and lowly, on high may
dwell with Thee. Hey, little Logan. Come here, boy. Okay.