Turn in your Bibles to John chapter
two. John chapter two. We're going
to be looking at this marriage in Cana of Galilee, which Jesus
attended with his disciples. And Jesus's mother Mary was there
at the marriage here. I've entitled today's message,
Water Made Wine, Water Made Wine. I don't know if that's the best
title for this text of scripture, but that seems to be the thing
that carry away with it. We're gonna read this together,
but before we do, I wanna give you a brief introduction here. Here
we have in scripture a marriage. and my daughter, Faith, and her
fiance, Ben, are going to be married soon. And so with that
in mind, those two things in mind here, let's read this text
of scripture and see something wonderful. Cause for rejoicing,
like we just read in Psalm 100, make a joyful noise unto the
Lord. John chapter 2 verse 1, and the
third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. Cana of Galilee
would have been an area where traditionally the Canaanites
would have dwelt, and it was a place of Gentiles. So there
was a marriage there, 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 said to him, they have
no wine. Jesus said to her, woman, what
have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His
mother saith unto the servants, whatsoever he saith to you, do
it. And there were set there six water pots of stone after
the manor of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three
firkins apiece. Jesus said to them, fill the
water pots with water. And they filled them up to the
brim. And he said to them, draw out now and bear unto the governor
of the feast. And they bear 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 said to him,
every man at the beginning does set forth good wine, and when
men have well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou has
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. Here we have in verse 11, that this is a miracle that Jesus
did first. And the word beginning here,
which means first and beginning, doesn't just mean the first one,
although it does, but it means the chief or the most important
one. In the history of Christ in the
New Testament, what you see is that his birth is announced. The angel promises, gives his
name, Jesus, and who he is, God with us, and then says how he
will be born. The angels announced his birth
to the shepherds. After his birth, his mother and
his earthly mother and earthly father took him to the temple
where they did for him according to the law of Moses as a child. And then he spent the rest of
his growing up years in silence until the age of 12 where he
was found in the temple asking questions and listening to the
doctors of the law and they were all amazed. And there at that
time, his mother and father, Mary and Joseph on earth, lost
him. They couldn't find him. They
didn't know where he was, but they looked for him for three
days until they found him and found him there talking to the
lawyers, the doctors in the temple. And everyone was amazed at his
questions and his answers then at 12. And they asked him, what
are you doing? Didn't you know we were, his
mother said, didn't you know that we were sorrowful? And he
said, didn't you know I must be about my father's business? And then we didn't hear anything
about Jesus until the baptism, his baptism at the River Jordan
by John. He was baptized. The Spirit of
God came down upon him, and his father spoke from heaven about
how he was his beloved son, his son of his love. So he had the
affirmation of God's own voice from heaven, and he was anointed
by the Spirit of God, and he immediately went out into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after that, he came
preaching. Immediately, he began to call
his disciples, his 12 apostles. And then he began his ministry
preaching and doing miracles, and this was the first miracle,
according to the text we've just read here, and it was the most
important of all. Now, there is a place in the
Gospels, and I won't turn you there, but I'll just recite it
to you because you'll remember it. The Pharisees and the scribes
were always trying to get Jesus to do some kind of miracle. They
asked a sign from him and he said, there shall no sign be
given to this wicked, this evil and adulterous generation except
the sign of the prophet Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three
nights in the belly of the fish or the whale, so shall the son
of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
So that the sign given by the Lord Jesus Christ was his sin
atoning death. And so we have this miracle,
the most important sign of all. And that helps us immensely because
it teaches us how to understand this sign, this miracle. But
let's just go, first of all, and look at this from the background,
first of all, that it was a marriage here in Cana of Galilee, and
Jesus was called, it says in verse two, and his disciples
to the marriage. Now, people didn't create marriage. God did. People don't regulate
marriage. God does. There is no marriage
but the marriage that God has created. We can't make marriage. Marriage is something God himself
instituted. He did it in the beginning. He
created them male and female and said, through Adam, For this
cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto
his wife and the two shall be one flesh. And that's expounded on in Ephesians
chapter five. The explanation in the New Testament
is that marriage was given by God in order to depict the marriage,
a spiritual relationship between the Lord Jesus Christ and all
of his people. So that in Ephesians 5 it says
that Christ as a husband is to love his wife, Christ loved the
church and gave himself for it. And we know he gave himself for
it in sacrifice to God. His life a sin offering, his
blood was given, his life was given up. And so when it says
here that both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage,
We can see in that statement a looking forward to the truth
of Ephesians chapter 5, which was given in shadow and type
in the book of Genesis from the beginning, that just as an artist
paints a picture with a meaning in mind, God painted his meaning
in creation. Creation is the picture, the
meaning is Christ and his people. And so when Jesus was called
and his disciples to the marriage, it's showing us that this is
a very tender and intimate occasion in which the Lord Jesus Christ,
as the husband of his people, is making himself known to them
in this sign, this miracle, which would point forward to the fulfillment
of what is said here and as explained here. So this helps us, doesn't
it? that this is the sign God gave,
the Lord Jesus Christ gave, that He would go to the cross, lay
down His life, give Himself in love for His people. He gave
Himself for the church, for those given to Him by God the Father,
and He gave Himself for them in order that He might redeem
them, redeem them from sin, all iniquity, and from the law, its
curse, and its bondage. and set them free, deliver them
from sin and from that bondage. Now, with that in mind, knowing
that this is the way God, this is the truth that God has revealed
in scripture, which at this time was not so clear. But this sign
is given to us now to make it clear, and also keeping in mind
that the gospel of John was written for this purpose, that we would
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing
we should have life through his name. Knowing that, therefore,
we go on in verse three, when they wanted wine. Now, a marriage
is a time of great joy and celebration, and it is right It is a God-given
celebration, a God-given joyful time of the highest possible
order that a man and a woman, a man who has lived his life
and a woman who has lived her life and grown up, and these
two are brought together by God and that they are joined together
in a God-given way for a God-given time, a duration that goes throughout
their entire life. So that this, in the joy of it,
is not only the joy of their love for one another, but the
fact that this represents and signifies a much higher relationship,
which is the Lord Jesus Christ with his people. And so a marriage,
because it's a time of joy and celebration, there was wine at
this marriage. And wine in scripture has a great
significance. It means something. In the book
of Judges in chapter 9 and verse 13, it says, wine cheereth God
and man. It cheers the heart of God and
the heart of man. Wine does. We know that God doesn't
drink wine. He doesn't have a body. He's
a spirit. So in what way does wine cheer
God? Well, it's in what wine signifies. And it's in that way that wine
cheers the heart of God's people, those who are brought to the
marriage. In this great celebration, everyone
at the marriage was drinking wine, but the wine ran out. And
so what we're going to see here is then Jesus performs this great
miracle. It says in verse four, I mean,
I'm sorry, in verse three, when they wanted wine, the mother
of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. Now that's a very simple
way of telling the Lord what's on our heart, isn't it? They
have no wine. My son is sick. My daughter has
a devil. We just tell the Lord. And we
trust that by His wisdom and His power, knowing that He only
does what is best, He will do all things well, right? But it's
often the case, and it has been throughout history, that the
Catholic Church and many others have perverted and distorted
Mary. They've made an idol of Mary,
and that's a damnable heresy. We shouldn't have any sympathy
for that heresy. And so here we see that the mother
of Jesus tells him, his earthly mother tells him they have no
wine. But notice in his response, Jesus said to her, woman, he
didn't say mom or mother, he said woman, what have I to do
with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. There's
much in that sentence that needs to be understood. First of all,
that Jesus was not subject to his mother. What do I have to
do with you? You don't direct me. In fact,
she was directed by him. And that's because he was doing
the will of his father. Remember, as I mentioned in Luke
2 49, Jesus, at the age of 12, told his mother and father, didn't
you know I must be about my father's business? And if we were to look
at other places in scripture, such as in John chapter 5, 36,
he says, I have a greater witness than John for the works which
the Father hath given me to finish. The same works that I do bear
witness of me that the Father has sent me. So he came to do
his father's will, not the will of his mother. And it's important that we see
the relationship here in Matthew chapter 12. And in verse 46,
someone said, while Jesus was teaching, your mother and your
brothers are outside and they want to see you. And Jesus, in
response to that, said, who are my mother? And who is my mother? And who are my brethren? And
he corrected them. He says, these, these who do
the will of God are my mother and my brethren and my sisters.
So by these statements, we see plainly that the Lord Jesus Christ
properly gave honor to his mother on earth as an earthly mother,
and the way we should, in accordance with God's law. He honored his
father and his mother, and he was in subjection to them. He
grew in favor and stature with God and men. And he did not fail
in any way to give honor to them. And he doesn't dishonor his mother
here, but he puts it in a perspective that's correct, that she was
subject to him and not him to her. Because he was the Christ
of God, the king, who sits on the throne as God's king over
his people. And so she says this, they have
no wine. And Jesus said, what do I have
to do with you, woman? Mine hour is not yet come. Now
that statement, mine hour is not yet come, explains everything
that follows. What is this hour that was not
yet come? It was the hour of His cross. It was the hour in which He would
do and accomplish. He would drink the cup that God
had given Him to drink, the cup of God's wrath that was poured
out without mixture, the cup of bearing the sins of His people. This was the hour. And you can
see this throughout the book of John in many, many places.
I'll just read you a couple. In John 7, in verse 30, the people
at the feast sought to take him, but no man laid hands on them
because his hour was not yet come. And then in John chapter
8, he says, mine hour is not yet come. Your
hour is always ready. In John chapter 12, in verse
27, He says this, he says, 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. And he goes
on to tell that this was the hour when he would cast Satan
out, that a judgment of the prince of this world would be occurring,
and God would be glorified in his death. And in John chapter
13, in verse 1, it says, before the feast of Passover, when Jesus
knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of
this world to the Father, having loved his own, which were in
the world, he loved them to the end. So this is talking about
the hour of his death. In Matthew chapter 26, he says,
this is your hour and the power of darkness to those who were
taking him, the evil men who took him and cruelly and mercilessly
crucified him. So the hour is the time when
the Lord Jesus Christ would give himself in death. It wasn't just
one 60 minute hour, but it was that appointed time for which
he came into the world when he would lay down his life for his
people and give himself. to shed his blood, to give himself
in love for his church, that he might redeem them. So when
he tells his mother, mine hour is not yet come, with respect
to them not having wine, what is he saying here? That the wine
that must be given can only be given when the Lord Jesus Christ
goes to the cross. And this is helping us to understand
what is being spoken of here. The marriage, Christ with his
disciples and all those there drinking this first wine, and
they run out of that. And then Jesus is told they have
no wine and he says, but mine hour isn't yet come. And then
he goes on to do the miracle which was a sign. In verse five,
John chapter two, it says, his mother said to the servants,
whatsoever he saith to you, do it. That was an accurate thing
to tell them. He's the master, these were his
servants, and they were going to do whatever Christ told them
to do. And this helps us to identify
these people in this text of scripture who are called servants,
those who do the master's will. And then it goes on. It says
here, in verse 6, there were set there six water pots of stone
after the manner of purifying of the Jews, containing two or
three firkins apiece. So here at the feast were these
empty stone jars. And they had a capacity for storing
whatever two or three firkins is. I'm told that it's around
20 to 30 gallons, quite a bit. And Jesus tells the servants,
notice, you fill those six water pots, stone water pots, with
water all the way to the brim so there's nothing, there's no
space left that can be put into the stone jars. Now what does that signify? Well,
stone jars, empty, six of them filled with water, all the way
to the brim, commanded by the Lord Jesus for his servants to
fill. Well, let's go on. He says, fill
the water pots with water, and they filled them up to the brim.
And he said to them, draw out now and bear unto the governor
of the feast. And they bear it. So these servants
took, they scooped out from those stone jars that they had just
filled to the brim with water, and they took the cup to the
governor of the feast. At that point, something had
happened. The water that was in the stone
jars was no more water. It was made wine. The servants
knew that they had put water in the jars. They did not know
that it was wine, but they brought it to the governor by the command
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so everyone is going to be
surprised now. When the ruler of the feast,
verse nine, had tasted the water that was made wine, Jesus didn't
give any commandment. It was just made wine. He had
done it. He didn't tell anyone he was
doing it. He did it all by himself. And now it was wine. It wasn't
water mixed with wine. In Isaiah 1, verse 22, it talks
about the hypocritical nature of the Jews' religion, and it
speaks about them taking water and mixing it with wine and watering
down the wine. That's what the Jews like to
do, is to water everything down. That's what people in religion
do. That's what we do by nature. We try to mix things, water and
wine together. But no, this was pure wine. It
didn't just smell like wine, but was really water, or taste
like wine, but was actually water. It was real wine. Water can't
be converted into wine through a chemical process. It's just
H2O, one hydrogen atom with two oxygen atoms combined and into
a molecule of water. There's no carbon there, which
is in wine. So Christ, the Lord, had created
wine from the water. He had made it, wine, out of
nothing from the water. And he did it by his will. Very
important. By an act of his will, he converted,
he made water wine. Amazing. And now, the governor
of the feast tastes the wine. It says, the ruler, in verse
9, when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was
made wine and knew not whence it was, so this man who was the
head, the most important person there, obviously, didn't know. He didn't know where this came
from. Where did this wine come from? But the servants which
drew the water knew where it came from. They knew Jesus had
done this, didn't they? Then the governor of the feast
called the bridegroom. And he said to him, every man
at the beginning doth set forth good wine. And when men have
well drunk, when they can't taste as much as they used to, they're
kind of drunk, then that which is worse. But you have kept the
good wine until now. All right, what does it all mean?
This beginning of miracles, this most significant of miracles
did Jesus in Cana of Galilee notice, and manifested forth
his glory, and his disciples believed on him. So let's understand
this now. First of all, this is a sign
of preeminence. In Colossians chapter 1, it says
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the beginning, the firstborn. from the dead, that in all things
He might have the preeminence." And as I mentioned, this sign
corresponds to what Jesus told them, the one sign that would
be given you, Christ and Him crucified. In the cross, in the
cross, be my glory ever. And also, we see here that there
was water put in six empty stone pots by the servants of the Lord
Jesus Christ. What does this signify? Well,
if you understand that in scripture, water is often used to refer
to the word of God, such as in John chapter 3, where If you're
not born of water and wind, or the Word and the Spirit, then
you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3, verse 5. And then in Isaiah 55, it says,
Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he
that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine
and milk without money and without price. And he goes on and talks
about how stupidly we spend our money for that which is not bread
and our labors for that which satisfies not. He says, hearken
diligently unto me and hear and your soul shall live. So the
water here is speaking about God's word that gives life through
the hearing of faith. And so that understanding the
water signifies God's word, we see here that the servants of
God throughout the Old Testament, through the law and the prophets
and the Psalms, were preaching the message God gave them to
preach. The servants of God were preaching
Christ who would come, Christ who would be sacrificed, the
Lamb of God. And John himself, who was the
end of the law and the prophets, was saying, this is the Lamb
of God. This is the Son of God. This
is the one who was before me, who is greater than I am. God
has given all things into his hand and you have to hear him.
He's the Christ of God. That was the servant's job. And
so they were pouring water into the testimony of God to His people
throughout time, from the beginning all the way until this time,
and it was full. The revelation of God was complete
until Christ came. And in the fullness of time,
God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law,
that he might redeem them that were under the law. And Jesus
says in John chapter five, verse 17, don't think that I'm come
to destroy the law and the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfill, to fulfill them. And so we saw there that Jesus
told the servants, you fill them up to the brim. And then he,
by his will, did something. He made wine. He made wine. In Psalm 104, in verse 15, it
says this about wine. Talks about wine there, too,
and the making of it. He says in Psalm 104 that God Makes wine he makes food come
forth from the earth he causes grass to grow in verse 14 an
herb for man that he might bring forth food and Wine that makes
glad the heart of man and oil to make his face shine and bread
which strengthens man's heart Make his heart glad The Word
of God given throughout the Old Testament was given and promised
a a new and an everlasting covenant. In order for that covenant to
be fulfilled, the Lord Jesus Christ had to come and fulfill
it. He had to do His Father's will. He had to finish His Father's
work. And He had to bring it to a complete
and perfect fulfillment by His own will. And so it says in Hebrews
chapter 10 and verse 10, by the witch will, we are made holy,
we are sanctified by God through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once. And in Hebrews chapter 10, he's
also saying there that just as the Old Testament promised that
in the new, when it was fulfilled, God would write his law into
the hearts of his people, he would never remember, he would
not remember their sins anymore. And then he goes on in Hebrews
10, he says, now where remission of these is, there's no more
offering for sin. So the remission of sins by the
blood of Christ was doing the will of God. So that when the
water pots, the stone water pots were full, then the Lord Jesus
Christ turned them all into wine. Listen to this from Isaiah chapter
32. This is phenomenal. In Isaiah 32, Actually, it's in Isaiah 45.
Let me see if I got this right. In Isaiah 45, if I get this right,
he says, I think it's in verse eight. He
says, drop down you heavens, notice, drop down you heavens
from above and let the skies pour down Notice the next word,
righteousness. Let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation. And let righteousness spring
up together. And here's the last phrase. I want you to pay close attention
to these words. Righteousness and salvation.
He says, I, the Lord, have created it. righteousness and salvation. What happened in John chapter
2 was that the Lord Jesus Christ commanded the servants to put
water into the stone pots until they were brimful and then he
told them to take of that and give it to the governor of the
feast and it was made wine. Here in Isaiah chapter 45 verse
8, God says, righteousness shall, he will cause righteousness to
pour down salvation and he would have created it. And in Isaiah 55, where I mentioned
just a moment ago, come by wine and milk without money and without
price. And he goes on to say there in
verse three of Isaiah 55, I will make with you an everlasting
covenant. So the covenant that God would make with his people
was fulfilled when Christ offered himself, according to Hebrews
8 and Hebrews 10. And that covenant, according
to Isaiah 45, verse 8, is when God would create the righteousness
and create the salvation. And this occurred when the Lord
Jesus Christ, in this sign, he set forth a sign that would show
that he was going to create this righteousness and this salvation.
when he converted the water to wine, when he made wine out of
the water, when he took the promised salvation from all of the Old
Testament scripture and fulfilled it in his own blood. And so we
find this in Matthew 26. Listen to these words. When Jesus
gives the cup to his disciples in the Last Supper, at that Last
Supper, just before he went to the cross, when his hour was
come, he said, He took the cup, and he gave thanks, and gave
it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it. For this, what was
in the cup, is my blood of the New Testament." This blood required
to put the New Testament into force, and to ratify it, and
to bring the blessings of it, and to fulfill it, is accomplished
in my blood. In Hebrews chapter 13, it says
this in verse 20. He says, Now the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. So the wine promised in Isaiah
55 which they that would have without money or price, and they
who would get it, would be given the everlasting covenant, that
wine signified the blood of the New Testament in Christ's blood.
The New Testament in Christ's blood. The wine in Matthew 26,
28 that the disciples drank was the wine of Christ's blood. Not
that they drank his blood, but they drank the wine that signified
his blood, and the real blood was shed in order to make the
real covenant, the everlasting covenant, and all of its promises
be put into force. So that when the Lord Jesus told
the servants, fill the water pots with stone, he's talking
about the fact that throughout all of the scripture, God gave
in the Old Testament law and the prophets a foretelling of
what Christ would do. And only Christ could convert
that water. He could only make wine from
that water. He alone could bring it to pass.
And he gave this miracle, this sign, to show what he would do
at the cross. But throughout the Old Testament,
the people were under this law. So that here what we have in
this New Testament account, a real account, a historical miracle
that Jesus did that teaches us the gospel, what we have here
is six water pots made of stone, filled with water, and the Lord
Jesus making wine from that water. Now what does this conversion
here mean? What does this creating righteousness and salvation spoken
of in Isaiah 45.8 have to do here with this? What does the
water here signify? It does signify the telling of
Christ coming into the world in order to fulfill the law and
the prophets. But really it also speaks here
in John chapter 2 of what that water was to us before Christ
came. The stone pots, these six empty
stone pots signify us, those who the Lord would, he would
fulfill his word for. Christ gave the Old Testament
law, and we were under that law. But until he fulfilled it, that
law was a bondage to us. It didn't bring forth any life.
It wouldn't satisfy, wouldn't bring any joy to the governor
of the feast or to the marriage attendees. Everyone at the marriage
couldn't enjoy drinking water when they needed wine for their
celebration. Something had to be done. But
what happened was, historically, is that God gave the law, but
the law couldn't bring forth any life. It couldn't produce
righteousness. So listen to this in Romans chapter
eight. He says in Romans eight, he says,
there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the
law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free
from the law of sin and death." What is the law of sin and death?
The law of sin and death is the law that requires us to keep
God's law in order to live. And that law pronounces our death
because we fail to keep it. The law of sin and death is the
law that says, if you keep the law, then God will bless you.
The law of sin and death is the law that says if you do, if you're
under the law, then you only find out if you receive life
and blessing from God at the end, on the day of judgment. You've got to wait till then.
But what is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus? The
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is the gospel of
Christ's blood shed in order that we might be given righteousness
and therefore live because of that righteousness. The law of
the Spirit of life in Christ is the gospel that tells of Christ's
blood that was shed to fulfill that Old Testament law which
we broke under which we were condemned by God. And so that
in Romans chapter 8 and verse 10, he says, if Christ is in
you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life
because of righteousness. The law of the spirit of life
means that we're given life because of Christ's righteousness. And
that's what the gospel declares. Life is ours, not because of
our obedience to the law, but because of his obedience in his
death. And he goes on in Romans 8 verse
3, he says, for what the law could not do, the water and the
stone pots, what the law could not do in that it was weak through
our sinful flesh. I put the word sinful in there,
that's what he's talking about, our flesh. We can't bring forth
life from this sinful flesh. We can't do God's will from this
sinful flesh. What the law could not do, God's
law could not accomplish this because we were sinners and that
it was weak through the flesh. God did. God sending his own
son in the likeness of sinful flesh in for sin condemned sin
in the flesh. How did God condemn sin in the
flesh? He poured out the wrath of his
justice, his infinite justice on the Lord Jesus Christ. His
holy law had to be fulfilled and His justice had to be satisfied.
And if you could just get a glimpse of the fact that God's justice
is infinite and only Christ's blood could satisfy it. Shed
for sinners, that's what He's referring to. Christ was made
lower. Then the angels took our nature,
became a servant, and as a servant treads out the winepress, so
Christ tread out the winepress of the wrath of God, sprinkling
his own garments where we should have been, tread under by God's
wrath. And he fulfilled that law, he
satisfied God's justice. And then in verse 4 of Romans
8 he says, in order that, God condemned sin in the flesh in
order that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us. These stone pots. The water converted
to wine. Righteousness fulfilled in us
who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Just as
in 2 Corinthians 5.21, God says, He hath made Him sin for us who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. So the Lord Jesus Christ commanded
His servants throughout the Old Testament, you preach this, this
law and the Psalms and the Prophets. which in their type pointed forward
to Christ, and in their requirements required our obedience, and we
were under that, and then Christ came and fulfilled it. He fulfilled
the types, He fulfilled the righteousness, He made satisfaction to God in
the sacrifice of Himself. And that righteousness which
he established was created by God as coming down from heaven. Salvation created and given to
us and put in us so that by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
we believe Him and we find His blood the most precious thing.
It cheers the heart of God and man. And we drink the water,
the milk, and the wine of the new covenant made in Christ's
blood. That's the blood. That's the
wine. That's what filled these pots
up to the brim with new wine. The wine of the new covenant.
Isn't it amazing? This is the most significant
miracle. This is God's glory. How God could be just and justify
a sinner like me and you. How the righteousness of God
could be fulfilled in us. Because the Spirit of God was
given to us, and in that gift of the Spirit of God, life with
faith in Christ's precious blood as all of our righteousness.
And another place in Luke chapter five, Jesus said that you can't
put a piece of new cloth on an old garment. And you know what
that is talking about, right? When you have a piece of old
clothes, they're just rotten. I mean, really rotten. You would
never think of taking a new piece of a really nice piece of cloth
and cutting a hole in it, and then putting that on this old
garment. That's stupid. That's dumb. That's really dumb. Spiritually, that's stupid. But
what he's talking about there He also referred to, and you
don't take new wine and put it into old bottles. Otherwise,
those old bottles are gonna burst. They had leather skins that were
used to hold wine. They wouldn't put new wine in
there. It's putting off all those gases and it would burst the
bottles. You put the old wine into old wine skins and new wine
into new wine skins. And you take a, you never put
a new piece of cloth on an old garment because they don't mix. They don't match. There's no
correspondence. The new cloth is the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The old cloth is the filthy rags
righteousness we imagine to be righteousness and which isn't,
of our own works, our self-righteousness. And the new wine is Christ's
precious blood given for us and our righteousness by it. And
the new wineskins has to be the new heart given to us to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. All these things have to be given
to us. The Spirit of God is given because Christ fulfilled all
righteousness and sent His Spirit to convince the world of sin,
righteousness, and judgment. Sin because we didn't believe
on Him. Righteousness because He fulfilled it and He went to
heaven. And judgment because the Prince of this world has
been judged at the cross. And when he sent his spirit,
the spirit of God convinces us of these things, so that we are
given life. The words that I speak to you,
Jesus said in John 6, 63, they are spirit, they are life. The
gospel preached by Christ's servants under the influence of the life-giving
operation of the Spirit of God gives life in our spirit so that
we're enabled to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That means
we have that righteousness fulfilled in us because by faith we see
it's ours. We see it's all in him, it's
not in us. We have no confidence in the flesh. It's all in him.
We desire nothing but to be found in him, not having our own righteousness.
So now we're filled up to the brim with faith in Christ. And we have the righteousness
of God before God. And in our own souls, we trust
nothing more. And what is that to us? What
is the reaction of that? Joy, peace, gladness. Our hearts are cheered. Look
at Psalm 85 in verse 10. I want to read this to you and
see this, and then we'll close. Psalm 85. I hope that this miracle
that Jesus did as a sign of his own sin atoning death thrills
your heart as the wine here spoken of. In Psalm 85, he says something
that's amazing, amazing. And I hope that you remember
this. He says, mercy and truth are met together. Mercy and truth
are met together. And the next phrase says, righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. They're bringing together here
in God his perfections of mercy and truth. And his perfection
of righteousness and peace with sinners are brought together.
How can that be? Only in the Lord Jesus Christ,
only in His shed blood can we, can God justify the ungodly. Can God be glorified in all of
His perfections, in all of His holiness, in the presence of
His glory without any compromise, infinite justice, perfectly balanced
in the Lord Jesus Christ and His shed blood. Holy righteousness
completely fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of this
is made ours when God gives us this grace to believe on Him.
And it thrills our hearts in a boundless joy and thanksgiving. Doesn't it? We're like those
who had nothing and were given everything for free because that's
exactly what it was. Indebted sinners, absolutely
forgiven of all their sins, like an impoverished man forgiven
his great debt and goes out and he says, the one who forgave
me my debt, I am in love with that man. We are so happy. We're brought to the marriage
feast and it is a feast. The governor didn't know. He
didn't know. He was in a position over others,
but the servants knew. It's not by our great position. It's not by our esteem among
men. God is pleased to reveal his
gospel to those who are nothing. He does. And it's not by what
we have, but it's all by grace. And when we taste it, Then what
do we commend? We commend the bridegroom, don't
we? Bridegroom. What were you doing hiding this
wine? This is the best wine. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
bridegroom. And those who drink and taste it and are rejoiced
by it, they're amazed. How could this be? Because the
Lord Jesus Christ actually made wine real righteousness, because
he was actually made sin for his people. in order that they
might be made that righteousness. And if you want to understand
that, then you're going to have to go to the Lord and ask Him
to show it to you, because that's the only way I can understand
it, and I'm still looking. I'm still trying to understand
it. May God be pleased to give us the wine of the new covenant
in Christ's blood that we might drink deeply and freely because
I'm confident that when we see the Lord in glory, we're gonna
be so overwhelmed with joy, it cannot be contained, and we'll
be so free to express that joy without sin, and we'll be so
amazed at the free grace of God given to us who are sinners,
and that God would receive us as his sons for Christ's sake,
that we will spend eternity in the feast, the marriage feast
of the lamb as his own people, married to him. What a joyous
time that will be. And this is the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ. All of its brightness seen in
what he did for his people. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for
your word and the Lord Jesus Christ of whom your word speaks.
We could not keep it. We couldn't do it. He came. He
created righteousness. When He Himself took our sins,
was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. The pure wine of the covenant was made in His
blood, and now we drink it freely by faith, and we rejoice in it
by your Spirit. What a blessing it is to know
Him. that mercy and truth have actually been brought together
and righteousness and peace kissed each other in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Help us to spend our days in
this life reveling in amazement, as the songwriter wrote that
we just sang, in the cross, in the cross be my glory ever. Help
us never to depart, Lord. Having tasted this wine, let
us not desire any other. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.