You can read your title clear
now. Scripture says, He that hath
the Son hath life. He that believeth on the Son
hath eternal life. I believe, don't you? Well, that's
your title to heaven. We looked at this 2010, and then
again in 2016, and now here it is 2022. That's every six years. There's a key verse to this.
The last verse is a key verse to this story. Look at verse
11. It tells us this beginning of miracles. This was the first
miracle, public miracle performed. This beginning of miracles did
Jesus in Cana of Galilee. It keeps telling us that. And
manifested forth His glory. This miracle manifested, showed
forth His glory, and His disciples, upon seeing this, experiencing
it, they believed on Him. They believed on Him before,
they really believed on Him now. So there's much here that manifests
His glory, this first miracle. This declared him to be the Son
of God with power. We're going to see that in a
minute. A man approved of God, Peter preached in Acts 2 by miracles
and signs and wonders and so forth. But this miracle, as all
others, manifests His work, His greatest work, His greatest glory,
of redemption. We're going to see that. We're
going to see it. Verse 1 says, the third day there
was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. Now, every word is significant. The time frame is always significant. The third day, there was a wedding. This is a prophecy. But Hosea
6 says the third day He will raise us up and we shall live
in His sight. And we're all going to be at
a marriage. The marriage supper of the Lamb. Very soon now, there's going
to be a great wedding. And I want to be a part of it,
don't you? The marriage supper of the Lamb. And the Lord and
his disciples were at this wedding. Scripture says, Blessed are they
that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now, this
miracle manifested his glory in several ways. The first thing
I want you to see, if you've got the outline, the first thing
is his condescending glory. He came to this little town of
Cana of Galilee. The son of the Most High God
left heaven. And He came to a little town
in the hills of Galilee, above the Galilean sea, a little town
of a bunch of nobodies, country folk, all right? Made up mostly
of fishermen and farmers and what have you. The Son of the
Most High God came to this town of Cana and Galilee. It said
that in verse 1 and verse 11. This is His great glory and condescending
to come to this earth to save sinners. He didn't go to Jerusalem. He didn't go to Rome. He went
to Galilee. He spent most of His time there.
Do you know that? Because this man came to save sinners. What
glory, what a manifestation of His glory to condescend. What
is man, David wrote, that thou art even mindful of him, think
on him, let alone visit him. And he showed his condescending
glory in his birth. He was born in Bethlehem. O Bethlehem,
thou art little among the nations. Out of thee shall he come who
is going forth and going up old. He showed his condescending glory
in his hometown. He chose his hometown of Nazareth. And the people, even Nathaniel. Nathaniel was a canine. Look
out over there. That's where Nathaniel's from.
And he said, ain't nothing good in that area. That's like somebody in Franklin
County say, what's in Palmerdale, Alabama, or vice versa? That's
where Robin's from. You never heard of it. But that's
where he goes. Can anything good come out of
there? Nazareth. His city was...Capernaum is called
his city. You know that? His city. They
called it his city because he dwelled there so long. That's
where he liked to be. That's where he went and the
people he liked to be with. Aren't you glad? His people were
Galileans. They were commoners. Oh, I'm
so glad. Common people hear him gladly,
don't you? You see your college brother? Not many wise men, not
many mighty, not many noble to come. God have chosen nobodies
from nowhere, from Franklin County, Virginia, from Carter County,
Kentucky, from Grundy, West, Grundy, Virginia, sorry, Virginia,
Palmerdale, Alabama. Even some from the big city of
Winston-Salem. Now, there's some mighty, noble people down there
I don't know. It says the mother of Jesus was
there. Now, she's not the mother of God. She's the mother of a
child named Jesus, okay? And she's never called in Scriptures,
He is never referred to in Scriptures as the Son of Mary. Not once. And now they talked about Mary's
son, but just to distinguish him as her only born, only begotten
child, being a virgin, and her only child and son, because he's
a male, but he is never referred to in Scripture as the son of
God. We'll discuss that a little more
in a moment. But she was there, and I think she was a part of
this wedding because she told the servants what to do, you
know. I think perhaps this was somebody
she was related to, perhaps a sister's son or daughter or a niece or
somebody like that. She was there, and verse 2 says,
Jesus was called and his disciples to the Mary. Now I thought how
fitting this is that our Lord's first, after His baptism, His
first public appearance was at a marriage. Because this is the
one who made the man and the woman and put them in the garden. He performed the first marriage.
He's the one that sanctioned marriage, you see. Because marriage
is such a type of Christ in His church. He brought the woman
to the man and married them. Marriage. Type of Christ in His
church. Somebody asked Him to come to
this marriage. Maybe the bride and the groom.
I don't know. But I thought, oh, how we need
to ask the Lord to attend our marriages. Don't we? The only marriage that will be
blessed is a marriage in the Lord. Scriptures 1 Corinthians
7 clearly tells us. It says that we're going to have
trouble in the flesh because we are flesh, because we're sinners,
two sinners living together. But the only way two sinners
can really live together in love is both of them are united to
Christ. Otherwise, And it specifically tells us to marry in the Lord. There's no promise it will last
if one or the other is not yoked to Christ. You pull it in two
different directions. And it's one of the greatest
trials a believer can have, to be married to an unbeliever.
Often it ends in divorce. Brother Bruce has a good message
on that that everyone needs to hear on bad marriages. Our Lord was called to this wedding. Whose marriage was it? Who were
they? He doesn't say. It doesn't matter.
They're not the important one here, are they? Their names are
not mentioned. Don't need to. He doesn't say. Were they a poor couple? I don't
know. But that's who He came to. Verse 3 says they wanted
wine. When they wanted wine, I don't
know if they had it and ran out of it, didn't have enough of
it, or didn't have any at all. Mary said to him, and I don't
know why she said this to him, except the only reason I can
think that she said this is for our benefit, so we might learn
something here, okay? But, oh, why would she say this
to him? I'm going to tell you in just
a moment. She said, they have no wine.
Now, I want you to see now the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father. He's going to manifest his glory
in a few words here. He's going to tell us whose son
he is. All right? They have no wine. He saith unto her, Woman. And I know he looked straight
into her eyes with a piercing eye. You know, his eyes were
eyes of dove, but his eyes could flash with fire. He's the same
woman, harmless as dove, but yet consuming fire. And he looked her in the eyes,
Woman. And this was a stern rebuke. A stern rebuke. Not hard, not
mean, but truth. Truth. Truth cuts. It's meant to. But you know the
truth, it makes you free. And he said, Woman, what have
I to do with thee? And he said, Mine hour has not
yet come. Disciples heard this. They saw
this. Okay? He never called her mother. Ever. Did he? He's not there. He called her
woman. Twice. Why? Because this is the one who made
her. She didn't make him. He doesn't
owe his existence to her. She owes her to him. This is
the one that made the woman, the woman who was deceived in
the transgression. Bear with me to 1 Timothy chapter
2. And boy, the modern religion
doesn't like this chapter. They'd like to do without this
chapter, 1 Timothy 2. But this is the one who made
the woman, who rebelled against him. Right? The woman who usurped
the man, the authority of the man, who thought it sounded good
to be his gods. to give the orders. And it was he who said to the
woman in the garden, what is this thou hast done? Remember,
this is the same one. The same one. 1 Timothy 2, look
at this. This is vital. I wish millions
of people could hear this. Verse 5 says there's one God
and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. There's one we pray to, the man,
Christ Jesus. Go on down. It says in verse
11, Let the woman learn in silence with subjection. I suffer not
a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to
be in silence. Adam was first formed, then Eve.
Adam was not deceived. The woman deceived was in the
transgression. That's what that says. And here
she is giving the Lord of glory orders. And he's sternly rebuked
there. And this is a rebuke. A solemn
and stern rebuke to her and to everyone who worships her. The whole world. This is not
her, this is truth. Neat. I wish people could hear
this. Her and the whole world. The world is full of Mary worshippers. They say they don't. I'm going
to read you. I'm going to read you a couple
of prayers, okay? These are Catholic prayers. I'll
lift them up. This will shock you. Now you know the first one. Hail Mary. And people make fun
of it. It's not a laughing matter. It's blasphemy. Millions of people
all over the world are idolaters. Hail Mary, full of grace. Scripture
does not say that. In Luke 1, it talks about her
obtaining favor. It does not say she's full of
grace. She's not more favored than I am, than you are. Christ was formed in you. You're
highly favored among women. Right? That which is in you is
the Son of God. You're highly favored, just like
Mary. You found grace in His eyes. John 1 says He's full of
grace, doesn't He? He alone is full of grace, not
her. She was a sinner full of sin,
like every other woman, until she found grace in God's eyes.
Hail Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us sinners, now and
at the time of our death. People all over to pray these
prayers. This is it. My Queen, this is the morning
consecration to Mary. My Queen, my Mother, I offer
myself entirely to Thee. I offer Thee my eyes, my ears,
my mouth, my heart, my whole being without reserve. Good Mother,
I am Thine. Keep me as Your property and
Your possession. It gets worse. Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our life, our sweetness, our hope. To Thee do we cry. To Thee we send up our sighs,
our weeping and our tears. Turn, Thee, most gracious Advocate, Thine eyes of mercy toward us. We fly to Thee, O Holy Mother
of God. These are Catholic prayers. Title
is Seven Powerful Prayers to Mary for her intercession. Woman,
what have I to do with thee? That's what he said. He said
it twice. Well, and hanging on the cross,
remember? He's hanging on the cross. He
looked and And he took care of his own, and one of the first
things he did was take care of the woman who was his mother,
who took care of him as a child. And took care of John, who was
his child. And she said, Woman, behold thy
son. Not talking about himself, talking about John. And son,
behold thy mother. Now as a son, as a child before
this, he was in complete subjection to his parents, according to
the law. an absolute subjection to his parents, according to
the law. Surely he loved his parents more
than any son before or since. You know it. As I said, he was
hanging on the cross in pain, and yet he was caring for that
mother, his mother. But now he's a man. Now he's
assuming the reason he came, the cause by which he came. As
a 30-year-old man, he's God's servant now. Now he takes his
orders from God the Father. Now he's always speaking of his
father, not the mother. Now the relationship has changed. Now the relationship is as it
will be forever. He's the father. She's the child. He's the sovereign. She's the
servant. That's the way it is in heaven.
There's not going to be relationships in heaven. There's not going
to be husband and wife marrying and giving and marrying. No,
no, no, no, no. There's not going to be fathers and mothers. We're
all going to be children of our heavenly Father. We're all going
to be the woman, the bride of Christ, our bridegroom. He's
showing us that. He's teaching us this now. How
many are deceived? How many worship the creature
rather than the Creator? The vessel rather than the treasure? Mary was a borrowed womb, just
like the tomb. He had no need of her, but she
had every need of him. He did not owe his life to her,
she owed hers to him. He did not answer to her, but
she answers to him. And he said this after that,
mine hour is not yet come. Mine hour is not come. In chapter
7, his family, his brethren came to him and said, If you want
to be known, go out there and show people who you are. Don't
do these miracles in private. Go out there and show your people.
He said to them, mine hour is not yet come. And he hid himself. Now, he soon, and he talked about
Satan as he said, your hour is always, this is your hour. Mine
hour is not yet come. You see, our Lord is not at the
will of this woman. He's not at the will of man.
He didn't answer to her, didn't answer to us, didn't answer to
anybody. He answers to the Father. He's here to do the Father's
will, the Father's work. Right? He's going to do it. He
said that she should have learned when he was 12 years old when
he said, I must be about my father's business. Don't you know this? He didn't call her mother then
either. He's about His Father's business.
He's the one He answers to. Very soon, according to the will
of the Father, the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
the will of God, He's going to be delivered to their will. What will you do with Jesus?
Finally. That's what Pilate said. What
will you do with Jesus? It was the Father's will that
He say that. I believe it was the Father's
will that She say that. So we'll see very clearly. The relationship is. Why? Who's
the sovereign? Who's the advocate? But he's
going to be delivered. In the hands of man, the will
of man, but whose will? Whose will is it? You know, there
were several times he hid himself. They wanted to make him, crown
him king, and he wouldn't let them. In
this chapter, he needed not him to testify of him. But his hour
is coming. His hour is coming where He's
going to hang on the cross. The Son of Righteousness who
arose with healing in His wings is going to ascend to His high
noon. It's going to be high noon very
soon, just a few years. He's going to hang on that cross.
That's His hour. That's the reason He came. And
all these miracles show forth this Christ in Him crucified. That's why He came. That's His
finest hour in them. And nearly every eye around there
saw Him whom they pierced. Right before that He said to
His disciples, What shall I say? Father, deliver me from this
hour? No, for this hour this cause
came out. And every eye at that time saw
Him hanging on that cross. They saw Him. And you know what? He's coming again. And that's
going to be the last hour of time itself. When the Son comes,
and every eye shall see Him whom they have pierced. Won't it?
And boy, it's going to be our hour. Lift up your heads. Your redemption draws nigh. Did this strike fear in Mary?
I think it did. She heard a voice she hadn't
heard. She saw a look she hadn't seen before. She lost sight of
who He was. Did she know who He was? Not
fully, but now she does, doesn't she? And she said to service, whatever
He said, do it. I'm not charging you. Whatever He saith. He's Lord. He'll do it. Isn't that a good,
isn't that wisdom? Fear of the Lord is a beginning
of wisdom. Nobody, I keep saying this and it's true, nobody feared
Jesus. Nobody feared Jesus back then. But when they found out,
old Simon Peter, okay Master, we've been fishing all day, all
right, we'll throw the net over here. He hit his knees when he saw
who this was in charge of the fish in the ocean and in charge
of his soul, his life in his hands. He hit his knees and said,
Lord. Nobody fears Jesus. That's why
they call him that. But buddy, the fear of the Lord
is a beginning of wisdom. And all who fear him will hear
him say, fear not. Fear not. What a good word this
is to us from her who was put in her rightful place. Whatever
he sayeth, do it. Now here's the glory of His mercy
and His grace and His kindness. He was at this marriage and He
was on a mission of mercy to this earth. And he attended this
marriage in great kindness. You're talking about a celebrated
guest at their wedding, and it doesn't appear that they knew
it. You'd know that if they'd known
who he was, they'd have asked him to marry them. They'd have
stopped the festivities and been sitting at his feet, but they
didn't. But he came to this wedding. Oh, he came to his own. His own
received him not, Scripture said. But he came to serve. And our
Lord came as a servant. He was not recognized. He hid
himself in the form of a servant. Took upon himself the form of
a servant. Made himself of no reputation. Became a servant. Christ said in Matthew 20, He
said, The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. Give
his life a ransom for Say it. Many. Not all. Many. He came to provide for others
and to deny himself to provide for others. Now, he made wine
here. Wine is not needful. Wine was
a luxury. They didn't need wine. It was for celebrations though.
Wine, the scripture says, is for feasting and laughter, but
it's not something necessary. And yet the Lord gave this wine
when they needed it, when they wanted it. They didn't need it. He gave this wine. You know,
the Lord giveth us richly all things to enjoy. He made wine. I'm not advocating drinking wine
at all. In fact, the Scripture warns
us about it. It's not evil in itself, but
the Scripture says it's a mocker and it's a great and damaging
thing. It warns us about it. Don't be
given to it. But it's not an evil thing in itself. Our Lord
made it. Our Lord drank it. They were
drinking wine there. Did He join them? I quite certainly
did. This man eateth and drinketh
with sinners. They were laughing and dancing. Did He? David did, didn't he? Oh my, would the Lord, would
that the Lord would take my daughter and dance with her. He was there. You see, the Lord
giveth us all things richly to enjoy. He Himself partook and
enjoyed these things. No sin in things. Sin comes from,
sin's not in a bottle or a box, Myron used to say. If it was,
you could quit sinning. The sin comes out of the heart.
Out of the heart. So this occasion, this gathering
is a picture, well, of His condescending glory, of His creative glory. He made something out of nothing,
didn't He? Who could do this? People, you know there are so-called
Christians that claim, that believe in a creationary evolution. Yeah,
they think that a day represented a thousand years. They confuse
that with 2 Peter 3, that these things evolved. There's some
actual, they're not true believers that believe that, but they call
themselves that. Well, here's a picture. You know
how long it takes to make wine? You know, Noah, when he got off
that ship, it sounds like he just threw some seed in the ground
and sprouted up and he made wine, and a week later he's, no, it
took about three years. And poor Noah, I feel sorry for
him. He hasn't had such wine in years.
And he couldn't hold it. He didn't mean to do that. Have
mercy on Noah. The Lord did. But anyway, it
takes three or four years to make wine. From the planting
of the seed, to the harvest of the grape, to the putting away
of the wine, the aging. Our Lord made it right now. How? He spoke. He spoke it. It's the Word of His power in
there. The Word of His power. Well, this is a picture of man's
blindness. They didn't know who that was
there. Servants did. Servants found out. He hid himself
from the wise and the prudent and the man, the head of the
feast. But his servants knew it. The servants knew it. And
his disciples all. They all saw it. All right, verse
6. Look at this. This is wonderful.
There are six water pots of stone. Six and they were working hard
to read. Six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying
of the Jews containing two or three firkins of peat. There
was nothing in them. They were empty. This means this
was how much they held, the volume, like a five-gallon bucket or
a ten-gallon bucket. One was two firkins, the others
were three. But these six water pots of stone
after the manner of the purifying of the Jews Now... Six has always been the number
of man. When did God create man? On the sixth day, right? That's a symbol of imperfection. God's work wasn't finished. The
seventh day he rested, right? Seven's always been perfect.
Six is the number of man. That's what the Revelation talks
about, be the number of man. Six, six, six. I'm not going
into that. But it represents man, all right? These were empty
vessels. Two or three Perkins each. One
could hold more than another. Okay. Stone. Now what did he
just call Simon Peter in chapter one? A stone. All right. Our Lord uses empty
vessels whom he makes into living stone. And He takes the water of His
Word and fills them, these vessels. And they are the ones who convey
this to God's people. All right? And I'm going to tell
you what the most important thing they convey is. Okay? This is a symbol of how the Lord
is pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. The Lord chooses empty vessels and fills them with His
Word. Living stones, he makes them
serve his people. And it's all according to the
measure of his grace. I'm not the pastor of thousands,
I'm the pastor of a few. Spurgeon was, he had 30 firkins. I had less. Still the same service
and still in the same vocation. And we serve the same thing.
We've received the same thing. Now here it talks about the purification
of the Jews. Everything at this time had degenerated. It was called the Jew, the purification
of the Jew. This Passover is called the Jew's
Passover. It wasn't a Jew's Passover. Our
Lord is the one that instituted the washing of pots and so forth.
He's the one that did that in the beginning. Our Lord in His
wisdom and His mercy and His grace has a form of hygiene,
not salvation. Hygiene, a picture of His salvation
that He alone must do. All right? But what is it that
puts away sin? Nothing can wash us but one thing.
What? Blood. We're going to see that in a
minute. Very shortly. But the purification of the Jews,
the Jews had turned what our Lord wrote in His law as a picture
of Himself and His salvation, turned it as mercy to man to
keep from dying from every disease. They turned it into something
that they sanctified themselves and washed themselves and made
themselves holy. And now we've got people with
holy water. There ain't no such thing. What can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. One thing, okay? It wasn't, you know, the Jews
didn't institute this. God did. He said, fill it to
the brim. Fill these pots, these empty
vessels, these stone pots, fill them to the brim. Oh, my cup
runneth over. When I studied this, my belly
was like a bottle wanting to give vent. Nobody was there to
hear it. You are now. How many books are in the Bible?
Somebody tell me. Sixty-six. Sixty-six. What's in every book? Water. That's the water of His
Word. Water of life. That's Christ,
isn't it? Water of life. All full to the brim with the
water of life. Words of life. Words set in stone. Sixty-six books. I wonder how
he came up with that number. Well, but now we've got to get
to His greatest glory. His redemptive glory. He said,
draw out now to these servants. Take your ladles, take your pitchers,
and dip in those vessels, and draw out. Now try to picture this. Let's
say two servants named Kelly and Robin. They got their pitchers,
and they got their ladles, and they dipped down in what was
water. It's wine. Kelly, it's wine. Ron and Tammy
over here serving it. Ron, it's wine. Did you see that? It's wine. Dip some more. It's
wine. This water has turned to wine. It's full of wine. What about
you, George? How's your pot? Mine's got wine
in it too. The water is turned to wine. Now what could that mean? Do you first remember hearing
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, taken
away the sin of his people? And you began to see everywhere
you looked in the Bible, The water of His Word turned to wine,
to blood. This river of His mercy and His
grace runs red with His blood. This book, 66 books set in stone,
is full of the blood, the redemption that's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you keep dipping. You dip your ladle and you can
fill your picture to the fullest. And it'll turn up wine, because
it's the blood. And he keeps showing his servants,
brother, he keeps showing his disciples, sister, that it's
the blood that make it the tonic for the soul. When I see the
blood, and you know what? When you see the blood, you'll
shout. How did these servants keep a
secret? Maybe he told them, don't...
Maybe he told them. Don't tell him that. He told
them that sometime, didn't he? His ire wouldn't get me. But,
oh my, isn't it wonderful how everywhere you look on every
page and every book and every water pot, and all of God's true
preachers, water pots. If they're God's water pot, you're
going to hear of Christ crucified. Martin Luther said, when I read
the Scripture, he said, I see nothing in Scripture. Martin
Luther. I see nothing in Scripture except
Christ and Him crucified. One time I was walking in the
pasture. out on the farm and it rained
and the pastures were real green, real lush. And I was walking,
it rained a lot, water just soaked the ground. And everywhere my
foot landed, red water came up. Those green pastures bled red. Everywhere my foot landed, red
came up. And I wanted to cry and laugh. I did. Because these green pastures
bleed red. Nothing. And we see it. How blessed we are. Now bless
God. And you know, this makes us believe
on Him more than anything else. It manifests His glory. It shows
forth His glory. The world, they're not interested
in His redemptive glory. They're not interested in Christ
crucified. They're interested in Jesus,
yeah, a miracle worker and one who provides for us and does
all these things for us. But they don't need His righteousness.
They don't need His shed blood. Boy, we do, don't we? And everywhere
we look, in every pot, it's filled to the brim. The water of... What came out of our Lord's side?
That's right. That's significant. The last
choke. One of the last things that the Holy Spirit... God had
that soldier come by with a spear and pierce his side. Rock of Ages cleft for me from
thy wounded side which flowed. Be of sin, the devil cure. Justification,
sanctification. Blood and water. And this manifest
is gold. Well, the ruler, let me close,
the ruler, now here's, this is significant. Lord, show me this. He told, he delivered this, he
said, serve the ruler first, the governor, the ruler, serve
him first with this wine that I have made. Who did Christ offer himself
to? Who was the blood of Christ offered
to first? The ruler of the universe, God
in heaven. That's who saw the travail of
his soul, the blood of Christ, that he was satisfied. And this servant, this ruler,
every type is not perfect, you know that. But he said, every
man at the beginning says forth good wine. And you know what
the Lord, what we see in the Old Testament is good wine. The
wine of the Gospel in the Old Testament is just marvelous,
wonderfully. Wine that make it glad the heart
of man. Love it, love it, love it. But boy, didn't He save the
best for last. The Gospels, He's here. The Old
Testament's pictures and types and symbols and shadows is not
the real thing, but when Christ comes, He's here. Christ crucified. Blood. The blood was shed. Not
possible for the blood of bulls and goats to put away sin. Lamb.
But that's why John said, Behold the Lamb of God. He's going to
by one sacrifice put away sin forever and offer Himself to
the ruler of the universe who will be satisfied with what He's
done. and declare it's good. It's finished. Accepted. Done. And that's what we're going to
say too. He called the bridegroom. He said, you've saved the best
for last. And you know we're all going
to say that one of these days. So, verse 11. This beginning
of miracles did Jesus in Cana I hope you enjoyed this message. I hope you saw something of our
Lord's glory. I venture to say that nobody
in New York City heard a thing about it tonight. And nobody in Los Angeles, California
heard a thing about it. And maybe nobody in Roanoke,
Virginia heard one thing about it. That here in Rocky Mount,
Virginia, can any good thing come out of there? Yes. The Gospel. The wine of Christ. And His disciples believed on
Him. They went out of there believing
on Him more than they did when they came. And may it be so with
us. You're dismissed.