John's Gospel chapter 2. Read one verse with me. Verse
12. Most of you were there Sunday
looking at the marriage in Cana, the Lord's miracle there. It
says, After this, he went down to Capernaum. He and His mother
and His brethren and His disciples. And they continued there not
many days. The title of this message is
He and His. Now, there are many things that
prove this Bible to be God's Word. Number one, God proves
His Word to His people. Nothing and no one can prove
it to a human being until God reveals the truth Himself, His
Son, in us. And then we know. It's His Word
because it's His voice. But God proves Himself to His
people and many other things prove to His people, to us, that
this is God's Word. The holiness of this blessed
book. The purity of it. It's just clean. Scripture says
His commandments are clean. Holy Word of God. Sovereignty
of it. How He reveals it to whom He
will. That scholars can't understand
it unless God reveals it. He hides these things, reveals
them to babe. The power of this Word. What
God's Word does. Gives life. We know this is God's
Word because it brings people out of death into light, from
out of darkness into light. Heals the blind, the deaf, the
dumb. Gives new hearts, reproves, rebukes,
corrects, comforts, gives joy, gives peace, all these things.
The relevance of it. We know it's God's Word because
it is so relevant to Every person, it fits every person's need,
no matter who they may be, from a doctor to a dishwasher, from
a lawyer to a garbage collector. And no matter what situation
arises, no matter what generation, it's all relevant, it's all true,
it's all vital. It's God's Word we know
because of the mystery of it. So mysterious, some things we'll
never understand. It's God's Word we know because
of the wisdom of it. It answers every question. There's
not a question man can pose that's not answered in God's Word. If
it's not answered, it's a question that didn't need to be asked.
It's a foolish question. The wisdom of it, it makes proud
man foolish. We know it's God's Word because
none can stand before the wisdom of it. We know it's God's Word
because of the amazement of it. Aren't you amazed by this book?
Aren't you amazed with what you read? When we study this, we
study it together and we discover things. The Lord reveals things
to us. It's just amazing. We know it's God's Word because
of the depth of it. One verse. One line, so much
in it. One phrase, just a few words.
Brother Don Bell and I were talking on the phone yesterday, and he
said, you're still in the Gospel of John, aren't you? I said,
yes, I've been there a couple of months now. I've been in chapter
1 for two months. And he laughed, that big laugh,
you know, and he said, I know. He said, when we both started
talking about this glorious book, especially the Gospel of John,
So many, look, look, chapter one, go back with me, just look
at, in just a few words, in the beginning. When? Well, we went into that in the
beginning. The word. Just a couple of words are just
full, aren't they? The Word, mysterious and amazing. The Word was God, verse 4, in
Him was life. There's a sermon, there are a
thousand sermons in one line of Scripture, and a half will
not be told. That's how we know this is God's
Word. In Him was life. The life was the light of men.
Verse 13 says, born of God. What does that mean? Be born
of God. Verse 14, the Word was made flesh. My, my. Verse 16, of His fullness. His fullness. Oh, how often Paul
writes of His fullness. We haven't put our toe in the
sea of His fullness. Honestly. His fullness. Grace for grace. What about that
line? Grace for grace. Verse 17. Grace and truth. Grace and truth. How marvelous
that is. Verse 27. Jump down there. Verse
27. He it is. Remember that years ago? He it
is. He what is. Then we start naming a thousand
things that He is. He it is. Verse 29. Behold the
Lamb. What a book. Verse 34, the Son
of God. Verse 38, what seekest thou? Remember that? What seek ye?
Verse 39, come and see. When you seek Him and you come,
what do you find? Come and see. Verse 43, follow
me. In this one verse in chapter
2, I was reading this, and of course I've always just skipped
over this. Just read that and gone on to
the next story about the Lord coming to Jerusalem and casting
out the money changers. There is a paragraph sign in
front of that verse and after that. See that? A little backward
P. That is inspiring. That means
the Word of God was written in paragraphs. I've got the Interlinear
Bible. It's exact translation from the
original Greek. And it shows a space, a stop
there, and then right after it, a stop, a stopping point. So
this verse stands alone. That little paragraph sign tells
us that either some time elapsed or a different Thought or something
is being expressed. That's what a paragraph is for,
okay? Alright, you've got this one verse by itself. I thought,
there's something here that we're missing. So I started studying
it. And sure enough. You know, everything
our Lord didn't say was not written in books. If it was, the world
couldn't contain the book. There are four Gospels. Each
one gives more fully an account of something. Others don't give
like this little gap here. One verse alone, there must be
something here not seen to the naked eye. There is. It's about
Him. It's about Him. I said many things
prove this book to be God's Word, but the greatest proof is, now
listen to this, the greatest proof is it speaks about Him,
the subject of it. The greatest proof that this
is God's Word is the subject of it. God wrote this book about
His Son. To Him give all the prophets
witness. Stay with me. Stay with me now. Come on, this
is wonderful. This is about God's Son. The reason God wrote this
book is to bear witness of His Son. The heavens bear witness
of Him. The sun that shines in the sky,
God hung it there as a symbol of His Son. This whole book,
in the beginning, God created who? Christ. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. And then the last line of the
whole book is the end. He said, I'm the beginning and
I'm the end. And all things in between. It's
like a family photo album. You have family, you have albums
at home, journals maybe, This is God's journal about His Son. Pictures and types and symbols
and stories about God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Nearly
every verse either has, in the Gospels especially, if I point
this out to you, You'll never miss it now. If you go down through
these verses, you'll see either His name, the Lord Jesus Christ,
or personal pronouns, He, Him, His, Himself, Who or Whom or
Whose, in every verse, nearly every verse. He, Him, His, Himself,
Whom, Whose, Jesus Christ, the Lord, the Savior. It's all about
Him. This is the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is a hymn book. This is
all about Him. Because He it is. He and His, verse 12. After this,
He went down. He and His. He and His mother,
His brethren, His disciples. Peter's last words, a man's last
words are pretty important, aren't they? Peter's last words in his
second epistle are this. Grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both
now and forever. Amen. He's even called in Revelation,
the Amen. What are we going to preach about? Him. Alright. After this. After this. He went down to Capernaum. After, and we saw so much in
that wedding at Cana, didn't we? I hope you did. I hope you
were blessed by it. Some told me you were. After
manifesting His glory. Remember it says that He did
this to manifest His glory and His disciples believed on Him.
That was written for... Paul said, "...whatsoever things
are written are written for our learning, that we through patience
and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope and cry." It
was written for our sake. Our Lord prayed that in His prayer
in John 17. I pray for them that will believe through their word,
through the Gospel. This was written that Christ
might manifest His glory to us, and that we might believe on
Him. He who turns the water into wine. He used earthen vessels,
empty vessels, fills them to the brim and out pours blood
and wine for your salvation. After this, after condescending
to attend a common wedding, and if you were blessed, He condescended
to come to you. And that whole wedding, the reason
he came to a wedding, what? I briefly said it's because it's
a type of Christ in his church. Because this was the heavenly
Hosea who came down to marry his Gomer. This is why Christ
came to this earth, to find his bride. So he went to that wedding. First
thing, to show us why he came. He came to find his bride. And
the man of Ennis poured out his blood like that wine. Who for? Not everybody. After
this, after turning water to wine and all that means, after
serving others, he wasn't served, he served. He said, I didn't
come to be ministered unto, but to minister. After this. After confirming Himself to His
disciples, hiding Himself from others, after all of this and
so much more, how much our Lord did and accomplished and worked
in one day is glorious. It's amazing. The disciples one
time, all the time were trying to get Him to eat. Trying to
get some sleep, he said, I've got to work while there's twelve
hours in the day. He spent his every waking hour
for the salvation of his people. Oh, how much he accomplished
in one day after this. After this, he went down to Capernaum. Now, he was in Cana, I told you,
up in the hills of Galilee. Galilee is a mountainous, low-lying
hill region. And he was up in Cana, about
700 or 800, about to the elevation of Rocky Mountain, and 900 feet
above sea level. And he literally went down. Capernaum
is 200 feet below sea level. He literally went down, okay? Left that mountain and went down
to this city of Capernaum. But this, if you read between
the lines, it's telling us how far the Lord of glory condescended
when he came to this place. How far the Lord of glory came
down. He came down from His glory. Brother Mike Bartram sings that
song, down from His glory. You know that song? He came down
from His glory. This is manifest in His glory,
the fact that He left heaven to come to this hell. He left
glory where everyone lauded Him, everyone praised Him, everyone
honored Him, everyone loved Him, everyone wanted Him. He came
to a place where nobody loved Him. Everybody hated Him and
despised Him and rejected Him. And everybody killed Him. That's
His glory. Greater love hath no man than
this. Greater mercy hath no man than this. Greater sacrifice
hath no man than this. Greater grace has not been shown.
He came down to the depths of sin. That's His greatest glory. Turn to Luke chapter 6. Luke
chapter 6. I love this. I love this. I preached a message on it years
ago. This same account is given in
Mark 3, but with a little bit different words. Luke chapter
6. In verse 13 it says, when it
was day, he called unto him his disciples. In the daylight, it
wasn't done in the dark. The day spring arose and he called
his disciples and he chose his twelve. Mark's Gospel says this,
it says, in Mark's Gospel, it says, he goeth up into a mountain
and calleth unto him whom he would. Whom he would, and they came
unto him. And he ordained the twelve that
they might go forth and preach. Well, here in Luke chapter 6,
he says he called the twelve apostles, Simon. Who were these
fellows? Nobody. Galileans. Most of them were from Galilee,
where he is right now. That's where he found them. Fishermen. They weren't anybody. You remember
when the Pharisees said, these Galileans. That's what people
say about living in Franklin County. You live in Franklin
County, don't you? Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? That's where the Lord chose to
grow up, in Nazareth. Nazarene. How despicable. Do you see your calling, brethren? Matthew, most of them were from
Galilee. Then in verse 17, here's what I want you to see. And He
came down with them. He came off that mountain and
came down with them and stood in the plain and the company
of His disciples. He came down from His glory,
became a plain man, and stood with such sinners as they are. Because Hebrews says this, and
he quotes David who says, What is man that thou art mindful
of him? For the Son of Man that you would visit him made him
a little lower than the angel. Are you with me? Made him a little lower than
the angel. He who was higher than all the angels made him
lower than the angel. put all things under His feet.
But we see Jesus made a little lower than the angels. For the
suffering of death, as He came down from glory, to shame, and
because he did that, it says, God hath highly exalted him higher
than anyone ever will be, and given him a name which is above
every name. He left glory, came down to shame, and went back
to glory, and was glorified with the glory he had with the Father
from the beginning. He came down. Why? Because he was partakers
of flesh and blood, the children were, and he himself took part
of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had
the power of death. In all things it behooved him
to be made like unto his brethren, to come down and stand with them,
be a plain man in the company of sinners. Because we have a
high priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmity,
tempted as like as we are, yet without sin. And he can have
compassion on the ignorant in that he himself was compassed
with the perfect. Anybody? That's his glory. He came down
to Capernaum. Every word, if you're with me,
every word is significant. He came down. I didn't come close to talking
about the condescension of our Lord. It was a pitiful attempt. He
came down to Capernaum, alright? He left Cana and he walked to
Capernaum. Now the journey itself was over
20 miles and everywhere he went, he went on tip. And it wasn't
nice paved roads or sidewalks. He walked a long, hard journey. It took about eight hours to
get to Capernaum. Capernaum. And the next day,
he left for Jerusalem that was 50 miles. Like walking to Lexington, Virginia. This is His glory, how far He
would go, and what He went through for
what? For who? Men and women boast and glory
in how their attainments, like athletic attainments, like how
far they walk. The Appalachian Trail. I walked
the Appalachian Trail. Big deal. What'd you do that
for? So you can tell everybody you
did it. I ran a marathon. So what? But now this man, every step
he took, thousands of miles on foot, every step was in the direction
of saving someone, helping someone. healing someone, for the service
of someone, irregardless of his own discomfort, irregardless
of not eating or sleeping or drinking. Remember when he came
and was weary with his journey and sat on a well? What was he
doing? Waiting on a woman. What kind
of woman? A noble woman? This is his glory. Not vain glory. Oh, I ran 26.3. Big deal. But oh, how far he went. I love
to think about how every gesture he made, every step he took,
in every direction, every town he went to was for the purpose
of saving his sheep, his lost sheep. He went to great lengths. How far will the Lord go to save
one of His own? to the ends of the earth, to
the uttermost. Listen to this. If you look at
your map, and I did, there are some roads that lead to these
prominent towns or these least settlements that have been there
a while. Like Nain up in the hills. Nain is where he raised
a dead person. And then there is Chorazin and
Bethsaida and Capernaum and other places. And there are roads that
were either made by animals leading sheep and all that or the Romans
or both. It's only like one road from
Cana all the way down to the coast, all the way around the
Sea of Galilee where all these villages are. There's only one
road, okay? For him to get to, listen to me, listen to me. He must go
there. For him to get to Capernaum from Cana, he had to go through
Magdala. Now ring a bell. He must at least go through Magdala. You ever heard of a Magdalene?
Huh? Perhaps. Everything wasn't written
that would happen in what our Lord did. Perhaps He went through
that street and they had just a bunch of people with Him walking
through the street, and there's a woman standing there, Mary, plying her train. Forlorn woman. She said, who's that? She said,
that's Jesus of Nazareth. That's the prophet, some say
it's the Christ. Somebody started talking to her
about it. Maybe the Lord looked at her and walked off. Because a little
while later, bravo, He was lying in a man's house and she came
in crying her eyes out. Something happened. Something
happened to lead her to where he was. Okay? He went through
that town. And this, what I'm saying is,
for our hope, is every step, everything he does, he's the
same. John preached on it, didn't he?
Hebrews 13, verse 8. The same yesterday, day, and forever.
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. His Word will
not return void. It will complete. And he's preached
his Word. That doesn't mean that because
somebody didn't hear it, that doesn't mean it's over. It may
be in his time you'll bring that Word to fruition in their heart,
to break their heart and bring them in to lie at His feet and
call upon Him. Capernaum. After this, he went
down to Capernaum. Matthew 4 says he left Nazareth
and came and dwelled in Capernaum. He left Nazareth where he spent
30 years. Oh, how blessed Nazareth was.
Thirty years. The gospel has been here no longer
than that. He didn't stay there, did he?
He didn't stay anywhere. He came to Capernaum, it says,
and it was called his own city. Matthew 9, he called it his own
city. He adopted it as his city. That's where he would come back
to all the time. He spent the next three years
in and out of Capernaum. I want you to turn to Matthew
11 with me. Matthew 11. He spent the next
three years in and out of Capernaum. Oh, what love, what mercy, what
grace, what compassion the Lord showed on Capernaum. And what
mercy and what love and grace and compassion the Lord has shown
on Rocky Mount, Virginia. At Capernaum, listen to me, at
Capernaum, listen to what all happened in the three short years. He preached the Sermon on the
Mount at Capernaum. That's where it happened. That
draft of fishes, the disciples saw His glory. The demoniac was
healed. The centurion's servant was healed. Simon's mother-in-law was healed.
That sick of the palsy man was let down through the roof. There,
an unclean spirit was cast out of the man. Matthew was called. He was sitting there at the seat
of Custom. That's where he was, at Capernaum. The man with a
withered hand was there. The woman with the issue of blood,
Jairus' daughter, two blind men, and the fish with a coin in his
mouth. All of John chapter 6 was preached there. Oh, Capernaum. And you and I have looked at
every single one of those. You and I have looked at every
single one of those stories many times over. And this is why the
Lord says here, Matthew 11 and verse 23, Thou Capernaum, Thou Capernaum which are exalted
unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. If the mighty works
which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would
have remained until this day. I say unto you, it will be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for
thee." It would have been better for this town to have never had
the gospel than people to live here all these years and reject
the gospel. It would be easier for the publicans
and harlots. He went down to Capernaum and
he spent three years there. And our text says he was not
there many days. He just came there briefly. That
was to call his disciples on the way. This is when he called
Peter, and Andrew, and James, and John, and they're both. Remember,
he went to be tempted by Satan, and he came, and he passed by,
and he called them, and then they got in with him, and then
they went to Capernaum. Then his disciples were with
him. Alright, that's what happened there. But he went down to Capernaum,
and it says, he and his. That's what jumped out at me.
There could be no other title for this. He and his mother.
He and his brethren. He and his disciples. And they
continued that. He went down there with he and
his. His mother, his brethren, his
disciples. He walked by the Sea of Galilee, like I said, and
called his disciples, and they followed him. And they left their
nets, their ship, their father, and they followed him. And now
they're his disciples. They're his. They're his. He and His. Didn't He say in
His prayer, thine are mine and mine are thine? They're mine. All that the Father giveth me
shall come unto me. He came for His own. They received Him not,
but He's going to happen. He and His. If you could see
this crowd, that was walking with him that day is a poor little
group. Maybe 15, 20 people. 15 or 20 people. A straggly little,
motley little crew, wasn't it? Mary, poor woman, and the rest
of them were poor and our Lord didn't have anything. Poor people
probably looked at them, who is that poor little bunch? My
neighbor the other day, I went over to see about her, and she
had a visitor there with her, and she introduced me to her
friend. She said, he has a little church
up on the hill. And my flesh, you know, she meant
that as, he's really a nobody. And that little church is nothing.
You see, she attends a big Methodist church up on the hill. That's
exactly what she meant by it. She might not have meant to be
mean, but that's exactly what she meant. That's what people
imply by that. It's just a little church. And he's just a little preacher.
He's a nobody. He has no influence. He doesn't have a big crowd.
It's not a big church there. Well, that's what they said about
the Lord Jesus Christ. So I'm in good company, huh?
It's just a little church. People out here can tell you
there's no such thing as a little church. It took so great salvation to
save one sinner. Noah, he's got such a little
church. He's only got eight people. Can you believe that? He's a
nobody. He doesn't have any influence. Nobody's listening to him. God
shut the door. I'd like to be in that little
church with you. Motley little crew walking
down the road. This is God and His people. This is the King of glory with
His sons and daughters, with His family. Don't you call His
family people. Don't you call common what He
has cleansed. And there are people, oh my. My, my, my. Oh, the Lord has
saved some people out of big places to make them little people
with the rest of us little people. Oh my. And he walked through there and
he and his, his mother, now she is called his mother always because
to distinguish her from the other Marys. Do you know how many Marys
there were? Do you know how many Marys followed him? There were
at least four or five. Mary and Mary and the other Mary. That's what they say. She's called
the other Mary. But often to distinguish her
as she's not a virgin anymore. She's not called the Virgin Mary.
And there was called the Virgin Mary, called Mary a virgin. It's not a title of hers, something
to give her honor and glory, but a picture to show us that
Christ was born of a virgin, a virgin shall conceive. Mary,
his mother, and his brethren, James, Joseph, and Jude, and
he had sisters, no mention of his sister. No mention of Joseph, his earthly
father. What happened to him? We don't
know. We don't know, do we? Was he
saved? I think Joseph was. They called
him a just man, didn't they? When Mary was found with child,
you see, he being a just man. He was a just man, an upright
man. He took the child to have him
circumcised. He was a good father. I believe
he was dead. They believe he died. So Mary's a widower. She's a widow. And his sisters,
there's no mention of his sisters. Where were they? Were they saved? Maybe not. The Lord saves whom He will. And He's no respecter of persons. He didn't love his earthly family
more than he loved Simon Peter. But what mercy it was that he
did save his mother. What mercy it was that he did
save three of his brothers. We believe two of them were apostles,
don't we Ed? Jude and James. His earthly brother,
what mercy that was that God made. Jesus, no respecter of
persons. There's no preference of blood.
Our Lord didn't prefer His family, His kin, but this was great mercy. Great mercy. We're not born of
bloods. And there are no earthly relations
in heaven. None. None. No married or given in
marriage. None. No father and mother. They're
all equal. No male or female. No male or
female. And that begins here. That begins
right here. Do you remember in Matthew 12,
Mark and Luke all give the account where he is preaching in a synagogue,
and his mother and his brethren were outside and wanted to talk
to him. Do you remember what he said?
Do you remember what he said? He said, who is my mother? Who
are my brothers? And he looked around at his disciples
and he said, this is my mother and this is my brother. They
that do the will of God. That's a lesson to learn. That's
a lesson to learn. What great mercy if the Lord
saves our blood kin. Huh? What mercy it is. We ought
to thank Him to high heaven if He saves our husband, our wife,
we didn't have to. What great mercy it is if the
Lord saves our children, but He doesn't have to. Job, there's nothing to make
us think that any of Job's children were saved. Do you remember in Job chapter 1
where he said, I'm going to offer a sacrifice and maybe they've
cursed God. Maybe the Lord will accept this.
He killed them. God killed them all. And Job,
it says, in all this, he sinned not with his mouth, nor charged
God foolishly. He justified God in the death
of his family. That's real. That's real faith.
Because true faith says, I don't deserve to be saved. My wife
doesn't deserve to be saved. My children, because they're
my children, doesn't mean that they deserve to be saved. Lord,
you can save them if you will. And if He does, you ought to
thank Him to high heaven. Praise you, the Lord. Look at
Psalm 146. I read this on purpose because
Mary is a widow. We believe Joseph died years
before this. Our Lord is the oldest of the
sons, isn't he? He's only 30 years old at this
time. His brethren, if they're anything, they're in their 20s,
without a father, in a poor place. Okay? They're fatherless, and
she's a widow. Did you hear that? They're fatherless, and he's
a widow. And I told you what all he did
in Capernaum. Because this is he, in Psalm
146, the God of Jacob, verse 5. Verse 6, it made the heaven
and the earth, which John said in chapter 1. All things were
made by Him, which came down here, verse 7, to execute judgment
for the oppressed and give food to the hungry." That's where
He fed the 5,000. The Lord, where He elucidates the prisoners,
those held by demons and devil, opens the eyes of the blind.
He cured two blind men in Capernaum. The Lord raises them that are
bowed down. Jairus bowed down. The woman with the issue of blood
bowed down 12 years. The Lord loveth the righteous.
There's Nathaniel. The Lord preserveth the stranger,
and he relieveth the fatherless and the widow. This is it. This is it. And one little verse came down. This is he, he and his, his mother,
his brother, and his disciples. His disciples. And it continued
there. Not many days. Not many days. Now brethren, our days are numbered. Our days are numbered. We don't have much time to do
it. And we have this gospel with us. in this little place just like
Capernaum. Oh Lord, teach us to number our
days, that we may apply our hearts to what? Wisdom. Oh, Paul said that I might know
Him, the power of His resurrection, and be found in Him. With Him,
oh that I might be His. A member of His little church. His great kingdom is what it
is. Because He doesn't continue here too many days. And this
world is not going to continue too many days. He's passing on. He's passing on. So let us supply
our hearts to know Him. Be found in Him. Call upon Him,
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Stand with me. Our Lord, thank You for Your
blessed Book, Your Word. It is indeed Your Word. We marvel at it. We are amazed
by it. The glory in it. Every line,
every phrase, every word. is your word, words of life. If only we had the heart to receive
it. If only these sayings would sink
down deep in our ears. We have this flesh to contend
with, and we have a hard time getting by it. This treasure
in earthen vessels, poor vessels, but oh Lord, it
is a treasure. And this is full of glory. Oh, how we beg You to overrule
the flesh and let us behold Thy glory. Manifest Your glory to
us, in us. Reveal Christ in us. Show us
His glory. Confirm us as disciples. They
began to believe on Him and there became His followers from then
on and nothing else and no one else took their attention. And they were His followers from
then on, committed, totally committed. Oh, Lord, let us not fall out
by the way. Be overcome in this world. Let us be followers of the Lamb.
They that are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful. He and His. Oh, Lord. Thank You
for coming down, saving sinners. Lord, save us all, we pray in
Christ's name. Amen.