Because the same message, same
text, same book, same subject. Look at verse 11. This beginning of miracles did
Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested, or made known, or
showed forth His glory. and His disciples, and seeing
something of His glory, believed on Him. That is what the Lord
says that He did here. He showed forth His glory in
this miracle, this first public miracle. He showed forth His
glory, and in showing His glory, His disciples who saw this, who
witnessed this, believed on Him. They began to really believe
on Him, see in His glory. So there's much to be seen here.
There's a marriage, verses 1 and 2. The third day, There was a
marriage in Cana, Galilee. That's a poor city in the mountains. And the mother of Jesus was there. Both Jesus was called and His
disciples to the marriage. Now, the Spirit wrote that He
showed forth His glory in this first miracle. And what I want
us to see is His glory, first of all, is His condescending
glory. How the Son of the Most High
God, God manifest in the flesh, came down to this earth to this
despicable place, and he came here to save sinners. Those that didn't want him, those
that didn't ask for him, those that didn't love him, those that
despised and rejected him, those that weren't worth saving, and
that buddy came. He came. The great Son of God
came. He was manifest in the flesh. That's how He first manifested
His glory, by being manifest in the flesh. The only begotten
Son of God. Now, He didn't go to Jerusalem
first. He didn't go to Rome. He didn't go to the high, the
mighty, and the noble. He came to a little small town
of Bethlehem. He was born there. He chose the
town of Nazareth, the despised place by the high and mighty.
They despised it. He spent, we're going to see,
much if not most of his time in Capernaum, a little seaside
town where nothing but fishermen and commoners lived and nobodies. That's who he spent all his time
with. This is a faithful saint. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. This man is a friend
of sinners. He eats with them. He lives with
them. That's why he came. To save the likes of us, sinners. It was his glory to come to commoners. He came to Cana of Galilee. I
told you it wasn't a notable place. a despised place in the
mountains. If you look it up on the map,
it's just outside the Sea of Galilee up in the hills. It was
a no place, full of nobodies. Do you see your calling, brethren? The gospel came to Rocky Mount,
Virginia. You tell people where you live,
Rocky Mount, and they say, North Carolina? No, not nearly so grand
as that. But Rocky Mount, Virginia, where's
that? And then you have to tell them,
well, it's just below Roanoke. Oh, or above Martinsville. Oh, yeah, no Martinsville. Rocky
Mount, Cana of Galilee, Capernaum, Nazareth, Bethlehem. Though thou be smallest among
nations, yet out of thee shall he come. What condescending glory! He
began to show forth his glory. As a man, as a thirty-year-old
man, he came to this little town of Cana in Galilee to a marriage. Whose marriage was it? It doesn't
say. It doesn't say. Apparently they were a poor couple.
They ran out of wine very quickly. They didn't have anything. And
they didn't have the means to obtain more. A poor couple. Oh my! He who was rich, yet for our
sakes became poor. He came down to this place that
we through His poverty might be made rich. And He came for
the poor and needy. A brother texted me this morning
and he said, I so need to hear the gospel. He said, I'm looking
forward to hearing the gospel this morning. I'm poor and needy.
I thought, that man is going to hear it. Blessed are they
that hunger and thirst after righteousness. That's right.
They shall be filled. Filled, he said. The hungry. He filleth the hungry with good
things. That's the Gospel. If you came hungry, I hope you
did. I know one that will be filled. Maybe already. Jesus was called, verse 2, and
His disciples to the marriage. Oh my! We need to ask the Lord to attend
our marriage. I'm going to preach at, I'm not
going to do the service, but Sarah Vandal, Jeff and Laura
Vandal's daughter is getting married in October. I'm going
there and Mike asked me to preach that Sunday, but it's going to
be a good time. She's marrying a young man who's
a believer. A young woman aspires to be married,
or a young man aspires to be married, and they marry in the
Lord, like 1 Corinthians 7 tells us to, and ask the Lord's blessings
on that marriage. They ask the Lord to attend their
marriage. He will. He'll come. He'll be there. He'll bless it.
The Lord sanctioned marriage. The Lord is the one who ordained
marriage, didn't He? He's the one in the garden who
gave the woman to the man, didn't He? If someone would ask a witness,
the Holy Spirit, whoever was there, said, Who giveth this
woman to this man? Adam and Eve. Who giveth this
woman to this man? Our Lord would stand there and
say, I do. Her father and I. Well, this is a marriage and
a type, one of the clearest types of Christ and His church in Scripture. This is the first thing. See,
this is the first way he made himself known to his disciples. All right, look at verse 3. They
wanted wine. The mother of Jesus said unto
him, They have no wine. And he said unto her immediately,
Woman, what have I to do with thee? Thine hour is not yet come. That was a stern rebuke, yet
I'm sure it was not hard, it was not cruel, but it's true
that she needed it. David said, let the righteous
smite me. There's a time to comfort, there's
a time to rebuke, there's a time for promises, and a time for
warning. Our Lord rebuked her, and He
said, Woman, and I pointed this out to you, you've heard this
before, but our Lord never, ever, not once, while on this earth,
did He ever call Mary His mother. Never once did he refer to her
as his mother. And that's by design. That's
on purpose. Because Christ is like Melchizedek. He has no father or mother really.
He has no beginning of days. He's the eternal one. He actually
was Mary's father. Right? Her heavenly Father. God manifests in the flesh. This
is one of the first things He shows us and His disciples. His
disciples heard it. His disciples heard Him say this
to her. They heard Him say it again later on. Woman. Remember that? On His cross. Last thing. And they heard Him
say this. Do you know how many millions
of people don't know this? Do you know how many millions
of people don't understand who He really is? Do you know how
many people really believe that He's Mary's Son and don't believe He's the Son
of God? Whom do you say that He is? Whom do you say that He
is? He asked the disciples that.
Whom do you say He is? They said, Eric, the Son of God.
Not Mary's son. Not the son of Mary. He's never
referred to in Scripture as the son of Mary. Because he's the
son of God. Son of man, son of God, but Mary's
son? Yes, he's called Mary's son,
but not the son of Mary. That's his title. His title is
son of God. Son of the highest. Son of man
is a glorious title of His, meaning the servant of man. Born of a
woman? Yes. Why? To be made under the
law. That's why. Mary was a borrowed
womb, just like He borrowed the tomb. She was a chosen vessel,
but she did not originate, our Lord did not originate with her.
No sir. He's the everlasting Son of God,
the everlasting Father. Woman, he says this for her benefit,
for the disciples' benefit. You see, he really had no need
of her, but she has need of him. Woman, what have I to do with
thee? What do I need from you? Orders from you? Now he submitted
himself as a son under the law, as an obedient child, didn't
he? For 30 years. Now he has assumed
his public ministry. Okay? He's a man now. He's no
longer a child, no longer a son under tutors and so forth. Now
he's the head over the house. Like Moses wrote. Hebrews wrote
that. And he says to her, And now it's time for you to
submit to Me. He does not answer to her, she
answers to Him. He does not share His glory with
her, but she must glory in Him. How few people know this. There
are millions of people, as I speak right now, worship Him. giving
Mary the same honor and glory as they do the Lord Jesus Christ.
But His disciples, He's showing His disciples and He's showing
us. Little old Cana, little old Rocky Mount, He's manifesting
His glory to us. We are beholding His glory, John
said, as of the only begotten of who? Mary? No, the Father. Full of grace and full of truth. There's one mediator between
God and men, it's the man, Christ Jesus. None other name, there's
only one name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved. The name of Jesus Christ, not Mary. How I wish more people
could hear this. Mary, now Mary knew, she forgot. She's a mother, she loves him.
And yet she got lifted up a little bit here with pride or whatever.
Maybe Mary was in charge of this wedding. Maybe there was somebody
she was related to, a cousin or a sister or somebody who asked
her to come be the wedding planner. Obviously she was involved in
the wedding, and she said nonchalantly and carelessly, disrespectfully
to him, they had no wine. They had no wine. You know, how do we approach
God in prayer. How do we approach the Son of
God? I drove by a little place this
morning and they think these sayings are clever. They're utter
blasphemy. said God sent the first text
message. And then underneath that it said
God chats 24-7. God chats. God doesn't chat with
anybody, nor does anybody who fears the Lord Chat with the
Most High Sovereign God. They fall on their faces. We're
going to see in Psalm 145 how it says He'll hear those that
fall before Him. Those that bow down. Those that
call upon Him in truth, in the name of Christ, from the heart,
from fear of the Lord, in reverence, in respect, in worship, with
a true desire. He's going to hear them. He's
not going to hear people. He's going to have to chat with Him. Hmm. How few people understand
this. We do. We do. We understand. How good is our
God to us in revealing Christ to us as He really is? Though
we know in part, that part we know is glorious, isn't it? They
have no wife. Christ said unto her, Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Where he will submit himself,
he'll put himself into the hands of man to do what they will.
He's not subject to the will of man. He will be. He's going
to put himself into the hands of man. Do with me what you will.
They did with a wicked hand, crucified him. But they did what
God determined before to be done. And they did it out of an evil
heart, but God had them do it out of a loving heart. and His
wisdom and His grace and His love and His glory. That's His
hour, His finest hour. Man's darkest hour of God's finest
hour. She had forgotten who she was
and who he was for a moment. Now she realizes. Now listen
to what she said. And I wish every Catholic could
hear Mary's testimony. I wish every Catholic could read
and hear, and it would go into their heart, Mary's prayer in
Luke 2. Mary who said, My heart rejoiceth
in God my Saviour. Mary said, I need a Saviour because
Mary was a sinner. And here Mary says, The Lord
got a hold of her here. She got a hold of herself. He looked into her eyes and said, With love, yes. But with firmness,
what have I to do with thee? You have everything to do with
me. You don't make demands of me. You ask me. If you ask me, you'll receive.
If you seek, you'll find. If you ask me for mercy, I'll
show it. If you make demands, I won't even hear you. And she said to everyone, for
everyone to hear it, Whatsoever he saith, do it. He's in charge here. He's the
Lord here. Whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. Do it. He's the Lord. Mary said,
I'm nothing. I'm just a sinner saved by grace.
He's the Lord. And for a moment, I forgot. Alright, now here's the glory
of His mercy, His grace, His kindness, and His self-denial,
and His service to others. Verse 6, it was set six water
pots of stone. after the matter of the purifying
of the Jews. They believed you had to wash,
wash, wash, wash. Now, it was the Lord's teaching. The Lord in the Old Testament
did teach washing. Washing of pots and vessels and
washing of hands and washing of everything. And that was the
Lord's wisdom, wasn't it? In hygiene, it just was. It just
was to keep disease. You know how many animals they
slaughtered? You know how much bacteria and all that sort of
thing? Our Lord in wisdom told them, wash your hands, wash,
wash, wash, wash all over. Leprosy came, they were to be
stripped, they were to be shaved, they were to be washed, washed,
washed. But it's mostly a picture of salvation, be washed. And sanctification, be washed,
be purified. That's what it's mostly a picture
of. Jews made a work out of it, didn't they? The Jews, they call
it the Jews' purification. Remember, they saw the disciples
one time eat without washing their hands? And they said, why do your disciples
eat without washing their hands? What's wrong with these dirty
fellows? And our Lord rebuked them strongly,
didn't He? He said, that's what you trust
in. You think you're washed. He said,
well then, you're full of extortion and excess. You haven't been
washed at all. One time, John, he said to his disciples, you're
clean. Isn't it? He told them, you're
clean. As before, well, he was washing
their feet. Peter didn't understand it. He
washed me all over. He said, you are. Except your
feet. Another place he said, you're
clean. Now are you clean through the word I've spoken to you?
I've said, you're clean, you're clean. So they had six water pots of
stone, enough for a bunch of people to wash with, after the
manner of the purifying of the Jews. That water didn't purify
anybody. Not knowing that standing right
there was the water of life. And if
any sinner would have asked Him right there, He would have purified
them on the spot, without washing their hands, like that woman
at Deuel. Well, verse 7, Christ said unto
them, the Lord said unto them, fill the water pots with water.
And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them,
Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they
bared it. They bared it. The ruler of the
feast tasted the water, the water that was made wine. It turned
into wine. And he didn't know where it came
from, knew not which it was. The servants knew, which drew
the water, they knew. The governor of the feast called
the bridegroom, Said unto him, Every man at the beginning doth
set forth good wine, and when men are well drunk, than that
which is worse. Thou hast kept the good wine
until now. This water turned into wine.
The first thing I want us to see, the second thing, is that
our Lord served these people. He came to serve. He said the
Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. He came
to this wedding, he quickly reminded his mother that, I don't answer
to you. He knew what he was going to
do before this. He knew he was going to turn
this to wine without her telling him. But he came to minister,
he came to be a servant. He said, I am as one among you
that serveth. Now these people didn't need
wine, did they? They didn't need wine. Wine is
a luxury. Wine's an option. It's not necessary,
but God made wine, Scripture said, to make glad the heart
of man. Wine is for feasting, the Scripture says. Weddings
and the likes of happy times. And our Lord, in such love and
kindness and mercy and grace, He came to this wedding witnessing
this young couple getting married. And He sanctioned that by being
there. Oh my, asked the Lord to your
wedding. And He was there and He served
them wine. They didn't need that, but He
served it. He served it up for them. And
I thought about this, there he was attending a common wedding,
the people were dancing, the people were laughing and having
fun. Was he denying them having fun? No. Was he enjoying it? I'm sure he was. Was he dancing? He doesn't say
so. David danced before the Ark one
night. And his wife said, look at you. You've made a spectacle
of yourself before the women. And God smote her with barrenness. She never had a child from that
day forward. David said, I'll be more vile.
Joy before the Lord, who for the joy set before Him. Christ
came in this world. Oh, the Lord giveth us all things
richly to enjoy. as long as they don't take our
affection from Him. He gave them this, not what they
needed, but what they wanted. And I thought about this. There
He stood, the Son of God, at a common wedding amongst a bunch
of common sinners. There He stood. God stood there. And this reveals His wonderful
glory and condescending to be there, and it reveals man's utter
blindness and deadness that God stood there and did that couple
act. Wouldn't you have asked Him to
marry you? Wouldn't you have asked Him? Oh Lord, You're here. You do the service. You do the ceremony. They didn't know. They didn't
know Him. They didn't know Him. It doesn't say the bridegroom
or the bride came to Him. It doesn't say the governor of
the feast didn't know Him. Who knew Him? Who knew Him? Who saw this? Who saw His glory? Who was manifested to Him? Who?
The servants and His disciples. These little lowly servants.
They said, fill up the water pots. And they filled the water
pots. And then he said, serve it to these people. And they
started dipping it. It's wine. It's wine. It's wine. Would you look at
that? Would you look at that? The disciples,
did you see that? That's wine. Nobody else saw
it. And I bet he held it. He's hid these things from the
wise and the prudent, and revealed them unto babes, unto the lowly,
unto servants, unto His disciples, His chosen, His elect. That's
who He reveals these things to. Alright? And they began to serve
the others. And what does all this represent?
Well, these water pots, six water pots. Six has always represented
man. Six has always represented man. God made man on what day? The
sixth day. People talk about 666. It has
something to do with man. It's the number of man. Okay? Well, these six water pots are
emblems of preachers of the gospel, whom he had chosen, who were
empty vessels. They were empty. There was nothing
in them. No water of life in them. The
Lord first said, fill them up with water. Fill them up to the brim. He
didn't say halfway. He said, to the brim. And they did, but with water.
What's water? Water in Scriptures has always
represented the Word of God. Always. Ephesians 5, verse 26
says that God cleansed the church by the washing of water. Our
Lord said in John chapter 3 to Nicodemus, except you be worn
of water and blood, of water and a spirit. 1 John talks about
water and three that bear record in heaven, the water, the spirit,
and the blood. These all bear witness. These
three are one. Water, James said, were begotten by the Word of
God, born again by the Word of God through preaching of the
gospel. And these fellows that preach it, they have to be filled
first, don't they? With the water of life. Water
of life. And they serve others. And they're
just old stone pots. We have this vessel, this treasure
in earthen vessels, don't we? That the excellency of the power
may be of God. If this thing turns into wine,
you'll know who did it. If this gospel going forth, if
this Word goes forth in power, and it turns into what? Blood! See, the whole world is washing,
washing, washing. Our Lord said, you search the
Scripture and then you think you have life. Let's wash. Let's
wash ourselves. Let's purify ourselves. Let's
make ourselves clean. Let's keep the law. Let's do
this. Let's do that. That won't do it. One thing will
wash you. Blood. See, the water's got to turn
into blood. And when He reveals His glory,
manifests His glory to you, if you're His disciple, He'll show
you in the Word from Genesis to Revelation. You know what?
It's all blood. I see it on every page. The wine
of His blood. That's the wine that maketh glad
the heart of man. Physical wine, and by the way,
our Lord made wine, didn't He? That means He doesn't condemn
the use of it. He drank it. But wine represents
as clearly as anything. Anything in Scripture. That's
why we partake of wine in the Lord's table. It represents one
thing. His precious blood that was pressed
in the wine press of God's wrath for His people. And He serves
it up to them. And through the preaching of
the gospel, oh my people, aren't we blessed to see this? Us, His
servants, us, His disciples, aren't we so blessed that no
matter where we go and look into this precious water of life,
we see blood. It turns into wine. And it makes glad our heart,
doesn't it? And that's it. So it says in
John 2, verse 11, this beginning of miracle. And I about passed
this over. This governor of the feast, he
didn't have a clue. This mighty, this noble fellow,
he didn't have a clue what was going on. He's just getting drunk. And he said, and he said this
for our sake, all right, for our sake. He said, every person
that at the beginning sets forth good wine, and then when people
are well drunk, then they, you know, they'll say, well, they
don't want to know the difference now. I'll serve them this cheap
stuff. But he said, this is the best
I've ever had. This is the good wine. This is
the best wine. What vintage is this? Where did
this come from? Nobody answers you. But what this is telling us,
his disciples, is God has saved the best for last. If you think, you know, if anybody's
gotten any good out of this this morning, if you've gotten any
joy out of this, any comfort out of this, if you've gotten
any benefit out of this, if you've tasted and seen that the Lord
is gracious, if you've tasted a little bit of the wine of his
sacrifice, his goodness, if you've tasted that the Lord is gracious
a little bit this morning, you just wasted it. He said, I'm
going to eat and drink with you in the new kingdom. I'm going
to serve you wine. Oh, you're going to say, I never
tasted the like. I never tasted anything like
this.