Well, we're going to be looking
in the first part of John chapter two this morning at the miracle
of the water being made wine at the marriage in Cana of Galilee,
when the glory of God in Christ was displayed and his disciples
believed on him. Divine glory displayed. You know,
like the Samaritan woman at the well a couple of chapters on
in chapter four, which God willing we'll see in not too distant
future, People, even today in this godless world, are very
willing to discuss religion. Oh yes, they'll discuss, oh what
about this one, oh those people, they do this, don't they, and
they go to those places, and this is how they do their worship,
etc. People are very willing to talk
about that sort of thing. But you'll find very, very few
who are open to hearing the truth of God. You know, I like what
Ecclesiastes 5 verse 2 says, it says when you're in the presence
of God, when you come to worship, basically it says shut your mouth
and listen. You know, this world is so keen
to spout its erroneous views about religion, but do you know
what is wise counsel? Shut your mouth and listen. Listen
to what God says, listen to the truth of God. Hear what God says
about righteousness, true righteousness, not the phony righteousness of
fallen man, true righteousness, the justice of God, who is holy
and must punish sin, the sin of man, the sin of man. I don't care how high and mighty
you are, so little is said by religion about sin. There was
a very grand funeral yesterday, and I have great respect for
the man that went, and the Queen, our monarch. But you know, I
don't think I heard a word about sin, and redemption from sin,
and that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. I don't
think I heard a word of that. You see, this is what people
need to hear. Redemption that is by Christ.
Not what they are, not the reputation that they had. Redemption that
is by Christ. Who He is, and what He has done. You see, God has ordained from
before the beginning of time to qualify a multitude that no
man can number of hell-deserving sinners, sinners in themselves
and deserving of hell. He has ordained that He will
qualify them for the sinless bliss of His heaven. for eternity,
for fellowship with God, for intimate communion with God,
based on the penalty paid by Christ the God-man. God in flesh,
the God-man, the Son of God, the One who came, the promised
Messiah, the Christ of God. What He did and what He is alone
is the salvation of His people. He's the guarantee of eternal
life for His people. He's that which gives them life
and hope, a reason. Give an answer to anyone who
asks you a reason for the hope. What's your reason? The reason
for my hope that is in me, the reason is this, Christ has died
for me. Christ has lived in my place.
Christ is my all in all and in the justice of God according
to the decree of the sovereign of the universe. If I am in Him,
I am made the righteousness of God and I am qualified for His
eternal glory without any works of mine, without any contribution
from that saved multitude, the elect of God, without any contribution
from them. They are made the righteousness
of God in Christ, all that he requires in Christ. But, but,
whilst that's a thing that was done, the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, the Lamb became flesh, behold the
Lamb of God, and He walked among us, and He went to the cross
of Calvary when His hour was come, and He died there that
He might pay the penalty. He was made the sin of that multitude. He was loaded with that sin.
sins that had happened in time before, and sins yet to happen
in time in the future. I don't understand, but it's
what God declares, and I believe it, and His Spirit gives us faith
to believe it. By what Christ has done, every
single one of those for whom Christ has died will know the
fact of salvation and will live in the blessed assurance and
comfort of it in this life. Before they die, every single
one for whom Christ died Chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world, they will come to know it by believing on the
Son. They will live in the blessed
assurance and comfort of it. They will believe on Him with
all their heart. They will follow Him. They will
slip and stumble on the way, but their hearts will be set
on eternal glory. And they will follow in the footsteps
of Christ, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of their
faith. Their hope will be in Him, and
their salvation is assured in Him, and in everything that He
has done. God will have every one of them
know it, however long they have yet to live. You know the thief,
the one penitent thief next to Christ on the cross? He came
to see by spirit revelation. that Christ was who He was, the
man dying there next to Him, was bearing the sins of His people.
Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Verily, verily,
said Jesus to him, I say to you, this day you shall be with me
in paradise. And that man, I don't know whether
he had minutes or an hour or two left to live, but his lifeblood
was draining away from him. but that time He lived on that
cross in physical agony, He lived in the comfort and the assurance
that what Christ was doing assured His standing with God for all
eternity. Here's a question. How will each
and every one of that multitude that Christ died for, change
from their natural state, aren't we all, spiritually ignorant,
in spiritual darkness, without any light of God, just imbibing
nothing other than the wine of this world, from the broken cisterns
of this world, how will each and every one of them come out
of that blindness of people in their natural state without God
to believers. You know how believers are defined
in the Scriptures? Philippians 3 verse 3 puts it
as well as you could possibly find. The people of God are those
who worship God in spirit. We don't just worship God when
we gather together on a Sunday morning. We live in a spirit
of worship. We live in a spirit of worship,
worshipping God in the spirit, conscious that God, as Hagar
said, thou, Lord, seeth me. God sees me. God sees me. I live in the gaze of God, and
I worship God, who is over all. And secondly, I worship God in
the Spirit, but I rejoice. Where is my rejoicing? Where
is my comfort, my joy, my eternal happiness? It's in Christ Jesus
and Him alone. Not in the things I do or the
places I go. Not in the experiences I have,
it is in Christ and Him alone. And thirdly, in that verse in
Philippians 3, I relinquish all fleshly confidence. I have no
confidence in the flesh. My hope for eternity is not based
in the slightest degree on what I am or what I have done, but
on what Christ is, who Christ is, and what He has done in my
place. How do we get to that position? Answer? The Holy Spirit will
give spiritual life. We know it's of the Holy Spirit.
It isn't of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God
that shows mercy. Those that are born of the Spirit
of God, as verse 13 of chapter 1 says, are born not of blood,
not of natural line, not of genetics, nor of the will of the flesh,
not because they wanted to and made a decision, nor of the will
of man because some priest or counsellor pointed them in the
right direction, but of God. That's how they come. The Holy
Spirit will give spiritual life and will give the gift of faith
to see that which flesh cannot see. You know, the natural man
receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they're foolishness
to him, neither can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned.
If you would see the things of the Spirit of God, the Spirit
of God must give you spiritual sight to see them. He must give
you faith. You must be born again, as we'll
see soon in John's Gospel in chapter 3. You must be born again,
said Jesus to Nicodemus. He will give, the Spirit of God
will give. His people, when He gives them
life, He will give them willingness to do that which they're naturally
unwilling to do. Willingness, He will make them
willing in the day of His power to believe and to follow Christ,
but He always uses means. He always uses means. He uses
the means of the Word of God, declaring Christ and His redeeming
grace. That preached, that word preached,
and that word witnessed, because don't forget, it isn't just,
it's predominantly preaching, but it's the personal witness
of one believer to another. Why do you act as you do? Give a reason to anyone who asks
you about the hope that is in you. Witnessing, witnessing about
Christ and redeeming grace. I have a hope, I have an eternal
hope. What's the reason for it? Because of Christ. Because of
Christ. Come and listen to preaching that will teach you about these
things. You see, look, in John's Gospel,
chapter 20, towards the end of it. Verse 30, because he's writing
about the many signs and miracles and things that Christ did. Many
other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples,
which are not written in this book. He says somewhere else
that the world couldn't contain if it was all written down. There's just too much to write
down. They're not written in this book, but these are written. Why? Why, John? Why did the Holy
Spirit inspire John to write this book of the Gospel of John? Why? Why? Why are they written? That you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God. Okay, so what? And that believing
you might have life through His name. the power of those words,
that believing you might have life through his name, life through
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in verse Sorry, I've got
the wrong place there. Look in chapter 2 of John and
verse 11. This beginning of miracles did
Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth his glory. And
John wrote the account of it down in this book. He wrote the
account of it down. Why? So that like the disciples,
his disciples believed on him. They saw the glory of God manifested
in Christ and they believed on him. They believed on His name,
that they might have life through belief on His name, that they
might believe the gospel of grace. And that's my prayer this morning,
is that all who hear this message, all who hear this, take the place
of those disciples. Put themselves in the place of
those disciples. I'm not asking you to do anything.
What do you read in that account, those first 11 verses? What did
the disciples do? What did the disciples do? Think
about it. What did they do? You read it,
didn't you? What did they do? They sat there and watched. That's
all. They didn't do another thing.
They didn't say anything. They didn't get up and help the
servants. They didn't do a thing. They sat there and watched the
glory of God displayed. And they believed on His name.
They believed unto life eternal. They saw Christ's glory manifested
and they believed on Him. They believed on Him, what? Well
they were there in His presence, but what was it they believed
on Him? They believed on Him as the one who God promised in
whom He would redeem His people, buy back, pay the ransom price
of His people from the curse of the law. The curse of the
law, the soul that sins, it shall die. He has redeemed his people
from that bondage to sin which demands their eternal death.
He redeems his people from the curse of the law. So what I want
is for you to put yourself in the place of those disciples
and just come and sit and watch what happens. Let's go to a wedding.
You see here, at the start of John chapter 2, we've got the
end of the old and the start of the new. It says in Luke chapter
16 and verse 16, there in Luke 16 and verse 16, It says about
this era, the Law and the Prophets were until John. Since that time
the Kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth into it.
The Law and the Prophets were until John. John the Baptist
was the end of the Old Testament era. He was the end of the Old
Testament dispensation. Christ had come, behold the Lamb
of God, He's now manifested. The one who was crying, a voice
crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, He's
come and He is the end of the Old Testament prophets. The law
and the prophets were until John, but now there's something new,
and John points to the Lamb of God. The disciples, his disciples,
followed the Lamb of God. They followed Christ. He said,
behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And
two of his disciples, John and Andrew, followed him. And Nathanael
was brought to Christ by Philip. and readily believed on him.
In verse 49, Nathanael answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou
art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. Why did Nathanael
say that? Because Jesus said to him, I saw you under a fig
tree meditating and praying. And he said, how did you do?
You must be the Son of God. And Jesus says to him, because
I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, and you believe
that I am the Christ, the Son of God. You believe, because
of that, he said, verily, verily, I say to you, you shall see much
greater things than these. You shall see the angels of God
ascending and descending upon that ladder between earth and
heaven that Jacob saw in his dream, that ladder which so much
pictures Christ, the Lamb of God come. You shall see greater
things. You shall see the glory of God displayed. you shall see
the reality of God displayed. Do you know, you know when you
see it, you know when you come to faith in Christ, or you come
to Christ in faith, you know when you see the reality and
truth of God, oh wow, how on earth did I not see it before?
I suffer from elderly man's disease in that I can't see anything
when it's sitting right in front of me. And I say, well, Christine,
where have you put the such and such a thing? And she'll walk
up and go, it's right there in front of your eyes, and I just
can't see it. Well, is that not the way it is with the majority
of people who do not believe in this world? When you know
the truth of God and the glory of God and the creating power
of God, and the redemption that is in Christ, and the mystery
of salvation, the mystery of the gospel of grace, and it's
revealed to you. And you just wonder, how can people not see
it? The reality of God, the power
of God. You know, You have this confidence
that God has created all of this. He's upholding it all by the
word of His power. How on earth can He not do anything
that He wants to do? He can do whatever He wants to
do. He's God over all. He's sovereign over it all. Who's
going to tell Him that He can't do it? Which of the world's rulers
and the world's organizations and the demonic powers is going
to tell God that He can't do this or He can't do that? Not
one of them. God is above all. His ability
to save a multitude. How is he going to save a multitude
that Satan rightly says they're deserving of death? Ah, this
is how. He sends his son as the substitute
for sinners, and he pays the debt. to the offended law of
God, and thereby he justifies his people from the curse of
the law. He redeems them from it. He qualifies them for heaven. Satan is defeated. Satan is disarmed. His accusations against the brethren
are totally taken away from him, for Christ has died. He is able
to save the multitude that comes to God by him. He is able to
do all of that. The grace of God in the appearance
of the promised Messiah. All of these things are the glory
of God manifested. You see, Judaism the end of the
old, the Judaism, the Jews' religion, it had become cold and empty
and lifeless and hypocritical. You know how you read the accounts
in the Gospels of a miracle, and all the Jews are bothered
about is not the amazing display of the grace of God in a miracle
to crippled man or a blind man or anything like that. All they're
bothered about is petty rules and regulations that haven't
gone the way that they said. They're empty and cold and lifeless. As Isaiah said of them 800 years
before, this people honors me with their lips. but their hearts
are far from me. Is that not religion in our world
today? It always is. A people that says the right
words, this people honours me with their lips, but their hearts
are far from me. Whenever in the past in Judaism,
in the Jewish religion, it had been lively and joyous and true
in their experience, it reveled in the vivid pictures of Messiah
as the priests did their work prescribed in the Levitical Mosaic
law, as the priests did their work, as the sacrifices were
killed, as the blood was shed, as the blood was sprinkled, as
the incense was burnt, all of those things spoke to the heart
of faith, vividly, of the Messiah who would come. The promised
seed of the woman, Genesis 3, 15. The seed of the woman shall
come and shall bruise Satan's head, a fatal blow on him. The
lamb that they saw, by faith they looked to God's sin-atoning
lamb. The Passover that they sacrificed,
they looked by faith to God's Passover who would come. But
now, Now, in the era where we are, at Cana of Galilee, what
was called in Leviticus 23, verse 2, the feasts of the Lord, you
know, the ceremonies, the feasts of the Lord. Look in chapter
2 of John and verse 13. Whose Passover? The Jews' Passover. Not the Lord's Passover. The
Jews' Passover. Because it had become empty.
it had become cold and heartless. The religion of saving grace
which was displayed in all the temple sacrifices and the priesthood,
that religion of saving grace portrayed in blueprint and pattern
and type, the reality being Christ and his redeeming death, the
religion of saving grace had become a stone cold and empty
of joy as the six stone pots of water. Look, verse 6, there
were set there six water pots of stone, big, big water pots. Cold and empty. Cold as stone
and empty. That was their religion. But
you know, a hymn writer said, and quite rightly, religion never
was designed to make our pleasures less, and that is absolutely
true. We read in Psalm 104 verse 15, wine to gladden the heart
of man. In Judges chapter 9 and verse
13, it speaks of wine that cheers God and men. It's talking about
joy, rejoicing Christ Jesus. The salvation of God is a joyful
thing. It's a joyful thing. You know,
we haven't sung it for a while, but there's that hymn that says,
the bliss of this glorious thought, the bliss of this glorious thought,
my sin not in part, but the whole is nailed to his cross and I
bear it no more. Oh, there's a fact, there's a cold fact.
Oh, he's dealt with my sin and I bear it no more. Well, that's
nice, isn't it? Very, very, no, the bliss of this glorious thought,
the joy of it, the thrill of it in the heart, the excitement
that it's true, that though I die, yet shall I live. That's the
thing, the bliss of this glorious thought. The comfort, as another
hymn says, that it is well with my soul, it is well, it is well
with my soul, the comfort of that is such a joyous thing to
the child of God who knows it is well with my soul. Why is
it well with your soul? For Christ has made it well.
He's made all things well. Psalm 40 verse 16 says this,
let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee.
Let such as love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be
magnified. Praise the Lord! You know, there's
lots of charismatic type people constantly running around and
about everything that happens. Oh, praise the Lord, praise the
Lord. Yes, I know God controls everything in providence. But
look, this is from a heart that knows what salvation is. The
Lord be magnified. The Lord be praised. So, God
arranges providentially, for Jesus and the disciples to be
invited to a marriage. Why? Because there the glory
of God is going to be displayed in the one whom he has sent to
be the redeemer, the substitute for his people. It's a big affair.
These weddings were. The whole village was probably
involved. It went on for quite a long time. But the wine had
run out. the wine had run out. Again,
providentially arranged. And the mother of Jesus is there,
we read about that in the first few verses. Mary had heard, Mary
the mother of Jesus, she'd heard and experienced profound things
concerning Jesus, hadn't she? She'd had the announcement of
the angel coming to her to tell her that she was going to bear
a child, born conceived of the Holy Ghost, not of man, but of
the Holy Ghost. She knew that better than anybody
else. However much anybody else doubted it, and still do today,
she knew without a doubt that this child that she carried,
her first child, in her virgin womb, this child was there because
God had put him there. She felt him grow in her womb,
knowing his miraculous conception. She'd nursed him as a baby. She'd
nurtured him as a small child. She taught him to grow as a human
being, as a child, as a little man. She'd seen him grow into
a man. And throughout it all, she'd
seen no hint of sin. in him. And by this time at this
wedding, she's probably by now a widow. It's not stated explicitly,
but it looks likely that Joseph had died, and he'd gone, and
there's the other brothers and sisters around that we read of
again and again throughout the Gospels. But she's now probably
a widow with a sizable family. But she knew that Jesus was unique. But she's frail in the flesh.
She's weak in understanding. She's no longer exercising parental
authority. Jesus is a grown man, he's 30
years old, he's left his mother and father, he's a man in his
own right. Now God knew that Catholicism
and other religions would make a wickedly idolatrous cult out
of Mary. And so this is recorded here,
so that we don't fall into that trap. How you could make a wickedly
idolatrous cult out of Mary, when these words are written
here, I do not know, but here it is. Jesus says to her in verse
four, woman, what have I to do with thee? She says, oh look,
the wine's run out. Oh, I know who I'll get to do
it. And so she tells her son, look, look, I've seen you do
great things. Look, they've run out of wine,
do something for them. You know, I'm your mum, do what
I tell you to do. He says, woman, what have I to
do with thee? Woman is not disrespectful. In
the language of the day, woman is not disrespectful at all.
When he's dying on the cross, and he points her to John the
Apostle, and he says, woman, behold your son. And he says
to the disciple, John, behold your mother. It's not disrespectful
in any way, but what he's saying is this. I'm grown. I'm a man
in my own right. I am not subject to your human
authority. I willingly, as a child, subjected
myself to your human authority. For the law says, children, obey
your parents in the Lord, for this is right and good and honourable.
Honour your father and mother is what the law says, but not
now. He's a grown man. Woman, what have I to do with
thee? I don't subject myself. to human authority until my hour
comes." What's his hour? It's his hour of willing submission. I lay down my life willingly.
I take it up of myself, he said. No one takes it from me. I willingly
lay it down. And when his hour came, he willingly
laid down his life. before the authority of men who
in truth had no authority over him. But that hour had not yet
come. You see, he tells her what her
true place is, until his hour comes. And so suitably rebuked,
verse 5, she says to the servants, the servants serving the meal
and serving the wine at the wedding, whatever he says to you, do it. Whatever he says to you, do it. The servants then, let's look
at the servants now. You see there were empty stone
water pots, six of them there, typical of Judaism. No joy in
it whatsoever, stone cold and empty, cold and dead. And Jesus
says to them, to the servants, those water pots, six of them,
fill them with water. And they filled them to the brim.
Just fill them with water. Do you know how much there was?
It's reckoned that each of these water pots, two or three firkins
a piece, so that's about 34 litres, which means that in each of these
water pots, you know what a standard wine bottle looks like, a 75
centilitre wine bottle? There were over 100 bottles worth
of water in each of these six pots. 600 plus, probably nearer
700, standard bottles of water. The servants must have believed.
What? What are we doing this for? Nearly
700 bottles of water in these stones. Why are we doing this?
Wouldn't you have thought? But Mary had said that whatever
he says to you, do it. Whatever he... Okay. Okay. We
won't question. We'll just do it. They filled
them to the brim. Now, he says, go to them and
draw out, take out a glass and bear it to the ruler of the feast,
to the best man, if it might be. And he takes it, they take
it, and he tastes it, and it's the best wine of all. It's excellent
wine. It's superb wine. It's the wine
that should have been served first, but the poorer stuff was
served first, and then it ran out. And he testified to the
fact. that what was water was now wine.
There was no wine. They couldn't possibly have got
600 plus bottles from anywhere. And the many guests drank it,
testified that it was good wine. And the disciples saw it and
drank it too and were amazed. They saw the glory of God display.
Here on display was the power of God. God who spoke, God said
in the beginning, let there be light and there was light. God
said, let there be a firmament. God said, let the earth bring
forth light. God said and it happened. God spoke and it happened. Here
is the one, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God, who it says in John
1 verses 1 to 3, by him all things were made and without him was
not anything made that was made. Verse 3 of chapter 1. By him
all things were made. and without him was not anything
made that was made. He spoke at creation and it was
made. This is the one who is God, now
clothed in flesh, grown from a baby, God contracted to a span. Here he is at this wedding feast
and he is the one who spoke and creation happened. He is the
one that we read in Hebrews 1 verse 3, who upholds all things, the
things of this world. He upholds all things by the
word of His, Christ's power. By the word of His power, all
things hold together. That's all the laws of science.
You know, the mysteries of science that they're constantly trying
to grapple with, to come to one unifying single equation, single
law, single expression of why things are as they are. I'll tell you why. God. God. God is the one unifying force.
He upholds all things by the word of His power. He short-circuits
when He wants to, natural law that He upholds, to produce the
best wine from water in a moment. Do you doubt it? Why do you doubt
it? You know, he's not subject to
natural processes. He is God overall. He upholds
all things by the word of his power and has power to suspend
that for his purposes of turning water into wine. Who is this?
Who is this? Who must it be? You know when
the storm on the boat in another account later in his ministry
and the disciples are scared stiff because the boat's about
to sink and he's asleep and they wake him, do you care not that
we're about to drown? And he rebukes the storm and
instantly there's a calm and they say, who is this that even
the wind and waves obey him? This is God and the whole creation
obeys him. The one Here, Christ, who turned
water into wine, made water wine, is the one who commands the dead
to rise, miraculously, for he governs over all things. He makes
the lame to walk, that the physicians of the day could never do a thing
with. He makes the lame to walk, and not over a long period of
time, but instantly. He makes the dumb to speak. He
makes the blind to see, even those born without eyes. This
is God become man, who alone can satisfy offended divine justice
for the people, the multitude that He loved with an everlasting
love. Can you doubt His ability? He
is able, says Hebrews 7.25, He is able to save to the uttermost
those who come to God by Him. And look at the symbolism here.
At His command, Mere water is ministered by servants to bring
the wine of joy. Cold water is ministered by his
servants to bring the wine of joy. They heeded Mary's instruction
to do what Jesus said without question. Knowing the feast needed
wine, they filled the pots with over 600 bottles worth of water
and drew out the best wine to serve to the guests. The water
speaks of the water of the Word of God. Washing of water and
the Word, we read in the Scriptures. The water symbolizes here the
Word of God. The servants, the willing servants,
symbolize preachers and witnesses, personal one-to-one witnesses.
They minister the water of the Word. The servants, the preachers,
the testifiers to the truth of the Gospel, they minister that
water of the Word. And what is the result? wine,
the joy of wine, the joy of wine symbolising salvation blessings. Rejoice in the Lord, again I
say rejoice, the wine of joy of salvation, wine that also
speaks of blood poured out in death to pay the penalty for
sin. prophetically, Isaiah wrote,
Isaiah 63 verse 3, speaking of Christ, speaking the words of
Christ prophetically, I have trodden the winepress alone,
the winepress of the wrath of God against sin, he trod it alone,
his garments were stained with it, the judgment of God against
sin, he's paid it, he's paid it in full. Moses, turned water
into blood. He turned River Nile water into
blood in one of the plagues, symbolizing the law's ministration
of death. You know the law is a ministration
of death, but Christ turned water into wine, the joy of wine, the
penalty paid, the joy of salvation. What wonderful symbolism there
is in this miracle. Do you see who it is here? You
know, I said, just sit and watch like those disciples did, not
doing anything, but just observe the glory of God. Let's look
at these disciples, verse 11, just closing briefly. They manifested
forth his glory and his disciples believed on him. Having seen
and experienced and no doubt tasted the display of divine
glory, they believed on him. What is it to believe on him?
It's as Paul said, he said, I know whom I have believed and I am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him. What have I committed unto him? My immortal soul, my
sinful immortal soul into his hands to save it. to cleanse
it, to justify it, to sanctify it for eternal glory. I am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him
against that day of judgment. that day of judgment. That's
what it is to believe on Him. They saw physically what He did. They saw pots of water turned
into wine miraculously. They saw it, the glory of God
displayed in that miracle. We see it now with the eye of
faith and are blessed of God with salvation. You know the
verse before the ones I read at the end of John 20 about these
things are written that you might believe and then believing you
might have life through his name. Well the verse before is where
Jesus comes and shows himself to doubting Thomas. You know
Thomas who said, I will not believe unless I put my fingers in the
wounds of his hands. And Jesus said to him in verse
29 of John 20, Jesus said unto him, Thomas, Because you have
seen me, you have believed. Now that you have seen me physically,
you believed. He said, blessed are they that
have not seen and yet have believed. Peter wrote to those who believe,
who have the gift of faith to believe in Christ. He says, whom
having not seen, ye love. None of us have physically seen
Him. Whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see
him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory. full of glory. Do you rejoice
with joy? Do you see Him? Do you see what
He did, who He is, what He came to do? These things are written
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you might have life through His name. What
do you mean, just believing? Yes, I mean just believing, believing,
trusting in Him, trusting Him, leaning on Him. putting all your
confidence in Him. That's what I mean, that you
might have life through His name. Amen.