What will it take to create faith in you? We urge you to repent, to believe
the gospel. We pray for you. We persuade
you. But all the urging and persuading
of the best of preachers. All the most earnest prayers
of the most devoted parents can't communicate faith to you. What will it take to make you believe on the Son
of God? I'm going to tell you what it'll
take. It will take the revelation of
the glory of Christ in you. That's what it'll take. The revelation
of the glory of Christ in you. Our Lord Jesus had lived in obscurity
in Nazareth for 30 years. And he stepped on to the scene,
and John the Baptist said, behold, the Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world. And two of his disciples turned
and followed the master. The next day, John saw the Savior
again, and he said, behold, the Lamb of God. And two of his disciples
turned and followed the master. And then the third day, the Lord
Jesus appeared in Cana of Galilee. some 40 miles away. He appeared there because his
mother had gone to a wedding feast. Apparently, she was a
relative of one of the guests because we're told that Jesus
and his disciples were then invited to come. Just five extra guests,
but they're invited to come. And five extra guests are pretty
good extra guests for average folks, poor folks particularly.
But the Lord Jesus and his disciples come to the marriage feast and
after they had drunk all the wine that was provided for the
original guest, Mary said to her son, they're out of wine. And the Lord Jesus called for
the servants to bring him six water pots of stone, six 20-gallon
pots, maybe 30 gallons. We're not really sure of the
measurement. Big water pots, the kind the Jews had been accustomed
to using for their purification ceremonies. You know, when they
would start to eat, before they would have their first bite of
food in public, they would wash their hands. Jewish customs and
traditions. They meticulously kept them.
But on this occasion, the water pots were empty. And the Lord
said to the servants, fill them to the brim. And they filled
them to the brim. He said, carry it to the governor
of the feast now. Carry it to the master of the feast. And
the master, not knowing what had happened, but the servants
knew. They knew what they put in those
water pots. He tasted that water that had been made wine and said,
that's the best we've had. And with this beginning of miracles
in Cana of Galilee, the first of our Lord's miracles, we're
told in John chapter two, verse 11, Jesus manifested forth his
glory. And here was the consequence
and his disciples believed on him. I take those words to mean this. Faith in Christ is created by
the revelation of his glory. And it is sustained by the revelation
of his glory. And it is strengthened by the
revelation of his glory. If we are to believe on the Son
of God, His glory must be revealed in us. Oh, Son of God, will you manifest
forth your glory in this place today. The title of my message
is Glory Revealed, The Creation of Faith. Let's read John chapter
2. Verses 1 through 11. And the third day there was a
marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
And both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage.
Verse 3. And when they wanted wine, the
mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus
saith unto her, Woman, What have I to do with thee? Mine hour
is not yet come. Verse five, his mother saith
unto the servants, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set six water
pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews,
containing two or three firkins apiece, 20 or 30 gallons apiece. Jesus saith 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 bear it. When the ruler
of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew
not whence it was, but the servants which drew the water knew, the
governor of the feast called the bridegroom. And saith unto
him, every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and
when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou
hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles
did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory,
and his disciples believed on him. Now, let me show you what
I can from this blessed, blessed event. I am often urged to do
practical preaching. Now, what men mean by that is
people want to hear the preacher tell them what they ought to
do and ought not do. Well, let me do some practical
preaching first. This is going to be the practical
part of the message. There are four or five things
clearly revealed in this story, this event in the life of our
Savior that are of practical importance. First, we're given
a clear demonstration of the omnipotence of our Redeemer. He did what no prophet had ever
done. He turned the water into wine
not by touching it, not by saying something, but by the mere exercise
of his will. All he did, he just willed it
into wine. He didn't touch it. He didn't
say, now the water will be made wine. He simply willed the water
into wine. Much in the same way as he does
all things who is God. This world is ruled absolutely
by the will of God. Sometimes he states his will,
sometimes he commands his word, but the king's heart, as Brother
Lindsey just told us, is in the hands of the Lord. Like rivers
of water, he turns the king's heart in whatever direction he
will. And that direction in which the
king's heart is turned, and it matters not who the king is,
is God's will. Our Lord Jesus is the omnipotent
God who rules the universe. Let us rest in his will. What
does it mean? and say he's the omnipotent God.
Well, if he wills my salvation, then I reckon I shall be saved.
He turned the water into wine just by willing it, didn't he?
If he wills my security, I reckon I'm secure. If He wills that
I be with Him in glory, and He says that He does, Father, I
will that they also whom Thou hast given me be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory, then I shall be with Him
in glory. His will is absolute. God give me grace to walk in
the confident trust of His will. Second, our Lord Jesus here by
his presence shows the high honor he gives to marriage. Now, I'm
going to camp here for a little bit. You turn to Genesis chapter
2. Genesis chapter 2. Marriage is ordained of God for
all men. And by his presence at this wedding
feast, at this marriage feast, the Lord Jesus gives his approval
to marriage. Now that's important. That's
important. Wherever you go, wherever you are saved, By your
presence, you give approval to it. You can't say that. It doesn't
matter what you intend. It doesn't matter what you intend.
If my daughter's here today with our grandchildren, if they see
you somewhere, they presume it's all right for them to be there.
They presume that's so, and that's a reasonable presumption. That's
a reasonable presumption. If they see you do a thing, they
presume that you give your approval to it, and that's a reasonable
presumption. Several years ago, I was preaching,
meeting in California, and I had some folks come from a strange
place. They came to hear me preach, and they were residing in a nudist
colony. You were there. I just forgot
about that. Yeah, Skip was out there with me. They came out
to hear me preach. They were residing in a nudist
colony. And while they were there, they asked the pastor if he would
come and preach at their nudist colony. Now, I hear folks say,
I'll go preach anywhere. I will, too, as long as I'm not
giving approval to something I disapprove of. And the pastor
asked me, he said, what should I do? I said, you can't go out
there. Those fools aren't interested in hearing you. They're not interested
in anything you say. All they want is to use you to
give approval to their moral decadence. No, you can't go. Can't go. Our Lord gives his
approval to the marriage at Cana, but he had already done that.
Turn to Genesis chapter 2 verse 18. The Lord God said, it is
not good that the man should be alone. I will make him and
help meet for him. Now, I could spend a good while
getting myself in trouble there with this politically incorrect
reference in scripture. Well, let me go ahead and do
so. What's a woman supposed to be?
A help suited to the man to whom
she's wed. That's what a woman's supposed
to be. And dear ladies, if that's not what you are, you are not
what a woman is supposed to be. I will make him and help me for
him. Going down to verse 21. And the Lord caused a deep sleep
to fall upon Adam and he slept and he took one of his ribs and
closed up the flesh thereof and the rib which the Lord God had
taken from man, made he a woman and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, wow. Adam said, now this is bone of
my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of me. She's she's part of me. Therefore,
shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave
unto his wife. And they shall be one flesh.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not
ashamed. Now turn over to Hebrews chapter
13. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 4. I want you to look at
it. Hebrews 13, 4. Fornicators and adulterers, whoremongers,
God will judge. But in Hebrews 13, 4, we read
something else. Marriage is honorable in all,
and the bed undefiled. Marriage is honorable among all
men, among all men. It doesn't matter whether they're
believers or unbelievers. I've known preachers who wouldn't
marry folks who weren't believers. Marriage is honorable in all.
God established marriage for the purpose of preserving the
society from moral decadence. One of the first steps toward
moral decadence in any society is a low esteem for this ordinance
of God. Where there is no sanctity of
marriage, now listen carefully, where there is no sanctity of
marriage, there is no regard for God, and no regard for God's
law. None. None. I don't care who pretends otherwise.
I know our politicians get up and they all talk in the name
of God. Well, we believe it's all right to do this and that
other thing and promote homosexuality and the marriage of homosexuals
and the moral perversion and decadence of our society and
say, oh, now this is the Christian thing to do because we're tolerant
people. That's sweet. Moral decadence. That's all. There's no regard for God and
no regard for God's law. And this is what that means.
There's no regard for moral decency of any kind. There's no regard
for human life in the womb or out of it. No regard for human
life. The only thing for which there
is regard is me. And when the only thing you regard
is you, you are a worthless piece of rotting earth, corrupting
everything around you. That's exactly right. That's
exactly right. That's contrary to everything
I've ever been taught. I know it is. I know it is. These things
stand and fall together. All right, here's the third thing.
Clearly, our Lord's presence here at this marriage feast tells
us that it's all right to have a good time. It's all right to
have a party now and then. Ruth Peterson just announced
the 12th of July. She's invited y'all to an ice
cream social. That's all right. That's all right. And I'm going
to shock the britches out of folks all over the world who
hear this message. And if you want to serve wine there, it'd
be all right, too. That'd be all right, too. You
can't say that. I reckon I can't, but I just
did. How can you say that? Our Lord provided wine for the
guest here. Drunkenness is one thing, but
taboos, abstinence, from things that God has given us in creation
is absolutely intolerable. I don't care what religion invented
the taboo. It's intolerable. It's just as evil to tell Bob
Duff he can't have a glass of wine with his steak this evening
as it is to tell you you can't have fish on any certain day. Just as evil. Just as corrupt. Christianity is not designed
and intended to make folks miserable. Indeed, life in Christ is the
beginning of delight and happiness. Here's the fourth thing. Nothing
on this earth can be more blessing than obedience to the Son of
God. Mary said to these servants,
whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. The Son of God could have
supplied the wine without them. There wasn't any need for him
to employ these servants. He had no need for them, no want
that they supplied. But oh, what a benefit and blessing
they would have missed had they not been used by him as instruments
to carry this great boon to the governor of the feast. Not only would they have missed
the blessed privilege, but there was knowledge that they could
not have had except they were used as his servants. The master
of the feast did not know that what was originally put in those
water pots was water. He didn't know that the Lord
had made the water wine. Though he drank the wine, he
did not know what it was to begin with. But the scripture says
that the servants knew. They knew. They knew things that
could be known only by obedience to the master. Oh, how blessed
then to serve the Son of God. And fifthly, This is a matter
of tremendous practical importance. The son of God always saves the
best to last. He always does. He always does. He first brings the sorrow of
repentance and then he gives the sweetness of forgiveness.
He brings the bitterness of conviction. And then he brings the gladness
of conversion. He he brings the the cross that you must take
up and with which you must follow him and promises the crown for
everlasting. After this valley, the shadow
of death. Comes glory. Eternal life with
the son of God, where there is neither sin nor sorrow and no
possibility of death. All right, here's the second
thing. Whenever we read the scriptures,
we should always look beyond the letter of what's written
for spiritual instruction. Notice the opening word of this
chapter, and. That's a strange way, in my opinion
anyway, that's a strange way to begin a paragraph describing
something that takes place 40 some miles away from where the
previous statement took place. And. Why use the word and? And. Unless I am mistaken, it is intended
by God, the Holy Spirit, that this turning of water into wine
at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee be connected with
what we have just read in chapter one. And what have we just read
about in chapter one? In the whole of the first chapter,
John tells us that Judaism had been reduced to nothing but an
empty form of religion. John the Baptist came. Nobody
knew who he was. They didn't have any idea. He
is Elijah. come to prepare the way for the
Messiah. He's the forerunner of the Christ. Nobody recognized him. He comes
declaring the kingdom of heavens at hand. But all those folks
involved in leading the Jews in religion, leading them in
worship, leading them in temple services, leading them in washing
their hands in water pots. All of those folks didn't have
a clue what was going on. They didn't have a clue. Had
no idea what was going on. Much less did they know when
the Son of God came. They came out and asked John,
said, who are you? Who are you? And John told them who he was,
just the voice of one crying in the wilderness. They kept
going, give us something, tell us something. He said, there's
one standing in your midst who is the eternal I Am. One standing
in your midst who is that one who is seated on the throne of
the majesty in heaven. One who is himself God. And you
don't know him. You don't know him. He's standing
right in front of you, but you don't know him. You talk about
him. You read about him. You chant
Psalms about him. You go through ceremonies that
picture him. You have sacrifices that represent him every day.
But here he stands and you don't know him. Like those water pots
that were empty, the Jews' religion had become empty and meaningless
and useless. By the time Christ arrived on
the scene in human flesh, Judaism that which represented and was
the ordinance of God Almighty all the years from the days of
Moses right up to this point was now meaningless and worthless. And the time had come for those
who feared God to abandon Judaism and follow Christ, the Lamb of
God. For Christ has come to fulfill
it all. Now, Having said that, in chapter
2, verse 13, you will notice that the Jews had so degraded in their
pretense of worshiping God that that which was actually the feast
of the Lord, that which was actually God's service and God's ordinance
was referred to as the Jews' feast. Look at verse 13, chapter
2. And the Jews' feast, the Jews' Passover was at hand. And Jesus
went up to Jerusalem. You remember in chapter one,
verse 11, the scripture tells us that the Lord Jesus came unto
his own and his own knew him not. And with those words, his
own, John is describing for us his own things, his own nation,
his own nationality, his own possession, his own creation. He came into his own and his
own received him not. But then in chapter 13, turn
over there, if you will. He uses those same two words,
exactly the same words. But oh, what a vast difference. John 13 verse 1. Now before the
feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come,
that he should depart out of the world unto the Father. More
about that in a minute. Having loved his own, which were
in the world. Let me paraphrase that, Rod. Having loved his own, which were
in his own. Having loved his own which were
hidden among his own that received him not. Having loved his own
which were in the world, he loved them to the end. Everything is his own. But here
he's talking about his own people. He shall save his people from
their sins. He's come to save his own. And all the rest of the world
exists because of his love for his own. All the rest of the
world is used to accomplish the purpose of his love for his own. All the rest of the world is
servant to his own, servant to the good, the welfare, and the
salvation of his own. Now, the Spirit of God specifically
calls our attention to the fact that this marriage feast took
place on the third day. And the third day there was a
marriage in Cana of Galilee. What third day? Why does he say
that? Third day from when? Third day
from Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, when? What third day? Third day from the first of the
month of the last of the month. What third day? Now, we may reasonably
and properly deduce this is the third day since the Lord Jesus
walked by and John first saw him and said, Behold, the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And then the
next day, same thing happened again. And now this is the third
day. But why did the Spirit of God, right as He did, and the
third day, Why? Because the third day is highly
symbolic in scripture. The third day is the day of the
resurrection. It was on the third day in the
creation that the earth was brought forth from its watery grave in
Genesis 1, 9, 10, and 11. After the chaos described in
Genesis chapter 2, when the Spirit of God brooded upon the face
of the deep and God brought forth light and so on, then on the
third day, he separated the earth from the waters and called the
dry land earth. Our Lord Jesus arose from the
dead on the third day. He was crucified and buried.
because of our offenses that were made his. And he was raised
from the dead the third day, justified in the spirit because
of our justification accomplished by his satisfaction of divine
judgment. Turn over to Hosea chapter 6.
You remember in 2 Peter 3, Peter tells us that one day with the
Lord is a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day. Now, my mathematics aren't real
good, but Rex, I believe that means we are now in the third
day since this thing called the day of grace began. The third day since the Lord
Jesus came here and brought this day of the gospel to us. This
is the third day of the gospel of God's grace. Could it be that
the marriage supper of the Lamb will take place in this third
day? Oh, I don't know. I wouldn't pretend to know, but
I do know what's read here in Hosea chapter 6. Come and let
us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn, and he will heal
us. He hath smitten, and he will
bind us up. And after two days will he revive us. And in the
third day, he will raise us up and we will live in his sight.
You know, almost all of the Jewish commentators tell us that's talking
about the resurrection day. The ancient commentators, not
modern ones. The ancient ones talk about resurrection, the
end of the world. I have no idea when it will take
place. But I do know that there is a
day appointed by our God when another marriage shall take place.
The book of God says, blessed are they which are called to
the marriage supper of the Lamb. And these are the true sayings
of God. In John's vision in Revelation
18 and 19, John sees this vision of Babylon. The Great Whore. Brother Larry Criss called me
up one day. He said, Brother Dunn, have you ever seen this?
He said, John saw Babylon, a gorgeous, gorgeous, beautifully arrayed,
religious whore. And John said, I saw that
woman and I marveled. It was a great marvel. And he
said, the angel said to me, wherefore didst thou marvel? She's just
a whore. Why are you so astonished at
her? Why would you envy her beauty? Why would you envy her riches?
She's about to be destroyed. Come out of her. In Revelation
19, when the marriage feast of the Lamb takes place, that blessed
eternal marriage, Babylon, the great whore is judged. and all
the enemies of God cast into hell, and the smoke of their
torments ascend, and we hear the choirs of heaven sing, Alleluia,
Alleluia, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. And now his bride has
made herself ready. Made herself ready how? Believing
on him. And believing on him was given
to her that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white
and that's her righteousness, the righteousness of the saints,
the righteousness God's given her, the righteousness of God
in Christ. The Lord Jesus will be at this
feast and all his disciples will be there and we'll never run
out of wine. There'll be nothing but joy and
delight at that feast. Now look at the wine. In verse
9, we're told that water was made wine. Now that might be too deep for
some folks to get, so let me go over that. The water was made wine. It wasn't
made to look like wine. The water wasn't made to taste
like wine. It was made wine. The water was
not treated as though it were wine. It was made wine. And I'm immediately reminded
of three other things that had been made, what they were not,
and what they could not be made except by the will and work of
God. In John 1.14, the word was made
flesh. Bobby, I can't begin to grasp
that. God, infinite, incomprehensible, who is spirit. God is spirit. Stick your finger in the spirit.
Grab hold of the spirit. Talk to a spirit. Believe a spirit. God's spirit. Communicate with
the spirit. None of those things can be done,
not by mortal flesh. They cannot be done. But God,
the Word, was made flesh. We say he assumed human flesh,
he took into union with himself our nature. No, sir! God, the
Word, was made flesh! He really became one of us and
never ceased to be God. Was made flesh. Made flesh. So that in him, that God-man,
sitting yonder on the throne, who died in our room instead,
In him resides all the fullness of the incomprehensible God in
a body. And by the doubt, that's an impossibility,
sure is, isn't it? For you are me with God. What does the book say? That's
what it says, all things are possible. God did it. Second Corinthians
521, Christ who knew no sin was made sin for us. That can't be. The holy, harmless,
undefiled. He who knew no sin did no sin
and could not do sin. Made sin? Let God explain that. I would never attempt to explain
it. Nor will I deny it. Rather, I
will rejoice in it. And I hang all the hopes of my
immortal soul upon the fact of it. When God made him sin, God
drew forth the sword of his justice. and buried it forever in Him. There's something else. Because He's been made sin, you
and I who believe on Him have been made the righteousness of
God in Him. Really? Really? Really righteous? Or just pasted on? Really righteous
or just treated like we're righteous? Really righteous or just considered
righteous? Really righteous or just made
to look like we're righteous? As really righteous as he was
really made sin, as really righteous as the word was really made flesh,
as really righteous Has our Savior really turned this water into
wine? The good wine of the gospel is
Christ himself. It is he and he alone who trod
the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God as our substitute
when the Lord bruised him and put him to grief. Then this wine
gushes forth to us. Cheering both God and his people
for it satisfies the justice of God and For the first time
in my life when this poor sinner was made to taste that the Lord
is gracious I Was satisfied and I've been
satisfied ever since I Drunk from this water and never wanted
any other water. I've drunk this wine and never
wanted any other. Hallelujah. I have found him
whom my soul so long had craved. Jesus satisfies my longing through
his blood. I now am saved. You'll remember
that Moses, the law, performed a miracle with water, too. The
first miracle he was commanded to perform was a miracle which
indicated what the law does, the only thing the law can do.
He was commanded to turn the water, the source of life to
all the Egyptians into blood, death, and a curse. The Lord
Jesus comes to supplant Moses. The Lord Jesus comes to fulfill
Moses. The Lord Jesus comes to put an
end to Moses. And the first miracle he performs
is he turns water, even the life that we have here, this cursed
life into wine, joy and delight. So that while we live on this
earth, when the master comes and gives us the wine of his
grace, he causes even the common, ordinary, mercies of life, like
drinking water, to flow to our souls as tokens of His grace,
day after day, causing our hearts to be lifted up toward Him with
thanksgiving. Now, look at the picture we have
here of Mary and the Master. Our Lord Jesus, frequently in
Scripture, He frequently seized opportunities to speak to Mary
a word of reproof. Mary comes and says, they're
out of wine. He said, woman, don't tell me what to do. That's
essentially what he said. When he used the word woman,
it was not disdainful. It was the most respectful word
that could have been used. It was a word commonly used by
the Jews to refer to a married woman. And the Lord Jesus, by
this act, disassociates himself from Mary as his mother. John refers to her as the mother
of our Lord. He does so frequently. He is,
I'm sorry, he does not. He refers to her as the mother
of Jesus. He never refers to her as the mother of our Lord.
He never refers to her as the mother of Christ. He refers to
her as the mother of this man, Christ Jesus. And the Lord Jesus
says, Mary, the days of my subjection to you as your son are over. That's the essence of what's
taking place here. Those are over. That means men, when you get
grown, you cut the apron strings. Women too. And mamas, when they
get grown, Quit trying to manipulate their lives. Quit doing it. They grow old. Quit trying. Our Lord said, this relationship's
ended. It's over. And he also perceived
in his infinite knowledge of all things that some fools would
arise in a few hundred years and pretend that Mary was somehow
something other than a sinner saved by grace. and they would
begin to worship and adore Mary. So throughout the New Testament,
in the gospel narratives, Mary is never represented in any such
way as would cause anyone to adore her, deify her, worship
her, or pray unto her. Rather, the master says, woman,
what's that to me? What's that to me? And yet Mary
takes the rebuke Recognizing the Lord's right to act as he
pleased and left the matter entirely in his hands. What a word for us, what a lesson.
And then he said, my hour is not yet come. Seven times in
the Gospel of John, he refers to his hour. He's talking about
the hour of his suffering and death. He says, this is my hour,
my hour. What shall I say? Father, save
me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour.
Father, glorify thy name. This is the hour for which the
world was made. This is the hour for which all
things exist. The hour when the Son of God
would redeem and save his people by the sacrifice of himself.
And then we're told one more thing. The Lord manifested forth
his glory. He showed somebody there who he was. I have no idea how many people
were at the feast, but there were some people there to whom
he manifested forth his glory. And when they saw who He was,
this is God walking around in human flesh. This is God the
Redeemer, the Holy One, the Savior of His people. His disciples
believed on Him. Oh, Son of God, manifest Your
glory to me day by day and hour by hour. that I may believe on
You. And I have learned by painful
experience that except He manifest forth His glory, anything will prevent me believing
on Him. Anything. Anything. O son of God, manifest forth
your glory to chosen redeemed sinners in this place, that we
may leave here believing.