Let us turn in our Bibles this
evening to John chapter 2. John chapter 2. 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.
And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him,
they have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, woman,
what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants,
whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there
six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of
the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto
them, Fill the waterpots 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. 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 man hath
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." I notice first of all that John
tells us that this was the beginning or the first of the miracles
which the Lord Jesus Christ did. I think that we are justified
in using the law of first mention. You know, that's a principle
of Bible interpretation. The first time a subject is brought
up in the Scriptures, then it will follow whatever the teaching
is there, it will follow all the way through. And I thought
of this as the first miracle which the Lord Jesus Christ performed. that every miracle that Christ
wrought will follow this same rule. Every miracle will first
of all manifest His glory. It will manifest His glory that
He is the Son of God, that He has omnipotent power. And number two, His disciples
will believe on Him. When we read these miracles,
and that's the reason no doubt they are recorded for us in the
scripture that we might know that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God. For no man, even as Nicodemus
said, no man could do these miracles. He was wrong when he said, except
God be with him. The Lord Jesus Christ, of course,
He is God, and no man could do these miracles. Now, there are
many lessons from this passage of Scripture, from this first
miracle, but I have three for us tonight. First, a lesson from
the circumstance of this first miracle. The backdrop of this
miracle was the Lord Jesus attending a marriage. And this reminds
us, or at least it should, of the importance of marriage. You know, the first marriage,
the very first marriage that took place in this world, took
place before sin entered into the world. Into God's creation,
sin had not come. And marriage was ordained of
God, and it was ordained of God for man's benefit. You know,
when we have a marriage ceremony sometimes, or most of the time,
the bride's father will give the bride away. Well, God gave
the first bride away. He took from Adam's side a rib
and made for him a help meat. The scripture is very clear that
God saw it was not good that man should be alone. Adam was not complete without
Eve. He was not complete without a
helpmate. And God made him one. There needed
to be one. When you think about it, all
of the animals, and I know people today, they love their animals.
And people get attached to animals in the greatest of ways. But
no animal can reciprocate love. Adam needed a helpmate. He needed
someone with whom he could share his love and he could be loved. He needed someone that he could
experience and share the joys of life. And as I thought about
this this past week, I thought about the fact that sin had not
entered into God's creation. We know it soon did, but what
would this world have been like? What would marriage, the marriage
relationship, and the children born to that relationship, what
would it have been like if sin had not come into God's creation
to mourn it? But again, we see from our Lord
attending this marriage, the importance of marriage. In Hebrews chapter 13 and verse
4, the Apostle said, marriage is honorable in all. Marriage,
it's honorable in all. And it cannot be stressed too
much. It just cannot be stressed too
much how important a commitment the act of marriage is. Now I'm going to take an aside
here. When my grandson, one of our
grandsons came in this morning and he was smiling from ear to
ear and he told me that he and his girlfriend were engaged last
night and she had a beautiful ring on her finger and I knew
I was going to be preaching this message tonight. and the temptation
came to me, maybe you ought to switch that message. I've never
done that. I've never done that. And when
that thought came to me, I thought, no, God knew when I prepared
this message. And besides that, he's heard
this. He's been raised in a home and
in a church where this truth has been taught, the importance
of marriage. Marriage As one writer said,
marriage has the power to affect not only our temporal happiness,
but also our spiritual well-being. It really does. To have a good
wife or a good husband that loves the Lord is a blessing that you
cannot put a value upon. It's such a blessing to have
a Christian home where both are in agreement concerning the things
of God. One of the marriage ceremonies
that I found early on as a pastor when I was called upon to marry
a couple has these words in it. And I've used it several times
because I like the words. But it says this, marriage should
never be entered into unadvisedly. unadvisedly, without counsel,
without wisdom, without thought. Marriage should never be entered
into unadvisedly or lightly. Lightly. And another thing it
goes on to say, wantonly and without due consideration. You young people who are here
tonight, you hear me now and believe me, listen and believe
me, it is so important when you choose someone to be your mate,
your wife or your husband. It's very important. And I like
to point out that in that passage in Ecclesiastes where Solomon,
who the scripture tells us was so wise because God filled him
with wisdom, We're in that passage where he says, two are better
than one. Remember that passage of scripture
in Ecclesiastes, two are better than one. If one fall, he may
lay there. But if he has someone with him,
lift him up. Someone's cold, if he's by himself,
two is better than one. But in that passage, Solomon
goes on to make this statement. He says a threefold card is not
easily broken. A threefold card. And so a marriage,
our Lord was called to this marriage and He attended. And a threefold
card would begin first of all with Christ. With the Lord Jesus
Christ. He should be the head of the
marriage, the bond of the marriage. And then the other two, of course,
the husband and the wife. You know, we're not real familiar
with the customs of Jewish weddings, but we have a number of scriptures
which speak to us about weddings. A number of verses in the New
Testament. For instance, the parable of
the ten virgins. The ten virgins. Now that would
seem strange to us. the circumstances, but not for
a wedding at that time, the way they conducted a wedding. And
then that parable that our Lord told about the feast and that
man came in and it was a wedding feast, but he was in there without
a wedding garment. That seems strange to us, doesn't
it? Because we choose out our clothes when we attend a wedding
and But then, evidently, they supplied wedding garments when
you entered into the feast, into the ceremony. And here was one
who came in without a wedding garment. And you know what happened
to him. He was cast out into outer darkness
when the king came in and said, How dare you come here without
the wedding garment? And isn't that a picture of the
righteousness of Christ? Being clothed with His righteousness,
anyone and everyone who is not clothed with the wedding garment
with the righteousness of Christ will be cast into outer darkness
forever and ever. So that's the first lesson from
the circumstance of this first miracle. It shows us the importance
of marriage by the very fact that the Lord Jesus Christ chose
a marriage at which to perform or to work His first miracle,
the importance of marriage. It was ordained of God for man's
good. And I don't need to tell you
tonight, it was ordained to be between a man and a woman, not
between two men or two women. And people can say, well, things
have changed, yes, things have changed, but God hasn't changed,
and God's Word hasn't changed, and sin hasn't changed. Now the
second lesson, a lesson for us from the Lord's words to Mary
in verse number four. Woman, what have I to do with
thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Now, I believe that these words
are the second, the second set of words that God would have
us to know that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to Mary. One other
time, if you look over, keep your place here, but turn back,
if you will, to Luke chapter 2, when our Lord was 12 years
old. In Luke chapter 2, In verse 48 and 49, remember
they'd gone up to one of the feasts, that is Mary and the
family. Joseph was still alive at this
time. They'd gone up to one of the
feasts and they started back home. And you know how they would
go up to those feasts, it would end up being a caravan. Now they
came from Nazareth and as they made their way to Jerusalem,
Every time they'd come to a different, a new town on the way, more people
would be added. And they were all kinfolk. I
mean, they just were all kin to each other. And so when the
feast was over, Mary and Joseph, and I assume other children maybe
by this time, they started for home. And Mary was not concerned
about Jesus because she, she supposed that he was with the
caravan, the crowd of people that were making their way back.
And they realized that he was not with them. And so they go
back. And they find him in the temple.
Twelve years old. Twelve years old. Verse 48. And when they saw him, they were
amazed. They were amazed because he was
sitting in the midst of these theologians, these doctors of
the law. They were amazed. And his mother
said unto him, Son, why hast thou dealt with us? Behold thy
father, and I have sought thee sorrowing. Now Joseph was not
his father. People suppose that he was, but
Joseph was not his father. And the Lord Jesus Christ gently
rebuked her at this time. Even though he was just 12 years
of age, he said unto them, how is it that you sought me? Wished
ye not that I must be about my father's business? That was somewhat
of a gentle rebuke that the Lord Jesus Christ gave to Mary because
of what she had said to him. But notice after that, verse
51 there in that passage of Scripture, it says, He went down with them
and came to Nazareth, now notice, and was subject unto them. Remember
the law said, Honor thy father and thy mother. Now the Lord
Jesus Christ, He obeyed God's law perfectly. And He always
honored His mother and Joseph. And He was subject unto them.
Now notice, but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
And then one of the most amazing verses maybe in all the scripture,
that next verse. And he, Jesus, increased in wisdom
and stature. Now it's easy to understand how
he increased in stature, isn't it? But as a man, and he was
a man though he was God, He increased in wisdom and statue and in favor
with God and man. Now go back to our text. As I
said, that was a gentle rebuke I believe the Lord gave to Mary
at that time. But now things have changed.
They've changed, not in the sense that He's changed, He's still
the Son of God, He's still God manifest in the flesh, but He
has now been baptized, He has entered into what we refer to
as His public ministry. And these words which the Lord
spoke are literally translated like this, Woman, what me and
thee. That's a literal translation.
What, me, and thee. The rebuke, and this is important,
the rebuke here is not the Lord calling her woman. That's not
the rebuke. Because he did the same thing
when he was upon the cross. You remember? And it's recorded
in John chapter 19, verses 26 and 27. We read there, when Jesus
therefore saw his mother, And the disciple standing by, whom
he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. In the Gospel of John, it maybe
more than the other Gospels, emphasizes the deity of Christ. It begins not like the others
at his birth, but it begins in eternity. In the beginning was
the Word. and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God, and the Word became flesh. And both times
in the Gospel of John, which emphasizes His deity, that He
is God, He calls Mary, He speaks to her rather, woman, woman. So that's not the rebuke, Him
calling her woman. There are two suggestions as
to why he called her woman. In this way, he called attention
to the fact that he is God. As I've just said, that's the
emphasis, especially in the Gospel of John. But another suggestion
is, in this way, the Lord Jesus Christ showed, by this, his omniscience. He knew what would come in days
to come. What has come in days to come. And many people under the name
Christian, the Mariology that has been brought into the so-called
Christian Church. And many places they refer to
Mary as the Queen of Heaven. You never find that in the Word
of God. The only time we read of a queen of heaven was a female
deity to which the Jews fell into idolatry in making cakes
to her. We've learned over the years,
haven't we, that most societies, pagan societies, always had a
female deity. They always had a female deity
somewhere in their religion. And so that has been incorporated
into the so-called Christian church, the Mariology. She's
called the Queen of Peace. I remember a Roman Catholic church
over where, close to where I grew up, that was its name, the Queen
of Peace. She's not the Queen of Peace.
He's the Prince of Peace. She's referred to not only as
the Queen of Heaven and the Queen of Peace, but also sometimes
she's called the Queen of Angels. She's not the Queen of Angels.
Our Lord knew what would take place. And I've often thought,
when I think about these other religions of the world, the Mohammedans,
and the Buddhists, and the Hindus, and these so-called major religions
of the world. The religion of Christianity,
when many of these people, when they think of Christianity, they
think of the Roman Catholic Church. And if they give any thought
at all to what is practiced, they would have to conclude that
Christians believe in two gods. Because if we are to pray to
Mary, she would have to be omniscient. And yet, how many times Mary
is prayed to. Pray for us sinners now and in
the time of our death. And you go and repent Confess
your sins to a priest and he may send you to say so many Hail
Marys. What is that? It's idolatry. That's all it is, idolatry, pure
and simple. Isn't it a shame? That's the
way I think of it. Isn't it a shame that Christianity
today in our world is represented by such paganism? It really is. His rebuke, as I said, is not
in him referring to her as woman, but when he said, My hour is
not yet come. Now this is the first of seven
times in the Gospel of John that His hour will be referred to. And when you follow this saying,
take your concordance and look through the Gospel of John. When
you come to the last one, the seventh time, this is what you
will find in John chapter 17, where the Lord is praying and
He said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy
Son may glorify Thee. This hour This hour that he here
refers to as his hour is not yet come is the hour in which
he would be delivered into the hands of wicked men to be crucified
and slain. Who delivered up the Lord Jesus
Christ? Who delivered him up? Well, the
Apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8 in verse 32 He, that
is God, that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for
us all. How shall He not freely give
us all things? So God delivered Him up, but
Pilate, look with me back in Luke chapter 23. Pilate delivered
Him up also. Luke chapter 23. In verses 24
and 25, the scripture says, And Pilate gave sentence that it
should be as they required, and he released unto them him that
for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired. But now notice, but he delivered
Jesus to their will, their wicked, fallen, enslaved will. Pilate delivered him up. The
same action. He was delivered up by God. He
was delivered up by Pilate. The same action, but oh, the
motive was so different. Was so different. God's action
was for His glory and for the salvation of His people, He delivered
up his own son. He spared him not, but Pilate's
motive, he delivered him up for selfish reasons. He was concerned
to keep his place. Now until his hour came, my hour
has not yet come. Until this hour came, the Lord
Jesus Christ is telling His mother he would not be dictated to by
any, but when the hour did come, he would freely submit himself
into the hands of wicked men, freely of his own will. Now the third lesson from the
miracle itself. Actually, I want to call our
attention to three things in this miracle. A, if you had been
privileged to observe the working of this miracle, if somehow you
could have just hovered over that scene there in the yard,
the courtyard of this family, what you would have seen would
have been the actions of these servants. You would have seen
them fill the pots with water. you would have seen them draw
wine out of the pots and carry it to the governor. What you
would not have seen was God's power at work in turning or making
that water into wine. You would not have seen that.
And to me this is a good picture of what takes place as men go
forth preaching the gospel. Like these servants who all they
did was fill the pots with water and take it out and carry it
to the master of the feast. And God sends his men out, preachers,
his servants out to preach the gospel. And yet he works his
powers put forth in the preaching of the gospel in saving sinners. Look with me to 2nd Corinthians
just a moment. 2nd Corinthians chapter 4. Beginning with verse 1. The apostle
said, Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received
mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty. not walking in craftiness, not
handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach, this is our ministry,
for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake, for God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. Notice that the excellency of
the power may be of God and not of us. No one, no one even imagines
or thinks that these servants had anything to do with making
that water wine as far as actually turning it into wine. But yet
they were used as God worked the miracle, as Christ worked
the miracle. A second thing, we have a picture
here of God saving sinners. The six empty water pots may
picture all men as we come into this world by nature. Six is
the number of man. We know that. Six, six, six. The number of man. Man was created
on the sixth day. And when we come into this world,
we are all empty, just like these water pots. Empty. Empty of righteousness. We don't have any righteousness
of our own, that which we claim to have. God says it's filthy
rags. We don't have it. There's none
righteous, no, not one. Empty. Empty of any good. There's none good. We're empty by nature. All men, when we come into this
world, we're empty. You think those water pots could
do something to create the wine? Of course not. We've all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. We're empty of that perfect
love that God requires. Thou shalt love God with all
thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy being, and we are empty
of love for our neighbor as ourselves. That's the first thing. Second,
Christ. He issued the command, fill the
water pots. What does that verse in the Old
Testament say? Deliver him from going down to
the pit. I have found a ransom. That's
God speaking, isn't it? He delights in that ransom. He
didn't find it like it was lost. He provided it. But water sometimes
in the Word of God is used to picture the Word of God, and
God certainly uses His Word, being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. And a third thing, this beginning
of miracles did Jesus, and that is what salvation is. It's a
miracle. We used to hear that song years
ago that said, it took a miracle to put the stars in place. It
did, didn't it? It took a miracle to hang the
world in place. You look at those pictures that
we have and that planet just seems to be out there on nothing.
It is, except God's power. It took a miracle to put the
stars in place. It took a miracle to hang the
world in place, but when He saved my soul, cleansed and made me
whole, it took a miracle of love and grace. I received a letter
from my friend Henry Mahan last week. You know, Henry's, I think
he's 90, 90 or 91 now. And when he writes to me, he
always reminds me of how long we've been friends. And he did
once again, and I started thinking, when did I first meet Henry Mayhem? And I believe it was in probably
about 1964. And I thought, well, I've known
him longer than I've known two of my children. That's amazing. That's amazing. But I'm going
to tell you a story. It's Henry's story, but I liked
it. This salvation, it's a miracle. It's a created work. But he told the story of a man
up in West Virginia. His name was Big Mike. And the
reason they called him Big Mike is because he was big. Six foot
four, muscular guy, worked in the coal mines. And this is what
he said. He was mean as a snake. Now that's pretty mean, I imagine.
Mean as a snake. A rowdy type guy. He was known
to drink a little too much and fight a little too much. But
the Lord saved him. He experienced this miracle of
grace. And of course, his old companions,
they did everything they could to do what they called, make
him lose his religion. Make him lose his religion. And
one day down in the coal mine, I mean, they taunted him over
and over. But one day down in the coal
mine, as I understood it, he had his coal in this wagon that
he was pushing, and the wagon's on tracks. And these workers,
they piled some rocks up. on the track, so he had to stop
and remove the rocks. And they just knew they had him
this time. There's no way he's not going to lose his temper.
And after he stopped and he removed those rocks, he looked at those
men, they said his face turned as red as a beet. And he clenched
both his fists and raised them up like this. And he started
singing, I need thee every hour. Temptations lose their power
when Thou art nigh. I need Thee, O Lord, I need Thee. And you know what happened? Those
men started singing with Him the hymn, I need Thee, every
hour. It is a miracle of grace when
God saves a sinner, isn't it? When God saved you, when He saved
me. We were on our way towards health,
towards eternity. without any interest or any concern,
really, and he apprehended us. That's what the Apostle Paul
says. He was apprehended, just like the police apprehend a man,
so God's grace apprehends God's elect. And a miracle is worked
in their hearts, and they began to love what they once before
had no use for. And here's the last thing. This
first miracle tells of wine. And wine in the Scripture is
many times used for joy. Marriages are times of joy. And the Lord uses wine to picture
His blood. He gave us His ordinance of the
Lord's Supper. And I would just say this, that
all true joy All true joy that we enjoy, and we will enjoy throughout
eternity, has been purchased for us by His blood. By His blood. His death in our
stead. The writer said, without the
shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. What a picture. What a miracle, right? What a
Savior. Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's
sing a hymn before we are dismissed.