The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: Water to Wine

Episode Date: April 16, 2023

God takes what is filthy and does not just make it better; He makes it into a new creation. Have you been made new? 

Amen and amen. How we doing, church? Doing good? You look great. Welcome back. We are in week two of this nine-week series where we are studying the God of miracles. And the reason that we can believe God for the miraculous

is because he's already pulled off the greatest miracle of all time. Of course he can walk on water. Of course he can heal your body. Of course he can restore and redeem. Why? Because if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. And the second greatest miracle is this, is that he could even save a wretch like you and me.

And last weekend at all of our Easter services, 194 people experienced the miracle of salvation. Amen. Amen. So we're studying nine different miracles, and the reason that we pick these nine miracles is they all point to God's heart and love for us. And a miracle is any time,

anytime something is unexplainable, yet it's undeniable. One of my favorite examples of this is years ago, there was a Yale physicist named Robert, to dare, and he did a physical, statistical analysis of what it takes to hit a 90-mile-an-hour fastball. And so he studied the time that it takes from the fastball to get from the hand of the pitcher to the home plate, and it is 0.4 or 4 tenths of a second. That's how long it takes from the time of the pitcher lets go with the ball to the time it gets

to the batter. The problem is it takes 0.05 or 500ths of a second for the batter to evaluate, is this a hitable pitch or not? It also takes 0.2 tenths of a second for the batter to decide where the ball is going to be over the plate, and then it takes another two-tenths of a second for the batter's brain to tell his hands to swing at the ball. In other words, statistically speaking, the ball gets to the plate before the human body has time to react and hit the ball. In fact, he says, statistically speaking, you would have just as good a chance of hitting a ball as if you just close your eyes and just gave it a hack. And so he said, based on the physics and the mechanics and the physiology of it all,

it is statistically impossible to hit a 90-mile-an-hour fastball. The only problem with it is it's undeniable. Happens all the time. I mean, last night, Sean Murphy went three for three for the Braves, and one of them was a home run. Can I get a witness, all right? Can't stop the job, baby. Yeah, yeah.

And honestly, these days, 90 ain't even that fast. You ain't going to make it to the bigs the ball. You've got to 90. you've got to go like 99. And if you're really good, not only do you make contact, but about every third time, you hit it where they ain't, and you end up on base. And so even though his scientific explanation said, this is an impossibility, well, it's not. I mean, it's undeniable.

It happens all the time. A way I want us to think about the miraculous is this, okay? I hope this helps you. It helps me. Imagine that we all lived in a two-dimensional world, okay? Two dimensions. All we had is length and width. That's it.

an old school video game, all right? That's all we had was length and width. Or imagine you live like on a piece of paper and you're a stick figure with no depth to you at all. You're a stick figure walking around. And if you were to come across a line on the paper that was drawn from the corner to the corner, as a two-dimensional person that can only move length and width, you would look at this two-dimensional line and you would think this thing is impossible and impassable. There's no way I can move forward. But if you were a three-dimensional person and you encountered that two-dimensional line, you would say, it's not even hard. I would just step over it like this.

And the two-dimensional world would go, it's a miracle. And you're like, no, it's not even hard. Why, I'll do it backwards. See, there I go, all right? So what if, what if? What if our God is a multi-dimensional being that stepped into this 3D world? And the things that we see as impossible are not even hard for him. Because he created it all.

And in fact, the early church father says that one way to think about miracles is not as supernatural, but as pre-Genesis 3 natural. Because before sin entered the world, no one was blind and no one was lame and no one died. And so what we're going to do today is we are going to study the very first miracle. If you got your Bibles, I'll meet you in John chapter 2, John chapter 2. Now you Bible nerds, you people that have been around for a while, immediately I say John 2 and you're like water to wine. So I'm just going to tell you what's right. We're going to talk about Jesus turning water to wine.

And I just want to give a trigger warning to all of you Southern Baptists, okay? I know it makes you uncomfortable already. It makes me feel very, very happy to make you uncomfortable. It's part of what I do. I comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. That's part of what I do. And so just hang in there, okay? We're going to study the Bible, word for word.

John chapter 2 beginning in verse 1 says this. On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. By the way, a first century wedding would last for about a week, up to seven days. So this thing is happening, and the mother of Jesus was there, verse two, check this out. And Jesus was also invited to the wedding with his disciples. That Jesus lived his life in such a way that he got invited to the party. Let me ask you this, Christian, church person. Do you get invited to the party?

If you have not been invited to a good drinking party lately, then you're not doing in life the way Jesus did life, apparently. Think about this. They didn't know he was the son of God. They're not trying to get brownie points with the Heavenly Father. Somebody's making a guest list, and somebody goes, you know who's a good time? Jesus, that Joseph's son, carpenter guy, we should invite that dude, all right? He's a good time waiting to happen.

Now, when you're old like me, you don't even ask, like, do I go to parties and stuff like that? Because we usually go to bed while y'all are getting ready to go party, all right? But if you're at that age, we're like going to the club and going to the party, is a question you ask yourself, should I go? And sometimes, especially like in our 1825 ministry, people will say to me, they'll say, well, Jesus went to the parties and he hung out with sinners, and so that's why I go to parties. Okay, a couple things you want to jot down. Number one, you ain't Jesus. I didn't see anybody write it down. Let me say it again.

That could be the whole sermon. You're not Jesus, man. So every single time he went into those environments that was not. for his entertainment, it was for their salvation. Every single time he stepped into whatever environment he stepped into, he was never influenced. He was also the influence. Every time he changed the atmosphere of the party. So if that is what you were actually doing, then is the spirit lead you, then go.

You see, religiously speaking, there were two different groups of people that Jesus butted heads with all the time. And their reaction to our culture, to their culture, I think was wrong in both of the extremes. There's a group of people called the Pharisees. They were super legalistic. The word Pharisee means separated one. And they said, since we serve a holy God, we are supposed to be holy, we are set apart. That is true. But they were so set apart from the culture that they had no impact on the culture. Because the problem is, anybody that broke whatever law that they think you're not supposed to break, then they considered those people your enemy, and you can't have any

influence over your enemy. So that's the extreme in one direction. The extreme in the other direction, was a group of people called the Sadducees. And the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection. The Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife. This is how you can remember them. They didn't believe in the resurrection, so they were sad, you see. Now, I know that's dumb, but you're going to remember that in Bible study for the rest of your life. You're going to be in a disciple group and be like, well, the Sadducees didn't even believe in the resurrection.

They're like, oh, look at you, okay? And so they thought, since all we have is this one life, we need to suck all the happiness that we can get out of this life. So they party like crazy. Their motto was eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you may be dead. and the problem is they were so indistinguishable from the world, they had no influence on it. So I think Jesus threaded the needle, okay? He was in this place, people like to be around him, but he was always the influence. Verse three, and when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine.

Now, how many of you know it's not what you know but who you know that makes the difference? It's not what you know, but who you know. Mary doesn't know what's going to happen, but she knows somebody who can change everything about everything. And so here's what you have to understand about the first century. Hospitality was a really, really big deal. Hospitality was top priority. And not only that, a part of what you were doing if you were throwing a wedding is that the groom got betrothed to this girl a year ago. So he had a full year to get things ready.

And a part of what the wedding party was is to show the whole community, particularly her family, is you can trust me with her because look at this party I can throw. I have the resources to provide and protect her. In fact, there was a Jewish law in the first century that if the party wasn't good enough, your mother-in-law could sue the groom. How about that? You think you got in-law issues. So this is a really big deal.

And so what does Mary do? She brings her problems immediately to Jesus. Let me ask you, is prayer for you a first response or a last response? resort because this is what she's doing. She immediately brings her problems to Jesus. Why? Because she knows who he is. You see, 30 years before this, there was another miracle. Mary, just kind of hanging out, she's betrothed to be with Jesus. I mean, betrothed to be with Joseph. She was engaged, and then an angel shows up in her bedroom. It's like, Mary, congratulations. God has found favor with you. He has blessed you, and you are with child. To which she's like, um, hold on.

One second there, okay? I mean, I don't have a biology degree, but there's an extracurricular activity that precedes marriage, and I have not taken that class yet, if you know what I mean. And the angels, like, don't worry about it, Merry Christmas,

is from the Lord. And then the Bible says that she stored these things up in her heart. She knew she was giving birth to the Son of God. And so can you imagine for like 30 years? Like you think you're proud of your kid. Imagine being Mary.

She's like, he's going to do it now? Is he going to do it now? You know what I mean? Like he's playing a little league baseball. and he's like, show him your power. Just, but that's not what he does. So she's waiting for 30 years, but she knows who he is. And so when there is a need, she brings that need to Jesus.

And here's the thing, man. The Bible says, and the wine ran out. Sometimes God lets us run out so that we'll run to him. Do you realize that? Sometimes God lets us run out of the temporary things of this world so that we will realize that what we need is him. And so she runs to them and says they have no wine. And Jesus said to her, woman, what does this have to do with me?

Some of you just went, man, I've been quoting the Bible all my life. I didn't even know that. Look at here, baby. Woman, what's this got to do with me? Okay? Fellas, this is not a verse for you to quote. Honey, help with the homework. Woman, what's this got to do with me?

Okay, no. Again, see previous comment? You were not Jesus, all right? So, he loves his mama, he respects his mom, we see this. throughout his whole life, but essentially what he's saying is, I do the will of my father only. And then he says this, my hour has not yet come. This hour that he's talking about is he knows that what he came for was not to do miracles, and what he came for is not to tell stories, and what he came for is not to be a religious

figure. The reason that Jesus came is to give his life as a ransom for many. The reason that he came is to seek and to save the loss, to be the Lamb of God who his sacrifice would fully and finally fulfill the law of God so that you and I, people could be rescued and made right with God. And he also knows that his crucifixion has to happen right on the Passover. And the moment he begins to go public and do his first public miracle, then the hourglass is going to be flipped over and the countdown is on. His hour is when he goes to the cross and pushes up on his nail pierce feet and says, it is finished. And look how his mom responds.

I mean, it doesn't sound like he's going to do anything about it, right? Jesus, they're out of one. Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. You ever pray and not get the answer you want? All she does is just leave it at the feet of Jesus. And then his mother says to the servants, what I think is the greatest advice in the whole Bible.

I also think it's one of the best definitions of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. The mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you to do. that's the best advice I think in all of the Bible what should I do here's exactly what you should do you should do whatever he tells you to do now what you should not do is what everybody else tells you to do if you live a life trying to please everybody else I'm going to tell you very quickly you're going to find out that no matter what you do it's three little bears for some people it's too

much for some people it's not enough for some people it's just right and what's crazy let me tell you the younger you are, okay? One day you were going to realize that the people's opinions that you value so much one day are going to mean nothing to you. 50 and older crowd, okay? Have you been through your high school reunion lately? I mean, I graduated in 1991. It's been a minute.

And I used to care so much about what those group of people thought about me. And if you go into a high school reunion, 20, 30 years later, first of all, you walk into the room, you're like, what are all these old people doing here? I just feel it's so old, man. Good grace is fun. And then you look at you, like, why is everybody so fat? You think I'm kidding. You know why they have to put the picture on the name badge when you go to a high school reunion?

So you can be like, who are you? And you're like, oh, my God, I think I dated her. Holy moly. And then you're reminded of the theologian from the 1900s, Garth Brooks, some of God's greatest gifts. Oh, I answer praise. Praise God. And you think, I cannot believe that I used to care about what you fat old people thought about me. The other thing you don't do is you don't do what you think you should do.

I'm telling you, the great high priestess of our culture, Oprah, says you should just follow your heart. You know what the Bible says about your heart? It says it is wicked above all things. No, man, your heart will deceive you. Sometimes your heart changes its mind on the same day, does it? So you don't do what they say to do. You don't do what, like, your feelings in here tell you to do. You do whatever He tells you to do.

Now, sometimes people are like, well, I don't know what he's told me to do. You should read this book. There are many, many, many things that he has clearly commanded all of us that call us, to all ourselves, followers of Jesus to do. You know what he's told you to do? He's told you to share the gospel. He's told you that as you are on the go, make disciples of no matter who you come out of to eyeball with that you should share the gospel. He's told you to love him with all. He's told

us to love your neighbor as yourself. He's told you to forgive. But what if they don't deserve it? Well, that's not what he said. He didn't say forgive those who deserve to be forgiven. He says, you should forgive as I have forgiven you. Did you deserve to be forgiven? He says to be radically generous. The Bible says that God loves a cheerful giver. Do you know that phrase cheerful giver in Greek, the word cheerful, it literally means hilarious. God says you should be a hilarious giver. I don't even know that means. You're just showing up to church.

Just making it rain, baby. I love this so much. That's different than, are you sure? He's commanded us to do that. He's told us to not be afraid. He told every single believer of Jesus that you should go public with your faith and be baptized. And here's the thing, man. You know, you know every single time we talk about,

hey, Beach Baptist is coming up, and we've got a class after this service. You've got this thing deep down in here, and you're like, yeah, that's what he wants me to do. And then for whatever reason, you don't go through with it. Why in the world do we think that God would give us one more thing to disobey when we're not doing the things that we already know he's told us to do? He's told us to be in fellowship with one another.

You don't have to be in our disciple groups, but the Bible is very clear that we are a family. We're supposed to be together, break bread together, open the Bible together and pray for one another. So what is he telling you to do? John chapter 10 says he's a good shepherd, and his sheep recognize his voice. Maybe your world's cranked up too loud,

and you don't have ears to hear, but your shepherd is telling you what to do, and you know what that thing is. I dare you to write it down and share with somebody. Now, let me be very clear. God is never going to tell you to do something that differs from what he has told us to do in his word because he's not a liar

and that your own experience does not supersede the authority of the word of God but what is he telling you to do? And don't be weird about it, man. Have you met the weird 1122 here? They're here. We're a movement for all people. The good news, they don't know

we're talking about it right now, okay? That's cool. But there are some people that have told me that God has told them to do things that I know he has not told them to do. People come up and say, this guy asked me out and he's not a believer and he's really into himself and seems to be really, really selfish, but he's got really great hair.

So I was like, Lord, am I supposed to go out with him? I need a sign. And then sure enough, I showed up to church and Pastor Jobi said, turn to John Chapter 2 and his name is John, it's a sign. That ain't a sign. Sounds like a preamble to a restraining order. is what that sounds like to me. So that's not what we're talking about here. But you lean in.

What is he telling you to do? Do whatever he tells you to do. And the crazy thing about it is, if he's telling you to do a thing and you know in your own power it's no problem, that might not even be him. Because if you'll pay attention to the next few things that he tells the servants to do,

it doesn't make any sense at all at first. It seems impossible. They're like, what? Why are we doing it? this. I mean, here's what he says. It says, now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish right of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons. And what these were is people would ceremonially wash their hands before they went into the party, okay, because you get real dirty, you couldn't take a shower every day. The party's going to last for a bunch of days. I don't know if

you've seen the Jesus movie. There's like a lot of beach, not a lot of ocean, and so everybody's dusty, and they don't have forks and chopsticks yet, so it's like hand-to-mouth with your food, so you better wash your hands. But it's also a picture of what the old covenant is. He's a holy God, we're dirty people. So here are some religious activities that will remind you that you can't clean up what's on the inside anyway. And so these six stone jars full of water,

or not just full of like regular water, this is dirty, nasty, hand-washing water over the past few days. And Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.

So they took it. Listen, man, you've got to think about this stuff. Can you imagine if you were there? They don't know what's happening. So what do you do when Jesus tells you to do a thing and it doesn't make sense to you? You see, what it really, the real question is this is where is your trust?

Is your trust in you because you're a control freak and you've got to be in control of everything? Is your trust in the circumstances? Jesus, what will I look like if I do this thing that you have asked me to do? I mean, are you going to trust what he says? Are you going to go on the mission trip? He told you to go on and you know it.

Are you going to share your faith? Are you going to pick up the phone and begin the hard work of reconciliation? Are you going to do it? Are you going to be generous with your resources? Are you going to be scarce? You see, because what I want you to see here is anytime this gets taught, everybody quickly goes to the miracle. But there's about four or five steps of obedience that precede the miracle. I mean, he's like, all right, boys, get the sick stone jars, and they're like,

but they're heavy. Yeah, bring them over here. Fill them up with water. Boss, there's already, like, gross water in it, and they can't just go get the hose and, like, fill them up. So somebody's got to go get water, and they fill them up to the brim with water. What's next? Okay, anybody got a ladle? No, we don't have a ladle.

All right, got to go find a ladle to get one. Now, dip some out, okay? Now, I want you to take that to the master of ceremonies. Now, the Bible does not say that the water has already turned a little. wine. They didn't look in there and be like, it's a cab. That's not what they do. So in their mind, they're like, are you trying to punk me? You're going to get me killed. You know I'm a servant? You want me to take dirty hand-washed water and give it to the master of ceremonies. But somehow, it's in the process of taking a step of obedience that the miracle happens. Maybe the miracle that you're

looking for is on the other side of about four or five steps of obedience, and those steps may not even make sense to you right now. Do you know what you do while you're waiting on God to do what only he can do? Then you do what you can do. I mean, look, man, maybe your marriage is dead. And you're believing for a miracle in your marriage. And you should, because if God can breathe new life into his dead son, then surely he can resurrect your marriage, for sure. And so, I know you can't change her heart, but you know what you can do? You can go to counseling. You can watch your mouth. You can begin to lean into Jesus and say, God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, let me love her like Christ love the church. You can begin to pray for her, not about her. You know

what it means to pray about versus pray for? Pray for is God, would you bless her? God, would you allow me to love her? To pray about is God, would you take the crazy away? Okay, that's not what you're doing, man. You love her, and then you watch what God might do. So on the other side of these steps of obedience that the miracle happened. And then when the master of the feast tasted, the water now become wine. You see, this guy knows what's happening. You see, he could describe to everybody else in the crowd what the dirty water tastes like that's now become wine, but it's not until you taste it and experience it for yourself that it makes the difference.

I mean, I get up here every single week and scream until I'm red in the face about my relationship with Jesus, but until you taste and see that he's good, then it's never, ever going to change you. And so he tasted the water now become wine and did not know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew the master of the feast called the bridegroom. Now, this, John chapter two is not primarily about should Christians drink or not, okay?

It's not. I don't want you to get lost in this. My grandma used to tell me that this wine was like Welch's grape juice. That is not true. If you just do a little bit of first century history, and if you look at some of the words coming up in the text, Jesus turned this into wine. So, I know we have people here from all kind of different backgrounds, but there's a few

different ways to handle this. Did you know there are righteous and unrighteous ways to not drink, and there are righteous and unrighteous ways to handle alcohol? For many people, for righteous reasons, decide we're not doing that. And it's because it's just from wisdom, man. Like, sometime in the past, you think, you know what, when I drink a beer, I drink for a weekend, it doesn't go good. Okay?

When I have alcohol, I catch what they call stupid, and it don't go good. And so you realize the best thing for you is to not do it for you. Praise God for that. Now, there is a group of people, and you don't drink for unrighteous reasons. That you think that what Christ did on the cross wasn't enough. That it's Christ's death on the cross and my good behavior and not doing these things that somehow earn my salvation. and you should repent of your idolatry and trust Jesus for salvation.

We should never condemn what the Bible does not condemn. And this group of people is like the kind of judgy fundamentalist. Do you know anybody like that? And quite honestly, I don't think you're here. I think we ran all of you off during the Song of Solomon series. When I described what the pomegranate was, you were like, Martha, get you things. We ain't coming back to this place. All right.

So we're just teaching the Bible. So I don't think you're here. But this is the kind of person that takes what God has told you and you want to apply it to everybody else. and you're like the morality police, and when somebody does something that you think is wrong, you're like, ha-ha, you're going to hell. And you're really excited about the trip for those other people.

Now, to that group, probably listening online, if any group on the planet ever needed to just have a drink and relax, it is you. Good gracious. Right. All right. Now, there are righteous ways to handle alcohol. In fact, I mean, I've got so many verses here.

For your homework, read Deuteronomy 14. it is a prescription with food and wine how to throw a party that glorifies God. That's what it is. That all throughout the Bible, wine is called a gift from God. In fact, Paul tells Timothy in 1. Timothy 523, he says, no longer drink only water,

but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your free ailments. You know why Paul tells Timothy to drink a little bit? Because he's a pastor. And you people will make him sick, man. He's like, oh, man, I need to drink, okay? So there is a way to glorify God. But the enemy is keen to take a good gift from God and twist it and make it a problem.

And there is an unrighteous way to handle alcohol. I mean, Paul says in Ephesians 518, and do not get drunk with wine. That is a debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. You see, in the moment you get to this place where you're drinking too much and you're trying to nuance what it means to be drunk, the game is over, man. And some of you, and you just drink too much. The fruit of the spirit is self-control. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

So if you were doing a thing that inhibits your ability for self-control, this is not from God the Father. And then some of you, listen, man, it is a demonic oppression that you call addiction, and it is from the enemy. And you need help. And you were loved here, and you were not condemned here, and you need to bring that thing. to Jesus and watch the Prince of Peace, break that bondage in your life, and let you walk in freedom.

Okay? So he makes water to wine. They're having a party again. That's not the primary point of this. But when the master of the feast, he takes a sip of it. He's like, phew. Let me see the groom. And he says to the groom, everyone serves the good wine first.

And when people have drunk freely, that means like to drink alcohol. When they have drunk freely, then the poor wine, but you have kept the good wine until now. You see, the way the world works is, is no matter how satisfying some temporary things seems, it's all downhill from there and it just can't keep up. And this guy's going, that's what I'm used to, but you're working on a different plane, man, a different ethic. He's like, you know how it normally goes. You start with a KAMIS and you end up in cardboard. That's how it normally goes. Or you start with like a good local craft beer and then it's like 90 light after 12. That's kind of how it normally goes. But you started at the base of the

and this is the best thing I've ever had. A part of what he's saying is this, God don't make jump. I mean, if Jesus is going to make wine, it's going to be the best stuff that you have ever tasted. And then John's going to give commentary as to what's going on on this first miracle. Verse 11, this, the first of his signs, that word matters. Jesus did at Cana in Galilee

and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him. You see, here's the pattern that we're going to see. There's a sign. there's a manifestation of his glory, and then people believe. And John doesn't call the miracles, miracles, he calls them signs, because the sign, like the miracle is not the point. It points to something greater. Because what Jesus is doing all throughout the Gospels is he's not just flexing his raw

power aimlessly, but he's pointing to God's redemptive purposes over and over and over. And the sign is not the point. The sign points to something bigger than itself. Like as you walk out today, you'll see, here at San Francisco. Pablo on both of these sides, you will see a sign that says exit. You realize that sign is not the exit. If you try to get out of here through the sign, you're going to be stuck in here. The exit sign points to the door that let you out. So what Jesus is doing here is he's pointing to something greater than the fact that he can keep the party going by turning water to wine. He says, and after this,

he went down to Copernum with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. So the question is, so why did he do this? Why did he turn water to wine? Well, there's a bunch. One, it's because his mama ask him. It's because his mama ask him. Do you ever think about prayer? Prayer will make your brain hurt. We serve an almighty sovereign God who has a purpose and a plan and knows all things that will happen, and he needs us for nothing. And yet simultaneously, he looks at us and says, you have not because you ask not. The book of Romans says that when we don't even know what to pray about the Spirit of God leads us in prayer, that somehow the almighty sovereign king of the universe is moved by our prayers, and there are some realities that will not come into reality

if God's people don't ask him. On your way out today, we have a gift for you, one for every household. It's a chalkboard. I got the idea from Gretchen. We just have a chalkboard in our house and have like homework and junk on it, and then a Bible verse for us to remember. This thing says, if the tomb is empty, blank as possible. It's one thing for me to talk in generality just about anything. You need to put the thing that matters to you right here. And here's why,

no matter how big or how small. Because is running out of wine at a party in the first century, 2,000 years ago the greatest thing to ever happen in the universe? No, it's not really that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but it mattered to Jesus because Mary mattered to Jesus.

And whatever the thing is that you're going to, the reason that you can bring it to him is because it's a big deal because you're a big deal to him. He loves you. You're not your own. You were bought at a price. That you're so valuable to God that he paid with his blood to purchase you as his own. And so if the tomb is empty, a healthy marriage is possible. If the tomb is empty, a healed body is possible. If the tomb is empty, you don't have to live a life of anxiety and stress and depression that you could walk in a freedom that Christ has purchased. for you. If the tomb is empty, the addiction does not have to be the strongest thing in your life.

Jesus Christ is the strongest thing in your life. If the tomb is empty, you don't have to walk with your head down in condemnation because therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So I dare you to get one of these on the way out, fill this thing in. You can use the rest of this for homework or whatever you need. And then I want you to put it in a place where you see it every single day and you are reminded to do what Mary did. And when you run out, you run to him. That could be one reason. Another reason could be just because of the hospitality thing, man.

He didn't want this got to be embarrassed, and so he had compassion on him, and so he hooked him up. But I think the real purpose is in this word sign, that it points to something greater, that the purpose of Jesus' miracles is not to just demonstrate his raw power, because he could have just been like, y'all watch this and just levitated everybody. And be like, wasn't that cool? But that's not what he'd doing. Every time it points to something greater, it points to his redemptive purpose.

And so when he says, take some of that water, that dirty, nasty, hand-washed, Old Testament, ritualistic water, and scoop it out. See, the reality is the point of the sign is this. We're that dirty water. That's right, man. That stone jar with the water in, that's you and me. And what he does not say is, get some chlorote wipes and just wax on, wax off, and let's clean up the outside of this, okay? He doesn't. Because that's all ritualistic religious activity.

can do is clean up the outside, but God doesn't judge the outside. He looks at a man's heart. He also doesn't say, hey, let's filter out all the bad things in this water. Give me the water. Let's run it through a little triple osmosis filter here and we'll make it clean. It's not what he does, man. It's not what he does. That's nothing but sin management. You ever try to do that? Just try to be good so that you'll be acceptable to God. The reality is you can't. You can't. He also doesn't flavor the water. It's not what he does. Because God's not just trying to give you. your best life now. No, no, no. He's trying to change your whole life from death to life. So what he does is he completely transformed the old nasty, dirty water into something new and

tasteful and beautiful forever and ever and ever. That's what he's doing. So I think what's going on here is that Jesus is being very, very strategic to start his public ministry at a wedding. Because God's really into weddings. Like marriage is a really big deal to God. It was his idea. about that? It was his idea, which, by the way, means it's not up for us to, like, redefine what God said marriage is. It's a really big deal. It reveals who he is, his covenant with his people. And so the Bible begins with a wedding, Adam and Eve. It ends with a wedding, Revelation 21 and Revelation 19. And the public ministry of Jesus begins at a wedding. So what if what Jesus is doing at this wedding is what every single person is, what every single person is,

does at a wedding. And when I say every single person, I mean every single person. When a single person goes to a wedding, I know what you're doing, girls. I mean, it starts at about eight years old. You were sitting there and you were thinking about the day that you'll get married. And here's what you're thinking. You have this like mix of hope and criticism. That's the feminine experience. That's what you do, right? You're just judging the whole thing. Those dresses are hideous. And white, who does she think she's kidding? And I don't think I would have sung that song. That's what you're doing, right? Okay? Wonder what my wedding day is going to be like.

That's cool. And if you're a dude, and you know what a dude is? The dude's like a boy that can shave. If you're at a wedding, you're like, oh, I hope this doesn't happen to me. It will ruin my Xbox career. Okay, you shouldn't get married. You're not ready. But one day, one day, maybe you will do what we call grow up.

And if you're a man, single man at a wedding, here's what you're thinking. Am I ready? What's this going to cost me? Like, can I stay? up and be a man that can love, provide, protect, that especially in the first century, man, the groom was responsible to throw this week-long party. And anybody that wanted to be a groom had to look around and say, do I have what it takes to pull this off? Can I pay the price for this wedding? I think Jesus, 30 years old in Galilee, looks at this as a single man and

says, and he's thinking about his future wedding. And he's thinking about what it's going to cost him. Now maybe you'll say, well, Pastor, I didn't think that Jesus got married. Well, he didn't in his earthly ministry. But when you get to the end of the scriptures, what we'll find is the reason that Jesus came was for his wedding, that he is the groom and the church is like a bride being adorned for him. And so maybe what Jesus is thinking about on this day is he's thinking about the future. He's thinking about revelation. And by the way, if you're new to Bible study or country, It's just revelation. There's only one of them.

It's not Revelations. It's just revelation. There was one vision. It's kind of like Walmart. My grandma used to go, we'll go into Walmarts. I'm like, you should just go to one. They will probably have it, okay? So in Revelation 21, listen to this description of what Jesus may be thinking about on this first time.

It says, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. and I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Do you know one of the primary illustrations in the Bible about our relationship with God is a marriage? And the reason I think is because at the root of a marriage is a covenant, not a contract. What a contract says, if you do your part, I'll do my part. There really is no room for unconditional love in a contract.

Do you know why you don't love your cell phone provider? Because you don't have a relationship with them. You have a contract with them? You ever notice they never call you? Don't pay your bill for a few months, and they will be happy to reach out all of a sudden, amen? Okay, contract no good. Covenant is this, I promise that because of God's love for me,

I promise no matter what, I'm going to love you. Better, worse, doesn't matter. I'm going to love you. Can you imagine going to a wedding, and instead of having vows that represented a covenant, Can you remember it if they, I mean, can you, would you, what would you do if they actually did a contract? If they got to the part where they were to do their vows, I'd tell you, Sally, and the pastor says, for better for worse, for sickness and health, good times and bad.

And he was like, hold on there, Padre, I ain't into the worse. So I wrote my own vows. I will take you to be my lawfully wedded wife under these conditions. You can't spend more money than we agree on. You can only gain 15 pounds and sex on demand. and then the bride hear that and go, I hear your offer and I raise the stakes. You have to make seven figures.

I want a house on the beach and spa treatments on demand. Now that's how people are actually married. Do you realize that? So if I'm sitting in the audience, you know what I'm doing? I'd get up. Excuse me. Gretchen, be like, where you going? I'm going to get my toaster.

What? No, I ain't giving these people my toaster. This is not worth the investment of a toaster because this ain't going to work. Me and you just got a new toaster. These people are going to be divorced in a second, right? So, God's not making a contract with you. God has offered his covenant love towards you.

And the reason that we can love him is because he first loved us by sending a son Jesus as the propitiation for our sin, the payment that's satisfied. He's covered it all, man. All we got to do is respond, love him back. And so God prepared us as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, the dwelling place of God is with man.

This is the point of the whole Bible. God with us. It's the whole Bible. In the garden, Adam and Eve, and God walking around the garden. God with us. Sin happens. He creates this sacrificial atonement system

where there's a temple so that God could be in the presence of his people. God with us. The Gospels, Jesus, put on flesh and dwelt among us, God with us. And then whoever would believe in Him, we go to heaven forever with God, God,

with us. It's the point of the whole Bible. And he will dwell with them and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore. For the former things have passed away.

And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new, like water to wine. He ain't just cleaning it up. It's not just cleaning out the outside. He is transforming it into something new. Also, he said, write this down for these words, are trustworthy and true, and he said to me, it is done. Literally, it is finished. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty, I will give from the spring of the

water of life without payment. Yeah, it's free for us, but it cost him something to provide the spring of water of life. It cost them the shedding of his blood on the cross. What if he's thinking about this wedding day back in Cana. Revelation 19, 6 to 9 describes it this way. And then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder crying out. Hallelujah for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. and it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints, and the angel said to me, write this down,

blessed are those who were invited to the marriage supper of the land. What if he's thinking about that day? What if he's thinking about that day? Blessed are those who were invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. I got really good news for you. Everybody's invited. Everybody's invited. I don't care where you grew up, how you grew up, what shade your skin is, what you used to believe, what the things that you struggle with, the things that you used to do.

Whatever this world, however this world tries to define you, is irrelevant to the invitation of Christ. Blessed are you because everybody's invited and everybody gets in the same way. There's no VIP seating at this party, man. There is a red carpet, but we all walk the red carpet, and it has been stained by the blood of Jesus. Everybody's invited, everybody gets in the same way, and here's the best part. And Jesus has already paid the price for our entrance. Maybe that's what he's thinking about in this moment. Maybe he is thinking the price that he will pay for us to be invited to the wedding supper with the lamb.

And the price is his blood. I think Jesus turns water to wine because in the scriptures, in the New Testament, there is a direct correlation between the blood of Jesus. and wine. We know it as the last supper. And so the way that we're going to end our service is we're going to celebrate Holy Communion. The Last Supper, if the ushers would begin to hand out the elements right now, and as you are receiving them, please do your best to pay attention. I want to be very clear about this. This is the Lord's table. It's not my table. So I don't get to determine who comes to the Lord's table. Maybe you've been to a denomination sometime, and if you're not a part of that denomination, you're not invited.

I can't think of a thing more outside of the invitation of Jesus than that. So if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you believe when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for you, even if it's been a minute, then you are invited to come to his table. You see, the context of the Last Supper is that Jesus, it's the last week. just actually the day before he gets crucified. And it's the Passover. And he tells his disciples to go find an upper room and begin to prepare the Passover meal. So for a long time since the day of Moses,

what the Jewish people would remember through the Passover meal is they would remember the Exodus, that God's people were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. And the Bible says that God's people cried out to Pharaoh and God heard the cry of his people. And so he picks a very unlikely hero guy named Moses, who was on the run actually when God called him. And God says, Moses, I want you to go before the Pharaoh. And on behalf of me, I want you to tell the Pharaoh, let my people go.

And Moses says, but if they ask who you are, who should I say, sent me? And he says, Moses, this is my covenant name, Yahweh, I am that I am. And so Moses shows up to Pharaoh. He says, I am here on behalf of the one true God, Yahweh. And he says, let my people go. And Pharaoh has hardened his heart. He did not have ears to hear. And so Moses comes back to God.

God, what are we going to do? And so God sends 10 plagues on Egypt. And every single one of the plagues was on purpose. They seem kind of random to us when we read them. You know, there's locusts and gnats and river turns to blood and the sun gets blotted out. But every single one of the plagues was specifically aimed at a particular Egyptian God. And so 10 times in a row what God does is he's saying, he's saying, I am the one true God.

And then they get to the 10th plague. The 10th plague is actually aimed at Pharaoh because Pharaoh thought he was God. And it's called the plague of the firstborn. And God says, Moses, go to my people and tell my people to get a perfect spotless lamb, shed the blood of the lamb, put it on the doorpost of the house.

And tonight, an angel that's going to come through, an angel of death. And whoever does not have the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of the house, I'm going to take their firstborn. but whoever has the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of the house that angel will pass over that's how they got the name for it the Passover and god's people did what he said and the angel of death came through and there was mourning and there was weeping all throughout Egypt and so then pharaoh came to moses and said

get out of here get out of here and so god says as long as you are a people you celebrate this day Passover so that you'll remember that I am the God of the Exodus. I am the God that hears prayers. I am the God that delivers. And then Jesus sits down with his disciples. And he's about to do this Passover meal. And essentially what he says is all of that you've been celebrating for all of those years, it's not about a random lamb that's slain.

It's about me. That I am the Passover lamb. And whoever has the blood of me on the doorpost of their heart, the angel of death will pass over you. And here's what you've got to understand, man. He was supposed to say this traditional rabbinical stuff, but that's not what he says. He says this, this is in Matthew.

He says, now as they were eating, Jesus took the bread, and after blessing it, he broke it and he gave it to his disciples. And he says, take and eat, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, drink of it, all of you. For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

I tell you I will not again drink of this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new with you in my father's house. He said the next time I drink wine with you, it's going to be at the marriage supper of the land. And then they left that place. And they went to the Garden of Githemone. It's at the bottom of the Mount of Olives. Githsemini means the place of crushing

because Jesus was about to be crushed. And he brought three of his disciples. He said, boys, I need you to pray with me. He goes before his father in heaven. The Bible says that he feels like he's going to die because of the heaviness on his soul. He's got literally the weight of the world upon him. And he goes before his father, and he asks this question, Father, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me.

You ever wonder if Jesus is the only way? Jesus has the same question in the Garden of Gassimini. Father, if there be any other way, if there's any other truth claim in some other religion to come, whether in the past or in the future, that could make people right with you, can we just do that? Like if people can just be good enough or just believe hard enough or take a visit somewhere, pray long enough, can we just go with one of those? Because if there's some other way, it seems like an awful waste of my blood on Calvary tomorrow. Father, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me. and the cup that he is talking about is the wrath of God

poured out for the judgment of the sin of all of mankind because we serve a holy and just God all sin must be paid for and Christ knows that the reason that he came was that he was going to go to the cross and that God would make him who is without sin to be sin

and that God would be pleased to crush his son and that he would be pierced for our transgressions And so he says, Father, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me, not my will, but your will be done. He was arrested. He was tried. He was beaten and flogged. He was nailed to a tree.

And he pushes up on his nail-pierced feet on that cross, and he says, it is finished. Then in that moment, his hour had come. And God poured out the cup of the wrath of God onto his son so that he could pour out his grace on you. you and me, that Jesus drank every bit of the cup of the wrath of God so that you and I could be invited to drink of the cup of grace of Jesus Christ. What if at the wedding at Cana, he's thinking about what it's going to cost him to invite me and you to his wedding? It's going to cost him his body and his blood. And so on the night that he was betrayed, he took the bread and he took the bread and he broke it.

And he says, this is my body broken for you. The disciples had to be thinking, you're not saying the right words. We've done this every year of our life. You're supposed to have about Moses and the lamb that was slain. And he was like, no, no, no. Let's remember what John, the baptizer said.

Behold, the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the entire world. They had no idea what he was talking about until the next day when they saw his broken body on the cross. And there, they remembered that he was pure. for our transgressions. And then he says, he's going to say, as often as you eat of this and drink of that, you do so in

remembrance of me. And for the Christian, it doesn't just mean remember that he died for us 2,000 years ago. That you go and grab that historical reality and you grab that moment you surrendered your life to Jesus and you bring it up into this current moment. It's like when you celebrate an anniversary, Gretchen and I are not just remembering that we set a vow 23 years ago that we said, I do. We're proclaiming. We still do today.

So he takes the bread and he breaks it. He says, this is my body broken for you. As often as you eat of it, you do so in remembrance of me. And then he takes the cup and he says, this is the new covenant. Did you know what a covenant in testament mean the same thing? The old covenant is a covenant of law. If you perform, you'll be accepted. The new covenant is a covenant of grace.

because of the performance of Christ, we are already accepted. And again, God poured out his wrath on his son so that whosoever would believe in him, he would pour out his grace upon us. And he says, this is my blood poured out for the forgiveness of sin. As often as you drink of this, you do so in remembrance of me. And then the Bible says that after this, the disciples sang before they went out. So that's how we're going to close our service. some of you are like mary you have a need in your life you've run out would you run to him would you cast

all your cares upon him because he cares for you that's why we have these kneelers in these carpets won't you come and pray to him and we're going to sing and we're going to sing about we're going to sing like a bunch of people who have understood that god has poured his grace out for us and we're going to bring we're going to cheerfully bring our ties and our offerings and say god you are worth it would you please stand and let me pray for you our good and gracious heavenly father God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. And God, as we celebrate this Lord's table, Lord, I thank you and I praise you that you have invited us to the table.

Not our good works, not the way we grew up, not some denomination. You have invited us to the table. And the reason we can sit at your table is because of your shed blood. God, thank you that you would love us. And Lord, may we be the bride adorned in your. righteous robes that you have called us to be. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So church, we're going to respond. Let's pray. Let's pray. You run to him and pray. And let's sing and let's bring. Let's respond.