Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Lord of the Wine

Episode Date: November 6, 2023

Jesus’ first miracle was not just a miracle, but a miraculous sign. It was an acted-out picture of who Jesus is and everything Christianity is. His inaugural event was not walking on water or raising somebody from the dead. Instead, what you have here is not a very big deal. A party looks like it’s going to go two days instead of three days. Wow. What a shame.  Why did Jesus do this miracle? Why was this the first one? How does this reveal his glory? If you ask that question, there’s so much in it. You have the whole nine yards here: who he came to be, what he came to do, what he has to offer, and how we can receive it.  This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 17, 1996. Series: The Real Jesus Part 2; His Life. Scripture: John 2:1-11. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visitinghttps://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Jesus was the most influential man to ever walk the earth. Is it possible to really know him? And how does he change our relationship with our Heavenly Father, our relationships with family and friends, and our approach to our work and service to others? Find out today on Gospel and Life as Tim Keller looks at the life of Jesus. The passage of Scripture on which the teaching is based is printed in your bulletin there. It's John chapter 2. We're going to look at verses 1 through 11.

John chapter 2 verses 1 to 11. On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, they have no more wine. Dear woman, why do you involve me, Jesus replied, my time has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. Nearby stood six stone water jars,

the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water, so they filled them to the brim. Then He told them, now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. They did so. And the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from. Though the servants who had drawn the water knew, then He called the bridegroom aside and said, everyone brings out the choice wine first, and then the cheaper wine

after the guests have had too much to drink. But you have saved the best till now. This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory and his disciples put their faith in him. This is God's Word. We're looking at the life of Jesus and what we're really doing is we're building a biography. We're looking not so much at his teachings, which is often what we're really doing is we're building a biography. We're looking not so much at his teachings, which is often what we do here, but we're looking at the events of his life, the main events of his life. And we're developing, therefore, a biography of the single most influential person that ever walked the face of the earth. I think that's an uncontroversial statement. And anyone who

wants to live intelligently in this world would want to know something about something, a person like that. And so we're doing that. Now why do we talk about this one? We have to be selective in a biography. So why do we come after this one? Why do we bring this particular one up? And the answer is this is not just a miracle, but as you see down in verse 11, look, if you see down in verse 11, it's not just a miracle, but a miraculous sign. It is a picture. And it was chosen by Jesus to be the first sign, and because it was the first miracle, it's a picture, almost a parable, and acted out picture of all that he is, and all that

Christianity is. Now, if you want the evidence for that, recently I was reading a very interesting book by Reynolds Price, he's a Duke University English professor, very prominent. He recently put out a book in which he translated the Gospels, some of the Gospels. And it was very well reviewed here in the New York Times. It's quite an interesting book.

But he writes fairly lengthy introductions. And in the introduction to the gospel of John, which he translated, he looks at this and he says, he says, if you just read this and if you're a writer yourself, you know this must have happened. And the way he puts it is this. He says, if you were inventing a biography of Jesus Christ, you would never invent for the unogular sign a miraculous solution to a mere social embarrassment. Now, here's what he says, the only logical explanation for this particular sign being the

first one is that it must have happened. Because he said, I as a writer, I know this, if I was inventing a life of Jesus, I would want to make sure that the first miracle was extremely quintessential. Any leader of a great new movement, when they make their first public presentation, they take tremendous care to give a balanced, exact picture of what the movement is all about. And therefore, since Jesus was clearly the greatest movement leader in the history of the world, obviously the very first sign, the very first thing he did, not walking on water, not raising somebody from the dead, not all the other possibilities,

far more dramatic, instead, what you have here is a not very big deal. A party looks like it's gonna go two days instead of three days, wow, what a shame. If you were going to develop your own, if you were gonna fabricate your own first miracle for Jesus, he says, you would never in a million years do this, but Jesus did. Why? Why did Jesus do this miracle? Why did He do it this way? Why was this the first one?

How does this reveal His glory? If you ask that question, oh there's so much in it, you have the whole nine yards here. Who he came to be? What He came to do? What He has to offer, how we can receive it. It's all here. Look, first of all, first this passage shows us who he was. Well, who was he? Take a look here at verse 8 and 9. There's a very interesting term here that you don't find anywhere else in the New Testament. At the very, it says after he told them, draw some of it out here in verse 8, and he says, now, take it to the master of the banquet. And we're told they did so. In verse 9 it says the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine and so on. Now, what's the master of the banquet? This is a term. It's one word in Greek and it's translated this way. Essentially, this is close to what we might call a master's ceremony. It's close to what we would call the toast master.

It was the person to preside. But this is, in a sense, this is a higher life of the party. You know, if you're having a really good party and it's a big party, you want someone to preside. And a presider has to be someone who's very hail, fellow, well-met kind of person. The master's ceremony is someone who says, now let's do this and let's do this.

And here we go. And you have to be the person who gets things stirred up and makes it a great party. Now, this party is about to fall absolutely flat. And Jesus saves this guy's hide. And because he provides what is necessary for the party, he reveals himself to be the true master of the banquet, the real Lord of the Feast.

Now, let's ask the question, Point Blank. Why would Jesus Christ, in his first miracle, his calling card, as it were? Why would he do this to show the world who he was and to show us who he was to create 150 gallons or so of the most delicious, headiest wine in order to make a dying party into an incredible party, lifting it to new heights? Why is that his very first miracle? Because what he's saying is, I come as Lord of the feast.

He says, yes, I come to do self denial, I come to suffer and I come to be humbled. And if you follow me, you will too. There'll be plenty of self denial and suffering and humbling too. But these are just means to an end. Here's the end. As Master of the banquet, as Lord of the Face, time come. Jesus in a sense says this, in this miracle, which is a parable. He says, you know all those old stories, all those old Dionysian tales that you find in

all the old ancient traditions of days in which the forest would run with wine, and there would be feasting and dancing and revelry, he says, kid stuff compared to what I have come to do. He says, haven't you read what the prophets said about my day? Isaiah 25, in that day the Lord of hosts will make for his people a feast of the finest meats and wine well refined. And on this mountain, he will swallow up death forever. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and your reproach and shame will be taken away forever.

For the Lord God has spoken. Jesus says of all the things I could tell you, of all things I could show you, are many, many, many things, but this is the first, this is the primary, this is the thing I've come to do. I've come to bring festival joy. Now before we move on, let me just put it to you this way. In New York City, why is it that most people are not worshiping anywhere this morning?

Why? Why is it most people are not worshiping frankly anywhere? Here's the reason why. There's a lot of reasons why, but here's a very primary reason why. People say, I had enough bringing in the church. I had enough bringing in the Christian faith, but now I want to enjoy myself. I'm in New York City. I want to enjoy myself.

I had that religious upbringing, but I want to have fun. Now, is that your view at all? Is there even part of you that understands Christianity that way? Christianity is this, huh? Look, suck it up. Just say no. Keep your nose clean.

Stay out of trouble. I know it's a grind, but if you want to be saved from hell, I mean, it's a tough job, but that's the way it is. Is that Christianity? Is that what you think Christianity is? Do you believe that at all? Jesus throws down the gauntlet to you. Jesus is saying, look, in a sense.

He says, I almost don't care if you reject me, but you are not rejecting me intelligently. You are rejecting me stupidly. You don't even know what you're rejecting. Do you believe that? Do you dare say to me, I reject Christianity because I want to have fun. You don't even know who I am. You don't even know what you've rejected.

I am Lord of the Feast. I come to make the world run with wine. You don't even know. There are reasons to reject me, but this is not one of them. He throws down the gauntlet to you. He says, I am Lord of the feast. That's who I am. This is my calling card, 150 gallons, the choice wine, the best wine.

That's the first thing we see. He shows us who he is, but then secondly, he also shows us what he came to do. He doesn't just show us who he came to be, but also what he came to do. The way you understand this whole passage, the key to understanding the whole passage is verse 4. whole passage, the key to understanding the whole passage is verse 4. Mary comes to him and it's a very reasonable request. When the wine goes out of a party, that's the end of the party. And that's a pretty serious thing. It's about a serious of faux pas possible. In those days weddings were bigger deals, they did last a longer time, they were the central thing of the village, and for the wine to give out was probably a bigger thing than it would be for any of us today.

So she comes and she says they have no wine. It's not a ridiculously unimportant thing. She knows his power because she's seen it. She knows who he is. She heard the angel. And then secondly, she knows his love and she knows his concern. It is absolutely not wrong for her to come and say, they have no wine, can you do something? And what does he say? Woman, see, the NIV is trying to soften it. The NIV translation, there isn't a little word deer in there.

I mean, this is sentimentalism. I'm afraid the translators are afraid of letting you see what he says. He doesn't say, mom, he says, woman, why do you involve me? My time is not yet come. Now, this is A is his brusquen harsh and B, it seems like a total non-sequitor. She says, can you do something about this problem? And he says, my time is not yet come.

He's troubled. And he clearly is thinking about something else. What does this mean? He's thinking about something else. He's got his mind as a million miles away. When I first read this over the years, my immediate reaction was, well, what he's trying to say is you're forcing my hand. I'm not ready to do a miracle yet. Isn't that what you probably thought? But because he immediately turns around and does a miracle,

we cannot give. Listen, we can't treat Jesus the way we treat other people. Jesus did not say, it's not time for a miracle. And then after a few minutes, he says, oh, all right. I mean, that's how... I'm sorry. This is the greatest movement leader in the history of the world. These things are calculated. These things are thought through. All right? And therefore, since we do not believe, he was changing his mind. We didn't say, all right, mom, okay? Then why does he say, my time is not it coming. He's not saying it's not time for a miracle, he's thinking about something, but what is it? And he's thinking of two things, and here's what they are.

First of all, the first one is fairly easy. If you're a single man like Jesus is, or a single woman, if you're single like Jesus, and you go to a wedding, what do you tend to think of? Sometimes it's worse than others, but what do you tend to think of? You tend to think of your own wedding. Sometimes you sit there and your eyes are a million miles away. You're thinking about what will my wedding be like? Will I ever have a wedding? Who will it be with? You're not thinking of that time, you're thinking of another time, just like Jesus. But if Jesus was really thinking about His wedding, the Bible tells us His consciousness

and His understanding of His wedding day would have stirred Him far deeper than even it stirs us. The Old Testament tells us, the prophets for hundreds of years had said that God, the God of the Bible, does not simply want to relate to us as a king to subjects. He doesn't just want to rule us, and he doesn't just want to relate to us as a shepherd to sheep. He doesn't want to simply relate to us even just as a father to children. But we're told again and again the Old Testament that God wants to relate as a husband to a wife.

He wants to know us and love us and unite with us as profoundly as a husband to a wife. And therefore, all through the Old Testament, God continually characterizes Himself as our bridegroom, the bridegroom of the people who give themselves to him as a bride does to her husband. And we know that Jesus Christ had taken that into his own consciousness. Jesus has the audacity in the book of Matthew. When someone says, why don't your disciples fast? He has the audacity to say, do the friends of the bridegroom fast when the bridegroom

is still with them? The bridegroom! He has the audacity to say, do the friends of the bridegroom fast when the bridegroom is still with them? The bridegroom. He's the bridegroom. And if you actually go just two chapters or one chapter later in this particular gospel, if you go to the end of chapter three of John, John the Baptist is asked by some of his friends and followers. He says, everybody's going after Jesus. All the people are going after Jesus.

They're leaving you and they're going after Jesus. And what does John say? John has understood the claim. And John says, he says, all the people are going after him? Why not? The bride, he says, is for the bridegroom. He says, I'm just the friend of the bridegroom. Who's the bride? The gospel writer, John, at the end of the book of Revelation, describes for us what Jesus

is thinking about at this wedding. What does he say? At the end of the book of Revelation, he says, then I saw the Holy City Jerusalem coming out of heaven, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a voice that said, blessed are those invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb. What Jesus is thinking about is his wedding day, and he's thinking about the day in which the people who say, all that I am and all that I have, I give to you.

And on that day, that will be the consummation of all consummations. You've heard of consummated marriages, the marriage was consummated. Consummation, the ultimate union, the ultimate embrace. There will be on that day the consummation of all consummations and the wedding feast to end all wedding feasts. And that's what Jesus is thinking about.

But that can't be all that he's thinking about. And here's the reason why. When we think about our weddings, we're a single people and we go to a wedding and we're thinking about our own future, the reason that we find it sometimes very troubling is because we don't know. We don't know whether it's gonna happen

or how it's gonna happen or what it's gonna be. It's scary. Jesus knows. So, why is he acting so troubled? Why is he so abrupt? Why is he very clearly under a certain amount of stress when his mother talks about this? And the answer is he's not only thinking about the wedding. He's not just thinking of his own wedding, but here's more importantly, and I think

I can prove this to you, he is thinking about what it will take for him to provide wine for his wedding feast. So that's the only way you can explain this. She comes in and she says, they have no wine. And what he says literally is, not just my time is not yet come, but the literal thing he says, which the NIV translation here translates my time, he says my hour is not yet come. Now in the book of John, the word hour, Jesus hour, hour of what you say, well the hour has a technical meaning. Go to chapter 7 verse 30, go to chapter 8 verse 20, go to

chapter 12 verse 23, go to chapter 13, verse 1, I did. And the hour means the hour of his death. Now, listen, Mary says they need wine for the wedding feast, and he says it's not my time to die yet. Now, that is a non-sequitur, unless you realize that he is looking into the future at something of which the present is a parable, a pattern. Of course he's not talking about this wine. He doesn't have to die to create this wine.

And of course he's not talking about this wedding feast. He doesn't have to die to create the wine for this wedding feast. But as soon as she comes and says, they have no wine for the wedding feast, he says, oh my word, the only way I'm going to be able to produce wine for my wedding feast, the only way I'm going to be able to unite with my bride is I'm going to have to go through the hour of my death. And if you don't think that's what he means, he couldn't be clearer when he chooses the way in which he creates the wine.

What does it say? Here at Adam 6, Nearby stood six stone water jars, but they just weren't any water jars. They were used by Jews for ceremonial washing. I can't get clearer than that. What does a ceremonial washing? Well, what the Jews did before they went into the temple. It was their custom to wash before they went into the presence of God. Why? Well, it didn't actually do anything.

It was just a sign. But what did it signify? Signified that we're sinners and that we have moral impurities and we need to be cleansed or we cannot be embraced by God. Now I don't know how clear it would be than that. When Jesus turned his water into wine, he was probably remembering the fact that years ago, God, through Moses and Egypt, once turned water into blood as a curse. But now for Jesus to turn water into blood, the wine is his blood. He says, at the last supper, this cup of wine is my blood. When he sees wine, he thinks his blood. But you see in the Old Testament, in Egypt, it was a curse. They died for the lack of things to drink. He turned water into blood as a curse, but today he turns water into blood as a blessing

because it's his blood for us. It's the thing that will cleanse us. And therefore, why is Jesus acting the way he is? One minister put it this way, Jesus Christ is sitting in the midst of all this joy, sipping the coming sorrow. And you know why? Because there's no way that Jesus Christ can think about what it will take to give His bride the cup of joy and gladness without thinking about the cup that He was going to have to drink. Everybody thinks they know the Christmas story. Yet, while there are many Christian references all around us during this season, how closely have you examined what really happened that first Christmas night? In his book Hidden Christmas, Tim Keller takes you on an illuminating journey into the surprising

background of the Nativity story to help you better understand the redeeming power of God's grace. Hidden Christmas is our thanks for your gift to help Gospel and Life reach more people with the amazing love of Christ. Request your copy of Hidden Christmas today when you give at gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelandlife.com slash give.

Now, here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. See this stuff's going on all the time. The cup, if he is going to feast with us, if he's going to have us in his arms, if we are going to drink from the rivers of his grace, if we are going to, if we are going to come into the festival joy of the marriage supper, our marriage supper with him, he's going to have to go through the hour and he's going to, in order to drink the cup of joy with us, he's going to have to drink the cup of eternal justice. I will never forget, his fear of the cup. Again and again, he says,

let this cup pass from me. I can't stand the cup, the cup of justice. I'll never forget a sermon years ago I heard, when I hated the idea of hell still, it was very, very upset by the idea of hell. And I heard a sermon by a minister that said, if you don't understand hell, you'll never understand God's love. And he says, think of the place where Jesus, who definitely believed in hell.

Jesus has this really weird place where he says, do not fear the destruction of your body, but fear the destruction of your body and soul and hell. And the preacher went on to say this, he was talking to disciples. He was talking to people that he knew with his foresight, we're going to be destroyed for him. He knew that some of them would be ripped from limb to limb by wild animals. He knew some of them would be impaled on stakes and lit as torches while still alive. He knew that some of them, this is true. Some of them would have their skulls drilled while they're still alive and molten lead poured into them.

They know, he knew. These things happen. But he's saying that is nothing, that is a picnic compared to being rejected by God. That's what hell is. You were built, your soul was built for him, and to be cut off from God is far worse than that. But Jesus Christ, since his relationship with God was infinitely greater than ours, therefore his hell would have been infinitely greater than all of us put together.

And it was. And he sits there in the midst of all this joy saying, the only way I'm going to get to my wedding day is through my hour. That's what he came to do. It's all there. You see why John says, behold the glory in this sign. He sits there and he's sipping the curse, knowing what it will take to bring the blessing. He sips there saying, these people will only have my joy through my sorrow.

But then that's not all. Thirdly, this also tells us not just who he is, Lord of the Feast. See, he's the true master of the banquet. But then secondly, we just saw what he came to do. He came to give his water his blood as our wine. Because he's not only the true master of the banquet, he's the true bridegroom. But then lastly, well not lastly actually, almost. Thirdly, it also shows us what he actually comes to offer. What does he come to offer? And the two things we see, if you understand him as master of the banquet and you understand

him as the bridegroom, the real Lord of the feast and the real bridegroom of your heart, if you understand those two things, then you'll see that the two things he comes to offer us are powerful sensation and complete reception. Now hear me, please. First of all, powerful sensation. Why does Jesus characterize? Why does the Bible continually characterize His salvation as wine. And why does the Bible continually talk about Christianity as a feast? Why is it that Jesus says in the book of Matthew, I chapter 8,

he says, many will come from the east and west and sit down at their places by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the feast of the kingdom of heaven. He doesn't just say, when we start the kingdom of heaven, we'll have a feast. He says the kingdom of Heaven is a feast. And here, let me press this. The Bible is continually pushing on us sensory experience language. When it comes to our relationship with God, it says in Psalm 34, verse 8, the Psalmist says, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Now, doesn't the Psalmist readers know that the Lord is good? He says, of course, we know you know the Lord is good. I know you know I Lord is good. He

says, that's not all that's offered. I want you to taste that the Lord is good. That's different. Or look at the Psalmist 119. It says, open my eyes that I might be whole wondrous things in thy law. Well, open your eyes that I might be holding wondrous things in thy law. Open your eyes, read it. Go ahead, read it. You can see every word on the page. What does he mean? At this point, Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon, a divine and supernatural light, has a tremendous impact on me, and I just hope that this will not be too frightening for you. It was the first time for me. He says, why does the Bible continually insist on using sensory experience? Why does it continually say, it's not enough for you to know that God is good, I want

you to taste that God is good. It's not enough to know the goodness and the power and the holiness and the love of God, but you must taste it, you must see it. Edward says, why does it continually do that? And he says, here's why, because you are not invited to anything less than this. You are invited to experience God. You are invited to, and you get when you become a Christian, your heart gets a new sensory ability.

This is Edward's, this is what Edwards saying. Edwards says, the Bible pushes you beyond knowing about the goodness and the power and the holiness of God, detasting the goodness and the power and the holiness of God. And this is his quote. He says there is a difference between believing that God is holy and gracious and having a new sense on the heart of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. The difference between believing that God is gracious and tasting that God is gracious is as different as having a rational belief that honey is sweet and having the actual experience

of its sweetness. The point. What is Christianity? You are not invited to sign a series of beliefs but to a feast. You are not invited to obey a set of rules. You are invited to a feast. You are invited to not just know about the goodness and holiness and power of God, but to experience the loveliness and the beauty and the amoeiability of it

and the gloriousness of those things. What is it? What are we talking about? And here's the problem. Edwards in this sermon says, when someone says, what is the difference between believing and knowing and tasting? What is the difference between just knowing about and tasting? What is the difference between just knowing about and this new sense of the heart, this new ability to not just know about these things, but to find them lovely and overwhelming?

And he says, that is like a blind man, a man born blind asking you, what is the difference between red and blue? And if a blind man comes to you and says, what is the difference between red and blue? And says, is it like the difference between a trumpet and an oboe? What are you going to say?

Well, in a way, by the way, I have a personal feeling that a trumpet is red and an oboe is like blue. But unfortunately, that's basically the answer is no. Basically, you cannot explain sensory experience in one realm in terms of another. And Edwards is saying that when you receive the Holy Spirit, what Jesus is offering us is that you move from one realm into another. And you actually find, I would say, the tasting that Edward talks about, the wine that Jesus offers us, it goes something like this.

Do you know that God is gracious? Do you believe it? Fine. But the first step in tasting is you start to hunger for it. This should help some of you. The first step in this sensory new sense of the heart is that you start to long for it. You start to get unhappy that you don't have it. You start to hunger and thirst for it.

See, I'm having to use sensory language. I'm sorry. As Edward says, there's just no way to explain it unless you've gone through it. And then secondly, you begin to delight. These things aren't just there. You don't just believe them. They begin to ravish you. They begin to delight you.

They become sweet. And then lastly, they begin to satisfy. They begin to overwhelm. Wine, see, wine. They go to your head. And you start to say, the love of God for me out shines what people are saying about me, and therefore I'm not afraid. And the wisdom of God outtaste my own wisdom, and therefore I'm no longer anxious.

And the mercy of God outtaste what other people are saying about me, and therefore I'm not ashamed. about me and therefore I'm not ashamed. Jesus offers you wine, a feast, powerful sensation, a sense of filling, experience of God, not just a set of beliefs, not just keep your nose clean, don't you say, you don't even know you've rejected so many of you, I know. But then secondly, this miracle not only shows that he offers you powerful sensation, but it also shows that he offers you complete reception. How dare he do this? How dare he say, do you realize what he's saying about you when he says, when he says, I'm the king and you're the subject? When he says, I'm the shepherd and you're the sheep.

In every case, when he says, he's something that says something about us. When he says, I'm the king, it tells us something about us. When he says, I'm the shepherd, it tells us something about us. But when he says, I'm the groom, what is he saying about us? I'll tell you what he's saying. One thing that I have an experience of and the other ministers here have an experience of, you realize in your whole life, hopefully there will not be too many times in which you are either a best man or a groom. If you're the best man or the groom, you stand there and the

one thing you see that nobody else sees is you see the bride coming at you, right at you. And the only person who I know who stands right in that spot continually, repeatedly, maybe hundreds of times, is us ministers. We're down there and we see something that most people only see very, very, very rarely. And this is what I see. What I see is no matter what that woman looks like in reality. She's ravishing. Now my reason I didn't smile, I knew it's laugh at that, and the reason I didn't smile along with it is just because, I mean, this is really true. The point is that the way, and this has been true, I think, in every single culture, bridal style, bridal ornaments, bridal garments, will make

you absolutely ravishing no matter what you look like in reality. I've never seen it fail. And as she comes down, the bride comes down looking absolutely ravishing and absolutely beautiful. The groom is amazed, never seen her look like this before. Now when Jesus Christ has the audacity to say, I'm the groom, do you know what that's saying about us? What he is saying is, I am ravished with you, I can hardly stand still, I can hardly stay down there, I want to run down the aisle to you.

I want to give myself to you as you give yourself to me. He is promising complete reception. This is the wine. Do you believe this? When you believe it and when the Spirit brings it home to your heart, so you just don't just know it, but you sense it, and you taste it, and you see it. Well, it can soar you for anything. It makes you face anything. This is the wine that begins to

flow. He offers absolutely powerful sensation and he also offers complete reception. Look at the glory. Look at the glory. This miraculous sign reveals his glory. Now, how do you receive this? Last of all, how do you receive this? I'll tell you, there's actually, it's so wonderful, but it's such a perfect picture that there's just two things you have to do to receive it. You have to admit that you're out. And then you have to take all the credit. Look at it. You know how to become a Christian?

First of all, you have to admit you're out. You can't just say, top me off. My tank is seven-eighths full. Mary comes and says, they're out. Jesus does not make a move till you're willing to say, I'm empty. I'm out. Jesus does not make a move till you're willing to say, I'm empty. I'm out. I have nothing.

I've blown it. And then secondly, if you want a perfect picture, what it means to become a Christian. This stupid bridegroom, disorganized, creates this incredible faux pas. But at the end of the whole message, at the end of the parable, at the end of the parable, at the end of the miraculous sign, he's getting all the credit for what Jesus did.

Look, you know? In other words, he's being told people are saying this is the greatest party I've ever been at. He's getting complete credit for all of Jesus' work. He is getting all the praise that Jesus earned, and that's what it means to become a Christian, to go to the Lord and say, accept me, though I've blown it, and give me credit for what Jesus has done in my place. Receive me for His sake. Now, that's not quite enough. And here, just in the waning moments, let me just, waning minute or two, let me say that

if you read this thing, no matter who you are, there's something, there's a practical cook for you. And here's 3 or 4 or 5, real brief. Number one, this teaches us that you can go to Him with little things. These are little things. It's so funny to see the commentators when I was reading the commentaries about this, they're so upset about the fact that it seems like such a little thing. Why would Jesus Christ use His power and his precious time on such a little thing? It really isn't a big deal.

It's not life and death. It's not leprosy. It's not a dying child. It's not, you know, nobody starving to death. But you know what it means? See his glory. Jesus Christ would use his divine power to wipe the egg off the face of two disorganized teenagers.

Jesus Christ, if he comes into your life, every little problem is never too small for his detailed care. If a God with that kind of omnipotent power comes into your life, invite him into your life. A God with that kind of omnipotent power comes into your life with that kind of omniscient and omnipresent love and concern for you, what in the world are you afraid of? Go to Him with little things. Secondly,

submit to His timing. When Mary comes with a normal request, a righteous request, a perfectly legitimate request, and he looks at her, and he says, it's not time, and then he starts to tell the servants in a moment of social crisis to do something that looked like it was totally counterproductive. There you have a good picture of what a lot of your Christian life is going to look like. You're going to go to God, you're going to go to Jesus, you're going to ask for something and he's going to give you the brush off and he's going to put into your life all sorts of things that don't look like they're getting anywhere near where you need to be. Well learn from Mary.

What does Mary say? Does she say, how dare you talk to your mother like that? What does she say? She goes to everybody and she says, do whatever he says. What is she doing? She remembers the angels. She remembers that little thing that was contained in her womb really, heaven and earth itself cannot contain.

And what is she saying? She says, listen, I don't understand it, but do you think we're smarter than he is? Do you know who he is? Do whatever he says. And you're never gonna get the blessing if you don't do whatever he says, even if it doesn't make much sense.

Thirdly, some of you are having trouble right now because I put so much emphasis on how wonderful marriage can be. And there's two reasons why a lot of you are struggling with it. Number one, some of you want to be married and you really want to be married and you haven't been. And so the whole idea of this incredible wedding day is just painful to you. And others of you are married and you're very disappointed in your marriage. And the idea of this beautiful wedding day is really very painful to you and others of you are married and you're very disappointed in your marriage. And the idea of this beautiful wedding day is really very painful to you.

And what I'm giving you is not more pain, I'm giving you balm. I'm giving you medicine. This is saying that there's nobody in this entire room that's had a wedding day like the one I just described. There's never been. Never been. The thing that I described as happening between Jesus and us on the last day, there's never been a marriage like that.

There never will be a marriage like that. And if you take your presence spouse or your hope for spouse and put that person in the place of Jesus Christ, you're going to be under pain and it'll be your fault. This relativizes your need for marriage. This relativizes your need for this perfect marriage. Why? Because the perfect marriage awaits you.

He waits for you. You can use this on yourself. So go to him for little things, wait for his timing. Use this on yourself so marriage no longer kind of knocks you around. Oh, here's one more thing, just one last thing. Actually, there's a whole lot of them, which one will I use? This one.

Do you not know that even though I know life can be really hard, you have power over your joy. I remember some years ago, was it another church and my pastor, we were talking about whether a person should run for an office and my pastor said, I don't think he should run for an office, he's not joyful enough. And that really struck me. And what he was saying is we should take some responsibility for the level of joy in our lives. Jesus Christ sat there, sipping the coming sorrow in the midst of joy, so that you and I could sit

in the midst of this sorrowful world sipping the coming joy. He sat sipping in the midst of joy, sipping the coming sorrow so that we could sit in the sorrow, sipping the coming joy. In other words, if you think about what you've got, if you think of the sensation, if you think of the reception, if you receive that, you should be able to face absolutely anything. If a little child got a toy or a game at a party and they open it up and you said, you can't play it right now, you can't play it to the parties over

and they threw a fit and they threw themselves in the ground. You'd sit down and say, honey, now listen, I can understand, but you can't let this little thing overshadow the wonderful thing you've got. And my suggestion to you is that if you're cast down, if you are not a person that others look at and say, there's a person who loves life. If you're not a person that anyone wants to party with. If you are not a person who clearly loves life, if there's not a note of festival joy in you, you've got control over that now. It's on your head. Look at His glory and have faith in Him.

Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for providing for us this wonderful and miraculous sign. Make it possible for us to receive, to receive the powerful sensation, the powerful tasting, the great and heady wine, which belongs to all of us. Lord, I know there's people in this room who know what we're talking about,

but it's been a long time since they tasted. I know there's people in this room who are living on bread and water in their Christian lives. When you offer them wine, there are people here who are only just doing their duty and they have sensed and felt and they have been overwhelmed with the sense on their heart of your glory in a long time, I pray that they would come to you now and they would say, I'm out. And then they would do whatever you say. And they would think about you as the great bridegroom Lord Jesus Christ until they begin

to drink the wine. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. the wine. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for listening to Today's Teaching. It's our prayer that you were encouraged by it, and that it equips you to know more about God's Word. You can find more resources from Tim Keller at GospelOnLife.com. Just subscribe to the Gospel on Life newsletter to receive free articles, sermons, devotional, and other resources. Again, it's all at GospelOnLife.com. This month's sermons were recorded in 1996 and 1997. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel On Life podcast were preached from 1989 to

2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.