Do Whatever He Tells You To Do

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St.

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John, Chapter 2, verses 1 -11. On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

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Jesus also was invited to the wedding with His disciples, and when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, They have no wine.

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And Jesus said to her, Woman, what does this have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.

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His mother said to the servants, Do whatever He tells you. Now there were six stone water jars there for the

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Jewish rites of purification, each holding about twenty or thirty gallons. And Jesus said to the servants,

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Fill the jars with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, Now draw some out, take it to the master of the feast.

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So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water, now become wine, and did not know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.

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The master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine, but you have kept the good wine until now.

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This is the first of His signs Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested

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His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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Epiphany. We are in the season of epiphany, and epiphany means manifestation, and Jesus is manifesting who

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He is. This is dangerous work, by the way, for the Son of God. And so we come to this text, which on a first reading, you sit there and go,

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Why did John record this passage? I don't get it.

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I don't understand it. Yeah, I've actually wrestled with this text many years. I've wrestled with this text and thought,

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What am I supposed to do with this? I mean, Jesus turns water into wine. You've got kind of the whole awkward exchange between Him and His mom, and never was really able to start to put it together until I began to see in this text that there were, well, fulfillments.

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John is pulling on certain Old Testament types and themes.

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And so we're going to take a crack at our text today, and we're going to unpack it and look at it in light of its typological significance.

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And it's pointing to Christ, His crucifixion, the Bride of Christ, and kind of all the different themes.

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And believe me when I tell you, I'm not even going to come close to pulling them all out.

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This is, if you would, a little bit more in depth than a 10 ,000 foot overview.

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But still, I fear that I may not be doing this full justice. So let's return back to our text.

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I'll be reading from the ESV today. And here's what it says. On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

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Jesus was also invited to the wedding with His disciples. We'll pause there for a second.

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On the third day, man, there are so many important things happening in scriptures.

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Well, on third days, if you would, this is a major theme. This is like writ large.

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Pay attention. There's something going on in this text. And it's huge. Let me just give you a couple of passages as, well, cross references to start kind of teasing out this third day theme.

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Genesis chapter 3, 10 through 13. We read this about the third day.

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Watch this. God said, Yeah. So on the third day is the day in which

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God brought forth the very fruit, the very fruit And it was so. And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their kinds and the trees bearing fruit in which is their seed each according to its kind.

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God saw that it was good. And then there was evening and there was morning on the third day.

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Yeah. So on the third day is the day in which God brought forth the very well grapevines that make wine.

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So something going on there. You say you're going, is that all you got? No, I got more.

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Let's continue. We'll take a look at Hosea chapter six verses one through two. Here's what it says.

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Come, let us return to the Lord for he has torn us that he may heal us.

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He has struck us down and he will bind us up. And after two days, he will revive us.

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And on the third day, he will raise us up that we may live before him or the gospel of John chapter two, starting at verse 13.

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Immediately after this pericope, same chapter. Listen to this. The Passover of the

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Jews was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem in the temple. He found those who were selling oxen, sheep and pigeons and the money changers sitting there and making a whip of cords.

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He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen. And he poured out the coins on the money changers and overturned their tables.

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And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these away. Do not make my father's house a house of trade.

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And his disciples remembered that it was written zeal for your house will consume me.

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So the Jews said to him, what sign do you show us for doing these things?

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Jesus answered them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

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The Jews said, it's taken 46 years to build this temple and you'll raise it up in three days.

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But he was speaking about the temple of his body. So scripture teaches there's significant things happening on third days.

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Very important things. Tuck that away. We'll use it again in a little bit.

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Next, the passage continues. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine.

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And Jesus said to her, here it is. Boy, this is an awkward moment for us. Woman, what does this have to do with me?

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Yeah, now see, here's kind of the thing. And there's a little bit of debate on this. In the culture of the time, it is very likely that Jesus saying to his mother, calling her woman is not disrespectful, but is actually, well, very respectful.

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Cultures change. And so in our culture, if my son were to call my wife, his mother, woman, well,

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I'd probably take offense. But Jesus never has broken the fourth commandment.

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And so it's fascinating here that he uses this term of honor, not derision.

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And says, woman, what does this have to do with me? Now remember, third day. Important things happening third day.

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Something's going on. The wedding has run out of wine. Which is kind of important too.

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We'll tease that out in just a minute. But Mary comes to Jesus and he says, woman, what does this have to do with me?

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There's another time in the Gospel of John where Jesus calls Mary woman.

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I want you to hear it. Gospel of John chapter 19, verses 25 through 27.

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While Jesus is being crucified. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister.

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Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene, when Jesus saw his mother and the disciples whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son.

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Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

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So there's something going on here. Third day, water turned to wine.

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Washing water. That's what this water's for. Washing water turned into wedding wine.

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Not just any wine, wedding wine. So there's something going on here.

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Woman, what does this have to do with me? Jesus continues, my hour has not yet come.

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Well, Jesus can only be referring to one thing. When Jesus talks about his hour coming, what is that hour?

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Answer? It's the hour of his death. The thing for which he came. The thing he came to do.

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To bleed and to die for our sins. It seems so out of place here in this text.

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My hour has not yet come. Referring to his death.

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Interesting. And it's from these words that now Mary apparently has the signal from Jesus that he's going to do something.

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My hour has not yet come, referring to Jesus' death. And then the last recorded words of Mary of Nazareth.

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His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you.

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Do whatever he tells you. These are good words. These are important words.

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What Mary has to say to us is very important. Do whatever Jesus tells you.

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He says, repent. Be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins. Do whatever he tells you.

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If he says that the work of God is to believe in the one whom the Father has sent, do whatever he tells you.

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If he tells you, take, eat, this is my body broken for you for the forgiveness of your sins, do whatever he tells you.

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If he says, take, drink, this is my blood of the new covenant shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins, do whatever he tells you.

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Jesus seems to know what he's doing. And now the typology and the symbols start to stack up.

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The passage goes on to say, now there were six stone water jars there for the

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Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons.

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That's a lot of water. What's this all for? Jewish purification rites.

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Rites of purification related to what? The law of Moses.

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The law. So here we've got six, not seven, stone jars.

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Stone. Making an allusion back to the Ten Commandments, the law of God chiseled on stone tablets.

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And notice it says six jars, not seven. And this is important. Because the six here, well, you could talk about the six days of work, but what's missing is the seventh day.

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The seventh is the day of rest. And Jesus is our

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Sabbath rest. So there's all kinds of themes that are just teeming in this passage.

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Again, it's hard to do it justice. So, they had six stone water jars.

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And keep this in mind. The law of Moses cannot truly save us.

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See, you can think of it this way. Water in the stone jars is really capable of only cleansing the outside, but not getting down into the heart.

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The Scripture says that wine makes the heart glad. You see, you don't party with water used for purification rites.

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Wine parties, well, wedding parties are celebrated with wedding wine. So there's a whole other theme going on there as well.

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So now there were six stone jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons.

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Jesus said to the servants, and watch this, this is fascinating, the servants know what's going on.

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The lowest and the lowly. Not the high and the mighty. The lowest and the lowly. He said to the servants, fill the jars with water.

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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.

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And see, Jesus takes the water in the stone jars, filled to the brim, totally full, and it turns into wine.

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Very fascinating. You could say that Jesus Himself is the one who fills all of the requirements of the law to the brim.

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This is pointing to Jesus in a fascinating way. So draw some of it out, take it to the master of the feast.

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So they took it. And when the master of the feast tasted the water, now become wine and did not know where it came from.

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Though the servants who had drawn the water, they knew. They knew. Kind of reminds you.

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By the way, wine here. Wine is a sign, it's a symbol of future hope in Scripture.

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Isaiah 25, verse 6, talks about it this way. On this mountain, Yahweh, the

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Lord of hosts, will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well -aged wine, of rich food, full of morrow, of aged wine, well refined.

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Yeah. Wine is a symbol of the hope to come. And here, just like in Isaiah 25, verse 6, well -aged wine.

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This is stuff that, you know, the wine magazines, if they were to rate this wine, it would be scoring 98, 99, almost a perfect 100.

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I mean, that's what we're talking about. Not really cheap wine. No, no, no, no.

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This is not Monteshevitz. This is not Mogan David. This is something else, right?

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So the master of the feast, he calls the bridegroom and he said to him, hey, listen, everyone serves the good wine first.

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And when the people have drunk freely, you can literally kind of translate this as have had a little bit too much to drink.

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They're pretty happy. They're flying high, right? Then you bring out the poor wine after their taste buds are shot.

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But you, you have kept the good wine, the best until now.

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And that's another key phrase. Think of it this way. As God's revelation unfolds, right?

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As God's revelation unfolds, God saves the best wine.

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Christ Himself. His blood shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins. He saves it till the last.

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You see, the law is incapable of providing the wine, really, for the wedding feast at all.

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It doesn't provide the wine. It would run out. It would fall woefully short like each and every one of us does.

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But see, God is the one who supplies the wine for the wedding feast. And He saves the best until last.

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And that's His Son, Jesus Christ, come for you. To die and bleed for you.

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To suffer your punishment on the cross so that you can be pardoned and have peace with God.

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God saves the best wine till the last. And then the text ends with these words.

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This, the first of the signs Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested, there's the word, the epiphany of His glory.

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And His disciples believed in Him. His disciples believed. This was the first sign.

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In fact, the Gospel of John contains seven signs regarding Jesus that are written so that we can believe.

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The seven signs are the first, the changing of the water into wine. The second, the healing of the royal official's son in chapter 4.

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Number three, the healing of the paralytic at Bethesda. Four, the feeding of the 5 ,000 in chapter 6.

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Also in chapter 6, Jesus walking on the water. That's the fifth sign. The sixth sign, the healing of the man born blind in chapter 9.

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And seven, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Seven full signs.

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The seven days of the first week of creation. But then John gives us an eighth sign.

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An eighth sign, the first sign of the new creation that took place on the third day.

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Jesus' resurrection from the grave. There's so much going on here.

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And it's just teeming. And it's hard to tease it all out. And just when you think you've exhausted it, you find five more.

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But that's what's going on in this text. These signs. This is a sign so that you will believe.

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And all of the typology now being pulled in from the Old Covenant and the law, as well as the eschaton and the future wedding feast of the

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Lamb, all of that is just packed into this short little pericope of the miracle, the sign, the manifestation of Jesus' glory at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee.

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So let me leave you with these thoughts. The very thoughts that John gives at the end of his

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Gospel as to why these things are written. He writes this in John 20, verses 30 and 31.

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Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.

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But these things are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the

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Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you too might have life in His name.

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That's why Jesus changed the washing water into wine.

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That's why all of this is pointing to what we find in the baptismal font.

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The washing water of the forgiveness of sins. The wine that we drink in our

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Lord's Supper for the forgiveness of our sins. And having believed in Him, having believed that this

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Jesus has come to die and rise again on the third day so that we might have life.

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We do have life. We are believing in the promises of God. Believing that we have life, life eternal in His name forever and ever.

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