(God Can Solve Every Problem) Water Turned Into Wine — Zac Poonen

The Eight Signs in John's Gospel

8 messages I want to give, 4 today and 4 next Sunday, on the theme, God can solve every problem. And I believe that was one of the things that the Lord was trying to teach us through his miracles. So what I'm going to do is go through the miracles in John's Gospel and turn first of all to John's Gospel chapter 2.

In the Gospel of John there are 8 miracles mentioned. And John has selected 8 out of the many that he saw, inspired by the Holy Spirit. And the interesting thing is that he doesn't call them miracles.

In fact the word miracle is never found in the Gospel of John. If you read John chapter 2 and verse 11, he calls them signs. The miracles were signs. Every miracle was a parable, had a message in it, a spiritual message in it, which the Lord wanted us to understand.

And you remember once the Lord said to his disciples, there are many things I want to say to you. He said that on the night before he was crucified. But you can't grasp them now. They had to wait for the Holy Spirit to come on the day of Pentecost, to understand the spiritual implications of many things that they saw during the three years, three and a half years that they were with Jesus in his ministry time.

And today we have the Holy Spirit so we can understand the spiritual implication behind this first sign. The first sign was the sign of water being turned into wine. And that's John chapter 2 verses 1 to 11.

Water Turned Into Wine as a Picture of Spiritual Renewal

And most of you would be familiar with the story that Jesus was invited to a wedding. And at the wedding the wine ran out and Jesus turned water into wine to meet that need. Now what is the spiritual message in this?

Wine is a picture of the life of God, of the life of Christ. And here is a picture, we could say first of all, of a believer who once had some wine and who doesn't have it now. A backslidden believer who's lost his first love for the Lord, who isn't fervent in devotion to the Lord as he was once.

Does that apply to you? It could also be a picture of an unbeliever who never had the wine that Jesus produced, but only had that old wine of the world. And that's never satisfied him, he's frustrated, he's depressed.

And it's run out in any case, all the pleasure and satisfaction that the world can give has come to an end. And it could refer to him. It could also refer to a marriage. For remember this was, this miracle was done at a wedding.

A marriage where the original love that husband and wife had for each other is gone. Like they say, the honeymoon is over. You know it should never be over in a Christian marriage. It should get better and better as time goes on.

And here is a marriage where the honeymoon is over, where the wine has run out, and the wonderful thing is, Jesus did a miracle there. And made wine far superior to the wine that they had in the beginning.

Teaching us that Jesus can do a miracle in every marriage, and bring it to a far more glorious relationship than they had at the beginning. It can refer to a church that has lost its first love. Like the church in Ephesus we read in Revelation chapter 2.

That loved the Lord fervently once. Church established by the Apostle Paul. But 40 -50 years later, it's no longer the same. First love is gone. Still got the right doctrine, still has its meaning. But that fervent devotion to Christ has gone.

So here are a number of situations where this miracle could apply. It's a sign. A sign. A spiritual message behind the miracle. So keeping that in mind and applying it to your own life. You know when we read scripture, when we hear the word of God, we must apply it to our own life.

We shouldn't sit here and say, well thank God my wife is here to listen to this. And my husband is here to listen to this. No, it's not for her, it's not for him. It's for you. And the only one who's going to get something from the Lord is the one who says, Lord, it's not my brother, it's not my sister, it's me who's standing in need this morning.

Such a man will never go away empty. The Bible says, he sends the rich away empty. He always does. The rich are those who feel, well I'm okay. I don't need. There's nothing wrong with me. But the hungry, he is filled with good things.

He always does that. The hungry is the one who says, Lord, I'm needy. I'm hungry. So I hope you'll come with such a heart this morning as we look at the scripture. It says here first of all that the wine ran out.

Honest Acknowledgment of Need

That love and joy that was there has disappeared. And Mary turned to Jesus. And that's the right person to turn to when there is a need. And that's what we see. She came and said, they have no wine. You know, there's something we learned there in verse 3.

That the first step to deliverance from any problem is to honestly acknowledge our need. To say, Lord, the wine has run dry in my life. I'm not what I was. I was devoted to the Lord years ago when I was converted.

But it's gone. I've slipped up. I've been drawn away to other things in the world. I don't love you as I did at first. Lord, the wine is gone. You could be serving the Lord and the anointing is gone from your life.

You know how you can have it back? Acknowledge. God loves honest people. He doesn't ask us for purity first. Because that takes time. It can take years. He doesn't ask us for perfection. He doesn't ask us to even love others or forgive others.

That can be a battle. He asks us for the easiest thing that anyone in the world can ever do. And you know what that is? Honestly acknowledge your need. How long does that take? You could be a harlot and say, Lord, I'm a harlot.

That's honesty. And those were the people whom Jesus could help the most when he was on earth. And he's the same yesterday, today and forever. He helps those who are always honest in acknowledging their need.

I've been born again now for over 44 years. It's one of the principles I've followed right through life. And it's really been a blessing for me, I can say. That I've tried my best to be absolutely honest before the Lord.

Concerning my own awareness of my spiritual condition. Every time. When I felt dry, I said to the Lord, I feel dry. If I read the Bible and I find it boring, I say, Lord, I find this boring. He won't be offended.

Do you know that God loves honest people? I wish you'd realize that. Lord, I can't trust you now. That's honesty. But I want to. Lord, help my unbelief. It's so easy to be honest. I wish we would realize this.

I wish you'd realize this morning that the only thing that God wants you to do, first of all, is be honest. They have no wine. Lord, I have no wine. Just run out. You know, that's the first thing. We're reading verse 4.

Receiving Christ's Rebuke Without Offense

And Jesus said to her. This is amazing. When you read this verse. Turn around to his mother and say, woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come. I sometimes think that Jesus looked down through 2 ,000 years.

And saw how people would respect his mother more than him. Some people anyway. And he tried to correct that in the very first miracle he ever did. By saying that his mother couldn't influence him. I hope you realize that.

Woman, what have I got to do with you? My hour has not yet come. I'll do things when I'm led by my father, not by you. Now, she had never heard those words for 30 years. He'd been such an obedient son in Nazareth.

But now he'd been baptized and he'd moved out into his ministry. And she couldn't influence him anymore. There was another time when she tried to come through the crowd to see him. I'm the mother of this great preacher.

And he said, who's my mother? These people who hear the word of God and do it. That relationship was over. It was over. More than 1900 years ago. We shouldn't forget that. So that's something we can see there.

Then we go on to verse 5. His mother. You know, having said that about Mary, I want to also say this. She was a very saintly woman. Otherwise, God would never have chosen her to be the mother of Jesus Christ.

And you see one part of her saintliness here. That when Jesus rebuked her like that, she doesn't get offended. She just goes to the servants and says to them, verse 5. Whatever he says to you, do it. There's something wonderful.

When the Lord can rebuke us. And we're not offended. I want to ask you, my brothers and sisters. Can the Lord rebuke you? Can you take it? What if he rebukes you through one of his servants? Not directly.

What if he sends his message through a mailman? And doesn't come directly. Through a preacher. Through someone who comes to you personally and corrects you. Can you take it? That's the mark of a godly man.

She was not offended. She went to the servants and said, whatever he says to you, do it. And then we see that miracle of Jesus turning the water into wine. Now I want to say this. You know, the Bible says in the earlier chapter.

John chapter 1, verse 17. The law came through Moses. But grace came through Jesus Christ. It's very important for us to see that God established two covenants with men. And the first was not what he wanted to be permanent.

Grace is permanent. Law was only for 1500 years. And the reason God gave the law was to teach people, listen, this won't work. I want you fellas to learn a lesson. The law was man struggling to try and please God.

And he proved to them for 1500 years it doesn't work. And then he gave them the covenant of grace. You know, when we take part in the communion. Jesus said, this is my blood of the new covenant. The new covenant is a word that Jesus used.

It's never found in the Old Testament. It's a new agreement that God's made with man. Do you know that God's made a new agreement with man? We need to understand that we're not supposed to live under the old agreement.

The New Covenant as Partnership With Jesus

The new agreement is where God helps us to keep his commandments. Where you don't have to do it on your own. It's a partnership. And you'll see that in this miracle. It's a partnership between God and man.

It's not man struggling, struggling, struggling to try to live up to God's commandments. That's the law. And anyone who preaches that is preaching the law. And if you try to live like that, you're living under the law.

If you hear a word in the church. Or when you read the scriptures. And then you go home and you're very sincere. And you try to keep it. Without God's help, you're under law. You've understood grace when you come to the Lord and say, Lord, I can't keep it.

Even if I grit my teeth and determine I won't be able to keep it. I want your help. I want to keep it. But I want your help. That's grace. And that's why you see this difference. Do you remember the first miracle that Moses did?

When he went before Pharaoh. He turned the water into blood. And Jesus turned the water into wine. Which would you rather drink? That's the difference between law and grace. Blood is a picture of death.

Moses took water and produced death through it. That's what the law does. The law kills. Wine is a picture of life. Jesus took the same water and turned it into wine. And there's a world of difference between the two.

I hope you see that and understand it. That there's a tremendous difference between law and grace. And so we see here, the Lord told the servants here. He said there were six stone water pots, it says here.

Each containing about 20 or 30 gallons. And Jesus said to the servants, Fill the water pots with water. Now that's the first thing we need to see. Jesus used water. And we see a partnership here. He told these servants, Fill the water pots with water.

And then he did the miracle. Now you see this principle of partnership. The new covenant is a partnership with Jesus. It's not Jesus doing everything all by himself. It's not we doing everything all by ourselves.

Now the Lord could have done that. He who created the world from nothing. Could have easily created wine from nothing. He could have filled those empty water pots saying, Let there be wine. And all those six water pots would have been filled with wine.

Don't you believe that? Sure. Then why did he ask these servants to fill these six water pots. I don't know how many servants there were. Three or four perhaps, if it was a rich home. Six water pots. A hundred and fifty at least.

It says a hundred and twenty to a hundred and eighty gallons. Okay, let's say about a hundred and fifty gallons of water. And I want to tell you something. Sometimes we don't understand this when we read the scriptures.

Because we live in a very developed society. You know they had no running water in those homes those days. When I go to the villages in India, I see exactly what Palestine was like two thousand years ago.

There's no running water. No tap. And if you're poor, you don't even have a well. Very few people have a well in their own home. You got to be very rich in a village to have a well in your own home. It's a common well where everybody from the village goes.

You read that in Samaria, how the woman came to the well to draw water. That's how it was in those days. And here late in the evening, if you had to fill the water pots with water, you know what they had to do?

They had to go all the way to the village well, take their buckets, come back and fill it up, go back again, come back again, fill it up, go back again, come back again, fill it up. It's pretty hard work.

And that's what Jesus told them to do. They didn't have to do all that. He could have created it from nothing. But there wouldn't have been a partnership then. And there's a principle here. Jesus said, take my yoke upon you.

He wants to share. He wants us to do our part, and he'll do his. You know, our part is easy, to fill it up with water. His part is the difficult one, to turn the water into wine. Our part is not even 1%.

But he wants us to have the joy of being what the Bible calls co-workers with him. And the Lord will do miracles for us. He doesn't do miracles for lazy people who lie down on their, sit down on their chairs and say, Lord do a miracle and fill the water pots with wine.

He doesn't do that, you know. He does it for those who are hard working. And it says here, verse 7, They filled them up to the brim. Boy! They were wholehearted. They didn't sort of fill it 75 and say, OK Lord, it's more than enough now.

They filled them up to the brim. That's the type of person for whom God does miracles. The man who is wholehearted.

About everything he does.

If he prays, he prays with all his heart. Not like some sleepy old person who is not really sure whether God will answer his prayer or not. When he studies the Bible, he studies the Bible with all his heart.

When he repents, he repents up to the brim with all his heart. When he makes restitution, when he goes and asks forgiveness from somebody whom he has harmed, he goes with deep sorrow. With all his heart he asks forgiveness.

When he returns money that he has taken wrongfully, he does it wholeheartedly. When he serves the Lord, he serves wholeheartedly. When he gives, he gives wholeheartedly. No wonder the Lord is not able to do many miracles for many of his children.

He only asks us to do the easy part. Isn't that the easy part? I know you got to go to the village well and bring water and fill it up. It's hard work, sure. Make so many trips to be wholehearted to fill it right up to the brim.

Faith and Obedience in Christian Service

But then he does the difficult part and makes it into wine. He wants us to be his co-workers. It's like if I'm carrying a table from one room to the other in my house and I have a little two-year-old son who says, Daddy, can I help you with that?

I say, sure. And he holds one corner of the table and we take it along to the other room and he goes and tells Mommy, Daddy and I shifted the table to the other room. What did he do? He just held one corner of it.

That's what the Lord asks us to do. Just a little bit. He'll do a miracle. But he wants us to be partners. And then he said, draw it out. Verse 8. And take it to the head waiter. And they took it to him.

They had to act in faith. There are two things you find always combined together in the New Testament. Faith and obedience. And you see both of them in this miracle. They were told to obey first. And they had to take that and go out in faith and believe that it would be one.

Now, we can read that and skip through that as though it wasn't a great thing. I think it was a great thing. Because these folks know what they put into that water pot. It was a village well's water. And Jesus said, take it out and give it.

I mean, they would appear like fools taking this water. They did it. When the Lord says, tells us to do something, you act on that and you'll find a miracle takes place as you do it. When the Lord told the lepers to go and show themselves to the priest, it says, as they went, they were cleansed.

And when they drew this water and gave it out, it was wine. And very often we don't experience a miracle because the Lord told us to do something and we're hesitating and wondering whether it will really be like that.

Is the Lord telling you to do something today? Have you found something in scripture? I'm not talking about thoughts that come into your mind. We've got to be sure about, we've got to be careful with thoughts that come to our mind, whether they are from God or not.

Let's start with scripture. Let's start with the things that are clearly written in scripture. And the more you get familiar with scripture and start doing the things in scripture, then we can trust the thoughts in our mind.

I want to say this as a word of warning. Because there are so many people I've met in the world, particularly young people who first come to the Lord, they get some bright idea in their minds, the Lord told me to do this.

And they go around saying, thus said the Lord, thus said the Lord. Well, I'm a bit careful about such people. I'm careful about these people who go around prophesying, saying, thus said the Lord. I'll tell you my own experience.

When I was younger, I thought I knew the Lord's mind pretty clearly. As I've grown older, and come to know the Lord better, I'm not so sure. But I found that the Lord directs me more clearly now than He did when I was younger.

So that sense of certainty is sometimes just your arrogance. So be careful about every thought that comes to your mind. When I say this, as the Lord told you to do something, let's start with scripture.

I'm concerned about people who haven't studied the scriptures, who don't know the scriptures well, and who imagine that the Lord is telling them to do this, that and the other. Let's start with what God has revealed in His Word.

And God's not going to reveal His will to lazy people who haven't studied His Word. God's will is revealed in the scriptures. If God told you to do something which you've found in scripture, and you're hesitant, well, maybe today is the day you should obey.

Serving Quietly for God's Glory

I want you to notice here something, that Jesus, you know, He didn't do, there's an example here for our service as well. He never blew a trumpet and said, Hey fellas, I'm going to do a miracle here, come and watch.

No. The Lord does His miracles so quietly, away from the vision of others, away in a corner in the kitchen, where the water pots are, with the servants. And it says here, nobody knew. It's really amazing.

It says here that the head waiter didn't know where this wine came from. It's wonderful to be able to serve the Lord in such a way, like Jesus did, right in the very first miracle He did. Nobody but the minimum number of people knew who did it.

The Lord taught this as a principle. He said, when you pray, shut your door. Maybe people in your home will know. But other than that, there's no need for anyone to know how much you pray, how much you fast, how much you give.

You know, there's a great characteristic of God mentioned in the Old Testament. We know that God is almighty, we know that God is all-wise, all-powerful, full of love, full of wisdom, so many things.

But there's a characteristic of God mentioned in, if you want to remember the references, Isaiah 45, verse 15, which says that God is a God who hides Himself. Do you know that our God is a God who hides Himself?

And to me, one of the greatest proofs of that is that there are so many atheists in the world. So many people who don't believe there's a God. You see, if God, every time the sun rose in the morning, if God blew a loud trumpet and said, hey, I'm the one who created all this, there wouldn't be any atheists left.

But He doesn't do it like that. He blesses the atheists and the believers and the sun rises every morning and the rain falls on the fields of the atheist farmer and the rain falls on the fields of the believing farmer.

He's a good God, even if they don't believe in Him. He's a God who hides Himself. He's hidden Himself in creation. He's hidden Himself in His Word. A lot of people take this book and say, well, that's just an ordinary book.

It isn't. God is here. In the book. And the one who's... You know, this is one way in which we can know whether we are really partaking of God's nature, that we don't want to show ourselves to other people so much as we did before.

The nature of Adam is to do something and let everybody know that I did it. I'm the one. The nature of Jesus, the nature of God, is to do something and not let anybody know that I did that. Let them think somebody else did it.

That's okay. Let God get the glory. That's how Jesus did all His work. Jesus is such an example. Right from the very first miracle He did, He did it there quietly in the backyard where nobody could see it.

With a great function going on up in the front, the wedding feast. And here He is with the servants. He's always with the servants, you know. Jesus is always with those lowly people. The people who are considered lowest in society.

There He was with them, doing this fantastic miracle and not letting anyone know that He's the one who did it. I say, Lord, I want to be more like that. To do something and not let anyone know that you're the one who did it.

That shows you're really partaking of God's nature, really understood what Jesus is like. And He was like that in all the miracles. He'd heal a man. I see something so different from the way Jesus did it and the way it's being done today in a lot of healing meetings.

Today a person's healed, they come up here and the fellow's not even healed properly and they make him give his testimony, make him walk when he can hardly walk. And I'm not trying to make fun, but I'm saying I'm very grieved by what I see in a lot of things, in television, in these healing meetings.

Well, I praise the Lord for those who are healed, but I say, a lot of things are not what you see. Things are not what they appear to be. And they're certainly so different from the Spirit of Christ who would heal a person.

He was not interested in getting that fellow to give up a testimony publicly so that everybody would know that Jesus is the great healer. No. He was so happy, this poor suffering man's healed. And He sent him home and said, don't tell anyone.

Just enjoy the blessing with God. You know, that's the nature of Jesus Christ. And I see that He always did that. It's not just that He did that once or twice. Every single time, right from the very first miracle, He'd do it and not let anyone know that He did it.

Now I encourage you, my brothers and sisters, to partake of that nature more and more. That's the nature of God. Do something at home and not let people know that you did it. Do something in the church and for the church and not let people know that you did it.

You won't miss your reward when Christ comes again. Can you wait for that time? Or do you want your reward now from men who are like dust? It's better to wait for a reward from the Lord. Jesus took that which is tasteless, colorless, and made it tasty and wonderful.

Giving Everything to Christ

That's what He wants to do with our lives. Take something ordinary. You know what we have to give to the Lord? When the Lord says, give me what you have. Do you believe that He can take water, turn it into wine?

He can take that which is ordinary in your life and turn it into something wonderful. If you really believe that, if you really believed it, we'd give Him everything. We'd give Him all of our life. You know, I believe that one of the great deceptions of Satan is to go around telling believers that God is a spoiled sport.

He'll take your water and make it into muck or rubbish or something like that. It's not true. Whatever you give to Him, He'll turn it into something a million times better than what it was. So, if you've got a whole tank full of water and you give Him a cup, or let's say 10%, you're sort of a generous person, you give 10%.

How much wine are you going to get? Only that much. Because that's all you gave to Him. The rest of that tank of water you kept to yourself. But think of another person who says, Lord, everything is yours.

The whole tank of water is yours. How much wine is he going to get? Do you know why you find some Christians are more radiant than others? There's a reason. Why is it some Christians have got more wine, more joy than others?

Why is it you find some Christians are always rejoicing, never moody, gloomy, depressed? There's a reason. They gave everything to the Lord. He took their water and turned it into wine. You've got to give everything.

And when you give everything, when you fill your water pot to the brim, and give it all to the Lord, He turns it all into wine. It's a very beautiful word. It says here that when they took it to the head waiter, the waiter, verse 9, tasted the water which had become wine and didn't know where it came from.

But the servants who drew the water knew. And the head waiter called the bridegroom and said, Every man serves the good wine first. When men have drunk freely, then that which is pure. But you kept the good wine until now.

God's Power for Those Called to Minister

Now, it's a wonderful thing. I found in my own ministry. I say, Lord, many times I have to stand before people and speak, and I want to say this to those of you who are called to serve others. Those of you who are called to preach.

Those of you who are called to minister in challenging situations. If you can come to the Lord and say, Lord, I really don't have anything to give these folks. What I have is water. But I'll give it all to you.

You know, He turns that water into wine. And even though what you had was water, what the people got was wine. That's really amazing. And the people say, Boy, that's really wonderful. And they don't know that the Lord did a miracle in taking that which is ordinary and turning it into wine.

There's never a service that the Lord calls you to for which He will not give you grace and anointing. And if you can take that which God has given you, your life, your time, your ambitions, your money, and say, Lord, I want all of this for your kingdom.

You'll find an anointing in your life that you never experienced before. Why do you find some Christians are more anointed? Why do you find some preachers are more anointed than others? There's a little secret if you go back into their life.

They've given everything to the Lord. Some haven't. Some have given 5%, 2%, 10%. And no wonder they're not as anointed. There's a tremendous message here. It says here in verse 11, this beginning of His signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested His glory.

The purpose of every miracle is to bless others. God gives us gifts not for ourselves. If you look at the list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, you'll find they're all for other people.

When God, when you ask God to anoint you with the Holy Spirit, and that's a picture here of wine. Wine's a picture of the Holy Spirit's anointing and power. It's to bless other people. God took those ordinary servants.

If you live in India, you know that servants in a home are the lowest people in that home. You have the father and the mother and the children and relatives and all that. Then you have the servants. They're way down at the bottom.

And Jesus took them. He always does that. He takes the weak and those who are despised by others and uses them to do his first miracle. It's wonderful. He had his disciples. It says there in verse 2 that he had his disciples.

Why didn't he use them? He used these servants. He uses the lowest of the low. I say that to anyone here who feels, well, I'm not so gifted. I'm not so capable. I'm not so smart. Well, I want to tell you that the Lord can use you.

You may be poor. You may be weak. You may be despised. You may be uneducated. You may be a servant. In those days, servants were slaves. He took them and he used them to bless other people. The purpose is to bless others.

God's not placed us on earth just to live for ourselves. It's not just that our waters turn to wine to bring joy into our life. God's purpose... I want to say to everyone of you sitting here. God wants to use your life to be a blessing to many, many other people.

And it all depends on whether you like we read here, fill the water pots up to the brim. Whether you give yourself completely to the Lord. He can take your weak life. He can take that which is like water and turn it into wine.

And bless many, many people. Jesus spoke about rivers of living water flowing out. Another word picture. But here it is wine that satisfies the needs of so many. Imagine a hundred and fifty gallons of wine.

Have you ever seen so much wine? This wasn't a huge wedding feast. There were just a few people there. I don't know how many. Even if there were a hundred people there. A hundred and fifty gallons? One and a half gallons of wine per person?

True Christianity as Joyful Life in Christ

Why did the Lord do this as his first miracle? Have you ever thought of that? I mean I've often thought if I were God in heaven planning the life of Jesus on earth, I would start with a more spiritual miracle like raising Lazarus from the dead or something like that.

But this, making wine to fellows who have already drunk wine. I think there were a number of reasons. Jesus came to demolish this religion which consisted of not eating this and not drinking that and not dressing like this and all this external type of religion which the Jews had, you know, and which a lot of Christians have today.

He wanted to get rid of that. And he wanted to show us that true Christianity is an exciting thing. It's like what the worldly person thinks of drinking wine. The equivalent of that, spiritually, is what true Christianity is.

It's something enjoyable. It's not something depressing and heavy. You go and ask any worldly person whether he enjoys drinking wine. Well that's how it should be. True Christianity is meant to be like that.

God's not a spoiled sport. He hasn't come to mess up our life. He's come to make our life much better than it ever was. He's come to turn our water into wine, to 150 gallons of it. And I don't think that anybody could have drunk it all up that night.

I think the Lord gave, you know how wine lasts for a long, long time. And the Lord must have given this newly married couple a gift for many, many months. Keep some of this and always remember this miracle that I did on your wedding day.

That's how God wants us to be, you know. To be a blessing to other people. To be such a blessing to other people that months and months later they'll remember. Do you know that God can take a weak person like you and do that?