Jesus The Joy Giver - [John 2:1ff]

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Well, dear Bethlehem Bible Church, it is good to be back in the pulpit. There were days that I thought maybe this would never happen, but in God's providence,
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His good kindness, He has allowed that. I haven't preached since August of this year, and in the last probably 28 years, it's the longest time frame that I haven't preached, and so I thought, what do
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I preach? Which topic? What passage? So, I thought
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I would preach on Vax or No Vax today, and I want to say over my dead body, but that was just a few weeks ago.
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That was almost true. As you know, we stand as elders and pastors under the
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Word of God, and God has said very particularly, Him we proclaim. You can go a lot of places to hear a lot of things, but you can only go one place to hear about a risen
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Savior. So, I think my voice is going to be okay. It takes me a little while to warm up.
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I'd like you to turn your Bibles today to John chapter 2, John 2, and we're going to talk a little bit about joy, and what's the difference between joy and happiness.
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Do you have joy? Is it elusive? Can you have joy in the midst of all these problems and trials?
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And what about the Lord Jesus, joy incarnate? In August, I thought
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I'd have a little mini -series, preach one message from Matthew, one message from Luke, one message from Mark, and one from John.
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I finished the first three, and now, hopefully, we're going to finish this one. I remember there was a pastor, and he prepared a sermon, and he was near death and could not preach that sermon, and there's something about preparing a message and then wanting to get it out.
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And in this particular case, his son preached that sermon. So I'm glad I've had this message in John 2 ready to preach for three months now, and I am glad I can get it out of my system to then sleep well.
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I think there's a famine in the land for sermons about the Lord Jesus. We say we're Christians, we talk about Jesus, but we don't hear him proclaim from the pulpit.
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We hear morals, we hear therapy, we hear how to be better, but we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the
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Lord are being transformed in the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the
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Lord who is the Spirit. One of the things that happens when you preach
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Christ is you then begin to live a holy life, you the congregation and me the pastor.
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Why do we live a holy life? What's the power for holy living? It's one thing to say you're saved by grace.
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It's another thing to say now how do I live, and the answer is found by keeping our eyes on Jesus.
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We're saved by faith and sanctified by faith. Well I love to preach passages that people think they know because the scriptures are so rich when you come to a passage that you think you know, and then it explodes with nuance and intricacies.
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That's what's going to happen today in John chapter 2 verses 1 through 11.
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Pastor Steve, when did you preach this last? Seven years ago. Okay. How many people have started attending in the last 12 weeks?
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Quite a few. I'm kind of nervous because you came here in the last 12 weeks hearing preaching from Pastor Steve and you're thinking that was solid exposition,
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Christ -centered. Now who's this guy? Now you all leave next week.
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It is what it is. If I step back and I think about John to have a little context first, it's the gospel of Jesus Christ according to John, John the
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Apostle, and his theme is Jesus. Everything about this book resonates the fact that Jesus is creator, sustainer, savior, and that you should believe in him.
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That's the purpose, remember in John chapter 20, that you might believe. You say, well I already believe.
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Then the answer for you today, what shall I do, is keep believing. We have all kinds of trials and issues and so the
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Christians need to keep believing and everything revolves around Jesus Christ in this book.
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You think about Jesus, he's God in this book. He's the son of God. He feeds the 5 ,000. He walks on water.
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He creates the world. He casts out demons. He does all these things that only
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God could do because Jesus, this book presents, is the bread of life. He's the light of the world.
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He's the gate to the sheep. He's the good shepherd. He's the resurrection and the life. He's the way, the truth, and the life and he is the true vine.
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Frankly, Jesus is, I am. I am that I am, God Almighty, second person of the
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Trinity, Yahweh himself. This book shows Jesus' power. He heals the nobleman's son.
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He heals a crippled man. He feeds the 5 ,000. He heals the man born blind. He raises
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Lazarus from the dead. He also, in our passage today, turns water into wine.
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Here's what we're going to do today. We're going to look at verses 1 through 11. I won't have an outline for the passage.
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It flows. It's a narrative. It's a story. Then at the end, we'll have some questions designed so you can grasp really what this passage means.
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I would say that probably 80 % of evangelicals don't even know why this passage is here.
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If you do know, great. If you don't, great, because we're going to learn together. I used to tell people with my
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MyFitnessPal app, my calorie app on my phone, that preaching takes about 400 calories an hour.
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That's kind of what I end up doing. Okay, I've got an extra 400 calories, but today it's probably going to be about 100.
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Pastor Steve said, Mike, just pace yourself. Be careful. I feel like I want to get in a three -point stance, right?
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Here we go. John 2. We'll go through the first 11 verses, and then we'll ask some questions at the end.
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This is Jesus' first sign, and remember, every sign is pointing you to something.
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You see the sign, Boston, 50 miles. The sign isn't the real issue. It's pointing to something bigger, and the bigger point is
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Jesus is the Son of God, and you must believe in Him and keep believing. You won't see a lot of words from Jesus in this passage, but you'll see a lot of glory.
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Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ as His public ministry begins. Some hate this passage.
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They think it's too profane. Jesus takes some water and turns it into wine.
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Some hate this passage because it's kind of, you know, the Greek god of wine and drunkenness,
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Dionysus. It's too close to that. Some hate this because, you know what, it's just some kind of parable.
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This is an easy sign to do. You just got some water, top off the wine. It's not a big deal, but you're going to love this passage, and I think many of you already do.
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Verse 1, on the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
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Jesus has just encountered Nathanael in chapter 1. Two days later, this happens, and you're going to get a glimpse of Jesus and His messianic identity.
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His mother, it says, was there. We don't know if she had relatives.
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The city's close to where Mary would live. We don't know if Mary knew the people well.
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She knew them well enough to get invited to the wedding, and there was also some other people who were invited.
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Verse 2, Jesus also was invited to the wedding with His disciples.
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Now, you're going to see eyewitness account here from John. You're going to see that this miracle is going to take place, if you count your days rightly, on the
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Sabbath. And you're going to see Jesus out in public. Lots of times we think, you know what?
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Real holy people, they live in monasteries. Real holy people, they live in some kind of convent.
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Real holy people, they're hermits, they're ascetic, they live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
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They're just kind of isolated, but Jesus right here in public, no isolation.
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The first miracle takes place for anyone to see. Jesus affirming weddings.
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Jesus, of course, came up with the idea of marriage, and now He shows up. Now, some have said, well, here's the problem.
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Jesus shows up to the wedding with His disciples. No wonder all the wine's gone. They were uninvited guests, and they were just guzzling down the wine.
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Is that true? Once you start going stupid when it comes to translation, it just seems to never stop.
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That's not true. Jesus is often accused of wine -bibbing by the
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Pharisees. John the Baptist was accused of being so ascetic. What's happening here?
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Well, before I answer that question, weddings in those days were a big deal. Like today, but a bigger deal.
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There were processions with the groom, riding a donkey or a horse to the bride's house.
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They'd last not for one day, two days, but seven days. And by the way, if you're going to have a feast for seven days, can you imagine that kind of planning?
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You need a really good wedding planner, because you might run out of food, and you might run out of wine.
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Long feasts. And verse 3, it happened. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine.
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Jesus shows up, and he's with Andrew, Simon, Peter, Philip, Nathanael, John, maybe more men, and now there's wine, it's gone, and she says there's no wine.
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Just like in Matthew 15, 32, with the feeding of the 4 ,000, they have nothing to eat.
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Jesus, they have no wine. Now, you know shame cultures.
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In this culture, it would be shameful to run out of wine. Sometimes you could be sued if you ran out of wine at a wedding.
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Now, I have to tell you as well, the Bible always condemns drunkenness. Drunkenness is a sin, correct?
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But the issue isn't alcohol. Sex is good. It can be used sinfully.
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Food is good. It can be used sinfully. Wine isn't bad. You will see in a moment it's good.
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Jesus made some, but it can be used sinfully. I'm not promoting drinking alcohol, and I'm not preventing you either.
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This is an issue of, this is real wine. This is not grape juice. I read a book this week, a kid's book, and Jesus turned the water into grape juice.
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I thought, wow. Before Pastor Welch could figure out pasteurization,
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Welch, did you know that? Welch was a Methodist pastor who was a teetotaler. He did not want his people having communion wine, so he figured out how to make
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Welch's grape juice. Cheers. This is real wine.
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It might not be MD -2020, a really high alcohol content, but it had alcohol in it.
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And Jesus is expected to do something. Mary expects that. I mean, festivities are festivities after all.
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Maybe she was in charge of something. Maybe she was a relative, and she said, you know what, I'm going to help, come alongside, and now she's going to say to Jesus, you're going to have to do something.
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She knew something about Jesus as Messiah, that Jesus was
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Messiah. I mean, angels had spoken about Jesus to her before Jesus' birth.
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She conceived him while she was a virgin. She doesn't know everything, but she knows some things. And Jesus can help.
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Verse 4, And Jesus said to her, Woman, what does this have to do with me?
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My hour has not yet come. Now here's the sad news. When people go to this passage, this is what they focus on.
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The whole thing revolves around was Jesus being sassy to his mother? Was Jesus being rude or disrespectful or untoward toward his mother?
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How do we explain these verses? And if you say to yourself, this is the issue, you're going to miss the big picture.
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Obviously, he didn't sin, right? Jesus, the sinless Savior, never sinned, so whatever this is, we know it's not sinful.
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Literally, Jesus said, what to me and to you? It's hard to translate because we can't get the equivalent.
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It's a Semitic kind of phrase, so it doesn't translate well into English. We know that Jesus honored his parents.
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The fifth commandment, honor your father and mother. He's not lacking respect.
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He's not being sinful. There's no issue with him having a mother four times in this passage.
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The mother of Jesus, the mother of Jesus, the mother of Jesus. He's not impolite.
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He's not denying his mother affection. He used this when he was on the cross, when his mother was dying, and he called to this very thing.
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So what is going on if he's not being rude, disrespectful, or sinful? What was Jesus doing?
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It was abrupt. It was a change, but now as Jesus moves into public ministry, the relationship that he had with his mother is completely different.
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He has set in his mind and affections and attitude toward the cross, and now the relationship between Jesus and Mary, son and mother, is completely different.
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It's Jesus' agenda, not Mary's. It's Jesus' plan, not
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Mary's. He is coming to take on the sin of the world, the promised Messiah, and Mary didn't have an inside track.
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Peter didn't have an inside track. James didn't have an inside track. No authority does
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Mary have to intervene in Christ, Messianic. It's kind of interesting,
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Genesis 41. Pharaoh's words to his people regarding do whatever
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Joseph tells them to do when the land of Egypt was famished. The people cried to Pharaoh for bread.
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Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.
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There's a new relationship between Mary and Jesus. The public ministry has started. She has no authority over her son.
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She's actually going to lose her son. He'll do what he wants, when he wants, as often as he wants that.
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There's a distance between his mother now, because it needs to be viewed in light of the cross.
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My hour. What does the passage say? My hour has not yet come. If you've read John's Gospel at all, you'll think, oh, that hour is the arrest of Jesus, the crucifixion of Jesus.
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The time when his saving work is done. My time hasn't come yet. I'm not going to put on this huge display until I'd like to do that.
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Verse 5. His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. Just like Pharaoh said to Joseph.
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Isn't that interesting? Whatever he says. The Canaanite woman was rebuked when she went to Jesus, but she persevered.
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Now Mary, I think she's rebuked to some degree, but she's trusting, she's believing.
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The object of her faith is Jesus. I wonder what
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Jesus will do. Mary knows Jesus will do something. Do you? Verse 6.
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Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons.
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They had these kind of big goblets and they would hold liquid. And if you didn't want to have anything that would contaminate things, you'd say, well,
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I won't even go for wood, I'll go for these stone water jars. See that? The large stone water jars for the
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Jewish rites of purification. This isn't Old Testament purification laws. This is added things.
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These are extra things. You've got to wash your hands not for cleanliness or hygiene or sing
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Happy Birthday for 20 seconds while you're washing your hands because you don't want a virus. This has to do with legalistic
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Jewish added extra rites. There were six of these. Do you know how many gallons that is?
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120 to 180 gallons of wine. I mean, we've got a whole week to go.
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That's a lot of bottles. Somebody said that's like 600 bottles of wine. Jesus said to the servants, verse 7, 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.
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Same language, draw water out of a well. Draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. So they took it.
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So you've got big huge pots full of nothing but water. Jesus says, fill them up to the brim.
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Now take some out and take it to the master of the feast. Take it to the master of the banquet. Take it to the chief steward, head waiter, something like that.
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So they took it. This is going to be interesting. Now, verse 9.
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When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine. That's a sign.
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That's a miracle. And did not know where it came from though the servants who had drawn the water knew the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, because remember the bridegroom is responsible for providing all this.
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Everyone serves the good grape juice first. Oh, excuse me. Wait a second. Everyone serves the good wine first and when people have drunk freely then the poor wine.
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But you've kept the good wine until now. Isn't that amazing?
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You serve the good wine first because after you drink some wine your taste buds are a little numbed and then you can serve the poor wine.
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You never do it the other way around. I always think of those bracelets that people used to wear.
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What would Jesus do? Does He bring gifts to the wedding? No, He creates a gift at the wedding.
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John 1 .16 For from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
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Not just spiritually, but here even temporally. This is a lot of wine. Verse 11.
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This the first of His signs Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested His glory and His disciples believed in Him.
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Big picture signs point to something. Here's a sign that Jesus could do something that nobody else can do.
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Turns water into wine. What's the point? The point is to believe. To recognize
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Jesus as deity. To recognize that Jesus is the ultimate temple. That He's the ultimate
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Israel. That He's the ultimate Messiah. Signs confirm. Signs legitimize.
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If you look at verse 14 of the previous chapter, chapter 1. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen
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His glory. Glory of the only begotten from the Father full of grace and truth.
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And now we're talking about glory here as well. Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested
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His glory and His disciples believed in Him.
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This links the book's summary in chapter 20. Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.
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Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book but they are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the
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Christ the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in His name.
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Do you believe? Do you see? Do you see the glory? Who can do this?
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You could call John the Gospel of John the Sola Fide Gospel faith alone.
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Everything is driving to faith. Faith alone. Because to be a
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Christian you have to trust in the work of another. Can you imagine you'll die one day and stand before God?
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And what do you have to offer Him? I thought about this often in the hospital. What if Sola Fide is wrong?
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I'm sunk. Because if I have to offer to God what I've done, what I've said how
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I've lived it's tainted with sin. It's tainted with sin by my nature, by my attitudes.
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I mean have I done one thing with perfect motives for the love of God and the love of neighbor in my life?
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The answer is no. Whatever I offer to God is sinful. It's tainted. It's like you go to a tree and you get a bunch of pitch and stuff on your fingers and everything you touch is just all over.
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So why is Sola Fide so important? Because my trust is in the work of another.
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His perfect work. I don't have perfect works. God will accept only perfection so I have to be trusting in the work of another.
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That's why in this book it's believe, believe, believe, believe. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God.
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That's why the worst sinner can come. That's why those who have committed heinous sins can come as Ben was singing come poor
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Christian, come sinner, come. Truly, truly Jesus said, I say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
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He does not come into judgment but is passed from death to life. John 6 truly, truly
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I say to you whoever believes has eternal life. John 8 I told you that you would die in your sins for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.
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So that's the passage 1 to 11. Now let me ask you some questions so we can make sure we get this right.
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Question 1 so you can understand the glory of Jesus in John 2. What did people think would happen in the messianic age?
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If you know the answer to that question you start painting the picture. You know how you first trace a picture then you start adding colors.
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This is kind of the tracing, this is the outline. What did people think would happen in the messianic age?
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I mean if we just stoop to arguments about alcohol and the great juice and all this other stuff, we're going to not get it.
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We're talking about messianic age. What would happen? And the answer is the glory of God would show up.
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You want the Messiah here? How will you know He's here? Glory! The glory has not departed.
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Remember that name, Ichabod? The glory has departed. Well now the glory of God is here there must be a messianic age.
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That's when God would reveal His glory. Isaiah 60 Arise, shine forth for your light has come and the glory of the
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Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples, but the
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Lord will arise upon you and His glory will be seen upon you. Psalm 97
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The heavens proclaim His righteousness and all the peoples see His glory.
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Go back to verse 11 of chapter 2. This is the first of the signs Jesus hid at Cana of Galilee and manifested
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His glory. The Messiah is here. Everybody back then was hoping for the
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Messiah to come and His glory would follow. Later on there's glory in the transfiguration.
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There's glory in John chapter 17. There's glory at Calvary. He's taken up in glory. Question 2
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What's the context of these chapters of John? Second question so we can understand big picture.
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What's the context? Here's the context. Old is gone new is here.
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Old is gone new has come. Jesus changes everything.
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That's the context of these chapters. Old temple Jesus is here.
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Jacob's well Jacob's ladder Jesus is the ladder.
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What does that mean you say? Hang tight, these are building. Number 3, question 3
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What was the culture of Judaism when Jesus started His public ministry? What was the lay of the land during these times?
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You know what the lay of the land was? Legalistic oppression
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Legalistic oppression Listen to Mark 7 The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered together around Him when they had come from Jerusalem and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is unwashed for the
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Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands thus observing the traditions of the elders and when they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots and the
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Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat their bread with impure hands and Jesus said to them, rightly did
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Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites as it is written, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far, but in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men, neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men
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What was the culture of the day? I'll tell you what the culture of the day was, drudgery legalism the weight and yoke of not just mosaic law but of extra law you don't do it this way you don't do it the way of the tradition, you're condemned and by the way legalism is such a fantasy, because it soothes initially and damns later, it soothes because you go, you know what,
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I'm good with God because I did the right washing, I'm good with God because I just did what I was told to do,
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I was told to stand up and sit down, I was told to go on Easter and Christmas only, I've got it all figured out and I'll just do what
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I'm supposed to do and I'm good with God, and Jesus said but your heart can be far away everything was manipulation back then, just do these things, you're good with God, and by the way
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I notice they don't do them so I'm better, I condemn you for not doing them like you should and that makes me feel greater,
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I've kept the law, have you kept the law perfectly? entirely?
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exactly? perpetually? Jesus shows up to this kind of oppressive culture what do you think he's going to do?
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let his people just suffer under that? oh yeah, you're under the yoke of, not Mosaic law, but the
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Pharisees law you think he's just going to let them just go? what do you think Jesus is going to do? what do you think Jesus is going to address?
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before he talks to Nicodemus, before he talks to the woman at the well I know what he's going to do later in this chapter he's going to cleanse the temple from this burden of oppression maybe some of you have come from this kind of background where everything's just legalistic fundamentalistic law, law, law, law, law and not even
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God's law but somebody else's law I'm starting to get fired up,
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I gotta take a breath whew question four is there any significance to the water pots?
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six water pots? this is not hand sanitizer water pots this is for above and beyond extra things
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I was near a nasty gentile, what do I have to do? Arthur Pink said Judaism still existed as a religious system but it ministered no comfort to the heart it had degenerated into a cold mechanical routine utterly destitute of joy in God Israel had lost their hope they had the big jars that symbolized
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I think, Judaism and the tradition of the elders that was added onto and guess what?
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they're not full they're empty there's not seven of them to show completeness there's six of them think about six, six, six
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I'm not saying this is the mark of the beast I'm just saying the mark of the beast is it never measures up to seven, never measures up to seven never measures up to seven, six, six, six there's six of these the
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Jewish purification rituals that were put on top of these people are empty question five what do weddings often symbolize?
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what do weddings often symbolize? in this New Testament time answer the
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Messiah is here messianic banquets Isaiah 62 you shall have no more to be termed forsaken and your land shall no more be termed desolate and you shall be called, my delight is in her and your land married for the
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Lord delights in you and your land shall be married for as a young man marries a young woman so shall your sons marry you and as a bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your
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God rejoice over you what do marriages symbolize? we are in the messianic time
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Revelation 19, write this blessed are those who are invited to the what? marriage supper of the life okay, here's where we might lose some of you, hang on question six in the
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Bible, what does wine symbolize? in the Bible, what does wine symbolize?
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now alcohol can destroy lives Kim's family, my family maybe your family but wine in and of itself isn't bad what the human heart does with things that's another story
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I'd like you to turn your Bibles to Psalm 104 and I want you to see with your very own eyes that wine is a sign of joy and God's blessing in the
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Bible, it's a sign of joy and God's blessing Proverbs 3
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God fills barns with plenty and vats bursting with wine as a blessing of course we know
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Jesus blessed them when he made all that wine but it's not anything new it's what the Old Testament teaches
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Psalm 104, verse 14 let's start there, speaking of God himself you cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate that he may bring forth food from heaven and wine to gladden the heart of man oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man's heart do you know back in these days in Judaism they said there's no rejoicing save with wine you can't even rejoice unless you have wine in the
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Bible, of course drunkenness is sin, please hear me but wine is a symbol of joy Isaiah 55 come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost let's be very clear, we can't blame
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Jesus for making all these gallons and gallons of wine wine, in the
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Bible wine reflects joy and blessing, particularly in the messianic age that is amazing listen to this
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Amos 9, behold the days are coming when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes who sows the seed and the mountains will drip sweet wine that's in the messianic days
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I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine do you know
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New Covenant talk in Jeremiah 31, they shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the
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Lord, over the grain the wine and the oil and the young women rejoice and dance the young men and the old men shall be merry,
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I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, I will give them gladness for sorrow,
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I will feast the soul of priests with abundance and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the
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Lord okay, here's the drum roll can you please Pastor Mike well first of all, don't fall over but second of all, can you please just tell me what you're driving at Jesus shows up oppressive legalistic, dour sour, moody crabby people, you show me people under the law, you show me people under extra laws,
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I'll show you people you don't want to have Thanksgiving with because they can never keep it all the way legalistic people crabby people moody people
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God's people are under that system and Jesus shows up and guess what in my presence
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Jesus said there's fullness of joy, I'm here to give you joy, you're under the yoke of the law, under the weight of the law and what am
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I going to give you I'm going to give you joy, and here it is here's all the wine you can drink the best wine the
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Messiah's here regularly in the Old Testament the
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Messiah shows up and there's wine, there's joy Joel 3 and in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, the prophets knew,
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Messiah's here wine flows freely what kind of wine is it, well ask yourself the question, what kind of miracles does
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Jesus do in John they're always spectacular it's not just a man he heals that's blind he got blinded yesterday, but the man was born blind, that's what
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Jesus does it's not just Lazarus has been dead for a day Lazarus has been dead for how many days, well he stinketh
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I know it's that many days four days this temple, over 40 years it takes you to build it
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I'm going to raise this temple in three days everything in John's gospel extraordinary works of Jesus supernatural works of Jesus five little barley loaves and a couple fish okay that's enough when it comes to Jesus lame man, 38 years invalid healed the best the most spectacular that's what
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Jesus gives, Jesus shows up the messianic age is here
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I am the Messiah I replace legalistic law keeping the traditions of men with my obedience
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I am your righteousness and in my presence there's joy joy, joy, fullness of joy the messianic age starts now any kind of water turned into something in the
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Old Testament Exodus 7 the Lord said to Moses say to Aaron take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt over the waters of their rivers, their canals their ponds, their pools of waters so that they may become what?
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blood and there shall be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and in vessels of stone
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Moses changes the water into blood in those Egyptian stone jars hey when
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Jesus shows up dear Christian I'll give you some reasons for joy here's one, Jesus didn't turn the water into blood your blood that's not what he's come to do turn to Isaiah 25 for our last passage,
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Isaiah 25 when Jesus shows up on the scene what do you think he would do for his people he would liberate them he would save them ultimately from their sins but also from the enslaving traditions of men and legalistic fundamentalism
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Isaiah 25 if you know your Old Testament you know
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John chapter 2 the passage is not about is Jesus rude to his mother the passage is about the
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Messiah is here and Amos points to it, Isaiah points to it Joel points to it on this mountain
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Isaiah 25 6 the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food a feast of well aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined and he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples the veil that is spread over all nations he will swallow up death forever and the
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Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth for the
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Lord has spoken it will be said on that day behold this is our
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God we have waited for him that he might save us who does that remind you of who is that talking about behold this is our
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God that's John's gospel we've waited for him and Jesus performs the first sign that he might save us this is
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Yahweh, we have waited for him and when Jesus shows up and he liberates you from law keeping even from keeping mosaic law to be in God's presence what's your response are the patriots on today what's the response that's right there in the passage let us be what glad and rejoice in his salvation that is wonderful I hope
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Christian you have joy I hope you say to yourself you know what I don't have to relate to a holy holy holy
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God that we just sang about without a mediator I have a mediator I have a friend I don't have to go up to Sinai when language of Sinai is you can't touch the side of the mountain the beast will be shot or stoned they shall not live the trumpet blast no no that's not for us anymore we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken because of the
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Lord Jesus Christ when I think of all works righteousness systems
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I don't care what it is I think to myself they have no wine, they're empty they can't offer any joy or maybe a little spurt of happiness here or there but nothing long term because the only joy you're going to have is to say
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Jesus is the savior he's my savior Jesus pays for sins he's paid for my sins
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Jesus knew me in eternity past Jesus died for me at Calvary Jesus knew all my sins that I would ever commit and he laid down his life anyway and was punished for my sins
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Jesus is such a great savior he's raised from the dead there's nothing that can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus we used to have stony hearts water pot kind of hearts and now
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God has made us alive he's given us new life we're changed we have joy
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I don't have to keep the laws
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I actually don't even have to keep God's law in order for him to love me why do we think that way?
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if I obey God this week he's more pleased with me I get up every morning
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I try to read my Bible most days I do God loves me more because I have the quiet time is that true?
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God loves me more today because I actually went to church I'm glad you go to church and I'm glad you have a quiet time but God has already loved us in eternity past he's shown it at Calvary and now
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I don't do things to get him to love me he loves me therefore I want to honor him with my life and I know nothing
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I do for him is going to be perfect but since he accepts me he accepts you because of faith in Christ Jesus alone he accepts your works you probably have some of these up on your refrigerator
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I have some up in my study my office and they're pictures that people draw and usually they're really bad pictures drawn by six year olds or four year olds by the way
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I love your pictures because you always make this picture of this pulpit mic down like this
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I got one this when I was in the hospital they were supposed to draw a picture of me and to describe me so my descriptions were it explains the
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Bible not grumpy scolding preachers why are preachers scolding people?
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preaching the law for conviction yes but every time I think about sin that makes me go think about the Savior you don't have to scold congregations grumpy
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I mean not grumpy explains the Bible talks about Jesus and then one was like funny okay well that's not found in Titus but I'll take it maybe you are really one of these kind of people
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I struggle with this I just have to do all these things in order to get
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God to accept me even Jesus now even as a pastor it's backwards since Jesus has accepted me
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I'll do these things I receive the pictures that don't look very good that are drawn of me because I receive the six year old
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I've talked about it before I think of those easy bake ovens right and they my sister had one it's a little cake that's this big it's cooked by a light bulb and those don't taste so good but I waited an hour for that stupid thing to cool down old people know what
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I'm talking about but if your daughter gives you that you accept it because you accept her friends
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Jesus accepts you because you are accepted in the beloved in vain did these people worship
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Jesus, these Pharisees these legalists he saved some of them and so when you come to John 2 don't argue about was
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Jesus rude don't argue about wine or grape juice I want you to see that when the
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Messiah shows up he brings good news Luther six years after writing the 95 thesis wrote a song it was called dear
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Christians now let us rejoice dear Christians now let us rejoice that of good cheer and with one voice and dance in joyous measure we sing in love and pleasure of what our
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God has shown and the sweet wonder he has done full dearly hath he wrought it forlorn and lost in death
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I lay a captive to the devil my sin lay heavy night and day for I was born in evil
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I fell but deeper for my strife there was no good in all my life for sin had all possessed me my good works they were quite worthless a mock was all my merit my will did hate
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God's judging light to all good dead and buried even to despair my anguish bore that not but death lay me before to hell
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I was sinking fast then God on his throne to see such torment rend me his tender mercy he thought on his good help he would send me he turned to me his father heart ah then was his no easy part for of his best it cost him to his son he said go down it is time to take compassion go down my heart's most precious crown be the poor man's salvation lift him out of sin scorn and scat and strangle for him cruel death that he will live with thee forever the son he heard obediently and by a maiden mother pure and tender down he came for me for he would be my brother secret he bore his strength the norm he went about in my poor form for he would catch the devil dear
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Christians let us rejoice bow with me thank you father for your word thank you for your joy that you give
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I think about how the fruit of the spirit is joy and certainly
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Jesus brought that for us I pray for the Christians that are here today hard to have happiness it's hard to be joyful with all the craziness going around but there's a special joy that only you give and to think that we are forgiven not one
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Christian here will have to pay for one of their sins no condemnation for one Christian here we thank you for that could you give us joy would you increase our joy father for those that are here today that are not
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Christians it's despair and not joy but I pray that you would grant them saving faith because they've heard about a savior who's come to seek and save the lost and for the joy set before him he ran the race and he suffered on behalf of sinners just like them