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[0:00] John chapter 2. If you're visiting with us, that black Bible in the chair in front of you, you'll find John chapter 2 on page 72 in the back of that black Bible.

[0:14] Page 72 of John chapter 2. And we're gonna study the first 11 verses of John chapter 2. The first sign that Jesus did.

[0:28] John chapter 2. Starting in verse 1. Let me read and we'll jump in and dive in and see what God has to say from his word. And on the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.

[0:53] And with the wine giving out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. And Jesus said to her, what to me and to you, woman? My hour has not yet come.

[1:05] His mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. And there were six stone water pots set there for the purification of the Jews to cleansing, containing 20 or 30 gallons each.

[1:19] Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water and they filled them to the top. And he said to them, draw out now and take it to the head waiter. And they took it. And the head waiter, tasting the water, which had become wine, not knowing where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew.

[1:37] The head waiter called the bridegroom and said to him, every man serves the good wine first, and they have drunk freely, than that which is inferior. You have kept the good wine until now.

[1:51] This primary of signs Jesus did in Canaan of Galilee, and he manifested his glory, and his disciples believed into him. A friend of mine wrote a song.

[2:08] I'll read you some of the lyrics to this song. And now I'm making my way into a brighter day. I'm just a shadow on the road, heading into the rays of a beautiful haze, and I hope that it's taken me home.

[2:25] And as the sun comes up, I'm gonna fill my cup and raise a toast to friends I've known. And in the morning light, I'm gonna say goodnight and go to sleep, and with a smile on my soul, at the break of dawn.

[2:40] It's not a Christian song. But one part that stands out, at least in reading the song, the lyrics to some of this song, some of the lyrics to this song, is raising a toast.

[2:59] To raise a toast, you lift your glass to honor a person, to show them gratitude. You see it many times at weddings.

[3:12] I remember my closest friend, Paul Nichols. It's gonna be 30 years, come May, for our wedding. We celebrate 30 years. And I remember still, Paul raised his glass.

[3:24] We didn't have wine. We had apple, I think, didn't we have sparkling cider? Yeah, yeah. Sparkling cider, he raised a toast to Chris and I, and Paul, he was this stocky, short guy, and just so full of life.

[3:42] And it's meaningful because, what was it, four, five, six years later, Paul died of cancer.

[3:53] He was like 26 years old. He died of cancer. And I went to his funeral. So that's meaningful to me when I see that picture of Paul and him raising that toast to honor.

[4:06] Raise a toast. You do that to honor somebody, to show gratitude to them. And we're gonna do that today. We're gonna raise a toast.

[4:16] Yeah, Travis, he just took his cup and raised a toast. It's good, Travis. Good timing. I like that. Raise a toast. That's what I'm calling this. Remember, John's gospel, come believe in Jesus.

[4:28] Come trust Jesus. Come know Jesus. Come believe in Jesus and raise a toast to Jesus and his glory. That's what we're gonna do today. We're gonna raise a toast to him.

[4:41] Maybe not in a way that you might think. Turn it with a cup. We're gonna raise a toast to Jesus and his glory. We raise a toast to the Lord Jesus and his glory, honoring him as the true bride.

[4:58] How do we do that? We believe in him. How do you raise a toast? How do you honor Jesus and his glory? You trust him. That's how.

[5:10] How do you show gratitude to Jesus and his glory? You believe in him. You trust him. You trust him. It's not just raising a toast and whatever.

[5:25] It involves your will. You believe in Jesus. You trust him. Or, as John has it, we believe into him from John 2, verse 11.

[5:40] We'll look at that more in a moment. You're gonna see from this passage vessels to purify oneself externally, they're now used as vessels of celebration that the bridegroom has finally come.

[5:59] In this historically real life event, it's not some concocted story. it's not something that John made up.

[6:15] It's really happened and you see Jesus using this as a way to show that he's the real bridegroom who's finally come and these vessels that were used to wash hands, they're now vessels of celebration for wine.

[6:31] And we, what we do, you'll see, this will unfold even more as we go through John's gospel, we take him into our lives like drink, celebrating that he has come and celebrating that one day in the future he'll bring his great feast.

[6:53] That's why we read from Isaiah. It's looking forward to the future with the great feast when we'll say he saved us, we're so grateful.

[7:07] And so we take him into our lives like drink. That's, that's believing in him is you take him into your life like drink. You're drinking, you're drinking your coffee, you take the coffee into your body.

[7:20] It's now a part of you. That's what you do with Jesus. How do you celebrate him? How do you, how do you honor him? How do you raise a toast to Jesus? You believe in him, you take him in like drink.

[7:34] This is Jesus' first sign. Changing water into wine. Yes, yes, it was real wine. Somebody who tells you it's not real wine or it was grape juice, they're either lying to you or they're trying to sell you something.

[7:50] That's not true. This was real wine. Obviously too, it was watered down. If you're living in the first century, you don't want to drink the water.

[8:03] There's no purification plants in first century. That's what they would do. It was watered down with two or three, excuse me, two or four parts of water for one part wine because the wine would kill the bacteria in the water.

[8:18] So strong drink was non-watered down wine, straight out type stuff. Most wine was watered down. But in the midst of this, you see his glory is revealed.

[8:31] It's displayed. But only the eyes of faith could see his glory. Only the eyes of faith could see his glory, could see the true beauty of his glory displayed through a common historic event, a wedding that happens all the time.

[8:49] where Jesus will unfold his glory for us. How the old was gone and the new has come. The sign magnified his identity.

[9:03] He is the true bridegroom who initiated the eschatological age by his coming. Eschatological means the last days. He initiated that by his coming.

[9:14] So soon, he's gonna return and there's gonna be the great feast. That's what we look forward to. That's what we want. We don't wanna be safe. We wanna live with Christ, don't we?

[9:29] He is the true bridegroom who initiated the eschatological age by his coming. And as you see here, in this historic event in John 2, 1 through 11. Now, ask this question, why should we raise the toast to Jesus?

[9:43] And I'm gonna give you four reasons why. And then you actually go to raising the toast, which is in verse 11. There's four reasons why we should raise the toast to Jesus.

[9:55] We should honor him. Number one, Jesus glorifies himself and the father, not her. Jesus glorifies himself and the father, not her.

[10:08] And the reason why I said not her is, notice, Mary's name is not mentioned here at all. And that's done on purpose. And you'll see why in a moment.

[10:20] Jesus glorifies himself and the father, not her. Verse 1 through 5, notice. And on the third day there was a wedding in Canaan of Galilee.

[10:32] Third day, it's quite possible, this would be the seventh day or Sabbath. Interesting too, in this gospel, Jesus would be known to do God's work on the Sabbath to make a point.

[10:46] God's goodness happens on Sabbath. And that's the point. Sabbath is for rest where God shows his goodness and he showed his goodness in Jesus, he's our rest. Jesus is beginning his creative work in human history and he's gonna do that by changing water to wine.

[11:04] So there's a wedding. Notice the next part of verse 1, and the mother of Jesus was there. She's not named. And then notice verse 2, Jesus and the disciples were invited to the wedding as well.

[11:19] So maybe a close relative? The person getting married? The bridegroom? Apparently Mary was responsible in some way in catering it.

[11:32] Maybe she took care of the hors d'oeuvres. Obviously she took care of the wine. And the disciples here were probably Andrew, Philip, Nathaniel, Peter, Simon, and then most likely John, the evangelist who's writing.

[11:47] Now understand, weddings were very important in Jewish culture. Very, very important. Big deal. It'd be a massive celebratory feast with food and wine.

[12:02] It lasted for up to seven days even. Big deal. And the bridegroom was financially responsible for the wedding. Not the parents like it is in our culture, right?

[12:15] The bridegroom was financially responsible for the wedding. Which could be a problem. Look at verse 3. And having the wine give out, uh-oh.

[12:31] Now for us, no big deal. Just go inside the liquor store, go to PJ's, buy more. What's the big deal? Not so in this culture.

[12:44] Running out of wine would be a huge embarrassment to him and to the family. There's a big no-no in their culture. Especially at weddings.

[12:55] You could lose the family honor and status if you ran out of wine. It's a big deal. Well, notice what happens.

[13:07] The mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. His mother relied on Jesus depending on his manual labor because he was the firstborn.

[13:19] So, since you take care of me, Jesus, and they need something. Could you, you know, do your thing?

[13:38] Verse 4. And this is from the Greek. And Jesus said to her, what to you and to me, woman? One commentator says this, this has, long plagued interpreters.

[13:58] End quote. What? Why did he say this? He said this not as a rebuke, but also not necessarily gentle.

[14:20] It was a way to distance himself from her. Now, the phrase, what to me and to you is a Jewish idiomatic statement. It's an idiom.

[14:32] It's not rude, but maybe it was a bit abrupt. Definitely what's going on, what he said, definitely distanced himself from her.

[14:47] He was drawing attention away from blood relation to him, her blood relation to him. He was trying to distance himself from her in that way. Why?

[15:03] Mama, it's not about you. He does what the Father, he does what his Father wills him to do, being free from any human advice, agenda manipulation, that's how one writer put it, it's a good way to put it.

[15:22] For Jesus, everything was subordinate to his mission from the Father, even family. This is why he came. So he had to disengage himself from any blood slash mom directive.

[15:45] So it's an idiomatic statement of distancing himself. Mother privileges did not play into this.

[15:56] She had to come to grips with the fact that he was the Messiah. She could not get in step aside. Mother of Jesus is here.

[16:08] Back away, back away, get away. Right here. No. She doesn't get that in. Doesn't happen.

[16:20] And that's going to be a hard lesson she would have to learn. Right here. Jesus had to be clear with her. Mother, I don't take orders from you.

[16:36] I only glorify my Father, the one who sent me, not you. And I glorify myself, not you.

[16:49] And notice what he does here, the next part of verse 4. My hour has not yet come. What does he mean hour?

[17:03] Well, he's referring to his death as well as his exaltation with him going back to the Father. So he's saying his hour of death, resurrection, and exaltation was not yet.

[17:20] Mom, woman, you don't dictate that. Go do your thing. No, mom, you don't direct that.

[17:35] And again, notice the distancing that John is even riding when he says the mother of Jesus doesn't name her. See that? his hour of death, resurrection, and exaltation was not yet.

[17:51] Yet, his attendance to the wedding would bring this closer. It did not fully arrive, but his very presence at the wedding was proof that it had already begun.

[18:10] But Jesus had to force distance between himself and his mom because he glorifies himself.

[18:23] He glorifies the father, not her. You know, Mary didn't want embarrassment and yet it would be the shameful, embarrassing cross that would bring about the greater future feast.

[18:40] she didn't want to be embarrassed and yet it was going to be the embarrassing cross that would bring about the greater feast, the greater wedding, when Jesus, our bridegroom, would be with his bride, his church.

[18:59] The time when the wine would flow and the eschatological age and God would be with his people forever. Jesus fulfilled this in himself.

[19:10] you know, they ran out of wine, you see how this bridegroom lacked terribly. He lacked. You'll see that more in a moment.

[19:24] But Jesus would fill that deficiency with himself showing that he was the true, sufficient, superior bridegroom. So the first reason, we're going to raise a toast, we're going to honor Jesus, why Jesus glorifies himself and the father, not her.

[19:44] He's going to glorify himself in your life, he ain't going to glorify you. That's a fact. Notice verse five.

[19:57] His mother said to the servants, whatever he tells you to do, do it. So apparently she wasn't too put out. I've never.

[20:09] No. She wasn't too put out. Instead, notice, she showed and exemplified strong, persevering faith. Yes, son.

[20:21] It's in your hands. Yes, my son, I will trust you in this. Yes, my son, I will trust you in this. you do as you see fit and Jesus would show his grace and his love by acting as he saw fit.

[20:37] He'll do that because he will act. So Jesus glorifies himself and the father, not her, not you.

[20:48] Second reason, number two, because Judaism is insufficient and inferior. Judaism is efficient. It's inferior. Look at verse six. There were six stone water pots set there for purification of the Jews unto cleansing containing 20 or 30 gallons each.

[21:11] So, these stone water pots held around 150 gallons of water. That's a lot of water. And it's made of stone because it would not contract uncleanness.

[21:22] Now, these water pots were used by the Jews to purify their hands. It was ceremonial washing.

[21:33] It wasn't because you have to wash your hands, you know, because you were around dirt every day. Not that that didn't happen too, but it was ceremonial. And this water represented old Jewish law, the old customs of the law.

[21:50] That's what it represents. The wine's going to be something way better. The irony is striking. Here's these vessels for purification.

[22:01] They're now going to be used as containers for celebratory drink, as one writer put it. Purity and celebration finds its connection in the person and work of Jesus.

[22:15] He's better. Jewish purification points to Judaism, points to the old covenant. It's inferior. It cannot save you.

[22:27] It's insufficient in every level. Why do the Jews want to go back to what's inferior? Why do they want to go back to that?

[22:39] Why do they want to go back to trying to do something by law? Why? It's ridiculous. The law is pointing to Jesus how he will fulfill the law and you find forgiveness in him.

[22:54] Judaism is insufficient. Judaism is inferior. Jesus is showing that by the very act he's going to do. Notice what happens. Jesus said to them, verse 7, fill the water pots with water.

[23:09] These servants fill the water pots with water. Here's the old. Fill it with the old. The water represents the old. Now this leads to the second, excuse me, the third reason. Third, because Jesus transformed from the inside out.

[23:27] Fill the water pots, they fill them up to the top, to the very brim, and then verse 8, and he said to them, draw out now and take it to the head waiter. The word draw here, it means to draw out from a well.

[23:44] Interesting. The water that was used for purification was now for drinking. Notice the emphasis is not the external, the emphasis is now the internal.

[24:00] Jesus would later connect this purification to himself in John chapter 6 because Jesus is going to say, one must assimilate Jesus into his or her life like drink.

[24:11] unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in yourself. He's going to connect that because Jesus transformed from the inside out.

[24:23] You take him in, he transforms you from the inside out. And that drink is good. It's satisfying. He transforms the water into wine for celebration.

[24:38] Not for purification to celebrate what he does on the inside. Not to clean your hands, but to change your heart. Verse 9, And when the head waiter tasted the water which had become wine, not knowing where it came from, but the servants who brought the water knew, head waiter called the bridegroom, verse 10, said to him, et cetera, but notice the servants, they filled the water pots.

[25:11] They knew where this water wine had come from. Did they see the glory of Christ? Need the eyes of faith to see this. So notice here, it's building, Jesus glorifies himself and the father.

[25:27] Judaism is insufficient and inferior. He transforms from the inside out and now here's the last reason, because Jesus is sufficient and superior. Look what happens in verse 10.

[25:42] He says, the head waiter, after tasting the wine, said to the bridegroom, every man serves a good wine first, and when they have drunk freely, that which is inferior.

[25:53] You have kept the good wine until now. The good best wine would be served first. The inferior wine was served afterward, when people would most likely be inebriated. Now, you might say, wait, Jesus is endorsing people getting drunk.

[26:07] Don't do that. That's just lame. Don't do that. He's not endorsing getting drunk. He's not doing that. It's very clear from the Old Testament and New Testament, getting drunk is sinful, wrong, and that's just outside of God's will, outside of God's word, so don't even take it there.

[26:27] But the point that he's trying to make by this, Jesus showed by this act of glory that he, and all that he entails, was superior to Judaism, is superior.

[26:39] He's way more sufficient than Judaism, than living life by law. And notice, isn't this ironic, the head guy, he gave credit to the bridegroom.

[26:56] He didn't do anything. Oh, yeah, yeah, I saved the best wine, until now. I planned the whole thing. The servants, that guy did it.

[27:16] Directing the readers to the fact that it was Jesus who truly fulfilled the role of the bridegroom. See? Jesus fulfilled the role. The head waiter, the bridegroom, they're clueless.

[27:32] They had no idea what's going on. Well, they thought they did. One writer says this, quote, Jesus' work is to be understood in light of and in preparation for the wedding, par excellence.

[27:49] God's kingdom has come. The inferiority of Judaism is replaced with the fulfillment of Jesus. He's superior.

[28:00] He's sufficient. Judaism represents what's external, ritual, enslavement, works. Jesus is what's internal, delight, freedom, grace.

[28:18] He's better. He's superior. He's sufficient. Why do you think you need to go back to, you have to do all these things for God?

[28:32] Why do you think you gotta do these works, all these external things, these rituals? Why do you think that? That's not the gospel, my friend.

[28:43] The gospel is God should judge us because we're sinners and we will never, never make that standard, never, because it requires perfection.

[28:56] But you are a sinner, you should be condemned. But Jesus is the one who died, who rose. Believe in him and he'll save you, he'll forgive you. It's called grace.

[29:10] Favor that's unmerited. Favor that's undeserved. Why do you want to live your life according to works? Internal delight, freedom, grace, that's way better.

[29:31] So come to the bridegroom who'll show you grace. Jesus glorifies himself and the father God and Judaism is inferior.

[29:45] It's insufficient. Jesus transforms from the inside out. He's sufficient. Jesus is sufficient. He's superior. So raise a toast to Jesus and his glory. So verse 10 again.

[29:58] You have kept the good wine until now. This true historic story oozes of imagery that the new wine would be served to the wedding party of the bridegroom. The bridegroom was honored at the feast which really was Jesus.

[30:14] A toast was being raised to him. He was being honored. He really was the bridegroom. Verse 11 this beginning of signs Jesus did in Canaan of Galilee.

[30:31] Actually you could even translate this primary sign Jesus did in Galilee of Canaan. Canaan of Galilee excuse me.

[30:44] Beginning sign a primary sign from Jesus because it pointed to the time of the messianic age. The time of grace and truth. The true best bridegroom has come.

[31:01] Jesus truly fulfilled the role of the bridegroom. It was him wrapped up in this story. This real historic event you see Jesus showing he's really the bridegroom.

[31:16] The word a primary of his signs Jesus did in Canaan of Galilee sign is sign significant sign means significant displays of his power to point to realities that were deeper than the surface.

[31:33] Only the eyes of faith could see that the eschatological reality was becoming a present reality. Only the eyes of faith could see this. So why do you want to go back to Judaism?

[31:48] Why do you want to go back to law? Why do you want to go back to works? Live in grace. Jesus is the fulfillment of it. So drink the wine.

[32:00] the great lavish banquet will come as well. He will take away sin's presence and will take away the sting of death. The father truly fulfilled this promise and his future promise will come to pass.

[32:14] This text points to the coming return of Jesus. Listen to this. This is from Revelation chapter 17 19 verse 7.

[32:31] Switch that. Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. And verse 9. And he said to me write blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb and he said to me these are true words of God.

[32:49] So we're looking forward to that. In the midst of the things we see in our world we look forward to the coming return of Jesus. We're going to take us home. Look again verse 11.

[33:06] This primary of signs Jesus did in Canaan of Galilee and he manifested he displayed his glory. The glory of the only begotten from the father.

[33:19] Which climates at the cross and his exaltation. and then every step along the way of his ministry this glory would unfold and be disclosed.

[33:32] So Jesus displayed God's glory, God's goodness, God's grace, God's truth. He's superior. Okay so how do we raise a toast to Jesus?

[33:44] How do we do that? Look at the next part there verse 11. and his disciples believed in him. A sign points to the truth that Jesus is to Christ, the son of God.

[33:59] And if you're granted with the eyes of faith you could see this glory and believe in him, receive in him, trust in him. When you raise a toast to Jesus you do it through belief.

[34:09] By trusting him, by receiving him, by taking him in as drink. That's what he's trying to do. He's going to make that unfold that even more in John chapter 6.

[34:21] You must eat my flesh and drink my blood. Assimilate me into your life. That's what this means. That's how you honor Jesus. Vessels to purify oneself externally.

[34:36] They're now used a vessel of celebration that the bridegroom has finally come. So we take him into our lives, celebrating that he's come and celebrating that one day in the future he'll bring the great feast.

[34:50] So we take him into our lives. We drink Jesus. We celebrate him and drink him. We take him in. We raise a toast to the Lord Jesus and his glory, honoring him as the true bridegroom.

[35:04] How? We believe in him. We trust him. We take him in, like drink, and we honor him. We raise a toast to Jesus.

[35:15] Jesus, I honor you. I'm going to believe you. Jesus, I honor you. I'm going to trust you. Jesus, I honor you. I'm going to receive you. Would you pray with me?

[35:25] Lord Jesus we know that our trust can be weak many times and we sang earlier show us Christ Father we feel your glory through the preaching of your word and we've come to sing and to to pray and to think and to ponder that Jesus Christ and him crucified that's what's most important thank you for your grace help us to live in grace to know our sins are forgiven and to celebrate you Jesus to take you in and drink you and we look forward one day you will return you'll make this lost fallen awful world right we have that confidence thank you thank you

[37:04]  I want to encourage you as you would please take this time to fill your mind with God's word with this truth think on these things and ponder them we'll sing and pray but these few moments take the opportunity between you and the Lord to think on these things do that now please thanks the Lord you you