A better wine

[0:00] Good morning, everyone. Turn with me, please, to the Gospel of John, chapter 2. Gospel of John, chapter 2. Thank you very much to Gerald and to Lucille and to the musicians, singers.

[0:19] As always, we do appreciate your ministry, so thank you very much for that. For those of you who do attend on a Wednesday, we will continue our series on Jonah. We have finished the text of Jonah, but we're still looking at the text just to finalize that. I think it's study 5, I think, in the book, the second half of study 5 in the wee booklet. So if you can do that, that would be great. And then there is one more section which is comparing Jonah with Jesus, and the Scriptures do this, and we will do that as we finish the book of Jonah. So I commend that to you. I'm sure there was something else I was going to announce, and it's gone, it's gone. It might come to me halfway through the sermon. Turn with me to John, chapter 2, and we'll read the first 11 verses. We are looking now at Jesus' first miracle, first sign. Jesus has already met disciples. The disciples have come to Jesus, unlike the other Gospels, where Jesus goes to them. John has Jesus having the disciples discovering who he is. That's where we left at last time. Let's read chapter 2. On the third day, a day, or sorry, on the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, They have no more wine. Woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied, My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you. Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews, for ceremonial washing, each holding from 80 to 120 liters. Jesus said to the servants, Fill the jars with water. So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, Everyone brings out the choice wine first, and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink. But you have saved the best till now. What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. We'll end our reading at the end of verse 11. Let's come before God. Let's ask for his help to understand this together. A loving Heavenly

[3:06] Father, we thank you, Lord, for our services. Lord, we thank you for recent services, Lord, and Sunday morning, Lord, not only for singing and praising and having fellowship together and praying together, but we thank you, Lord, for the subject matter, Lord, of our sermons. Lord, we're not thinking about the Christian life and about prayer or about standing firm. We're considering your son. And Lord, we praise and thank you for the great privilege that's ours to consider him. We thank you, Lord, that many of us, most of us, I'm sure, in this room this morning already know Jesus. We know who he is.

[3:44] He is indeed the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. He is our Savior. We love him. But Father, we thank you as we come to your word now. We pray that you would help us to understand him just that bit more, that we might know him more, that we might love him more and serve him better. So Father, be with us, we pray. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I can't remember what I've told you half the time, but I'm sure I'll end up repeating myself. But I want to introduce you to these guys. These are the weirdest folk, magicians. I just think magicians are just just weird. They're a weird, weird bunch of individuals. I don't know why my brother, when we were growing up at Christmas, he would get magic sets and ventriloquist dummies. I get meccano and chemistry sets. So we're quite different. And I've had enough of him coming up saying, pick a card. But the reason I really don't have any time for them is just because they're just flim-flam merchants. They're just out to deceive you. I remember as a young guy, I was 14, and I thought, I'll try and buy into this, this whole magic thing. Went to a trick shop, a joke shop in

[4:57] Hamilton. And there was a particular trick, it was three cards. And I thought, well, no sleight of hand, you just get these three cards, pick a card, boom, that's it. Oh, you were wrong. Whoa, how did you do that? That type of trick. And I thought, I'll buy this. I remember at the time thinking, my pocket money, it costs quite a bit of money for this wee trick. So anyway, I thought, it's magic. What price can you put in magic? So I paid for this thing, got it out in the wee poly bag, opened it up.

[5:25] There was one card. There was two cards. There was this third card, doctored, with a half a card glued on the back, and so forth. And I looked at this and thought, what a rubbish. That you're trying to do this, when you're deceiving these folk into things, these are three ordinary cards.

[5:44] When you know, they're not three ordinary cards. There's something underneath that. And there used to be a program on it that revealed how these guys did their tricks. I don't know if you've seen that. I used to say, I love that program. Here is something. Whoa, that looks great. But this is what is actually happening. In the backseat, there's this woman, she's doing something, blah, blah, blah.

[6:04] And every time you go, hmm, really? And you feel deceived. That's why I really don't like these guys. They're not everything they're cracked up to be. I mean, look at that guy with the hatline.

[6:17] Would you buy a used car from him? He's just, they're just con artists. So anyway, that's got that off my chest. This morning, we're about to look at Jesus' first miracle. It's a miracle that's known by many people, even non-Christians, when Jesus turned water into wine. What is that all about? That's the question we must ask. Was Jesus doing this just to show, look at what I can do? Or is there more to it than that? And that's what we need to consider. That's what John wants us to consider as we look at this together. We're continuing a series of studies in the gospel of John. And you remember, John tells us at the end of his gospel, if you've not been with us, he tells us why he's writing this.

[7:02] He says, Jesus did many other miracles which are not written in this book. But I've recorded these, he says, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the chosen of God, and that by believing in him, you will have life in his name. That is John's purpose. He wants to tell us who Jesus is. He wants to produce a response. He wants us to trust in him, to be wowed by him, to believe in him. And when we do this, we have life in his name. Life in this life, I have come to give you abundant life, Jesus says, but more importantly, eternal life, life and the life to come. And that is why everybody on the planet really needs to consider Jesus. He's not just a good man or good amongst many. He is the Son of God. He is the Savior of the world. And we've already looked at right at the start how John begins his gospel with a bang, presenting who Jesus is in all his glory. And then last time you remember, John the Baptist has already testified, but last week we had Jesus now meeting people. And these people saying, can I spend the day with you? Show me who you are. Talk to me. Teach me. And Jesus did this. So there was an invitation to come to Jesus, an invitation to believe in Jesus, to follow Jesus, and to witness. That's what the things we were looking at last week. Jesus' interaction with these early disciples. Very encouraging, but also very challenging.

[8:34] Now, when you come to chapter 2, the same remit is the same. John wants us to consider who Jesus is, to discover a bit more about Jesus, who he is and why he came. And this miracle that you see this morning, John doesn't present his—he uses a specific word to describe the miracles of Jesus. It's the word signs.

[8:57] He's not just saying, here's a miracle. This is a sign. They point to Jesus. They point to something. And we are supposed to look at the miracles of Jesus, learn something about him, what he's like, who is he, but where is he pointing? Where is this miracle? What is it actually pointing to? It's not just a kind of look at what I can do. There is a reason behind the miracles or the signs that Jesus does. So, that's what we're looking at this morning. The passage begins on the third day. This is the third day since he met Nathaniel. Two days later, you could say. Basically, it's the end of the week.

[9:38] It's the end of Jesus' first week in ministry in that way. And I want to look at this passage in two, two main things leap out at this passage. There's a human aspect to Jesus here, but there's very much a divine aspect to Jesus. And that is the two things that I want us to note in this passage. I'm sure you've heard many sermons on that, but let's look at this together. So, the first thing I want to note is this, the compassion of Jesus. That is the thing that we learn here. It's a very ordinary social event.

[10:13] He's not in a temple or whatever doing some big religious thing. It's just an ordinary thing that happens all the time. My daughters, our daughters are of a certain age. All their friends are being married. And because we know their friends fairly well, we get invited along. I thought I'd given up on the whole wedding thing. But anyway, you're sucked into this and you're care-ling away and what have you. Good fun. It's good. But this is just an ordinary social event. But we learn something about Jesus' humanity, his heart, in this event. Mary and Jesus, we're told that both of them are invited, the whole family. It probably is a family wedding, or at least somebody close to the family. It's not something that Jesus' gate crashed or just wandering around. Weddings are personal. You're invited. So, him and his mom and his brothers and sisters, along with the disciples, are all invited. Plus, Cana isn't far from Nazareth. So, it's fairly local. It's a very real, very ordinary scene, a wedding here. And Jesus obviously approves of weddings. People being married, it's a creation ordinance. So, obviously, he goes along to this. But in the very fact that he's doing this, as I was thinking of this as well, and even the master of ceremonies comments on people being here, because there is a view that some people say, well, when Jesus turned the water into wine, it was non-alcoholic wine. And I go, really? If you've ever tried any non-alcoholic anything, it's not as good as the other stuff. Whether you should say that as a pastor, it's pretty ghastly, really, some of it, although there's less calories in it. I commend that to you than the other stuff.

[11:59] But anyway, it's better wine. This is a richer wine. And even at this thing, the people are obviously getting drunk. That's what happens. He says, when people have had too much to drink, that is what happens at weddings. It certainly happens at Scottish weddings. The last wedding I was at, there was a free bar. But it was only certain things that were free. You couldn't get an 18-year-old malt. You were not getting that free. But you can get this lesser wine free, or this one. But in this, you see that Jesus is a social creature. He goes along. Christians, sometimes we struggle. Should I go to this? They might be drinking something stronger than wine gums. I think I'll stay and color in my picture of Moses and a Saturday night. That's not for me, thank you. And we don't know how to relate to people in society. It's messy. It's always messy.

[12:54] When you, that's one of the things I struggled with as a young Christian. Once I was saved, and weekends I used to get drunk and so forth. And then I was saved, kind of go out with my mates. At the end of the day, I couldn't, simply because they get drunk too quickly. And I thought, I'm just wasting my time. I'm as sober as a judge. And these guys are stumbling everywhere. What is the point of that? But if they weren't getting drunk, and you could do something, go along. Anyway, what I'm saying is, he was a socialite. He mixed with people. There was a wedding here. And there would have been people that are drunk, but he went along. Christians, we need to try and live a normal life. Be in the world, but not of it. And that is not the easiest thing. But in this wedding, something happens. They run out of wine. Jesus' mother tells them this in verse 2. They have no more wine.

[13:40] The wine has gone. She's obviously in charge of organizing the catering. She's got something to do with it. She doesn't just steam in. But she's obviously a close family member, perhaps, organizing things. She plays a part in this. And probably the depletion of wine can be excused because the wedding celebrations, unlike here, aren't just a Saturday night. They last a whole week.

[14:05] And over that time, the wine has just gone down and down and down. And this holy celebration, is coming to an end. But as you know, it's a very serious social faux pas to run out of wine.

[14:18] It reflects on the bridegroom and his family. And lawsuits were not unknown from the bride's fat side of the family. We had this big do, and you ran out of wine on day four, and the rest of it was just boring. It was just not the done thing. You imagine in our country, if we did this, and not so much wine, whiskey or whatever, and we ran out. Boy, tongues would be wagging. You don't do that in Scotland. You don't run out of alcohol. You need this. Same in that culture. It was that you had wine and had to last the course. Now, Jesus finds himself then in this very ordinary but very embarrassing situation for the bridegroom and his family. And Mary comes to him, not so much with a request, but mostly with a fact. She doesn't ask him to do anything. She asks others to obey him, but she basically just brings a fact that there's no more wine. It's as simple as that. We don't know what she was expecting from Jesus completely, but in the absence of Joseph, her husband, Jesus' earthly father in that sense, she looks to her oldest son, and Jesus, she's asking him, basically, there's no more wine. I'm looking to you. You're my oldest son, and so forth. And a miracle is performed by Jesus. He turns this wine into better wine, this water into wine, into good wine. And as I said, some folks think it was non-alcoholic, but it wouldn't have been. It would have been alcoholic and superior in every way. Now, what can we learn from this? First of all, in the humanity of Jesus, here was Jesus approached with a problem, prayer. You could say Mary simply comes and says, Jesus, they have no more wine. This is the need that I'm presenting to you. It's a good model of intercessory prayer. It's not telling God what he should do, but simply informing him of the facts.

[16:23] Later on, in John 11, we'll read of Jesus raising somebody from the dead. That miracle came about by simply presenting a similar situation. The one whom you love is unwell. It was as simple as that. But that produced in Jesus, he called the shots, he raised Lazarus from the dead. So, as Jesus is alive today, we can come to him with our prayers at any time. His heart is always open to our prayers. We don't need to tell him exactly what to do. Sometimes we do, but sometimes just laying at his feet, Lord, you decide. I have no whatever that might be. But then there is the obedient part of this. Notice what Mary says to the servants, do whatever he tells you. In other words, Jesus is to try and sort the situation out somehow. Bearing in mind, this is Jesus' first miracle. You don't know exactly what Mary would have known of Jesus or expected from Jesus. But it was basically simple as that. Do whatever he tells you. Sometimes prayer is portrayed as letting go and letting God. But sometimes God says,

[17:35] I want you to do this. In answer to your prayer, you have to do something. Go to them. Do this. Plan. Organize. Even as a church, as we look to develop the work and so forth, there will be things the Lord will expect us to do. He doesn't expect us to just trust in Him to do absolutely everything.

[17:53] He gives us a skill set, mind. He expects us to use that. Sometimes, in many ways, we can be the answer to our own prayer, or the Lord at least will work through us. So, God uses us in answer to our prayer as He used the servants. He didn't just say, leave it to me, I will do absolutely everything.

[18:11] He tells them to do something. As a result of them doing this, being obedient in this, the blessing comes. Very simple, basic truth that sometimes we forget this. Prayer and obedience.

[18:24] Trust and obey. But also, He responds in compassion. We see the compassion here of Jesus. He doesn't have to respond to Mary's prayer for more wine, but He's aware of the social embarrassment of this, and to the groom and to the family. And He's moved to perform. He's compelled in that way.

[18:47] He perhaps doesn't want to draw attention to Himself. After all, it's a bridal. It's a wedding groom. Bridegroom, they are the most important. He doesn't want to see everybody, look, these magicians standing up, watch this, choose a card. It's about them. So, He's doing this in a kind of secret way in that sense, letting them do this, and He's in some ways is behind the scene. But He's involved.

[19:13] But He's responding like a friend. You remember the friend who goes to another friend at midnight, lend me three loafs. And it's not the most convenient time, but because He's a friend, He will rise, He will give them this bread. It's that. Although the timing of this for Jesus is not the most convenient in that sense, He will do this. He is a sympathetic high priest who knows you, who feels your needs. He's not unmoved. But something else we notice in this as well, the relationship between Jesus and His mother will soon change. This is Jesus' now public ministry.

[19:51] He responds to His mother's request in two kind of strange ways. First of all, woman, He calls her. He says, dear woman, why do you involve me? I've never ever referred to my mother as dear woman, never. I don't think I'd sit down for a week. Dear woman, she would just see that as patronizing or something. I was trying to make a statement. But not in Jesus' case. It can appear as if He's rebuking. There is a slight kind of rebuke here, a very mild rebuke, because His time is not yet here.

[20:25] But you remember when Jesus is dying on the cross, and He cares for His mother, probably never a more tender moment when Jesus sees His mother in John 19 and the disciple whom He loved, John. He says, dear woman, here is your son. So, it's not a derogatory term. It is a term of endearment, dear woman. But here you begin to see the relationship beginning to change. He will relate to his mother slightly different. He was observant to his mother when he was growing up and so forth.

[21:05] But now, He is all about doing the work of His heavenly Father. John 4, very soon, we will hear Jesus saying, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me to finish His work. His allegiance now, in some ways, is moving from His mother now to His heavenly Father. And this is the beginning of this.

[21:24] This must have been hard for Mary. He was in charge, you could say, in many ways, for the family business. After all, He was known as, isn't this, the carpenter's son. And for 30 years, He was helping the business. Now, He's coming away from this, and He will now not be serving His mother and the family, but serving His loving heavenly Father. And therefore, His relationship with His mother and His brothers is about to change. You'll remember, once Jesus was told, your mother and your brothers are outside. And Jesus says, who are my mother and my brothers? He looks, you are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven. So, His relationship with His mother will change. And obviously, Mary's relationship with Jesus will change. He's not just her son. He has to be saved. Mary needs her sins forgiven. And this is quite something. Jesus has His mother, and is mildly reproached by Jesus. She responds as a believer, and her faith is on. The second thing that's strange, not only women, but my time hasn't come. Now, what did Jesus mean by this? I think here, He's in this wedding, and He comes out with this phrase, my time has not yet come.

[22:43] In other words, you get this picture right at the very beginning of Jesus' public ministry, that He is there for a time. Jesus will later refer this to His hour. There's a specific time slot, as it were, that He's heading towards. He is on a mission. He's not just about attending social gatherings. He's there to do the work of the Father, and He has a mission. It's why He came, an hour, a time, that He's moving towards. You and I know what that thing is, that thing He's moving towards, His death, our salvation. He will glorify His Father. He will complete the work the Father has given Him to do. He's moving towards us. And you see this right at the beginning.

[23:27] There is a time. My time is that. So, that's what we see in this first thing, the compassion of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, whatever need you have, it might be in a social gathering, it might be whatever, His heart is moved to whatever plight it is. It might appear worldly. I don't have any of this.

[23:48] I don't have this. I'm down. I'm anxious. I need this. I need that. And we simply bring that request to the Lord and say, Lord, work. Would you work in my life? It's not just about salvation and spiritual things, but it's about the mundane, the temporal things. And Jesus cares for this. So, we see this right at the start. He didn't just attend and become robotic. He became involved. His heart went out to the need of this situation. He cares for us. The second thing is this, the kingdom of God, we notice in this.

[24:24] This is really the main sign that John wants us to note. As I said before, everything that Jesus does are not just tricks. They're not just magic to show what, look at what I can do. As Christians, we need to see what is the main reason. What does this symbolize that Jesus is doing? As a Jew, a lot of this is lost on us, but it wouldn't have been lost on the Jews. And so, you remember, John presents all the miracles of Jesus as a sign. And that's the text for the year, or for the series, isn't it? Jesus did many other miraculous signs that aren't written in this book, but these are written. These signs are written that you might believe in Him. So, every miracle that Jesus does is a sign. And our job is to try and appreciate the sign. What is the sign all about? This shows who Jesus is and why He came. And there is a spiritual kingdom behind what's actually happening here. You look at the wine. It's a better wine.

[25:32] The master of the ceremonies calls this a better wine. You have saved the very best till now. That is the heart of this message. It's not just wine. It is the best wine. Now, wine in Jewish thought is very much, and if you know your Old Testament, as a symbol of joy and celebration and blessing. The Old Testament prophets looked forward to a messianic age. And this messianic age was described as a time of flowing wine. That's the picture that you're to get with us. Isaiah 25, 6, Now, this isn't just literal wine. This is painting a picture of feasting, of aged wine. It says, the best of meats and the finest of wines. I think I mentioned last week we were off to a restaurant. It's supposed to be one of the best in Scotland. It was a steak kind of place in Musselburgh, and there was these steaks.

[26:41] Last time I spent a small fortune on this steak. Anyway, got this steak, and everybody had red wine. I just looked at us. Everybody's got red wine. Who's driving home? You're not allowed to drive. And I thought, I hope these folk are coming driving home. Anyway, red wine with a meal. It was a time that noise, hubbub, nice, the best of steaks, and this red wine. It's a time of celebration.

[27:07] Jeremiah 31 says the same thing. They will come and shout for joy. On the heights of Zion, they will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord, the grain, the new wine, and so forth. Hosea 14, Men will dwell again in his shade. He will flourish like the grain. He will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon. Amos 9, The days are coming. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills.

[27:33] They will plant vineyards, drink their wine. They will make gardens and eat their fruit. This just speaks of blessing. And the better the wine, the better the blessing. If the Lord had come up with just the same wine, or some mediocre wine, and you're thinking, is this the Messiah?

[27:51] You would expect him to come up with, if this is the picture, the best of wines. It has to be a good—if it's a mediocre wine, if he's turning water into a buckfast, it doesn't have the same thing. You would expect us from the Messiah who comes to this earth, who decides to turn water into wine, it has to be good, has to be quality. You would expect this. It has this deeper spiritual meaning. And I think the disciples recognized this. In John 2, verse 11, this is what Jesus did in Canaan. It was the first of his signs through which he revealed his glory. John tells us, when Jesus turned his water into the best of wines, it was a glorious thing. Not just water to wine, but water to the best wine. And not only that, what is symbolic is the occasion. This wasn't turned into wine with a bunch of guys sitting in a public park. This was done at a wedding. It shouldn't be lost in us, the very occasion of this.

[28:55] The Bible uses a lot of human things to try and picture for us what heaven and glory will be like. So, he chooses one of the best, happy, cheerful occasions, a wedding. Two people in love, where they're rejoicing with them. We're singing, we're dancing, we're eating rich food. It's one of the best occasions, social occasions, you can ever have. So, when God wants to communicate to us something of the glory that awaits us, the blessing that awaits us, he chooses that picture. Not only a flowing wine of great blessing and great joy, but a wedding. And you know your Bible, don't you, that Jesus desires to drink the fruit of the vine again? We think of communion. Revelation 19, blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. You're invited to a wedding that's still to happen. And it's not just quality wine, it's quantity of wine. I looked at this,

[30:02] I looked at the numbers in this, more modern versions spell it out for us. You've got between 480 to 720 litres of fine wine. If you ever go into an off-licence or something, you've got, here's the wine, here's the fine wine next to the counter in case you're tempted to steal it.

[30:22] This costs a fortune. And a wee bottle like this, it can cost you quite a few, Bob. 720 litres of the finest of wine. You're supposed to go, wow, wow, this is just amazing. What a wedding this is. This is a wedding to end all. This is what's happening here. It's just this extravagance. God's gone out of his way to try and give us a picture. Before he begins teaching this, he's coming with a kingdom. He is the Son of God to inaugurate this kingdom. And he's coming, in many ways, with a new wine. Not just better quality, better quantity, but this new, a different wine. He's contrasting the wine, and you see this here, with the ceremonial kind of washings of Judaism.

[31:12] You remember in John chapter 1, the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. You'll notice that Jesus didn't just change any water into wine. He changed ceremonial cleaning water into wine. That should not be lost on us. This water in these big jars would be used for cleaning utensils, cleaning the guest's hands, or whatever. It's there to clean. You certainly wouldn't want to drink that water, but it's there for cleaning. But Jesus, in many ways, very symbolically comes and takes this way of cleansing, and he will provide a better way so that we don't have big jars here when you come in this morning. Right, John? Nice to see you. Remember your hands, clean this, clean your feet, take your shoes off, whatever. We don't have to do this, because Jesus comes with a better cleansing. He takes out the ceremonial stuff, and he brings grace. The law comes through Moses.

[32:16] They had to do these things. Jesus comes with grace and truth. He comes, and there will be a better cleansing. It will be the wine of his blood. You remember, he takes the cup. He takes the cup of the wrath of God. That wrath of God that's poured out upon him cleanses us. It's very symbolic.

[32:38] This is the new cup of the covenant in my blood. It's a better purification. It's a better cleansing. It's a once-for-all sacrifice. Zechariah 13 says, On that day, a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. Speaking of this time, speaking of a time when Jesus will die on the cross, that fountain will be opened, the fountain of Jesus' blood, a once-for-all sacrifice that makes people perfect. Isaiah 1, Come, let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. In every way, this is what this sign points to, not just the compassion of Jesus, but the kingdom of Jesus. He's not just changing water into wine just to meet a practical need. Those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, they can see what's happening and go, wow, look at all this wine. This is like the wine that's promised in the new kingdom.

[33:51] This speaks of blessing, speaks of celebration, speaks of glory. It really is to cause us to rejoice. I remember in London, whenever some organization—you still get it in Scotland a wee bit—we're thinking of doing this, though. They invite certain pastors along with a view, if we can get these pastors, this pastor will then go back to his church, and this thing will happen. And I remember in London, I was invited to one of these. There was only 12 of us picked of all the churches in London by this big organization in the States. It was Ligonier Ministries, R.C. Sproul's place, and they wanted to come and do a conference, but they wanted to sound out people to see if they were going to do this, if we could get folk on board. So they invited us to a restaurant in Covent Garden.

[34:39] It claims to be the oldest restaurant in London. It's called Rules. If you've ever been—if you ever go to Covent Garden, you weren't a fancy—it's old, but it's very posh. It's very nice.

[34:51] Somebody at the door and stuff. It's the first gathering I'd been to where you're offered a glass of wine or some alcoholic drink, port or whatever going through the door, and you're thinking, well, this is different. Or these vicars rocking up. There is—we like a glass of wine, and it was nice wine, and then this lovely meal. And then it was, well, we're thinking of doing this, that, and the other. What do you think, guys? And I think the consensus of opinion was, no, there's too much in London. Thanks. Nice meal. Appreciate that. And we'd done a run. It never happened. But they were prepared to roll out the boat and say, this is who we are. This is what you get if you deal with us. And that's what Jesus is saying. When you deal with Jesus, you have this banquet to look forward to. Glory and blessing, and the best is yet to be. As much as we enjoyed our meal out last night, nothing compares to this. And the Lord is using this as a sign to show us of what lies ahead, the blessings, the joy, the celebration. This is where Jesus revealed His glory.

[35:56] He's not a magician. He is the Son of God. Come to usher in His kingdom. We are to stand in awe of Him. Not everybody understood that miracle. The servants saw it, but they were not told. They reveled in this.

[36:12] But the disciples saw it, and they beheld His glory. That's what John tells us. I wonder what we see happening here. Can you see it? Can you see who Jesus is and what He's come to do, what He's come to bring in? We're going to stand and we're going to sing. I'm sometimes reluctant to sing this song.

[36:32] We don't sing this song very much. I think it's because of the tune. Come and see the shining hope that Christ's apostles saw. Try not to think anything sectarian as you sing this. It's the only reason why I think, can I really sing this? You're a heart supporter. You're saying, well, I'm not singing it because of the tune, but we're going to stand and we're going to sing this and enter into the joy of this. Enter into the joy. Not just if you're a reindeer supporter, but if you're whatever supporter you are, you're a supporter of the Lord. Think of the words, let's rejoice as we bring our service to a close.

[37:08] Come and see the shining hope that Christ's apostles saw. On the earth, confusion, but in hand, an open door.

[37:37] Love has a victory forever.

[38:07] All the gifts you send us, Lord, are faithful, good and true. Holiness and righteousness are shown in all you do.

[38:21] Who can see your greatest gift and fail to worship you? Love has a victory forever. A man who prays God for justice not restored.

[38:32] A man who prays God for justice not restored. Kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of the Lord.

[38:45] Love has a victory forever. Power and salvation all belong to God on high.

[38:59] So the mighty multitudes of heaven make their cry. Singing alleluia where the echoes never die. Love has a victory forever.

[39:12] A man who prays God for justice not restored. A man who prays God for justice not restored.

[39:24] Kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of the Lord. Love has a victory forever. Amen. You did very well. Great song to end with, wasn't it? Great time of triumph and victory.

[39:41] Let's just close in prayer. Our loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for our reading this morning. And we thank you, Lord, for this account in Jesus' life. Where, as he lived life, he simply attended a wedding.

[39:53] And yet, at this wedding, we are told he revealed his glory. Lord, we've seen something more of the glory of Jesus. That he's not just glorious in his compassion towards each one of us.

[40:04] And the needs that we will have even this week. But he is a king. He is king of kings and lord of lords. He has ushered in a new kingdom of spiritual cleansing.

[40:16] Of celebration, of joy. And we long for that day, Lord, when we will be joined with so many multitudes of people. Who know Jesus as their own Lord and Savior.

[40:27] We thank you that the best has yet to be for us. And Father, we pray that you would send us home rejoicing. Lord, there's no commands for us. Lord, this morning to follow. We simply bask in who Jesus is.

[40:38] And what he has come to do and bring to us. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, folks.