The First Miracle of Jesus - John 2:1-12

so we're looking at the first miracle of Jesus Christ today I mean when he was a teenager 13 or 16 he could have called his buddies and been like hey let me show you what I can do real quick you know that's probably what I would have done like showed off and stuff he never had performed a miracle knowing that he could this is his first miracle and as it's his first miracle John makes sure to record it and guys I'm so stoked to share some things because God just rocked my my world in my study really I mean he showed me so many fresh things so many new insights I'd never seen before about this story so I'm really pumped to be able to to share those with you so we begin in verse 1 on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding we left off last week and Jesus was still out in the desert at the Jordan River hanging out with John the Baptist he had endured his forty days of temptation out in the wilderness before he headed back up home to the northern parts of Israel he stops back by the Jordan River to see John for a few days and he grabs six disciples his first six disciples and so here it says on the third day they're at this wedding in Cana so understand the last time we see Jesus which would be the first day that's when he met Philip and Nathanael and he decided to leave the Jordan to go back to the Galilee so three days have passed since then on the first day it would have taken them all day oh like 12 to 15 hours to walk from the Jordan to Nazareth on the second day he probably hung out in Nazareth and then on this day the third day he and Mary and probably their whole family were at this wedding in Cana now Cana was the neighbouring village to Nazareth they were only five miles away and so everybody in Nazareth knew Cana and vice-versa everybody there would have known each other for sure now I still believe Jesus goes to weddings in fact if you want to have a successful marriage in today's world you better have Jesus at your wedding because as we see in this story he can do at weddings what nobody else can do verse three when they ran out of wine the mother of Jesus said to him they have no wine jesus said to her woman what does your concern have to do with me my hour has not yet come now there are some cultural things that you really need to understand in order to really get what's all going on here okay when you were invited to a Jewish wedding it was a 7-day deal it wasn't just a wedding day it was a wedding week so if you were invited that meant not working for one week and admit you didn't say no it was very disrespectful to be invited to a wedding and not show up so you went and you were there for a whole week and in that culture the wedding hosts were expected to put up their guests not only with a place to stay but they were to supply all the food and the drinks so if you were invited to a wedding you were fully expecting to be provided for it was a really big deal in fact father's would spend years and years of their lives storing and saving up wine in their house just for their kids weddings and check this out in Jewish rabbinic writings that says to never ever ever run out of wine for you to run out of wine was considered a huge insult to your guests they would have been appalled you could actually be legally fined by your guests for running out of wine at your own wedding you could be fined money for running out of wine so what I want you to understand is there's a chance of public humiliation and disgrace that's attached to this story okay and in the closely knit communities of Jesus day it would have never been forgotten ever we're talking about something that would have caused social disgrace for this family for the rest of their lives what could have should have been the the greatest day in their life their wedding day would have turned out to be the worst day of their life so it's like what the heck Jewish people who live 2,000 years ago what is your deal what is your problem why are you so uptight about this like loosen up what why why are you why is it so important why is wedding app or wine at a wedding why was it so important there's a reason and it's because in the Bible wine is always symbolic of God's joy okay to run out of wine at a wedding was to kind of be disrespectful to God in their minds because the Jews valued marriage very highly that's why they spent a week celebrating another day they understood God created it they understood it was God's building blocks for Society they understood it was something magnificent in his creation and so to run out of the thing that symbolized joy was to say well this is kind of stupid God's not in it the groom's not in it the the bride's not happy the guests aren't happy and so it was to misrepresent the picture of how glorious weddings should be and what a great thing that they truly are does that make sense it was a big deal in their minds and so Mary she sees Jesus there at the bottom of the jars and she wants him to do something and notice his response he says what does your concern have to do with me well what was Mary's real concern what is her real concern that Jesus is talking about well thirty years have passed since Jesus was born and now recently Mary had watched him leave home to go see John the Baptist in the desert when he left he was alone now that he's come back he has six guys who were following him who are calling him rabbi she knows he's the Messiah she knows he's about to do his thing she knows he can help this family out she knows if he performs a miracle he can help her out wait a minute help her out what do you mean well for years Mary had lived with public embarrassment and people talking behind her back wherever she went how so well what if your daughter or sister or cousin or niece showed up pregnant to the house one day but saying I'm still a virgin I promise uh googoo googoo like what are you talking about you're still a virgin Joseph was going to break off his engagement with her until an angel showed up and told him what was really going on so not only as your cousin or niece knocked up but her fiance now start saying we never did it I never touched her you see forever in your family that couple is going to be known as the weird ones they're the weirdies of the family now and Mary she carried the stigma all her life in a very very religious culture where it was cool and popular to be a goody goody religion sweet girl she was not that in their image she was everything but that and so you can bet wherever she went people thought hey there's that girl that got pregnant before marriage did you know that even the Pharisees tried to diss Jesus about this in John chapter 8 verse 41 they said we were not born of fornication which means out of wedlock oh snap are you kidding me well they were kind of ticked because Jesus had just told them that their true father was Satan so this is their jab back well we weren't born out of fornication it's like whoa that's some heated words between men it was nasty so now Mary and her whole family are only 5 miles from home everybody's there everybody that knew her would have been there Jesus you got to show them what you can do this is my day of vindication this is perfect of course you're gonna help me out of course you're gonna show people who I truly am and and who you truly are Jesus don't you see this is the perfect opportunity for you to clear my reputation and how does he respond verse 4 a woman what does your concern have to do with me my hour has not yet come let's break this down first Jesus responds by calling her woman and not mother it wasn't a derogatory term it's actually a very respectful term to call her woman but Jesus is emphasizing to her that his relationship with her is not like normal sons with their moms if he would have called her mother it would have shown that she had the authority in this situation but because he calls her woman she shows her that he has the authority in the situation and so he's speaking to her really in a way that well in a way that God would speak to her he's reminding her of who he really is he goes on to say my hour has not yet come I mean did Mary forget that when he was 12 years old he told her that he was going to be about his father's business guys what this is really all about is Jesus understood his father had a timetable set for him and Jesus was very aware of it so he wasn't going to do anything that sped up or slowed down his father's schedule she wanted him to do this miracle openly and publicly but because his hour hadn't come he does it privately and seven times in John's Gospel we are going to hear Jesus say my hour has not yet come but eventually in fact it was the night before he was to be crucified he finally says my hour it's now come and he goes to the cross to do what he came to do and died to forgive humanity of their sins now let me ask you guys a question was Mary eventually vindicated would you say yes yeah absolutely I mean we're not in here in this room sitting here saying Ah Mary I can't believe her no way we get it the virgin birth it was amazing and so in time Mary's name would be cleared and she would be vindicated and everyone would know the truth but not on this day woman what does your concern have to do if me my hour has not yet come and and he's not telling her no I'm not gonna do this and I'm just gonna let this couple be humiliated he's not telling her that but in a sense he's speaking to her heart isn't he and in a sense he's saying you gotta trust me you're just gonna have to trust me Mary she had this massive feeling of turmoil within her heart Jesus of course you're gonna do this for me I see it so clearly this is the perfect opportunity for you God to help me out because I really need you why wouldn't you do this for me you ever been there why wouldn't you do this for me yeah we've been there and we're going to continue to find ourselves in that place and the truth is that he will work everything out for you but it's going to be in his time and it's never in our timing and it's never in our timing because he requires and demands faith from us and when you have faith in Him isn't it amazing that he ends up never being too late never being too early he always shows up right on time he always comes through the best way possible I've had times in my life where I'm praying and praying and I'm saying God this is the situation and I'm trying to reason it out and I know how he's supposed to answer my prayer I'm not only asking him to do something I'm saying do it this way thank God he didn't listen to me but he answered the prayer his way and then when he did his way I stopped and I'm like oh my gosh that was brilliant I'm so glad you didn't listen to me it's happened over and over in my life so remember because this is a good reminder even Mary could not sway Jesus from doing things his way and on his timetable I think Mary understood he wasn't telling her he wouldn't perform the miracle and that's why in verse 5 Mary said to the servants whatever he says to you do it she somehow sensed that he was going to do something and you guys know what chronologically these are the last recorded words of Mary in the Bible we never ever hear her speak again so what are her famous last words of wisdom whatever he says to you do it in her moment of maybe frustration of not understanding him fully she still her last words are whatever Jesus says to you you do it that's some good stuff that's good advice so in verse 6 it says there were set there six waterpots of stone according to the manner of purification of the jews containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece this is a hundred and eighty gallons of potential liquid jesus said to them fill the waterpots with water and they filled them up to the brim and he said to them draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast and they took it and when the master the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and did not know where it came from but the servants who had drawn the water knew the master of the feast called the bridegroom and he said to him every man at the beginning sets out the good wine and when the guests have well drunk tin the inferior you you've kept the good wine until now and in my reading time as I was just looking at this story I don't know I feel like God just it's like he just took me there like I could see the house I could see the setting and he just gave me this clear picture of Jesus and I want to attempt to to share it with you because I think this shows us what Jesus is really like you know everyone has a certain style about them everyone has a way of how they carry themselves it's like God could tell us each to do the same thing but we would all have a different style about how we did it do you know what I mean we would all do it a little bit differently from each other and I like this style that Jesus shows here when you look at Jesus you just can't help but to love what you see I really dig his style and I just see him like so smooth and awesome here in the midst of this wedding party and so if you're taking notes I hope you are I want to give you four things I saw about Jesus style okay about how he carried himself and and I hope this paints a picture for you to just just to get another glimpse of how awesome he really is the first thing about his style is that Jesus works quietly behind the scenes Mary wanted it to be this big public thing but the miracle would take place behind the scenes he wanted to bless the people privately and so often in your life this is what God is going to do it reminds me of a great story about a couple who used to attend church here some of you guys remember Jacques and Christina they're this amazing South African couple who they moved over they felt called over to England so they live there now but Christina suffered with endometriosis for years over ten years in her life and she had bits of surgery where they removed part of her intestine you know just these cancerous cells would attack her body and she was always you know having physical problems and and they couldn't have kids and as a last ditch thing they they found the leading expert in the world on endometriosis he's a doctor who lives up in Oregon and and they decided to go see him and he was going to do this massive surgery to remove like most of her intestines it was going to be a major thing and so they take x-rays and you could just see all over the x-rays all these little cancerous cells just everywhere just gnarly all over her intestines and so he was going to go remove that huge chunk and so the surgery was to be a certain amount of hours and so Jacques is waiting in out in the waiting room and the doctor comes out super early and you know his first reaction is what went wrong and the doctor said hey I closed her back up because let me show you what I saw when I opened her up and she was you know where I'm going with this completely healed absolutely completely showed one x-ray showed the next x-ray he said I don't know how to explain this but she's cured she no longer has endometriosis and the beautiful thing about this story is that it did not happen in this huge arena with thousands of people with the focus being on some miracle worker with a shiny white coat it wasn't even around our church body it was a man and a wife who had been broken for years who had prayed for a miracle and it was them too and a doctor who could not explain anything and the presence of Jesus Christ in that room it's amazing it's beautiful and this is often how Jesus Christ will work in our lives loke behind the scenes is it real yeah absolutely real but that's just who he is I found a quote from Charles Spurgeon about this that I really liked he said when the water is to be turned into wine when he selects that as the first miracle he does not call for the master of the feast even or for the bridegroom himself or for any of the guests and begin to say you clearly perceive what your wine is all gone now I'm about to show you a great marvel to turn water into wine so that's what I did then let me show you guys something no he does it quietly with the servants he tells them to fill the waterpots he uses the baths he does not ask for any new vessels but uses what were they're making no fuss or parade he uses water two of which they had abundance and works the miracle if I may so speak in the most commonplace and natural style and that is just the style of Jesus Christ for you when you seek to serve Jesus Christ don't do it hoping that people are gonna see you he said don't do your good works before men because then you have your reward in fact if you have an opportunity to do something that's going to be a blessing and you can choose to do it where no one's looking or where people will be looking choose to do it when no one's looking and know by faith God sees and he will reward you openly for it one day do your service unto Christ as naturally as you can without hoping for Pat's on the back without needing a fix like you're this junkie who needs approval from people like I got to serve because I need another pat on the back because I'm so insecure you know just do it before the Lord and know that he sees because that's the way he rolls point number two about the style of Jesus is that he hangs out with humble people I love guys I love that he was hanging out with the servants he wasn't hanging out with the big shots at the wedding you know the guys who everyone could see there Jesus is having a great time but he's over hanging out with the servants it's amazing remember the parable he taught in Luke chapter 14 when he said if you're invited to a great feast don't take the seats of honor at the head of the table because someone might say hey you were invited to sit here but he said take a low estimation of yourself and sit at the foot of the table and then maybe they'll invite you and say hey in front of everybody else take this seat we want you to sit here and so here he is at this wedding and he's hanging out with people who well people he could relate to because he's the servant of all and I love that the servants the servants were the ones who had the most joy at this wedding cuz Jesus only let the servants in on what he was doing do you know the people who have the most joy at church it's the people who serve the people who have the least joy at church are the people who come late and leave early because Jesus lets the servants in on secrets and insights and radical experiences that nobody else experiences that's what he shows us at this wedding the third thing about the style of Jesus is that he always saves the best for last the master of the of the fee said you know people usually bring out the best wine first and then the later but you you have just done something amazing this is like one of the best weddings Israel has ever seen you've brought this amazing wine out last and it doesn't mean that it had a high alcohol content they didn't think of it that way they didn't even care about that what it means is that it was well made wine Jesus always saves the best for last it's just his style he started in a tiny fragile body of an infant he ends in this magnificent adult glorified resurrected body he began sitting in a nasty dirty horse trough carved out of stone he finishes sitting on the very throne of God in heaven he saves the best for last and friends believe that the last is still yet to come in your life in your heart you have to believe that some people don't know this about Jesus because they don't believe this about Jesus but if they just believed that Jesus saved the best for last then you know what they wouldn't bail out on him when the first little trial came they wouldn't ditch him when they experienced pain or heartache in their life when you believe that Jesus saves the best for last then you are willing to endure you are willing to keep walking and that's just who he is the best is still yet to come the fourth thing about his style simple he just loves to have a great time with people he chose to perform his first miracle at a wedding he liked hanging out at social gatherings he wasn't the guy where there's a bunch of people having fun and he walks in the room and people are like oh man there's that guy he wasn't that in fact he is the source of the good time at this wedding he made this wedding better than it could ever have been so in His infinite wisdom he didn't choose for his first miracle to be you know to heal a leper or to walk on water he chose strategically for his first miracle to be in a setting where it gave so much joy to people who were about to be disgraced and really bummed out and so weddings weddings are awesome everywhere weddings are a good time it's a day of love it's they have laughter it's a day of music and singing and dancing and and food and hugs it's amazing and so Jesus says this is the best environment for me to show my power because not only will it show my power but it will show people how I roll and who I am I like people I like laughter I like being around a good time so I hope you can see who he is just a little bit better he wanted to have fun he wanted to be at social gatherings he was hanging out with the servants because that's who he was he didn't have to be seen with the big shots I just like his style so I hope that paints a clearer picture of who Jesus is for you and then in verse 11 this beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him so it says this was his first miracle it's interesting it actually calls it a sign and this is important because the sign is something that points to something else you see what Jesus did here is a sign that points to something else more significant okay I mean Jesus is waited for 30 years to perform miracle do you think his first one isn't going to mean anything do you think his first one is just going to be random do you think his first miracle wouldn't paint sweet pictures of everything he was come to do on this planet of course it does and so for you in your mind this is the part of the sermon where I ask you to really turn up the dial on your brain because I think there's some awesome things here and just some things that I was chewing on and chewing on and it's like it's not just turning water into wine to help these people it was there's so much in here as I kick off my ministry there's so much here there's so many pictures there's so many foreshadows there's so many deep things I'm going to speak to communicate what my whole ministry is all about so not only do we see the style of Jesus in this story but Jesus also gives us great insight into the ministry he came to accomplish and so again if you're taking notes I want to give you guys three insights into his first miracle three insights into his first miracle you ready roll number one his first miracle was a miracle of conversion think about it Jesus turned one substance into another substance he turned dirty bath water into really great wine it's not like it was this great water you know it's just it's a picture of how he turned a dirty unhappy sinner like me into a cleansed joyful person it's just a miracle it's conversion and I also love the picture that all Jesus had to work with was empty vessels these fragile clay pots that were easily damaged easily broken very fragile and what came in was water and what came out was wine he poured water in and wine came pouring out wine and water both very symbolic in the Bible and water of course is always a picture of the Holy Spirit especially a picture of the Holy Spirit working through his word Paul and Ephesians 5 talks about the the water of the word of God that if you expect the Holy Spirit to really speak and work in your life and you don't got your Bible open then you're just kidding yourself it's like even today the people who are here with their Bible open looking at it for themselves you guys are going to get way more than the people who don't and I don't say this to Bagon or trash on you if you don't have your Bible so don't like look around and point fingers but it's just the truth the Word of God is the means by which the water comes it's like it you can't have water until you turn the faucet on opening your Bible is turning it on for your life believe that you can't expect to skip the process so many other people have found that the Word of God leads you to the presence of God it's just the way it is so this empty pot was filled with um water I don't know what's going on with me just roll with it kay I hope you're not distracted wine came out remember wine is symbolic of God's joy remember when he said I am the vine you are the branches unless you abide in me you can do nothing but if you abide in me the vine you bear much fruit he was talking about a vineyard he was talking about as you stay connected to Christ the fruit of the vine the fruit of God's joy and love is going to come out from your life even the Apostle Paul said in second Corinthians chapter four verse six we have this treasure in Jars of Clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us what is he saying well we are the fragile clay pots who have been filled with great treasure the point is God wants to bless you he wants to bless humanity jesus said he not only came to give life but abundant life and this picture of water turning into wine is symbolic of the reality of an experience that you can have with God but there's a great lie out there that's trying to come against this in your life it started way back from the beginning when the devil convinced Eve God was keeping her back from something good Eve God really doesn't want you to have the best time that you could have he's holding back from you if God holds anything back from us it's because he's saving us from destruction and pain and the consequences of sin which feel awful and hurt people the lie is that God wants to rob you of your fun there's nothing farther from the truth Jesus was at a wedding he having a great time he made the wedding better Jesus will always make your life better always you have to believe that he saved this couple from humiliation and disgrace because he's not just a savior from our sins but he's a current savior everyday he can save you he can be a savior to you in your trial right now he can save you in your situation today you don't just believe on him once you believe on him every day and he saves and he saves and he makes life better and better and he saves the best for last and he wants to work in your heart privately in that deep place of who you really are Peter and his own experience said it's joy unspeakable which means I can't even articulate with words how cool it really is it's just it's joy unspeakable I don't have words you just got to have it for yourself you got it or you don't you got it or you don't it's amazing and so his first miracle was a miracle of conversion point number two his first miracle is a picture of the new covenant he would establish notice in verse 6 it says now they were set there six waterpots of stone according to the manner of purification of the Jews these weren't ordinary pots these water pots were connected to the system of Old Covenant law remember Jesus was born at a time where people were under the Old Covenant which simply was God saying if you obey my rules I'll bless you if you disobey my rules I'm going to take my hand off you and I'm not going to bless you Israel showed us in the Old Testament it's impossible they failed over and over and over Jesus was coming to introduce a new covenant based on better promises it was a better system so these pots that were used in ceremonial purification represent the law these pots are here to represent the old covenant and in this first miracle of Jesus I believe he's communicating that true conversion true change true transformation will never happen by the law it will only happen in your life through His grace you see these pots were filled with water in order to cleanse the outside of the body but they could never cleanse and touch the heart they couldn't reach the heart and so the Old Covenant with all of its rules it can never convert and transform a person's heart this is why religious people are miserable and even more miserable for us to be around because they're stuck with all these outward rules but nothing changes on the inside they're really the same person they've always been they're just all uptight because they have all these rules they think they got to follow it's like get out of my face with all your rules it's trash also in our story there was a family that really needed some help they were on the fringe of having the rest of their lives changed they were about to be disgraced they were about to be fine to some of money could religion help them could the old covenant swoop in and save the day for them no these pots stood off in the corner empty and dry they could do nothing to help these people so I believe it's a picture that the law couldn't do anything for these people because of the law this couple would have been fined and disgraced but because of Christ's grace they end up posted one of the greatest Jewish weddings ever they also even look back at John chapter 1 verse 17 remember in John 1:17 it says the law was given through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus it's a contrast the law came through Moses what did Moses turn water into anyone blood which represents death the law came through Moses he turned water into death grace comes through Christ he turned the water into wine again into joy for you Jesus can change your life he will change your life as he touches your life you're going to become a different person internally you're gonna think differently you're gonna feel differently about certain topics he's gonna change the way you speak he's gonna change what you look at he's going to change what you want to listen to but it will be by the love of God not because of the law of God the law can do nothing Jesus abolished it and he has brought us into a covenant based on a personal relationship of love that's all he cares about he's already died to take your sins away it's not like he's worried about that he's done it his concern now is he wants relationship that's what he wants so his first miracle again is a picture of the new covenant that he was ushering in and then point number three our final point his first miracle looks forward to his own wedding feast I love this that his first miracle is a marriage feast because really we're told in Ephesians 5 that marriage is all a picture of Christ's relationship to his bride the church and it all just points a picture of this wonderful thing that's going to be taking place in heaven and in Revelation chapter 19 even told that Jesus is going to have his own wedding feast we are his bride and so at this party you have a master of the feast you have a bridegroom and you have a bride at the wedding feast in heaven God the Father he is the master of the feast Jesus is the groom the church you and I where is bride and that that great wedding in heaven drinking the communion cup with us will actually be a very significant moment in Jesus life that will be this crowning feeling of euphoria in his heart it really will because it's something he's eagerly waited to do for 2,000 years now Jesus referred to this when he instituted communion the night before he was crucified check this out Matthew chapter 26 verses 27 through 29 he took the cup gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins don't miss what he says next but I say to you I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's Kingdom understand that communion was instituted as Jesus interrupted the Passover meal the Passover meal was this long meal that the Jews did every year and there were actually four cups that they drank during this Passover meal it was when they were at the third cup which was called the cup of blessing that Jesus held up this cup and he added new meaning to it and he said the cup of blessing is that I'm gonna shed my blood for you and I want you to take and drink of it but then he said I'm not going to drink of it until that day when I drink it new with you when at the marriage Feast of the Lamb so Jesus passed around the company had them drink from it but he didn't drink from it because he didn't want to participate in what would be a memorial to his own death instead he looked forward to the future to the time when all of his believers would be gathered together to him then at that point at that great marriage supper of the Lamb then he will hold up the cup hi and we will all be gathered with him and he will drink the cup with all of us and he will celebrate what he accomplished in all of its fullness with all of the people he died for and in that moment we're going to be tripping out because we're gonna be thinking earth is done this moment is the beginning of our eternity no more tears no more suffering no more pain no more questions no more worry it's gonna be this forever and it's just gonna get better so as you hold your communion cup today remember that as you drink it you are looking back in the past to what Christ did for you but Paul the Apostle also said we're to look forward to the day when we drink that cup with Christ he instituted it and he said I'm gonna wait till you all here with me and then we're going to feast and we're going to celebrate forever amen let's read our you

Channel: Victory Calvary Chapel

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Length: 46min 0sec (2760 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 08 2013