The Unbidden Beginning

John 2:1-12

As we move into the ministry of Jesus in the book of John I wanted to share some things from my heart with you.

We are about to be confronted with some faith-challenging Truth over the remainder of this book. It is Truth that I fought with and has changed my life in profound ways that would take me hours to explain. This book continues to challenge my view of God, as it is far too small. I pray that as we continue on through John together that you will have a desire to know God more fully and in that desire I pray that you will come here each week simply asking the question “what has God said to us?”

My desire as your pastor and weekly preacher in this pulpit is to simply, as best I can, show you what God has said.

I don’t want to entertain you. I don’t want to play games here. I don’t want you to leave here saying “I had fun in church today.” I want each of you to leave this place week in and week out saying to one another “God has spoken to us in His Word today.”

My desire and prayer for us is that we might, together, be set ablaze with a desire for God’s Word and a passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I encourage you to bring your Bibles each week or have them opened on your phone if you won’t get distracted. I want us to become a church that is so hungry for the Word of God that we can’t wait to open our Bibles together and sit under the teaching and preaching of the Word with expectation that the Spirit of God is going to move through His Word.

The story and Christ’s glory

The setting

Three days after His encounter with Nathanael

Around the same place as the encounter with Nathanael

Jesus mother and Jesus are invited to a wedding with His disciples

The problem

The wine runs out, possibly inferring Mary’s responsibility for looking over the serving of the wine, but at least showing her desire to save the family of the groom embarrassment

Jesus’ statement in verse 4 is a statement of separate interests

“My hour has not yet come” is the first of 9 references to His hour in this Gospel account. All refer to His hour of glorification which begins with His death and ends with His ascension

The miracle

“Do whatever he tells you” reveals Jesus dependability and resourcefulness in providing for the needs of His family

He turns the water into wine

He did it to manifest His glory

He did not get His arm twisted by Mary. He did it on His own accord

Similar to what happens between Jesus and His brothers in John 7

John 7:2-10- Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not[b] going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” After saying this, he remained in Galilee. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.

His disciples believed in Him

What it reveals about Christ

It reveals the awesome power of Jesus

He has the power to take the molecular structure of something and change it by the simple command “fill these jars with waters”

He has the power to do all that He pleases

It reveals that Jesus wants His glory to be seen

He did it secondarily to meet the needs of the wedding hosts

He did it primarily to manifest His glory to those who were there

He did it for the faith of His disciples

He did it for us this morning as we read about it

It reveals that we have all that we need to believe

His disciples saw and believed as He performed this miracle

Anyone who had read any amount of the New Testament has seen far more than just this miracle

We do not need special revelations from God, because He has revealed all that we need in His Word

What it means for us

We are left without excuse

Not only because of Romans 1 but also because we have all we need to believe in front of us

May we shutter together at Jesus’ condemnation of the Woe Cities in Matthew 11

Matthew 11:20-22- Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

Glory is before us this morning through the inspired Gospel account of the very Son of God

Seek Him, See Him, Love Him

If we take our time to seek Christ His Word, we can know Him and His power deeply

His Word is:

Sufficient

Powerful

Able to make us mature in Christ

The same Jesus who has the power to turn water into wine is He who is infinitely able to

Remove any heart of unbelief and replace it with a heart of belief

Convict you of sin and grow you in holiness and purity

Give you a heart that loves and desires His Word

Make you mature in Christ

Present you blameless before the throne of God by the power of His blood

My Prayer for our church and your life

Jesus, manifest Your glory to us

Give us eyes to see

Give us minds to think well about what You have said to us

Give us hearts to love you

Give us boldness to be proclaimers of this glory