John 2, verses 1-11, and I think you'll find it a help to read along in your Bibles with me. Before we do read this, let's go again to God in prayer for His blessing on His Word. Let's pray. Lord, You spoke in days of old to the fathers by the prophets. You have spoken to us in these last days by Your Son. And You speak from heaven And you say that your voice shakes the heavens and the earth. And that we must give the more careful heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. Father, this is a serious thing that we do as we come to approach your word. We pray that you would bless the preaching and hearing of your word. We pray that your people would be built up and edified, that if any here do not know you, they would be converted unto you and see and taste that you are good and see the glory of Jesus and fall down and worship him. We pray these things in his name. Amen. John chapter two, beginning in verse one. 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. And 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 now? Literally, the translation ought to be woman. What of you and me? What of you and me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. Now there were set there six water pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing 20 or 30 gallons apiece. And Jesus said to them, fill the water pots 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. When the master of 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, then the inferior, you have kept the good wine until now. This beginning of signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God will certainly endure forever. Well, I wonder if you've ever had the opportunity of watching the video of your wedding. It's actually quite an interesting experience. I took the time this week to go back and watch my wedding video. And the one thing that is just obvious as you watch a wedding video is that all eyes are on the bride and groom. That is the one thing that every wedding really has in common. It is your one moment of fame. In many of our lives, it was my one moment of fame, and actually most guys were on my wife. But that is the obvious focus of a wedding. It is on the bride and groom. Now, imagine watching your wedding video, and instead of seeing yourself and your spouse in the video, the videographer was focusing on some basically unknown person who had been invited to your wedding and what that person was doing that seemed to be more important than your wedding. Well, that's what we have in John chapter two. We have a wedding that we know nothing about the bride or groom in any way whatsoever. We know nothing about whose wedding it was. And all eyes are not fixed on the bride and groom. All eyes are fixed on Jesus. And so it's a very instructive wedding for us to behold. It's a wedding where Jesus did His first miracle. John tells us in verse 11, this beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. It's important on many levels. Tonight, we're going to look at four things. We're going to see the significance of this first miracle in the time when it was performed. The time when it was performed. Then we're going to see the occasion at which it was performed. Then we're going to see the nature of the miracle. And then fourthly, we'll consider the meaning. The time, the occasion, the nature, and the meaning. Well, we see very early here in this account that Jesus has come to this wedding on the third day. Now, we saw last week that John had marked a series of days in the first week of the ministry of Jesus. The first week of the ministry of Jesus was marked out by a series of days. And as Jesus gathered his first five disciples, we saw that phrase repeated The next day, the next day, the next day. Now, John continues that and he says the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Now, this may on the surface seem fairly superficial. It's just John telling us what day things happen. But if we went through and we read directly through the Gospel of John, what we would see is that John is very different from the other gospel writers and that unlike the other gospel writers, John doesn't mark out week after week and days in the life of Jesus. And that he only keeps track of the days here in the first week of the ministry of Jesus Christ. And I want to remind us as we try to discover the meaning of why John says this and what's important about the fact of the day of this wedding, that John has opened this gospel in the same way the Genesis was opened. with the creation of the world. And he's told us that at creation, Jesus, the living word was there and that the living word of God created all things and that without him, nothing was made that was made. And what we're told there in John one from the beginning of creation through the first week of Jesus is that we have the creator of the world now entering into time for redemption. And as this first seven days comprise the most important work of his life. So this first week, it set aside is important. Now, lest I confuse you, I'll break this down. There are four days mentioned in John chapter one, the first four days of Jesus's ministry here on earth. And then there are three more days set out. And Jesus finds himself on the seventh day at a wedding. Now, that's important for a couple of reasons. First is the most significant thing that happened after creation. God creates man in his images. There's a wedding. And the most significant thing that happens in Jesus's life after we're told all things were made through him is seven days later, there is a wedding. And so our minds ought to be drawn back that this is the creator of the world. And he is setting his blessing on that very first blessing, the wedding of man and woman, the bringing together in marriage of man and woman. And now at the beginning of Jesus's ministry, his ministry starts. Have you ever thought of this at a wedding? of all places. Our Lord Jesus begins his ministry and this first miracle at a wedding. Now, there are many applications we can take away. Marriage is very legitimate. The Roman Catholic Church tries to say that it's not in many situations. Our Lord Jesus here, and this is an enormous principle, shows that marriage is legitimate and that he blesses it in every way and that his blessing of full, rich abundance is poured out even in the miracle at the wedding. And so we ought never to look at marriage as a bad thing. as something that's undesirable or something that God does not intend to use for his glory. But there's another reason, I think, that the third day may be mentioned here, and that is clearly with reference to that great third day of the resurrection of Jesus, because, as you all know, on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead. Now, John does not mention that Jesus rose on the third day, except in the latter part Chapter 2 look down in verse 19. We'll see this next week Jesus says to the scribes and Pharisees destroyed this temple speaking of his body Destroyed this temple the place of true worship because he is the place of true worship destroyed this temple and in three days I will raise it up now the significance obviously is that in the resurrection of Jesus? There is a new creation There is a new world through which we are brought in his resurrection when Jesus rose from the dead He brought us through the old order of things into the new order of things that he brought us through into a new world of grace and mercy and peace and eternal life and rich abundance. And so I think all of this is probably intended in John's mentioning that this was the third day. Now, you may say, well, where in the where in the wedding is anything about new creation? Well, I'll just point out very briefly that In chapters 2, 3, and 4, you have a series of things made new. You have new wine in chapter 2. Then you have the new temple. Then in chapter 3, the new birth with Nicodemus. Then in chapter 4, the new water with the woman at the well. And then the new worship at the end of chapter 4. And so there's a series of things that Jesus is showing that he came to make all things new. And through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, he makes all things new. I think at the beginning we have to say that the time of this wedding is not an insignificant thing. There is rich theological meaning to it. But then secondly, we see, as we've already noted, that it was a wedding. It was a time of celebration. It was a time of feasting. Now, many people have an idea of Jesus. They err on one or the other side. They see Jesus as stern and morose and one who never smiled or did anything enjoyable. Or they see him as one of license, who was just the life of the party and came to just make everybody happy, no matter what. And both pictures of Jesus are wrong. But here in the text, we get a very nuanced, balanced picture of Jesus. He is not stern or morose. He is there at a wedding feast, the greatest celebration in ancient Eurypte, and incidentally, the greatest celebration even today in our world. But he is also not a man of license. He is not there getting drunk. He is not carrying on as so many would like a Jesus who just lets them carry on and carries on with them. And so we see that he is there enjoying the things of life, giving his blessing to those things, showing us that he does care that we have those enjoyable celebrations in life. And we have to have a proper understanding of who Jesus is. This is the Jesus we worship. This is our savior. And it's important for us to understand his character and his demeanor and what he blesses and what he doesn't bless. And so he is there at the wedding. Well, we're told first that not Jesus, but the mother of Jesus was there at the wedding. This brings us to the occasion of this first miracle. The mother of Jesus was there. Now, most commentators agree that Mary was there as part of the wedding, that this was probably a wedding of some poor relatives because Mary was poor and Jesus and his disciples were poor and would not have probably been invited to a rich wedding. And Mary is there. And it's not said that Mary was invited. It says the mother of Jesus was there. And as we'll see her concern about the shortage of wine We soon understand that Mary has more of an integral part in this wedding. She plays a bigger role in this wedding than maybe it seems at first sight. So the mother of Jesus was there and then we're told in verse two that Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And no sooner are we told that Jesus was at the wedding that we're told about a crisis at the wedding. Now, this is extremely significant. There is a crisis at the wedding. in Cana of Galilee. John tells us in verse three, when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. Actually, literally, when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said they have no wine. There is a crisis here. And again, on the surface, maybe we wouldn't notice this, but if we took a moment to study about the practice of marriages in the first century in Israel, you would see that it was the responsibility, not the group, the bride's family. but of the groom and the groom's family to provide all the preparations necessary and that it was actually a legally binding obligation for the groom to provide all of the goods and all of the refreshments and all of everything that was needed and that if he failed to provide that, it could actually end up in a lawsuit and dispute between two families that otherwise ought to be coming together. It was a sign of neglect. It was a sign of the short-sightedness of the groom. And it's a greater problem than on the surface we would probably think. Naturally, it really was. The wine failed at this wedding. Weddings at this time lasted, they say, for up to a week. And it was great days of celebration and feasting, up until that day when the bride and the groom were given in holy marriage to one another. And so over this period of time, the wine ran out. We'll see later that the people had drunk more than they should have. But what had happened was a crisis had occurred at the wedding and there was no wine. Now we'll see shortly the significance of that in the spiritual realm, because it's not just a nice story about a physical historical account of a wedding at Cana of Galilee. It is actually a story of our spiritual condition. But you'll see in verse four that the occasion of this miracle is not just dependent on the crisis itself. But you'll see that it's occasioned by Mary approaching Jesus. In verse 4, Mary says to him, in verse 3, they have no wine. Now, why Mary is coming to Jesus is not entirely clear. Some have speculated that Mary must have seen miracles done by her son in Nazareth as he grew up for those 30 years in preparation for his messianic ministry. I don't think that's likely because at the end of this section, it says this was the beginning. of signs for Jesus. Now, there are writings out there. They're not biblical. They're not inspired by the Spirit. They say Jesus turned clay pigeons into real birds. That's not true. We only trust what God has inspired completely out of this word. And what we know is that this was the beginning of signs. And so we can't assume that Mary knew that Jesus would work a miracle. But what I think is going on here, Mary is no doubt so used to her son caring for her. You know, Mary's a widow at this point. It's relatively likely that she is a widow, that Joseph died sometime after Jesus was 12 in the temple. We don't hear about him at any other point. And we know when Jesus is hanging on the cross, he provides a home for Mary with the apostle John. And so if we took our minds back and we had sanctified imagination of what it must have been like for Jesus to grow up there with Mary in that home in Nazareth, We can only imagine that he probably would have cleaned his room and her room before she asked him to do anything. And any time there was a problem, Jesus probably counseled his mother reverently as to how that problem could best be solved. And she had no doubt seen the compassionate heart of the living God in her son. She had all the prophecies. She had all the foreshadowings. A star had guided distant visitors over the grave, over the manger where he lay as a baby with her. She had had wise men come and bow down and worship her son, the baby Jesus, knowing that he was so much more than just a mere man. And I imagine that in those 30 years of her being with him, she had discovered that he was the most compassionate person and the most wise and understanding man she had ever met. And so my my speculation here is that Mary tells Jesus the problem because she believes he's going to fix it. Now, on one hand, it doesn't seem like a bad thing that Mary's coming to Jesus. On the other hand, as we'll see from his answer, it is really a selfish and undiscerning request by her. She comes and she says to him, they have no wine. And the answer almost strikes us as strange. When we read Jesus's response, you ought to sit back and say, what's that about? Why would Jesus respond to Mary? The way he does, you'll see this in verse four, woman, what does your concerns have to do with me or literally woman? What have you in me? What have you in me? My hour has not yet come. The first thing that we have to see in this is the title, the address that Jesus gives at this request woman. Now, that would be harsh if Fred Sanford was talking to someone and he used the word woman. Some of you are maybe too young to know Sanford and son. You would know that that is a demeaning title. That's not the way that Jesus is using this. And the best way that people explain how Jesus is speaking to her is that he's saying to her, dear woman, something in the South here like ma'am, except not used as commonly. And that's pretty much how everybody understands this. Jesus is not calling her mother as the Roman Catholics want to say. She's always the mother. She is the mediatrix. She co-intercedes with Jesus. No, he says to her woman, he basically uses a term of common endearment. But I wonder if there's not a theological reason why he uses this. Most of you who have been coming to the Genesis study know that we've talked about the significance of Genesis 3.15. And there in that first prophecy in the Bible, we are told that God would send the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent, the one who would bring redemption, the man who would come from woman. And so here, as the seat of the woman is at this wedding with the very one through whom that prophecy is fulfilled, it is likely that he is telling her and we'll see in a second why he is telling her, woman, my hour is not yet come. Basically, he is addressing her with that prophetic term because the work that she is asking him to do and the work that he has come to do are two very different things. Now, I think that explains the rest of his response. He says to her, woman, what of you and me? Now, I think it's unfortunate that the ESV and the New King James basically translated, what does your concern have to do with me? Because that's not really what the Greek says. I think A better understanding would be Jesus is essentially saying to her, Mary, you are asking me to do something as your son in the physical realm to help this situation. Physically, I have not come to do that. What does this have to do with our relationship? There are difficulties here. Jesus is telling his mother, my time to be your son and to serve you and help you is now passed in that earthly sense. And I am here as the Messiah to help you and everyone else in a spiritual way. Now, that's very important for us to get. If we look at Jesus the way that Mary looked at Jesus or who can help us with our budget and our finances or with just the difficulties of having arguments in our marriage, he'll help us with those things. He is a savior who cares about the very smallest thing in your life. But if that's principally what we see Jesus as and we miss Jesus as the savior of the world, then we have completely missed the picture. about why he came into the world and why for 30 years he subjected himself to Mary and to humble circumstances and to veiled glory by his flesh. Why for 30 years as God, he would keep back his power and his majesty and not command every man on the face of the earth to worship him is because he came in God's time to redeem a people. I think that that is also why he adds this phrase, my hour has not yet come. This phrase appears seven times in the Gospel of John. This is the first of seven. And each time it has reference to his hour of crucifixion, each time it has reference to that hour when he would hang on the cross and atone for the sins of his people. And so what he's telling Mary is your physical need and my relationship as your son is not what's important. What is important is the saving work that I was sent for that hour to which I came. Well, notice in verse 5, at the occasion of this first miracle, the change in Mary, the sudden change. Mary is a very godly example. I don't want to put Mary down too much. Jesus does rebuke her. But Mary is a godly woman and she understands, in a sense. She understands what Jesus is saying. What of you and me? This is about you, Jesus. And so she says to the servants in verse 5, whatever he says to you, do it. Whatever he says to you, do it. If I could send you home with a verse tonight ringing in your ears, it would be this verse. And in my ears, whatever he says to you, do it. That is the great call of Christian discipleship. It's not how we become disciples. We become disciples by his saving work alone, apart from what we do. But it is the great call that we are called to obey everything that Jesus commands us. Whatever he says, we are to do it. And that is a sign of true brokenness and humility that we want Christ to be the Lord of all that we want him to have complete control. And we want to live by every word of God that proceeded out of his mouth. And Mary understands this. And she says to them, whatever he says to you, do it. Now, I think it's interesting at this point just to note that there are many people who make professing Christians who don't. put Jesus out in front. You don't want to submit to him. Even that phrase, put him out in front is a weak phrase. You don't want to submit to the one who is over all things exalted forever. I have a good friend, Rick Phillips, who is a pastor, theologian. And Rick wrote a book recently called Jesus the Evangelist. And he was telling the story how he was at a Christian book conference, very large, prestigious Christian book conference. And that the marketing groups who were at this conference had informed him that if you put the name Jesus on your book, this will radically diminish the sale of your book. And it was interesting because Rick went on to tell the story how he was being interviewed at this particular Christian book conference. And a woman interviewing him said to him, this is amazing. Years I've been doing these conferences and I've never interviewed someone that had the name Jesus or Christ on their book, a Christian book conference. That's instructed because Jesus is at the wedding. And now, as Mary has directed it away from her earthly request to her son, again, the Holy Spirit is drawing our attention to Jesus, that we must see him, that he must be our focus, that he, all the cameras must be on him. And all of our eyes must be on him, even at this wedding. And so we're told in verse six, that Jesus begins to entertain Mary's request, though he's set it straight, he begins to entertain her request with the miracle that he does. Now we'll see the nature of this miracle in the third place. Verse six, there were set there six water pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing 20 or 30 gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water. They filled them to the brim and he said to them, draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast. It's a very simple miracle. All of you know it well. Jesus sees some pots. He tells the servants to fill them with water and then he tells them to draw some out and automatically it's already wine. He doesn't say anything. He doesn't command the water to become wine. He wills the water to become wine. That's a very significant point in the nature of this first miracle. Jesus simply wills the water to become wine. The servants obey Him and obeying Him, they receive a blessing because this miracle is actually wrought and carried out. They did nothing to change the water into wine. They simply obeyed Jesus as Mary had commanded them. But Jesus wills 180 gallons of water to become wine, taken to the master of the feast, drawn out and enjoyed. And this is the miracle. And it's a very basic miracle. It's not Detailed, it's not complicated, it's not complex, and yet it is so rich in theological meaning. And so in the last place, we'll consider now the meaning of this miracle. The meaning, I think, begins back. We go back now, back to the crisis. The wine had failed. They had no wine. The crisis was that they were out of resources. Now, I said to you earlier, spiritually, we are out of resources. Anybody that is to enjoy the grace of Jesus must recognize that he has nothing in and of himself, nothing to provide. He has no resources. He has no spiritual goodness. He has nothing in himself. That is the first step in people who experience the grace of Jesus Christ. Martin Luther has a great quote on this. He says, Christ waits till the very last moment when the want is felt by everyone present. and there is no counsel or help left. This shows the way of divine grace that is not imparted to one who still has enough and has not yet felt his need. For grace does not feed the full and satisfied, but the hungry. Grace does not feed the full and satisfied, but the hungry. You see, Jesus's miracle is significant because it occurs at the moment of need and weakness and emptiness and helplessness. And that is our situation by nature. We are helpless. We do not have one ounce of goodness. And so it's at that moment that Jesus's power and grace and help come in to help us. And so if you are feeling that now, even as a Christian, we feel that, don't we? Even as Christians, there are so many times when we say, Lord, I don't have anything in myself to change this heart and to enable me to obey and change. And at that moment, when we say the wine has failed everything, all of our resources for ourselves and others have failed. At that moment, Jesus comes in and he satisfies us with that very thing that we need. He gives us the very thing we need. Actually, he gives us more than we need, because we see in this that when the wine is taken to the master of the feast, he says to the groom, every man at the beginning sets out the good wine. And when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior, You have kept the good one until now. It's also significant, though, that Jesus doesn't perform this miracle in great displays of flash and pomp and circumstances. Jesus does this behind the scenes, as it were. No one really knows who it was that helped them. Nobody but the disciples and the servants, the lowly people. The humble people actually know about Jesus's glory and majesty. And so the master of the feast calls the groom. And in this miracle, Jesus even honors the groom by solving this great dilemma for him so that the master of the feast says to him, you have saved the best line until now. Now, if all of that is all that we saw in this, we would completely miss the point of this first miracle. What is the point of this first miracle? Besides the fact that they had no wine, they lacked resources, we lack resources. In verse six, you'll see a clue where we're told that there were six water pots of stone according to the manner of purification of the Jews. This is not just a haphazard detail. These water pots were set aside for old covenant, rabbinical, Judaistic, ceremonial cleansing. The water was used to cleanse the guests to show their need for spiritual cleansing from their sin. And it was used to cleanse the pots and the pans and all of the utensils that were used in the celebration. It was ceremonial cleansing. Remember, we said John's baptism, in a sense, was ceremonial cleansing. Well, here the water pots are representative. of everything in the Old Covenant, everything that was old and preparatory and even corrupted by Judaism, that had been corrupted by man-made religion. Because nowhere in the Bible are we told that weddings needed to be ceremonially cleansed with these water pots. There are six of these water pots and they are representing the old weak order. They're representing an order that can't satisfy the hearts of men and women, something that can't provide joy and lasting pleasure for us. It's something that runs out. It's representative even of our efforts in religion to clean ourselves up. You know, there are many churches right now today. They have all kinds of externals going on. And they are just like the Jews of Jesus's day that looked at those external religious things for purification. And you know what? The water fails and the wine fails and all of it fails. And so Jesus comes and he turns the water into wine. He actually has the water filled to the top. so that there would be shown to be no lack, no want, that none of it would be missing. And then he turns that water into wine, into the best wine. Wine is something that satisfies. It's something that makes the heart glad. Psalm 104 says God made wine to rejoice the heart. It's something that was promised in the New Covenant. Amos says to us that in the New Covenant, the mountains would drip with sweet wine. And so our Lord Jesus, bringing all the blessings of the new covenant and showing all the weakness of the old order, has come and he has ushered in in this first miracle everything that pertains to his saving work and to the fullness that is in Jesus. One old writer has put it this way. The water of guilt is transformed into the wine of forgiveness. The water of habitual failure is changed into the wine of victory, the water of legalism is transformed into the wine of joyful obedience. I hope you're starting to see that this is not just Jesus wanting to make some wine for people to have a party. Jesus is showing everything that his ministry is about to accomplish. He is showing everything that by his death on the cross he is going to do. And brothers and sisters, he has provided that wine, not just for this wedding. He has provided that wine spiritually for you and me through his death on the cross. I think it's fascinating that the first three gospel writers mention the next significant place where wine is used in the Lord's Supper. And there they mention that, obviously, as the cup of blessing wrought out by the death of Jesus on the cross for you. And yet John doesn't mention that. John doesn't mention the institution of the supper. But John has already mentioned that very thing in this wedding at Cana Valley. He has already mentioned the very thing that is going to be instituted at the supper and that is pointing forward to our Lord Jesus at the cross. He is instituting the new wine of the new covenant for all who are thirsty. And you know what? It's because he thirsted at the cross. It's because he thirsted. It's because He was stripped of His clothing. It's because He was stripped of everything because of our sin. And He was nailed to the cross because of our sin that this wine can flow richly and freely and joyfully into our hearts by the Spirit. And so this is no small miracle that Jesus does. Have you noticed, incidentally, that it's not a miracle of healing? Nobody gets healed. It's a unique miracle in that way. The bread from heaven to feed the five thousand. Also fairly unique, but the whole group benefits. But here, only the disciples benefit. Only the disciples learn of the glory of Jesus in turning the water into the wine. But you know, today we benefit as we look back at this first miracle. We benefit by seeing what Jesus is all about and what this miracle, this symbolic miracle, was all about. And that wine is there for you through the blood of Jesus. It is there to satisfy your hearts. Just to continue on in explaining the significance briefly, the nature of the water is turned into wine. Jesus doesn't simply produce something out of something that it's normally produced from. This week, I watched a documentary on winemaking, and it's fascinating that if you talk to someone who owns a vineyard, how much work has to go into, even if you have a whole vine of Pinot Noir, how much work has to go into producing that wine, the time that it takes, all that goes into it. But Jesus turns water, something that normally will not produce wine, he changes its nature by willing that nature to be turned into something rich and full. And he does that with us, brothers and sisters. He did that with you if you're a believer. He took something old and weak and empty and it runs out. a dark and wicked heart, and he turned it into something new and rich and full of joy. And Jesus does that for us. Now, if you've never had that happen to you, tonight is the night for you to know that richness and fullness. And if you've had that happen, if you've lost sight of that and you lack joy, this very miracle is to stir up in us a longing for that joy again, to know that again in our hearts. Look, the Christian life is difficult, isn't it? It's tiring. It's wearying to live in a fallen world as men and women still wrestling with sin. But you know what? Jesus Christ has all power to change everything weak and empty and that fails into everything rich and full and wonderful. And it's all by His death on the cross. And it's all by His resurrection. It's all by His sovereign power in wanting to change our hearts. And He wants you to have that joy. Jesus isn't stingy. He makes 180 gallons of wine. That's enough to to give hundreds of people at this wedding enough to make their hearts merry. And it's the best one and it will never be replaced. And you don't get any better than what Jesus does. And this miracle goes on and on and on in its richness. And so I hope that as you consider the meaning of this miracle, perhaps God is giving you new light into the significance of it. Just in closing, how ought we to respond We're told in verse 11 that he manifested his glory. Remember, that's the theme of the Gospel of John, the glory of Jesus. He is the glorious one of his fullness. We have all received grace upon grace. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. And so John now says he manifested his glory and his disciples believed on him now. As I wrestled with this and I thought, you know, how do I not just preach evangelistic messages out of John? I mean, certainly John is a book that if you don't know, Jesus is a wonderful book to lead you to him. It's a wonderful book for you to come to know the Savior and to become bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and to be wed to him. and to be prepared for that wedding day of the Lamb, when again, the wine of the new covenant will flow richly as we commune in fellowship and spiritual union as bride and groom with the Lord Jesus Christ. But John ends this book by saying, these things were written that you may continue to believe on the name of the Son of God. The whole life, as Luther said, was a life of repentance. And I would add, the whole life is a life of faith in Jesus. As we rehash this miracle, maybe again for the 50th time in your mind, as we come again to look at this, it is so that you may continue to believe that your faith may be strengthened, that you may know that as you go through the dry and barren times in this world, there is a Savior who can will all of the empty old order of things to become new and rich and full in His death. I hope that you are seeing something of His glory as the disciples did, and that we will believe on Him and continue to do so. Let him who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Let's pray. Oh, Father, this is so rich and full, and we are so weak and foolish and so hard to believe all of these things. We thank you for the display of the glory of Jesus Christ in this first miracle. We thank you, Father, that he manifested his glory in the fullness of time. Help us, Lord, to see and to believe. Give us that joy and that gladness that the new covenant brings through his death on the cross, Father. We praise you and worship you in Jesus' name. Amen.