AUTHORITY ACKNOWLEDGED

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013 

OBEY JESUS (JOHN 2:1-5)

1 And on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2 and Jesus also was invited, and His disciples, to the wedding. 3 And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." 4 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come."  5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."     NASB 

Verse 1-2:

·        Christ honored this ceremony with both His presence and His first miracle.

Verse 3-4:

·        You could say that Mary was representative of Israel in this verse.

·        Israel knew before the birth of Christ that the Messiah would come someday.

·        They had waited for centuries for the great, promised event.

·        As a nation, this was the object of their every expectation, for Christ to come in power! -- To exult Himself; And THEM, before all the world!

·        The only thing is that that when Christ did come, He did not come in a manner that Israel wanted Him to come in; And here was Mary at the wedding telling Jesus that "there is no wine."

·        Mary knew before Christ was born that He was the Son of God; An angel told her.

·        All these years she had waited for Christ to "grow up" and display Himself as the Son of God; To reveal His deity; to manifest His kingship; and to show forth His power.

·        The wine had given out, and Mary knew that Jesus had the power to replace it, and in her mind, HE JUST SAT THERE, DOING NOTHING! To both Israel and Mary, Christ had not come in a manner suited to their expectations.

·        By calling her WOMAN, speaking to her as her representative, i.e., He showed that the Son of God was speaking to her.

Verse 5:

·        It is the evidence of a truly gracious heart to take a reproof from Christ and humbly submit to it.

·        This is evidenced by the fact that Mary did not say anything else to Christ. Submission is a fruit of faith and humility, and a guard to keep the heart from fretting when he has done its duty. 

GROW IN FAITH (JOHN 2:6-11)

6 Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. 7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the headwaiter." And they took it to him. 9 And when the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, 10 and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when men have drunk freely, then that which is poorer; you have kept the good wine until now." 11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.     NASB 

·        Now let us look at the occasion of the miracle.

·        The simple act of turning the water into wine was a turning point in the Lord's life here on earth.

·        Before this miracle, He had lived a quiet life in seclusion in Nazareth, but after performing this miracle He was to become a public and marked person.

·        He would have little time to eat and to sleep.

·        He would find time to have communion with His Father only while the others slept.

·        He would become the gazing stock of every eye and the common talk of every tongue.

·        He would be followed from place to place.

·        He would be jostle by vulgar crowds.

·        He would provoke the jealously of the religious leaders.

·        He would be spied upon and regarded as a public menace.

·        He would be seized as a criminal, falsely accused, and be sentenced to be crucified.

·        All of this was before Him as He stood there.

·        All of this would begin by performing this first miracle. But He came not to do His will, but the will of Him that sent Him, SO HE PERFORMED THE MIRACLE. 

Verse 6:

·         Purifying such things as waterpots was a matter of tradition and of the law among the Jews.

·        The tradition and law was kept even by those who had lost its intent but who wanted to keep a show of religion. So was the manner of the Jews in their declining times.

Verse 7:

·        Christ's use of the servants, instead of His disciples, takes off any suspicion of collusion.

·        In Scripture, no command of Christ was ever disobeyed.

·        He has control over all people, the godly as well as the ungodly.

Verse 8:

·        If a person was standing off away, and was watching all this, they would never have suspected that a miracle was taking place.

·        There was no visible exhibition of Divine power; what they saw was men at work!

Verse 9:

·         It was a miraculous transubstantiation, or change of one substance into another.

·         Ignorance of Christ's works makes some to ascribe it to others, and so take Christ's glory away from Him.

Verse 10:

·        Christ's works, when they are rightly considered, will be found worthy of commendation.

Verse 11:

·        We see this response to the Son of God, for they perceived the revelation of His glory in this event.

·        Theirs is a model response, for they saw the miracle and responded with faith.

1.      It was to His glory to show religion in ordinary life. Here, Christ taught us the HARD lesson, for it is easier to be separated from the world than TO BE IN IT AND NOT OF IT! He was not solemn and austere, stern, silent, and solitary as many thinks a religious leader would be.

2.      It was to His glory to show the inwardness of true religion. Through this miracle Christ turned the water for CEREMONIAL CLEANSING into wine for INWARD DRINKING. In doing this, Christ emphasized, NOT OUTWARD CLEANLINESS, but the PURITY OF THE HEART.

3.      It was to His glory to awaken us to see the Divine power in the ordinary process of life. The unsaved man would marvel at such a deed as this miracle, BUT WOULD NOT THINK BEYOND IT. The saved person sees the miracle and realizes anew the power of God, and realizes that Divine power is all around him.

4.      It was to His glory to show the ascending scale of God's gifts. The best wine was saved until the last. This teaches that Jesus is ever ready to give us something better; for when the banqueters got wine by this miracle, the disciples got more faith also. 

MAKE WORSHIP GENUINE (JOHN 2:12-16)

12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother, and His brothers, and His disciples; and there they stayed a few days. 13 And the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers seated. 15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the moneychangers, and overturned their tables; 16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, "Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a house of merchandise."     NASB 

Verse 12:

·        Christ's departure from Cana to Capernaum was precipitated by the near approach of the Passover.

Verse 13:

·        The Lord went up to Jerusalem at the Passover in obedience to the ceremonial law.

·        While at the Passover, He took opportunity to continue His teachings of His office and doctrine; thereby teaching us to let no opportunity pass to promote the honor of God.

Verse 14:

·        We find that great abuse may creep into the visible church, and corruption may obtain a powerful hold on the services rendered there.

·        The covetousness of the rulers brought these things into the outer court of the temple, under a pretext of having them near at hand to the people.

·        We should recognize that there is no hope of correcting all the abuses in the church until Christ comes again.

Verse 15:

·         This shows us that Christ may use violent solutions to correct sinners from their sinful ways.

·         This teaches that our Lord is very terrible when He is angry, even in His humiliation.

·         There should be no trifling in the matter of corruptions in the house of God.

Verse 16:

·        Even after corruptions in the church have been cast out, they can creep in again; for Christ, having purged the temple in this first year of His ministry had to do it again in the last year of His ministry where instead of calling it "a house of merchandise", He called it "a den of thieves."