I tell you, if you're not fired up, you're well as wet, right? I'm telling you, that is good. And here's the thing, I hope you do know exactly how the story is going to end in terms of, hey, it's ending well for you, right? That you know the battle that he's fought, that you know that your victory is secure because of the victory of Christ.
And if you don't know that, then we're going to kick off a series today in time to believe, and here's our prayer that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you will have eternal life, that we will know how the story ends. So last week when I wrapped up the series, be faithful, I said two things. I said, so let's be faithful. And secondly I said, and let's be people of faith.
Let's be faithful, and let's be people of faith. You can't be faithful to whom you do not believe in. Okay? You can't be faithful to whom.
We're talking about Christ, we're talking about being faithful to God, being faithful to Jesus. You cannot be faithful to whom you do not believe in, who you do not trust. So if we're going to be faithful, we must have faith. So again, I'm going to start a series today called Believe.
And you might say, hey, you're going to preach an entire series around this one thing about believing, because when I look out across this crowd today, it's probably true that most everyone in here already believes. You say, so if I already believe, then why should I sit through a series of messages telling me to do what I already do? Well, I want you to think about Jesus' disciples. One time they asked Jesus, or they told Jesus, Lord, increase our faith.
So these were men who believed, and yet they said, but Lord, would you help us to believe more? Think about this when Jesus and John, Peter, up on the amount of transfiguration, there was a father who brought his son to the disciples of Jesus. He was possessed by a demon, and he asked the disciples to cast this demon out. And when Jesus came off the mountain, he came down, the father said, I brought my son to your disciples so that he could be healed, but they couldn't do it.
You know what Jesus said? Listen to this. He said, oh, faithless generation. I'm talking to a generation of people who don't have faith.
Oh, faithless generation. How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me.
And of course, Jesus cast this demon out. And then his disciples came to him and said, Lord, why couldn't we do it? Why couldn't we do that? And Jesus said, what was it?
What was it? Because of your unbelief. Now he's talking to people who believe. And they said, look, we wanted to do it.
We tried to do it. We couldn't do it. Why couldn't we do it? Because of your unbelief.
He said, I said unto you, that if you had faith as the grain of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, remove hands to yonder place and it shall be removed and nothing shall be possible with you. How be it? This kind. Go with not out, but by prayer and fasting.
Listen, not the demon. Not the demon doesn't go out by prayer and fasting. No, your unbelief doesn't go out, but by prayer and fasting. No, what they needed?
More belief. Really what they needed was to just lean in to the one who they already believed in. That was Christ. He said, man, if you had faith the size of a mustard seed, it's not how much faith.
It's who do we trust? If we're going to be faithful people to Jesus, then we need to be people of faith in Jesus. The apostle John writes his gospel. And when he gets to the end of it, he pretty much says, now this is why I wrote it to you.
He said, the reason I wrote this to you is so that you might believe that Jesus is the son of God. If you sit down, I've written out that he didn't have chapter and verse, but he wrote out all these chapters against the end. That's why I wrote it. That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and if I believe in you might have life through his name.
So one hand, John's writing, he says, I'm writing so that unbelievers might believe and have life. But I think though that he's also covering the other side of the coin, and that is, but I'm also writing so that those who believe would believe even more. But he says this in his first epistle. First John chapter 5, verse 13, he says explicitly, I have written unto you who believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe that he is the son of God.
So this is what he said. I'm writing to those who already believe that he's the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the son of God. So at the end of the Gospel of John, he says, I'm writing that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God that you may have everlasting life. At the end of the epistle of John, he says I'm writing to those who already believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the son of God.
So I think John's kind of both sides of the coin. For those who don't believe, hey, I'm writing that you will believe. For those who do believe, I want to write that you will believe even more. Your faith would be in this one who is the very Son of God.
As a matter of fact, when John writes his gospel, he begins with this preamble, this prologue, this chapter one where he lays out his argument that Jesus is deity. He's the Son of God. In verse 1 and 2, he says that he is the Word. In the beginning was the Word was with God and the Word was God Jesus is the Word.
In verse 3, he says everything that was made was made by Jesus. Not anything was made that was not made by him. He is the creator of everything. He's God.
In verse 4 through 13, he says that he is the light that came into this world, that light of every man. He's the source of life. He's God. In verses 14 through 28, he's the Son of God.
In verses 29 through 34, he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. In verse 35 through 42, he is the Messiah. He is the One who is coming to save. In verse 43 through 49, he is the King of Israel.
In verse 50 and 51, he is the Son of Man. All of those titles, all of those names, all of those activities point to this great truth. Jesus is the Son of God. And so he starts his book there.
When he gets to the end of the book, he says, I wrote all of this to you so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you might have eternal life through him. John, just look, I want you to believe who Jesus is. It's paramount. There's nothing that is more important that you can believe than what you believe about Jesus.
In fact, I'm teaching through a series on Wednesday nights. It's called Christology, which is the study of Christ. He's talking explicitly about Jesus. And I quoted A.W.
Tozer who said this back in the 60s. He said, what comes into a person's mind when they think about God is the most important thing about them. And I say, look, I'm not a tozer. I'm not.
And I mean, no disrespect to A.W. Tozer in any way. He's awesome. But I say perhaps if I could tweak it in the context of the study that we're doing on Wednesday nights, I would say this, that what comes into our minds when we think about Jesus is the most important thing about us.
John says, what comes to your mind when you think about Jesus? Is he the Son of God? Because if you believe he's the Son of God, you can have eternal life. He writes his epistemes and says, hey, you believe that he's the Son of God?
Hey, you know that you have eternal life. But I've written it that you might even believe more. So John begins his book by stating that Jesus is the Son of God. And then from chapter two, until the end of the book, he's going to work through this.
I want to give you evidence. I want to give you eyewitness account of why I can prove to you that Jesus is the Son of God. And he begins chapter two with the very first recorded miracle of Jesus. It is turning water into wine.
If you have your Bible's word, John chapter two. John chapter two verses one through 11. If you would, stay with me, but honor the reading of God's word. John chapter two.
I want to preach to you this morning, a message entitled, Joy from Change. I'll tell you this, that Jesus changes everything. There is nothing that Jesus cannot change. Man, he changes everything.
He changes the empty to be full. He changes religion into relationship. He changes wall into grace. And we're going to see in the story he changes shame to Joy.
John chapter two, he says, and on a third day, there was a marriage in King of Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus was called, invited, and his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said it to him.
And he had no wine. And Jesus said it to her, woman, what have I to do with thee? For my hour is not yet come. And his mother said it to the service, whatever he tells you to do, do it.
Now there were set there at six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews containing two or three firkins of peace, about 20 gallons. And Jesus said it to fill the water pots with water, and they filled them up to the brim. And he said it to them, draw out now and bear unto the governor, the head butler of the feast. And they bear it.
And when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that had been made into wine, and he knew not from whence it was, but the servants which drew the water. They knew. The governor of the feast called it to the bridegroom, and he said it to him, every man at the beginning of the good wine. And when men have well drunk, then that which is worse.
But thou has kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus and came to Galilee and manifested forth his glory, and his disciples believed on him. Father, we come to you today. Lord, would you help us to believe?
Teachers about Jesus, who he is, what he does, increase our faith, increase our trust in our Savior in the one who came and died. First the one who changes everything. God, I pray for those who may be here today and who do not know Jesus. They come here today, and the state of unbelief doesn't mean that they don't want to believe it.
Perhaps they just don't. But today, what I pray that today would be the day of change, that today would be the day that Jesus works a work in life, and it all happens because someone goes from unbelief to belief. Lord, I pray. Safe souls today.
Lord, we're crying out today like that father who stood there with that son, Lord, help, thou mine, unbelief. Yes, Lord, I believe what we want to believe. We want to know you more. We want to know Jesus more deeply.
And I pray today that we'll leave here saying it was good to be in the house of the Lord. And it is good that I know Jesus more, the one who changes everything. I pray this in Christ name. Amen.
And this morning I want to begin here in chapter two with this story. And it's not just a story, right? It's a historical account of Jesus performing his first miracle of turning water into wine. And think about this is where John starts.
But John starts his story. He starts to lay out. He's just the son of God. And he could have shared a lot of evidence.
He could have shared a lot of stuff. He was with him for three, three and a half years. He's been serving him for a long time. He's an old man now looking back in time.
He's riding out the gospel. And he begins with the very first miracle, which is relatively small. It wasn't a big well-known miracle. A few people were even aware that it took place.
The people who were drinking the wine had no idea that it was water while ago. And now it's like the best wine we've ever drank. I have no clue. The servants.
No. Which little parenthesis here. When you serve God, you get in on what God's doing. Okay?
The servants knew. No one else knew. Relatively small miracle in terms of fame. People were not like, hey, look at what Jesus did.
There was only three or four folks. Do you know what he did? We put water and it came out the best tasting wine that anyone has ever had. Two questions.
What did this miracle reveal? And how can we apply it in our life? Okay, so every miracle has a message. What's the message of the miracle?
And how can we apply it in our life? So three things today. Number one, Jesus cares about the little things. If you went to one of our local post offices, which they're all pretty small.
But if you walked into the local post office and instead of the president's picture being on the wall, he was standing behind the counter. You went in there to buy some stamps. And President Trump was standing behind the counter. Would you be like?
I mean, I know that the mail is the job of the government. And you want things to be more efficient. But I mean, is this really the best way to get this done? I mean, don't you have bigger fish to fry than to be selling stamps?
It would be like, you have a problem with your Windows 11 upgrade and you call Microsoft tech service and Bill Gates answers the phone. I mean, don't you have bigger things to get done? Jesus doing this miracle and winning. How small potatoes?
I mean, don't you have bigger things to do? I mean, we've been waiting for 4,000 years for the most time to come. The seat of the woman's coming. The seat of David.
And now he's here. And the time clock is ticking. We've got about three, three and a half years to the cross. I mean, shouldn't you be like, I mean, wouldn't you be like, I mean, all out assault against Satan or overthrowing the Roman Empire?
Because that's the kind of Messiah we're looking for. And yet, you're saving a catering disaster. He's handling some things that we would consider to be outside the job description. We just came through chapter 1.
He's the creator. He's the king. He's the son of God. He's the word.
And yet, he's dealing with this catering issue. I said a moment ago, this miracle would be somewhat small. You know, water to wine. It's kind of a low-key thing.
He did a low-key way. He knew what was going on. Put the water in, pull it out, boom. It's one.
I mean, it wasn't like he brought a dead man back to life. Or he called him the raging sea. I mean, it was kind of, for Jesus, this would be kind of easy, wouldn't it? A news flash.
They're all easy. There is no degree of difficulty with Jesus when he comes to miracles. In fact, it was no more difficult to raise Lazarus from the dead than it was to call him the raging sea or the calming the raging sea anymore difficult than turning water into wine. It's all easy, right?
It's like, boom, he just says it. He does it. It's done. Here's the point, though.
Jesus wasn't saving someone's life. He was saving someone's social life. It's like, what are you doing here? He rescued the bridegroom and his family from embarrassment.
Now, weddings in Jesus' day are different than weddings in our day. Every culture has got their way of doing weddings, but theirs was different. I'm the father of two daughters. I'm like, I want him to get married, but he's like, you know what?
He's going to be on me. I don't know about this. I got to come up with the books. But in Jesus' day, it wasn't on Father of the Bride.
It's on the bridegroom. In Jesus' day, right? Brothers and bridegrooms were brought together by parents who work contracts, who signed agreements. They go to a synagogue.
They exchange tokens. They make vows to one another. And in that moment, legally, they're married. But when they leave the synagogue, bride goes home to her house.
Bridegroom goes home to his house. And while he's gone in that time period, he's working at his father's house. He's either adding a room onto it for his bride or he's building a house for his bride. And when it is completed at nighttime.
With all of his friends, they're going to take a torch-lit procession from his house to her house. They're going to sing. They're going to dance. They're going to celebrate.
They're going to shout. They're going to wake up the bride's house. And she better be ready because she's about to get whisked away. There's going to be pronouncements of blessings over the couple.
And then they're going to leave. They're going to depart. They're going to go back to the bridegroom's house. And when they do, there's going to be a party for up to seven days.
Seven days. Now, you probably have one of these weddings where there's a reception and it's like, oh man, this thing's going on and on and on and on. And you're probably like, just get to the good part, the food. And I like it to go to those reception.
Don't hold this. Don't hold me to this. I like to go to the ones where it's like, it's full on, man. We get a meal, right?
Not hors d'oeuvres. There's a meal, man. What do you want? I want the barbecue.
Give me the chicken. Right. I mean, it's but two hours. Two hours.
These guys were in it for a full day, two days, three, four, five, six, maybe as long as seven days. You had a daughter. You were responsible for a reception. You're right.
Seven days. No, man. I don't want to get in on seven days having to pay for that. It would be to host a wedding reception for seven days.
And so here's Jesus. His disciples and Mary, they're invited to a wedding. And here's the truth. We don't know where this bigger small could be big.
It could be small. It could be one day a traffic answer. It could be a seven day. We don't know.
It doesn't really matter how big or small it is. But here's what we do know. They ran out of wine. And this was a social faux pas.
Matter of fact, this could be punished with a fine. Okay? So it was socially embarrassing and it was financially costly. So Mary comes to Jesus.
I'm sorry. Jesus. She just simply makes a statement. I should ask for anything.
She simply makes a statement. Hey, they're out of wine. She doesn't ask for anything. She's like, take care of it.
I know who you are. Like, get the job done. Can you do something? Can you rescue them?
Can you help them? She's like, they're out of wine. And Jesus responds with woman. What have I to do with thee?
Now that sounds impolite. It does. Susan gets on to me because every now and then I call her girl. I say, girl, she don't call me girl.
And then sometimes I say woman. She's like, don't call me woman. I say, well, Jesus did it. Did it here in John chapter two and he did it from the cross.
From the cross he had to dress as Mary as woman. I said, so Jesus did it. But it sounds way more impolite when it comes out of my mouth. It wasn't impolite.
So this is Jewish idiom. This would be like, say, ma'am or madam. Like, ma'am. What does this have to do with me?
This isn't my wedding. This isn't my wedding. This is his wedding. It's not my wedding.
You hear what he said? My hour has not yet come. Now look, when we read that because when we get over in John chapter 12, he said, again, the hour of my glorification is come. You might be thinking when he says my hour is not come, that he's thinking about the cross.
He's not thinking about the cross. Further. He's thinking further in time. You know what he's saying?
I got a wedding coming. And I'm going to be responsible for my wedding that's coming. But this was not my wedding. My hour has not yet come.
And I think Mary's like, I get it. I get it. And then she turns to the services, whatever he tells you to do. Do it.
And so he tells them, take these six empty water pots. They're six water pots. They're empty. They're capable of holding about 20 gallons.
And he says, you fill them with water. And then after you fill it with water, draw out of the pot, serve it to the governor, to the head waiter, to the butler of the feast. And they drew out the water that had been poured into the pot. It had been transformed already, or it was being transformed.
It was pulled out into wine. And through this miracle, Jesus showed His willingness to be a part of everyday life. Not just the emergency situation. Not just the big stuff, but even what we would consider the small stuff.
He performs His first miracle at wedding. Now we know this. He's going to perform some miracles at funerals too. So at the altar, at the funeral, and everywhere in between, God wants to be a part of your life.
Jesus wants to be a part of your life. God wants to be involved in the entirety of our lives. He cares about even the little things. There is no miracle.
There is no problem. There is no small, God is willing to step in. And God cares about the little things. The everyday life.
The normal run of the meal stuff. Listen, Jesus is interested in it. Sometimes we think, God, I need you to step in here. I've got an emergency going on.
This is bigger than I've done. Everything I can do. And I need you. And we bring our emergencies to God.
But oftentimes, we give no thought to inviting Jesus into the everyday stuff's life. Like the little stuff. The everyday stuff. The every moment of life.
I'm on the job. I'm working. I'm driving. I'm whatever.
I want you to be a part of. I want you to be a part of the time to go to a wedding. And the answer is in the text. He was invited.
Now if he had not been invited, he's not there. He got invited to the wedding. And I want to tell you something. If you want Jesus to be involved in your life, you got to invite him in.
He cares about the little things. Invite him into your life. Invite him into every moment. He wants to be a part of your everyday life.
Not just the emergencies of life. Because you know what? Sometimes we can go for months without a big emergency. Maybe some of you have gone for years without a big emergency.
And it could be possible that we go for a really, really, really long time before we say, I want you in my life. I want you to step in. I want you to do something. I want you to be a part of.
I want you to be with me. Listen to me. Jesus cares about the little things. We have to invite him in number two.
Jesus can change anything. Jesus cares about the little things, but he can change anything. There is nothing that he doesn't have power over. John chapter one verse three says that everything that was made, everything that was created, was created by him without him.
There was nothing that was created. He has the power to speak it into being. And if he has the power to speak it into being, he has the power to change. You know what Jesus did?
He took a simple compound, H2O, and he transformed it into something totally different. But it was still one liquid to another liquid though, right? I thought about this, it was mind blowing. However, he changed the contents.
He did. And while this may seem relatively simple in our minds, I'm telling that every miracle has a message. It was declarational. And the first miracle declared that Jesus came to change things.
That's why he came. He's on a mission of change. He changed water to wine. He came to change the wall to grace.
He came to change the ritual and religion to relationship. And he came to change you and me. And God has that power. God has the power to change.
He has the power to change our circumstances, our situations, our relationships, our appetites, our desires, our standing, our mind, our spirit. God can change us. You know what he changed in this situation? He changed shame to celebration.
You think about what Jesus was doing here? He declared that he had power over shame. This family, this couple, they were on the verge of being shamed. And Jesus steps in.
So I'm going to turn your potential shame into celebration. And it changes the water into wine. He changes their situation. You think about the prodigal son?
He leaves his dad. He goes off. He wastes his inheritance on riotous living. Here's this Jewish boy in a foreign country.
Remember where he ended up? In a pig pin? A Jew. In a pig pin.
Barefooted. Hungry. Far from home. A shame.
I'm not even worthy to be my dad's son. But don't go on with the servants have it better than I do. I will return to my father and tell him just hire me on as a servant. What does dad do?
Anyway, kill that bad calf. Strike up the band. We're going to party tonight. We are going to celebrate.
He went from a place of shame to a place of celebration. I'll tell you something. That's what God's in the business of doing. He takes us from a place of our sin, our guilt, our regret and moves us to a place of celebration.
He's celebrating. This is what he's in the business of doing. Jesus came to transform our shame into joy and celebration. I'm telling you, there's nothing that Jesus can't change and there is no one whom Jesus cannot change.
He cares about the little things. He can change anything. And number three, he offers a new and better way. John records this miracle.
And this is what he says. He says, this was the beginning. This was the first. He says, this was the first miracle or the beginning of miracles.
Now the word that he uses here is not the word donumus, which means power, but it's the word simian. It means sign. He says, this was the beginning of signs. A sign is something that points beyond itself to something greater.
A sign points to something beyond what you can see with your eyes. So here's what I told you. Every miracle is a message. And this miracle has a message.
It has a declaration. It is a sign and it's pointing to something. I'm going to give two things pointing to. One is spiritual and one is for fetticle.
The spiritual that is pointing to is that joy and cleansing of sin come from Jesus. We are not going to get joy outside of Christ and we certainly are not going to get cleansing of sin outside of Jesus. It comes from Jesus. Now this is important.
When you study the Bible, look for the details. There is a reason why John writes what he writes. It's not like it would just happen to Stance. He's just telling the story.
No, no, no. He's giving us details. But not only does he give us details, he gives commentary on the detail. So we have to ask ourselves what's the detail for and why the commentary.
So the detail is this. He says, oh, Mary said there's no wine. It's not my problem. It's not my wedding.
It's someone else's. They would tell you to do. And then we get the detail. There are six waterpots.
Just so happen to be there. Six waterpots that are empty and six waterpots that can contain up to 20 gallons. That's the detail. Just throw it out there.
There's six waterpots there. That's the detail. But then there's commentary. And the commentary is, oh, these are the same kinds of waterpots used in the manner of the purifying of the Jews.
That's important. Okay? It went like, oh, I'll just let me just throw that out. No, he's telling us something that's important.
So John shares with us there's six waterpots that are just like the ones that are used in purifying the Jews. Now, this purifying that we're talking about is symbolical. It's ceremonial. But the Pharisees and the other religious rulers had taken this symbolic stuff to a really extreme level.
They took it actually to this level that when you do what is symbolical, then you are actually doing actual. And one of the symbolic things they would do is wash their hands. They would take these waterpots that were filled with clean water. They would pour it out and they would hold their hands up, fingertips to the sky, pour water down the hand until it dripped off the wrist.
And when they would do that, they're like, I like a doctor, you know, in going to surgery, like, hey, hey, clean. They didn't do it because of germs. They didn't do it because of dirt. They did it because they thought it was making them right with God.
And after they washed their hands, we are right with God. This is remember when the Pharisees asked Jesus, hey, why don't your disciples wash their hands before they eat? It wasn't not they were concerned about their hygiene. They're going to catch a cold or something, not washing their hands.
Those guys aren't right with God. If they want to be right with God, they need to wash their hands, not even with soap and water, just water running down the fingertips, down the hand, off the wrist. And if they'll do that, they'll be right with God. That's what the Jews thought.
And this is being put in here so that we understand that Jesus is communicating a bigger truth here. They thought that washing made them right with God. But here's the thing, those pots were empty. There is no real change that results from ritual or religion.
Newsflash, when we make church about religion, we're not going to get any great change. When church becomes checked the box, go through the motions, say the song, I listen to the sermon, but I walk out the back of the room and nothing in my life is applied. I don't apply that. I don't do anything with it.
No changes coming. So we don't want to go through empty religion. In the pots here are empty. There's no change that results from ritual or religion.
Religion is empty. Ceremony is empty. Jesus came to fulfill what couldn't happen by ceremonies. So you think, where did the law come from?
And we would all say, this was the law of God and it is. The law is the law of God, but who gave the law? What's Moses known as? He's the law giver.
Moses is the law giver. He's also known as the deliverer. We know this. God's the one who delivered the Jews from Egyptian bondage, but Moses is known as the law giver and the deliverer.
Think about this. First miracle, a plague that was performed with what? Anybody? Changing water to blood.
First plague. Change water to blood. Water being changed to blood was the son of judgment. That was pouring out his judgment on the Egyptians.
But here's Jesus. Here's his first miracle. What does he do? Change water to wine.
And wine is a symbol of joy. Jesus came not to pour out judgment, but joy. Actually, Jesus took the judgment so that we could have his joy. John 15 verse 11 says, these things have spoken unto you that might joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.
Jesus brings fulfillment. Joy, he brings life. This was prophesied Isaiah 25 verse 6 says, and in this mountain shall the Lord oppose, make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the leaves, a fat full of morrow of wines on the leaves well-refined. He will destroy this mountain and the face of the covering that casts over all the people and the veil that is spread over nations.
He will swallow up death and victory and the Lord will wipe away tears from all faces. It's prophesied. The Messiah is coming, man. He's coming on a mission.
And the mission is this. He's going to transform our emptiness into life and joy of all the things that Jesus could say first. Remember, every miracle has a message. He chose to say this.
I have come to bring you celebration of life and joy. Jesus didn't come to give us empty water pots. He didn't come to give us empty ceremonies. He didn't come to give us empty religion.
He came to give us fullness and joy and life abundant. John 10, verse 10, I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. You see, the world's joy runs out. You already know that.
You ever tried to live on the world's joy? It's fleeting. It doesn't last. The world's joy runs out.
It cannot be regained. But Jesus gives a joy that is ever new and satisfying. Think about it this way. You know what happened?
The wine ran out. The joy ran out. It cannot be regained. It took Jesus.
Jesus gave a joy. That's what? There's a message here, right? Or brings joy to our lives.
So he told these men, I fill up the water pots, I draw out the water, take it to the governor, and all they know is this. We know it's a miracle, but the governor, he doesn't have a clue. All he knows is this. Did you wait until the end to bring out the good stuff?
That's all he knows. The good stuff came out at the end. What he doesn't know is, actually the world's joy had already run out. It was already done.
And there wasn't going to be any more. And Jesus did something to transform shame into joy. Religions joy runs out. Ceremonies joy runs out.
Rituals joy runs out. But Jesus said, but my joy remains. Here's what Jesus was declaring. I'm bringing a new and living way.
That's why Hebrews 10, 19 tells us. Through a new and living way. That is to say through the bell of the flesh. There is a new way that's been consecrated for us to come to God.
We come through Christ. But not only did it point to the fact that Jesus was bringing a new and living way. And by the way, when I say that, I don't want anyone thinking, are you saying that people used to come to God differently? No, salvation has always been by faith.
Always, been by faith. Always. But obviously there were a lot of people who are like messing it up, not getting the truth. And you know what happened even after Jesus came?
There was a lot of people who continued to mess it up and not get the truth. We just studied for 13 weeks the book of Galatians. You know what Galatians said? You God said free by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And no sooner did you get set free than someone came and locked you up in bondage. Hey, stand fast in the liberty wherewith you have been made free. Listen, if Christians on the backside of belief can lock themselves up and lose their joy. Think about all those who on the frontside who didn't have a clue.
Jesus came to demonstrate. I've come in a new and living way. I came to do something that you couldn't do, that religion couldn't do, that ceremony couldn't do. But not only did he point to the spiritual reality, but he pointed to a future prophetic reality and that is a future wedding.
Jesus said to Mary, he said, woman, what have I to do with thee? And then here's the phrase, my hour is not yet come. I'm coming. That's important.
My hour has not yet come. He's not pointing to the cross. He's not saying the hour of my crucifixion has not come. That's not it.
Further. Way down the road. My wedding has not come. This isn't my wedding.
I'm going to provide for my wedding. I'm going to take care of the feast. I'm going to do that, but this is somebody else's right. So he said, hey, it falls on the groom to supply the wine.
This isn't my wedding. Now this idea of the wedding shows up in the very next chapter. Jesus meets with Nicodemus after Nicodemus. Then John the Baptist is speaking and people come up to him and they're like, hey, are you it?
Are you the Christ? He's like, I told you, I am not the Messiah. I told you that. And what's that what he says?
I was sent here before him. This is John chapter three verse 29. He that have to bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, which stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because the bridegroom's voice, this might joy their force will feel it.
John says, I'm just the best man of the wedding. But Jesus is the bridegroom. You know who the bride is? It's the church.
Ephesians 5 verse 25, husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Then John, Paul goes through this whole thing about husbands loving your wives and wives, serving your husbands and then how the two come together and two become one flesh and then he says this, but I'm not talking about husbands and wives. I'm talking about Christ and the church. And then in Revelation chapter 19, John writes and says verse 7, let us be glad and every joys and give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife have made herself ready.
I think that at the wedding of Cain, there was something stirring in Jesus with regards to his future wedding. You know, at every wedding, all the eyes are on the bride. But for the groom, it's more than just eyes on the bride. She's everything.
She's stunning. She's beautiful. Right. There's emotion.
This is the woman that God is brought about. I desire her. I want her. I told you a couple of weeks ago that there's some good things that come into my life by making some big asking questions.
And one of those was I asked Susan to marry me and she said, yeah, six months later, we in a church facility, very similar to this one, a door back there opened up and I was standing right there in the altar. My mentor, Richard Elfreyman, was leading over our wedding and he asked the congregation to stand as the bride came in. It was dawn, dawn, dawn, dawn, dawn, dawn. And everyone rose and looked back there to that door and there was some other James and there's Susan.
And I'm sure people were like, oh, man, she's beautiful. Look at that dress. I did what this old boy right here was doing. Tears welled up in my eyes.
Man, I was overcome with emotion. Man, I couldn't hold back. I was like, oh, he can't look at her coming. I was shaking.
And they're always like, man, don't walk your knees. Man, don't do the same thing with those dudes that fall out. Stunning. I'm going to tell you something.
You are stunning to Jesus. He wants a relationship with you so much so he died in order to secure it. I got down on my knee. I told you the story before in Phoenix, Arizona and asked her to marry me.
Jesus didn't get down and he didn't ask us into a relationship. He got up on a tree. He went to the tree of Calvary and from the tree of Calvary, he's making a proposal. It's a betroful.
Listen, he said, hey, will you enter into a relationship with me? I told you about that Jewish wedding, that there's vowels that are taken, tokens that are exchanged, and then bridegroom goes one way, bride goes the other. You know what happened after Jesus made that proposal? He went back to the Father's house.
He said, in my Father's house are many mansions. If everyone would have told you. And I'm going there to prepare one for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there.
You may be also. You know what that is? That's Jewish wedding talk. I went to the Father's house.
I prepared a place for you. And there is a place that has been prepared for every person who says yes. From the cross of Calvary, Jesus is making a proposal. Hey, will you enter into a relationship with me?
And I'm telling you that when we vow the vow, he has vowed the vow. He is the one who's prepared a place for you. I'm coming again. I'm coming.
I'm coming here in this pulpit yesterday and saying, when Jesus steps out, that Trump is going to sound and the bride in Christ will rise. I mean, listen, he's coming for the bride. Revelation 17, he's coming and the wife, the bride has made herself ready. Friend, are you ready?