Saving The Best For Last || Victory Church [Book of John #6]

Hey, today we are talking about water turning to wine. And no, I do not have a recipe for you to be able to do that. Okay, that's not in the scriptures. This was actually Jesus's first sign. Everybody say sign. Sign. That he does in the book of John. And we are now in week six of our year-long journey through the book of John where we are in this gospel that if I can say it like this goes higher, looks more clearly at Jesus than probably any of us have ever seen before. And we've invested the last five weeks into the first chapter of John. And we saw five different things. We saw that Jesus is God in the flesh, the creator of all things. We see that Jesus shines his light into this world and calls us out of our darkness into his light. We saw that Jesus came full of grace and truth, not one or the other, but both. We saw that we are called to use our voice to tell the whole world about him. And then last week we saw that Jesus calls us out of the boring, dry, tomb-filled lives that we used to live to actually live the new life with and for him. And now we finally graduated to chapter two. Come on, so everybody give high fives

to the people around you. Say good job. Come on. Hamilton Mill, do it, come on. Midtown, North Carolina. Online, you can air five. Okay, you did it, congratulations. If it's your first week, just act like you've been here. Act like you, I know all of it, I've done all of it. So now we're finally in John two. Okay, verse one, let's go there. On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee, and Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. And when the wine was gone, everybody say, ah, Jesus' mother said to him, they have no more wine. Woman, why do you involve me? All right, we're gonna talk about that one. My hour has not yet come. And his mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. And nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. And Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water. So they filled them to the brim. And then he told them, now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. And they did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine,

and he did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. And then he called the bridegroom aside and said, everyone brings out the choice wine first, and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink. But you have saved the best till now. And what Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. Woo, all right, there's a lot there. All right, we're gonna spend a little bit unpacking all of that. So here's what we need to know. In today's America, at least, we really don't have a good context for this sort of wedding, right? I mean, in our context, everything's so expensive. You invite like four people if you can afford it, especially today, you know what I'm saying? Pictures are $10,000 just by themselves, right? Everybody's trying to trim down the guest list. This is not what happened back then. Like, basically, it was our equivalent of a celebrity's wedding, like all the who's who were there. For many of us, like even today, when we think about the high festivals of Judaism, we think about Passover, about Pentecost, but really in Judaism at that time, the highest festival was a wedding.

I mean, these people would go crazy. In essence, remember, they're a part of small communities, and so the entire town shuts down. Everybody and all they mamas come to this wedding, and they go for days, not like two hours. This was not like, hey, we're gonna wait like three hours while the couple takes pictures and we're all starving. No, like three days feasting, going crazy, celebrating, for most people, it was actually the most joyful, most amazing experience of their entire life was their wedding. And because of that, we know that these two things were inseparable, weddings and wine, right? Because wine was for celebrating, right? There's a reason why they pop the champagne bottles at New Year's, right? Because champagne is for celebrating. Nobody's drinking champagne on Monday night with your meatloaf microwave dinner, watching soap opera reruns by yourself, right? Like if you are, it's a different conversation, right? Because wine's for celebrating, right? Which is why, go there with me, the thought of the coming of the Messiah and weddings and wine, like they were all mixed in together because weddings reminded the people of what it was gonna be like

when the Messiah, the Savior came to set them free. It's just gonna be one big giant celebration. So Messiah and weddings and wine. Messiah weddings and wine and what began to happen was these messianic prophecies started popping up these rabbinical sayings that what's it gonna be like when the Messiah comes Amos 9 is one of them it says the days are coming declares the Lord when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman in other words just so much is coming in the planter by the one treading grapes new wine will drip from the mountains and flow from the hills what they're saying is when the Messiah comes it's just gonna be one giant party forever Messiah and weddings and wine Messiah and weddings and wine which is why all the more when the wine runs out scandal bridezilla right in fact this way this was so serious that they're actually records of because you would bring your gift it was all it was the thing like you had to bring your nice gift and if basically the couple didn't basically meet their end of the bargain you could sue them right like that's how serious this culture was right so when the wine runs it's not just that the wedding is ruined like their their future is ruined their their their legacy their name is ruined there's drama their scandal best day of their life hundreds of people in appearance multiple dates but right at the 11th hour Jesus saves the wedding by turning the water into wine right so this is where I'm going to pause everybody say pause and I need to address something our routes about half of us aren't gonna be able to pay attention to what I say for the rest of this sermon alcohol some of y'all already getting going you little feisty right now somebody's probably already typed in online listen guys Jesus listen to me I've studied as Jesus did not turn water into wine he turned water into grape juice right somebody I promise you it's already been typed in online I need to make this very clear contrary to Southern Bible Belt belief Jesus was not making welches that day Jesus was making top-shelf Cabernet Sauvignon all right all right and I know we all feel a certain way about that okay okay but

just go there hang with me hang with me hang with maybe this is gonna help some of us as we go into this story okay they've actually studied this out modern wine today is two to four times stronger than biblical wine was okay so it's not the same sort of wine and then they often diluted it even more all right because they were not generally prone to drunkenness really what it was it was something with flavor all right I want you to think about this like if they wanted something with flavor at dinner go there with me they didn't have Sprite all right we on the same page right this is not modern-day man they couldn't go to the fridge you I'm saying so like this this is like in essence for many of them this was their equivalent of like drinking sweet tea right they would just cut it cut it cut it cut it all the way down to where it's had some flavor in it so this is not the same wine like we have but again it is still wine okay but and here's why I have to talk about this because we're a very diverse Church if you did not know look around look around the room like not everybody looks like you all right we have between a hundred and thirty and a hundred and fifty nations on any given weekend here at victory and then you lay hundreds of unique cultures on top of that and here's the truth you may come from a culture that wine is fine others of you you come from a culture where wine is inherently evil and here's what I don't want you to do I do not want you to be distracted over the next you know whatever time I don't want you to leave here today thinking well Pastor Johnson said I could drink wine and you're trying to talk your teenager down you know I'm saying like no calm down everybody so real quick let me give you some grace and truth okay we get some grace into it all right so here's the grace all right scripture is very clear alcohol is not inherently evil okay drunkenness is okay but alcohol by itself is not inherently evil all right I understand I I'm not judging anybody who would have a nice dinner and have a glass of wine pop a quart of champagne or something like that on New Year's go to a wedding do whatever okay I'm not judging you today but okay that's the grace here's the truth alcohol is not inherently evil but we have to acknowledge it has often been used for

evil okay and Paul says this in Galatians 5 super important for us today he says you my brothers and sisters were called to be free but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh that's really important for us do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh in other words okay I over the years I've seen countless Christians who lie to themselves about their freedom and here's what Paul's trying to say Christ has set you free listen if you're over it by the way if you're under 21 no drink you just need to repent if you're drinking right now Okay, come back to Christ, okay. Here's what I'm saying. You are free in a sense to have alcohol. But what I've seen is people use that as an excuse as they're actively lying to themselves because they know they're gonna drink to excess, but they hide it under freedom. That's what Paul's talking about. Don't use your freedom as a lie to enter back into slavery to something, okay? And I see even Christians regularly go too far. I see Christians grab a drink of alcohol to fit in, which by the way, you're never called to fit in. You're called to stand out in Jesus' name. What I see is in the lives of many people who drink regularly, I see a looseness about everything. That's what alcohol does. It makes you loose, but I've seen them get loose towards sin, throttle back in your heart towards God, okay, where you don't really treat sin seriously. And here's my challenge.

Just this is my challenge, okay. It's a really good question. Answer this question for yourself. Has alcohol made my life better? No. No. No. No. We got one answer. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. This is a conversation right here, okay. Because listen, just personally, I've never met one person that alcohol made their life better, okay. But listen, I've met hundreds that alcohol made their life worse, okay. Depression, violence, sexual sin, drunk driving. Come on, sexual morality,

heart cooling towards the things of God. I've seen alcohol steal futures, destroy marriages, haunt children for decades. Listen, which is why, listen, which is why I don't drink, okay. I'm not morally superior to you. Listen, as the pastor, as a pastor, but also the pastor of this church, I choose not to drink. I'm not putting that on you. You before the Lord have to make that decision. But here's what I know. There are people in this church who had alcoholic parents. There are people in this church who you yourself have struggled with alcoholism or drug addiction. And if you saw me drinking, that would become your excuse or it would trigger you and do something to you, which is why Paul talks about the weaker brother principle, which I will not use my freedom to cause you to fall. I refuse to use my freedom to cause you to fall, okay. And because for me, alcohol is just not worth it. And I would challenge you on whether or not it should be worth it to the degree that it is for some of us, okay. But let me get off that soapbox. Because what's really important, okay, listen, this is not a story about alcohol, okay. But that will distract us if we're not careful, okay.

This is not a story about alcohol, but I thought you were like, you were like, just Johnson, you just said water turns into wine. Yeah, that's where this story stems from, but that's not what the story is about. Actually, John's really clear. He says, this is actually the story about a sign, about a sign. And in fact, there are seven distinct signs in the first 12 chapters of John. In fact, the theologians would call the first 12 chapters of John, the book of signs. This is the signs. The last few chapters of John are called the books of glory, okay. The book of signs and the book of glory. Let's read it again, John two, verse 11. We read a second ago. What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs, through which he revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him. Can I say it like this? This wine is a sign, okay. And this is really important. Again, we're still kind of taking notes about the book of John. We're still early in this thing, okay. It's really important for us to know this, all right.

And you're gonna notice this as you keep reading. Nowhere in the book of John does he call anything that Jesus does a miracle. Every miracle he calls a sign. Very important, very important. I'll put it up here for you, okay. Miracles come from the Greek word dunamis, which is a power act that's received with awe. Whenever you see Jesus doing a miracle, people are like, whoa, right. Dunamis is the power dynamite, the power of God. But a sign comes from the Greek word symeon, which is an action that points to something greater than itself, all right. There's a difference between a miracle and a sign, all right. A miracle can be a sign, but if we stop at the miracle, we stop too short. The miracle is the power act. The sign is something that the miracle is pointing towards. All right, let me make it supernatural for just a second. Here's what I mean. If I was to come in here and I saw some sort of like David Blaine, like pen and teller card trick, like pick a card, like blow your mind, right. Then you would walk out of here like, oh, wow, that was cool, okay. But if you were driving and you saw this, what would you think? Oh, man.

and I need to be on the lookout, right? Anybody ever like hit a deer or a deer has hit you? Okay, you know what I'm talking? Like, oh man, as soon as you see that, you're like, oh my gosh, like, you're like looking ahead, right? What if you saw this one? All right, by the way, there's a license renewal test. We're gonna do this in the lobbies after surfing. Okay, all right, okay. All right, a slippery road up ahead. Here's what I know. Instinctively, when I'm driving and I see that sign, I go. Right? Because I'm not afraid of that sign. That sign's telling me, hey, up ahead, there's something you need to be a little careful about. What about this next one, okay? Most of us never grew up in mountainous areas. That's one of my nightmares, by the way, is I'm driving and a boulder falls on my head. Falling rock ahead. And so again, as you pass that sign, you better believe you're like looking up while you're driving. Like, it ain't gonna catch me in some Final Destination sort of stuff when you know why I'm driving this way, right? All right? Because each sign, listen, doesn't point to itself.

It points to something beyond itself. Signs lead us somewhere. Signs are teaching us something. Signs are showing us a greater truth. And that's what John is trying to do here in this second chapter in Cana. He's saying, yes, absolutely. Listen, everybody. Jesus does miracles 100%. Wow, whoa, power act of God. But if all we do is take the miracle as face value, we're gonna miss the lesson that it's trying to teach us. Because every sign points through the miracle to a greater reality. Can I say it like this? Every sign says something about who Jesus is. Every sign says something about who Jesus is. So let me be super clear. This is not a story about Jesus turning water into wine. Okay? That's the miracle. In fact, if you stop there, sure, it's cool. Because here's how many of us would read John 2 in the past. Maybe you would say, like, oh, wow, that's awesome. Jesus loves weddings. Yes. Yes, Jesus loves weddings. Amen. Let's all go home. Right?

But we're gonna miss the sign. Right? The miracle says one thing, but we have to look through the miracle because it's a sign point. So we can't just stop at the miracle. So the question is this. What is the sign that the miracle is pointing towards? And I'd say it like this. The base level of understanding is, yes, Jesus can do miracles. Yes, Jesus loves weddings. There are actually three levels of understanding this story. So let me say it like this. Here's the first one. The wine is a sign that Jesus responds to faith. The wine is a sign that Jesus responds to faith. So let's look again. Really important. Let's walk back through this story. What sparks this wine that becomes a sign? Here it is, verse three. When the wine was gone, Jesus's mother said to him, they have no more wine. Woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied. My hour has not yet come. And his mother said to the servants,

do whatever he tells you. I love this so much. I love this. I love this. I love this. So Jesus's mom looks at him and says, hey, Jesus, they're out of wine. And Jesus is like, why are you bringing me into this? I'm just sitting over there enjoying the music. Right? He's dragging me into this story. And then, this is my favorite part, Mary looks at the servants and is like, just do whatever he says. And just walks away. Right? Classic, vintage mom move. Come on, y'all got a mom like that? Like, you're gonna do what I say? You're gonna, mm-hmm, just take care of it. You know, like, just walks off. Like, ladies, y'all are born knowing how to do that. And it's incredible. It's like, it's awesome. So I'm gonna share more about that in a few minutes. But listen, why is this moment so important? Okay? Because there's something that we've come to know. Like, if you've been a Christian for a while,

you know this stuff, but you don't know where you get it from. This is where we get it from. Okay, listen. This is the first time in John that we see faith activate the miraculous. Okay, how do we know that our faith matters? The sign of the wine. Mary asks Jesus to do something, believes he will do it, and then it's done. All right? I am not saying that Jesus is a genie in a bottle to hear manifest your desires. No, what I'm saying is this. Kenneth Hagin said it best. I love this. He says, God will move over a million people in simple belief to get to one person in faith. And so, yeah, Jesus seems to get a little feisty with his mom, but I'm not. Again, I'm gonna unpack that at the very end, but here's what I'd say. What he's doing in this moment, he's resetting expectation, which is actually really good news for us. Here's what I'm saying. Jesus is saying, hey, you being my mom isn't gonna force my hand, okay? because I only do what I see my father in heaven doing. So you being my flesh and blood isn't

going to get me to do you a special favor, okay? But he does it anyways. Why? Because Mary had faith. And this is good news for us, guys. I'd say it like this. Faith, not family, makes you Jesus's friend. Faith, not family. In other words, some of us are like, well, I'm nobody. I'm not like Mother Mary or something like that. No, I believe what John is doing here in the book of John. Again, you're going to see this everywhere as we continue to move forward. He leaves almost everybody anonymous in the story, okay? There's going to be a blind guy in John chapter nine, okay? And he does not call the guy Bob. Why? Because if he calls him Bob, we might think that only blind guys named Bob get healed. But he just calls him a blind guy. Good news. That means all blind people can be healed. Not only blind guys named Bob. So what does John do here? You notice he does not call her Mary. He calls her Jesus's mom. Why? Okay, quick social survey. How many Marys are here today? I mean Mary. If your name is Mary, raise your hand. Okay, one, two. We'll round it to five. Okay, Hamilton, Illinois. Let's say we got 15 across the gate, okay? All right, okay, okay. Okay, we're done with that one. All right, how many moms are here today? You see why it matters? Look around your campus. You see why it matters? It doesn't just say the Virgin Mary gets her prayers answered. No, what John is trying to do, he's trying to bring us all into the story. All of us have a place in this story. What he's saying is our faith can activate the supernatural reality of God to come down and produce a miracle. Because what if only Marys were heard when they prayed? But all of us are heard. That's what the sign of the wine is trying to show us, is that your faith pulls on God to do the supernatural. And I'm just telling you guys, we need more saints today who are bold enough to call out on heaven to come and do the impossible in our world. Listen, Jesus's mom had in a Jewish way, which is called chutzpah. She had some boldness. She had some courage. She had something that caused her to press out of the comfort of just the natural, some holy chutzpah, to call on God to come in and do something absolutely supernatural. She was not afraid to ask God to move. Listen, not even on her behalf, she actually asked God to move on somebody else's behalf. It wasn't a selfish prayer. It was actually a generous prayer. And that day, she called God to act on behalf of her neighbor. And we need some more Christians with some holy chutzpah to call on heaven on behalf of this world. Where are my praying mamas at? Come on, where are my praying grandma? Where are my praying aunties? Where's my praying dads? Where are my praying granddads at, right? Where are my praying friends who are going to ask and seek and knock and call on heaven for salvation to spring up from the ground?

Come on, when's the last time you said, God, save Atlanta? God, would you call the prodigals back home? God, would you protect our kids from evil? God, would you cover their minds? God, would you guard their tongues? Because we're surrounded by a world that only sees the natural, but we're the people who walk by…not by. Listen, you're surrounded by a world that walks by sight, and that's why everybody's freaking out right now. Warren, I ran. Oh, my God. Oh, my gosh, a terrorist attack is happening in Melbourne. Oh, my gosh, gas is a billion dollars a gallon. My life is my 401ks. Here's my promise. If you're freaking out today, it's because you're walking by sight and not by faith. But we are those who walk by faith and not by sight. We are not obsessed with the natural. We know we have a supernatural God who can add his super to our natural to produce something that we can never even imagine in our own lives. And we need some people who are willing to call on heaven, that no problem is too big. No husband is too far gone. No nation is too far going to hell. No cancer is too big. No demon is too strong. No war is too scary. That our God can show up and flex his muscles as Jehovah Nissi, our banner who goes before us and leads us to victory. We got to start praying like that again, saints. You got to stop listening to Fox News and CNN telling you how to act, how to believe. Listen, tomorrow, this afternoon, you're going to click on social media. It's going to remind you again what you're supposed to be afraid of. We aren't afraid of anything because perfect love casts out fear. We're different in this world. We got to stop being obsessed with the chatter. We're living down here and God calls us to have our eyes up there. That's where our help comes from. Our help comes from the Lord. We got to get it back in our spirit. DNA that what's impossible with man is possible with God and in faith we can even cast a mountain into the sea and the sign of the wine shows us that no problem is too big and no detail is too small for God not to show up and I cannot tell you how many people it's tragic I did I hundreds of meetings I've had throughout the year of people they say I don't pray because I know that God has all these big problems he's dealing with in the world and I don't want to like just add my little problem to his plate like you're gonna overwhelm God come on guys you're not that big of a deal but you are a bit you know I'm saying like he's not like oh my god there goes bill again right come on

your voice matters does God really care about the details of your life the sign of the wine says yes it does and I was I was thinking about this right before I came out here summer for our wedding it was raining the whole morning and summer it had this in her mind her whole life I'm gonna get married outside everything's already set up rain all over the seats and everything and I promise you this lady don't mess with summer buoy in prayer in faith on her wedding day especially this girl they're starting to bring stuff and she's like what are you doing they're like it's raining they're like she's like it's gonna stop she goes into like I like warfare mode right I kid you not I kid you not I kid you not the moment she walks out of the doors outside it stops raining I'm just telling you I'm just Jesus responds to faith whenever you wonder does God care about the details of my life my Tim Keller quote he's with the Lord now it's one of my favorite recent quotes this is the only person who dares wake up a king at 3 a.m. for a glass of water as a child and we have that kind of access guys it was life-changing for me when I realized that my prayers changed things God responds to faith God is looking high and low throughout the world for people who call on him in faith not to just sit in a service and believe yes that's the starting place but God is calling you out into faith and to real faith the prayers of the righteous accomplished much listen this is why we gather together on Saturday mornings under campuses Hamilton Mill on Wednesday night everybody needs to get there because this is what we do we intercede we stand in the middle between what is real and what needs to happen between what is happening what God wants to happen we say God let your kingdom and come and let your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven we call for God's perfect will to happen here on earth prayer is saying God I can't but you can God I can't but you can and what we have to start doing guys you have to start asking the father to step into your problems ask him to deliver you from evil ask him to protect your kids at cry out for the nation's pray for the salvation of your neighbors ask him to give you the courage to invite somebody to Easter in two weeks and then act on

that faith we're crying out for his kingdom to come not our will to be done his will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven and the sign of the wine shows us that Jesus responds to faith Jesus responds to faith but that sign of wine keeps pointing further so the sign of the wine tells us that Jesus responds to faith second thing is this is that Jesus replaces the old okay remember this is an increasing understanding of what's happening here in this sign all right I'm gonna get theological for a second also I'll scratch that itch for some Jesus nerds all right throughout the the first half of John we see Jesus doing the same thing again and again and again and again okay just go there with me he goes to the high Jewish festivals all right and he uses the symbols associated with those festivals he provides that symbol in abundance and then he replaces it with himself okay you're gonna see that again again and I know everybody was like I don't know what you just said okay here's here's all right in a few weeks we're gonna be in John 6 all right and the text tells us go there with me that it was Passover all right if you're familiar Passover is about two things it's about wine and bread that's where we get communion from okay wine and bread okay then Jesus goes and he feeds the 5,000 bread and then and basically the next verse he stands up and says I'm the bread he uses God's like holy Microsoft Word find and replace and says hey guys you know the whole Passover thing with the bread yeah that's me that's me the whole time Passover has been pointing to me and I'm here now to fulfill and replace it with myself so let's see what happens here in John 2 in the same story we just read it verse 6 nearby stood six stone water jars the kind used by the Jews for ceremony and each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. And Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water, so they filled them to the brim. And then he told them, now take some out and take it to the master of the banquet,

and they did so. And the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. I want you to notice, ceremonial washing, all right? So Jews were obsessed with purity. Everybody say purity. All right, this was not about hygiene. This wasn't like before you eat, you need to like put some soap and do it like that. They did not have running water, like that's not how this thing worked. This was not about hygiene, it was about purity. It was that this, listen. In this sinful world, as we go about our day, listen, this was the culture. You would touch sinful things, and so that impurity would get on your hands. And so this was not about dirt, it was about sin. And so how do we get the sin off of our hands, the stain from this world? Well, when I go home, I need to then put my hands into pure water to purify my hands. And so they had these stone jars with pure water to purify their hands. And they look like that, right? Big jars, you notice about waist high, and just come in and dip your hands in there and do like a special ritual, all right? So why stone? I don't know if you notice,

it would be very time consuming. Out of one piece of stone to carve basically a barrel, because they believed that porous things could get contaminated. So pottery or leather or fabric could actually get impure. So in other words, if you had water in a pottery jar, and you put your sinful hands into that water, the sin would actually go through the water and contaminate the pottery. And then you'd have to throw it away. But stone is not porous, so the sin couldn't get into the stone. Y'all tracking with me? You know what I'm saying? Like there's a lot here. And in fact, you couldn't just put regular water in there. You had to put what's called living water. If you've ever read living water in the Bible, living water means water that hasn't been manipulated by human hands. That means like a river or a stream. Lots of times what they would do is they would funnel rainwater down inside these so you wouldn't touch it. Because as soon as human hands touched it, the sin on your hands would make all the water sinful. Is anybody tired? So to get purified, you had to have a stone jar full of living water, right? Are you catching the hoops?

It's actually much more complex than that. I tried to simplify it. So what happens in this story is, Jesus says, fill the jars with water. And then that water turned into wine. And it's way too easy to miss the sign of what just happened. Okay, here's the question. What was wrong with the jars? Even in the story, what was wrong with the jars? They were empty. He says you have to fill them up. Okay, fill up. So listen, what was wrong with the jars? They were empty. Question, what was wrong with the old covenant? What was wrong with the old way of being purified? It's empty, it's hollow. How can water take away sin? So what does Jesus do? He fills it back up with something different. It's no longer filled with water, now it's filled with wine. He's saying you used to be purified with water, now you're purified with wine. What did wine represent at the Last Supper? My blood shed for you. He's saying you're no longer purified with water, now you're purified with my blood. If you jump ahead to John 19, when Jesus dies at the cross,

the Roman soldier comes up and stabs him in the side, what comes out? Water and then blood, because the old system needed to be refilled and replaced. And Jesus refills and replaces it with his own blood. Jesus replaces the water of the old covenant with the blood of the new covenant. And now there is only one way to be clean before God, through the blood of Jesus Christ. Revelation 7, 14, I love this, this is so good, says they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. How in the world? Come on, ladies, come on, dudes, you go down to the laundromat, hey, you gonna use some Tide? No, blood, blood, it's gonna get them sparkly white. How does that work? Because the only thing that can purify us is the blood of Jesus. It's not your ritual, it's not your ceremony, it's not the hoops that you jump through, it's not having the right kind of holy water. Come on, you used to have to wash your hands with water, but now your whole life is washed with the blood of Jesus. And the glory of Jesus is that he alone can purify us from all sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now no longer do we turn to ritual, now we turn to Jesus. Which is why when I see people wandering around in this life in ceremony, in ritual, in idolatry, it breaks my heart, guys.

And we all know these people, and some of us are these people. 2 Corinthians 11, Paul says this, But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity. Everybody say simplicity. That's in Christ. You understand there's a simplicity of Jesus. Jesus came to refill and replace the old. No more hoops to jump through, guys. Don't go back to slavery. Jesus set you free. A friend of mine, friend of mine, hot off the press, friend of mine, just left the freedom and simplicity of Jesus Christ. And he walked straight into bondage, and slavery, and rules, and ceremonies, and witchcraft, and darkness. The freedom in Christ to go back into the darkness. And listen guys, today, there are some of us who are caught in the old systems. Whatever your old system is. It could be witchcraft, it could be Hinduism, it could be Islam, it could be Judaism, it could be Mormonism, it could be Jehovah's Witness, it could be porn, it could be greed, it could be lust, it could be money, it could be whatever accomplishment, sex, drugs, whatever it is. But I'm here today to tell you what you already feel. The wine has run out. It doesn't satisfy. It doesn't fill you. There's still that thing that says there's got to be something else. There's got to be something else. And I promise you, because you're surrounded by people who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. The wine of Jesus. I promise you that Jesus is what you've been looking for your entire life.

Jesus doesn't leave you wanting something else. Jesus leaves you wanting more Jesus. I just want more Jesus. I want more of that. I want more of that. Because he's come to replace the old broken systems with what's true and real and satisfying and life-giving, what we've wanted our entire lives. And the truth of the sign of the wine is that Jesus replaces the old. He responds to faith. And here's the third thing. Here's the last thing. Jesus right here reveals he's the Messiah. Now here's the deal. I know that again. I mean, we're like, oh, yeah, yeah. Where do you get that from? How do you know Jesus is the Messiah? How do you know? Well, it's right here. The sign of the wine. What was the Messiah going to do when he came? Produce an abundance of wine. So what does Jesus, what's the first thing he does? He makes 150 gallons. Not of box wine. Come on, you can't get this at Target. He fulfills the prophecy with his first miracle. He's saying the Messiah has arrived. And this is my favorite. Oh, God, this is my favorite part. Please give everybody ears to hear this. Okay, here it is. Verse 9, we said it again just a minute ago. The master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. And he didn't realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. And then he called the bridegroom aside and said, everyone brings out the choice wine first,

and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink. But you have saved the best till now. Again, here's what he's saying. Jesus doesn't make dollar store wine. It's the best thing anybody's ever had, okay? Okay, listen, listen, listen. Remember, this isn't just a miracle. This is a sign. It's pointing to something greater than just face value. Here it is, here it is, here it is. The host of the wedding says, listen, this is amazing. People normally serve the best stuff first and then save the trash for last. But you did what nobody else has done. You saved the best for last. And Jesus goes, ta-da, that's me. I'm God saving the best for last. You've read the prophets. You've gone to the temple. You've sacrificed the bulls and the goats and the animals. You've done the systems. You've tried to purify your hands in the water. But now something better is here because God has saved the best for last in Jesus. Come on. Nobody saves the best for last except for God. Except for God. And Jesus, listen guys, is evidence that when it looks like it's broken and can never get better, nothing is impossible for God. Because God was in the business of saving the best for last and God is still in the business of saving the best for last. In fact, if you want to know the real reason, why does Jesus respond to his mom the way that he did? I told you I'd get to this. When she asked him to do this miracle,

why does Jesus respond? What does he say? He says, my hour has not yet come. My hour has not yet come. That's important. It's not my time, my hour. Numerous times through John, he says the hour is referring to the cross. And what Jesus knew was this. As soon as that water turns to wine, that means his public ministry has begun, which means the countdown to the cross began ticking. And so Jesus is sitting there. He's like, hey, Jesus, turn the water into wine. And Jesus is like, fully God, fully man, remember? He's processing. He's like, mom, I don't think you know what you're asking me to do. Because as soon as I do this, I start walking towards Calvary. In two weeks, we're gonna celebrate Easter. Easter begins in Cana. When Jesus says, fill it to the brim, refill, replace it with me. Here I am, world, I'm on the scene. Click, click, click. But even in Easter, we know that God saves the best for last. It's only Good Friday because three days later, the stone rolls away, and breath enters back into Jesus' lungs,

and he rides victorious over sin, death, hell, and the grave because God saved the best for last. And if you ever doubt that it can get better in this life, just think about Jesus. Because I believe that Jesus is saving the best for last for you, too. Can I just encourage you just for a minute? Don't give up on your marriage. I know it looks like it could never get better. Yeah, that's what they said about Jesus, too, when he was in the grave. Yeah, that's what they said about the old systems, too. And they didn't know right around the corner a miracle's right there. Listen, some of you are this close to giving up on this life, don't give up on life. God is saving the best for last for you, too. Don't lose faith. Don't lose faith. Don't stop praying for our nation. When it gets dark, the saints gotta pray more. Come on, guys, don't give up on our nation. Don't give up on our city. Don't give up on your kids. Don't give up on your family. God is saving the best for last. And I see too many people in this season just sitting down, waiting to die. And I felt like this was the word of the Lord for some of us, guys.

Listen, you can just sit there and think about what you've lost. Or you can rise up in faith and get back in the story. Because as long as you have breath in your lungs, God's not finished with you yet. And I believe that God is saving the best for last for you, too, for you, too. God's saving the best for last for you, too. Because we have a Jesus who responds to faith. We have a Jesus who replaces the old systems with himself. Why? Because he's the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the hope of mankind. And this is the God, listen, guys, this is the God that nothing is impossible. And he can save the best for last, not only for Jesus, but for you, too. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's bow our heads. Let's pray. God, I thank you that we're here today gathered under the name of the King of all kings, the great supernatural King of glory. Father, I thank you that you are not boxed in by man's rules. In fact, that's actually what we see with the purification ritual.

That isn't even something you told them to do. That's something that you told the priests to do, but the Pharisees put it on everybody. We put so many chains on ourselves. But God, right now we celebrate the simplicity of faith in Jesus Christ, that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works, or else we could boast about it. We got way too many Christians trying to boast about all the things that they do. But I thank you today, God, for the simplicity of Jesus. And here's what the scripture tells us, that when Jesus does this sign, the disciples believed in him. And so today, some of you, for the first time in your life, that light bulb just turned on over your head. You're hearing about the sign, and God's just affirming it's bigger than the sermons, bigger than lights, or you know, worship team, or anything like that. Like, no, this is like a God moment, right? And some of you just need to respond and say, I'm gonna put my faith in Jesus. I would also pause and just say, there's others of us in here who have been caught in the old system. Maybe you're caught in the sin loop that you just can't get out of. And you're trying to go to those waters to satisfy. You're trying to go to that religious system or maybe that sin or that money or that drug

or whatever it is to try and satisfy you. But that old system, the wine has run out. And today God is calling you to allow Jesus to refill you and replace the old systems with himself. Lay it down and come to Jesus. So I would just issue this, this call. Listen, if today's the day that you need to put your faith in Jesus or maybe today's the day that you just need to say, I'm gonna allow Jesus to replace these old sins and these old system. I'm gonna repent of this just habitual brokenness and I'm gonna come back to faith in Jesus, full faith in Jesus. I just want you to lift your hands. If that's you, come on. Yeah, I raised up. Yeah, thank you. That's a lot of us. It's the goodness of God, guys, that the door's open for fellowship and family. Okay, you can put your hands down. What we're gonna do, we're gonna pray in this moment. And we have a God who hears when we pray in faith. All right? And so if you can pray this prayer in faith, this isn't just lip service. This is from the deepest place of who you are. I believe God will hear and God will respond. And the family of God around you is gonna pray with you.

We're gonna pray like this. Once you repeat after me, say Jesus. Today, I put my faith in Jesus Christ. And I repent of my old systems. My old sins. The things I believed in. The way of living I practiced. I break from it and I turn from it. I leave it behind me. I walk out of the darkness and I come into the light. Jesus, I give you my life. You are my king. Jesus is my savior. I trust you to fill me with your glory. And right now, I am forgiven because of the cross of Christ. And I will live forever because the tomb is empty. And right now, I am forgiven and I'm a child of God forevermore, all because of Jesus. Holy Spirit, lead me and I will follow you for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name. Just stay right here, just stay right here. God, right now, I thank you for the blood of Jesus. It washes away sin. God, I thank you for the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. I thank you for the love of God that welcomes the prodigal home. And it's happening right now. God, I thank you for the power of God

that empties out the tombs. Some of us are getting out of the grave for the first time ever. Celebrate that. Whew, I thank you that there's nothing too hard for God. I thank you that you are the God of the impossible, the God who's still doing miracles. And right now, I wanna add just one more thing. Some of us need to activate that faith, okay? The way we were talking about earlier, that Jesus responds to faith. And I'm gonna just take 30 seconds right here. And I want you guys to pray for somebody that God's putting on your mind, even right now, who you need to engage with the gospel, somebody that maybe it could be a child, maybe it could be a friend, somebody maybe you just need to invite to Easter coming up. There are times that we go and tell, there's other times that we say, come and see. Easter is a come and see moment. So just 30 seconds right here. I heard stories last night of friends who are in adultery, right? Like mom and dads who are just out here in left field, whatever it is, 30 seconds, just right here. God, right now, God, we pray. God, for our neighbors, our friends, our family, our children, our moms, our dads, brothers, sisters, cousins.

God, we pray for our coworkers. God, I pray the salvation would spring up from the ground. God, I pray for their salvation in Jesus' name. And Father, I pray right now, even for the courage for each one of us to act in faith, to do and to say what needs to be done and what needs to be said in these coming days, that we would be witnesses of who Jesus is. Because I thank you that you are the mirror because I thank you that you are the miracle working God. God, I thank you that nobody is too far gone, no problem is too big. So even right now, God, I speak the name of Jesus over your people. God, I thank you that by the stripes on the back of Jesus, we are healed. I thank you that you are Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals us. And so right now, God, in faith, God, I curse cancer and disease. And I say, be healed in Jesus' name. Any brokenness in the soul or in the body or the bones, be healed in that mighty name of Jesus. We call on Jehovah Jireh to provide for the financial needs of this family, the relational needs of this family. God, we call on Jehovah Shalom to be the Lord, our peace. God in this tumultuous world full of storms God I thank you that you provide peace in Jesus name God I thank you that you are the Lord our victory who goes before us and so God any of us who are in fearful situations right now God I

pray that you would deliver us from fear and deliver us from our enemy God and we call on the name of Jesus we lift our eyes up to the hills that's where our help comes from and I thank you God from this day forward we're never gonna think our problems are too big or too small and we can always call on God in faith because of the sign or the wine we praise you for it in Jesus name and all the Saints said amen amen amen come on let's give glory to Jesus thanks for being a part of Victory Church on the Pando app we hope this content was a blessing to you but we want you to know that you're not done yet because we want to hear from you so send us a letter and tell us things like what God is doing in your life how we can pray for you or even content that you would like to see us create in the future we just want you to know that we see you you're important to us and we'd love to continue to create some things in the future that will bless you so send us a letter and we hope to hear from you soon