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How To Have The Endless Joy-filled Life

Feb 11, 2019 | Christ In All The Scriptures, Discover The Glory of Jesus, Jesus Is All I Need - The Reward of a Word Filled Ministry, Lessons, Master's Message-Disciples Path, Pathway To The Most High | 0 comments

Endless Joy filled Life

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010701AM

John-5

JESUS IS MY SALVATION MESSAGE SERIES PART – 5

Transcript

Let’s open our Bibles, please, with me to the Gospel by John. Let’s go to the twentieth chapter. As you’re turning there, I’ll confess, one of the terrible, terrible habits I have is when I read a series of books, I like to read all these series about the history of Israel’s struggle for independence. And the latest round of them came out called the Zion Legacy, and there are three of them out, and so I waited and bought all three of them. And got the last one and opened to the end of it and read the ending to make sure my friends were still alive. Then I read all three because I wasn’t going to read it if they had gotten killed in grisly ways, and you always like to check the ending out and make sure that it’s going to turn out okay. And it did, and so I read all of them. But isn’t that what God has done for us? He’s shown us the end, right, of the world, the end of what our lives are going to be like when we die. He’s shown us the end so that we can have great confidence and hope, and so there’s something about looking to the end.

And in this book, if you look to the thirty-first verse with me of chapter 20, that is the formal ending of the Gospel presentation in this book and actually gives the structure around which the Spirit of God breathing out through the Apostle John wrote this book. And what he said is this. In verse 31 he says, but these are written that you might believe. So, he said, these 20 chapters have been written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. The Christ, and that concept, the Messiah is the summation of all the Old Testament promises of God coming in human flesh so that you might believe that God has really come. He is the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His name. So, there’s the whole purpose of the Gospel of John. It’s one of those easy books to study because it tells us in the end what it’s all about. But what’s fascinating is it says that the purpose of the Gospel is to give us life.

Now, back up to verse 30, we’re going to back up through this book this morning. And truly Jesus did many other signs, sēmeia, He did these wonder working signs, these miracles. He did many of them. But look at this: in the presence of His disciples, which aren’t written in this book. So, if you look at the Gospels, Jesus did thirty-some odd miracles, but there are only seven recorded from verse 1 of chapter 1 through the end of chapter 20. And those seven recorded miracles are what verse 31 is talking about. But these seven recorded signs that you can only find seven sign miracles in John’s Gospel, chapters 1 through 20, those were written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that believing—notice this—you might have life in His name.

Now, back up to chapter 10 with me. Because as we turn to chapter 10, and I’m going to read with you just in a moment our text, Jesus is introduced as the Savior of the world who offers an overflowing, never-ending, joy-filled life to all who come to Him. Now, last night, it was really a blessing. In our through-the-Bible reading, our children had to endure through Jeremiah 23. Now, if you want, if you have someone that has insomnia, read them Jeremiah 23! You’ll knock them out. It is one of the more boring chapters of the Bible. I love all of God’s Word, and we’re reading the whole Bible out loud, and sometimes it’s a challenge. Last night was a challenge, and so the kids said, now could you tell us a story with something. That was really interesting, I think, but we didn’t know what it was about. You tell us. So, I said, okay, we’re going to start a new round of stories. And so, I started telling them about my college days when I used to take a group, and we’d witness in the mill towns. If you know what the mill towns are, those are the southern towns where everybody in the town works in the mill, and they pay them on Friday night, and they all cash their check in the bar, and they get drunk and spend most of their money, and they go home and beat their families. That’s mill town life. And we would go, teams of us, and we would, actually, a lot of times we would stand outside the factory and try and talk to them before they went to the bars. So, they tried to get them to go home first and not take their check into the bar and cash it and drink and all that. So, I told the whole story, and I told them about how these men would get drunk, and they’d buy everybody a drink, and they’d spend all their money and everything and go home inebriated. And when I got all done with that story about the Gospel and how He could, the Lord could change these people’s lives and take out alcohol in the effects of drunkenness. My 4-year-old said, Daddy, was that true? I said, yes. He said, so you’re a drunk? He missed one detail! It wasn’t me living in the mill town. It was me ministering in the mill town, but we got that straightened out. I always wonder what he tells them in children’s church about Dad’s drinking problem.

But chapter 10 verse 7 is the message that we present to these people. And literally, we would sit in shanty houses, built up on posts with floors, with nothing but dirt underneath them. You could see through the floorboards, and the wind would blow right through those houses. And here would be huddled little families that, with an alcoholic husband. And you could see all the marks of the rough life. And we would say, you know what? Jesus said you can have, even in this setting in America, in poverty and in a drunken, dysfunctional, and abusive home, you can have an endless, overflowing, joy-filled life, even there. That’s the Gospel. Let’s read about it, chapter 10, and you follow along as I read verses 7 down through verse 11, and think about Jesus Christ, who has the authority and power to give exactly what He offers. Okay, that’s what this whole book’s written about to prove He’s God, prove that He has the power and the authority, and then to show the life He offers. Therefore, verse 7, Jesus said again, I tell you the truth, I’m the Gate for the sheep. All who ever came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep wouldn’t listen to them.

Verse 9, I’m the Gate. Whoever enters through Me will be saved, he will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and to destroy. But I’ve come that they may have life and have it to the full. I am the Good Shepherd. And the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. That little line in verse 10, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it, as King James says, more abundantly. That’s an overflowing, endless, joy-filled life. That’s salvation. That’s what God offers. That’s what Jesus does in our lives when we yield to Him.

Let’s bow together. Father in Heaven, thank You on this day that we can celebrate Your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus. The One who has the power and the authority and the marvelous privilege of offering to us, after giving Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, He offers to us who come to Him, an abundant, overflowing, endless, joy-filled life. We are living that quality of life that the Apostle John, at the end of his life, said was abundant. It was unbelievable. And even to the end of his life, as he wrote about it, he wrote about it with a wonder and an amazement. That’s what we have this morning. And I guess the question is, if that’s what we have, how come we don’t live like it sometimes? And if that’s what we have, how come we don’t share it? There are people all around us, and when we go to work tomorrow morning, they’re going to come trudging in from their weekend of endlessly pursuing some form of pleasure and happiness, and they didn’t find it again. And when they found it briefly, it went away. But You’ve come that we always can have an abundant, overflowing, endless, and joy-filled life. We say, thank You. We’re not worthy, but we sure are grateful for that life You’ve given us. Help us to live it and share it. In the name of Jesus, we pray, amen.

Keep backing up to chapter 1, okay. We’re going to get a running start, and I’m going to introduce the second structural part of this Gospel of John. The first structure that John, under the Spirit of God’s guidance, gives is the giving of the seven titles to prove who Christ was. Now, if you haven’t marked them yet in your Bible, I’ll repeat them all this morning. Number one, Jesus in chapter 1 verse 1 is the Word. He is the Word. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. That is the explanation of Jesus Christ is the, basically, God’s Alphabet. He is the Alpha and Omega. He’s the Beginning and the Ending. He is all there is to know about God. He is the only way. We cannot communicate as humans with one another without using language. And that’s how we communicate truth, and ideas, and facts, and so Jesus is God’s communication vehicle. He is the Word. He’s the revelation of God. Number one, we saw that.

Number two, in verse 4, Jesus is the Light. And we talked about how you have to have light to have life. And so, that’s why it says, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. He is the Light that brings life to us. And we saw that a few weeks ago.

Thirdly, in verse 18, Jesus is the Son, the Son. And it says in verse 18, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who’s in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed Him. So again, Jesus said, I am the explanation of God, I’m the Word, I’m the Logos. I am the Light that God gives to give you understanding and entrance into His life. I am the Son of God, I am the revelation of God, I’m God in human flesh.

Then we saw last week, look at verse 29, the next day John—that’s the Baptist—saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, behold! The Lamb. And so, that’s the fourth title of Christ. He is the Lamb. He is the summation of all of the sacrifices of the Old Testament. He is the completion of all the sacrifices. He is the One who was the Lamb for the world. Remember, Cain and Abel were to bring a lamb for themselves in the garden. Israel later was to offer a lamb for their family in the Passover. The nation of Israel on Passover offered a lamb for the whole nation. But Jesus now was the Lamb for the whole world. And so, He is crucified outside the gates of Jerusalem. The sacrifice was available to all out there where they could all receive Him.

Continuing, the next title is that Jesus is, in verse 41, the Messiah. And if you look at this, it says, he first—that’s Andrew from verse 40—Andrew first found his own brother Simon—that’s Peter—and said to him, we have found ho Mashiach is what he said, the Messiah. And you notice, John is writing not just for Jews. And so, notice what he says at the end of verse 41, which is translated, the Christ because they wouldn’t know what Messiah, ho Mashiach, meant. And so, he says, we—Andrew—we found the Messiah. Now, to us, we go, what’s that? The Messiah, that Anointed One was the whole Old Testament picture. You anointed kings and prophets. They were set-apart ones. And he said, we found not a king or a prophet; we found the promised Anointed One of God, the One that is anointed with God’s Spirit, the One that is anointed to be the fulfillment of all of God’s promises. And that was the Messiah, so that was the next title. He is the Messiah.

Number six, if you look down at verse 49, Nathanael answered and said to Him, Rabbi, You are the Son of God! We already met that title in verse 18, but look at this next part of verse 49, You are the King. The King. The King of Israel! The King that offers life. The King that alone can give this overflowing, endless life. So, the next title is the King of Israel.

Finally, we find in verse 51, the last description, and He said to him, most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you will see Heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

Now, remember and a little bit later when we get to chapter 2, I’m going to tell you this, we have got to realize that the primary interpretation of any passage of Scripture has to do with what it meant to the people it was written to. It’s not, well to me, it means this or that. What did it mean to them? Because it was written for a purpose. And so, when Jesus was speaking to this group of men, and He said to a group of Jews, you are going to see the angels of God ascending and descending, all of them thought of the Father of the Jews. In fact, the one who was named Israel himself, who one day had been laying on a rock at Beth El, and in his dream, he saw the angels of God ascending and descending. You know what Jesus was saying right here in verse 51? He said, I’m the Son of Man. But he used the metaphor of the ladder going to Heaven that old Israel, or Jacob, had seen in his dream at Beth El. And He says, I am the ladder from Earth to Heaven. You want to get to God? You got to come through Me. You want to get the pathway of life? You want to get to know God? You want to come and into His presence? You’ve got to come through Me. I’m the Son of Man. It’s the same metaphor from Daniel chapter 7, where the Son of Man was seen by the throne of the Ancient of Days. And Jesus said, I’m your only key of access to God because I’m God in human flesh. And the Son of God became a Son of Man, one of us in order that all of us sons of men, by His gracious sacrifice, might become sons of God. And Jesus said, I’m the ladder to God.

So, those were His titles, and there are seven of them in this chapter, and that’s the way He says, I have the authority to give you life because I am the One that is the Word. I am the Light and Life. I’m the Son of God. I’m the Lamb of God sacrificed for you. I’m the Anointed One, all the promises of God. I’m the King, God’s King. And I’m the Son of Man. I am the living link between Heaven and Earth. I’m the ladder from Heaven to Earth, and no one can come to God without Me. So, that’s chapter 1. That’s the first portion of this Gospel presentation.

The second portion is what I read at the beginning this morning when Jesus said that He offered life through His name, and that life was built around seven signposts where He reveals His deity by miracles. Now, if you’ve never marked these, let’s start in chapter 2, and you can mark them real quick. And then I’ll just briefly sketch out what the bigger picture is of them. But listen, the divine perfection of Jesus is reflected in the seven signs that the Apostle John records from Christ’s life. And John built his whole Gospel as a bridge with seven signposts that transport a person from where they are, lost in their sin, by these seven signposts showing the pictures of Jesus, and at the end of that bridge is everlasting life. You say, what do you mean by that? Seven signs? The first three show how salvation comes to the sinner. The last four show what salvation does in the believer’s life. Nothing is by chance. In fact, I was telling the first service that we have to realize that this is a supernaturally engineered book, and there’s not one detail, even boring chapter 23 of Jeremiah, that is not vital for the whole. It’s just our lack or our inability to spend enough time to see exactly what it is God is intending to reveal. But no detail, especially in John’s Gospel, is there extraneously or just by the way. All of them are supernaturally placed for a purpose.

Now, let me show you what I mean by that. Number one, chapter 2 verses 1 through 11 is Christ’s first sign. How do we know that? Look at verse 11. Okay, the best way to know it is read it. This beginning of signs, that’s John 2:11. This what? Beginning, of what? Signs. Chapter 20 verse 30 says, He did many signs, but verse 31 of chapter 20 says, but these signs—the seven that are given—were written to make a bridge, a successive signpost walkway for you to see at the end, Jesus Christ. And that seeing Him with the eye of faith, you might have life. What kind of life? Life more abundant, life that overflows. I just, in the last hour, sat up with the FOF class. You want to have a blessing. You got to go sneak up there and listen in to those testimonies. I heard testimony after testimony after testimony of the supernatural grace of God, the transformation, the marvelous salvation that’s a part of their class. They write out their testimony, and then they share it with the class. You want to know Jesus Christ? Go across the bridge of faith that He made to show and demonstrate what those signposts, who He truly was.

Number one sign, verse 11, here’s the first one. What is the sign? You all know the story. Jesus turned water into wine. You say, what’s the big deal about that? We do that, if I had seven years I could do it. Right? I would just go out, and I’d buy some grapes, and I’d plant them, the little vines. And I’d let them start growing, and I’d trim them and get them to grow on the right way, on their little trellis. And I’d keep trimming them, and watering them, and making sure nothing bothered them. And after seven years, they’d have nice full grapes, and I could take the grapes and harvest them and put them into a wine press, and I’d hold onto the strings and I’d stamp on it. They would get crushed, and they would run over into the collection pool, and the dregs would settle the bottom, and then they’d run over into the next one. And then I would take them out of that last one and put them into an animal skin and let it ferment. And after seven years, I’d have some wine. But Jesus did it instantly.

See, the lesson of the first miracle is that salvation is miraculous. When Jesus comes into your life, He instantaneously washes away your sin, gives you and me a new heart and a new spirit. He opens our eyes; He turns us from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. And our names are registered in Heaven, as it says in Hebrews chapter 12. And we have a new heart, and a new spirit, and a new desire. And all that is not humanly achievable. It’s miraculous. So, Jesus did the miraculous in the first sign, and He showed He is the Lord of creation. Because He created the wine, He’s the Lord of time. He did what takes a long time to do here on Earth. He instantaneously did it. First lesson of the first sign is that salvation is miraculous.

Look at the second sign, which is in chapter 4. You say, how do you know it’s the second sign? Again, if we read the text, you’ll see that, chapter 4 of John’s Gospel verse 46. So, 4:46 is the beginning of the second miraculous sign. Now look, how do we know that? Look at verse 54. You ought to circle this so it just gets in your mind that there is no, this is not by accident. This book was put together in a systematic, superintended, supernatural way by the Holy Spirit to point to Jesus Christ that we might have this super abundant, overflowing life. What does verse 54 say? This again is the second sign. Oh! What did chapter 2 verse 11 say? This was the first sign. They’re coming in order. They’re not just happening happenstance. God is engineering this bridge toward Him through His Son. What’s the second sign that Jesus did? It was the healing of the noble’s son. And you know the story: this powerful man comes to Jesus, says, heal my servant. He’s sick and near death. And Jesus said, okay, just go home. And if you notice what happens, there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum, verse 46. When he heard Jesus had come, he went down to Him. Verse 48, Jesus said to him, unless you see signs and wonders, you won’t believe. And the nobleman said, Sir, come down before my child dies! Verse 50, and Jesus said, go your way; your son lives.

Now, here’s the lesson of this sign. Each one of the signs has a lesson about our salvation. Remember? And the man believed the word Jesus spoke to him. Isn’t that a great lesson? He just believed Him. Salvation in the miracle of the water into wine was miraculous. Salvation with the nobleman’s son is by faith. How did this guy get his son healed? Just believed Jesus. He didn’t do anything. He didn’t resuscitate him. He didn’t do penance. He didn’t offer money. He didn’t go and flail himself. He didn’t wail and cry. He just believed Jesus. See, salvation is by faith, and that’s the second lesson Jesus gives in the second sign. Lots more, but we can’t go into that this morning.

Look at the third one, how salvation comes to the sinner. First of all, it comes miraculously. Secondly, it comes by faith. Look at chapter 5, the next chapter, the first nine verses. Now there was a Feast of the Jews —probably Rosh Hashanah—and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And there was in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Hebrew is called, Bethesda, having five porches. By the way, that verse had been in the Bible for 1800 years before anybody ever saw the Pool of Bethesda.

Did you know all the people, all the famous heroes of the faith you’ve read about, that pool was just buried by Titus in 70 AD when he destroyed Jerusalem, and it was never seen again until the great archeologist Dr. Warren, in 1860, dug a shaft down and found it. Do you know why he knew it was there? Because it says in John chapter 5, it’s there. Everyone says, oh, we don’t know if it’s there. It just says it in the Bible, but nobody’s ever seen it. He sunk a shaft down by the Sheep Gate, and about 40 feet down into the rubble, he found the five-porched pool of Bethesda. It was there all the time. It’s just people didn’t know it.

But Jesus went to this place when it was functioning. And look at verse 5, there was a certain man there who had an infirmity for 38 years. And Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, and He said to him, do you want to be made well? So, Jesus is going to do another sign, miracle. And what He does, He says in verse 8, rise, take up your bed and walk. And immediately the man was made well. Did you know there were a lot of people at that pool of Bethesda? That was the collection point! In fact, the bad side of the story was the Jews had gotten a little bit into the Aesculapius snake stuff because of all the Greek influence, and they even had a few of those snake healers there. So, this was not particularly a holy spot. It was really a kind of an outcast collection of all the misfits of society and the people that were unable to make it themselves, and they just collected them all there, and they laid them around the pool, and people would give them gifts now and then and keep them alive. And Jesus came to that basically dump of humanity and Jesus graciously reaches down and heals one. Why does He do that? To show His grace. How does salvation come to a sinner? It’s a miracle, it comes by faith, and that faith responds as the grace of God reaches that life. It’s a marvelous, for by grace are you saved through the agency of faith. And so, Jesus, in His first three signs, shows how salvation comes to the sinner. Salvation comes miraculously by faith and through grace. So, there’s the third sign, and as Jesus heals the paralytic.

Now, look at chapter 6. Here’s the next one, and they are wonderful. And I hope that you have experienced in your life this kind of salvation because this salvation is a marvelous, miraculous, faith-given, grace-offered salvation. But look at chapter 6 because this is what the Scriptures say because the last four signs show the result of salvation in the believer. And when you and I came to Christ by faith, chapter 6, Jesus does another sign, miracle: the feeding of the 5,000. Verse 4, the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. And verse 5, Philip says, where are we going to get? He was always one of those detail guys. Where are we going to get enough food to feed these people? And Jesus said, oh, don’t worry. There’s a lad here, verse 9, who has five barley loaves and two small fish. And Jesus said, make the people sit down. He’s going to do something. And Jesus took the loaves, verse 11, when He gave thanks, He distributed them. And when they were filled, verse 12. Now, there is a detail. Have you ever been to one of these highbrow receptions? Where, like a business thing? And they have these little, tiny things that you get three or four of them and you eat them and you don’t even know you ate anything, and you’re always unsatisfied and you want more. You’re so hungry. You ever been to one of those? That’s what I think about most of what religion offers. The world is little hors d’oeuvres. And people say, oh man, that’s great, but they go away hungry.

But look what Jesus does when He feeds the 5,000. Verse 12, so when they were filled. Remember, each of these signs had a following discourse. The Bread of Life is the discourse for this at which Jesus, starting in verse 22, goes all the way through the fact that He is the Bread of God come down from Heaven. But what is the lesson He’s given to the people? When you get saved, salvation satisfies you. Look what it says in verse 12, they were filled. In fact, to prove they were filled, they picked up all those basketfuls of fragments. The people had more than they needed to eat. Remember, Jesus Christ came and He says, when I come to your life, you’ll have life and life abundant, overflowing. What did He say in John 7? He says, you’ll be like having a river of water flowing out of you overflowing in your life. What does salvation bring? Salvation brings satisfaction. Our life is satisfied. What does the song go? All my life long, I was searching and never found what I was searching for, and Jesus satisfies my soul, as the songwriter put it. Jesus, the Bread of Life, satisfies us.

Look at verse 16, because here’s another sign. Jesus did another miraculous sign when He stilled the storm. When Jesus perceived they were about to come and take Him and make Him King, in verse 15. The evening came, and His disciples went down to the sea. In verse 17, they got in a boat, and they went toward Capernaum. In verse 18, the sea rose because of a great wind. And when they rowed three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea; and they were afraid. And He said, it is I; don’t be afraid. And they willingly received Him, and immediately the storm was over and they were on the shore. Now, isn’t that a picture of what happens when we get saved? The instant we’re saved, the storm of our life ceases. You see the difference? Salvation, what’s the effect in our lives? It satisfies us and it brings us peace.

Here’s the next one in chapter 9, His sixth of seven signs is in chapter 9 of John’s Gospel. So, Jesus turns water into wine, heals a nobleman’s son, heals the paralytic, feeds the 5,000, stills the storm. Now He’s going to heal the blind man in chapter 9. And by the way, remember I said every one of these miracles produces a sermon afterward, a lesson. This blind man, and we’ll go through his story real quick. They says, hey, verse 1 and 2, who sinned, this guy or his parents? And Jesus said, none of them, but so the works of God could be revealed, verse 3. And so, Jesus, verse 6, when He had said these things, He spat on the ground, made clay with the saliva. Now, what are those details in there for? Why did it have to tell us that? Very interesting if you study it. He anointed the eyes of the blind man with clay, and He said in verse 7, go wash in the pool of Siloam. There were lots of pools around Jerusalem. Why’d he have to go to that one? See, many details. By the way, he was healed and he was made to see. But look at verse 14, it was on the Sabbath. And so, the Pharisees got upset in verse 15, and by the time you get to the end of this chapter, they had thrown this guy out, the one that had been healed, threw him out of the synagogue, said, you’re not welcome anymore. So, what was Jesus’ sermon in chapter 10? Everybody who comes to Me will never get what? Thrown out. You see how everything fit together, and through this sign He showed them that if you come to Me, your eyes will be open. Remember, salvation has opened eyes, turned from darkness to light, and if you come to the Light, Jesus Christ, with sight, spiritually. All who come to Me will never be cast out, the Lord said, and so that’s His lesson.

Here’s the last one. Look at chapter 11. And by the way, they’re so hard to go over them fast, but we have to get through them. Look at verse 38 of chapter 11. This is the seventh sign. Jesus turns the water into wine in chapter 2, heals a nobleman’s son in chapter 4, heals a paralytic in 5, feeds the 5,000, stills the storm, heals the blind man. But now, in verse 38 to 45, He raises Lazarus. And so, it says in 38, Jesus groaned; 39, take away the stone. And then He says very clearly at the end of verse 43, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! And verse 44 says, he who had died, he came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, his face was wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said, loose him, and let him go. You know what? Jesus raised him from the dead. But you know what it was a picture of? It’s a picture of salvation. Salvation gives life. We who are dead in our trespasses and sin come alive. And so, what does He do? He teaches them that salvation in the believer brings life, and light, and peace, and satisfaction. Those were His four last signs. And salvation comes to the sinner miraculously by faith and through God’s grace.

Now turn back to chapter 2, because I just want to show you what a blessing these are. But in chapter 2, let me read the first 11 verses real fast and have you underline some details in your mind. Okay, let me ask you, because by the way, I went to Sunday school my whole life too. I heard those testimonies in FOF. I heard one of them said he always went to church. So did I, went to church before I was born, whole life in church, and I heard all those stories. And I’ve heard my wonderful Sunday school teachers tell me the story of the water into wine so many times I could retell it by the time I got out of Sunday school. Right? But what they always said is, Jesus went to this wedding, and Jesus turned the water into wine, but you shouldn’t drink wine. Alcohol’s bad. And then we went on to the next one. That was the only lesson I got out of it. Don’t drink. Do you think that’s the lesson of this? That’s clearly in other places. It’s sure not in here because they drank it. It didn’t work with me. They all drank the wine Jesus made, and we’re not supposed to. How come? They should go to the parts where it says don’t drink, which are very clear.

But what is the lesson of the water and the wine stuff? And also, when the Apostle John was writing this, almost 70 years after it happened, he’s looking back and the Spirit of God is guiding him and he, under the Spirit’s guidance, puts in details that it seemed like he couldn’t forget because they were so vivid to him. What were the details? Number one, and in verse 1, it was on the third day. Third day. What’s this third day stuff? Why there’s a succession, a series of events, and this is just the third day, and it started in chapter 1. It’s going to continue. Second detail, it was a wedding. Why didn’t you just say you went to a party? Why do you have to go to a wedding? Is there something significant about the wedding? Verse 3, they ran out of wine. That’s a detail. It was important at weddings. It was an honor to provide your guests wine, which the Old Testament Jewish mind wine is always a picture of joy and gladness. It’s not a picture of drunkenness and despair because they diluted their wine. And only those who drank it straight, they were called pagans and heathen. And so, this was a sign of joy and gladness. Then look at verse 6. There were set there six waterpots. Not five, not seven, not four, six waterpots. But they aren’t just waterpots. They’re waterpots of stone, and they’re for purification. That’s interesting. Why didn’t he just say there was some pots over there? No, no, no, six! They were waterpots of stone for purification, and even tells how much they hold, 20 or 30 gallons. Now, all these details, as we’ll see next time, are vital. Look at this at verse 7, and they filled them to the brim. That’s interesting. Verse 10 at the end, the professional MC that did all the parties who always got to taste everybody’s wine because he was the ruler of the feast and was, that was his job. He said, you kept the best until now. That’s an important point. Verse 11, this is the beginning of signs. And look at the end verse 11, His disciples, because of this, believed on Him.

Now, real quickly, and we’re going to go in this in depth, let me just suggest to you what Jesus’ message is of this. His sermon on this isn’t recorded in this passage, but it’s in the rest of the Bible. It’s a wedding because Israel was married to the LORD. It says that in Isaiah 54. All that’s left are six empty waterpots for purification, the Law and all that had to do with the washings and the cleansings and everything else but the waterpots were empty and the wine had run out. You know what? The world’s joys always will run out. Money doesn’t buy happiness. It buys a lot of places to look for it, but you still can’t find it. It’s fleeting. So, Jesus comes to this place where Jewish people who had the revelation of God who were married to Him, the joy had run out, the pots were empty. They were cold, and lifeless, and useless, and empty. And Jesus comes, and He doesn’t come around, like at most restaurants they give you, they say, would you like me to refill your coffee? And they put half. You ever gone there and they put half a cup? I want it up to the top, like Jesus would’ve done, He filled it to the brim. And so, Jesus filled those waterpots to the, or had them fill them to the brim. And when He did, the ruler said, this is the best wine I’ve ever tasted. You know what John was saying across the 70 years? He’s saying, you come to Christ and you’ll have a quality of life that is as vibrant and real and as unbelievable as the joyful feasting of a wedding. And it’s the best you ever had. And God doesn’t give the best to those that are young. He gives the best at the end. He saves the best to last because the best part is Heaven, where we’re going. And then if you look here at the end of verse 11, His disciples believed in Him. Jesus, what He offered, they could see the picture, they could see His power, they could see the joy He brought. They could see the hopelessness of this situation, and they were attracted and drawn to Him. What’s the lesson? The lesson is this: you come to Jesus, you have inexhaustible joy. Your pot will never be empty, useless, worthless, and lifeless. Jesus, when He comes into your life, fills you up to the brim overflowing. When Jesus comes to your life, as it says at the end of verse 10, it’s the best there ever was.

And I was listening this week to the news. Most on the radio is such inane chatter that I just like the summary of the news for one minute and I turned the radio off. I’m not one of these people that has to have it blaring in the background. I think that it dispels meditation to have just that in the background, inane chatter, so I turned it off. But I turned it on for the news, but I turned it on too soon, and Roy Clark was singing from 1969. I wrote down what he said. Yesterday, when I was young, and he goes on and on talking about my drinking songs, and I had so much fun. But he says, there’s so many songs I won’t be able to sing. I feel the bitter taste of tears on my tongue. The time has come for me to pay for yesterday when I was young. What does the world say? Live it up while you’re young. Use it before it’s gone and just burn your candle out because at the end, you’re going to be empty, and worthless, and unable to do it. You know what Jesus says? He said, remember Me when you’re young, and the end of your life will be the greatest and better than anything else you had when you were young. You don’t need that youthful body to have the pleasures of God forevermore. That’s what salvation offers. What a message of hope! And you and I have that, and that’s what we’re celebrating at the Lord’s Table, that we received in Christ. And that’s what we’re supposed to live, and that’s what we’re supposed to share, Jesus Christ. Salvation is a miracle. It comes by faith. It’s through God’s grace. It brings us internal, endless, joyful satisfaction. It brings us complete peace. It lights our life and opens our eyes, and we start living the way God created us to live.

THE CREDENTIALS OF THE KING OF THE ENDLESS JOY FILLED LIFE!

To begin our look at Christ’s offer of endless, overflowing, joy filled life look at John 20:31.

Last century, blind Helen Lemmel wrote, “O soul are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s life for a look at the Savior, and life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face…” And that is what we exactly want to do this morning. Look with me at THE CREDENTIALS OF THE KING OF THE ENDLESS JOY FILLED LIFE!

Jesus is introduced as the Savior of the world, in the Gospel by John. That is the purpose the Spirit of God moved upon him to write this Book. In the 1stchapter John introduces Jesus by seven successive titles of Deity. This morning the last three have to do with the Credentials of the King. Have you considered His credentials? He has the authority and power to give exactly what He offered. Before we examine those credentials, look for a moment this morning at His offer of an overflowing, endless, joy filled life in John 10:7-11please stand with me as we hear Christ’s words:

 

Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

 

Now the question for each of us this morning is this: If Jesus offers a life of never ending joys, and He is who He proves through His credentials that He is – why aren’t we taking Him up on this life of endless joys?

 

Now for the credentials.

 

1ST CHRIST’S NAMES SHOW HE IS THE KING OF THE ENDLESS JOY FILLED LIFE WHEN JOHN INTRODUCES JESUS BY THE SEVEN TITLES OF CHAPTER ONE

  • In a gospel written to the whole world, John presents us with the Divine Jesus. He is the Son of God — his Divinity — the Divine nature of God is very clearly seen. We have already seen John’s incredible introduction of Jesus as the Word, the Dwelling Presence and the Glory of God. John reveals Jesus as God’s unique (“only begotten,” KJV) Son, and refers to God as His Father more than any other book of the Bible.  The Old Testament refers to God as Father only 12 times, John 120 times! But there is one major theme that runs throughout John’s Gospel: Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and if you commit yourself to Him, He will give you eternal life (John 20:31). In this first chapter, John recorded[1] seven names and titles of Jesus that identify Him as eternal God.

 

  • Jesus is The Word (John 1:1)
  • Jesus is The Life and Light (John 1:4)
  • Jesus is the Son of God (John 1:18)
  • 4.    Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:29) 
  • The Messiah (John 1:41): “We have found the Messiah!” was the witness Andrew gave to Simon.  Messiah is a Hebrew word that means “anointed,” and the Greek equivalent is “Christ.” In the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed and thereby set apart for special service. Kings were especially called “God’s anointed” (1 Sam. 26:11; Ps. 89:20); so, when the Jews spoke about their Messiah, they were thinking of the king who would come to deliver them and establish the kingdom
  • The King of Israel (John 1:43–49): “King of Israel” would be a title similar to “Messiah, anointed One,” for the kings were always God’s anointed (see Ps. 2, especially vv. 2, 6–7).
  • The Son[2] of Man (John 1:50–51): “Son of man” was one of our Lord’s favorite titles for Himself; it is used eighty-three times in the Gospels and at least thirteen times in John. The title speaks of both the deity and humanity of Jesus. The vision in Daniel 7:13 presents the “Son of man” in a definite messianic setting; and Jesus used the title in the same way (Matt. 26:64). As Son of man, Jesus is the “living link” between heaven and earth. Christ is God’s “ladder” between heaven and earth. “No man cometh to the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). Often in this Gospel, you will find Jesus reminding people that He came down from heaven. The Jewish people knew that “Son of man” was a name for their Messiah (John 12:34). God is here!

 

 

2nd Christ’s signs John records by the seven signs prove that he is the king who offers the endless life filled with joys!

 

The divine perfection of Jesus is reflected in the seven “Signs” John records from Christ’s life.  John built his whole Gospel as bridge with seven successive sign posts that transport you to the ultimate sign of chapter 20 – The resurrection of Christ. John notes the ministry of Christ in light of its impact on the hearts of those who saw these signs.  What were the signs Christ performed to bring those who saw His ministry to belief? Out of the many miracles[3] that Christ performed, John selected seven to prove His deity. (The eighth in chapter 21 was for the disciples alone and forms a postlude to the Gospel.) These seven signs are given in a specific order (note 4:54, “This is again the second miracle”), they prove Christ’s Deity, and they portray a beautiful picture of our salvation.

 

The first three signs show how salvation comes to the sinner:

 

  • HE TURNS water into wine (2:1–11)—salvation is Miraculous; Jesus is Lord of Time and Creation, nothings exists apart from Him.
  • he heals the nobleman’s son (4:46–54)—salvation is by faith; Jesus is Lord of Space, no distance hinders Him.
  • he heals the paralytic (5:1–9)—salvation is by grace; Jesus is the Lord our Healer, nothing is impossible to Him.

 

The last four signs show the results of salvation in the believer:

 

  • he Feeds the 5,000 (6:1–14)—salvation brings satisfaction; Jesus is the Bread of God, and the Bread of Life come down from Heaven.
  • he Stills the storm (6:16–21)—salvation brings peace; Jesus is Lord of Nature.
  • he heals the blind man (9:1–7)—salvation brings light; Jesus is Lord of Sight.
  • he Raises Lazarus (11:38–45)—salvation brings life; Jesus is Lord of Life.

 

Now notice in conclusion that the Gospel of John[4], unlike the other three Gospels, seeks to share the inner meaning—the spiritual significance—of our Lord’s works, so that each miracle is a “sermon in action.” We must be careful not to “spiritualize” these events so that they lose their historical moorings; but, at the same time, we must not be so shackled to history that we are blind to (as A.T. Pierson used to say) “His story.”  To begin with, the word John used in his book is not dunamis, which emphasizes power, but seimeon, which means “a sign.” What is a sign? Something that points beyond itself to something greater.

 

It was not enough for people to believe in Jesus’ works; they had to believe in Him and in the Father who sent Him (John 5:14–24). This explains why Jesus often added a sermon to the miracle and in that sermon interpreted the sign.

  • In John 5, the healing of the paralytic on the Sabbath opened the way for a message on His deity, “the Lord of the Sabbath.”
  • The feeding of the 5,000 (John 6) led naturally into a sermon on the Bread of Life. Whereas the first three Gospels major on describing events of this miraculous feeding, John emphasized the meaning of this event. This is why although all four Gospels record the feeding of the 5,000 but only John records Jesus’ sermon on “The Bread of Life” which followed that miracle. Jesus pointed to the deeper meaning of this miracle when He interpreted it for the people.
  • The rejection of the healed blind man by his community in (9:34) led to the sermon on the Good Shepherd who never casts anyone out (chap. 10).

 

This morning why don’t we conclude by examining just the 1st of Christ’s Sign Miracles[5]? In it we have a striking picture of the regeneration of a sinner. What would the sermon have been after our Lord turned the water into wine? What might He have said?

  • Jesus offers inexhaustible joys: We don’t know what if anything Jesus said as He walked around that site of His 1st sign miracle but since He has a pattern of expounding on these sign miracles, He likely would have told the people that the world’s joy always runs out and cannot be regained, but the joy He gives is ever new and ever satisfying. (In the Scriptures, wine is a symbol of joy. See Jud. 9:13 and Ps. 104:15.)  So Jesus compares His eternal life to an ever-flowing river of life giving water. He also says that His eternal life is more abundant than anything else in the Universe! That is quite an offer.
  • Jesus offers INDESCRIBABLE DELIGHTS: Anyone who is honest and has looked at life apart from God soon realizes that the world’s pleasures only offer the best at the first, and then, once you are “hooked,” things start to get worse.

 

This week as I tuned to ABC news at the top of the hour I was a couple minutes early and there in my car came the voice of Roy Clark singing his 1969 hit “Yesterday”, the words from, his beautiful singing voice, exactly captured the fleeting pleasures of anyone who lives apart from Jesus. Listen to these piercing words and think of any relative, neighbor, or friend you have that has never found the water of life Jesus offers:

 

Yesterday when I was young,
the taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue.
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game.
The way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame.

The thousand dreams I dreamed; the splendid things I planned.
I always built, alas, on weak and shifting sand.
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of day,
and only now I see how the years ran away.

Yesterday when I was young,
so many drinking songs were waiting to be sung.
So many wayward pleasures lay in store for me,
and so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see.

I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out.
I never stopped to think what life was all about,
and every conversation I can now recall,
concerned itself with me, and nothing else at all.

Yesterday the moon was blue,
and every crazy day brought something new to do.
I used my magic age as if it were a wand,
and never saw the waste and emptiness beyond.

The game of love I played with arrogance and pride,
and every flame I lit to quickly die.
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away,
and only I am left on the stage to end the play.

There are so many songs in me that won’t be sung.
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue.
The time has come for me to pay for Yesterday…
When I Was Young[6].

 

 

Unlike anything this world offers, Jesus continues to offer that which is best until we one day enjoy the finest blessings in the eternal kingdom (Luke 22:18).

 

  • Jesus offers INESCAPABLE PEACE: Finally our Lord would certainly have had a special message here for His people, Israel. In the Old Testament, the nation is pictured as “married” to God and unfaithful to her marriage covenant (Isa. 54:5; Jer. 31:32; Hosea 2:2ff). The wine ran out, and all Israel had left were six empty water pots! They held water for external washings, but they could provide nothing for internal cleaning and joy. In this miracle, our Lord brought fullness where there was emptiness, joy where there was disappointment, and something internal for that which was only external (water for ceremonial washings).

 

How do we get all this? Jesus explains it by His Sign Sermon.

  • Jesus can see our Emptiness: First, we see the condition of the natural man before he is born again: Jesus draws our attention to some silent objects sitting in the shadows of the wedding feast and by allusion points out that apart from Jesus any of us are like an empty water pot of stone – cold, lifeless, useless.
  • Jesus can remove our Worthlessness: Second, we see the worthlessness of man’s religion to help the sinner. Those water pots were set apart “after the manner of the purifying of the Jews” -they were designed for ceremonial purgation; but their valueless ness was shown by their emptiness. Jesus uses the cold, empty, lifeless water pots to become conduits for His wondrous, life giving power.  Like the blind and lame and deaf whom Christ touched would run, and hear, and see, thus declaring His goodness and grace, so we are rescued from our pitiful estate and raised to His fullness, His matchlessness, and His delights!
  • Jesus can offer his Fullness: Note that at the command of Christ they were filled with water, and water is one of the emblems of the written Word: it is the Word which God uses in quickening dead should into newness of life. Observe, too, these water pots were filled “up to the brim” -God always gives good measure; with no grudging hand does He minister. John commanded that the jars should be filled to the brim. John mentions that point to make it clear that nothing else but water was put into them.[7]

 

  • Jesus can pour out his goodness: See also that the water produced wine, “good wine” (v. 10): symbol of the Divine joy, which fills the soul of the one who has been “born of water”.
  • salvation is Miraculous: It says, “This beginning of miracles did Jesus”. That is precisely what the new birth is – a “miracle”. And not only so, it is always the “beginning of miracles” for the one newly born: regeneration is ever the initial work of grace.
  • salvation is glorious: We can observe, “This did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory”. It is thus, in the regeneration of dead sinners, that the “glory” of our Savior and Lord is “manifested”.
  • salvation is a person: Observe, “And His disciples believed on him”. A dead man cannot believe. But the first movement of the newly born soul is to turn to Christ. Not that we argue an interval of time between the two, but as cause stands to effect so the work of regeneration precedes the act of believing in Christ. When Paul wrote 2 Thess. 2:13 he notes first, “Sanctification of the Spirit”, which is the new birth, then “belief of the truth”.

 

Now we must think of the deep and permanent truth, which John is seeking to teach when he tells this story. In his entire gospel John never wrote an unnecessary or an insignificant detail. Everything means something and everything points beyond.

  • Jesus is the perfect completion of god’s law: John was writing his gospel for Greeks and so he explains that these jars were there to provide water for the purifying ceremonies of the Jews. Water was required for two purposes. First, it was required for cleansing the feet on entry to the house. The roads were not surfaced. Sandals were merely a sole attached to the foot by straps. On a dry day the feet were covered by dust and on a wet day they were soiled with mud; and the water was used for cleansing them. Second, it was required for the hand washing. Strict Jews washed the hands before a meal and between each course. First the hand was held upright and the water was poured over it in such a way that it ran right to the wrist; then the hand was held pointing down and the water was poured in such a way that it ran from the wrist to the finger-tips. This was done with each hand in turn; and then each palm was cleansed by rubbing it with the fist of the other hand. The Jewish ceremonial law insisted that this should be done not only at the beginning of a meal but also between courses. If it was not done the hands were technically unclean. It was for this foot washing and hand washing that these great stone jars of water stood there. There were six stone water pots; and at the command of Jesus the water in them turned to wine. According to the Jews seven is the number, which is complete and perfect; and six is the number, which is unfinished and imperfect. The six stone water pots stand for all the imperfections of the Jewish law. Jesus came to do away with the imperfections of the law and to put in their place the new wine of the gospel of his grace. Jesus turned the imperfection of the law into the perfection of grace.
  • Jesus offers endless joys: There is another thing to note in this connection. There were six water pots; each held between twenty and thirty gallons of water; Jesus turned the water into wine. That would give anything up to one hundred and eighty gallons of wine. Simply to state that fact is to show that John did not mean the story to be taken with crude literalness. What John did mean to say is that when the grace of Jesus comes to men — there is enough and to spare for all. No wedding party on earth could drink one hundred and eighty gallons of wine. No need on earth can exhaust the grace of Christ; there is a glorious superabundance in it.
  • Jesus is the real god of pleasure: Let us look at it now from the Greek point of view. It so happens that the Greeks actually possessed stories like this. Dionysus was the Greek god of wine. So the Greeks, too, had their stories like this; and it is as if John said to them: “You have your stories and your legends about your gods. They are only stories and you know that they are not really true. But Jesus has come to do what you have always dreamed that your gods could do. He has come to make the things you longed for come true.” To the Jews John said: “Jesus has come to turn the imperfection of the law into the perfection of grace.” To the Greeks he said: “Jesus has come really and truly to do the things you only dreamed the gods could do.”
  • Jesus makes life back into what god intended for it to be: Now we can see what John is teaching us. Every story tells us not of something Jesus did once and never again, but of something, which he is forever doing. John tells us not of things that Jesus once did in Palestine, but of things that he still does today. And what John wants us to see here is not that Jesus once on a day turned some water pots of water into wine; he wants us to see that whenever Jesus comes into a man’s life, there comes a new quality which is like turning water into wine. Without Jesus, life is dull and stale and flat; when Jesus comes into it, life becomes vivid and sparkling and exciting. Without Jesus, life is drab and uninteresting; with him it is thrilling and exhilarating.

 

For seventy years he had thought and meditated and remembered, until he saw meanings and significances that he had not seen at the time. When John told this story he was remembering what life with Jesus was like; and he said, “Wherever Jesus went and whenever he came into life it was like water turning into wine.” This story is John saying to us: “If you want the new exhilaration, become a follower of Jesus Christ, and there will come a change in your life which will be like water turning into wine.”

 

Check Out All The Sermons In The Series

You can find all the sermons and short clips from this series, Christ in all the Scriptures here.

Looking To Study The Bible Like Dr. Barnett?

Dr. Barnett has curated an Amazon page with a large collection of resources he uses in his study of God’s Word. You can check it out here.

 

 

 

 

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