The Word Pt. 5 - John 2:1-12

Intro: As we continue to examine the Gospel of John remember that we are looking at the nature and work of Jesus Christ. Today’s text contains a story that is fascinating on its face and profound when we dig deeper.

What we have here is Christ stepping into the consciousness of the community in which He lives… (recount up to this point… baptized by John… baptized in water but Christ in the Holy Spirit… Calling of disciples...)

Now after this Jesus moves on to an everyday event.

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.

I have always loved the exchange between Jesus and His mother Mary… So real, so typical… (what does this have to do with me… raising Jesus must have been interesting… why would Mary press this with Jesus…)

People wrestle with this I think too often… there is a concept of permissible will of God and perfect… clearly our requests and prayers can move God, change things… so mom influenced her son...

6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

The key to this passage is found in v. 8… now understand the description of the jars after being filled… with that being to the top how would you draw it out?... they probably didn’t draw it out of the jars… let me explain what I mean… DA Carson: Westcott and one or two others have rightly insisted that the verb ‘draw’ (antleō) is commonly used for drawing water from a well. In other words, the water turned into wine was freshly drawn from the well after the water jars had been filled.

“Up to this time the servants had drawn water to fill the vessels used for ceremonial washing; now they are to draw for the feast” - D.A. Carson

This is where the story goes from fascinating to profound. Filling jars with such large capacity to the brim indicates that the time for ceremonial purification is completely fulfilled; the new order, symbolized by the wine, could not be drawn from jars so intimately connected with merely ceremonial purification. in other words, Jesus at the outset of His ministry is declaring in no uncertain terms, the old means of cleansing by the Old law is complete, fulfilled, done and I am bringing the new...

Now with this in mind consider these words again: the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”.

So to this point what we receive from this passage is Christ is saying the cleansing by the old covenant is completed, there is something new and the master of the feast says ‘everyone serves the good wine first and then the poor but you have kept the good until NOW, he is declaring ‘the later is better then the former’... Now before I explain, HOW better this new covenant that is being declared as replacing the old, I want to remind you about how already we have seen in the writing of John this declaration, this THEME emerging.

remember what we learned from chapter 1 v. 16:

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ…

Or what we learned last week…

I baptize with water but there is one coming who will baptize in the Spirit…

And this foreshadows directly the explanation of the better covenant…

Remember specifically Jesus is saying the purity, the cleansing is complete, and what does that mean? Being pure to come to Him, to be in His presence, to be united to Him. So something is NOW VERY DIFFERENT and Hebrews explains how profound this is.

Turning to Hebrews 8 he states in v.

6: Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better… and from there he quotes Jeremiah and the words of God: “Behold, the days are coming… when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

That last line is important as it relates to the story we just read… (ceremonial cleansing water… purified… made clean…) and the author of Hebrews explains reason for this… in chapter 9 he talks about how you needed to work through a process to come into God’s presence...Now… the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.

Here he is describing the temple and entering into the MOST HOLY PLACE, the holy of holies, the place where the presence of God dwells… and he continues and describes how the High Priest was the only one who could go on behalf of the people… (Explain…)

But then, he says Christ appears… But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)

12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

We have been purified to serve a living God, we have been purified to enter His presence, we have been purified to worship Him, we have been purified not by a ceremony, not by water, not by continual sacrifices but Jesus Christ has made a way for us.

Conclusion: This is the work of Jesus… The best is last and is here.

The Word Pt. 4 - John 1:29-39

Intro:
The story we have here focuses on John the Baptist. John the baptist is an interesting character specifically at the time of this story. We first are introduced to John the baptist before he is born. Jesus’ cousin. What’s interesting is that in our text today, in spite of that John says ‘I did not know Him’, meaning He didn’t know who the dove would rest on, indicating that He was the Messiah.

So John came to prepare the way for the Messiah and in so doing He goes into the desert… seems like an odd plan… he had taken the Nazerite vow… camels hair coat with a leather belt… ate locust and honey and preached in the desert where many would come to hear his message and be baptized.

That last idea is probably the one most important to explore and gain understanding in light of the text. He was there baptizing people… why? What is the the point?... We have to understand the message in his method…

Many of us in the Christian faith see baptism as a point of Christian practice… Jews practiced baptism/mikvah, ritualistic cleansing…

John was expressing a need for repentance, cleansing, and a new path forward. What was going on wasn’t working, wasn’t right, wasn’t going to bring the hope and life and righteousness that was required to bring freedom to God’s people… prepare your hearts for the messiah… repent and get ready for God to do something…

Repent and be baptized, cleansed, renewed, make straight the path because God has a plan. Why do I say understanding the message in John’s method of baptism is the most important idea to understand in this morning’s text?

Then John gave this testimony:

“I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’

In Luke 3 we see John’s intent even more clearly:

“I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

And even with that I want you to hear the next part of his declaration about the work of the Christ:

“His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

John’s baptism we understand as one of repentance that brings about a change in mindset preparing the individual for the work of the Messiah and he transfers that expression from his work in water to Christ’s work in the Holy Spirit.

Christ’s baptizes in the Spirit as an expression of repentance bringing about a preparation for the work of the Messiah in our lives. John baptizes in water but Jesus Christ baptizes in the Holy Spirit.

This is important to grasp. First understand this, baptizo, the greek word used here is about a immersion, a flooding over that brings about transformative change… (bapto v. baptizo… pickle story… 200 years BC, physician Nicander, recipe for making pickles… n order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be 'dipped' (baptô) into boiling water and then 'baptised' (baptizô) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptising the vegetable, produces a permanent change.

Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit because there is a need for us to be permanently changed for the plan God has for us. (IMPORTANT reality… We cannot do it in our own humanity… this is the reason for the coming of the Holy Spirit… living God… nothing in our humanity provides the materials needed for righteous living… cant live without sin, cant find God’s direction, cant manage the struggle of this life in accordance with the calling of Christ without the Holy Spirit.)

You have to understand that is at the center of what Christ came to do because its what He knew we need. Jesus essentially quotes John in Acts 1 where he says, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” And again, Jesus tells the disciples, “it is good that I go because then the HS will come and will convict of sin, comfort the believer, lead us into truth.”

When we come to Christ we receive the Holy Spirit to permanently change us for the work Christ will do in us. And that is a mighty work not something we can do in ourselves… have you ever thought about that? What is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer? There are two important, foundational lists found in the New Testament that tells us what the Holy Spirit provides for us to do the work to which Christ is calling us. What lists am I talking about? Now as I reveal it think for a moment, HOW IN THE WORLD would you be able to do it without the baptism of the HS.

The first list is found in Galatians 5 and I’ll give you the context for the sake of the contrast:

“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

Everything stated in v 19-21 is EASY, we see people living that without effort. Why? Why do people not have to work at that? Why is there no need to train people how to be jealous, fits of rage, discord, selfishness… think about it.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. And how do you do it? Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit the Christ does in the life of the believer is the immersion that permanently transforms us.

Now think about the second list I want to visit… its found in 1 Corinthians 12, we just read the fruit of the Spirit, that which comes by the SPIRIT alone now hear the gifts of the Spirit:

“7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”

The supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit to the church to build up the Church as it does the work of the Church… (pick a few, describe, examples, not in our ability… like fruit…)

I want to remind you of something… the passage we referenced in Acts 1 where Jesus says John baptized in water but I will baptize you in the Spirit. Let’s complete His thought there: he said,

“you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

And what happened? Acts 2… Pentecost… and they became witnesses… the church grew, the people were equipped… we need the to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, a permanent transformation that comes about as a result of immersion in the Holy Spirit… to do ONLY that which can be done by the Holy Spirit.

Closing:
And as I close I want you to know, although I believe we receive the Holy Spirit, are baptized in the Holy Spirit upon salvation, I believe we should be seeking to be immersed in the Holy Spirit again and again to receive the empowerment we need. A day of Pentecost is available to every believer on any day.

In closing I want to bring your attention to Ephesians 5… A letter written specifically to believers. People who received the Holy Spirit at salvation, in chapter 5 he speaks about the contrast between the world and the church… He says:

“15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.”

The words here indicate an ongoing seeking of the filling of the Holy Spirit to live in the Spirit… and the filling of the Spirit referenced here to make full, to fill up, to fill to the full, to cause to abound, to furnish or supply liberally to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim… We need to be filled with the Spirit… we need a filling, to full measure, to the brim of the Holy Spirit… to be submersed and overflowing in the Spirit.

We do not live in the Spirit, pursuing the presence of the Spirit so that we can exhibited the fruit of the Spirit and manifest the gifts of the Spirit… but we NEED to as a church and as individuals. You cannot do it without it.

“make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”

He baptizes us in the Holy Spirit so we can be permanently transformed, empowered to do the work He has… are you living in that transformation?

The Word Pt. 3 - John 1:16-28

The Word III
John 1:16-28

Intro: What is grace? (unmerited favor and goodness, undeserved kindness…) 

We are continuing the series a study in the Gospel of John… the beauty of this book is that it introduces us to who JESUS is… John, as a disciple, was writing to Jews and Gentiles to explain to them the nature of Jesus Christ and knowing the nature of Jesus Christ is the most important topic we can ever study.

And I want to remind you of the first truth about Jesus John expresses because it is important and will be the point that John makes throughout… Jesus is WITH God and IS God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Jesus is WITH God and IS God… both of these are relevant.

John is making this argument from the first sentence of his book and he will continue to make that argument throughout the book.

And this is important… Jesus being God is important.

It’s important for the authority of the ministry and message that John is about to recount. It's important for the work Jesus comes to do.

And it's important for those who follow the Christ to whom John introduces us.

So this important message about the nature of Jesus, the man John introduces us to, is important and we see it reiterated every step of the way and we see it reiterated in this morning’s reading.

16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side,  he has made him known.

Let’s stop here first and take note of something extremely important… now we see again John making the argument for Christ’s divinity... the NIV captures the intent of John’s words a little better 

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. 

Now as important as the expression of God’s divinity is here there is something as important we have to understand about Jesus as it relates to our walk, our lives, our world… and it is found in verse 16 and 17… 

16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

Or again how the NIV states it: 

16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 

The heart of the mission of Jesus Christ is to expand the grace of God to His people… grace upon grace, grace in place of grace already given.

We serve a gracious God, God is a gracious God and the full manifestation of that grace is expressed in Jesus Christ.

Understanding the grace of God is an important theological and personal truth that we have lost too easily and why we have lost it is because we have lost sight of who God is.

Now John steps in and says ‘we have received grace upon grace, or grace in the place of grace already given’.... Bishop Handley Moule, illustrated the meaning of John’s declaration by describing a river. “Stand on its banks,” he wrote, “and contemplate the flow of waters. A minute passes, and another. Is it the same stream still? Yes. But is it the same water? No.” The old water, he explained, had been displaced by new—”water instead of water.”... 

God’s grace is extended to us continually but there is a new grace, an overwhelming grace, a replacing grace available BECAUSE of Christ and His work.

What we get here is the fulfillment, the completion of the work of God the Father, started in the OT but brought to fruition through the work of God the Son…  

from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus… the law given by God through Moses is an expression of God’s grace… provided a pathway to relationship to Him.

BUT it was never anything more then an expression that pointed to the need and coming of Jesus Christ… in the Old Covenant God revealed His holiness and our unworthiness, in the Old Covenant God revealed His capacity of grace and our capacity to fail.

Paul explains this idea in Romans 7… He says, the law shows us our failing, the law establishes what is righteousness, God gave it to set the standard for a relationship with Him BUT in our humanity we kept failing… does that make the law wrong or evil? No he says ‘the law is spiritual but I am unspiritual’... and then he explains the struggle and the PROMISE revealed in the old covenant: 

Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 

This could be the declaration of the people of God following Malachi, the last book of the OT, and proceeding Matthew the first book of the New, what a wretched people we are who will rescue us? The Law has shown us our failing but it hasnt give us our salvation but the answer comes… and Paul declares it in the next verse: 

25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Jesus is God’s grace upon grace to us… the law was given by God, reaching out to His people to show them life and truth, to show them His face and the hope that could be found in Him but we can’t climb that ladder, we cant cross the divide and it was always meant to show us that Jesus was coming, it was always pointing to Him… Jesus makes that statement in John 5 to the pharisees: 

39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (John 5)

The message of John to this point is Jesus is God and He came as GRACE extended to man, to us. A grace not generic in nature but a grace that: 

• frees us from the separation of sin

• that frees us from the slavery of sin

• that frees us from the penalty of sin

In closing I want to point something out to you about our text, all that John writes here about the grace of God extended through Jesus Christ in response to the law given through Moses lays the groundwork for John the Baptist’s message as the forerunner of Christ… the account we read was the priests and levites going to John and saying are you the Messiah, john said no, are you Elijah, no, are you the Prophet no… He said…

“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ 

He said of Jesus…  

he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. 

He said…

I baptize you with water but He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit… 

and He said…

behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

What we know about Jesus because of this first chapter is Jesus is the grace upon grace of God extended to mankind that if we repent of our sins they will be forgiven and we will receive the Holy Spirit to dwell with us providing, by God’s grace upon grace, victory over sin every day.