This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:00] It is with a real sense of excitement that I ask you to grab a copy of the Bible and open it up to John 2 right now. And you might notice me to be a little extra excited here this morning as we get into this sermon, because today we are going to see a miracle, my friends. That's what we have gathered here to say. There is going to be a miracle that we are going to look at. There has been a miracle that we are going to study and we believe in miracles here at Compass Bible Church, Huntington Beach. And so if you don't believe in miracles, you might be in for an interesting experience right now. And it's great to have you here. I talked to people who don't believe in miracles all the time. And I ask them, well, why don't you believe in miracles? And they say, because I've never seen one.

[00:00:51] And I just think, well, of course you've never seen one.

[00:00:55] That's why we call them miracles. They're not normal. They break the natural law that God has made. Now, I might think that a brilliant ball of light shooting into the sky, lighting up to the entire world and giving life to all creatures is a miracle. Then to be followed by another ball in the sky, reflecting the light of the first ball to light up the darkness. That's got to be a double miracle. But no, we just call that day and night, see, because it's normal. Happens all the time. Remember when my son was born? He's nine years old now. And I remember the day that he was born. And I saw the process of birth that I'm sorry, no YouTube video can quite capture when you're right there and you see someone being born. And I think this is a miracle. Look what God has done.

[00:01:51] But then it's being done in the room next to him, the one we're in and all over the hospital and all over the world.

[00:01:57] It's it's normalcy.

[00:01:59] Don't miracle is something that is not normal. A miracle is something that is supernatural. So I tell my friend who doesn't believe in miracles. Well, of course, you're not going to see a miracle. If everybody was seeing a miracle, then we would stop calling it a miracle and we would start calling it normal life. OK. So a miracle is something extraordinary. It's something that that we're not used to seeing. Let's get this down. Actually, let's write down a definition of a miracle here. An unusual, unusual and wonderful event believed to be caused by the power of God. There's a working definition for a miracle, or as John refers to them in his gospel. He calls them signs. It's an unusual thing. And it's it's awesome to bold. It's wonderful to even ponder. But it's something God does that breaks the rules that God made. And so I ask my friend who doesn't believe in miracles. So let's say you're not going to see one. Do you still think that they could possibly happen? What if your friend saw a miracle or what? What if I told you it wasn't even your boyfriend? What if it was someone that you really felt like you could trust? I mean, do you have to see the miracle or can somebody else see the miracle reason? With my friend and I did at some point in the conversation, he'll be open to maybe he's not going to see every miracle. So maybe somebody else will see it and maybe they could be trustworthy. And so what if that person came to you and they took you through their entire experience of witnessing the miracle? Would you then accept the reality of the miracle? And different people have different responses. But if they're going with the with the basic logic that we're trying to move him down. Well, you're not going to always see every supernatural work of God. So what if somebody else reliable saw it and they told you what you believe? Well, what if that person actually wrote down the account of experiencing the miracle? Would it still be real if they wrote it down?

[00:03:59] Okay. Now, what if actually you read that account of the miracle, a thousand, maybe two thousand years later, what it still be a thing that really happened?

[00:04:09] We have a trustworthy eyewitness who sees something that has blown his mind that is not natural, that has caused him to see the power of God. And he wants to tell you about it here this morning. It's John. And he writes, The first miracle of Jesus here in chapter two. Verse one follow along with me as I read our texts through the first 12 verses of this chapter here this morning.

[00:04:35] It says, On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. And when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. And Jesus said to her woman, What does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. And he is. Mothers said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. Now, there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water, and they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. So they took it. And 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 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. This the first of his signs or miracles Jesus did at Kaner in Galilee and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

[00:06:14] So what we have here is, I believe, a first hand account from the apostle John who experienced this miracle of Jesus, not recorded in any of the other gospels. If you've been here over the last few weeks, John's kind of giving us a behind the scenes look at how Jesus in his disciples really started to meet each other and started to interact. And kind of the climax of this story that John's been telling to introduce us here to Jesus in the gospel is they end up at a wedding. A wedding is a wonderful occasion. I think we can all agree on that. It's a celebration to party. I mean, they really knew how to do weddings back in the day here in the Jewish culture. And sometimes a wedding would go for a week. It would have been a massive celebration. Everyone would have been invited. And I have a problem that arises here at the wedding and they run out of wine. Now, this is a miracle as you read this story. It seems different than a lot of the other miracles that we read about Jesus doing and that the other miracles, it seems like Jesus really has a purpose. A need rises up. He intentionally meets the need and then he uses the miracle as kind of a platform, as a pulpit, if you will, to preach something and to communicate some truth based on the miraculous thing that he did. But this almost feels like Jesus kind of gets talked into doing this miracle here. Like, maybe it feels almost like he wasn't planning on doing it and his mom brings it up and he kind of even has a little hesitation in the way that he addresses her woman. What has this to do with me? Right. It's a little bit a distance there between Jesus and God and this woman here, Mary, the mother of Christ. And but he ends up doing something that only the servants and the disciples, it seems, really even understand happened. This isn't really a public event. A lot of people would say that this miracle kicks off the public ministry of Jesus. Well, actually, this miracle is done behind the scenes of the wedding feast. In fact, this is the ultimate of irony. This is the kind of way that John loves to write. When the guy reveals to you what has happened by saying, oh, you saved the best wine until now. Right.

[00:08:31] And that's when you realize that the water in those purification jars has now turned into wine. Like, when did it even happen?

[00:08:41] Like, how did he even go about taking place? Like, how do you get one hundred and twenty to 180 gallons of water and then all of a sudden you take it over to the head waiter, the master of the feast. And he's telling everyone that the best wine has just arrived and the party's about to kick into the next gear. Like John is blown away when he sees this.

[00:09:03] This is not normal. This is not natural.

[00:09:06] A hundred and eighty gallons of water doesn't just turn into wine when it's all of a sudden take into the master of the feast, much less a better wine than what they were drinking.

[00:09:15] See?

[00:09:16] And John says, here's the key to the passage. Look at verse 11. Let's zero in on this and then we'll go back and dig into the details. But let's just start with this. This the first of his signs Jesus did at Keena in Galilee. This is the first miracle that John was a witness to. And in fact, John says he manifested he revealed he showed us his glory and his disciples, John, being one of them, believed in him. This is what caused that small group of guys who had recently been introduced to Jesus to come and see who Jesus is. And they started following him around. Here's when they started believing in him. And when he did his first miracle. Now, this is the first example of what John has said. He wrote this entire book to do is he has. Put together an accounting of not all, but just a few of the miracles of Jesus of the signs. And so we've been developing this chart because this is the logic. This is the progression of how the gospel is written. We we have a chart here where we start with some signs and then the signs are supposed to cause us to believe. So if you want to draw this down again, we're trying to get this into our thinking that this is the way the gospel of John is written to work. I'm going to tell you something that happened at a wedding that I witnessed John saying. And when I witness this miracle. See, it wasn't just a supernatural event that took place. It was a sign that showed me something beyond the natural realm. It gave me a glimpse into the very glory of God. I mean, what John's saying is that beyond the space and time that you and I live in, if we could peel away the wallpaper of reality, if we could see past the realm of the physical realm that we're living in right now into the spiritual realm where God is, if we could just peel away at the wallpaper. There's radiant glory that would come bursting through that would blow us all away. And John saying, I got a glimpse of it at a wedding one day when I saw six jars of water and suddenly people were drinking them as wine. And I got to tell you, I've seen the glory. And once I saw the glory, that's when I believed that's what he's saying. CNN, when you believe the end of the belief is you have life. This is the dynamic that John is trying to help us see. As he writes the gospel, because this is what happened to John. Personally, I believe he's at this wedding and he is telling us all of this with great detail. To give us a behind the scenes look of why he decided to follow Jesus was because he saw the sign and he saw not just the sign that Jesus did by turning water into wine, but he saw the glory behind it, that Jesus must be God, he must be the creator. And he put his trust in him right then and there. See? So the world is going to say that we're here at church and we're following religion and we've got this blind faith and we're just all lemmings following each other off of this cliff. And we don't have any good reasons to believe what we believe. And that is a lie. OK. The whole reason that we believe what we believe is we have compelling reasons, reasons that make more sense than not believing. So let's get this down for point number one. Don't believe that believing is blind. Don't believe the lie that believing is blind. The only reason I would encourage anyone here to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and to follow him as one of his disciples is because you see Jesus for who he is. You see the signs that Jesus does the miracles that prove this is not a normal man. This is a one of a kind. This man must be God. And when you see that, you have a reason to believe in him. So I'm not telling anybody here to just all of a sudden believe because the Bible says so or because I told you so or because your life will be better. I'm telling you, believe in Jesus because of the signs of who he is and what he does.

[00:13:21] We have reasons for why we believe in Jesus Christ.

[00:13:26] In fact, go to John Chapter 11. Let's just jump straight ahead. I know this is the first of the miracles and they crank up as we go on. So I hope that your mind is blown by how water could suddenly become one. We'll take a deeper look at that in a minute. But these this is just the beginning of what we're going to see. And as we go through the book, there's going to be more and more miracles that are going to get more and more awesome.

[00:13:50] And I just want to start jump into the most awesome ones. Is that okay? Is anybody else want to do that? You just want to skip to the best parts. Right. That's what we're going spoiler alert. We're getting straight to the good stuff here. We're not really going to get to this to like Easter time. But let's just give you a little preview of Eastern right here right now. This is John, Chapter 11. And a friend of Jesus is Lazarus has died and he has been in the tomb now for days. And his body, just to be very straightforward with you, has started to decompose and smells really bad. It's rotting.

[00:14:22] And so Jesus says, let's take away the stone here in verse 38 of John Eleven and Martha, friend of Jesus, the sister of the dead man, Lazarus said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor. Do we really want to remove the stone? Are you sure you know what you're doing?

[00:14:41] Because he has been dead for days now. Jesus said to her key phrase here.

[00:14:48] Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?

[00:14:55] Hey, I'm about to do something that is going to cause you to believe. And when you see this sign that I'm about to do, you're not just gonna see the miracle. You're not just gonna see me. You're gonna see the glory of God. That's what Jesus is saying. So they took away the stone. When are you gonna argue with that? And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me. But I said this. Here's why I'm doing this. Here's why I'm saying this out loud. I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me. I'm going to do a sign so that these people will believe when he had said these things. He cried out with a loud voice. Lazarus come out. And the man who had died came out his hands and his feet still bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go.

[00:15:48] And if water into wine is awesome, here's a dead man for four days brought back to life by the power of the words that come out of Jesus's mouth. And why does he do this? He says it very clearly. I'm going to do a sign so that you will believe so that you can see the glory of God.

[00:16:08] And look what happens. Verse 45. Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did believed in him. It worked.

[00:16:18] People saw a dead man come out of the tomb and they thought, that's from God. That's not like anything else I've ever seen. And they believed in him. They put their trust in him. Now, not everybody believes some of them went to the Pharisees and they told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priest and the Pharisees, they gathered the council and they said, what are we to do for this man? Performs many signs. Look at this first 48. Here's the enemies of Jesus talking about him. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. Look how many signs this guy's doing. If we let him keep doing these miracles, everybody's going to believe. So let's get this down for our first sub point under point number one that we believe for a reason. OK. So if anybody tries to say that we have blind faith and what we're doing here is not logical. No, this is the logical response to the reality of miracles. To the reality that there was once a man who was more than a man who could raise the dead. And then the logical response to someone rising from the dead, a breaking of the natural law, if that's a reason to believe. OK. So everything we're doing in our faith here is founded on a logical response to the evidence of the reality that Jesus is God and he can save us from death. In fact, turn to the end of the gospel. That's the great miracle that Jesus does to raise Lazarus. But now go to John, Chapter 19. And let's see Jesus now dying himself. And John does something. He puts himself right there as an eye witness, like he's close and he's encountering all that Jesus said and did there on the cross. OK, here's a compelling reason for you to believe in Jesus, because he really did die on the cross for your sins. In fact, John's there and he gives details that the other writers of the gospels don't give. And he gives this amazing thing that happens in verse 34. This is John 19, verse 34, page 906 of your track. And with us, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and at once there came out blood and water, which is this amazing thing we're gonna get to eventually. And then John says, I saw this. I saw that he was dead. I saw the water and the blood come out of his side. Boonie was pierced, fulfilling all of these prophecies from the Old Testament that he goes on to quote. And he says, this inverse 35, he who saw it has borne witness. I have seen these things, John, saying his testimony is true, writing about himself in the third person, trying to convince you I'm a reliable eye witness, you can believe me. And he knows he's telling the truth that you also may believe. I know you didn't see the miracle. I know you went there, weren't there, when he died on the cross for your sins. But I was there. And I want to tell you, it's real and you should believe it. That's what John says. He says that to every skeptic, to every doubter, to every single person here who wonders, could it be true? Could my sin really be forgiven? It seems too good to be true that I would never have to face judgment or condemnation, but that I would go into God's presence and have a blessed relationship with him for all of eternity. Is it real? John says, yes, it is. I was there and I saw it. I saw him pay for your sin. I saw the blood that cleanses you flow from his side. I am a witness. John says, and you have a reason to believe it.

[00:19:44] See, it's real.

[00:19:47] It's not. It's not. We're cut. Not coming here and doing something fake. This isn't something that is made up. This is as real as it gets where one person sees it and they tell somebody else about it.

[00:19:55] And based on that person's testimony, they believe it because it's true.

[00:20:02] Look at Thomas here, maybe some of you guys are like him, this is chapter 20, verse 24. One of the 12 disciples, we know him as doubting Thomas. Maybe you feel like him sometimes. Not really too sure about this miracle stuff.

[00:20:14] Well, Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin was not with them when Jesus came. So Jesus now appears to them after he has died. He rises from the dead and reveals himself. He gives them a reason to believe he rose from the dead by showing himself risen from the dead. And the other. His disciples are telling Thomas verse twenty. We've seen the Lord. We saw with our eyeballs. But he said to them, Unless I see his hands, I'm like, he's not going to believe their testimony unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails. And I placed my finger into the mark of the nails and I placed my hand into his side where the spear went into him. After he had that, I will never believe. I mean, here's the heart of skepticism right here. Here's the heart of doubt and disbelief and less. I can see it with my own eyes. You miracle hate or you, Thomas. Right. And let's I get to see it with my own eyes. Not to believe what you tell me. I got to see it for myself. Well, look what Jesus does here. Eight days later, his disciples were inside again. And Thomas was with them, although the doors were locked. Just want to point out that detail, that the doors were locked. Everybody but Jesus came. Oh, hello. And stood among them and said, peace be with you. And then he said to Thomas, put your finger here. Not only am I here right now, I heard what you said. You want to touch the spot. Here it is. See my hands. Put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe in. Thomas answered him. My Lord and my God. And Jesus said to him. Have you believed because you have seen me.

[00:21:44] Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. That's us. That's us right here this morning. I've never seen Jesus Christ.

[00:21:53] I didn't see him die on the cross. I didn't see him rise from the dead. I haven't touched the holes in his hands or in his side. But I'm here to tell you this morning that I believe it is real and I believe it. From the eyewitness account of John and the other disciples. Can I get the Amen from anybody on this? We are those who have not seen and yet we believe and Jesus considered us blessed. Now we got to focus our faith.

[00:22:16] Notice they don't believe in the miracles. Okay. There are the signs. John especially uses this word. He doesn't use the word miracle. That's common. He uses the word signs because he wants you to see that the point is not the thing itself. The point of a sign is what it's broadcasting, what it's pointing to, what it's drawing your attention towards. And the point of the miracles are not that we would necessarily even just believe the reality of the miracles. No, the point is that we would believe in him, say, to make this very clear here at church where we have so many people practicing religion that we don't believe in Christianity here. We believe in Christ. And that's a massive difference. See, we're not here following a set of beliefs, a set of principles, a set of dogma here at this church. We believe in a person that God man, Jesus Christ in our faith. It's very personal into him.

[00:23:08] We're trusting in him, not just even in what he did, but in who he is. Even now, we have placed our trust. So let's get that down for our second dash. Not only do we have a reason to believe, but we believe in a person who is alive right now who is going to return that we are offering to everyone in Huntington Beach and all the surrounding cities a relationship with Jesus Christ that you can know him and an intimate and real way today. That's what we're putting our faith in. I'm not telling you, hey, believe some things that happened 2000 years ago. I'm saying believe in the one who is risen and exalted at the right hand of God right now. Put your trust in Jesus. See if so many people practicing religion. So many people thinking, I'll stop doing this and I'll start doing that. And I'll go to church and I'll do all of these things. And that's what their faith is in some kind of system. If they go into the system and they become a better person, they'll get to heaven. Nobody's getting to heaven like that.

[00:24:08] Not one person. You can go out like we heard this morning. You can be preaching. You can be serving, you can be leading. It really doesn't matter what you're doing because you don't put your trust in yourself. You put your trust in Jesus and it becomes personal from that point forward.

[00:24:23] You are allied with him and you follow him and you love him. And all of these things that we do that people call religion know that you do them because there's a real connection between you and Jesus Christ, because you had a glimpse of him by faith, even if you've never seen him. You've be held his glory and you worship him as the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:24:45] That's what we're talking about. I mean, this is the story of all stories.

[00:24:49] I mean, every story that becomes famous, that becomes a part of the pop culture that we could all identify. And even if we don't like the story, we've heard of it before. Every story has the one in it. You know how every great story it always has the one the guy who's going to save us. All right. The one who will bring balance to the force. You guys you guys know what I'm talking about?

[00:25:08] There's every good story that catches on that they're going to make lands about it. Disneyland. There's always the one the one who can hack into the Matrix. There's always this guy who who can save us. Say that there's the there's the one who's going to return as the king. And he's going to unite the elves and the dwarves and they're all going to go fight the dark Lord.

[00:25:26] Anybody know what I'm talking about here, man? Maybe you some are like you lost me at elves. Right. Right.

[00:25:32] But these are the stories. These are the stories that resonate with our culture that people get into because they understand that there must be one who can save us. There must be the boy who didn't die. And now he's going to grow up and he's going to fight he who must not be named. There's always the one who's going to save us. And so here's the great story. The great story of real life is that there is one and you can believe in him and you can know him and he will save you. It's a personal thing. Say, in all of these stories, what happens is throughout the tale, the hero becomes self-aware that he's the one and he's going to save everybody. And that's the point of all the all the sequels that they make you come back for, is you have to go along with the hero on his journey of self discovery to realize that he's actually the one prophesied about and he's actually the one who's going to defeat the forces of evil and he's going to bring what is good and right back to the world. But see, in the real story of life, you're not the one and it's not about you becoming self-aware of yourself. No, there is one. And he was fully aware of what he was doing the entire time. He is the one that was prophesied in the Old Testament, the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one of God.

[00:26:45] And when you become aware of who he is and that he's the hero you need in your story. So you put your trust in him. He's going to save you. Nothing you do. No church, no sermon, no friend, no parent can save you. There is only one. And his name is Jesus Christ. And you trust in him. We have so many reasons to believe. Don't be deceived.

[00:27:10] The people are smart who don't pollute. Believe in Jesus Christ, it says. The fool has said in his heart that there is no God. The reasons to believe are on our side. And not only are there reasons. There is a person to believe in who will be the centerpiece of all human history and will get all of the glory.

[00:27:28] And that's Jesus Christ. That's why we believe in John saying. And I got a glimpse of it one day at a wedding in Keena where there was water and then it was wine. And I became aware that he was the one and I believed in him. That's what he's saying. Go back to that miracle. And John, chapter two. And let's look at this. Let's look at this here together and how John gets this glimpse here now.

[00:27:54] Now, I know there's a lot of science that goes into this, and I don't want to start drawing charts of molecules. I'm not a chemistry teacher. We do have a chemistry teacher here in the room right now. But it's not me. So I'm not going to draw all the H to those that are going on to turn water into wine. But I will bring up some elementary science that I think everybody can remember. One word that always boggles my brain and gets me excited. Photosynthesis. Anybody remember that process? Oh, man. Doesn't that just bring back elementary school right there? Photosynth. Wow. What is this light? Creating life in plants. Right? Now, I have literally no firsthand experience when it when it comes to wine. But what I understand is that grapes are involved in the process. I'm actually from my reading, I can tell that you could use a lot of different types of fruit to create wine in the first century in Palestine and there was no refrigeration. So if you left fruit around, it was going to get fermented pretty quick. OK. But I'm pretty sure that for there to be wine, there needs to be some kind of vegetation. Photosynthesis. My friends, needs to have occurred where life comes from, the combination of light and water producing growth in plants. You remember the charts. Can you see the sun and see the little arrow coming down? You know what I'm talking about. We had one without photosynthesis.

[00:29:22] I mean, if we got into it, we would see all these molecules in the light. And then the water then coming together and producing more molecules and more complicated things, and all of a sudden we'd be into the periodic table of elements here this morning. I mean, one thing we would understand is that photosynthesis and even from elementary school, I knew that took a certain amount of time for that to take place. I mean, it didn't just you didn't just I mean, I planted plants. Anybody else plant plants in elementary school? They didn't grow overnight. It was like, what's going on? I thought this would be more exciting. You know, I mean, can we can we watch this on YouTube?

[00:29:53] Can we fast forward this? What's going on here? Take some time to grow?

[00:29:58] I don't know much about the process of fermentation. I haven't really ever grown wine before. I don't know if anybody else here is going to. You know, you have your own vineyard and created your own wine. But I know and I think all of us know that everybody when they talk about wine, they say, well, this has been aged for so many years. You know, when they start, they start talking like that.

[00:30:18] Well, the good wine, you know, that one you can you can make in a year, maybe three to five years for the normal wine. But this one has been urging for 25 years.

[00:30:29] Right. Something like that. That's supposed to impress you. How long? I know this about wine. How long it's been aging means it's more us. Absolutely. From the time we got some of it and took it to the head waiter, that's how long photosynthesis and fermentation had to take place.

[00:30:47] It's a creative act.

[00:30:50] We're putting in molecules that did not exist into water. Notice the detail here when you're looking at chapter two, right after Jesus has this conversation where he says, woman, what have to do with you? And she says, yeah, just do whatever he tells you as only a mother can. Right. When we get into these six stone water jars that are 120 to 180 gallons, if we add it all up. Jesus says fill the jars with water. And they filled them up to the what? What does it say? They're my friends. The brim full of water. All it is, is water. We're not dumping grapes. We're not mixing together some kind of concoction. There is nothing there but water. But by the time it gets to the master of the feast lips, he's saying, wow, this is the best wine we've had at this party. Most people don't really use the best wine later. What a great wedding this is. And we've saved the wedding. First thing Jesus saves here is the wedding, my friend. That's what he said.

[00:31:50] You run out of wine. Not good. Well, he makes it. He makes it on the spot. He creates it. See?

[00:31:59] And the servants and the disciples who get that glimpse behind the scenes, everybody else just continues to celebrate at the wedding. And they don't even know what happens. But John knows. And when John saw it, he realized something about Jesus. He said, this is the creator of the heavens and the earth.

[00:32:15] How do you make wine happen? You don't have all the materials you need.

[00:32:23] Now, I want to prove to you that John is drawing us back to creation. This is how John started. Go back to John. Chapter one, verse one. And this is verse three that actually go to John. Chapter one, verse three, referring to Jesus, the word of God. All things were made through him. So, jeez, John starts after he says the Jesus is the word. And he was with God and he is God. Then he makes it very clear that Jesus made all things. In fact, he goes on to say it even in a negative way, just to make sure you understand his meeting without him. Not anything made that was made. OK. So there is nothing that was created in the heavens or on the earth that Jesus did not make. That's how John sees him. And here's when he got his first glimpse. Here's when we started peeling away the wallpaper of space and time and we saw radiant light bursting through right here when all of a sudden we had wine where there was water. And he's referring to him as creator. In fact, he's even saying that he went through his own kind of creation experience when Jesus did this with this miracle at this wedding. And in fact, I think this is really what John's been building towards ever since we got started. Go back to verse 19. We get started here with John the Baptist. And then you can see we have the testimony of John that's John the Baptist. And then inversed 29. Skip your eyeballs over to verse twenty nine and maybe the next call him there. It says key three words to start it. What are the three words there? Anybody with me first. Chapter one. Verse twenty nine. The three words are the next day.

[00:34:04] Go down to verse thirty five. What three words do you see there. Little louder this time. Go down to verse 43. What three words do you see there. OK, I guess that's as loud as we're getting in then in chapter two. Verse one we have on the third day. So do you see how everything we've learned so far besides the introduction of the first 18 verses from the introduction of John the Baptist who introduces his disciples to Jesus, who then go and grab more people and introduce them to Jesus? And then Nathaniel gets introduced to Jesus. And now we're at the wedding. John has been telling us the entire time the sequence of events. So let's just follow what John has been saying. Let's start here with day one, where we meet John the Baptist. You can make a little chart. It goes from left to right here on your notes if you want. But we meet Jay at the jail, John the Baptist. That's the first day that we experience in the gospel of John. And then we have the next day in day two. And this we see this verse twenty nine gives us the next day where we introduce the Lamb of God. Now to disciples. OK. So those two disciples that then have the next day again in verse 35. So this is now going to be day three, I'm sorry. And day to John's introducing everybody to Jesus. And day three, he says to two of his disciples. There he is. Why don't you go follow it? And they do follow him and they go to where Jesus is saying. And the impression is that they stay the night there with Jesus. So that would be day four. OK. So we're just tracking that. We John the Baptist. Then there was the next day. Then there was the next day. Then they stay the night. We're on day four now, OK? And then when you go to chapter verse 43, we get our next. Next day. That's when Jesus meets Nathaniel. Day five. Now we get to our text. Chapter two. Verse one. On the third day. So that means that the day he met Nathaniel was day one and then day two became day six. So the church should keep going here where we get to. Yeah. Keep going. Next day six. Coming up right here. So the third day one two, day seven is now going to be the third day. And on this day, Jesus is going to do the miracle at the wedding of Kanon. So why has John gone through all of this detail to impress upon us that this is one week of time when he first experienced Jesus? I believe John was there for all of this hearing. John the Baptist. Hearing him preach, being introduced to Jesus, staying with Jesus, then seeing Phillip and Nathaniel interact with Jesus. Then on the third day from that one, two, three, boom, we have a miracle on the seventh day. Why all this detail? Why is this so important? Because whenever a Jew would have heard a week, seven days, they would immediately thought of the work of creation that God did in seven days. When you and I think about a week, we are supposed to think that's when God created the world. I go to Exodus, Chapter 20. Turn with me to Exodus Chapter 20. And we'll see here the Ten Commandments. The first revelation from God to man is actually on two tablets of stone, God given to Moses on the mountain. So before we even get the law of the first five books of the Old Testament, we get God giving the Ten Commandments. So before we even get the creation account of Genesis Chapter one, God says this about his creating work in Exodus, Chapter 20, verse eight. This is a command that maybe haven't paid too much attention to because we don't keep it today as New Covenant Christians, but it's a command about the Sabbath Exodus 20, verse eight says remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord, your God on it. You shall not do any work. In fact, you were your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, your livestock, even the person visiting the sojourner who is within your gates. Nobody's working. Here's what verse eleven four in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord bless the Sabbath day and made it holy. Even here in God's first revelation of the Ten Commandments, we are told that here's how we're even supposed to think about a week. You work six days, you rest on the seventh day.

[00:38:25] And why is the week even setup like that? Why does life work that way in weeks? Because that's how God made it. Got it. Need to rest on the seventh day. Now, he did that as a pattern for you and for me to establish how we're supposed to live. And if you keep reading beyond the Ten Commandments, you'll see that the point wasn't just not to work. The point was to rest and to remember that God was your creator.

[00:38:48] That was the point of the Sabbath.

[00:38:50] Every seven days, every single person in the nation of Israel was supposed to stop what they were doing. And remember that God had made them say that was the point.

[00:39:02] Maybe you heard people today saying, well, I don't do anything on Sundays. Well, the first problem with that is Sunday is not the Sabbath. Again, to break it to you, but Sunday. This is actually the first day of the week. Does everybody realize that? And Saturday is actually not your head with me if you graduated 6th grade. Is everybody with me on this? OK.

[00:39:20] So we need to stop, at least here at our church. Let's stop. Christians run around saying, oh, what a great Sabbath. Let's keep it holy here together at church. No, no. Wrong day. Wrong day. Sabbath was yesterday, OK? We started doing church on the first day of the week because that's the day that Jesus rose from the dead. That's why we gather together on Sunday mornings to proclaim the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Saturday is the Sabbath day. So here in America, we got two days to rest, which I think is a pretty great deal. Right? One day to rest. Remember our creator, one day to celebrate our savior and worship him at church. That's the original idea of the Sabbath.

[00:39:57] How much do you think about the fact that Jesus is the creator? How much do you specifically think about the fact that Jesus made you and he designed you?

[00:40:08] He formed you in your mother's womb, seeing everything that you have ever seen. That's living in this world was made by Jesus Christ. He is the giver of all life.

[00:40:22] Even the sustainer who is still holding it together today. How often do you think about that? When do you take time to remember and to worship Jesus as the creator? John is going through this elaborate day numbering process in the first chapter to make it clear that it was on the seventh day. I saw something that you're not supposed to see. That's unusual. It was wonderful and also kind of freaked me out a little bit. But all of a sudden we had water and then we had wine and I saw the creator. That's what he's trying to say.

[00:40:52] I saw it and I believed in him.

[00:40:54] I had reason to. And I put my faith that he is the one who made the world and me and everything in it. Go to Solms and let's just see some of some of the people who have worshiped our creator. I mean, when you see a sunrise, is that a moment to take a selfie? Or is that a moment to worship our God and give him the glory? See, a lot of people see the signs. A lot of people can see the creation. But can you see past it to see the glory of God? That's the point. We're all living in the same world, but not everybody's interpreting it the same way. And then what we're supposed to think when we look at the at the sun, beautifully setting with all of these brilliant colors, we get all kinds of awesome sunsets right over here. I was laughing when I'm leaving this church. The sky is just lit up with orange and pink hues, just glory speaking to all of us.

[00:41:48] But there is a God and we should worship him.

[00:41:51] Everyone sees the sunset. But can you see the glory behind it? That's what soulmate says. Look at this. This is Psalm. Chapter eight. And here's David.

[00:42:01] Just so overwhelmed with the awesome work that God has done in creation. See, miracles don't become a big deal. Of course, God can tweak the laws of nature if he's the one who made nature, if he's the one who established the laws. So if you believe that Jesus created the world, then the fact that he walked on water or the fact that he turned water into wine, or the fact that after he died, water and blood both flowed out of his side. All of these very interesting things we're gonna study in the gospel of John isn't that big a deal when you ponder one day, where did water even come from in the first place?

[00:42:37] Like, who thought that stuff up? It freezes how it turns into vapor, how it gives life.

[00:42:44] When I drink it, how it feels great when I bathe and and wash it, like whoever came up with this water stuff, they were really on something. And we could use more of this kind of stuff around here. And California, man, Central Park could use a big old dose of this stuff right now. You guys know what I'm talking about? Oh, yeah. He turned some water into one. Great. Where did water come from? See, when David starts to ponder those kinds of thoughts, here's what he says. Oh, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth? You've set your glory above the heavens. I look into the sky.

[00:43:19] But what I see beyond the signs, see beyond the heavens. What I see is glory and out of the mouth of babies and infants. You have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the Avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place. God, who am I? What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him. That you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings. You've crowned a man even with glory and honor. You've given man dominion over the works of your hands, over your creation. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the path of the seas.

[00:44:02] And there's animals everywhere we look showing us the glory of God. Oh Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name and all the earth we can all watch the nature shows we can all look around at the creation. Who here can see the majesty? That's the question here this morning. Is it just the sign to you or do you see the glory behind it? When are you so overwhelmed with the physical universe that we live in that you worship God as creator and you give glory to Jesus Christ?

[00:44:34] Good Psalm Nineteen. Look over here again and it says, man, the heavens, they are telling us about the awesomeness of God. Day after day, a God who one day I saw him at a wedding turn water into wine. Well, he did more than that. He created the universe that we're living in, the planets, the galaxies, the sun, the moon, the stars. So 19 verse one puts it like this. It says, The heavens declare the glory of God. Like, they're just speaking constantly to us. The sky above proclaims his handiwork. Can you not see as his fingerprints are all over it? Day to day it pours out. Speech and night tonight reveals knowledge. In fact, there's no speech. Nobody's speaking anywhere in any language nor their words. Whose voice is not heard? You can't go anywhere where we're not here in the heavens. Declare the glory of God. Their voice goes out through all the Earth, their words to the end of the world in them. He has sent a tent for the sun. The sun comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber.

[00:45:40] It's like a strong man runs its course with joy. It's rising is from the end of the heavens and it's circuit to the end of them. And there is nothing hidden from its heat. I mean, look at the beautiful picture of the sun bursting forth in all of its light. I mean, when was the last time you watched the sunrise where it just went from dark and still to light and glory, and then it just keeps moving all day long till it leaves us with just like it's just showing off. By the end of the day, isn't it? I mean, it's just showing you if you haven't been paying attention to me all day. At least get me now. That's what the sun say. And it's a sign. I know it's natural. I know it happens every day. But it's pointing to the glory of the creator. And when you see that sunrise, you shouldn't be like, oh, what beautiful sunrises we have here in Huntington Beach, as if we have anything to do with them. But you should fall to your knees and you should say there's glory beyond even what I can see.

[00:46:39] And you worship.

[00:46:42] We talked about Jesus being the creator a few weeks ago. We had some special nights of of worship here at the church. And I talked about snorkeling. I don't know if anybody here is ever gone snorkeling before. Right. But it's a terrible spectator sport. Have you ever observed snorkeling? It just people out there in the water swimming around. You see them on the surface. They got that goofy looking thing sticking up. Some of them even have like fins like that. Well, they're hardcore and they're just swimming in circles out there in the water. And if you're like me, you've never gone snorkeling. You just think losers. I mean, what are those guys even doing? I could swim faster and that I could do something exciting out there, just like swimming around in a circle.

[00:47:21] So you only see the surface of it. You don't really know what's going on. Then one day I went snorkeling, got one of those goofy little things sticking up out of the water, started figuring out how to breathe. Hearing myself breathe. Right. And I put my all I do is just put my head under the water and there's a whole new world under there. Just. Pitiful creatures like I've never seen before in radiant colors.

[00:47:43] Just going all over the place and immediately it's like I want to shout to everybody, like, do you see what's under here? This is amazing.

[00:47:52] Like a whole nother world.

[00:47:54] How many people are just hitting the surface? They're just going through life and they're completely missing the glory. Behind the scenes, point number two. Let's put it down like this here this morning. You need to see the glory behind what you can see.

[00:48:10] You need to see that there is an imagistic God who has made everything that we've ever seen. And his fingerprints are all over it. And our response should be are our response should be fear. Our response should be wonder. And all of these things come together in our heart.

[00:48:28] And we worship him. We give him the glory. He's amazing.

[00:48:34] Look what he can do. And Johnny just got cued onto this when he saw water turned into wine and then he rode it out in this elaborate seven day story, as in all March to what God did when he created the world in seven days.

[00:48:47] And he said, let there be light.

[00:48:49] And there was to have had some of the best moments of worship. Sometimes people say you don't need to go to church to worship God. Well, I think every Christian person should go to a church and worship Jesus in that way. But I do think you can worship God outside a church. Anybody want to say amen to that? I mean, have you ever just been doing something where you just start worshiping God?

[00:49:12] Because it's amazing.

[00:49:14] I mean, this this summer, I get to go snorkeling again. I'm now an experienced snorkeler and I'm now a fan. I went from a hater to now I'm a zealot for it. Right. I'm trying to I'm encouraging other people. If you haven't gone snorkeling, you really should. You're missing out on some good worship. That's what I'm telling them. Apply the sermon by Sunday going snorkeling. All right. And this time I was super excited to go snorkeling because my son is now old enough to go snorkeling with me.

[00:49:40] And so we set out into the into the treacherous waters of the safest beaches in Hawaii, a father and his son. We start looking for the fish and we see him and we're like, the eyes grow big. And we're pointing to all these little beautiful fish. Right. And the truth is, as much as I'm enjoying this snorkeling experience as a father, what I'm really looking at is look at that little boy. Get out there in the ocean and look at him. Look, move around and look at my son right there. Right. And I remember he's nine now, but I can remember the first time I ever held him, my first born child. I held him in my arms. And that was a miracle. You know, our babies, when they come out, they're like purple. Does anybody else ever seen this before? You realize, like, wow, it's a whole nother world in that womb. And then they come out and they're like, skin starts to go to normal color. And they've got the smallest features that you have ever seen in this super delicate little hair. And you're holding it. And it's so light like you're afraid this little creature could just break and you're just blown away and you're like, that's a miracle. And you worship right there when you see God's creation. You worship him as the creator. Anybody who's seen the birth of a child has had the opportunity right there to give God the glory. And now he's nine and now he's out there swimmin and ain in the creation. And I'm just sitting there worshiping God. And all of a sudden all the fish disappear and I'm like, what's going on? Right. And I turn and this big fish just comes right in front of my face like that, doing a U turn barracuda with these big ol teeth coming out. The Hawaiians refer to it as Koku and you see them and you're like, whoa, Koku. You know, it's like, whoa. And all of a sudden you're like, I can see why those little fish got out of here. And you're like, Tyler, we're we're leaving right now. We're out of here, man.

[00:51:39] And you really what I want to do. And later, I told people who I saw a barracuda and some of the tough guys here at the church, they were like, oh, yeah, no big deal. When we Burt Kudo's before, like, it wasn't even dangerous as I'm like grabbing my son and we're getting out of the water. I'm ready to run up and down the beach.

[00:51:53] Barracuda save for your lives. You know, you see those days. The fishers swimming away anyways, get them out of the water.

[00:52:01] And he's like, Dad, I already saw the barracuda like a long time ago. I was trying to get your attention, but you're, like, totally oblivious that my my son drop an oblivious on me, you know what I mean? And so we go back out in the water and I just watch him. I'm not even looking at the fish. Here's a little boy swimming out in the sea barracuda, swimming around with a smile on his face. And you know what I do? We worship the Lord, say we give him all of the glory we see beyond what we can see. We peel back the wallpaper. We get a glimpse of the glory that will some. They radiate that we will live in the glory of God. Can you see it? Do you worship him? Do you give him the glory? I hope you do, because John saw the sign and he believed and I hope that you will believe as well. Let me pray for us. Gabby, thank you so much. That we can behold who you are and we can see the miracle of your son, Jesus Christ, that he must be the creator. Just by doing something like turning water into wine, just with a word, just all of a sudden, Malecki, all these molecules are there that weren't even there a minute ago. God, I just pray that we will see the glory that you have in creating the world and we will worship you. Pray that we will see that we have reason to believe in Jesus Christ as God and that we are putting our trust in him to save us. And who better to put our trust in than the one who made us? Who made all things? Who is going to get all of the glory? God. So if there's anybody who can't see what the signs are pointing to. They can't see the manifestation of the glory that you have in your creation. In your son, who is the savior of the world, God, I pray that even this morning you would open up their eyes so that they could be hold out our God and those of us who have seen you. We've seen you now by faith and we worship you God. Let us give you all of the glory. Let us set aside time to rest and to worship you to remember our creator and to praise his holy name. God, you are majestic in all the earth. And we say that to you in Jesus name. Amen.