chapter number two and look at verse number 11 it says this beginning of miracles did Jesus
in Cana of Galilee the title for the sermon tonight is beginning of miracles beginning
of miracles so what we see here in chapter two is the very beginning uh where we saw in chapter
one that Christ began his ministry when he was baptized by John and disciples started to follow
after him and now we have the beginning of miracles and what we're going to be reading
about here in chapter number two is the very first miracle that Jesus Christ did in his ministry
but let's start there in verse number one it says and the third day there was a marriage in Cana of
Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there so this is about the miracle where a very famous miracle
of course where we had the the marriage ceremony the marriage celebrations and Jesus Christ turns
the water into wine we see that the mother of Jesus was there and as we keep going through
this chapter I believe that Mary the mother of Jesus he probably played a very prominent role
I think she was involved in the organization because she's the one that calls to attention
to Jesus Christ that there is no wine at the wedding now what we start there in verse in
chapter in verse number one it says and the third day so let's just quickly understand what are we
talking about here when it says the third day what is this referring to so let's backtrack a
little bit back to John chapter one let's go to John chapter one verse number 33
what is this third day but John chapter one verse number 33 it says and I knew him not
but he that sent me to baptize with water the same said unto me unto whom thou shall see the
spirit descend and remain on him the same is he which baptizes with the holy ghost
so this is talking John talking about the time when he baptized Jesus Christ when Jesus Christ
began his ministry then verse number 34 and I saw and bear record that this is the son of God
all right so let's start with the baptism of Christ and and John's declarations John's record
are recognizing that Jesus Christ here is the son of God then look at verse number 35
it says again the next day so the next day after the baptism so now we're up to the first day after
baptism right in many ways you could call this the first day of the ministry of Jesus Christ
right when he begins his ministry here so after that day yeah it says sorry again and sorry
first of all again the next day after John stood and two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus
as he walked he said behold the lamb of God and the two disciples heard him speak and they followed
Jesus so the day after okay the next day we see that two disciples that were John's disciples
they now follow after Jesus Christ we know that one of those disciples was Andrew and then he
went to his brother Peter and you know he got Peter to come and follow Jesus Christ as well
we don't know the name of the other disciple that followed after Jesus here but after this first day
here we see that Jesus Christ has at least three disciples following after him right the two that
left John and then Andrew went to get his brother Peter all right now drop down to verse number 43
verse 43 it says the day following so this is now the second day after the baptism the day following
Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find a Philip and say if unto him follow me so now we
have another disciple following Jesus Philip and you may recall from last week that Philip then
called his friend Nathaniel and then you started to follow Christ as well okay so when you number
all of those up Christ now has five disciples at least five named disciples following after him
so that's day number two after the baptism so when we start in chapter two verse number one
and the third day this is three days after the baptism so it's very very early in the ministry
of Christ okay many people in fact this chapter declares that this is the first miracle that Jesus
Christ did yes three days literally after he started his ministry Jesus Christ did his first
miracle all right let's keep going there verse number two John chapter two verse number two
John 2 2 and both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage you know for a long time
I don't know sometimes you don't pay attention to the bible like you read the bible you don't really
pay attention I always kind of wondered when Jesus Christ was at the wedding with his disciples
I kind of always wondered like when I was younger like did Jesus Christ ask that his disciples come
along like was Jesus Christ kind of like gate crashing this wedding like you know like oh yeah
I'll come to the wedding but so is all my you know at least five other disciples here but you
can see there in verse number two it says and both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage
okay so the disciples were also called to the marriage Jesus Christ is not a gate crash crash
or anything like that okay he's been respectful to the request of the married couple verse number
three and when they wanted wine the mother of Jesus safe unto him they have no wine
Jesus safe unto her woman what have I to do with thee mine hour is not yet come now
I don't have time to I mean I've preached many many sermons on this in the past already
that the wine that is being drunk here is non-alcoholic wine I don't want to prove that today
to you okay but you know the bible when we use the word wine it's talking about the the product
of the grape vine so we get the wine from the vine okay the product of the grapevine is referred
to as the wine and when it comes to the bible wine can be used yes for alcoholic beverages
but it can also be used for non-alcoholic beverages and it's not just the bible you know
if you find writings of other periods around the time of the bible even in the early first century
you'll find that authors many times will use the word wine when speaking about non-alcoholic grape
juice okay now one reason that you know Jesus Christ is not turning water into wine
I'll just quickly read to you from Habakkuk 2 15 that says woe unto him that giveth his
neighbor drink that put us thy bottle to him woe unto him that give us thy neighbor to drink put
in the water talk about alcohol there okay and of course Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law
okay Jesus Christ is not offering up alcoholic beverages here you know he's not causing a wedding
ceremony for people to get drunk and people have a hard time because you know in in today's
weddings in today's receptions and and ceremonies the wine is drunk on a constant basis so the idea
is people take today's culture you know they throw it into the bottom and say well everyone
you know had drinks wine alcoholic wine you know at weddings well sure Jesus Christ did it in his
day as well but here's the thing I got married I had a I had a wedding I had a reception okay we
drank wine but it was non-alcoholic wine it was freshly squeezed grape juice we drank it at our
reception and you know what everyone had a good time people had a good time you know it's not
unusual for weddings to not not have alcohol but look I've preached about that in the past
and what we see here I do believe that Mary is somewhat involved in the organization so she
realizes there's not there's no drinks left okay and she goes to her son hey look they have no wine
and the way when you read verse number four it kind of sounds like Jesus being rude to his
mother but he's not being rude because he says woman because well you know why would he call
a woman yeah but I call my wife woman you know like I'm like like um woman I love you I'll say
I'll say those words right many times right and people think you know you know is Jesus Christ
been rude but if you read the gospels Jesus Christ many times referred to different ladies as woman
okay the samaritan woman at the world he called he called a woman uh the adulterous that were
caught in adultery you know that woman Jesus Christ calls her woman Mary Magdalene when she's
weeping um after Christ after the grave was uh Christ's body was not there at the grave and she's
weeping Jesus Christ comes and calls a woman and even then when Jesus Christ uh was crucified you
know and he's been you know lovingly careful caring about his mother he appoints his disciple
john to take care of his mother he calls a woman at that point and he's been caring at that point
he's been you know he's trying to make make sure that her needs are being taken care of as an older
lady that someone else is going to take care of her needs he refers to her as woman so you know
just taking that word woman there Jesus Christ not being rude this is just the way he speaks
you know even I still use it today okay but uh what does it say here it says woman what have I
to do with thee because the way we would say that what do I have to do with you you know it's kind
of like saying look I have nothing to do with you that's kind of the impression that we get of that
okay but so what I what I believe is then he says this this is the issue mine hour is not yet come
mine hour is not yet come if we understand what this hour is it's going to start to make a lot of
sense why he's saying this but when he says what have I to do with thee you know if Mary is involved
in the the you know the organization of the ceremony he's saying look what do I have to do
with this like this is not my responsibility you know this is not this is not what I've been I've
been asked to do and my hour is not yet come see Jesus Christ knows and Mary Mary knows that Jesus
Christ can produce wine like she knows that her son is special she knows that her son is the Lord
that her son can perform miracles okay and so you know as a caring woman you know caring for this
marriage ceremony that's that's run out of drink she says look you know can you help me out son
you know can you help me out Jesus but Jesus Christ knows that if I do this miracle you know
if I do miracles I'm opening up to that hour to come and my hour is not yet come okay
so Jesus Christ said look this is not my responsibility okay what do I have to do with
thee like I'm not involved in the organization of this marriage ceremony and if you can please
keep your finger there and come with me to John chapter 7 come with me to John chapter 7
John chapter 7
one thing that I've observed about Jesus Christ when we read through the Gospels um something
that I've never really heard preached but something I've picked up in my own reading
is that I've always seen that Jesus Christ even though he's the Lord above all things
and we'll soon see later on in this chapter when he comes to the house of God he takes it very
seriously and he gets involved because it's the Lord's house it's his house okay but when it comes
to other things if he's not responsible or accountable for certain things you know if he's
stepping out of line to get involved in certain places he won't do it he's always very observant
about where the authorities lie and what is required of him okay you'll find that as you
read through the scriptures that Jesus Christ does not want to break you know bend boundaries
you know he's respectful of certain boundaries and I believe he's trying to do that again
like that's not my involvement that's not my position to make this happen
and look at John chapter 7 verse number 30 John chapter 7 let's understand the correlation between
miracles performing a miracle and the hour of Christ having come John chapter 7 verse number 30
it says then they sought to take him but no man laid hands on on on him because his hour was not
yet come okay so we can see here that the unbelieving Jews sought to take him to I guess
obviously arrest him and to kill him but his hour was not yet come so when Jesus Christ
saying to his to his mother that his hours not yet come he says look if I start doing this
it's going to open up opportunities for people to take hold of me okay and it's not ready for my
hour my hour's not yet it's another three years to come that's it's not the right time yet let's
keep going there verse number 31 John 7 31 and many of the people believed on him and said
when Christ cometh will he do more miracles notice there again the miracles
will he do more miracles than these which this man have done the Pharisees heard that people
murmured such things concerning him and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers
to take him so you can see the correlation that when Christ Christ knows when he starts performing
miracles yes people are going to believe on him they're going to see those miracles they're going
to see his power but then that's going to open up opportunities for his enemies to try to take
hold of him and to kill him he says that hour has not yet come and so he's telling mom look if I
start performing miracles you know we're kind of like bringing that hour closer and it's not yet
come yet okay so that that's what's taking place you can see the correlation there you know it's
not time for Jesus Christ to die on the cross he's still got three years of ministry to do before
that takes place come back with me to John chapter two and verse number five John chapter two and
verse number five even though he responded in that sense it says here his mother safe unto
the servants whatsoever he's safe unto you do it so she kind of leaves it in Jesus Christ's hands
all right like he she's asked him he says my hours not yet come and then she just says to the
servants look whatever he says to do do it all right and I think this is you know this is
probably one of the best preaching that you're going to hear from Mary whatever Jesus Christ says
do it and I guess that's my desire as a preacher here at this church of the pastor is that whatever
Jesus says to you brethren do it like it's good that you're in the house of the Lord it's good
that you're here in preaching it's good that we understand the scripture a little bit deeper
but when you see instructions from the Lord do it James chapter 3 so James chapter 1 verse 22 says
but be you doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves look I've been in church
so long since I was since I was born I was in church you know in a baptist church hearing
preaching okay I'll tell you now I heard a lot of preaching but I wasn't doing a lot of doing
okay you know the doing started for me in my sort of maybe late teens early 20s when I started to
take church a lot more seriously when I started to realize just how valuable the words of the Lord
were and I realized you know I go back and I try to think about all the preaching that I received
before that I can't even remember it very well because I didn't do any of it
you know it says if you don't do it you deceive yourselves you deceive yourselves you're not
deceiving God you're not deceiving your fellow brethren you're deceiving yourselves right you
know the truth of God's word you know what God requires of me of you you say well I won't do it
no no his mother says do it whatever he says whatever he's safe unto you do it I mean that's
really great preaching there from Mary so she kind of leaves it in Jesus Christ's hands all right
but then Jesus Christ decides all right we'll turn that into wine okay verse number six verse
number six and there was and there was set there six water pots of stone after the manner of the
purifying of the Jews containing two or three firkins apiece all right so I guess where the
servants are there are six think about six containers of water six water pots of stone
and this is this this container you had water and the purpose of the water in that stone was for the
purifying of the Jews you know obviously you read about the old testament they were to cleanse
themselves to purify themselves etc and all of that was to be you know an object lesson about
the purity of Christ that Christ would be a lamb without blemish without sin and so they use these
water this water potentially to cleanse themselves after the celebrations after the party so we've
got these water pots of stone and then verse number seven Jesus saith unto them fill the
water pots with water so they've got to fill them up they start putting water in those pots
and they filled them up to the brim so they're doing really well they're doing what Christ has
asked of them verse number eight and he saith unto them draw out now and bear unto the governor of
the feast and they bear it the governor of the feast sounds to me the chief the chief servants
or you know the person that's kind of the chief person that's organizing the ceremony the food
you know so here's the one that is going to taste that uh wine or that water as it was put in right
but then it says in verse number nine when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water
that it was made wine so they put water but when they took it out and gave it to the governor of
the feast it was wine okay this is the miracle of Christ that he that he did his very first miracle
when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine he knew not whence it was he
goes I don't know where this is from okay but the servants which drew the water knew the governor of
the feast called the bridegroom so he goes to the groom hey come over here come over here right he
tastes he tastes it this wine goes man this is interesting cause the bridegroom come over here
I want to talk to you verse number 10 and say fun to him every man at the beginning doff set forth
good wine and when men have well drunk then that which then then that which is worse he says to the
groom says look in normal weddings in normal receptions or ceremonies whatever normal wedding
parties all right you you offer the best the best wine first okay and then when others are full and
they're not so much seeking right that they're pretty satisfied then you offer the worst ones
you know you're meant to offer the best quality ones first that's what men normally do he says
to the groom and then he says but thou but thou groom has kept the good wine until now he goes
man this is the best one you've got like why did you do that why did you leave that for last
I mean the groom's probably thinking I'm pretty sure I did serve the best one at the beginning
okay I mean the groom's probably just as confused as the as the chief uh of what do you call him
the chief the chief governor or the governor yeah all right so he's probably just as confused
probably thinking yeah I mean I did offer the best wine I guess we forgot about it yeah here it is
all right he goes but you know he says look this is the best wine you know you've you've left it
until now and so it's it's obviously one thing that we learn here is that when Christ does
something he does it well right when Christ does something he gives it his best I mean I
guess Christ could have gone well the custom is that after we've drunk the best wine it's the
worst wine so I'll just make sure it's just you know lower quality wine no he gives the best
all right he knows that this bride and groom they're celebrating a special day this day is
about them and uh you know he wants to give the best toward them right and that's how Jesus Christ
is he offers his best and of course the best that he offered was his own life was his own blood
and let's backtrack a little bit now we understand this is a wedding celebration
and you know Mary wants to make sure that the party's going well that you know weddings don't
always go according to plan right brother Tim I told you that when you got married I said to
brother Tim listen on your wedding day it's not always going to go according to plan but instead
of getting frustrated just enjoy the day as much as you can okay this wedding didn't go according
to plan they ran out of wine okay you know and so Mary's trying to do her best to try to organize
things trying to make it happen right Jesus Christ says all right we'll just give him the best wine
all right this day is about this married couple and when we go back to what Jesus Christ said
that my hour is not yet come you know what he's telling his mum there is that this is not my time
this is not the time and place where this is about me all right because you know if he starts
performing miracles at the wedding and everyone knows man he just turned the water into wine or
whatever else you know he you know he's being asked to do then people are going to be giving
their focus and attention toward Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is no this is about the bride and
the groom so we're going to give that we're going to make the best wine so it can the focus can be
back on them you know and I think that's again really really wise from Jesus Christ you know
he doesn't want to take the spotlight right away from the wedding because that day is about that
special couple that are sharing their love now when you think about this story you know we can
take this a little deeper you know not only is Jesus Christ mindful that as he performs miracles
it's going to draw attention and then not just draw the attention of believers but draw attention
of his enemies seeking to kill him we can take this a little bit deeper because when we think
of wine when you think about the grape juice you know Jesus Christ said you know when he
brings in the new testament remember he brought in the lord's table the lord's supper
and you know he took that grape juice and it symbolically represented his blood
from that story if we go just a little bit deeper into this story and we think about what the the
governor said when the rule of the feast the rule of the feast you know what he had said about this
wine let's go back a little bit there in verse number 10 what does he say and safe unto him safe
unto the groom every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine and when men have well drunk
then that which is worse but thou has kept the good wine until now and I think what we can take
out of this is that you know every man at the beginning tries their best they try to do their
best we're talking about salvation here you know when it comes to trying to make peace with god
you know trying to find a a forgiveness of sins generally speaking you speak to the common man
the common man thinks the way to heaven the way to receive forgiveness is to do my best is to be
a good person to walk in the ways of god you know to to do one to others as they'll say to do my
best and I think about this and how the wine that that is first given is the best wine but then it
says when they have well drunk and that which is worse it's kind of the idea that well men can
never really give their best because we have the worst parts about us as well and even when you do
try to give your best just like Mary had said they have no wine you know when men are trying to do
their best to be made right with god at you know at the end of the day you're going to get to a
point where it's like well they have no wine they aren't good enough right Romans 3 12 there is none
that doeth good no not one you know as much as you try to give your best to be made right with god
there is none that doeth good none of us can maintain goodness because we've got the worst
part about us we have sinful nature about us and then again symbolically thinking about the thought
here that Jesus Christ comes he turns that water into wine you know thinking about it again that
idea that the the wine represented he shed blood of the new testament and this is the best wine
right thou has kept the good wine until now it's that good wine that satisfied the guests
of the wedding and brethren you know the only thing that satisfies god of course is the shed
blood of Jesus Christ now you can try to do your best you can try to do your best but it's never
going to be good enough as Mary said they have no wine it's not good enough no matter how much
good you try to do it's never good enough to be made right with god the only thing that satisfies
god is the shed blood of his son 1 Peter 1 18 for as much as you know that you were not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition
from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot
so thank god for the blood of Christ it's what cleanses us what gives us forgiveness
that's the only thing that's up that appeases the father shed blood without
the shed of blood there is no remission of sins the bible says let's go to verse 11 verse 11
that's where we get the title from this beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and
manifested his glory and his disciples believed on him now we already proved in chapter number
one that the disciples already believed on him okay it's not like now they got saved oh Jesus
turned the water into wine now they believed and got saved okay when we say that they believed on
him you know this is kind of the same thought for us you know we're commanded to go from faith to
faith okay like we ought to be believing on the lord not just for salvation but for every day of
our life you know trust in that god will come through trust that god will keep his promises
trust in that god will hear our prayers and you know many times Jesus Christ spoke as he
conducted his ministry many times he spoke about those that had little faith
oh ye of little faith and there were times that he spoke about people that had great faith
you know so we can grow in faith and so what we see here his disciples already believed that's
why the disciples they're following him they're already on board with Jesus Christ we saw this in
chapter number one right but what we see here is that the faith of disciples was strengthened
their faith was strengthened right it's increased even more so they already trusted Christ they had
the record of John that this is the lamb of god which take away the sin of the world they already
had the record this is the son of god you know to follow after him they really had trusted on him
but now their faith was strengthened just a little bit more just a little bit more
and you know that's really what the Christian life is all about you know it's all about
strengthening our faith just a little bit more a little bit more the more we see god come through
in our lives answer prayer help us in times of difficulty right we may not see obviously
these kinds of miracles but just seeing the hand of god in our lives strengthens our faith just a
little bit more you know a greater faith on our lord god so this is what they're experiencing now
wow you know here's the real deal you know we believe in him even more than we have before
this is not saying they didn't believe on him and now they believe on him
and in fact we'll soon see this again play out okay that they believe on him again
okay verse number 12 verse number 12 and this he went down to Capernaum so after this
after this he went down to Capernaum he and his mother and his brethren and his disciples
and they continued there not many days so again we're not too much out from the wedding okay from
the ceremony that took place because the next thing that we read about here is of course when
jesus christ drove out the money changers you know those that made the house of god into a
merchandise he drives them out of the temple and you know you you may not have you know obviously
what what we're about to read here is a very famous story of jesus okay when he comes and
turns over the tables and creates pandemonium really you know in that in the house of the lord
but what we're reading about here are the very early days of his ministry
okay this is taking place at the at the first passover because it says in verse number 13
and the jew's passover was at hand and jesus went up to jerusalem so that's why he's going
to jerusalem because the the holiday of the passover is taking place but again we're very
early in his ministry the reason i'm saying that is because you're going to read a very familiar
story about you know similar to this in matthew 21 now think about that a little bit matthew 21
all right when you think about you know how many chapters are out that's not really early in his
ministry right uh mark 11 you know mark's got 16 chapters so again we kind of laid it into his
ministry luke 19 you know if you read these chapters you'll also read about jesus christ
you know chasing these people out of the temple you know these people that made the house of god
into a house of merchandise and what i believe is taking place well you know i think it's quite
clear if you if you just pay attention is that this took place twice in the ministry of jesus
christ like it's a famous story people know about it but people don't generally know that it took
place twice in his ministry once toward the end of his ministry and once what we're reading about
here really early in his ministry okay so this is something that really angers jesus okay he didn't
do it once he did it twice okay this really angers jesus and so i think we really need to
pay attention to this story um and we don't want to make the same mistakes okay in this story verse
number 17 please verse number oh sorry no not verse 17 verse number um what am i up to brethren
sorry 14 all right verse number 14 i'll just read verse number 13 and the jewish passover was at
hand and jesus went up to jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and
doves and the changes of money sitting all right so they're in the temple all right and they're
selling oxen sheep say why are they selling these things you know they're selling these things for
sacrifice okay these are things that people often do you know they're selling that look
they're doing something religious there was nothing wrong with selling sheep oxen
or doves there was nothing wrong with that in of itself okay i can't remember which book of
moses it is but uh but god instructs the israelites that you know when they come into when they come
to offer a sacrifice if it's too much for them to carry they could convert it into money and then
with that money go and buy the products when they get to to their destination okay there's
nothing wrong with buying and selling i want you to understand this but what's taking place here
is that they're buying and selling in the house of the lord this is the issue they're buying and
selling in the house of the lord all right now how does jesus christ christ respond verse number 15
and when he made a scourge or like a whip of small cords he drove all out of the temple
and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changes money and overthrew the tables
jesus christ is mad all right i mean he's he's mad right he's he's flipping over the tables
he's lifting them up all right he's throwing out the money he's driving out the animals
but what i like about this story not only do we see the anger of the lord
but he's not out of control because before he let out his wrath you see that he's there
creating a whip at a small court that would take time that would take time it doesn't it's not it's
not a quick process to make a whip they can you know start driving some animals away or
potentially whipping some people on the way out or something like that it'll take some time to
put that together let's see when we see the anger of the lord it is controlled all right it is
temperate you know we're commanded to be temperate in all things in control of our emotions one of
the things that you can identify when you get angry is often there's anger is not a sin jesus
christ is angry here okay but we can have the anger of the lord we can have righteous anger
or we can have anger that comes from this flesh all right when you lose control
when you're not temperate you know you have a quick temper this is fleshly this is carnal
all right but look if you can see hey this is something that is not right you know this is
something that you know that angers the lord will still have a look at what's happening what's
taking place exactly you know and you can have control over your anger but you can still let
that anger out but have control over it you know you can might be well look at that as righteous
anger but you know if you lose control and look have we i'm sure we've all lost control you know
we've all gotten too angry maybe quick-tempered maybe done something in anger that we regret
i'm sure we probably all have done that at some point okay now we need to learn how to have some
self-control and you know something that i teach parents i tell parents often is that when your
child needs discipline you know you need that you need that uh that that cord right you need that
uh scourge you need to pull out that rod you know i i really recommend don't do it
straight away as soon as you get angry because you could lose control
you know god instructs us to use a rod to discipline our children you know none of this
time out super nanny stuff that's not how jesus christ that's not how god teaches us to raise our
children but you know what sometimes your kids will get you angry you know they do wrong they
disobey or whatever you know you know it's probably best that you take some time out
yourself just just cool down think about the situation all right this is how i'm going to
handle it then step out and deal with the issue you know we see how jesus christ handles his anger
he just takes his time gets that cord ready and then unleashes his wrath at the right time
but the temple what is the temple again the the title that the temple
is given in the old testament is the house of the lord it's the house of the lord
now we don't have a temple like this because we're not operating on the old testament system
but we're operating under the new testament and what is the house of the lord in the new testament
it's right here in your life at this church you know every church that has christ as their head
that is the house of the lord when they gather together to serve the lord what we're doing right
now is the house of the lord not this building but the people this is the house of the lord so
we can take the principle here we can see what they're doing wrong
and we can apply it you know in new testament times with new testament churches
verse number 16 and said unto them that so doves take these things hence
make not my father's house and house of merchandise
don't make don't make make not my father's house a house of merchandise
this is the father's house this is the house of the lord right here
at new life after the church tonight remember we cannot make this place a house of merchandise
we will never sell you hymn books okay we don't do any selling here at this at this house
okay there is no selling if you need a hymn book take one home okay take one in fact i've got old
ones here underneath this pulpit if you need a hymn book please just come and take one if you
want okay the second hand ones take it i don't want to sell anything i never want to sell anything
in the house of the lord and what really surprises me but when we see this take place we see the
anger of christ again was there anything wrong with selling you know doves and all these things
you know the oxen except no there was nothing wrong with it but they were doing it in the
house of the lord it's a problem and how many churches are they how many independent baptist
churches have a bookstore at the back of their church or something like that you know how many
pastors sell their preaching what in the world listen brethren anything i preach is free it's
on youtube right now it's free you can copy it you can spread it do whatever you want we're not
charging anything
i've paid in the house of god to get training bible some bible college training
i paid for that i will teach you everything i know because i do not want to anger god
we are not going to make this house of god a house of merchandise there is no buying and selling
taking place here i don't want to anger jesus christ you know if jesus christ walked into the
doors tonight you know i want him to rejoice i want him to be blessed you know that's what i
want i want us to get around jesus what do you need you need a cup of water we're gonna honor
him and praise him and lift him up that's what i want jesus coming here sitting down if we start
seeing him make a cord like what in the world like what are we selling what are we doing right starts
making a whip just patiently just sitting there but he would do that if he walked into some church
today patiently and then letting out his wrath he does have authority in this house this is his
house he's the head of new life at this church he's our foundation as well this church is all
about him we come to honor him man if jesus christ is chasing these money changes away
look is there anything wrong with selling hymn books or selling bibles no but go to the store
and buy a bible go to the store and buy a hymn book okay at the house of god we are not selling
anything even if this church gets to a point where we're having financial difficulties we're still
not selling anything this is the house of lord he's going to take care of it he's gonna and he has
we've been operating for five years we've never sold anything here
the lord jesus christ has been taking care of this church for five years
so we will never sell anything at church and this is why you know these aren't just stories
in the bible oh look what jesus christ did okay what did mary say whatever he says do it
do it whatever he says do it all right i don't want jesus christ to get mad here
i want him to come in here and and rejoice i want him to be blessed at new life baptist church
listen if you've got to conduct business and there's nothing wrong is anything wrong with
two brethren or a couple you know some brothers or sisters in the lord you know organizing some
some things exchanging money for a service something wrong with that but don't do it
during church service please go outside go home go to the park go anywhere else go to a cafe
and organize your business there nothing sinful about business
but nothing i don't want any buying or selling the house of the lord
you know when i started church i had i won't name who it is but i had someone kind of come
up to me and go oh you know kind of thinking about attending church and it's like okay i mean
i know that you're not saved this person's not saved i mean it's okay you can come to church
you don't have to be saved to come to church hopefully you can get saved get you saved but
this individual wanted to come in and what's that what's that brand tupperware is it is that
the brand tupperware like she wanted to come in and start selling tupperware like oh there's a
there's a group of people i'll come here and sell tupperware that was that was the intention
it's like no way you are not coming into the house of god to sell tupperware okay
and you say well that's not that's nothing to do with the with the church yeah but we're not even
selling bibles we're not selling preaching we're not selling bible college courses here okay i'll
teach everything i know as best as i know as best as i can it's all free okay it's all free
even if you never give a sense that's between you and god even if you never give a sense to this
never give a sense to this church you're still welcome here and everything is still free okay
so of course i mean this would create like i said pandemonium and you know this happens twice in
his ministry they don't learn the first time okay and he does it again later into into his ministry
but look at verse number 17
and his disciples remembered that it was written the zeal of thine house have eaten me up
the zeal jesus christ had a zeal for the house of god
do you have a zeal for new life at this church tonight do you have a zeal for the house of the
lord are you passionate about this church passionate about our ministries passionate
about hearing god's word and praising our lord
we ought to have that zeal that desire that drive for the house of the lord and church should not
be this thing oh i don't really want to go today can we just go next week i'm sure church is going
to be on next week and then we learned during covered church is not always on next week is it
we take it for granted can we have the zeal jesus christ had a zeal for the house of his father
now let's read about this a little bit if you can come with me let's read about this passage
that they that they remembered okay come with me to psalm 69 psalm 69 in verse number eight
psalm 69 in verse number eight please psalm 69 in verse number eight actually let's read
verse number nine first because this is where the verse comes from it says for the zeal of
thine house have eaten me up so now we know this about jesus okay but notice this is what's really
important here this is this now you you you'll understand when you go back to the psalm you'll
understand why this angered jesus so much he says and the reproaches of them that reproached
thee are fallen upon me so reproach is to be critical of
okay so let's read that again for the zeal of thine house so jesus christ is speaking to the
father here the zeal of thine house have eaten me up he says and the reproaches of them the money
changes those that are making profit in the house of god right the reproaches of them that reproach
thee they were criticizing thee are fallen upon me their criticism against god was angering jesus
christ say what does what do you mean if we compare these passages they were critical
about the lord buying and selling in the house of the lord equates to reproaching the lord to being
critical of the lord how can that be an example as i said to you let's use our church as an example
let's say the finances are going badly you know we can't take care of this church it's not manageable
anymore and we make a decision and we say you know what god's not coming through god's not
taking care of our needs therefore let's let's start selling our sermons let's start selling
some bibles let's make a bit of a profit let's turn the house of god into a house of merchandise
how is that critical toward god you're saying god you cannot provide
that's what they're doing god you can't take care of the house of god it's his house
of course he can take care of the house of the lord it's his house it's not my house it's not
your house it's the house of the lord when we gather together we're here in his house
we're never going to buy and sell because i'm not going to criticize god i'm not going to reproach
god say god what's the problem here why don't you provide him god can take care and whatever comes
in god knows that's what we need to operate our church god knows god knows it all right don't
forget who builds the church matthew 16 18 and i say also unto thee that thou art peter and upon
this rock i says jesus i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it
it's not my job to build the church it's not your job to build the church
it's not our job to say god you're not making it happen you're not providing the finances god
therefore i need to step in and build your house no jesus christ says he is the one that builds
the church we just serve him we do the best we can to serve christ you know with the gifts that
and abilities that we've been given and say jesus now it's up to you it's your house you take care
of it you're still there in sum aren't you now again look at verse number nine it says it starts
with four for the zeal four is a conjunction so it's it's linking verse number eight to verse
number nine okay verse number nine is not by itself and we learned something else interesting
about what took place here because we don't get information from the new testament but in verse
number eight it says i am become a stranger unto my brethren remember he went with his family into
jerusalem right because it was a passover he went with his family he says i am become a stranger
unto my brethren and an alien unto my mother's children four because the zeal of thine house
have eaten me up see after jesus christ took out that whip turned over the tables it embarrassed
his brothers right and they're like we don't know that guy we don't know that jesus right and we see
this come out sort of there in the psalms right this is why it's always wonderful to go back to
the old testament when when we see that being referred to in the new testament because we get
a bit further into it jesus christ is like my own family my own brethren what nothing to do with me
i'm like an alien that they really don't care about me because they see the zeal and the passion
that christ has for the house of the lord sometimes this happens within families so sad
you know that some individuals might have a zeal for the house of god might have an
excitement to to know god's word to be in his house and get others you don't have to come on
you don't have to be that zealous you know i don't like you you know your desire you know you
maybe you love god too much now what about the rest of us you know you know this happens
unfortunately even within families you know being a christian having zeal can really alienate people
that you care about you know we see this take place with jesus his brothers his brethren they
they they wanted nothing to do with him it's it's kind of like he's a family this embarrassment you
know he's the black sheep of the family we want nothing to do with him and you know if you know
your the gospels you know that his brethren had a hard time receiving him for a while okay
let's go back to john chapter two john chapter two verse number 18
john chapter two verse number 18 so anyway jesus christ has just finished running these money
changes away verse number 18 then answered the jews and said unto him what sign showest thou
unto us seeing that thou doest these things they're basically asking us like
you know show us a sign of your authority you said this is your father's house
you know you've come in with authority driving these people away like show us a sign of your
authority is what they're asking okay verse 19 jesus answered and said unto them destroy this
temple and in three days i will raise it up destroy this temple hey who raised jesus from
the dead and in three days i will raise it up in fact you'll find scriptures where
you see there christ raised himself from the dead you find a scripture that his father
raised him from the dead we find scriptures that the holy spirit raising from the dead
you know the trying nature of god is involved in the resurrection of jesus christ
we know when christ is speaking about the temple let's keep going there verse number 20
and this is it's really funny you know jesus christ is using language to kind of confuse
the jews here the unbelieving jews verse number 20 then said the jews 40 and six years was this
temple in building and will thou rear it up in three days so they think jesus christ saying look
destroy the temple destroy the house even though he had a zeal for the house of god he's excited
about the house of god they think he's saying oh destroy it and i'll build it up again
verse number 21 but he spake of the temple of his body still made his death his resurrection
you know this is the sign this is the most important thing you know sometimes you go
to a soul wedding they say look i've had it several times people say to me
look i would just i would believe what you're saying if jesus christ just appeared right now
well no this is the sign the gospel the death of your resurrection of jesus christ that is a sign
you know you got pentecostals where they're born again experiences and all their visions
and all their experiences you know looking for signs well jesus christ has given us the gospel
in three days he will raise up the temple of his body
you know what this reminds me of is jesus christ has given a really profound
lesson here about his early in his ministry he's already saying look i'm going to rise from the
dead he's really saying he's going to die and rise from the dead very early right and these
non-believing jews they're like well the building it took us 46 years to build that thing and this
often reminds you know kind of reminds me of when you when you have a conversation with the
with unsaved or like even again you might show someone you know acts 16 verse 30 31 and uh and
they said i believe on the lord jesus christ and thou shall be saved for example and then you say
so what do you have to do to be saved oh yeah be a good person that just went over your head
all right sometimes you know like you're talking to people even like so-called christians
sometimes i'm on the plane traveling between sydney and i'm talking to people and sometimes
sitting next to me you know i've sat next to jehovah witnesses pentecostals i think i've sat
next to just about everything traveling between sydney i've never sat next to someone that was
actually truly saved but i've sat next to many christians and i've had conversations it's like
i'm sharing scripture and they just you know it's like i'm talking about jesus
and you're talking about the temple seventh-day adventists right you keep the sabbath
i'm trying to show them look the sabbath is jesus the sabbath is rest in jesus the sabbath was all
about christ resting not of works but resting in the finished work of christ and they're talking
about saturday it's about jesus i'm talking about jesus you're talking about saturday
it's like don't you get it because they're not saved that's why and many times conversations
are like this like you start to pick up oh yeah i'm a christian talk to people like they just
don't get it i mean look amongst christians amongst real believers sometimes we want the
eye to eye we don't agree but generally we can see where we're coming from like we get where the
other person's doing and coming from right it's not completely you know something completely
different but yeah this is what christ is experiencing just the fact that they're
completely not on the same page as christ here verse number 22 when therefore he was risen from
the dead his disciples remembered that he he had said this unto them look at this and they believed
the scripture and the word which jesus had said they already believed we saw earlier they believed
in jesus but now they're believing again now they believe the scripture it's not saying they didn't
believe the scripture now they're like now we really trust the scriptures because the scripture
spoke about christ and not just the scriptures and the word which jesus had said you see again
we see an increase in faith you know you know they've believed more and more and more and one
thing that i've one one thing that is really a blessing and pastor stephenson maybe you you can
share this as well but being a pastor and being able to preach on a regular basis really makes
you dig into the bible like you've never had before you know to feed god's people the word of
god and i i find things as i'm preparing and like you know when i sometimes when i preach things
you're probably like oh yeah pastor must have known about that for like months and years
but it's probably something i just learned like last night or even this morning right or something
like that right because god reveals more and more to you for the word of god and when you see the
connections in the bible you just see how deep it is you know yeah i believe the scriptures more
and more and more and more as i study and put my head into that book i believe the words of god
even more today than i ever have ever in my life the more you know the word of god the more you
believe it the more you know the bible the greater your faith that you're like that is strengthened
by by this book you know if you're someone of little faith let me encourage you just do more
bible reading remember faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god remember that
verse number 23 now when he was in jerusalem at the passover in the feast day many believed in
his name when they saw the miracles which he did so we don't know what miracles exactly but he
started performing other miracles here okay so now there are people believing in others not just his
disciples but others people that are there in jerusalem started to believe in him because they
saw the miracles now this is really interesting so there are more people there are more disciples
there are more people coming yeah oh yeah jesus christ they get excited look at his miracles
right they can't more people are gathering getting excited about jesus
but look at verse 24 this is really interesting but jesus did not commit himself unto them
because he knew all men he did not commit himself unto them it's sort of like jesus kept his distance
a little bit because in the midst of those people that were praising jesus oh look at christ this
must be him in the midst of that group there were people that did not really believe in him
there were people that were seeking him harm remember his hour was not yet come
and so christ was careful he kept his he did not commit himself unto them he did not just oh yeah
you're all speaking about about me you know you're all saying that you believe in me so i'm just
going to give myself and you know let's just let's just enjoy each other's company no within that
mix there are people harm wanting to harm christ
and the reason jesus christ did this because he goes because he knew all he knew all men yes some
believed on him but jesus christ knew all of them jesus christ knew which believed on him and he
knew which ones did not believe on him there were people saying yeah jesus christ woohoo and jesus
christ knew hey you're not even saved you don't believe in me you mean harm you have bad intentions
here and so christ did not commit himself and you know christ of course has shown his omniscience
his his knowledge you know you know knowing the hearts of men and you know we need to take a
lesson out of this because just because someone says they're a christian or they say they love
jesus doesn't mean they're a believer okay and you can just easily oh but he says he loves jesus
he says he's saved you know he must be right with the lord are you sure
ask him what must you do to be saved can you ask him that question
ask someone hey what do you believe someone has to do to be saved
i have phone i have phone calls on a regular basis sometimes from pastors sometimes from
missionaries and they're automatically hey brother kevin or brother pastor whatever and i'm like look
can i just ask you one question first what do you believe someone has to do to be saved
because i don't know all men you can be brother brother you know hallelujah jesus christ
but i don't know anything about you
and again would it surprise you that they give me the wrong answers many many times
it's not so you know you can't just be like he says jesus he must be saved you've got to check
him out what must you do to be saved okay and look jesus has this intuition he knows he's god
he knows the hearts of men and even then he did not commit himself unto him he's being careful
he's showing us an example okay showing us an example to be careful don't just trust anybody
that says they believe in jesus
and look at verse number 25 and needed not that any should testify of man for he knew what was
in man so he didn't he didn't need me to come up hey jesus um you know brother caleb he's definitely
saved you know just letting you know jesus he's definitely saved and and brother so and so over
there he's not saved though or he's not brother he's not brothers jesus christ did not need that
any should testify of man he did not need that okay for he knew what was in man he's god he knew
was in the heart of man okay but again i think it's a really great lesson you know don't be
overly trusting of everyone that speaks of christ okay this is why when i preach i often say
christians in general and when i say that i don't really mean people that are saved i just mean
anybody names christ you know even catholics refer to themselves as christians
um and and then when i'm referring to saved individuals you know i'll use the term saved
or believers you know this kind of language that we see in the bible but jesus christ was careful
you need to be careful you know don't just be trusting with everybody not even be careful at
church you say how about that's my brother and that's my sister in lord yeah but there's still
a sinner they've still got a sinful nature they're still selfish we still can mess things up
just be careful of how much you commit yourself to another person
all right brethren the title for the sermon was beginning of miracles john chapter 2
begin we see the first miracle jesus christ turning the water into wine we see his zeal
for the house of the lord you know and uh how about we take that example just like mary said
you know what christ says do it all right we see his zeal we see his excitement how about we do
that we get excited we have a zeal for the house of the lord how about we start that hey it's a
new year let's get excited in 2023 for the house of the lord let's pray