What do Jesus’ signs reveal about who He really is?

In John 2, Jesus performs His first miraculous sign by turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana. But this miracle addresses more than an immediate need—it reveals His glory and points toward the abundant life, true cleansing, and new covenant He came to bring.

Jesus then enters the temple and overturns the tables of those misusing His Father’s house. Through this act, He demonstrates righteous zeal and divine authority while identifying His own body as the true temple that would be destroyed and raised again.

In Part 2 of our Come and See series, Kyle Lounsbury explores how these events invite us to recognize Jesus’ glory, submit to His authority, and love Jesus Himself—not merely the things He can do for us.

In this episode:

• Why John calls miracles “signs”
• What the wedding at Cana reveals about Jesus
• The meaning of the ceremonial water jars
• Jesus and true cleansing
• Why Jesus cleared the temple
• Righteous zeal without compromise
• Jesus as the true temple
• Miracles versus genuine faith
• Seeking Jesus rather than only His blessings

Timestamps:

00:00 Welcome

00:42 Campus Ministry Update

01:42 Come and See the Divine

03:27 What Is a Sign?

05:12 Reading John 2

07:35 The Wedding at Cana

08:47 Mary Trusts Jesus

10:46 Why Jesus Turned Water into Wine

13:41 Jesus Offers Something Better

15:22 Jesus Clears the Temple

17:23 A Zeal for What Is Right

18:58 Zeal Without Compromise

20:10 Jesus Is the True Temple

22:46 The Authority of Jesus

25:05 What the Signs Reveal

27:44 When the Wine Runs Out

30:36 Letting Jesus Disrupt Our Lives

33:32 Loving Jesus Beyond the Miracles

36:14 Communion and the Cross

Good morning, church.

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How we doing?

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Good.

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Great.

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What a powerful name it is.

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You know, this morning, uh, our worship

team has done a phenomenal job leading

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our hearts to- Yeah … worship Jesus.

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Amen.

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Thank you, worship team.

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They get up early on Sunday mornings

when, even when it's raining in Orange

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County, and they get here at 8:00 AM

to practice, and they come here on

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Thursday nights at 6:00 PM to practice.

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And these are volunteers that

really are just trying to use

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their gifts for the glory of God.

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Amen?

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So thank you, guys, for worshiping.

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I know you guys are in the back.

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Thank you for leading us.

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We love you guys.

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Thank you so much.

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Well, my name is Kyle Lounsbury,

and along with my wife Jasmine, we

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lead our awesome college student

ministry here at OC Church.

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Amen.

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And, uh, today we are continuing

on in our series Come and See,

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like Sonny mentioned earlier.

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And, uh, you know, this past week and

the, the week prior, we have started

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school, and we've been busy on campus.

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And God is doing some great things.

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He's teaching us some great lessons.

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And one of the really exciting

things that we're doing this

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year is we've sort of broken our

ministry into different Bible talks.

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And so we've got two Bible talks

in north and two Bible talks

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in the south and central area.

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And so it's just been really cool to

see the students taking ownership of the

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ministry, ownership of the mission, and

also ownership of their relationships

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with one another and with God.

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So it's just been really, really

encouraging, and, uh, just very

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grateful for how God is working in

our campus ministry, and how He's

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continuing to develop, uh, new

leaders and new young people to

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continue to serve and worship God.

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Amen.

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So there's a little update

for the campus ministry.

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But, uh, like, like I mentioned

earlier, we're starting…

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or we're in our second

lesson of Come and See.

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And Sonny had mentioned the scripture

there, uh, in John 1:45, how Philip found

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Nathanael, and he told him, "We have found

the one Moses wrote about in the law,

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and about whom the prophets also wrote,

Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

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And then Nathanael's

response is, "Nazareth?

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Can anything good come from there?"

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And Philip's response is, "Come and see."

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And what's cool is there's a

parallel a few verses before that.

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Jesus is actually the one who

says, "Come and you will see."

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And, and, and this idea of come and

see I think is so powerful and so

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valuable, and I think for our church

context and where our church is at, is

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so needed, to come and see Jesus in a

new and exciting and refreshing way.

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Amen.

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Who wants to see Jesus in a new

and exciting and refreshing way?

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Don't we all want to?

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Yeah.

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Yes.

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Whether you've been a Christian

for a day or a Christian for

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many years, we constantly want

to see Jesus in a refreshing way.

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Amen.

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And so I'm really excited to

get into the, the lesson today.

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Actually, I had the scripture up there.

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Look at that.

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Um, but the heart really behind this

series is to discover more about Jesus.

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And so today we're gonna be jumping in to

our lesson called Come and See the Divine.

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Come and see the divine.

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And what's really cool about this

message is in chapter two of John, you

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can turn your Bibles to John chapter

two, what we're gonna find out that I

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love is there's some cool imagery and

there's some cool things taking place.

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The first thing we're gonna really

focus on, or the main thing I'll say

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we're gonna focus on, is the word

sign appears three different times.

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And for a second, I

wanna just set this up.

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Imagine, who here's ever

been to the Grand Canyon?

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Woo.

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Okay.

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Grand Canyon's amazing.

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Okay, who's been to maybe Yellowstone?

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Okay, Niagara Falls?

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Uh, what am I missing?

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Zion?

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Yeah.

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All right, all right.

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Uh, Yosemite?

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Yeah.

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All right.

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Okay, so we've been to some of

these beautiful places, right?

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And if you haven't, I wanna encourage

you, try to take some time and go.

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When I went to the Grand Canyon for

the very first time, my mind was blown.

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Just the vastness, the, the, the

power, the size, the just, oh my

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gosh, you get there and you're just

like, "I'm looking at a picture."

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Like it doesn't feel real.

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But I want us for a second to imagine

we're driving to one of those places.

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Let's just say the Grand Canyon.

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We're driving to the Grand Canyon

and along the way we see about

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10 miles out a sign that says,

"Grand Canyon 10 miles away."

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And wouldn't it, wouldn't it be weird

if we all got out of our cars, "Hey,

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let's go take a picture next to that sign

that says Grand Canyon 10 miles away."

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We're, we're, we made it to the sign that

says 10 miles away from the Grand Canyon.

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That'd be weird, right?

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I mean, maybe you wanna take a

picture 'cause you're on a road trip

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and you're doing, okay, fun, cool.

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But the purpose of the sign

is not the destination, right?

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Right.

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The purpose of the sign is to

point you towards what's to come.

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And so we're gonna see that parallel

throughout this chapter today, and

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honestly, throughout many of the next

coming chapters, the book of signs as

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we see many different miracles that

Jesus does pointing to his divinity.

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Amen?

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So let's look, uh, in John chapter two.

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I'm gonna say a prayer and we're

gonna dive into the scripture.

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Father, thank you so much for this

morning and this time to worship you.

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Lord, we are so grateful for Jesus.

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We are so grateful for the

beautiful name of Jesus, the,

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the name above every other name.

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Father, we're so thankful that

you have sent your Son to die

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for us, that we don't deserve-

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the sacrifice of Jesus.

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I pray that as we get into your Word

this morning, that there would just be a

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reverence, a posture of humility, and a

desire to just see you and allow your Holy

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Spirit through your Word to speak to us.

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We love you, Father.

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We thank you.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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John 2:1

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Says, "On the third day, a wedding

took place at Cana in Galilee.

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Jesus' mother was there, and

Jesus and his disciples had also

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been invited to the wedding.

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When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother

said to him, 'They have no more wine.'

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'Woman, why do you involve me?'

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Jesus replied, 'My hour has not yet come.'

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His mother said to the servants,

'Do whatever he tells you.'

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Nearby stood six stone water

jars, the kind used by the Jews

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for ceremonial washing, each

holding from 20 to 30 gallons.

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Jesus said to the servants,

'Fill the jars with water,' so

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they filled them to the brim.

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Then he told them, 'Now draw some

out and take it to the master of

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the banquet,' and they did so.

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And the master of the banquet tasted the

water that had been turned into wine.

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He did not realize where it had

come from, though the servants

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who had drawn the water knew.

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Then he called the bridegroom aside and

said, 'Everyone brings out the choice

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wine first and then the cheaper wine after

the guests have had too much to drink,

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but you have saved the best till now.'

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What Jesus did here in Cana of

Galilee was the first of the signs

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through which he revealed his glory,

and his disciples believed in him.

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After this, he went down to Capernaum with

his mother and brothers and his disciples.

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There they stayed for a few days."

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So we're gonna s- take a pause here.

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Let's set the scene.

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So Jesus gets invited to a wedding.

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Who here has been to a wedding?

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Weddings are awesome.

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We've got, uh, Angela and Lorena

are gonna be getting married soon.

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Amen.

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Really excited for them.

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Yeah.

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Marry- getting married is

a, is a great victory, and

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going to weddings are awesome.

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But at this wedding, something vital takes

place and, and unfortunately happens.

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They run out of wine.

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All right, now for us, maybe we don't

fully grasp the context completely, but

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in that time, these wedding celebrations

went weeks sometimes and were very long.

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It wasn't just like, "Hey, we have

the reception, and then we have a

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two or three hour," you know, or,

or, "We have the ceremony, then

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a two or three-hour reception."

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That's not…

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That's, that's modern America.

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That's how we do it, right?

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But these guys, they celebrate a long

time, and so if the wine runs out, uh-oh.

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Oh, yeah.

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Uh-oh.

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Rusty.

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You know, this would have been

embarrassing and humiliating

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for the family, uh, hosting this

wedding if the wine completely ran

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out, in which this case it did.

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And so what do we see take place?

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We see Mary, the mother of

Jesus, brings the problem to who?

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To her son, Jesus.

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She brings it to him.

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She doesn't necessarily expect anything.

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She's not necessarily trying to

control him or tell him what to do.

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She simply says, "Here's the

problem: we've run out of wine."

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And Jesus goes, "Woman,

why do you involve me?"

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Like, "It's not my problem."

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At least that's what I'd be thinking.

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Maybe Jesus wasn't thinking that,

but I'd be feeling like, "Okay,

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like, that's not my problem."

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But what I love here is Mary

immediately then tu- turns to the

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servants, and what does she say?

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She says, "Do whatever he tells you."

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Do whatever Jesus says, just do it.

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Just, I promise, just trust him.

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Do whatever he says.

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So what's the posture of Mary there?

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The posture of Mary is, "He's got this.

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Jesus has got this.

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I'm gonna trust my son with this.

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I'm gonna trust Jesus to handle this."

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And of course, what I love

here is that Mary doesn't know

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necessarily what he's gonna do.

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It's not like she planned for him

to create all this wine, right?

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But she just said, "So please,

Jesus, here's my problem.

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I'm putting it at your feet."

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What's the, the parallel to us?

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Don't we have problems sometimes?

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Who are we turning to

with our problems, right?

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What are we turning to with our problems?

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Are we entrusting our problems with Jesus?

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You know, Jesus then honors his

mother, and what does he do?

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He works a miracle.

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And what I love about this is Jesus sees

his mom and goes, "I'm gonna honor you."

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And we live in a cu- culture

today, we don't really honor people

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the way that we should, right?

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Unfortunately, we see on the

news, we see on social media, we

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see in younger generations just a

disrespect towards other humans.

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Jesus displays the humility and

the honor deserving of his mom.

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Let's be men and women

who honor our parents.

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Amen?

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But nearby stood six stone jars.

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They're these big jars used for

ceremonial washing is what it says.

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And these big six stone jars hold

about 20 to 30 gallons of water.

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And in this time, these jars represented

Israel's practice of purification.

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They were used for ceremonial

washing is what the scripture says.

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And those practices, they had a purpose.

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They were, they were useful in that time.

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But now what we see is the one,

Jesus, who can truly cleanse

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people standing beside them.

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The one who truly purifies

us is now present.

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The one who is pure is present,

and Jesus uses the ceremonial

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washing jars to work his miracle.

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He says, "Fill the jars

with water to the brims."

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And then they started drawing the water

out, and then what did the water become?

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It became wine.

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It says somewhere around 150

gallons if you do the math.

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That's a lot of wine.

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A lot of wine.

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Those are big jars, I mean 20 to

30 gallons, 150 gallons total.

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You know, Greg told me to share

this joke, so I will, all right?

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So if you don't like it, it's on Greg.

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But why did Jesus use six

jars to make the wine?

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He wanted to make the first six-pack.

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Hey, thank you Greg.

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Thank you.

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So why so much wine?

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You know, as I was reading, I was

like, "Why, why so much wine, Jesus?

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Like, you, you just made so

much, it doesn't make sense.

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Are we ever gonna actually use all that?"

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No, I don't know.

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But why so much wine?

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Well, in the commentary that we've

been, uh, reading, Raymond Brown shares

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here that the prophets had foretold an

abundance of wine in Messianic days, and

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the abundance of wine at Cana would bring

these prophecies to mind and point to

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the Messianic nature of Jesus's mission.

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You know, in the Book of Amos, it

describes a coming day when new

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wine will drip from the mountains

and flow from all the hills.

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So Jesus is not simply helping

a family out of an embarrassing

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situation or a humiliating moment.

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What is Jesus doing?

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He is bringing the new covenant.

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Yes.

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This is a sign that the Messiah has come.

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This is his first miracle, the

sign of his arrival, and that

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is fulfillment of the law.

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You know, the jars could hold

water for ceremonial washing,

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but what does Jesus do?

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Jesus comes to provide new life,

new cleansing in our lives today.

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Amen?

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Amen.

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He washes us.

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We're washed by the water,

the waters of baptism.

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We die to our lives and

buried under the water.

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We resurrect to a new life, and are

cleansed, and our sins are forgiven, and

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we're raised to a new life with Christ.

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Amen.

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You know, one of the things I love

about this scripture is I love that

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Jesus, it says, makes the best wine.

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Yeah.

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The best wine.

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And why, why, why do I like that?

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I like that because Jesus gave his best.

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Yeah.

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He coulda easily just made wine that

was as good as the other one, right?

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Jesus said, "No, no, no.

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I'm gonna give my best.

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I'm gonna make it excellent."

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I think that's a call for us.

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Let's give our best.

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We don't need to be perfect.

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We don't need to, to, to be the,

the most effective and excellent

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people, but we need to give our

best because that's what Jesus did.

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Amen?

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Amen.

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Let's give our best in everything we do.

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Not for our glory, but for his.

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Amen.

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Verse 11, it says that, "Through

this sign, Jesus revealed his glory

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and his disciples believed in him."

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You know, another part of the

commentary is, a further lesson

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for Jesus' ministry is that he, he

replaces the Jewish purifications with

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something better, and that's himself

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The miracle in this story met a real

need, a serious need, but that was not its

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greatest purpose, brothers and sisters.

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Turning water into wine,

growing up hearing that story,

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I thought, "That's so cool.

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That's amazing."

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And it is.

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The sign and the miracle is, but

what it points to is even greater.

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The sign and the miracle points to the

glory of Jesus, the divinity of Jesus.

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Amen?

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Amen.

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Let's keep reading.

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At the end, I'm gonna share some

application to us, so we're gonna

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come back to this story, but let's

keep reading in John chapter 2.

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Verse 13, "When it was almost

time for the Jewish Passover,

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Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

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In the temple courts He found people

selling cattle and sheep and doves, and

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others sitting at tables exchanging money.

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So He made a whip out of cords, and

drove all from the temple courts,

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both sheep and cattle; He scattered

the coins of the money changers

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and He overturned their tables.

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To those who sold doves He

said, 'Get these out of here.

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Stop turning my Father's

house into a market.'

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His disciples remembered

that it is written: Zeal for

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your house will consume me.

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The Jews then responded to Him,

'What sign can you show us to prove

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your authority to do all this?'

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Jesus answered them, 'Destroy this temple,

and I will raise it again in three days.'

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They replied, 'It's taken 46 years

to build this temple, and you're

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gonna raise it in three days?'

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But the temple He had

spoken of was His body.

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After He was raised from the dead, His

disciples recalled what He had said.

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Then they believed the Scripture

and the words that Jesus had spoken.

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Now while He was in Jerusalem

at the Passover Festival, many

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people saw the signs He was

performing and believed in His name.

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But Jesus would not entrust Himself

to them, for He knew all people.

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He did not need any testimony

about mankind, for He knew

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what was in each person."

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All right.

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So again, we have this scene.

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He goes from this miracle in

Cana, turning water into wine.

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Now He's in Capernaum,

and what does He do?

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He steps into the temple courts.

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He sees the temple, which is

meant to be holy and reverent

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and designed to worship God.

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It's the place where you can go

and actually connect with Him.

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And what does He see taking place?

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He sees commerce and consumerism,

and He sees them selling things and

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trying to, to create this environment

that is not holy and reverent

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You know, Jesus, in this

moment, had some conviction.

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And when we study out Jesus's life,

we love the, the grace-filled Jesus.

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We love the Jesus that is a shepherd.

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We love the Jesus that's kind, and we

need to be just like Jesus in those areas.

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But we also need to imitate

the indignance of Jesus.

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Right.

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The spirit of zealousness

for righteousness.

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We live in a corrupt time, in a corrupt

culture, in a world that's evil and dark.

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I cannot stand listening to the

news, being on social media.

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Anytime it comes up, I just…

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I, I don't wanna hear about it.

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It's evil.

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It's dark.

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We need to stand up for righteousness.

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Yeah.

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We need to be holy in a unholy world- Yeah

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just like Jesus.

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And what I love about Jesus is he's

not necessarily angry in a sinful way.

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He's angry in an indignant

way, a righteous anger.

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I can't believe this is happening.

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And he starts turning things over.

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It says he goes and he makes a whip.

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Like, he is intense about this.

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Why?

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'Cause he's standing up for a holy God.

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All right.

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A righteous- All right … holy,

reverent God So my question is,

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are we imitating Christ's example?

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Do we stand up for holy things?

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Do we imitate His example of standing

up for righteousness, or do we get

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complacent and comfortable sometimes

with the sin of our culture?

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Do we get com- comfortable?

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Do we just get, uh, immune

to it or numb to it?

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Desensitized?

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Or are we seeing the severity of a

lost world and how we need to bring

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Jesus to this lost world, and an

intensity upholding righteousness?

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You know, our culture can be

just like these temple courts.

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Are we zealous enough for God and

desire to please Him more than people?

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And I think that's what the struggle

is sometimes, right, church?

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That sometimes in this culture we're

like, "I don't really wanna be that

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zealous, or I don't really wanna stand

up for this because I don't know how

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it's gonna make people think of me."

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Right?

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Is that relatable?

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I, I, I feel that a lot.

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Like, "Ah, I don't want it to

mess my reputation up," or, "I

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don't wanna be viewed as just

the, the righteous truth-teller

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with no love and forgiveness."

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I think that's a real fear

and insecurity sometimes.

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We have to trust that God's

grace is so big and great and

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vast, and His grace is amazing.

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But we cannot compromise

the truth of His Word.

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We cannot compromise the

convictions that He shows, the

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indignance here of, "This is wrong.

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I must stand for something

that's holy and righteous."

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But there's something even deeper

that happens here and, you know,

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I really wanna get into that.

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And in the commentary, one of the

things that he says is, in attacking

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this commerce, Jesus is doing

more than purging an abuse, right?

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Now, the animals and the coins were

absolutely necessary for temple worship.

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So He's doing more than just flipping

tables and throwing things out and saying,

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"This is wrong," and standing up for

righteousness, and sometimes I think we

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can distill this down to simply just that.

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It's more than that.

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It's part of it, but it's more.

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And I think what it is is that Jesus'

actions are challenging the very

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fabric of the temple system because

the one to whom the temple pointed

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to is there, and that's Jesus.

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The temple system was designed for what?

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To go and connect with God.

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But who is there in their presence?

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God in the flesh.

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And so He's trying to show something

different, and in the commentary

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it says, "The glorious presence of

God, once confined to the temple,

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has now become flesh in Jesus."

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Isn't that amazing?

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Yeah.

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It's now flesh in Jesus.

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Jesus says, "Stop turning my

Father's house into a market."

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And notice the authority

of that type of statement.

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"Stop turning my Father's

house into a market."

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He calls it my father's house,

and I love the intimacy Jesus

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has there to say his father.

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You know, he's not acting like

some outsider with an opinion.

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Who is he?

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He is the Son of God.

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He's the son in his father's house.

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Like any of you who step into your

father's house or mother's house or

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family's house and you see things are

not right and people are abusing it…

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Who saw The Odyssey?

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I don't wanna spoil it, but

when you, when you watched The

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Odyssey, what was going on?

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Odyssey's house was being abused, right?

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Yeah.

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Sorry, I'm spoiling it, but it's…

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I'm not really spoiling it.

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It's, like, the second oldest

book ever, so there you go.

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And you just see what's taking place

for years while Odysseus is gone.

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They're just abusing the father's

house, taking things from…

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You guys with me?

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Yeah.

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How would you feel?

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You would probably feel like Tom Holland,

the little guppy in that movie, right?

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Yeah.

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Sorry, I say that 'cause I'm

just like, dude, you could've…

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I wish you was just a

little bit more, right?

458

But amen.

459

Bottom line is Jesus was in his

father's house and he was not

460

pleased with what was taking place.

461

You know, the leaders understand

that he is claiming authority, so

462

what do they begin to do to him?

463

They question him.

464

They ask him to prove his authority.

465

"By what authority are you doing this?

466

What sign can you show us?"

467

What is his answer?

468

"Destroy this temple, I

will raise it in three days.

469

Destroy it and I'll

raise it in three days."

470

And they're like, "What?

471

What are you talking about?

472

It took 46 years for us

to build this temple."

473

Notice that Jesus does not say, "I will

destroy this temple in three days."

474

Later on in the crucifixion account,

that's actually the accusation used

475

falsely to crucify Jesus, is they say,

"You said you will destroy this temple."

476

Here it is.

477

He didn't say that.

478

He says, "You will destroy this temple."

479

And they immediately think about what?

480

The actual structure of the

temple, the actual building.

481

It had taken 46 years to construct it,

so they can't even begin to fathom or

482

imagine what Jesus means by destroy the

temple and rebuild it in three days.

483

But John tells us that Jesus

was speaking about what?

484

Himself, His body.

485

The temple, His body.

486

And they're standing in the temple

looking at Jesus, but they do not

487

understand the true presence of God

is standing right in front of them.

488

They can see the building, but they

cannot yet see who Jesus truly is.

489

What's the parallel for us sometimes?

490

Man, we don't always know what Jesus is

doing, and sometimes we don't even see

491

Him working in our situations, and we

sometimes only see the physical, right?

492

We only see what we can grasp.

493

Jesus is moving.

494

Jesus is doing things

that are out of our scope.

495

We don't always see it, but

He's working and He's present,

496

and His presence is everywhere.

497

And so the temple represented

sacrifice, it represented forgiveness,

498

worship, and God's presence.

499

But Jesus, in this moment, is

saying that all of that now centers

500

on Him, His temple, His body.

501

And His body will be given as a sacrifice.

502

He will make forgiveness

possible, and when His body is

503

destroyed, it will rise again.

504

Amen?

505

Amen.

506

So what does all this mean?

507

Well, I've got a few things I wanna

share with us this morning, all right?

508

A few things that I think we

as the OC Church can apply

509

and consider in our lives.

510

You know, the first thing here is we

see, I mentioned earlier, that the

511

word sign appears three different

times in the chapter, and signs

512

point to something else, right?

513

They point to God and,

and the divinity of Jesus.

514

And so when this, this word

sign comes up, some interesting

515

things, I think, happen here.

516

But before I jump into

it, let me share a story.

517

This is my wedding day.

518

Uh, one of my favorite days of my life.

519

That's my wife Jasmine and I.

520

We're f- we're celebrating and excited.

521

You know, one, one interesting

thing, uh, that I've actually never

522

shared is that for years, you know,

I used the, the, uh, initials JIL

523

in sort of everything that I did.

524

All right?

525

I'm gonna expose myself here, but,

like, all my passwords have JIL in

526

it, so don't steal my identity, okay?

527

But JIL stood for Jesus Is Lord.

528

All right?

529

JIL.

530

Jesus Is Lord, 'cause He's my Lord, and

so I wanted to constantly remind me that.

531

It's even my Wi-Fi password at home, so

whenever you come over, there you go.

532

But when I was thinking about marrying

Jasmine, I started realizing something.

533

You know, her name is

Jasmine Isabelle Ramirez

534

But if we got married, she'd

become Jasmine Isabelle Lounsbury

535

And I remember thinking,

"God, i- is this a sign?"

536

"Is this a sign you're showing me here?"

537

Yeah.

538

The connection, right?

539

Jesus, you're, you're first.

540

Jesus is Lord, but wow, JIL also

works, Jasmine Isabelle Lounsbury.

541

You know, we love signs, right?

542

And signs, I think, are special

and are great, and I'm sure you

543

maybe have thought in your life or

experienced a sign at some point.

544

But the reality is that sign was

not like the, the, the crux or

545

the, the main focus of my marriage

or my love for Jasmine, right?

546

It simply just pointed me to

something greater, which is marriage

547

and a future and love with my wife.

548

And so what's cool is these signs

that we see in chapter two, they

549

point to such amazing things.

550

They point to the cross.

551

They point to the divinity of Jesus.

552

They point to Him

bringing the new covenant.

553

And so the question though I

think that they point us back

554

to is simply is Jesus Lord?

555

Is Jesus Lord of our lives?

556

Because I believe Jesus really is Lord.

557

Amen.

558

So the first time it

appears is in verse 11.

559

"What Jesus did here in Cana of

Galilee was the first of the signs

560

through which He revealed His glory,

and His disciples believed in Him."

561

All right, so the sign reveals Jesus'

glory, and the disciples believe.

562

This is in Cana.

563

This is right after He

turns water into wine.

564

This is that situation.

565

So what's the application?

566

Well, I think something we can consider

is we often want Jesus in our life

567

because we simply have run out of wine.

568

Sometimes when the wine runs

out and we need a miracle,

569

that's when we turn to Jesus.

570

Yep.

571

And I'm not saying that's wrong, but

that can't be the only time we turn

572

to Jesus Or, or only in times of need.

573

I remember in college I would, you

know, before a midterm or final I would

574

just, "All right, I need to pray now.

575

God, just help me ace this final,"

even though I didn't study one

576

hour on it or one bit on it, right?

577

Anybody relate?

578

We can't only turn to Him in times of

need or when times where our strength

579

has run out or we're exhausted, or times

when we're, our patience has run out.

580

Jesus does care about

our needs though, amen?

581

And Cana shows us that He's compassionate

toward our ordinary problems.

582

But He does not want to simply

just improve our circumstances.

583

That's not the point of this.

584

Jesus is not designed and not trying to

just take suffering away from our lives.

585

That's not His purpose.

586

Rather, He wants to

reveal His glory to us.

587

Jesus wants to reveal who He

truly is to us in the midst

588

of our tough circumstances,

in the midst of our struggle.

589

And we live in a culture, and I

mentioned this earlier, full of

590

false gods, full of consumerism, full

of things that really push us and

591

influence us towards comfortability.

592

And I believe we need to humble

ourselves to Jesus and truly trust

593

Him even when life's uncomfortable,

even when our circumstance is like,

594

"Oh, what are you doing here, Father?"

595

Even when we run out

of wine at the wedding.

596

You guys with me?

597

And instead of asking Jesus to

just improve the circumstance or

598

work a little miracle or eliminate

the suffering, I think we need

599

to ask Him to reveal His glory.

600

Lord, what are you trying to reveal to me?

601

Show me what you're trying to do here.

602

Teach me something new.

603

Help me to mature.

604

Help me to grow.

605

Help me to learn what you're

trying to, to make me learn.

606

And so the question I think we should ask

ourselves is do you wanna know Jesus, or

607

do you just want Him to fix your life?

608

You see, we want Him to fix

our life, and we need Him to.

609

Let's just s- get that out of the way.

610

But if that's just what we're looking for-

You can go to any other self-help place.

611

You can go get a life coach.

612

Nothing wrong with life

coaches, let me just say that.

613

But what I'm saying is

Jesus has to be more.

614

Amen?

615

Amen.

616

So do you truly want to know Him

and have His glory revealed to you?

617

The second sign we see, the second

time it appears is in verse 18.

618

"The Jews then responded to Him,

'What sign can You show us to prove

619

Your authority to do all this?'"

620

This is when they're questioning

Him, and the leaders are demanding

621

a sign while resisting His, what?

622

Authority.

623

The Pharisees resisted His authority,

and they wanted a sign to prove it.

624

You know, I think we can

like the idea of Jesus.

625

We can like the idea sometimes of

authority, 'cause we need b- guardrails

626

and boundaries and s- sort of rules

for our life and church community, but

627

I think sometimes we resist His cosmic

authority in our lives, that He is Lord.

628

He is God.

629

He is divine.

630

And sometimes I think we distill Him

down a little bit, and we go, "Ah,

631

can He just be a part of my life?

632

Can He just have maybe a

little say in my schedule?

633

Or can He maybe just have a little

bit of influence of where my money

634

is spent or how my finances work?"

635

Rather than going, "Jesus, You have

all authority in my life, because

636

God has given You all authority.

637

You are divine.

638

You have all the authority."

639

You see, the temple

leaders knew the system.

640

They knew the traditions.

641

They knew the building.

642

But when Jesus arrived, they asked Him to

prove Himself to them But what happens?

643

He turns over the tables.

644

He, he, you know, he, he's

preaching this message.

645

Well, what happens when Jesus

overturns the tables in our lives?

646

The different things that maybe

we're wrestling with, or maybe the

647

complacency we're going through.

648

What happens when Jesus

confronts things in our lives?

649

Maybe it's our hidden compromises.

650

Maybe it's our need for

control over certain things.

651

Or maybe it's our use of church

and religion and Christianity and,

652

and attending, and the cultural

aspect of it to protect ourselves

653

or shield ourselves, make ourselves

look better, or make ourselves

654

look a certain way in our society.

655

You see, at Cana, Jesus

created what was not.

656

He turned water into wine.

657

But what happened at the temple?

658

He overturned what was

corrupt, what was wrong.

659

He overturned it, and he

established a new way.

660

He established he was divine, and Jesus

had authority to turn water into wine

661

and authority to turn over the tables.

662

Oh, God.

663

Are we giving him authority in our life?

664

And I think the question we can ask

is what table in your life are you

665

refusing to let Jesus turn over?

666

What's the table maybe

you're holding onto?

667

What's the thing you're like,

"I don't really wanna talk

668

about that part of my life."

669

What's the part where it's like,

"Lord, I've worked on this for

670

years, and I still need help"?

671

Let's surrender it to Jesus.

672

Amen?

673

Let's surrender it to Jesus so he can

reveal his glory and help us heal.

674

The third time the sign comes up.

675

You guys still with me?

676

Yeah.

677

We're almost done.

678

John 2:23, "Now while he was in

Jerusalem at the Passover Festival,

679

many people saw the signs he was

performing and believed in his name."

680

Amen.

681

Well, later on, what does Jesus say?

682

He says that he doesn't

entrust himself to them.

683

He doesn't trust it.

684

Why?

685

Because he knew what was already

going on in their hearts.

686

You see, the crowds believed

Jesus because of what?

687

Because they see miracles,

because they see signs.

688

Amen.

689

But Jesus does not

entrust himself to them.

690

So what i- wha- what's the, the, the,

the draw that we can get from that?

691

Guys, I think, and this is something

I wrestled with being a kingdom kid,

692

growing up in church my whole life,

it's possible to love what Jesus

693

can do Without loving Jesus himself.

694

Isn't that true?

695

We love what Jesus can do.

696

And amen, we, we need the

miracles in our lives.

697

That's awesome.

698

But we may want Jesus the problem-solver,

or Jesus the provider, or Jesus the

699

miracle worker, or Jesus the good teacher,

or Jesus the life coach, whatever.

700

And that's awesome, but what about

Jesus the Lord, Jesus the purifier,

701

Jesus the King, Jesus the one

who influences our schedule, our

702

time, our decisions, our finances?

703

It's possible to love what Jesus

can do without loving Jesus himself.

704

But Jesus, being God,

knows what's in all of us.

705

Amen.

706

And he knows our hearts, and that truth

is sobering, but it's also comforting.

707

The one who knows us is

complete- completely is the one

708

who went to the cross for us.

709

Jesus loves us, and he died for us.

710

So what does that mean?

711

We don't have to fake it.

712

We don't have to perform.

713

You don't need to show up here

acting like something you're not.

714

You can just come before Jesus your

authentic self, and he can help you.

715

He can restore you.

716

He can teach you.

717

You don't have to ask him,

"Jesus, prove yourself to me.

718

Show me the sign."

719

You don't have to.

720

You can simply come before

him and say, "Jesus, teach me.

721

Jesus, help me."

722

Let's not fall in love with the

miracles of Jesus or the signs of Jesus.

723

Let's fall in love with

who they point us to.

724

It's Jesus himself.

725

And so the question we can ask here is:

Are you following Jesus because he is

726

Lord or because he's been useful to you?

727

Amen.

728

Come on.

729

So why these signs?

730

To reveal who truly Jesus is.

731

It's to show us that he is divine.

732

And these signs also point to

his sacrifice on the cross.

733

And we're, in a minute here,

we're gonna take communion, but I

734

wanna share a parallel that kind

of echoes through this chapter.

735

This isn't the main point of this chapter,

so don't get me wrong, but it's an echo.

736

Jesus turns water into what?

737

Wine.

738

Wine.

739

What does wine represent

with the crucifixion?

740

Represents the blood of Christ.

741

Jesus is in the temple, and he

turns over the tables, and he

742

references his temple as what?

743

His body.

744

You see the echo?

745

The wine and the body.

746

Everything points to the cross.

747

Everything points to Jesus.

748

Amen.

749

So in a moment, we're gonna take

communion, and we're gonna take the

750

wine that now represents the blood of

Christ, and the temple that now res-

751

represents the body of Christ, the bread.

752

Let's go ahead and say a prayer, and

let's take communion with one another.

753

Father, thank you so much

754

For Jesus

755

Father, thank you so much that

just in chapter two of John, we're

756

already seeing echoes of the cross.

757

We're already seeing the greatest

sacrifice, the greatest act of love

758

that is so dear and special to us.

759

And God, I pray that as we take

communion, that we would do it

760

with reverence and holiness.

761

That this would not simply be a

ritual we do weekly or a custom or

762

some habitual habit, but that this

is truly us reflecting on the body

763

that was broken, the blood that was

shed, so we could be purified and

764

cleansed, that we could be viewed by

you, Lord, the way you view Jesus.

765

We love you, we thank you.

766

In Jesus' name, amen