Obeying Christ’s Orders

Obeying Christ's Orders

(No. 2317)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JULY 16, 1893.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE
13, 1889.

"His mother said unto the servants, Whatever He says unto you, do it."
John 2:5.

IT does not need a strong imagination to picture Mary, probably at that
time the widowed mother of our Lord. She is full of love and of a
naturally kind, sympathetic disposition. She is at a marriage and she
is very pleased that her Son is there, with the first handful of His
disciples. Their being there has made a greater demand upon the
provisions than was expected and the supply is running short, so she,
with an anxiety that was natural to such a mother of her years, and of
her gentle spirit, thinks that she will speak to her Son and tell Him
that there is a need. So she says to Him, "They have no wine."

There was not much amiss in that, surely, but our Lord, who sees not as
man sees, perceived that she was putting to the front her motherly
relationship at a time when it was necessary that it should be in the
background. How necessary it was, history has shown, for the apostate
church of Rome has actually made Mary a Mediatrix and prayers have been
addressed to her! She has even been asked to use her maternal authority
with her Son. It was well that our Savior should check anything that
might tend to give any countenance to Mariolatry which has been
altogether so mischievous. And it was necessary for Him to speak to His
mother with somewhat more of sharpness than, perhaps, her conduct, in
itself, alone, might have required. So her august Son felt bound to say
to her, "Woman, what have I to do with you in such a matter as this? I
am not your Son as a miracle-worker. I cannot work to please you. No,
if I work a miracle as the Son of God, it cannot be as your Son–it
must be in another character. What have I to do with you in this
matter?" And He gives His reason–"My hour is not yet come."

It was a gentle rebuke, absolutely necessary from the prescience of all
that would follow. You can easily picture how Mary took it. She knew
Christ's gentleness, His infinite love, how for 30 years there had
never come anything from Him that had grieved her spirit. So she drank
in the reproof and gently shrank back, thinking much more than she
said, for she was always a woman who laid up these things and pondered
them in her heart. She says very little, but she thinks a great
deal–and we see in her later conduct, in respect to this very miracle,
that she thought very much of what Jesus had said to her. Brothers and
Sisters, you and I, with the very best intentions, may sometimes err
towards our Lord. And if He, then, in any way rebukes us, and puts us
back–if He disappoints our hope, if He does not allow our ambitious
designs to prosper–let us take it from Him as Mary took it from Jesus.
Let us just feel that it must be right and let us, in silence, possess
ourselves in His Presence.

Notice, then, this holy woman's quietude, ceasing to say a word,
quietly drinking it all in. And then observe her wise admonition to the
servants who were there to wait at the feast. Inasmuch as she had run
before Him, she would have them to follow after Him and she very wisely
and kindly says to them, "Whatever He says unto you, do it. Do not go
to Him with any of your remarks. Do not try to press Him forward. Do
not urge Him on–He knows better than we do. Stand back and wait till
He speaks, and then be quick to obey every single word that He utters."
Beloved, I wish that when we have learned a lesson, we would try to
teach it. Sometimes our Master gives us a sharp word all to ourselves
and we would not tell anybody else what He has said. In our private
communions He has spoken to our conscience and to our heart–and we
need not go and repeat that, as Mary did not. But, having learned the
lesson well, let us then say to our next friend, "Do not err as I have
done. Avoid the rock on which I struck just now. I fear that I grieved
my Lord. My Sister, I would not have you grieve Him. My Brother, I
would try to tell you just what to do that you may please Him in all

things." Do you not think that we would minister to mutual edification
if we did that? Instead of telling the faults of others, let us extract
the essence from the discoveries which we make of our own errors and
then administer that as a helpful medicine to those who are around us.

This holy woman must have spoken with a good deal of power. Her tone
must have been peculiarly forcible and her manner must have made a
great impression upon the servants, for you notice that they did
exactly what she told them. It is not every servant who will let a
guest come into the house and set up to be mistress. But so it was when
she spoke to those servants, with her deep, earnest tones, as a woman
who had learned something that she could not tell, but who, yet, out of
that experience, had extracted a lesson for others. She must have
spoken with a wonderful melting force when she said to them, "Whatever
He says unto you, do it." And they were all looking on with awe after
she had spoken, drinking in her message to them as she had drunk in the
message of the Lord.

Now I want, tonight, to try to teach that lesson to myself and to you.
I think that our own experience goes to show us that our highest
wisdom, our very best prosperity, will lie in our cautiously keeping
behind Christ and never running before Him, never forcing His hand,
never tempting Him as they did who tempted God in the
wilderness–prescribing to Him to do this or that–but, in holy, humble
obedience, taking these words as our life motto henceforth, "Whatever
He says unto you, do it." I will handle my text in this way–First,
What? Secondly, Why? Thirdly, What then?

I. WHAT IS IT THAT WE ARE HERE TOLD TO DO? In a word, it is to obey.
You who belong to Christ and are His disciples, take heed to this word
of exhortation, "Whatever He says unto you, do it."

I want you to notice, first of all, that these words were spoken, not
to the disciples of Christ, but to the servants who, in the Greek, are
here called diakonois, the persons who were brought in to wait at the
table and to serve the guests. I know not whether they were paid
servants, or whether they were friends who kindly volunteered their
services, but they were the waiters at the feast. They were not told to
leave their master. They were not told to give up their avocation as
waiters. They were servants and they were to continue servants, but
still, for all that, they were to acknowledge Christ as their Master
without casting off their obedience to the governor of the feast. Mary
does not say to these people, "Put down those pots. Leave off carrying
those dishes." But while they continue to do what they were doing, she
says to them, "Whatever He says unto you, do it." I thought that point
was well worthy of our notice, that these servants, still abiding as
they were, yet were to render obedience to Christ.

That obedience, in the first place, would be prepared obedience. Mary
came to get their minds ready to do what Christ should bid them. No man
will obey Christ on a sudden and keep on doing so. There must be a
weighing, a considering. There must be a thoughtful, careful knowledge
of what His will is–and a preparedness of heart–that whatever that
will may be, as it is known, so it shall be done! At first these
servants did nothing. The guests needed wine but the servants did not
go to Jesus and say, "Master, wine is needed." No, but they waited
until He bade them fill the waterpots with water–and then they filled
them to the brim. But they did nothing till He bade them. A great part
of obedience lies in not doing. I believe that in the anxiety of many a
trembling heart, the very best faith will be seen in not doing
anything. When you do not know what to do, do nothing, and, doing
nothing, my Brothers and Sisters, will be found to be, sometimes, the
very hardest work of all. In the case of a man in business who has come
into a difficulty, or of a Sister with a sick child, or a sick husband,
you know the impulse is to do something or other. If not the first
thing that comes to hand, yet we feel that we must do something. And
many a person has aggravated his sorrow by doing something, when, if he
had bravely left it alone, believingly left it in God's hands, it would
have been infinitely better for him.

"Whatever He says unto you, do it." But do not do what every whim or
fancy in your poor brain urges you to do! Do not run before you are
sent. They who run before God's cloud will have to come back,
again–and they will be very happy if they find the way back! Where
Scripture is silent, be you silent! If there is no command, you had
better wait till you can find some guidance. Blunder not on with a
headlong anxiety lest you tumble into the ditch! "Whatever He says unto
you," do that. But until He speaks, sit still. My Soul, be patient
before God and wait until you know His bidding!

This prepared obedience was to be the obedience of the spirit, for
obedience lies mainly there. True obedience is not always seen in what
we do, or do not do, but it is manifest in the perfect submission to
the will of God–and the strong resolve that saturates the spirit
through and through–that what He bids us, we will do!

Let your obedience, in the next place, be perfect obedience. "Whatever
He says unto you, do it." It is disobedience, and not obedience which
prompts us to select from the commands of Christ which ones we care to
obey. If you say, "I will

do what Christ bids me as far as I choose," you have, in fact, said, "I
will not do what Christ bids me, but I will do what I please to do."
That obedience is not true which is not universal! Imagine a soldier in
the army who, instead of obeying every command of his captain, omits
this and that, and says that he cannot help it, or that he even means
to omit certain things. Beloved, take heed of throwing any precept of
your Lord upon the dunghill! Every Word that He has spoken to you is
more precious than a diamond! Prize it! Store it up. Wear it. Let it be
your ornament and your beauty. "Whatever He says unto you, do it,"
whether it relates to the Church of God and its ordinances, or to your
walk out of doors among your fellow men, or to your relationship in the
family, or to your own private service for the Lord. "Whatever." See,
there are to be no trimmings, here, no cutting off of certain
things–"Whatever He says unto you, do it." Breathe this prayer at the
present moment, "Lord, help me to do whatever You have said! May I have
no choice! May I never let my own will come in to interfere, but if You
have told me do anything, enable me to do it, whatever it may be!"

This obedience, then, being prepared and perfect, is to also be
practical obedience–"Whatever He says unto you, do it." Do not think
about it, especially for a very long time, and then wait until it is
more impressed upon you, or till there is a convenient season.
"Whatever He says unto you, do it." One of the great evils of the times
is that of deliberating about a plain command of Christ and asking,
"What will be the result of it?" What have you to do with results? "But
if I follow Christ in all things, I may lose my job!" What have you to
do with that? When a soldier is told to go up to the cannon's mouth, he
is very likely to lose his "job" and something else–but he is bound to
do it! "Oh, but I might lose my opportunities of usefulness!" What do
you mean? That you are going to do evil that good may come? That is
what it comes to. Will you really, before God, look that matter in the
face? "Whatever He says unto you, do it." At any expense, at any risk,
do it!

I have heard some say, "Well, I do not like doing things in a hurry."
Very well, but what says David? "I made haste, and delayed not–to keep
Your Commandments." Remember that we sin every moment that we delay to
do anything commanded by Christ. Whether every moment of delay is a
fresh sin, I cannot say, but if we neglect any command of His, we are
living in a condition of perpetual sinning against Him–and that is not
a desirable position for any of Christ's disciples to live in! Beloved,
"whatever He says unto you, do it." Do not argue against it and try to
find some reason for not doing it. I have known some Believers who have
not liked to have certain passages of Scripture read at the family
altar because they have rather troubled their consciences. If there is
anything in the Bible that quarrels with you, you are wrong–the Bible
is not! Come to terms with it at once and the only terms will be obey,
obey, obey your Lord's will! I am not holding this up to you as a way
of salvation–you know I would never think of doing that! I am speaking
to those of you who are saved! You are Christ's servants–His saved
ones! And now you have come to the holy discipline of His house and
this is the rule of it, "Whatever He says unto you, do it."

Do it practically. Have we not been talking too much about what should
be done by our friends, or observing what others do not do? Oh, that
the Spirit of God would come upon us that our own walk might be close
with God, our own obedience be precise and exact, our own love to
Christ be proved by our continual following in His steps! Ours should
be practical obedience.

It must also be personal obedience–"Whatever He says unto you, do it."
You know how much there is done by proxy, nowadays. Charity is done so.
A is in a great deal of need. B hears of it and is very sorry, indeed.
And so he asks C to come and help A. And then B goes to bed and feels
that he has done a good thing! Or else when A has told his story to B,
B looks out to see if there is some Society that will help him,
although he never subscribes to the Society because he does not think
of doing that! His part is just to pass A on to C, or to the Society
and, having done that, he feels satisfied. Do you wish the Savior to
say, in the Last Great Day, "I was hungry, and you sent Me to somebody
else," or, "I was thirsty and you directed Me to the parish pump for a
drink"? Nothing of the kind! We must do something personally for
Christ.

So is it in the matter of endeavoring to win souls to Christ. There is
nothing like personally speaking to people, button-holing them, looking
them in the eyes, talking your own personal experience over with them
and pleading with them to fly to Christ for refuge! Personal obedience
is what is needed. If one of these persons who were waiting had said,
when the command had come from Christ to fill the waterpots, "John, you
go and do it. William, you go and do it"–he would not have followed
out Mary's command, "Whatever He says unto you, do it." Do I touch the
conscience of anybody here? Well, if so, from this time forth cease to
be a servant of God by proxy lest you be saved by proxy–and to be

saved by proxy will be to be lost! But trust Christ for yourself and
then serve Him for yourself, by His own mighty Grace–"Whatever He says
unto you, do it."

It must also be prompt obedience. Do it at once–delay will take the
bloom from the obedience. "Whatever He says unto you," stand ready to
obey. The moment that the command, "March," is given to the soldier, he
marches. The moment a command comes to your heart and you see it to be
really in the Word of God, do it! Oh, the murdered resolutions that lie
round about most men's lives! What they would have done! What they
could have done, if they had but done it! But they have been building
castles in the air, imagining lives they would like to lead and not
actually doing Christ's commands. Oh, for a prompt, personal, practical
service to the Lord Jesus Christ!

And in our case it is to be perpetual obedience. Mary said to these
waiters, "Whatever He says unto you, do it." "Keep on doing it. Not
only the first thing He says, but whatever He says unto you. As long as
this feast lasts and He is here, do what my Son commands you." So,
Beloved, as long as we are in this world, until life's last hour, may
the Holy Spirit enable us to do just what Jesus bids us do! Can you
say, my Brothers and Sisters–

"Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave, and follow You"?

Is it your wish that until you enter into His rest, you should always
bear His yoke and follow His footsteps? Temporary Christians are not
Christians! Those who ask for furlough from this Divine service have
never entered it. We have put on our uniform to never take it off. As
certain old knights in times of war slept in their armor and had the
lance and shield always ready to hand, so must the Christian be, from
this time forth and forever. "Ours not to reason why," ours not to
delay when the command comes, but ours, while there is breath in our
body, and life in our spirit, to serve Him who has redeemed us with His
precious blood!

Thus I have feebly set before you what it is that we are called to
do–that is, to obey Christ's orders.

II. Now for a few minutes let us ask, WHY IS THIS TO BE DONE? Beloved,
why were these men to do what Jesus told them? Let that melt into, "Why
are you and I to do what Jesus tells us?"

First, Christ is, by Nature, worthy of obedience. I count it an honor
to serve Christ. Oh, what is He? Perfect Man, rising nobly above us
all! Perfect God, infinitely majestic in His two Natures. Why, it seems
to me as if we ought to love to do His bidding and long to be conformed
to His image! Here is the rest for our aspiring spirit. Here are the
glory and the honor and the immortality for which we pant! By the glory
of Christ, whom you adore unseen, "Whatever He says unto you, do it."

Beside that, Christ is our only hope. All our prospects for the future
depend upon Him. Glory be to His blessed name! There is none like He.
If He were gone from us and we could not trust in Him, life would be an
endless darkness, an abyss of woe! By all the glory of His Nature and
all that we owe to Him, and all that we look for from Him, I charge
you, beloved Friends, "Whatever He says unto you, do it."

More than that, He is All-Wise, and so fit to lead. Who but He could
get these people out of their trouble at the feast when they needed
wine? He knew the way out of it all–a way that would manifest His own
Glory, make His disciples believe in Him and make everybody round about
happy. But if He did not show the way, nobody could. So let us obey
Him, for His commands are so wise. He never has made a mistake and He
never will. Let us commit our way unto His keeping and whatever He says
unto us, let us do it!

Besides, Beloved, Christ has rewarded our obedience before. Did you
ever act rightly and, after all, find it a mistake? Some of us have had
to do very grievous things in our time that have gone sorely against
the grain. Would we do them again? Yes, that we would, if they cost 10
times as much! No man has ever, in looking back, regretted that he
followed the voice of conscience and the dictates of God's Word–and he
never will, though he should even go to prison and to death for
Christ's sake! You may lose for Christ, but you shall never lose by
Christ! When all comes to be added up, you shall be a greater gainer
because of the apparent loss. He has never deceived you and never
misled you. Obedience to Him has always brought you real solid peace.
Therefore, "whatever He says unto you, do it."

Yet once more, Christ is our Master and we must obey Him. I hope,
Beloved, that there is no one among us here who would call Him, Master,
and yet not do the things that He says. We do not talk about Him as one
who was once great, but who is gone away and whose influence is now
upon the wane because He is not up to "the spirit of the age." No, but
He still lives and we still commune with Him. He is our Master and
Lord! When we were baptized into His death, it was

no mere matter of form–but we were dead to the world and we lived to
Him. When we took His sacred name upon us and were called Christians,
it was no sham–we meant that He should be Captain, King and Master of
our spirits! He is no Baali, that is, domineering lord but He is Ishi,
our Man, our Husband and, in His husbandly relationship He is Lord and
Governor of every thought and every motion of our nature! Jesus, Jesus,
Your yoke is easy and your burden is light! It is joyous to bear it! To
get away from it would be misery, indeed, and that is one reason why I
say to you, tonight, "Whatever He says unto you, do it," because if you
do not, you cast off your allegiance to Him–and what are you going to
do, then?

To whom will you go if you turn away from Him? Every man must have a
master. Will you be your own master? You cannot have a greater tyrant!
Will you let the world be your master? Are you going to be a servant of
"society"? There are no worse slaves than these! Are you going to live
for self, for honor, for what is called, "pleasure"? Ah, me, you may as
well go down to Egypt, to the iron furnace, at once! To whom can we go?
Jesus, to whom can we go, if we go away from You? You have the words of
eternal life! "Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of
the altar." Throw another bond of love about me, another cord of sweet
constraint and let me never ever think of parting with You! Let me be
crucified to the world and the world to me!

Do not your hearts pray after that fashion? Oh, to be wholly Christ's,
entirely Christ's, forever Christ's! Yes, yes, we will listen to the
command, "Whatever He says unto you, do it." I have given you the
reason why we should obey Christ's orders.

III. And now, Beloved, let me occupy the last few minutes in answering
this question, WHAT WILL FOLLOW FROM THIS OBEDIENCE? Suppose we do
whatever Christ commands us, what then? I will tell you what then.

The first thing is, that you will feel free from responsibility. The
servant who has done what his master has told him, may, in his own
mind, fear that some dreadful consequences may follow, but he says to
himself, "It will be no fault of mine. I did what I was told to do."
Now, Beloved, if you want to get rid of the whole burden of life, by
faith do whatever Christ commands you! Then, if the heavens should seem
about to fall, it would be no business of yours to shore them up. You
have not to mend God's work and keep it right. I remember what Mr. John
Wesley said to his preachers–"Now, Brothers, I do not want you to mend
my rules. I want you to obey them." That is pretty strong from John
Wesley, but from our Lord Jesus Christ it comes most suitably. He does
not want us to get to altering, mending, touching up and looking at
consequences. No! Do exactly what He tells you and you have nothing to
do with the consequences! You may have to bear them, but He will give
you Grace to do that–and it shall be your joy to bear all ill
consequences that come of firm obedience to Christ.

This kind of doctrine does not suit the year 1889. If you go over to
Scotland and see where the Covenanters' graves are, anybody who thinks
according to the spirit of this age will say that they were just a lot
of fools to have been so stubborn and so strict about doctrine as to
die for it. Why, really, there is not anything in the new philosophy
that is worth dying for! I wonder whether there is any "modern thought"
doctrine that would be worth the purchase of a cat's life? According to
the teaching of the broad school, what is supposed to be true, today,
may not be true tomorrow, so it is not worth dying for. We may as well
put off the dying till the thing is altered–and if we wait a month, it
will be altered and thus, at the last, you may get the old creed back
again! The Lord send it and send us yet a race of men who will obey
what He bids them, do what He tells them, believe what He teaches them
and lay their own wills down in complete obedience to their Lord and
Master! Such a people will feel free from responsibility.

Then you shall feel a sweet flow of love to Christ. The disobedient
child–well, he will not be turned out of the house because he will not
do the bidding of his mother and father. But when he does not submit to
the rule of the house, he has a hard time of it and he ought to have.
There is that evening kiss, it is not as warm as it would have been.
And that morning greeting, after long disobedience, has no happiness in
it. And, indeed, the more kind father and mother are, the more unhappy
he is! And the sweet love of Christ is such that it makes us unhappy in
disobedience. You cannot walk contrary to Christ and yet enjoy
fellowship with Him. And the more dear and near He is to you, so much
the wider does the gap seem to be when you are not doing His bidding.

Besides, there is no carrying out your faith except by doing as He bids
you. That faith which lies only in a creed, or in a little pious book
is not good for much. Faith does what Christ bids it do and it delights
to do so! It rejoices to run risks,

it delights to put off from the land and get out to sea. It is glad to
sacrifice itself when Jesus calls for it because faith cannot be
satisfied without bearing fruit–and the fruit of faith is obedience to
Him in whom we believe.

Beloved, I also think that if we will obey Christ in what He says, we
shall be learning to be leaders. Wellington used to say that no man is
fit to command until he has learned to obey–and I am sure that it is
so. We shall never see a race of really first-rate men unless our boys
and girls are made to obey their parents in their childhood. The
essential glory of manhood is lost when disobedience is tolerated and,
certainly, in the Church of God, the Lord does put His leading servants
through very severe ordeals. The best place for the books of a minister
is not his library, but very often a sick-bed. Affliction is our school
and before we can deal with others, God must deal with us. If you will
not obey, you shall not be set to command.

And lastly, I do believe that learning to obey is one of the
preparatives for the enjoyments of Heaven. Why, in Heaven, they have no
will but God's will! Their will is to serve Him and delight themselves
in Him. And if you and I do not learn, here below, what obedience to
God is, and practice it, and carry it out, how can we hope to be happy
in the midst of obedient spirits? Dear Hearers, if you have never
learned to trust Christ and obey Him, how can you go to Heaven? You
would be so unhappy there that you would ask God to let you run to Hell
for shelter, for nothing would strike you with more horror than to be
in the midst of perfectly holy people who find their delight in the
service of God! May the Lord bring us to this complete obedience to
Christ! Then this world will be an inclined plane, or a ladder such as
Jacob saw, up which we shall trip with holy gladness till we come to
the top and find our Heaven in perfect obedience to God!

It is not Mary who speaks to you, tonight, but it is the Church of God,
the mother of all who truly love Christ, and she says to you, "Whatever
He says unto you, do it," and if you will do it, He will turn the water
into wine for you. He will make your love more glad and happy than it
ever would have been without obeying Him and He will provide for you.
Obey Him and He will comfort you. Obey Him and He will perfect you. Be
with Him in the ways of duty and you shall be with Him in the home of
Glory!

The Lord grant this, of His infinite Grace, giving to us to know the
will of Christ, and then working in us to will and to do of His own
good pleasure! Amen and Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON. JOHN2:1-11.

Our Savior had lived on the earth for 30 years and had worked no
miracle. There was the hiding of His power. He had been subject to His
parents and had lived in obscurity. Now He has broken through the
obscurity and He begins His public ministry by working a miracle.

Verse 1. And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee.
"The third day." John keeps a kind of diary for Christ. In those first
days there was something for every day and they were a specimen of the
whole life of the Savior. He could never say, like Titus, "I have lost
a day." Every day had its deed–glorifying to God and blessed to men.
Let us also try to labor for Christ every day–let there be no day
without its mark. May God grant that there may be something to make
every day memorable! "And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of
Galilee." The first miracle of our Lord was not worked at Jerusalem,
but away there in the back settlements, in "Galilee of the Gentiles."
It was necessary for Him to be seen and to work miracles which might be
seen, but He began in an obscure region, among a despised people.

1. And the mother of Jesus was there. This expression leads to the
belief that there was some kind of kinship between the bridegroom or
the bride and the mother of Jesus, for it is not said that she was
invited to be there, but that she "was

there."

2. And both Jesus was called and His disciples to the marriage. Happy
marriage, where Christ is invited to be present! Where Christ goes, His
disciples go. If they suffer with Him, they also rejoice with Him. If
He goes to a feast, they must go, too–"Both Jesus was called and His
disciples." They were only five, but five is a large number to add to a
poor family's wedding party. It shows the generosity of their heart
that they invited Jesus to come and bring His disciples. And He went to
put honor upon marriage, especially as He foresaw that the day would
come when the apostate church of Rome would reckon marriage to be
dishonorable and not permit one who was married to officiate as a
minister.

3. And when they needed wine, the mother of Jesus said unto Him, They
have no wine. I notice that John calls Mary "the mother of Jesus." I
suppose he had in his mind the dying words of Christ, "Behold your
mother!" Such things make a deep impression upon us and we are apt,
when writing, to use the phrases that have been burnt into the memory.
"The mother of Jesus." Because she has been too much exalted in the
Romish church, I fear that we run to the other extreme, and think too
little of this woman to whom the angel Gabriel said, "Hail, you that
are highly favored, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women."
"They needed wine." They had not been long married before there was
need in the house. Even in the brightest days of life, they needed
something more. And when the mother of Jesus saw that they were in need
and that the marriage festival would be dishonored, so she went to her
Son and she said, "They have no wine." I fear she spoke a little like
an ordinary mother addressing her son, but the time had come when that
discipline was to end. Mary was not His mother as the Son of God. He
was about to work a miracle and He would have her and all His relatives
know that He would not use His miraculous powers merely for their
advantage, but for the Glory of God and the instruction of men.

4. Jesus said unto her, Woman, what have I to do with you? My hour is
not yet come. It was a very difficult position for Him to be in–to act
the part of a loving and obedient son as far as His Manhood was
concerned, and yet, as the Son of God, by no means to compromise His
Divine Character, but to stand out there as being under no influence of
the flesh. Just as we are not to know Christ after the flesh, so He no
longer knew mother, or brother, or friend, according to earthly
relationship. And when Mary intruded her motherhood upon Him, it was
but right and fitting that He should say, "What have I to do with you?
My hour is not yet come." The Savior had an hour for everything–an
hour for suffering and an hour for working. And He did everything
punctually, promptly to the minute. That was one of the beauties of His
life–"My hour is not yet come." Perhaps He meant, "My hour to work
this miracle is not yet come" and He would not be hurried by anybody.
Beloved, it is not easy to be familiar with Christ, as I trust we are,
and yet always to maintain humble deference to His sacred will. Never
let us pray as if we were dictators, or His equals. We must keep our
place, however near we come to the dear bosom of our Lord. He is still
in Heaven and we are upon earth. He is the Master, we are the
servants–and if we are as favored as His mother was, we must not go
too far, as she did.

5. His mother said unto the servants, Whatever He says unto you, do it.
This holy woman took the rebuke in silence. She said nothing. She felt
the force of Christ's words–she proved that she did by now fully
believing that He would do something or other. Had He not said, "My
hour is not yet come"? Did not that mean that the hour would come and
that He would do something, by-and-by? So she quietly accepted His
reproof. Oh, you who are in great trouble, you feel as if you could
force the hand of Christ, but you must not think of doing that! Even if
you could have power over Him, you would be very foolish to use it. Let
Him alone! He knows best how and when to show His Grace towards you.
Keep silence before Him and in patience commit your way unto Him.

6. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of
the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. I
admire the accuracy of the Holy Spirit. John does not know exactly how
much these vessels held. They were not made to measure things in, so he
writes, "containing two or three firkins apiece." Let us always speak
correctly. Sometimes, "almost," or, "thereabouts," will be words that
will save our truthfulness. Let us not speak positively when we do not
know! And when the accuracy of a statement is necessary and we cannot
give it in terms that are definite, let us give it in words like these,
"containing two or three firkins apiece." These were great "waterpots
of stone." Stone will not, as a rule, hold the flavor of anything that
has been in it, like an earthen vessel would do. So these pots, which
had contained nothing else but water, could not be suspected of having
any lees of wine concealed therein, or any flavoring material that
would make the water taste like wine. No, they were genuine stone
waterpots!

7. Jesus said unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled
them up to the brim. There was no fear of anything but water being
there–"They filled them up to the brim." They obeyed Christ to the
letter. If Christ says to you, "Fill the waterpots with water," fill
them up to the brim! Never cut down His commandments–carry them out as
far as the largest interpretation can go. When you are told to believe
in Him, believe in Him up to the brim! When you are told to love Him,
love Him up to the brim! When you are commanded to serve Him, serve Him
up to the brim!

8. And He said unto them, Draw some out, now, and take it to the
governor of the feast. And they took it. "Draw some out, now." "Now."
He had not turned the water into wine by any incantation. He simply
willed it and it was done! He said, "Draw some out, now." He did not
need to leave it unnoticed because He had not worked a miracle
before–and

He could not really say whether this was one. He was sure it was, so He
said to the servants, when they had filled the wa-terpots with water,
"Draw some out, now. Do not bring it to Me for Me to taste it. I know
what it is. Take it to the chairman of the festival, to Him who sits at
the head of the table and is the judge of the wine." "And they took
it." The holy confidence of Christ is admirable. May we be able, by
faith, so to work, with a calm consciousness of Divine help! But notice
this. Whenever the Lord fills any of you with a blessing, think that
you hear Him say, "Draw some out, now." He does not fill these pots
that they may be kept full. "Draw some out, now." Did you have a good
time last Monday night at the Prayer Meeting? Some of us had. "Draw
some out, now." Have you lived near to God of late, and are you very
happy? "Draw some out, now." If He has filled you up to the brim, draw
some out, now, for, if you try to store it up, it will become useless.
Selfishness will poison it all!

9. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine,
and knew not from where it came, (but the servants which drew the water
knew), the governor of the feast called the bridegroom. There was no
collusion, for the governor, who tasted it, did not know where it came
from. And the servants, who knew where it came from, did not taste it,
so that they did not know what it was like. If anybody objects to the
Savior making wine, I think that the best reply is that all the wine
which is made of water will do nobody any hurt–and the more of it the
better! And this was so made, certainly. They say that there is a devil
in every grape. There were no grapes, here! And I am afraid that there
is not much of them in most of the wine that is made, nowadays–there
is something worse than devil in that.

10. And said unto him, Every man at the beginning does set forth good
wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse, but you
have kept the good wine until now. That the governor of the feast did
not understand, but he admired it and here is a picture of what our
Lord always does. He gives His people the best, last. At first, the
wine of the Kingdom is mingled with much bitterness–salt tears of
sorrow flow into it. But it improves as we go on and when we shall
drink it with Him, in the Kingdom of God, what will it be like? The joy
of Christ's love on earth is Heaven, but when we get to Heaven and
drink it fresh from the everlasting spring, what will that joy be? Oh,
the blessedness laid up for the people of God! We pluck some of the
fruit from the trees and eat it, but the fruits laid up in the
fruit-chamber, to get ripe, by-and-by, are the very pick of the fruit
of the Tree of Life! You who live for the world have already had your
best, but, as for our feast with Christ, we go from good to better and
from better to the best!

11. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and
manifested forth His Glory. Moses turned water into blood. Christ
turned water into wine. One brought a curse upon the common things of
daily life. The other put an added sweetness and blessing into them.

11. And His disciples believed on Him. They believed on Him before, but
now they had an ocular demonstration of His Divine Power and Godhead,
and they believed as they had not believed before! May you and I often
make distinct progress in faith, so that it may be said of us, also,
"His disciples believed on Him"!