The Waterpots at Cana

Delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled
them up to the brim.'John 2:7.

YOU KNOW THE NARRATIVE. Jesus was at a wedding feast, and when the wine
ran short, he provided for it right bountifully. I do not think that I
should do any good if I were to enter upon the discussion as to what
sort of wine our Lord Jesus made on this occasion. It was wine, and I
am sure it was very good wine, for he would produce nothing quite but
the best. Was it wine such as men understand by that word now? It was
wine; but there are very few people in this country who ever see, much
less drink, any of that beverage. That which goes under the name of
wine is not true wine, but a fiery, brandied concoction of which I feel
sure that Jesus would not have tasted a drop. The fire-waters and
blazing spirits of modern wine manufacturers are very different
articles from the juice of the grape, mildly exhilarating, which was
the usual wine of more sober centuries. As to the wine such as is
commonly used in the East, a person must drink inordinately before he
would become intoxicated with it. It would be possible, for there were
cases in which men were intoxicated with wine; but, as a rule,
intoxication was a rare vice in the Savior's times and in the preceding
ages. Had our great Exemplar lived under our present circumstances,
surrounded by a sea of deadly drink, which is ruining tens of
thousands, I know how he would have acted. I am sure he would not have
contributed by word or deed to the rivers of poisonous beverages in
which bodies and souls are now being destroyed wholesale. The kind of
wine which he made was such that, if there had been no stronger drink
in the world, nobody might have thought it necessary to enter any
protest against drinking it. It would have done nobody any hurt, be
sure of that, or else Jesus our loving Savior would not have made it.

Some have raised a question about the great quantity of wine, for I
suppose there must have been no less than one hundred and twenty
gallons, and probably more. They did not want all that,' says one, and
even of the weakest kind of wine it would be a deal too much.' But you
are thinking of an ordinary wedding here, are you not, when there are
ten or a dozen, or a score or two, met together in a parlour? An
oriental wedding is quite another affair. Even if it be only a village,
like Cana of Galilee, everybody comes to eat and drink, and the feast
lasts on for a week or a fortnight. Hundreds of people must be fed, for
often open house is kept. Nobody is refused, and consequently a great
quantity of provision is required. Besides, they may not have consumed
all the wine at once. When the Lord multiplied loaves and fishes, they
must eat the loaves and fishes directly, or else the bread would grow
mouldy, and the fish would be putrid; but wine could be stored and used
months afterwards. I have no doubt that such wine as Jesus Christ made
was as good for keeping as it was for using. And why not set the family
up with a store in hand? They were not very rich people. They might
sell it if they liked. At any rate, that is not my subject, and I do
not intend getting into hot water over the question of cold water. I
abstain myself from alcoholic drink in every form, and I think others
would be wise to do the same; but of this each one must be a guide unto
himself.

Jesus Christ commenced the gospel dispensation, not with a miracle of
vengeance, like that of Moses, who turned water into blood, but with a
miracle of liberality, turning water into wine. He does not only supply
necessaries, but gives luxuries, and this is highly significant of the
kingdom of his grace. Here he not only gives sinners enough to save
them, but he gives abundantly, grace upon grace. The gifts of the
covenant are not stinted or stunted, they are neither small in quantity
nor in quality. He gives to men not only the water of life that they
may drink and be refreshed, but wines on the lees well refined' that
they may rejoice exceedingly. And he gives like a king, who gives
lavishly, without counting the cups and bottles. As to one hundred and
twenty gallons, how little is that in comparison with the rivers of
love and mercy which he is pleased to bestow freely out of his
bountiful heart upon the most needy souls. You may forget all about the
wine question, and all about wine, bad, good, or indifferent. The less
we have to do with it the better, I am quite sure. And now let us think
about our Lord's mercy, and let the wine stand as a type of his grace,
and the abundance of it as the type of the abundance of his grace which
he doth so liberally bestow.

Now, concerning this miracle, it may well be remarked how simple and
unostentatious it was. One might have expected that when the great Lord
of all came here in human form he would commence his miraculous career
by summoning the scribes and Pharisees at least, if not the kings and
princes of the earth, to see the marks of his calling and the
guarantees and warrants of his commission; gathering them all together
to work some miracle before them, as Moses and Aaron did before
Pharaoh, that they might be convinced of his Messiahship. He does
nothing of the kind. He goes to a simple wedding among poor people, and
there in the simplest and most natural way he displays his glory. When
the water is to be turned into wine, when he selects that as the first
miracle, he does not call for the master of the feast even, or for the
bridegroom himself or for any of the guests, and begin to say, You
clearly perceive that your wine is all gone. Now, I am about to show
you a great marvel, to turn water into wine.' No, he does it quietly
with the servants: he tells them to fill the waterpots: he uses the
baths: he does not ask for any new vessels, but uses what were there,
making no fuss or parade. He uses water, too, of which they had
abundance, and works the miracle, if I may so speak, in the most
commonplace and natural style; and that is just the style of Jesus
Christ. Now, if it had been a Romish miracle it would have been done in
a very mysterious, theatrical, sensational way, with no end of
paraphernalia; but, being a genuine miracle, it is done just as nearly
after the course of nature as the supernatural can go. Jesus does not
have the waterpots emptied and then fill them with wine, but he goes as
far with nature as nature will go, and uses water to make the wine
from; therein following the processes of his providence which are at
work every day. When the water drops from heaven, and flows into the
earth to the roots of the vine, and so swells out the clusters with
ruddy juice, it is through water that wine is produced. There is only a
difference as to time whether the wine is created in the cluster, or in
the waterpots. Our Lord does not call for any strangers to do it, but
the ordinary servants shall bring ordinary water; and while they are
drawing out the water, or what appears to them to be water, the
servants shall perceive that the water has been turned into wine.

Now, whenever you try to serve Jesus Christ do not make a fuss about
it, because he never made any fuss in what he did, even when he was
working amazing miracles. If you want to do a good thing, go and do it
as naturally as ever you can. Be simple hearted and simple minded. Be
yourself. Do not be affected in your piety, as if you were going to
walk to heaven on stilts: walk on your own feet, and bring religion to
your own door and to your own fireside. If you have a grand work to do,
do it with that genuine simplicity which is next. akin to sublimity;
for affectation, and everything that is gaudy and ostentatious, is,
after all, mean and beggarly. Nothing but simple naturalness has a bout
it a genuine beauty; and such a beauty there is about this miracle of
the Savior.

Let all these remarks stand as a kind of preface; for now I want to
draw out the principles which are hidden in my text; and then,
secondly, when I have displayed those principles, I want to show how
they should be carried out.

I. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water.' WHAT ARE THE
PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN OUR LORD'S MODE OF PROCEDURE?

First, that, as a rule, when Christ is about to bestow a blessing he
gives a command. This is a fact which your memories will help you to
establish in a moment. It is not always so; but, as a general rule, a
word of command goes before a word of power, or else with it. He is
about to give wine, and the process does not consist in saying, Let
wine be,' but it begins by a command addressed to men,'Fill the
waterpots with water.' Here is a blind man: Christ is about to give him
sight. He puts clay on his eyes, and then says, Go to the pool of
Siloam and wash.' There is a man with his arm swinging at his side,
useless to him: Christ is going to restore it, and he says, Stretch
forth thine hand.' Ay, and the principle goes so far that it holds good
in cases where it would seem to be quite inapplicable, for if it be a
child that is dead he says, Maid, arise;' or if it be Lazarus, who by
this time stinks, being four days buried, yet he cries, Lazarus, come
forth.' And thus he bestows a benefit by a command. Gospel benefits
come with a gospel precept.

Do you wonder that this principle which is seen in the miracles is seen
in the wonders of his divine grace? Here is a sinner to be saved. What
does Christ say to that sinner? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved.' Can he believe of himself? Is he not dead in sin?
Brethren, raise no such questions, but learn that Jesus Christ has
bidden men believe, and has commissioned his disciples to cry, Repent
ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' The times of this ignorance
God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.' And he
bids us go and preach this word'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved.' But why command them? It is his will to do so,
and that should be enough for you who call yourself his disciple. It
was so even in the olden times, when the Lord set forth in vision his
way of dealing with a dead nation. There lay the dry bones of the
valley, exceeding many, and exceeding dry, and Ezekiel was sent to
prophesy to them. What said the prophet? O ye dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord.' Is that his way of making them alive? Yes, by a command
to hear; a thing which dry bones cannot do. He issues his command to
the dead, the dry, the helpless, and by its power life comes. I pray
you, be not disobedient to the gospel, for faith is a duty, or we
should not read of the obedience of faith.' Jesus Christ, when he is
about to bless, challenges men's obedience by issuing his royal orders.

The same thing is true when we come away from the unconverted to
believers. When God means to bless his people and make them blessings
it is by issuing a command to them. We have been praying to the Lord
that he would arise and make bare his arm. His answer is, Awake, awake,
O Zion.' We ask that the world may be brought to his feet, and his
reply is, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them.' The command is to us
the vehicle of the blessing. If we are to have the blessing of converts
multiplied, and churches built up, Christ must give us the boon: it is
altogether his gift, as much as it was his to turn the water into wine;
yet first of all he says to us, Go ye and proclaim my salvation unto
the ends of the earth,' for thus are we to fill the waterpots with
water. If we be obedient to his command we shall see how he will
work'how mightily he will be with us, and how our prayers shall be
heard.

That is the first principle that I see here: Christ issues commands to
those whom he will bless.

Secondly, Christ's commands are not to be questioned, but to be obeyed.
The people want wine, and Christ says, Fill the waterpots with water.'
Well, now, if these servants had, been of the mind of the captious
critics of modern times, they would have looked at our Lord a long
while, and objected boldly: We do not want any water; it is not the
feast of purifications; it is a wedding feast. We do not require water
at a wedding. We shall want water when we are going up to the
synagogue, or to the temple, that we may purify our hands according to
our custom: but we do not want water just now: the hour, the occasion,
and the fitness of things, call for wine.' But Mary's advice to them
was sound' Whatsoever he saith to you, do it.' Thus, too, let us
neither question nor cavil, but do his bidding straight away.

It may sometimes seem that Christ's command is not pertinent to the
point in hand. The sinner, for instance, says, Lord, save me: conquer
in me my sin.' Our Lord cries, Believe,' and the sinner cannot see how
believing in Jesus will enable him to get the mastery over a besetting
sin. There does not at first sight appear to be any connection between
the simple trusting of the Savior and the conquest of a bad temper, or
the getting rid of a bad habit, such as intemperance, passion,
covetousness, or' falsehood. There is such a connection, but recollect,
whether you can see the connection or not, it is yours not to reason
why,' but yours to do what Jesus bids you do; for it is in the way of
the command that the miracle of mercy will be wrought. Fill the
waterpots with water,' though what you want is wine. Christ sees a
connection between the water and the wine, though you do not. He has a
reason for the pots being filled with water, which reason, as yet, you
do not know: it is not yours to ask an explanation, but to yield
obedience. You are, in the first instance, just to do what Jesus bids
you, as he bids you, now that he bids you, and because he bids you, and
you shall find that his commandments are not grievous, and in keeping
of them there is a great reward.

Sometimes these commands may even seem to be trivial. They may look as
if he trifled with us. The family were in need of wine; Jesus says,
Fill the waterpots with water.' The servants might have said, This is
clearly a mere putting of us off and playing with us. Why, we should be
better employed in going round to these poor people's friends, and
asking them to contribute another skin of wine. We should be much
better employed in finding out some shop where we could purchase more:
but to send us to the well to fill those great waterpots that hold so
much water does seem altogether a piece of child's play.' I know,
brethren, that sometimes the path of duty seems as if it could not lead
to the desired result. We want to be doing something more; that
something more might be wrong, but it looks as if we could thereby
compass our design more easily and directly, and so we hanker after
this uncommanded and perhaps forbidden course. And I know that many a
troubled conscience thinks that simply to believe in Jesus is too
little a thing. The deceitful heart suggests a course which looks to be
more effectual. Do some penance: feel some bitterness; weep a certain
amount of tears. Goad your mind, or break your heart': so cries carnal
self. Jesus simply commands, Believe.' It does appear to be too little
a thing to be done, as if it could not be that eternal life should be
given upon putting your trust in Jesus Christ: but this is the
principle we want to teach you'that when Jesus Christ is about to give
a blessing he issues a command which is not to be questioned, but to be
at once obeyed. If ye will not believe, neither shall ye be
established; but if ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good
of the land. Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.'

The third principle is this'that whenever we get a command from Christ
it is always wisdom to carry it out zealously. He said, Fill the
waterpots with water,' and they filled them up to the brim. You know
there is a way of filling a waterpot, and there is another way of
filling it. It is full, and you cannot heap it up; but still you can
fill it up till it begins almost to run over: the liquid trembles as if
it must surely fall in a crystal cascade. It is a filling fullness. In
fulfilling Christ's commands, my dear brethren and sisters, let us go
to their widest extent: let us fill them up to the brim. If it is
Believe,' oh, believe him with all your might; trust him with your
whole heart. If it is Preach the gospel,' preach it in season and out
of season; and preach the gospel'the whole of it. Fill it up to the
brim. Do not give the people a half gospel. Give them a brimming-over
gospel. Fill the vessels up to the very brim. If you are to repent, ask
to have a hearty and a deep repentance'full to the brim. If you are to
believe, ask to have an intense, absolute, childlike dependence, that
your faith may be full to the brim. If you are bidden pray, pray
mightily: fill the vessel of prayer up to the brim. If you are to
search the Scriptures for blessing, search them from end to end: fill
the Bible-reading vessel up to the brim. Christ's commands are never
meant to be done in a half-hearted manner. Let us throw our whole soul
into whatever he commands us, even though, as yet, we cannot see the
reason why he has set us the task. Christ's commands should be
fulfilled with enthusiasm, and carried out to the extreme, if extreme
be possible.

The fourth principle is that our earnest action in obedience to Christ
is not contrary to our dependence upon him, but it is necessary to our
dependence upon him. I will show you that in a moment. There are some
brethren I know who say, Hem! you hold what you call revival services,
and you try to arouse men by earnest appeals and exciting addresses. Do
you not see that God will do his own work? These efforts are just your
trying to take the work out of God's hands. The proper way is to trust
in him, and do nothing.' All right, brother. We have your word for
it'that you trust in him and do nothing. I take the liberty not to be
so very certain that you do trust him, for if I remember who you are,
and I think I have been to your house, you are about the most
miserable, desponding, unbelieving person that I know. You do not even
know whether you are saved yourself nine times out of ten. Well now, I
think you should hardly come and cry yourself up for your faith. If you
had such a wonderfully great faith, there is no doubt whatever that
according to your faith it would be unto you. How many have been added
to your church through your doing nothing this year'that blessed church
of yours, where you exercise this, blessed faith without works? How
many have been brought in? Well, we do not have very many additions.'
No, and I think you are not likely to have. If you go about the
extension of the Redeemer's kingdom by inaction, I do not think that
you go the way to work which Jesus Christ approves of. But we venture
to say to you that we who go in for working for Christ with all our
heart and soul, using any means within our reach to bring men in to
hear the gospel, feel as much as ever you do that we cannot do anything
at all in the matter apart from the Holy Spirit, and we trust in God, I
think, almost as much as you do, because our faith has produced rather
more results than yours has done. I should not wonder if it turns out
that your faith without works is dead, being alone, and that our faith
having works with it has been living faith after all. I will put the
case thus: Jesus Christ says, Fill the waterpots with water.' The
orthodox servant says, My Lord, I fully believe that thou canst make
wine for these people without any water, and by thy leave I will bring
no water. I am not going to interfere with the work of God. I am quite
certain that thou dost not want our help, gracious Lord. Thou canst
make these waterpots to be full of wine without our bringing a single
bucket of water, and so we will not rob thee of the glory of it. We
will just stand back, and wait for thee. When the wine is made we will
drink some of it and bless thy name; but meanwhile we pray thee have us
excused, for pails are heavy carrying, and a good many must needs be
brought to fill all those waterpots. It would be interfering with the
divine work, and so we would rather take our ease.' Do you not think
that servants who talked so would prove that they had no faith in Jesus
at all? We will not say that it would prove their unbelief, but we will
say that it looks very like it. But look at the servant there who, as
soon as ever Jesus commands' Fill the waterpots with water,' says, I do
not know what he is at. I do not see the connection between fetching
this water and providing the feast with wine, but I am off to the well:
here, hand me a couple of pails. Come along, brother; come along and
help fill the baths.' There they go, and soon come joyfully back with
the water, pouring it into the troughs till they are full up to the
brim. Those seem to me to be the believing servants who obey the
command, not understanding it, but expecting that, somehow or other,
Jesus Christ knows the way to work his own miracle. By our earnest
exertions we are not interfering with him, dear friends; far from it.
We are proving our faith in him if we work for him as he bids us work,
and trust in him alone with undivided faith.

The next principle I must lay equal stress upon is this,'our action
alone is not sufficient. That we know, but let me remind you of it yet
again. There are these waterpots, these troughs, these baths: they are
full, and could not be fuller. What a spilling of water there is! You
see that in their trying to fill them the water runs over here and
there. Well, all these six great baths are full of water. Is there any
more wine for all that? Not a drop. It is water that they brought,
nothing but water, and it remains water still. Suppose that they should
take that water into the feast; I am half afraid that the guests would
not have thought cold water quite the proper liquid to drink at a
wedding. They ought to have done so; but I am afraid they were not
educated in the school of total abstinence. They would have said to the
master of the feast, Thou hast given us good wine, and water is a poor
finish for the feast.' I am sure it would not have done. And yet water
it was, depend upon it, and nothing else but water, when the servants
poured it into the pots. Even so, after all that sinners can. do, and
all that saints can do, there is nothing in any human effort which can
avail for the saving of a soul till Christ speaks the word of power.
When Paul has planted and Apollos watered, there is no increase till
God gives it. Preach the gospel, labor with souls, persuade, entreat,
exhort; but there is no power in anything that you do until Jesus
Christ displays his divine might. His presence is our power. Blessed be
his name, he will come; and if we fill the waterpots with water, he
will turn it into wine. He alone can do it, and those servants who show
the most alacrity in filling up the waterpots are among the first to
confess that it is he alone who can perform the deed.

And now the last principle here is that although human action in itself
falls short of the desired end, yet it has its place, and God has made
it necessary by his appointment. Why did our Lord have these waterpots
filled with water? I do not say that it was necessary that it should
have been done. It was not absolutely necessary in itself; but in order
that the miracle might be all open and above board, it was necessary;
for suppose he had said, Go to those waterpots and draw out wine,'
those who watched him might have said that there was wine there before,
and that no miracle was wrought. When our Lord had them filled up with
water, there remained no room for any wine to be hidden away. It was
just the same as with Elijah, when, in order to prove that there was no
concealed fire upon the altar at Carmel, he bade them go down to the
sea, and bring water, and pour it upon the altar, and upon the victim,
till the trenches were filled. He said, Do it a second time,' and they
did it a second time; and he said. Do it a third time,' and they did it
a third time, and no possibility of imposture remained. And so, when
the Lord Jesus bade the servants fill the waterpots with water, he put
it beyond all possibility that he should be charged with imposture; and
thus we see why it was necessary that they should be filled with water.

Moreover, it was necessary, because it was so instructive to the
servants. Did you notice when I was reading it that the master of the
feast, when he tasted the good wine, did not know where it came from.
He could not make it out, and he uttered an expression which showed his
surprise, mingled with his ignorance. But it is written, The servants
which drew the water knew.' Now, when souls are converted in a church,
it happens much in the same way with certain of the members, who are
good people, but they do not know much about the conversion of sinners.
They do not feel much joy in revivals; in fact, like the elder brother,
they are rather suspicious of these wild characters being brought in:
they consider themselves to be very respectable, and. they would rather
not have the lowest of people sitting in the pew with them: they feel
awkward in coming so near them. They know little about what is going
on. But the servants which drew the water knew': that is to say, the
earnest believers who do the work, and try to fill the waterpots, know
all about it. Jesus bade them fill the vessels with water on purpose
that the men who drew the water might know that it was a miracle. I
warrant you, if you bring souls. to Christ you will know his power. It
will make you leap for joy to hear the cry of the penitent, and mark
the bright flash of delight that passes over the new-born believer's
face when his sins are washed away, and he feels himself renewed. If
you want to know Jesus. Christ's miraculous power you must go and'not
work miracles, but just draw the water and fill the waterpots. Do the
ordinary duties. of Christian men and women'things in which there is no
power of themselves, but which Jesus Christ makes to be connected with
his divine working, and it shall be for your instruction, and your
comfort, that you had such work to do. The servants which drew the
water knew.'

I think that I have said enough upon the principles which lie concealed
within my text.

II. You must have patience with me while I try to apply these
principles to practical purposes. LET US SEE HOW TO CARRY OUT THIS
DIVINE COMMAND, Fill the waterpots with water.'

First, use in the service of Christ such abilities as you have. There
stood the waterpots, six of them, and Jesus used what he found ready to
his hand. There was water in the well; our Lord used that also. Our
Lord is accustomed to employ his own people, and such abilities as they
have, rather than angels or a novel class of beings created fresh for
the purpose. Now, dear brothers and sisters, if you have no golden
chalices, fill your earthen vessels. If you cannot consider yourselves
to be goblets of rarest workmanship in silver, or if you could not
liken yourselves to the best Sevres ware, it does not matter; fill the
vessels which you have. If you cannot, with Elias, bring fire from.
heaven, and if you cannot work miracles with the apostles, do what you
can. If silver and gold you have none, yet such as you have dedicate to
Christ. Bring water at his bidding, and it will be better than wine.
The commonest gifts can be made to serve Christ's purpose. Just as he
took a few loaves and fishes, and fed the crowd with them, so will he
take your six waterpots and the water, and do his wine-making
therewith.

Thus, you see, they improved what they had; for the waterpots were
empty, but they filled them. There are a good many brethren here from
the College to-night, and they are trying to improve their gifts and
their abilities. I think you do right, my brethren. But I have heard
some people say, The Lord Jesus does not want your learning.' No, it is
very likely that he does not, any more than he needed the water: but
then he certainly does not want your stupidity and your ignorance, and
he does not want your rough, uncultivated ways of speaking. He did not
seek for empty pitchers on this occasion; he would have them full, and
the servants did well to fill them. Our Lord to-day does not want empty
heads in his ministers, nor empty hearts; so, my brethren, fill your
waterpots with water. Work away, and study away, and learn all you can,
and fill the waterpots with water. Oh,' somebody will say, but how are
such studies to lead to the conversion of men? Conversion is like wine,
and all that these young fellows will learn will be like water.' You
are right; but still I bid these students fill the waterpots with
water, and expect the Lord Jesus to turn the water into wine. He can
sanctify human knowledge so that it shall be useful to the setting
forth of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. I hope that the day has gone by
when it is so much as dreamed that ignorance and coarseness are helpful
to the kingdom of Christ. The great Teacher would have his people know
all that they can know, and especially know himself and the Scriptures,
that they may set him forth, and proclaim his gospel. Fill the
waterpots with water.'

Next, to apply this principle, let us all use such means of blessing as
God appoints. What are they? First, there is the reading of the
Scriptures. Search the Scriptures.' Search them all you can. Try to
understand them. But if I know the Bible, shall I be therefore saved.'
No, you must know Christ himself by the Spirit. Still, fill the
waterpots with water.' While you are studying the Scriptures you may
expect the Savior will bless his own word, and turn the water into
wine.

Then there is attendance upon the means of grace, and hearing a gospel
ministry. Mind you fill that waterpot with water. But I may hear
thousands of sermons and not be saved.' I know it is so, but your
business is to fill this waterpot with water, and while you are
listening to the gospel God will bless it, for faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God.' Take care to use the means which God
appoints. Since our Lord has appointed to save men by the preaching of
the word, I pray that he will raise up those who will preach without
ceasing, in season and out of season, indoors and in the streets. But
they won't be saved by our preaching.' I know that. Preaching is the
water: and while we are preaching, God will bless it, and turn the
water into wine. Let us distribute religious books and tracts. Oh, but
people won't be saved by reading them.' Very likely not, but while they
are reading them God may bring his truth to remembrance and impress
their hearts. Fill the waterpots with water.' Give away abundance of
tracts. Scatter religious literature everywhere. Fill the waterpots
with water,' and the Lord will turn the water into wine.

Remember the prayer-meeting. What a blessed means of grace it for it
brings down power for all the works of the church: fill that waterpot
with water. I have not to complain of your attendance at
prayer-meetings; but oh, keep it up, dear brethren! You can pray.
Blessed be his name, you have the spirit of prayer. Pray on! Fill the
waterpots with water,' and in answer to prayer Jesus will turn it into
wine. Sunday-school teachers, do not neglect your blessed means of
usefulness. Fill the waterpots with water.' Work the Sunday-school
system with all your might. But it will not save the children merely to
get them together, and teach them of Jesus. We cannot give them new
hearts.' Who said that you could? Fill the waterpots with water.' Jesus
Christ knows how to turn it into wine, and he does not fail to do it
when we are obedient to his commands.

Use all the means, but take care that you use those means right
heartily. I come back to that part of the text'And they filled them up
to the brim.' When you teach the young ones in the Sunday-school, teach
them well. Fill them to the brim. When you preach, dear sir, do not
preach as if you were only half awake; stir yourself up; fill your
ministry to the brim. When you are trying to evangelize the community,
do not attempt it in a half-hearted way, as if you did not care whether
their souls were saved or not; fill them to the brim; preach the gospel
with all your might, and beg for power from on high. Fill every vessel
to the brim. Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well. Nobody ever
yet served Christ too well. I have heard that in some services there
may be too much zeal, but in the service of Christ you may have as much
zeal as ever you will and yet not exceed, if prudence be joined
therewith. Fill the waterpots with water,' and fill them to the brim.
Go in for doing good with all your heart and soul and strength.

Further, in order to apply this principle, be sure to remember when you
have done all that you can do, that there is a great deficiency in all
that you have done. It is well to come away from tract-distributing and
Sunday-school teaching and preaching, and go home and get to your
knees, and cry, Lord, I have done all that thou hast commanded me, and
yet there is nothing done unless thou givest the finishing touch. Lord,
I have filled the waterpots, and though I could only fill them with
water, yet I have filled them to the brim. Lord, to the best of my
ability, I have sought to win men for thyself. There cannot be a soul
saved, a child converted, or any glory brought to thy name by what I
have done, in and of itself; but, my Master, speak the miracle-working
word, and let the water which fills the vessels blush into wine. Thou
canst do it, though I cannot. I cast the burden upon thee.'

And this leads me to the last application of the principle, which
is'trust in your Lord to do the work. You see, there are two ways of
filling waterpots. Suppose these people had never been commanded to
fill the waterpots, and their doing it had had no reference to Christ
whatever; suppose that it had been a freak of their own imagination,
and they had said, These people have no wine, but they shall have a
bath if they like, and so we will fill the six waterpots with water.'
Nothing would have come of such a proceeding. There would have stood
the water. The Eton school-boy said, The conscious water saw its God
and blushed,' a truly poetic expression; but the conscious water would
have seen the servants, and would not have blushed. It would have
reflected their faces upon its shining surface, but nothing more would
have happened. Jesus Christ himself must come, and in present power
must work the miracle. It was because he had commanded the servants to
fill the waterpots with water that therefore he was bound, if I may use
such an expression of our free King, bound to turn it into wine, for
otherwise he would have been making fools of them, and they also might
have turned round and said, Why didst thou give us such a command as
this?' If, after we have filled the waterpots with water, Jesus does
not work by us, we shall have done what he bade us; but if we believe
in him, I make bold to say that he is bound to come; for though we
should be losers, and dreadful losers too, if he did not display his
power, for we should have to lament, I have labored in vain, and spent
my strength for nought,' yet we should not be such losers as he would
be, for straightway the world would affirm that Christ's commands are
empty, fruitless, idle. It would be declared that obedience to his word
brings no result. The world would say, You have filled the waterpots
with water because he told you to do it. You expected him to turn the
water into wine, but he did not do it. Your faith is vain; your whole
obedience is vain; and he is not a fit Master to be served.' We should
be losers, but he would be a greater loser still, for he would lose his
glory. For my part, I do not believe that a good word for Christ is
ever spoken in vain. I am sure that no sermon with Christ in it is ever
preached without result. Something will come of it, if not to-night,
nor to-morrow; something will come of it. When I have printed a sermon,
and seen it fairly in the volume, I have before long been delighted to
hear of souls saved by its means. And when I have not printed, but only
preached, a discourse, I have still thought, something will come of it.
I preached Christ. I put his saving truth into that sermon, and that
seed cannot die. If it shall lie in the volume for years, like the
grains of wheat in the mummy's hand, it will live, and grow, and bear
fruit. Consequently, I have heard but lately of a soul brought to
Christ by a sermon that I preached twenty-five years ago. I hear almost
every week of souls having been brought to Christ by sermons preached
at Park Street, and Exeter Hall, and the Surrey Gardens, and therefore
I feel that God will not let a single faithful testimony fall to the
ground. Go on, brethren. Go on filling the waterpots with water. Do not
believe that you are doing much when you have done your utmost. Do not
begin to congratulate yourselves on your past success. All must come
from Christ; and it will come from Christ. Do not go to the
prayer-meeting and say, Paul may plant and Apollos may water, but 'and
so on. That is not how the passage runs. It says just the contrary, and
runs thus,'Paul planteth, Apollos watereth, but God giveth the
increase.' The increase is surely given by God where the planting and
sowing are rightly done. The servants fill the waterpots: the Master
turns the water into wine.

The Lord grant us grace to be obedient to his command, especially to
that command, Believe and live!' and may we meet him in the
marriage-feast above to drink of the new wine with him for ever and
ever. Amen and amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON'John 1:29-51; John 2:1-11.

HYMNS FROM OUR OWN HYMN BOOK'432, 645, 739.

Just Published. Stiff covers, 1s; cloth, gilt edges, 2s.

JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES;

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MORE OF HIS PLAIN TALK FOR PLAIN PEOPLE.

by C. H. SPURGEON.

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