When You Run Out of Wine
Pastor J. Benjiman Wiles
John 2:1-10
I. Introduction
a. READ TEXT
b. This was supposed to be a joyful occasion
c. We had a wedding here at the church yesterday and from start to end of reception we went for about 3 hours (including cleanup)
d. Weddings in Palestine went much longer
e. They would have festivals that lasted a week
i. (If you were going to walk that far for a wedding, you needed to get more than cake!)
f. People would literally feast for days
g. There would be wine flowing in generous amounts
h. All the preparations had been made and everything was wonderful until something happened
i. I want you to understand that, sometimes, things happen
j. You can do everything right, plan everything out, get everything you need ahead of time, and something can still happen
i. I don’t know if someone took more than their fair share
ii. I don’t know if more people showed up than were invited
iii. I don’t know of the bridegroom’s family miscalculated how much they would need
iv. But I do know that they ran out of wine
k. In the Bible, wine speaks of joy, healing, abundance, and salvation
i. Isaiah 55:1 (NKJV) “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
ii. Joel 2:19 (NKJV) The Lord will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.”1
iii. Luke 22:20 (NKJV) 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” 1
iv. Luke 10:34 (NKJV) 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 1
l. Sometimes, no matter what you do or how happy the occasion is, life can just suck the joy right out of you
i. People will take advantage of you
ii. People will take more than their fair share of you
iii. You may have assumed you could handle something and found it is was more than you could handle on your own
iv. And you find yourself broke, busted, and disgusted
v. You find yourself “out of wine” and everyone is standing around wondering what you’re going to do about it
m. Your kids, your husband, your wife, your boss, your friends, your family, your church - all of them are counting on you to have your wine, and you’ve just run out
n. What are you going to do?
o. This family may have messed up by running out of wine before the festival was over, but they had done at least one thing right:
i. John 2:2 (NKJV) “Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.”
II. Admit you have a problem - Repentance
a. It may seem hard for some of you to believe this, but you can be saved and still run out of your wine sometimes
b. I know that some faith preachers may not believe this, but sometimes you just run out of wine
i. Notice, it doesn’t say here that they stood around and said, “We aren’t out of wine, it just looks like we’re out of wine”
ii. Instead, Mary made the decision to go to Jesus with the problem
1. Verse 3
c. Sometimes, we want to sugarcoat our problems
d. Sometimes, we want to try to convince ourselves and God it’s not really as bad as it is
i. “I’m just tired”
ii. “I just made a little mistake”
iii. Your blowing things out of proportion
iv. I’ve just been busy, lately.
e. But what we really need to do, is go to Jesus and say “I’m out of wine”
i. Life has taken it out me and I need a fresh touch from you, Lord.
ii. Lord, I blew it and I need you to help me.
f. The Lord is waiting on some of you to come to Him and tell Him what you need, because He is not going to force His will on you.
g. He won’t bless you if you don’t want Him to.
III. Whatever He tells you to do – do it! - Faithfulness
a. Jesus’ response to Mary almost seemed like a mild rebuke
i. Verse 4
b. Sometimes, it seems like the Lord doesn’t hear you and isn’t doing anything about your problem
c. But I want to show you something here.
d. The next thing that Mary said was not directed at Jesus, it was directed at the servants
i. “Whatever He says to you, do it”
e. There is no other word from the Lord here. He doesn’t say “Well, alright, since you won’t leave me alone”
f. There is just faith.
i. Faith that He is going to say something
ii. Faith that He is going to do something
iii. Faith the He is not going to leave them in need
g. See, what a lot of us would do at this point would be to sit around and mope and feel sorry for ourselves.
i. “God doesn’t love me. He’s not answering my prayer. I’ve messed up beyond what He would ever be willing to fix. I guess He somehow is glorified by me staying in need. I’ll just quit trying. I’ll just quit going to church. I’ll just quit worshipping because none of it does any good anyway”
ii. But, the problem with that way of thinking is simply this…..God is not moved by our needs.
iii. God is moved by our faith.
iv. God is moved by our praise.
h. “I don’t know what you’re going to do, Lord, but I’m just going to obey you so I won’t miss out when you do it!”
i. “I don’t know how you’re going to fix this, but I’m just going to praise you for it on credit!”
j. And when we begin to speak words of faith and we begin to praise God, He’ll move heaven and earth to keep His word to you and to meet your need.
i. I could stop right here and talk about the fact that we shouldn’t view church as a place where we come to “get something.”
ii. I could tell you that when we come to church, it is to “give our worship” and “give our praise” and “give” our time and “give” our tithe and offerings.
iii. It just so happens that when God sees all that giving, He just can’t stand to not to “one up” us!
k. Just keep doing the right things
i. They had pots of water prepared for ceremonial cleansing
1. The Jewish people washed their hands more times than most of us in our “germ-conscious” society
2. There were commandments in the law requiring it, as well as traditions that had been developed by men.
3. They washed before meals, between courses, after meals, between meals, they were always washing their hands.
4. And when you have a lot of Jewish guests at a Jewish feast, you’d better have a lot of water.
ii. The Lord will use whatever you’ve got
1. He didn’t tell them to go out and get something else, He just looked around for what they had.
2. He doesn’t have to have anything fancy or elaborate.
3. He doesn’t have to have something that is out of your reach to get.
4. All He needs is your obedience and faithfulness with what you’ve got
a. A rod
b. A slingshot
c. The jawbone of a donkey
d. Five loaves and two fish
iii. He looked for what they had prepared and that is what He used
1. If they had not been doing what they were supposed to be doing, it is entirely possible that they would have missed out on their miracle.
iv. See, you can’t just go out and do whatever you want to do when you lose your joy, or when you get sick, or when you’re having problems paying the bills.
1. I’ve never understood the tendency of people just to leave church when they run into problems.
2. They get away from the house of praise and the place where they can hear a word from God and they wonder why the Lord doesn’t take care of their problems.
3. I’m here to tell you, when things get tough, you need to keep doing what you’re supposed to be doing, and God will use that to give you a miracle!
IV. Your level of praise will determine his level of response
a. Now, it was not enough just to have some water pots.
b. Just told them to “fill them up with water” and the servants filled them up to the top.
i. Why didn’t He just fill up the empty pots with wine?
ii. I thought about Elijah and how the Lord added flour to the widow’s barrel in 1 Kings 17
iii. Why did they have to fill it up with water?
c. He was giving them the opportunity to determine the level of their blessing.
i. If they had poured out a little water, they would have only gotten a little wine
ii. They didn’t just fill up some of their pots
iii. They didn’t just fill their pots halfway
iv. But they filled every vessel to the top and that was how much wine they ended up with
d. You see, what you get is in direct proportion to what you give
i. It may not come when you want or how you want, but it will always be right on time and it will always be just what you need!
ii. But you have to pour some water in your pot
iii. You can’t just come to church and fold your arms and dare God to bless you.
iv. You can’t just sit there and watch everyone else praise God and expect to receive from their benefits
v. You can’t sit there week after week and let the offering bag pass you by while you refuse to give and expect to receive a miracle
e. Some of you are saying
i. I’ll praise you when I feel like it
ii. I’ll give when I think I can
iii. I’ll believe when it makes sense to me
f. But God is saying, fill up those pots with water – you may not have any wine, but give me what you’ve got and I’ll give to you what you have need of!
g. Give God a praise and God will turn your water into wine
V. Pour out your wine by faith
a. Here’s where we’ve been
i. They admitted they had a problem
ii. They remained faithful and obedient to the word of God
iii. They filled up the pots with water so He could see how much they really wanted from Him
b. But John is not really clear as to when the water actually turned to wine.
i. Maybe it turned to wine as they poured it in
ii. Maybe after they completely finished the job
c. But I like to think that the water turned to wine as they dipped it out to take to the master of ceremonies
d. Because there comes a time when we have to act on the word of the Lord
i. You repent
ii. You keep doing the right things
iii. You praise Him on credit
iv. But sometime along the way you’ve got to “take up your bed and walk”
v. Sometime along the way, you’ve got to “do what you couldn’t do before”
e. They didn’t wait around for evidence as to whether or not the miracle had happened
f. At the word of the Lord, they dipped some out to taste
g. Some of you have been waiting far longer than God intended for you to wait
h. I’m glad you admitted to Him what your need is, I’m glad you’ve stayed faithful to Him, I’m glad you’re praising Him in your circumstance
i. But now it’s time for you to “look what the Lord has done”
ii. I believe that for some of you, He is saying “when are you going to dip into the barrel and ‘taste and see that the Lord is good?’
i. When we begin to pray and believe God for something, we need to be looking for His answer or we’re going to miss it.
j. And when we pour it out, we’re going to find out that when God does something, He does it right
k. God doesn’t do some halfway job of meeting your need, God will take care of all the details
i. The master of ceremonies couldn’t understand why they had saved the best wine until last
ii. Isn’t that just like us?
1. Why didn’t I just do this the first time?
2. Why have I been fretting and worrying and moping when all I needed to do was call on God?
iii. Everyone may have given up on you.
1. They may think they’ve seen your best days, but I’m here to tell you that God has some new wine to put into your life
2. When you get a hold on this truth, there’s going to be some folks in your life shocked by what happens to you
a. They thought you were retired, but instead you’re refired
b. They may have thought it was time to call the undertaker, but instead God made you an overcomer
c. Weeping may have endured for a night, but joy is coming in the morning.
iv. This morning, someone needs to pour out some water and watch God turn it into wine!
