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“But Jesus himself did not commit himself unto them ….” They believed in Him, but he didn’t believe in them. In other words, actually their faith is not genuine faith. It wasn’t saving faith at all. And that’s always the grave danger today of those that say they believe in Jesus. Now what do you mean when you say you believe in Jesus? Do you mean that you believe in the facts of the gospel? It’d be pretty hard to contradict them. But those are saving facts. He died for your sins. Do you trust Him as your Savior from sins? Was He raised for your justification? Is He the living Savior at God’s right hand today? He’s the only hope that you have.

Now, friends, we were looking at that instance where the Lord turned the water into wine. And we believe that the most important part of that wedding was not the dress the bride wore. But the most important thing there were these six water pots of stone, beaten and battered, not very attractive. And our Lord took them empty. That’s the way He takes you and me; He saves us as sinners. He fills us with the water of the Word—He wants to—and then ladle that out. And when it’s ladled out, it will become the wine of joy. That is the great message that’s in this first miracle which He performed.

”I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah.” It’s a grand message. “Get ready for the coming of the Lord. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It was at hand in the person of the King, you see. And he says, “Make straight.” In other words, get the crooked things out of your life. And, friends, we’re not going to have fellowship with Him and not get very far with Him until we are willing to deal with the crooked things that are in our lives—the things that are wrong. And when we do that, then there is open for us fellowship.

“The only begotten Son, that’s in the bosom of the Father.” He’s in the bosom of the Father, and that tells us a great deal. He didn’t come from the head of God to reveal the wisdom of God, and He didn’t come from the foot of God to be a servant of man. He says, “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” He’s God’s servant. He came to serve Him. He came to reveal the heart of God. My friend, the only way in the world you can know God is through this One, Jesus Christ. He came to reveal God because He is God.

“That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” Light comes through the Word of God. Without the Word of God, there’s no light. And when men come to the Word of God, they’re in the light. “If we walk in the light as he is in the light ….” What light? The light of the Word of God. And this light lighteth every man that comes to the light. It’s just like the sun. It lights every man that comes into the sunlight. But those that are way down in the cave of the earth, it doesn’t light them. You have to come to the light.

“The Son of man must be delivered (this is what our Lord had told them) into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words.” You know you can hear something sometime and not hear it. And sometimes you can hear something and you can almost know it, but you don’t believe it. And that’s the way a lot of people are listening to the Word of God today. You see, when these went back to report why “their words seemed to them as idle tales and they believed them not.” They did not believe, but before the day was over, they did.

“Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.” This is very important to see. The centurion, I believe, was a saved man. I think this man that had charge of the crucifixion of Christ came to know Him as Savior there. He too at the foot of the cross could look up and see that something was taking place, and He could glorify God and said, “This was a righteous man.” He knew enough to take his place at the foot of the cross of Christ. And do you know that’s all God’s ever asked any sinner to do? Just to take his place at the foot of the cross of Christ.

Now when they’d started out, both of these thieves ridiculed Him, made fun of the Lord Jesus. But during that six hours that they were on the cross, this one thief he saw that something was taking place there, that this one dying on that cross was not dying for Himself but for another. And he knew Barabbas should have been on that cross; it was his cross, and Jesus was dying for him, and He was innocent. And so he recognized that. And he recognized this was a transaction between God and the man on the cross. And the man on the cross was God. And then he turned to Him in faith.

“When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” And that’s when darkness and light met, was at the cross of Christ. After all, there was three hours of light as we have seen in the Gospel of Matthew and three hours of darkness. And this is the hour of darkness, for that was the first three hours; it was spiritually dark. Man did his worst. But the last three hours, it’s physically dark but it was spiritually light, for that cross became the altar on which the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world was offered.

Christ’s heart was broken because of our lost condition. He bled and died for our eternal liberty. He said, “I came that they might have life, and they might have it more abundantly.” And He loved the lost world, and He went to the very depths—even hell itself. And the world spurns Him, the Holy One of God, the spotless Savior who was made sin for us. Have you rejected Him? Spurned Him? Are you ungrateful today? Do you hear the sob of His soul? Do you hear the falling of the drops of blood? “Look yonder in the Garden by yon olive tree, bending low is a Savior” who took upon Himself your humanity and mine, and He went the next day to a cross.

You know, friends, that the child of God has some great things in store for the future. I think that the redeemed are going to occupy actually exalted positions. I wonder if you’re working for a place. Somebody says, “Well, I didn’t think you work for salvation.” You don’t work for salvation. But let me put it like this. You don’t work for heaven, but you work for your place in heaven. You’re going to heaven by the grace of God, but you’re going to be judged according to your works to see what position that you have. Are you interested in your good works then? You ought to be—that which is done by the Spirit of God.

“But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at meat? But I am among you as he that serveth.” In other words, the Lord said, “I’ve taken the lower place.” When He came to this earth, all mankind should have been His servant. We should’ve been there to serve Him, but instead of that, He served us. He set a table of salvation, and He’s invited us to this great feast of salvation.

John makes it clear that it was during the Passover that’s when our Lord took the sop and gave it to Judas and said, “What thou doest, do quickly,” and he left. I think that you need to understand that to understand what took place here properly. And notice now: “And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them that it was that should do this thing.” You know, every one of those men believed he could do it. And, if you’re honest, you know you could betray Him, don’t you? You know, friends, if He didn’t keep His hand on me, in the next five minutes I could deny Him. Thank God He won’t take His hand off, though. I rejoice in that. What a wonderful thing that we have here.

“He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup that’s after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” He took the two frailest things in the world, friends. He took bread and wine. You leave them overnight and both will spoil. And He says, “The bread speaks of My body and the wine speaks of My blood.” The bread speaks of His body broken—not a bone broken, but a broken body—because He’s made sin for us. I don’t think He even looked human when He came down from that cross. That’s the picture that we have here.