Footprints of the Savior: Part 2

A wedding runs short on wine, and Jesus chooses that quiet moment in Cana of Galilee to launch His miraculous ministry. That detail isn’t random. We follow the “Footprints of the Savior” into John 2 and slow down long enough to see what the first sign actually reveals about Jesus Christ and about us. Why Cana, not Jerusalem? Why a wedding feast, not a festival crowd? The answers point straight to grace, and to a Savior who loves to use small places to display great glory. 

From the water into wine miracle, we walk through five clear themes the message draws out: the glory of Christ’s grace, His unselfish care for others, His sovereignty that cannot be commanded, His bounty that overflows with joy, and His deity beginning to shine through His humanity. Along the way, we talk about obedience in plain terms: what we put into trusting and following Christ often shows up in what we “get out” of spiritual life. 

Then the scene shifts to Sychar in Samaria, where Jesus sits weary at Jacob’s well in John 4 and asks a Samaritan woman for a drink. We explore why “he must needs go through Samaria” is a mission of mercy, how Christ moves the conversation from water pots to living water, and how He brings a wandering heart to the moment of truth. The episode builds to one direct question that the gospel forces on every listener: who do you say Jesus is? If this message helps you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it.

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Transcript

Footprints Of The Savior Begins

SPEAKER_01 0:00

And a very, very pleasant good day to each and every one of you. I'm Brother James, and I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. I welcome you to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast and hope and pray that you'll be able to stay with us for the next half an hour as we continue with a series of messages that we began on the last program entitled Footprints of the Savior. The Footprints of the Savior. And it's our desire, and I'll state again what we stated at the outset of the last broadcast in case you weren't with us, it's our desire and intention in the will of God to trace that pathway which has brought so much pleasure to the Father. From Bethlehem, where Christ Jesus was born, to Bethany, where loving hearts made him welcome. We'll look at Sikar, Emmaus, Alibet, and Hermon, Gethsemane, Golgotha, the upper room, the garden tomb, the Galilean shore, and we'll follow the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ, the places that he lived, the places that he ministered, the places that he performed his great and mighty miracles, the places where he did so many of the great things that are recorded in our Bible, just for the opportunity of looking at and discussing and meditating upon the glories of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And last time we talked about his birth at Bethlehem, and we talked about his upbringing in Nazareth. On

Cana And The First Miracle

SPEAKER_01 1:29

the program today, we want to discuss Cana and Sichar. Cana and Sichar. Cana was a small upland town in Lower Galilee. It was the hometown of Nathaniel, who became one of the earliest followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. But with the greatest respect to that guileless disciple, we remember Cana not because of him, but because it was here, not far from Nazareth, that our Lord began his miraculous ministry. The first miracle ever performed by the Lord Jesus Christ took place in Cana of Galilee. Only John records the story. It was a marriage. An invitation was given to Jesus and his disciples to attend, and they had a shortage of wine. And in the midst of this situation, Jesus manifested his glory and confirmed the faith of his followers by performing a mighty miracle. The glory that he manifested was many splendored. We want to talk about five splendors of his glory, five ways that his glory was demonstrated and manifest in this first miracle that he performed at the wedding feast at Cana.

Five Splendors Of Christ’s Glory

SPEAKER_01 2:52

First of all, the glory of his grace. The glory of his grace. Only grace would have chosen Cana of Galilee for the inaugural inaugural miracle of the Messiah. Had the disciples been asked for their advice, and had we been asked for ours, the answer would no doubt have been Jerusalem. And not just Jerusalem, but the temple court. And not just at any time, but at a festival time, when that court would be thronged with pilgrims. That is the place of the Lord, they would have said, and that is the time. But the Lord He's the one that delights to use small things. His strength is made perfect in weakness. He is the one who takes up weak things to confound the mighty. He is the one that chose Cana, dusty, insignificant, Cana of Galilee. Now why did he do this? Well, I believe it's because still, even in our day, he delights to use the little things, and in his grace he makes them the instruments of his pleasure to display his glory. And I hope and pray that we never become too big for Christ to use. He uses small people with small gifts. Secondly, in this miracle we see the glory of his unselfishness. The glory of his unselfishness. You know, only a little while before this Christ had been in the Judean wilderness. He had fasted for almost six weeks, forty days, without food or water, and he was hungry. Yet though there was apparently every good reason, he refused to turn stones to bread. The stones were his, but he chose not to yield to the influence, the suggestion, the temptation of the devil. He would not turn stones to bread for his own necessity. But here we see him turning water to wine for others' luxury, not their necessity, but their luxury. Now it was hardly a dire necessity that they should have more wine, but Christ saw their embarrassment and entered into their circumstances, and in that unselfish care for others which ever characterized the Lord, he wrought the miracle that met their need. And how how that first miracle, the glory of his unselfishness, how unchanging he has been. How he continues to put everyone's needs in the primary place. And then, thirdly, in this miracle at Cana, we see the glory of his sovereignty. Sovereignty is simply, you hear us use that word a lot on the broadcast. We don't use it like the Calvinist does, meaning God's the only one with the brain in the whole universe. We mean that by sovereignty, the supreme authority, a supreme authority which cannot be questioned. Sovereignty cannot be commanded nor directed. We cannot dictate to a sovereign God. And here in this case, in all the graciousness of the occasion, we see a display of our Lord's sovereignty. His mother says they have no wine. You know this seems such a simple comment, an observation, if you will. Yet anyone may read into it a suggestion that he should do something. That was the implication. She wasn't just bringing a news report that they didn't have any wine. She was she was twisting his arm, suggesting that he ought to do something. All the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, all through his earthly life, Mary had known who he was. For thirty years she had waited for his manifestation to Israel. Had she made similar suggestions to him before? We don't know. Had she insinuated or implied that he ought to perform some miracle? We we could only guess or speculate, and so we're not going to. There's no need to, but Jesus answers her, woman. Now this was not a disrespectful address to his mother. Rather, the opposite. He tenderly acknowledged her femininity, yet he reminded her of it. You see, this is not like Eden. The woman will not usurp the second man as Eve did the first. Woman, he said, What have I to do with thee? He retains his sovereign position. He will act of his own volition when his moment comes. He does not receive orders from men. And then fourth we see the glory of his bounty. The glory of his bounty. He says, Fill the water pots with water, and they filled them up to the brim, the Bible says. How explicitly and immediately they obeyed. And how glad they must have been that they did, because in the measure that they put in, he gave them back wine for water. From the cold stone water pots of old Jewish ceremonialism, he gave them the wine of joy of a new messianic age. They obeyed. And he rewarded accordingly. And you know it's just the same today. As we put in, so we draw out. As we give our time, our talents, our possessions, our obedience to him, to the Lord Jesus Christ, he gives back in abundance his own joy to us. To the extent that we respond and obey his word, he brings gladness into our lives. I hear people say, Well, I don't get anything out of it. You're testifying that you haven't put anything into it. And then fifthly, we see the glory of his deity. The glory of his deity. For thirty years there had lived in Nazareth a divine person. But his essential personal glory had been veiled in humanity. He had tabernacled in the flesh, dwelt in a body of flesh. But from this moment in Cana there would be glimpses of that glory for those who are willing to see. Soon he will open blind eyes and loose deaf ears. Soon he will free stammering tongues. He will deliver men from devils. He will even raise the dead in a display of divine majesty. But here at Cana, at Galilee, is the first, the earliest manifestation of that glory. Now I want you to note here also that there was no collusion with his disciples. It was the servants who filled the water pots, not Peter and John. Note that it was the governor of the feast who commented on the excellency of the wine, not James or Andrew. There is independent, unsolicited testimony to the fact and the greatness of the miracle. And the Bible says his disciples believed on him. Sixty years after this event, John wrote, We beheld his glory. The day spring from on high has indeed visited us. Emmanuel has walked in Galilee. God has been amongst us. The only begotten Son is declared him. Oh, my friends, how we ought to bow in wonder and worship as we view his glory. May he become more precious, and our appreciation deepen as we follow his footprints left in the land.

Sychar And The Living Water

SPEAKER_01 10:49

And then what about Sikar? Let's move on from Cana to Sikar. The same grace that brought our Lord to Bethlehem and took him to Nazareth and to Cana now brings him to Sikar in the Vale of a region known as Shechem, S-H-E-C-H-E-M. Having been rejected in Judea, he now comes as the Savior of the world to Samaria. The Bible says he must needs go that way. Now this was not at all a geographical necessity that he should travel through Samaria. There were many roads. Although that was the most convenient and direct way from Judea to Galilee, yet it is well known that the Orthodox Jews would not have used that route. Instead, they would have gone by Jericho and across the Jordan, up through Perea on the east bank of the Jordan, and then back across the river into Galilee without touching the defiled land of Samaria at all. They wouldn't have any dealings with the Samaritans. They wouldn't even enter their land. They would take a long route around a less convenient route rather than be defiled by Samaria. So that when the Bible says he must needs go through Samaria, he didn't need to because of geography, but he needed to because of grace. There was a poor Samaritan outcast there, requiring his help. And so he went. John was writing at the close of the first century, and therefore he's using Roman reckoning of time just as we do today. The sixth hour with John, therefore, is not 6 a.m. It's not 6 p.m. Since 6 a.m. is not possible here, then it is an evening scene. I'm sorry, I said it's neither 6 a.m. or 6 p.m. It is either 6 a.m. or 6 p.m. That's not 6 a.m. It's an evening scene, the drawing of water. It's not high noon as suggested by some. So it's evening time. Been a long, hot day. Wearisome journey. And being wearied, Jesus sat thus on the well. And let's not miss that little word thus. Arriving wearied, he sat thus. That is, tired out, weary, exhausted, sitting there on the stone rim of the well. And in three verses here we read that our Lord is weary, our Lord is thirsty, and our Lord is hungry. The Son of God, you see, has become, he's become a true man. And in that lovely manhood which he has assumed, he sits wearied on the well and requests a drink. What wondrous, indescribable grace is this that the God of Israel should sit at a well in Samaria and ask a drink of a woman of Sikar. How reminiscent is all this of the blessing of Joseph given by Jacob in Genesis chapter 49. This prophecy reads as follows in your holy Bible. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. Here at Sikar, near to a piece of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph, the ancient prophetic blessing was literally fulfilled. The heavenly Joseph is a fruitful bough indeed, his branches running over the wall of Judaism, carrying the sweet fruit of salvation to an outcast. Well, you can you can well understand the confusion of this woman. She can't understand how it is that a Jew could make a request of her. Why she's a she's a woman. And she's not just a woman, she's a Samaritan woman. And the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. They wouldn't even pass through their territory, much less sit at one of their wells and talk to one of their women and receive a drink at their hand. And she doesn't understand when he offers her living water either. She can't perceive that he is speaking of spiritual things. She thinks, no doubt, that the living water of which he speaks is the running water moving at the bottom of the deep spring well. And how can he give her that water? She's occupied with water pots and buckets and material wells and running water until our Lord gently and graciously leads her on to greater things. Now her heart and desires having been aroused, he must now address her conscience. Go. Call your husband. And what hard words these must have been to a woman who had lived such a disrespectful life, a woman who had had been such a failure at so many attempts at married life. And her brief answer is an acknowledgement of her guilt. I have no husband. I do not know if she hung her head in shame or if she had resigned herself to the fact of having lived so wrong for so long that she could look him right in the eye. But she speaks the truth in plain, simple words. She doesn't try and evade the issue. She simply says, I have no husband. But no sooner is her conscience stirred than she then tries to evade the issue. She'll talk about worship. She'll talk about places of worship. She'll talk about ancient arguments and debates between the Jews and the Samaritan. The unsaved man, the unsaved woman, the unregenerate nature will always try and shift the conversation away from a personal accountability to God for sin. Always been that way, always will be. But the Lord brings her to the moment of truth. He's not going to let her shift into some argument or some debate, some question or striving. She needs salvation. But salvation is not to be had in places. It's not to be had in cities. It's not to be had in mountains. It's not to be had in temples. Jesus tells her, neither in Jerusalem nor in Samaria is salvation found. Neither in Mount Gerizam or Mount Moriah is salvation found. Salvation is in a person. And that person was now speaking with her. The man of Sikar was the son of David and the Savior of the world. You can't help but marvel at the steady progress this poor woman is making in her knowledge of Christ during those moments at the well. If you read this story in your Bible in John chapter number four, I hope you'll take the time after the broadcast to do that, you'll find that when first she addressed him, she she knew him simply only as a Jew. Verse number nine. He was, initially, to her, just a man. Just a Jew. One of many. Did she know it by his dress, by his appearance, by his accent? We don't know. But at any rate, she she knew he was a Jew, but to her he was he was just a Jew. After listening for a while, she recognizes that this stranger is no ordinary Jew. She calls him Sir in verse 11. She calls him Sir. Now, in this we see that at the very least, at the very least, he is a Jew worthy of respect and of courteous address. How many are there who accord to Jesus that same respect? Now this is good and this is right. But it still comes far short of knowing him as Savior and Lord. Still she listens. And still she progresses in her apprehension. Now she says in verse 19, he is a prophet. A prophet. What confession is this wrung from a Samaritan who recognized only Moses as a prophet? She had a small Bible, this woman of Samaria. The Samaritans gave no place to Isaiah. The Samaritans gave no place to Daniel. The Samaritan gave no place to Zechariah or Ezekiel as prophets. Moses alone was their prophet. Now for her to say, for her to say to him that he was a prophet, this was quite a confession. This was confession indeed. But she's got to go farther. It's still not enough. At the moment of his revelation of himself, she exclaims in verse 25, Messiah, the promised Savior. In verse 29, she calls him the Christ, the anointed one of God. And she has found him. Her eyes have been opened. Her understanding has been enlightened. The Holy Spirit has moved upon her heart. She has believed the word and she recognizes, she understands, she believes. This is God's Messiah. This is God's Christ. This is the Savior of the world that sits wearied at the well. This is the Savior of the world that asks her a drink of water. This is the Savior of the world with whom she is speaking. And her heart is so full she can abandon her water pots now. And in the newfound joy of salvation, she races off to carry the good news to others. I have found him. I have found him. Notice he went from being a Jew to serve to a prophet, to the Messiah, to Christ, to the hill. The hill of the scriptures, the hill, of whom the prophets wrote, the hill, to whom all had been looking for ages and generations. Oh the grace of the man of Sitar.

The Question That Decides Eternity

SPEAKER_01 21:39

Well, did the late J.G. Bellet say he drinks of our pitcher to encourage us to drink at his fountain? My friend, let me ask you something. Do you do you think Jesus was just a Jew? Just a man? Just some sort of religious? Leader. You know, you'll die in your sins with an attitude like that. You say, well, now, Brother James, I I'm not a heathen, I'm not a pagan. I I respect religion, and I think Jesus was a pretty good fella. And in fact, if if I were to meet him, I'd call him Sir. I I'd I'd I'd reverence him, I'd have some respect for him. I think he was a good fellow. Well, my hat's off to you, but with an attitude like that, you'll die in your sins and you'll burn in hell forever and forever. You say, No, Brother James, I I I don't think Jesus was just a man or just a good man. I think he was a prophet. You know, like Moses, like Elijah, like Muhammad, like so many that have come before and since. I think he was in that that upper echelon of the few really great men that have ever lived in this world. Well, that'll that'll end you up in a lake of fire. An attitude like that. No, my dear friend, he was more than a man. He was more than a good man. He was more than a prophet. He was and is and always will be the only begotten Son of God, the only Savior of the world, the only name under heaven whereby we must be saved. The way, the truth, the life, the alpha, the omega, the beginning, the end. He is the only Lord and Savior. He's your only hope. Now, it really amazes me when I hear people respond to gospel preaching with words like, it doesn't matter what I believe. It doesn't matter what you believe. And the truth of the of the of the matter is, the the real fact of the matter is, it it does matter what you believe about Jesus Christ. It does matter what you believe about what's written in the Holy Bible. In fact, it matters for all of eternity. The Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The Bible says, Neither is there salvation in any other. There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Let me tell you something. That man that sat at that well in Sikar, let me tell you something. That man that turned the water into wine at Cana of Galilee, that man is ever living at the right hand of God the Father to make intercession for those that believe on his name. He ever lives to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him. He is today who he was in the day when he met that woman at the well in Sikar. He is the Messiah. He is the Christ, the only Savior. God has ever provided or ever will provide for sinful fallen man. Let me ask you something. Do you know this Savior? Have you believed on this Savior? Has you have you received him as your personal Lord and Savior? If you've not done so, you need to stop anything and everything you're doing in this life and seek ye the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near. Behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. You must be born again. I hope and pray that if you've never received the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, that you'll do so right now.

Broadcast Thanks And Closing

SPEAKER_00 25:37

All right, this Brother James, that was the second in a series of six radio programs that we titled The Footprints of the Savior. If I'm not mistaken, these these broadcasts that that you're listening to right now, this this footprint series, it had to have been made, I would guess, in the early to mid-1980s. I don't have a date on it, but we started on the radio uh weekly in 1981 and then we went daily local local broadcast daily in 1991 and now seven days a week across the USA and in many foreign countries, God by his grace allows us to broadcast the preaching of the cross. You know, in all those years, in all those years, we have never solicited funds. We have never asked for money. We pray. We pray and ask the Lord to supply, and and the Lord, our God, your God, He speaks to the hearts of those who are blessed in answer to our prayers, and they help us to continue. So I want to take the time to thank those of you who respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit of God and who are sensitive to the need of gospel ministries who help us to broadcast this program on the station to which you are listening. I with all my heart, I mean that. I thank you. There are so many things people could spend their money on nowadays. There's so many ways people waste their money nowadays. You know that. Save people as well as lost people. And so those of you who who do what you do, who do what you can to help us broadcast in Uganda, in the Philippines, in Zambia, in Canada, across the United States, so many other places. We sincerely, truly thank you for helping us to air the Preaching of the Cross radio broadcast. All right, the announcer will be on just a moment, tell you when we're coming your way again. Hope you'll join us. Until then, I'm Brother James. May the Lord richly bless you, and good day.