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Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-8-7. 800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Alrighty. Well, we are now into the book of John chapter 2 in our study on the life of Christ. So if you will, take your Bible and turn to that chapter. John chapter 2, it’s got a couple interesting little subjects in this chapter. And one of them is when Jesus turned the water into wine. Don’t that sound interesting just in itself? Now we’re going to have communion service next Sunday, and so I’m going to have, as I know right now, a sermon on what about the wine that Jesus made?

Was it fermented or with just grape juice? And is it okay to have an occasional little, you know, a little nip once in a while as long as you don’t get drunk. And I think it’s an interesting subject. So we’re going to look at what the Bible says about wine and fermented drink and strong drink and is it okay for a little social drink every once in a while. You’d be surprised what I get as a pastor and people want to do certain things and of course they want me to approve.

So they’ll call me up and now last minute says, you know that pastor, Jesus turned water into wine. Yes, I know he did that. And so if he can make it for the wedding party, why can’t we have a little wine? You know, like Timothy, a little wine for the tummy’s sake. Okay. So I think it’ll be interesting. But we’ll do that next Sunday. We’re just going to hit a few things today, but most of it will be next week.

In the book of John in chapter 2, John chapter 2, as we’re studying along about the life of Christ and how He began His ministry, and then He comes on the scene. Now we have to deal with the subject of the first miracle that He did was at a wedding. And so it didn’t perform the wedding, but he went to the wedding. And when he went to the wedding, well, there was a problem. They must have been poor because they didn’t have enough great juice or wine to go around.

So, Mama asked Jesus, says, you got to do something. Of course, he did. But first of all, hold your place right there and just look over there into the book of John in chapter 20, and you need to see and understand why did Jesus Christ do miracles? Well, one is because he could. If I could, I would, but he could do them. And so it was to prove that he was who he claimed to be, because these miracles that were done, God did them.

And so it says, now it’s either God or it’s the devil. And the devil doesn’t always want you to do good and do right, but Jesus did. So his miracles were for a particular reason. So they’re in the book of John in chapter 20. Look what he says in verse 30. Verse 30 says, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, are not written in this book. And then he says in verse 31, but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His name.

Now He had something to draw a crowd that we can’t do today. I can’t walk on water so I can get a crowd. I can’t provide, you know, fish sandwiches so that everybody can have a, you know, I can’t perform any miracles like that. And I can’t raise the dead. But I do have a powerful message, and that message is the gospel, the good news, of what Christ did for everyone. But it says, these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah.

And that believing, you may have life through His name. So God wants us to believe on His Son. So that’s why as you study the book of John, the purpose of the book then has to be that it’s like a heaven track. It’s the gospel throughout the gospel of John to explain how people can be saved and have eternal life. So the miracles were there for that reason. So Jesus did the miracles. Now take your Bible and turn over there to the book of Mark chapter 16.

Mark in chapter 16, you get Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. If you understand the purpose of the miracles that he did, it’ll help you and understand why he gave through the disciples the power to do miracles also. Because they got it from him and it was by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now here in the book of Mark chapter 16, he had told him to go in all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. See up in verse 15, he said unto them, go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature.

Now, this is what he told them to do. But now notice something else is very interesting here. And so a lot of people get all bent out of shape because look what he said in verse 17, this will knock your socks off. And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents. And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.

They shall lay hand on the sick and they shall recover.” So, what we’re going to start next week is have a snake handling service. So, we’re going to bring in a bunch of rattlesnakes. You know, they do this up in certain parts of the south. And so they have snake services to demonstrate their faith. So I want to see how strong your faith is. Then we may have a little arsenic around so that you can drink poison and it won’t hurt you.

And Lynn’s going to go first. Oh, you want to follow my example? I knew somebody’s going to say that. So, but the Bible says, and these signs shall follow them that believe. So there are those who say, well that’s what it says. You’ve got to go back what the Bible says and it says it. You just read it. Now understand that Christ did the miracles that He did so that people would believe on Him. Now He’s talking about His disciples.

So by the time the book of Mark was written and what told his disciples to do. He says, you go and you do this and then notice what he says there in verse 19. So then after the Lord had spoken into them, past tense. He was received up into heaven past tense. So we know that they didn’t begin to do this until after his resurrection. Now he’s already been resurrected. We’ve read death but now he’s ascended into heaven and now they’re supposed to go and do this and he says, and he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God.

And they, the disciples went, that’s past tense and preached, that’s past tense everywhere. And the Lord working with them and confirming the Word. See the purpose was to confirm the word with signs following. So they didn’t have the word of God. How are they supposed to know that what they said was the truth? And so God enabled them to perform miracles that would convince the people that what they said was the truth. When Christ was here, it was to convince him that he was the truth, now to convince him that he was preaching the truth.

Now look over there in the book of Hebrew. So by the time this was done, this is already past tense. They did what he told them to do. Now he didn’t tell you and I to do that. So if you want to go get you some little arsenic and experiment, you are full. And if you want to play around with rattlesnakes. Do not tempt the Lord thy God because that’s exactly what you’re doing and some people have done this and a lot of preachers have died trying to prove how much faith they had and so I don’t think that God wants you to do that.

At least this preacher isn’t going to do that. I hope y’all appreciate that. Here in the book of Hebrews now look there in chapter two Hebrews chapter two. And you’ll notice what he says here in verse 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Now get what he says, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord. Was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. So time is moving on. spoken first by the Lord, confirmed unto us by them that heard him.

See what he says? How was it confirmed? Well, not only what they said, but now notice what he said in verse 5. God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His own will. So God allowed them to be able to produce these miracles in order to confirm the word that they said. Now when the word of God was given and the word of God is complete, those sign gifts, the tongues, the healings and all those different things like that were taken away.

Now God can steal if he chooses to do so, heal a person’s body. He can heal your mind. He can do all kind of things. But you cannot demand it from these scriptures. Now go back to the book of John chapter 2. John chapter 2. So you know that your preacher is not going to be having a line so that you can come down here and I’m going to heal you of your arthritis or your diabetes or listen. Is there a heaven?

All right, you can’t get there unless you leave here. You got a diet something. Don’t you? Otherwise we can just pray everybody stays well. Everybody stays well. Next thing you know, here comes, you know, Sandy and she’s 400 years old. We just keep praying that she gets well. Pray that she gets well. Everybody can’t get well and stay well. You gotta die sometime along the road. Do you wanna stay in that body you’ve got and get worse and worse and worse and you can’t die?

Wouldn’t that be terrible? It’s like living in a prison. That’s why I sung that one song one time, this bars of bone, whole muscle. But anyway, it’s a good song. Here in John chapter two, look there in verse one. And the third day there was a marriage in Canaan of Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there. Both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said unto him, they have no wine.

Jesus said unto her woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come, the Lord is not time for me to do the miracles I’m supposed to do. But he has to obey Mama. But he does what Mama says. So his mother said there, his mother said unto the servant, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. Just do whatever he says do. And there were set there, six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, contained in two or three fergings of peace, which was approximately 108 to 160 gallon, because each one of those was about one, first, is about nine gallons.

So anyone who have two or three, it makes a difference in whether or not it’s a hundred gallons or 150 gallons. So he knows what he says here in verse 7, and Jesus said of them, feel the water pot with water, and they fill them up to the brim. He said of them, draw out now and bear unto the governor of the face, and they bear it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and knew not whence it was but the servants which drew the water knew.

The governor of the feast called the bridegroom, 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 thou has kept the good wine until now. Oh, it because it’s brand new, it’s fresh, as good as it can get. I mean, if Jesus can make wine, you were like, what kind of a business he could have went into? Just think for the money he could have made.

You realize all these get rich, quit schemes? Well, Jesus could have started them all and look how much money he would have made. But remember, he left glory. He left riches. He was rich and he became poor that went through his poverty might be made rich, because we get to go there. He came down here as a poor man in order to make us rich in Christ. So Christ was not interested in how much money he can make go popular.

He was God. He was the Lord. So now notice what he says here. John chapter 2. And notice what he says there in verse 11. Chapter 2 and verse 11. Where says this beginning of miracles, did Jesus in Canaan of Galilee and manifested forth his glory and his disciples believed on him. So after this, he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brethren and his disciples and they continued there not many days. So Jesus did his first miracle at a wedding in Canaan of Galilee.

And he says these miracles that he did was for the purpose of getting people to believe on him because no man could do what he was doing. And so he says that these things are written that you might believe that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that by believing on Him you may have life through His name. So the purpose of the miracles was so that people would trust Christ and have the free gift of everlasting life.

So it wasn’t just so he could just draw a crowd. The crowd was for a reason. He wanted them to trust Him. So I want you to hold your place right here and look in Proverbs 20. Like I said, many people believe that Jesus when He turned the water into wine, He was making a special drink and that it was fermented. Well, just to let you know and get a little preview on before next Sunday, I do not believe that Jesus Christ made fermented wine.

You see, they didn’t have a way of refrigeration back in those days. So all the fresh grape juice was grape juice fresh. But if it sets for a while too long it begins to ferment. So the word wine was used straight across the board. They didn’t have a separate word for just the wine and then the fermented. It was wine and it just depended upon if you drink it when it’s fresh, or he waited till it began to activate and become fermented.

So we’ll look at all of that next week because I do believe it’s important because we’re going to have the Lord supper next week and we’re going to take that little cup of that little grape juice that we have. And there’s people that wanted to know is that, is it real stuff or is that just grape juice or is it wine? Let me tell you this and this is the truth. In Colorado, my sister, she had a problem with alcohol.

She would drink anything. It had any kind of alcohol. She would polish it. It didn’t matter what it was. Anything had alcohol. And anyway, my mama calls me up and says, Yankee, we don’t know what we’re going to be able to do with Lizzie. Can you come and take her to Colorado? So I came down and she was in a hospital. She was like a rayon. She was so skinny. She had been beat up and left her dead. And she had been kicked by a horse in the head and kind of messed with her brain a little bit.

And in a way, she would just go like a wild person. And when I walked into the hospital on the special floor and I saw my sister, it just broke my heart because she would jump up on a table like an animal. And she would pretend like she’s smoking and she didn’t have anything in her hand. And she would just go through it and I thought, mama wants me to help her. So I said, I’ll take her back to Colorado.

And so anyway, we got on the plane. And you know how sometimes back then they would have these surges come down the aisle and they had little bottles of free drink. And my sister looked up and she saw it and she went into a fit. and she wanted and I couldn’t let her have it. So you talking about a problem on the plane, we were sitting close to the back of the plane and she let everybody in there know how bad I was and how wicked I was because I wouldn’t let my poor sister have that little model.

Well, anyway, after she doesn’t have to try to beat me up on the plane and scratch me and whatever she could do, finally got to calm back down. When we got to Colorado, and we put in a special place that we’d try to work with and help her. And they finally got her dried out enough. And one day, my brother and I, we had stopped at a restaurant. That is written in a parking lot. And my sister looked up there and she saw this sign, you know, liquor store.

Why are we parked there? I don’t know. And she liked to be both of us up this time. So we finally got Lizzie coming to church and I’m going to pick her up and I’m bringing the church every morning. I drive 15 miles there, 15 miles back just so I could have my sister sitting there and listening to the word. I thought the only hope for her is the word of God. And lo and behold, it did slowly start making some sense to her.

And we were going to have communion one day. And my son was sitting right next to my sister. And so here comes the people down the aisle with the, you know, the drink. And my sister’s sitting right on now. She grabbed one. And didn’t wait, didn’t pass it on. She just grabbed one and downed it. And she was going back for the second one. She says, this ain’t wine. as loud as you could and everybody could hear. My son was so embarrassed, he just kind of went and sunk down that thing.

My sister was going to sit there and she was going to enjoy the Lord’s Supper. Well, in the Bible it talks about them having the Lord’s Supper and someone getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper. So it’s interesting, yes it is, but understand what God says about this. And I told you to look someplace tonight. The book of Proverbs 20. I believe that’s where the verse is. Chapter 20 verse 1. Look what he says, wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging.

And whosoever is deceived thereby is what? Is not what? Now that’s the word of God. Now so when this is in here, this is talking about when it’s fermented. And so God says, I believe the word of God says, you don’t want that. Why, if I have to give an account to God for all of my words and my thoughts, my deeds, why would I do anything that could keep me from thinking right? And it will keep you from thinking clearly, why run the risk?

I wouldn’t want to run that risk. Look there right there in chapter 23. Look in chapter 23. Look in verse 21, where he makes his statement. That’s a look in verse 20. Be not among wine bivers. Among righteous eaters of flesh. Don’t be among those wine bivers. You know, people that drink the fermented wine. Look what else he said in verse 21. For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

It’s not put in a high category with the Lord. It’s like, this is really good for you. But now, notice what else he says. Look down in verse 29. Verse 29, you need to see that. Verse 29 says, who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? Now, look at the answer. They that carry long at the wine, that they go to seek mixed wine. It’s not the fresh.

Now it’s fermented. Look what he said in verse 31. But not thou upon the wine when it is read, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself, or right, that means when it’s fermented. In verse 30, at the last, it bite it like a serpent, like poison, it addeth like an adder’s thingeth. Thy eye shall behold strange women, thine heart shall utter perverse things, because people begin to lose control of how they think, you can’t think clearly.

You’d be surprised how much damage is done because a man starts drinking. When you become an alcoholic or a drunkard is the Bible causing, you ruin your health, you can ruin your life, you can cost you your job, you can cost you your family, you can do a lot of damage just because you can’t control that. Well, I just take a little social drink and the more you drink, the more sociable you get. So should you be careful, I do believe that it would be wise.

look what he says here in verse 35. They have stricken me, shall the I’ll say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me and I felt it not. When shall I awake? I shall seek it yet again.” In other words, you’d be surprised at what it can do to individuals. They can fall and it seemed like they don’t get hurt. They can be beat up and they don’t feel a thing. My dad was a drunk. My dad had his own liquor steel.

I watched all this stuff. I watched them lose their mind. But anyway, we’re going to cover this next week. Now go back to the book of John. I gotta keep remembering where we are. John chapter 2. So the miracle has been performed. The disciples believed on him and then noticed on in verse 13. Verse 13, the Bible says that God told him in the wilderness to build this tabernacle and that the Lord would meet with them in the holy of holies.

And it was a thick veil. And even when they built Solomon’s temple, when they built Solomon’s temple, they had this big old veil up there and they had the outer court, they had the holy placed and the holy of holies. The holy of holies is where they had the ark of the covenant that contained some things like the manna and the rod that Aaron had that budded and also a cup of the 10 commandments that were placed into this ark and it was in the holy of holies.

And this is where the Shekana glory that God would meet with them and his cloud would come over the tabernacle or over the temple. In the wilderness when it moved they knew to move and there would be a pillar of fire to protect them and give them warmth and light and so forth even in the night time. Cloud to fall in the daytime. So God watched over his people and he let him. Strange and mysterious ways. And when they rebuilt the temple, you see after it had been destroyed because you see the Assyrians came in and they took the northern 10 tribes into captivity.

Because you see it had been divided after Solomon. See all those women that Solomon had, it cost the nation of Israel. And that’s says, because of thy sin, the kingdom will be divided after your death. Ten tribes to the north, they would be known as Israel, their capital in Samaria. Then you had the two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, and Jerusalem was the capital there. So they both had kings, and so you’ll read in the kings and the chronicles, and they talk about the king of Israel, the king of Judah and so forth, and sometimes they had the same name, it blew your mind.

So they were taken into captivity because of of their rebellion to God. So you’d think they would be smarter, but they wouldn’t listen either. And so, Nebuchadnezzar came in and he laid siege about them and destroyed the city, the wall, the temple, took all the things of the temple and took them over to Babylon. We at Bibleline would like to extend a free offer to those who support this ministry financially. This month, we are sending a free copy of Dr.

Arnold’s teaching series on First and Second Peter. It is a small way that we can show our appreciation for your support of this radio program. Peter’s epistles are filled with lessons of suffering, trials and your faith on the roles of husbands and wives, warnings of false teachers, and the imminency of the return of the Lord. The CD Series is certain to help you in your home Bible studies, so contact us today to receive your CD teaching series by Dr.

Arnold on 1st and 2nd Peter. Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And don’t forget to include your mailing address as well. Without the thoughtful gifts and prayers of our listeners, we would not be able to remain on the air. God bless you. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church He is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold.

Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.