Alliance Christian Church
November 9 2025

      • 2 Corinthians 9:7GS-NETBIBLE

      • Philippians 4:4–7NIRV

  • Yes I Will
  • Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
  • I'm Forever Grateful

  • Here’s Your Sign

    INTRODUCTION
    John 2 “On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
    Pray, Introduce...
    We are jumping into a new series on the book of John
    NARRATIO
    Beginning our series on the Book of John, Called Sevens [Expand]
    Last week we talked about how in the book of John, Jesus has all of these groups of Sevens
    Seven Miracles, Seven witnesses, Seven Conversations, Seven festivals he attends.
    All total John places 7 Sevens throughout his gospel.
    All of which are serving to illustrate John’s main point which is
    John 20:31 NIV
    But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
    Here’s how we’re going to approach this.
    Each week we are going to look at a different group of sevens.
    This morning, we’re going to look at all seven miracles that Jesus performs.
    Next week, we’ll look at the seven witnesses that testify about Jesus.
    The reason we’re doing it this way is because I really want you to see the sevens clearly, and how the progress through John’s Gospel.
    Because when you just read John straight through they’re very subtle. John’s not beating you over the head with this whole sevens Idea, he’s very subtly scattering these sevens all throughout his Gospel.
    And so essentially we’re going to end up going through the entire book of John, seven different times, each time we’re going to be looking at a different seven.
    I think this will hopefully make it a lot easier to see what it is that John is doing with his gospel here.
    The downside of this approach is that because we’re going to be jumping around the book so much, you’re not going to be able to see the big picture flow of the book, like you would if we just went through it straight through.
    So in order to make this work, I’m really going to need us to all have a firm grasp on the plot of John from start to finish, so that you know, when we talk about Jesus walking on the water, that it comes right after He feeds the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and 2 fish, and right before he tells the people that he is the Bread of life, and that he is greater than moses who gave the people bread from heaven.
    So I’m going to encourage you guys over the next few weeks to read through the book of john several times, just so you you have the general plot-line in your back pocket. What happens first, what happens next, what happens next, etc.
    I really want to encourage you to read it, don’t just rely on your memory. I know a lot of you probably have read gospel accounts numerous times, and you probably feel like you already have a general idea of the order of events.
    But read it again. Because sometimes what happens is we have this tendency to take all four accounts of Jesus, Matthew, MArk, Luke, and John, and we mush them all together in our minds.
    But Matthew, mark, luke and john tell the story of Jesus’ life differently. They include different things, they leave different things out. Some times they even tell events in different orders because they’re trying to make a theological point.
    So don’t just rely on your memory, read through john, get the order of events of John specifically in your mind.
    —
    And to kind of help us out this morning, I want to give you the cliff notes version of the gospel according to John, So we kind of have it in our minds this morning
    The Book of John is really split into 2 major sections. The first half talks about Jesus’ life and ministry. And the second half talks about his final week in Jerusalem where he gets arrested, goes before pontius pilate, is cruficfied, and raises from the grave 3 days later and appears to his disciples.
    That first half, the half about Jesus’ ministry, is built around 7 different miracles that Jesus performs.
    And the general structure, goes something like this.
    Jesus is in galilee, he performs a miracle, he goes down to Jerusalem for a festival. He does or says something that makes the pharisees angry. and then he leaves.
    And he goes back to galilee, performs another miracle, goes to jerusalem, makes the pharisees angry again,
    Wash rinse repeat.
    That’s the General pattern that emerges from the first half of John.
    And there’s a little bit of variation. Sometimes he perfroms two miracles, sometimes he does two things to make the pharisees angry.
    But generally, that’s the pattern.
    And so you can really think of the first half of john being built around these 7 differnt miracles.
    John calls these miracles Signs.
    A sign, is simply a miracle with a purpose.
    Or to say it a better way, it’s a miracle with a purpose outside it’s immediate context. A miracle that is meant to point to something bigger.
    In some ways, all of the miracles in the bible are signs.
    When God parted the red sea after he brought the Israelites out of egypt. The immediate purpose of the miracle was simply to rescue the Israelites.
    But the bigger purpose was to show them that God is the one they should go to for refuge.
    When he provided manna from heaven for them in the wilderness. The immediate purpose was simply to provide food for them.
    But the sign, the bigger purpose of the miracle was to point them to the idea that God is their provider.
    That’s what we mean by “sign” it’s a miracle that points to a bigger idea.
    —-
    So as we get into these seven signs that Jesus performs, I want you to turn with me to John chapter 2.
    At this point, Jesus has come in contact with John the Baptist and his disciples. The disciples had begun to follow Jesus.
    And it says in 2:1
    John 2:1–3 NIV
    On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
    This is a problem.
    In a jewish wedding if the host is not adequately providing for the guests, it’s a sign of dishonor.
    And it says in verse 6
    John 2:6 NIV
    Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
    A little bit of quick math, here that’s like 180 Gallons of water. \
    So we’re talking, here, for my ranchers, that’s enough water to fill one of those small ovals sized stock tanks. The rubbermaid ones, or the oval galvanized stock tanks you’d fill for a couple horses.
    This was water used for ceremonial washings. Ritual washings.
    Jesus has the servants of the banquet fill these jars up to the brim. and take some to the host of the wedding. And turns to wine.
    And john is very clear to point out in verse 11
    John 2:11 NIV
    What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
    So many things that John is pointing to by telling us about this sign.
    First of all, the water used in these ceremonial jars, was something that the Jewish people had developed during the time between the old testament and the new testament.
    If we think back to the history of the jewish people in the old testament, the way in which you had your sins removed was you went to the temple and had the priest perform a sacrifice.
    But after the first temple was destroyed and the jewish people were hauled off into captivity, how do you do that if there’s no temple? What ritual do you perform?
    And so they came up with the idea of ceremonial washings as a sort of replacement for the sacrificial system during the time where they didn’t have a temple.
    And by the time the second temple was rebuilt, the practice had kind of stuck. And so at this time, the Jewish people, if they needed to be made clean, but they weren’t in jerusalem, they could go to the rabbi in the synagogue, and they would have a ceremonial cleansing.
    Jesus takes that water and transforms it into wine. Which later the church, after the lord’s supper, had begun to associate wine with the blood of Jesus.
    It’s so beautiful here, because the first sign that Jesus performs is pointing us to the idea that in order to be made clean, you don’t need to constantly be washed by the ceremonial water. Jesus’ blood continually cleanses us. once and for all.
    —
    There’s also a parallel here, with the signs and miracles that God reveals to the Jewish people while they were captive in egypt. The first sign that God revealed there was turning water into blood. And here, Jesus turns it to wine.
    —
    And much like the plagues in egypt, we’re going to see that each time Jesus performs a sign it gets progressivley more and more impressive, and progressively more and more controverisal to the pharisees and leaders in the temple.
    So after this ,Jesus goes to Jerusalem, drives the money changers out of the temple,
    meets with a pharisee named nicodemus, meets with the samaritan woman by the well, and he comes back to galilee a second time, and performs his second sign.

    John 4:46-54

    John 4:46–54 NIV
    Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed. This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
    Notice, here, that Jesus makes the statement “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you’ll never believe”
    Everybody in town had heard about the things Jesus had been doing, and they had to see it to believe it.
    And Jesus says to the offical, go home, your son will live.
    And in verse 50 it says “The man took Jesus at his word”
    he had faith before he saw a single miracle.
    Because Jesus said it would happen.
    This points us to the idea, that when the Bible tells us that Jesus will heal us spiritually, that he will wipe us clean of the sin and evil that infects us, are we will to take him at his word.
    And right after this happens, Jesus goes down to Jerusalem for another festival, and he comes across a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years.
    He was lying beside a pool in Jerusalem called the pool of Bathezda.
    Here’s what you need to know about the pool of bathezda.
    The pool of bathezda was a pool of water that existed inside the city of jerusalem. And people believed that every so often the waters would start to stir and bubble, and if you were able to get into the water at the right time you would be healed of whatever disease or ailment you had.
    This idea came not from anything in the Bible, but it was a pagan practice that the jews had adopted.
    In other words, it was in a sense, a form of idolatry that they had adopted.
    And so Jesus comes along and he sees this man who was relying not on God, not on faith, but on this pagan practice.
    And jesus simply says to him
    John 5:8–9 NIV
    Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
    This third sign points us to the notion that, while in some ways God’s people had done a fairly good job getting back to the law of God and what God had commanded them to do, in other ways they had been adopting the practices of the pagan nations around them.
    Jesus’ sign here points to a revival of faith. relying on what is good and true.
    The cycle continues, Jesus angers the pharisees again, he goes back to Galilee,
    Jesus feeds a crowd of 5000 people with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.
    Another little easter egg here, going with the theme of sevens that John is reminding us, he specifically tells us that there are 5 loaves, and 2 fish, 5 and 2 makes seven, the original audience would have picked up on that right away.
    The people depart, and the disciples go out on a boat in the middle of the storm, and jesus shows yet another sign by walking on the water to them.
    Both of these signs. again, have so much that they are pointing to.
    Much like the water in to wine points forward to the lord’s supper, and the abundance that Jesus provides for us, the miraculous feeding of the 5000 points to the Lord’s supper and abundance.
    It’s also meant to remind us of God and the israelite people in the wilderness, when God provided bread from heaven, so to Jesus provides bread for his followers, and he is the source of provision.
    Jesus walking on the water points back to when God controlled the waters ofthe red sea and the israelite people walked through safely.
    The cycle continues yet again, Jesus goes down to Jerusalem, Makes the religious leaders angry. This time he makes them angry enough to want to have him killed.
    And each time this cycle continues the signs Jesus performs get more and more impressive, the way he ticks off the religious leaders gets more and more intense.
    And in chapter 9 it says

    John 9:1-7

    John 9:1–7 NIV
    As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
    At this point, the pharisees and the religious leaders know that Jesus is in town, and they view him as a threat.
    If people start believing in Jesus, they’re going to stop relying on the preists and the relgious leaders.
    If people start believing in his authority, they’re going to stop believing in their authority.
    And so they come around and they start questioning this man that Jesus had healed.
    And they’re like who healed you, you weren’t really blind to begin with were you, this was all just a trick.
    And the man is like, look, guys I don’t know why you’re so upset. I was literally blind, and this guy came along and made it so I can see again. I don’t know why you’re so threatened by this.
    And the religious leaders get madder and madder until finally they threw him out of the synagogue. They excommunicated him because he had the nerve to be healed by Jesus.

    John 9:35-41

    John 9:35–41 NIV
    Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
    If you didn’t catch that, the jist of what Jesus said was,
    look, these religious leaders and priests and pharisees, they’re more spiritually blind than an actual blind person. They don’t know their head from a hole in the ground.
    And pharisees and religious leaders are standing around eavesdropping, and they’re like no we are not.
    And jesus says, oh, well in that case you’re willfully mistreating people. and if that’s the case, you’re guilty.
    Jesus was trying to give them an out, almost. He was trying to say, look, they’re too blind, they’re too ignorant, they just don’t know any better.
    And they were like We do too know better. And jesus says oh. In that case it makes it even worse.
    —
    As I mentioned before, each time one of these signs happens, each time Jesus comes along and sticks it to the religious leaders, they get more and more angry.
    Jesus has become a problem.
    And when we get to chapter 11, by this point, the leaders have already decided that Jesus is a big enough problem that he needs to be taken care of once and for all.
    And then, something happens. Jesus gets word that his best friend named lazarus had fallen seriously ill. Lazarus lived in a town called bethany, which was kind of like a suburb of Jerusalem, where all the religious leaders were.

    John 11:6-16

    John 11:6–16 NIV
    So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.” After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
    John 11:16 NIV
    Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
    At this point, everyone knows that if Jesus goes back into Jerusalem one more time, he’s not coming back out.
    He’s angered too many people, he’s become too much of a threat to the establishment.
    He’s become too much of a threat to the political and religious leader of the day.
    If he shows his face in town, they’re going to kill him. And he knows it, and the disciples know it.
    But his friend, his best friend, is dead. And Jesus has the power to do something about it.

    John 11:38-44

    John 11:38–44 NIV
    Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
    And after that, the thing that everyone though was going to happen happened.
    The religious leaders found out that Jesus was in town. They convinced the roman soldiers to arrest him. They convinced the roman governor to have him hung on a cross. And they killed him.
    All because his friend was dead, and Jesus had the power to do something about it.
    Jesus went to his death so that lazarus could live.
    Jesus’ seventh and final sign.
    [Expand] we are also dead, and Jesus went to the cross so that you could live.

      • John 20:31NIV2011

      • John 2:1–3NIV2011

      • John 2:6NIV2011

      • John 2:11NIV2011

      • John 5:8–9NIV2011

      • John 11:16NIV2011

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