From His Heart

Speaker 1

There are lots of folks that feel so empty inside. Empty in their marriage, empty in their job, empty in relationships, empty in their bank account. They just feel empty.

And, you know, you go to church and you hope that something's gonna happen that can somehow fill you up. And the sad truth is, many people come to church Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. They come in empty. They leave empty.

Is there an answer to emptiness? Yes, there is an answer to your emptiness, to my emptiness. And the answer is Jesus. Because it's all about Jesus.

Speaker 2

Hello and welcome to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, who today will begin to explore the answer to filling up an empty life. And if you're feeling empty, today's message is for you. It's from Pastor Jeff's series, It's All Jesus.

The Bible teaches us that all the things under the sun that we will often busy ourselves with are often in vain, meaningless. God created all of us to realize that we were created by him and for him and should seek to know him and his purpose for our lives. And that's why when we make Jesus the center of all we do, we'll learn our real purpose for life and the emptiness in life will be gone.

Today, the lesson is rightfully called the answer to an Empty Life, from Pastor Jeff's series, It's All About Jesus. Let's get started. Open your Bible to the Gospel of John, chapter two. Here again is Pastor Jeff.

Speaker 1

Solomon is a guy who tried to find satisfaction. But you know the truth. Solomon wasn't happy. He was miserable inside. He wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes, a weird kind of book. It's a book that uses the phrase 29 times "under the sun." Solomon is a guy who tried to find satisfaction under the sun. If I keep God out, if I keep heaven out, and I try all these things—wine and women and work and song and all these things, things that the world says, "Boy, if you have that, you'll be happy"—then that's what I'm going to do. Solomon said, "And that's what I'm going to find is happiness." And he did it all and did it all, and he didn't find any happiness at all. As a matter of fact, he said this: "But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless, like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere."

Solomon is famous for saying these words: "Vanity of vanities, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity." It's all meaningless. It's all futile. It's all empty. Did you know that there are a lot of people that can relate to Solomon? I mean, not in terms of what he had, but in terms of feeling empty. I would dare say that in our congregation today, there are lots of folks that feel so empty inside—empty in their marriage, empty in their job, empty in relationships, empty in their bank account. They just feel empty. And, you know, you go to church and you hope that something's going to happen that can somehow fill you up. And the sad truth is, many people come to church Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. They come in empty. They leave empty.

Is there an answer to emptiness? To our emptiness? Yes, there is an answer to your emptiness, to my emptiness. And the answer is Jesus. Because it's all about Jesus. The scripture says in Psalm 107, verse 9: "For he has satisfied the thirsty soul and the hungry soul. He has filled with what is good." He does that.

Now, we're in a series, and it's simply titled "It's All About Jesus." Our series is from the book of John. And John starts off by telling you, it's all about Jesus. Jesus is God. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

Then in John, chapter two, John begins with a series of miracles. He records seven miracles in the public ministry of Jesus. So in this series, we're going to look at those miracles in the book of John. And we'll start with the first miracle. It's the first miracle Jesus ever performed. It was a miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee—the miracle of turning water into wine.

John, chapter two, begins reading: "And on the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited and his disciples to the wedding. And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.' And Jesus said to her, 'Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come.' His mother said to the servants, 'Whatever he says to you, do it now.' There were six stone water pots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing 20 or 30 gallons each. Jesus said to them, 'Fill the water pots with water.' And they filled them to the brim. And he said to them, 'Draw some out now and take it to the head waiter.' And they took it to him. And when the head waiter tasted the water which had become wine and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the head waiter called the bridegroom and said to him, 'Every man serves the good wine first, and when men have drunk freely, then that which is poorer; you have kept the good wine until now.' This beginning of his signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him."

This is such a great story, the very first miracle that Jesus ever performed. Sometimes you'll hear people say, and they'll quote from apocryphal books, how when Jesus was a little boy, he was playing one day and making little clay pigeons. Then he just kind of said, "Shoo," and they all became pigeons and flew off. They say Jesus did all that kind of stuff—he did all these little miracles when he was a little kid. No, he didn't. This was the first of his miracles, the very first miracle Jesus ever performed. He's 30 years old and he is beginning his public ministry. He is calling disciples to himself, and he chooses this place, Cana of Galilee, to do his first miracle.

As you read about this story, one of the things that jumps out at you is there's emptiness here. There's no wine. The wine bottles are empty. There are some water pots that will hold 20 or 30 gallons, but they're empty. So there are empty wine bottles, empty wine glasses, and empty stone water pots. And Jesus is the answer to the emptiness.

Now, if you're empty today, this message is especially for you. So I want you to listen extra close. Here are three encouragements from this passage that will help you with your emptiness.

**Encouragement number one:** Jesus cares about your emptiness. He really cares. Now, the background of this story is that there's a wedding, and Mary is invited. Jesus' mother, Mary, is invited to the wedding. The wedding is in Cana of Galilee. Cana, according to the map I looked at, is only about two or three miles from Nazareth. You know, Jesus grew up in Nazareth. His family was from Nazareth. Nazareth wasn't a hot spot; it wasn't a great place to come from. Remember, they said of Jesus, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" What kind of prophet comes out of Nazareth? It was the other side of the tracks. Well, Cana is like a little suburb of Nazareth, and that's where this wedding is.

Mary is invited to the wedding. The couple that is getting married, we don't know their names; the Bible doesn't tell us. But most Bible commentators say this was either a friend of the family of Jesus or maybe even a relative of Mary, because Mary is invited, and Jesus is invited, along with his disciples—the guys that he just called to himself in chapter one. They weren't all together yet, not all 12, but he had some of the guys, and they're all invited to the wedding too. So it's probably a close friend or even a family member of Mary.

Weddings were big deals back then, man. It was the event of the times. If you wanted to have a big party, it was always associated with a wedding. People would go to a wedding feast for a week. They would leave the farm and say, "Man, so-and-so's getting married. We're coming to the celebration." And they would celebrate for a week. One of the things that was a staple item at the wedding was wine. Wine was a big, big deal. If you ran out of wine, that was a social faux pas. You didn't do that. That's like going to lunch today at a Mexican restaurant and they say, "Well, I'm sorry to tell you, but we don't have chips and salsa. We ran out." My soul, how do you run out? You're a Mexican restaurant! You did not want to run out of wine at a wedding.

Now, remember, this wine in the New Testament is very different from wine today. They did not have a purification system. If you just drank water, you would often get sick because the water wasn't purified. If you were just drawing it out of a spring or a well, and you were just drinking water, oftentimes you would get sick. Paul told Timothy, "Quit drinking water exclusively. Drink some wine for your stomach's sake," because Timothy was having constant dysentery due to the water quality.

In New Testament times, they would drink wine and mix it with water. Homer talks about how they would take 20 parts water and one part wine, and they would mix that together, and the wine acted as a disinfectant. In the first century, Pliny, who wrote history, said the common practice was eight parts water to one part wine. Some of my studies said most Jews would do three parts water to one part wine, and they would mix that together. They never drank grape juice—fermented grape juice. They never drank that.

Speaker 3

Just straight.

Speaker 1

That was considered barbaric. You would always mix it and see, we get the idea. Well, Jesus, he's making wine, they're drinking wine. Everybody's having wine. Man, if you have wine for seven days, you're just sloshed, right? But that's not the way it was. You know, the alcoholic content back then. You'd have to drink a ton of that stuff. Some guy did a little study, and he said to be the equivalent of two martinis, you would have to drink 22 glasses of their wine. 22 glasses. That's a lot, right? You'd be running for the bathroom like crazy if you said, I'm gonna keep drinking this stuff. So it's very, very different.

People say, well, you know, is it okay to drink wine? Jeff, do you drink wine? No. Jeff, do you drink beer? No. Jeff, do you drink hard liquor? No, I don't drink at all. Culturally, if I lived back then, I would have drunk the wine, and so would you have, and so did everyone. And it wasn't considered something that was like, ooh, we're not supposed to do that. It wasn't like that. They didn't have really much else to drink.

I believe if Jesus were walking the earth today in his public ministry today in the United States of America, you better believe it. I don't think he would touch wine. I don't think he'd touch beer. I don't think he'd touch alcohol at all, because it wrecks and ruins a person's witness. If you want your life to count all it can count for Christ, stay away from that stuff. If you want your marriage to be all that God wants it to be, stay away from that stuff. Have you ever talked to couples who have introduced wine and beer and alcohol into their home? And then one of the parties becomes an alcoholic and you see, hey, how fun is alcohol for you? It's horrible. It's destructive.

Speaker 2

Of course, there is much more to avoiding an empty life. And Pastor Jeff will continue the lesson called the answer to an empty life in just a moment. But first, he has a favor and an offer.

Speaker 3

The devil is working hard to deceive people with his lies. Surely you've noticed it happening in your family, friends, neighbors, workmates, classmates, and associates. So what are we going to do? What can you do?

I've authored a new book that will help focus your attention on exactly how the devil distorts truth and how he can destroy your family and our nation. The new book is called *The Devil's Newsroom: Muting Satan's Fake News and Tuning into God's Truth*.

Now, in this book, I pull back the curtain on the enemy's deceptions, exposing his subtle lies, his blatant lies, and his twisted lies. I'd love to send you a copy of *The Devil's Newsroom* to say thanks for supporting From His Heart ministries this month with your timely gift.

When you read it, you'll discover the truth that sets you free, the hope that anchors your soul, and the victory Jesus has already won. God bless you for helping us expose the lies of the enemy. Here is how to get your copy of this new book.

Speaker 2

To get your copy of the Devil's Newsroom, muting Satan's fake news and tuning in to God's truth, make your gift when you call 86640, Bible 86640, Bible or go online to fromsheart.org.

God bless you for joining with us to share the good news of Jesus to a lost and a hurting world.

Now back to Pastor Jeff to conclude part one of this lesson entitled "The Answer to an Empty Life."

Speaker 1

I talked to an alcoholic one day, and he told me, he said, "Jeff, I wish I had never taken my first drink. It's ruined my life." And so in this situation, they had wine and they ran out of wine, and it was, uh, oh, we don't have any chips and salsa at Tamales. This was going to be really embarrassing. And you know what is interesting? This is the very first miracle. The miracle is turning water to wine.

And that is that life and death. Is that the same thing as healing a nobleman's son? Is that the same thing as raising Lazarus from the dead? Is that the same thing as healing the blind man? I mean, is it really that big a deal if you run out of wine? Was it to that couple? That's not a big deal in the big scheme of things, but it was a big deal to that couple. And you know what that tells me? It tells me Jesus cares. Your problems are not insignificant to Jesus. They're not.

You might tell your problem to somebody else, and someone says, "Pfft, that's a nothing problem. That's an insignificant problem." But it's not insignificant to you, and it's not insignificant to Jesus. You ever hear people talk about minor surgery? You know what minor surgery is? It's surgery that happens to someone else. If you have surgery, it's not minor surgery. It's you going under the knife. That's a major thing. Fast and pray. That's the kind of deal. Because we don't have little problems. I mean, they may seem little, but when there are problems, they're a big problem.

And when you're that couple, when you're that family, and you're getting ready to have no more wine, and people are going to be talking about you in the little community of Cana and out in Nazareth, and man, they threw a wedding party. It was really a bust. They ran out of wine. That's just terrible. That's just horrible. And the Lord knew it. The Lord cared about that. Here he is at an unnamed family's wedding in a bohunk town called Cana next to the other town called Nazareth, that's on the other side of the tracks. He came to that wedding and he did his first miracle there. He cared about that problem.

Hey, what problem do you have today? What emptiness do you have today? Jesus cares. He cares about that problem in your marriage. He cares if you're here today and you say, "I wish I had a marriage to have a problem in. I wish there were someone on the radar, and I'm nervous that things will pass me by, and my biological clock is ticking like crazy, and there's nobody on the horizon, and I just feel so empty inside." The Lord knows. The Lord cares. He cares about that business problem you have. He cares about that physical problem you have. Your problems are not insignificant to Jesus.

First Peter, chapter 5, verse 7 says it matters to him concerning you. Cast your cares upon him because he cares for you. Now, what do you do with your problems? You do exactly what Mary did, verse three. And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." Lord Jesus, here's the situation. These friends of mine, these relatives of mine, if they were relatives, they have no wine. This is bad news. Tamales has run out of chips. Lord, what are we going to do, Jesus? What are we going to do? They have no wine.

That's a good formula for what to do with your problems. You take them to Jesus. You tell Jesus about your problems, and his response in verse four is really kind of weird, right? We read it and we just think, man, that just seems weird. And Jesus said to her, "Woman..."

Speaker 3

Woman.

Speaker 1

Oh, it's like, wow, that's kind of abrupt. It's your mother and you're calling her woman.

And we read that just right off the bat, and we said, oh, kind of bristle up a little bit. Why would you call her woman?

But see, back then, that wasn't. We might look at that. If you ask me a question, I say, woman.

Speaker 3

Say.

Speaker 1

I mean, I don't do that with Debbie. She's liable to hit me. But that wasn't like that back then. A translation in today's terms would be, sweet lady.

Sweet lady doesn't call her mother because he's starting his public ministry and he's no longer her son. He's God's son. And it's not the same kind of relationship. He's breaking that tie.

And Jesus didn't need her. She needed him to be her savior and redeemer. Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come.

What do I have to do with you? That just seems, like, weird. Why did you say that? I don't understand that.

Speaker 3

Jesus.

Speaker 1

Well, that was an idiom of the day, and so it's hard to translate. Here are some different translations of that. Woman, why do you involve me? Says the NIV. Woman, that's not our problem. What has this concern of yours have to do with me? Why are you coming to me with this? My hour has not yet come. I'm on the Father's timetable, so why are you involving me in this? Now?

We read that and we say, okay, he's getting ready to do a big miracle. But based on verse four, it doesn't sound like he's gonna do a miracle, does it? Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come. It sounds like what Jesus is saying, forget it. He's not saying forget it, but what he is doing in the need, he's putting up a little obstacle. His response is a little bit of a test. It's an obstacle.

And remember this, in your difficulties and in your problems, and you're praying about it. God's initial response is often a test. It's a test. It's woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come. It's not that Jesus doesn't care. What he wants to do is test you to see, do you really care about this? Are you gonna keep pressing on this issue? Don't give up in your prayers. Men ought always to pray and not to quit. Luke, chapter 18, verse 1.

Some of you are here and you know what you've done. You've thrown in the towel on your marriage. You've thrown in the towel on your son or your daughter. Some of you kids who are praying for your mom or dad to be saved, you've thrown in the towel and said, well, they're never coming to Christ. God is not answering my prayer. You've thrown in your towel that things are ever going to get better in your situation in life.

Bring the towel, pick the towel back up. It's always too early to quit. And God's initial response that seems like a no is a test. The Lord cares. Jeremiah 29:13 says, "And you'll seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart."

Speaker 2

You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. And as we've learned, it's always too early to quit when you're waiting on an answer from God. And that's only the first of three real encouragements we'll hear in this message from Pastor Jeff called "The Answer to an Empty Life," and we will have the remaining two tomorrow on From His Heart.

From His Heart is here each day to help people with empty hearts get filled with the Holy Spirit and live lives that glorify God in everything. We do that by preparing and distributing these messages on radio, television, and online. And that only happens as people support this ministry, from which Pastor Jeff receives no income at all.

When you give this month, we'll say thank you for helping us by sending you Pastor Jeff's new and incredibly timely book, "The Devil's Newsroom: Muting Satan's Fake News and Tuning in to God's Truth." Just make your gift this month to From His Heart of any amount, and we'll send you the book. Call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-24253) or go online to fromhisheart.org. You'll be making a real difference when you give because you are then a part of a ministry that is telling the world that it's all about Jesus.

Well, I'm Larry Nobles inviting you to join us tomorrow on From His Heart, when Pastor Jeff will continue to explore the glorious truth from Scripture that Jesus is the answer to an empty life. Join Pastor Jeff Shreve on Thursday as he speaks truth, love, and hope to a lost and hurting world and reminds us that God loves us so much and has a wonderful plan for our lives. Find out more at fromhisheart.org.