Hi, everybody. Would you turn to John Chapter
2? I'd like to read the first 11
verses of John Chapter 2. I've entitled this message, Christ's
Most Important Miracle. Now, somebody may think, how
can you determine what his most important miracle is? Well, here
it says, this is his most important miracle. Look in verse 11, this
beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested
forth his glory and his disciples believed on him. Now the word
beginning means the chief. It's the name of our Lord, the
beginning. He's called the beginning and
the end, the first and the last. This is not talking about the
beginning as in the starting point, as far as a sequence of
events, but this is talking about the chief. that from which everything
else flows. Now, the Lord, in the Gospel
of John, performed seven miracles, and the whole book is surrounded
around those miracles. You'll remember when he healed
the nobleman's son with simply a word. He willed his healing. And then in John chapter 5, there
was a man that had been a paralytic for 38 years, and he told him
to rise and walk. And then in John chapter 6, he
fed 5,000 people, creating food, bringing matter into the universe
that was not there before. And in that same chapter, he
walked on water. He suspended the law of physics
and did what only God could do through his laws, and he walked
on water. And then in John chapter 9, he
gave sight to a man that was born blind. And in John chapter 11, he raised
Lazarus from the dead. But this miracle is called the
beginning of miracles, the chief miracle. And I know why. Do you know that in other religions,
Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, in other religions, this issue is never
addressed. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly. It's not even addressed. I guess
it's a non-issue, and if you would talk to most of the people
in Danville or Lexington or the United States of America, it
wouldn't be much of an issue with them. That's a boring subject. But how can God be just, holy
and righteous, and yet clear and cause to be not guilty somebody
like me? Now this miracle gives us the
beautiful illustration as to how that could be. Now let's
read this together in John chapter two. And the third day there was a
marriage in Cana of Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there
and both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the
mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. Jesus saith
unto her, woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not
yet come. His mother saith unto the servants,
whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six
water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the
Jews, containing two or three firkins a piece, a firkin was
nine gallons, so they each held between 18 and 27 gallons, but
they were empty. Jesus saith unto them, fill the
water pots with water. and they filled them up to the
brim. And he saith unto them, draw out now, and bear unto the
governor of the feast. And they bear it, when the ruler
of the feast had tasted the water that was made white, and knew
not whence it was. But the servants which drew the
water knew, the governor of the feast called the bridegroom and
said unto him, every man at the beginning doth set forth good
wine. And when men have well drunk,
then that which is worse, but thou has kept the good wine until
now. This beginning of miracles This
chief of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested
forth his glory. And his disciples believed on
him. What a special thing a marriage
is. And the third day there was a
marriage in Cana. Ordained by God, marriage is honorable and all.
It's a blessed thing. The Lord bringing a man and woman
together loving one another, serving one another. Marriage is a blessed thing. And the Lord demonstrate his
approval of marriage in that he went to this wedding. He didn't have to, but he did. He was at this wedding feast. We should follow his example. And both Jesus was called and
his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, verse
three, something terrible took place. They ran out of wine. And that was an embarrassment
to everybody. I know the way it is when you
all have a meal here or when we have a meal at our church,
the church family together, and you're always afraid of running
out of food. They're not being enough. And
you think that would be embarrassing. Well, this was even more embarrassing.
They ran out of wine. Now, if you don't drink alcohol
at all, that's good. You ought not drink it. If you
feel impressed about not drinking, you shouldn't drink. Scripture
says that. But don't call the drinking of alcohol sin. It's not. The wine they were
drinking here, somebody says it was grape juice. No, it wasn't. Look at verse 10 or verse 9. No, verse 10, and he saith, every
man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men
have well drunk. Now that word actually means
intoxicated. That is not a justification for drunkenness. You know that,
and I know that. It's never right to get drunk, but this was real
wine with a real alcoholic content. And the Lord drank wine. They called him a drunkard. a
winebibber, a gluttonous man, a friend of publicans and sinners.
So, sin is not in drinking wine. At this marriage feast, they
had wine and they ran out of wine. And they were very upset
with this. And when they wanted wine, now
that's a Spiritually, what a good place to be, to be in want, to
not have any. That's the same words as described
to the prodigal when he began to be in want. What a blessing it is to be poor
and needy. When they wanted wine, they had
run out of wine. The mother of Jesus said unto
him, they have no wine. And implied in that statement
is do something about it. I suppose we've all looked at
this passage before and thought, was the Lord being disrespectful
to his mother? Was he being harsh with his mother? No. Nobody loved
their mother like the Lord did. I'm sure of that. He's the only
one to ever truly honor the fifth commandment, to honor your father
and mother, and he did so even when he was on the cross. He
made sure that her needs were taken care of when he said, John,
behold your mother. Woman, behold your son, warning
of John. He took complete care of the needs of his mother in
the flesh. This was not disrespectful in
any way from him. But I do know this, it's never
right to tell the Lord what to do. And implied in that statement,
she was saying, do something about this. You and I are never
to tell the Lord what to do. And that's when he said, woman,
my hour's not yet come. What have I to do with thee?
My hour, the hour of his death is what he's talking about. Father,
the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also might glorify thee. This is the hour for which the
universe was created. For Christ to die on the cross,
that's his hour. And he said, what shall I say? Save me from this hour, but for
this cause came I into this hour. But he looks at her and he says,
this time my hour's not yet come and you're not to be telling
me what to do. You know, the Lord gives us the
example of David saying, do as Alice said. Remember that? I think it's in 2 Samuel chapter
7, I think, where the Lord talks about all these things he's going
to do. And David says, do as thou hast said. Now that's a
prayer we can pray. He's not telling the Lord what
to do. The Lord's told him what he's going to do. And he says,
do it. And that's our prayer, isn't it? We want the Lord to
do as he said, but the Lord rebukes his mother at this time. You
do not tell me what to do. That's never appropriate. And then she says in verse five,
his mother sayeth unto the servants, whatsoever he sayeth to you,
do it. Now there's our rule of life,
isn't it? You want a rule of life? Here it is. Whatsoever
he sayeth to you, do it. And they were set there, verse
six, There were set there six water pots of stone. Six. What's that? The number of man.
The number of man. Adam was created on the sixth
day. It represents the number of man. Six, six, six. Failure upon failure
upon failure. That's man. Six water pots of
stone. after the manner of the purifying
of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Now, I think it's very interesting
that he calls this the manner of the purifying of the Jews,
not God's way, but the Jews way. And you'll find this phrase over
and over throughout the book of John. In John chapter five,
verse one, we read a feast of the Jews. It's not God's Passover,
it's the Jews' Passover. The Jews' Passover was at hand. Therefore, the Jews did persecute
Jesus. The Jews sought the more to kill
him. The Passover, a feast of the
Jews, was nigh. The Jews then murmured at him. The Jews' feast of Tabernacle
was at hand. No man spake openly of him for
fear of the Jews. Then said the Jews, say we not
well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil? There was a
division among the Jews because of these things. Then the Jews
took up stones to stone him. Do I need to say anything else?
When he's talking about the Jews' manner of purifying, it's not
God's manner of purifying. It's the Jews. And what do we
have? We have empty stone pots. That is the Jews manner of purifying. It won't go any further than
that. Empty stone pots. You know, the Lord's manner of
purifying, Hebrews 1.3 says, when he had by himself purged,
made purification for our sins, he did it. But this is the Jews
manner of purifying. And all we have are these six,
the number of man, empty stone pots. Verse seven. Jesus saith unto them, fill the water pots with water. Now, remember these would hold
anywhere between 18 and 27 gallons, but they were empty. And he said,
fill them with water. And how full did they fill them?
They filled them up to the brim, verse seven, all the way to where
you couldn't get one more drop in any of them. Now that represents
God's salvation. You are complete. You are full in Him. Nothing can be added. You can't
become any more holy. You can't get any more pleasing.
You can't get any more accepted. You can't get any more righteous
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You lack nothing. You're full.
Nothing can be added. Right now, listen to me right
now. There's nothing that can be done
to make you better because you are perfect in Christ Jesus.
As he is, so are we in this world. Complete in Verse 7, Jesus saith unto them,
Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the
brim, completely full. And he saith unto them, Draw
out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bear it. Now this is the preaching of
the gospel. We draw it out. I don't know if it had been turned
to wine yet. It turned to wine when they put
the ladle in it. Here's what we do in preaching
the gospel. Taste this. Taste this for yourself. That's
what preaching is. Taste this for yourself. I want
you to taste what I'm bringing. Come and taste for yourself. Taste and see that the Lord is
gracious. They bore that to the governor
of the feast. If you taste this wine, you're
gonna have the same response he did. Verse nine. Now this wine is given to the
governor of the feast. They bear it. And when the ruler
of the feast had tasted the water, that was made wine. Now this is the important part
of this miracle. When he tasted the water that
was made wine. It was not water that tasted
like wine, was it? It was not water that looked
like wine. It was not water that smelled
like wine. It was water that was made wine. It was made to be what it was
not before. It does not say that Christ imputed
the qualities of wine to the water. It does not say that Christ
imparted the qualities of wine to the water. It does not say
Christ infused wine into the water and made it like wine. It says the water was made wine. It was made to be what it was
not before. And this miracle gives us a glimpse
of the greater miracle that this represents. How God can be just
holy, just, absolutely righteous, and yet justify somebody like
me or you. Now I had the opportunity to
have a long cab ride with a Muslim, not too long ago. And we were
discussing the differences in what we believe, and I said,
let me ask you a question. I said, my problem with your
God is your God is not just. And he, whoa, you know, my God's
more just than yours. My God's holier than yours. You
know, what a Muslim would say. And I said, well, tell me this. I said, Does your God forgive? And he said, yes, he does. But you have to repent before
he can forgive you. And he can see if you're being
sincere. He knows if it's just language or you're really being
sincere in repenting. And I said, oh, so you're going
to be forgiven based upon how sincere you are? He said, yes. And I said, well, let me ask
you a question. If your grandchildren, he was telling me about his family,
I said, if somebody murdered one of your grandchildren and
the man was apprehended and was brought before the judge, what
if the judge said to him, if you sincerely repent, I'll
forgive you this? What would you do? He said, that
wouldn't be just. That wouldn't be right. And I
said, that's your God. Your God is not just. Your God
is not holy. Your God has not made a way to
be just and justify the ungodly. I tried to the best of my ability
to tell him what that meant during that 45 minute cab ride. Where's this going as to God
being just and justifying the undaunted? Well, turn with me
to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Now remember, it was water that
was made wine. It wasn't water that looked like
wine or smelled like wine or even tasted like wine. It was
wine! It was water, now it's wine. Second Corinthians chapter five,
this is one of the most glorious, mysterious passages in all the
Word of God. Verse 21. For he, God the Father,
hath made him To be sin, notice the to be is
in italics. It was supplied by the translator
supposedly to make it more clear, but I don't think it makes it
more clear. Let's read it without the to be. For he hath made him
sin. He was not sin. He hath made
him sin. Now, I can't say anywhere near
what ought to be said about that. This is so mysterious. It's so
glorious. It's so beyond being able to
grasp, believe what God says, just like the water was made
wine. Jesus Christ was made sin. For he hath made him sin for
us, who knew no sin. The Lord Jesus
Christ knew no sin. Me and you know it real well.
Every time we breathe, it's with us. But he never experienced
sin. Here's what it's like to be a
sinner. No, he never sinned. He never desired sin. He never
thought of sin. He said, which of you can convince
me of sin? He said, the prince of this world
has come and found nothing in me, nothing he can get a hold
of. He knew no sin. For he had made him sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made something we were not before. The righteousness of God. Let's take this verse of scripture
at face value. It does not say that God made
Christ to be a sinner, does it? We've been accused of that. Well,
you're saying Christ is a sinner. I'm not saying no such thing.
And nor is the text. Nor does it say that we are made
righteous. It doesn't say that, does it?
It says we're made the righteousness of God. Our text does not say
that God imputed sin to him. It doesn't say that. It says
he made him sin. Nor does it say in our text that
he imputed righteousness to us. It doesn't say God imparted sin
to him. It doesn't say God imparted righteousness
to us. What does it say? He had made
him sin. I wish I knew how to talk about
that the way it ought to be talked about. What is sin? Look on the cross and there you'll
find out. He was made sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God. The righteousness of God. I received a letter just this
morning from a man, and he was so troubled about 1 Corinthians
chapter five, verse 10. You're in 1 Corinthians chapter
five, so look up a few verses to verse 10. I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 10. For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the
things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. Now, you and I are going to receive
the things done in our body. Now, here's how I wrote this
individual back. If I'm justified, all the things
done in my body are good. There is no sin. That's what justification is.
It's not simply being forgiven. It's not simply being pardoned.
Sinless. It's standing before God without
guilt. It's standing before God perfectly
righteous. You remember the publican in
the temple beating on his breast, crying, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. What did the Lord say about that
man? He said, I say unto you, that man went down to his house
justified. Not simply forgiven or pardoned.
I'm thankful for forgiveness. I want the pardon of all my sins,
but that's not what the word the Lord uses. He says that man
went down to his house justified. Made to be what he was not before. Now that's what Christ accomplished,
and that's the illustration he uses. This is why this is called
the first miracle. I'm made to be what I was not. Perfected in God's sight. I have
a history, and there are no skeletons in my closet. The things done
in my body are all good, because whatever Christ did, that's what
I have done. I'm made to be what I was not,
because He was made to be what He was not. He was made to be
sin. He took my sin, and he became guilty of my sin, and that's
why he was punished. And I'm made to be the very righteousness
of God. Turn with me to Proverbs chapter
17. Verse 15. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination
to the Lord. Now, when the Lord was on Calvary's
tree, it wasn't God punishing the innocent. It was God punishing
the guilty when my sin became His. And because He was punished,
His very righteousness becomes my very righteousness. The righteousness of God in Him. Back to our text in John chapter
2. When the ruler of the feast had
tasted the water that was made wine, I have no doubt it was
the best wine he'd ever tasted. You can be sure of that. It was
the best wine he'd ever tasted. And he was shocked for this reason. When the ruler of the feast had
tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not which it was,
but the servants which drew the water knew, The governor of the
feast called the bridegroom and saith unto him, every man at
the beginning doth set forth good wine, the best wine, the
best tasting wine, the purest wine. And when men have well
drunk and their taste buds have become numbed, then that which
is worse. And that's just the way of the
flesh. But the Lord's not like us. He says, I can't understand this. You brought the best white out
now. That's the way the Lord is. Beyond the best is always the
better. with the Lord. And that's what
heaven will be every there. Once again, I don't understand.
I can't grasp this, but I know it's so in heaven. I know there
are no days. There's no time. I realize that.
Uh, so we're limited in how we can describe this, but every
day will be better than the one before. Learning more of him. You brought the every day we're
gonna hear the same thing. You brought the best wine. today,
for now. Verse 11, this beginning of miracles. This most important of miracles,
because it gives us some idea of how God can be just and justify
the ungodly. He makes us to be what we were
not. Perfectly righteous. to where
I actually have a perfect history. He gives a new history. All my
history is good. There's nothing bad. It's all
perfect obedience. He made me to be what I was not. And He was made to be what He
was not. He was made to be sin. Verse
11, this beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee
And what did he do in doing this? He manifested forth his glory. How glorious Jesus Christ is
in making the water wine, in making me righteous, making me
to be what I wasn't, him taking on my sin. How glory, he manifest
his glory. And what does it say? And His
disciples believed on Him. Now, I'm sure you've seen the
distinction in Scripture. Sometimes we read where we believe
in Him, and sometimes we read where we believe on Him. And
there is a difference. I look at the plane, the airplane
that I'm getting ready to board, And I believe in that plane's
ability to get me where I want to go. No one has ever flown, I don't
suppose, and not worried a little bit about a crash landing. I
mean, every time you go up, you're thinking, you know, this thing
might go down. But still, I believe in that
plane to get me to where I want to go. You know when I believe
on the plane? When I get in and sit down. and
I'm completely dependent on that plane to get me where I want
to go. I have, I'm not flapping my wings
trying to keep the plane up. I'm just sitting there and there
is an infant in the plane and there's a strong man in the plane
and they're both equally dependent upon the plane getting them there. If the plane gets them there,
they'll get there. If the plane doesn't, they won't.
Now, I believe on Christ when I rely upon Him completely as
being made sin for me, that I might be made. I didn't have any works
in this. This is all His work. That I
might be made the very righteousness of God in Him. The beginning
of miracles. Lord, how we thank you for this
glorious, simple, incomprehensible miracle. And how we thank you, you have shown us that in this miracle,
you made something to be what it was not. And that's all your
work, and we glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
pray for your continued blessing upon us, upon this assembly.
Bless us for Christ's sake. In his name we pray.