Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neiberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'm reading John chapter 2, verse
11. This beginning of miracles did
Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth His glory and
His disciples believed on Him. Now this is the summary statement
with regard to the miracle of the water being made wine. I've entitled this message, Christ's
Most Important Miracle. Now, somebody may say, well,
how can you decide what Christ's most important miracle is when
he performed all these different miracles? Well, I'm not deciding
it. It says this beginning of miracles. Now this is not the
word that means first, like first in a sequence of events or in
a chronological order. The word beginning means the
chief, the thing from which all other things proceed. This is
the arch miracle. That's the word it's taken out
of. this beginning of miracles. Now, this is the most important
of the miracles of Christ. This is the testimony of Scripture.
Now, let me say some things by way of introduction before we
look at this miracle. Do you know that the gospel is
the only religion that addresses this subject. How can God be
just and still justify somebody that's unjust? How can God be
just and justify the ungodly? Now, there are perhaps many people
that have never even considered this, but the Bible does. I remember one time, being in
a crowd, and there was a preacher preaching to all kinds of people
in this crowd. It was a Cincinnati Bengals football
game, and they were on a loudspeaker. And they were preaching, and
they were preaching hellfire, brimstone, trying to scare everybody. And I heard a man ask this question,
why can't God just forgive? Why does there have to be blood
shedding? Why The cross, why can't God
just forgive? Well, what if you had a child
and somebody murdered your child and they were guilty and brought
before the judge and the judge said, well, I'm a forgiving judge. I'm just going to forgive him.
How would you feel about that? Why you would know that justice
had not been done. Now, let me repeat, only the
Bible, only the gospel addresses how God can be just, absolutely
just, and yet justify someone who's guilty and make it to where
they are not guilty before God. Now, I'm interested in that.
I want to be not guilty before God. Now, this Miracle illustrates
how that takes place. This is the message of scripture,
how God can be just and justify the ungodly. And we're given
in this miracle called the beginning of miracles, the chief miracle.
This is the same title given to Christ himself, who is the
beginning. Christ is the beginning. He's
the beginning and the end, the first and the last. That shows
how this is a different word than first. He's the beginning.
He's the chief. He's that from which all other
things proceed. He's before all things. This is the beginning of miracles.
Now in the gospel of John, there are seven miracles, all of which
take omnipotence to perform. There's the healing of the nobleman's
son simply by him willing it to take place. There's the man
who had been paralyzed for 38 years and Christ told him to
get up and he got up immediately. There is the feeding of 5,000
where matter is brought into the universe that was not there
before. Food is brought into the universe and he feeds them.
There's Him walking on the water. He suspends the law of physics. They're His laws, and He can
suspend them whenever He's pleased to do it, and He walks on water.
There is the healing, or the giving of sight, of a man that
was born blind, and Christ gave him sight. And then there's the
resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. There was a man named
Lazarus who had been dead four days and had already gone through
the process of decay. And his body had already began
to stink. And Christ said, Lazarus, come
forth. And he that was dead came forth.
And there is this miracle. All of these miracles took omnipotence. But this is what God the Holy
Spirit calls the most important miracle because it illustrates
what the Bible is all about. How God can be just and justify
the ungodly. Now we read beginning in verse
1 of John chapter 2, and the third day the third day after
he had made himself known to his disciples. This was very
early in the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. 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." Now, just to comment, what a
special thing marriage is. A man and a woman in love committing
themselves to one another for life until death alone parts
them. Marriage is of God. The reason
there is marriage is because God. And what a beautiful thing
marriage is. It's ordained by God. And when
the Lord Jesus Christ was invited to the marriage, He attended
it. showing his approval upon this
institution. I don't know what else to call
it, but it's ordained of God, this thing of marriage, a man
and woman being committed to one another for life until death
alone parts them. Now verse three says, and when
they wanted wine, now something very embarrassing took place.
They ran out of wine. Now, this was wine. This was
real wine. Look what verse 10 says of the
same chapter. He says, every man at the beginning
does set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, Now
that means become intoxicated is what the word means. That's
not a justification for drunkenness. Drunkenness is sin. No question
about that. But for someone to say drinking
alcohol is sinful, you can't support that from the scripture.
You can't get drunk on grape juice. These people were drinking
wine. And they ran out of wine. And
this was very embarrassing to the one who was running the marriage. He was embarrassed. This was
a thing of embarrassment. And the mother of Jesus saith
unto him, they have no wine. Now implied in that statement
is do something about this. They had no wine. Do something
about this. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Now the Lord was not being disrespectful
to his mother. Nobody loved his mother like
the Lord did. He's the only one to obey the
fifth commandment, honor thy father and thy mother. Even from
the cross, he made sure her needs were met when he commanded John
to take care of her. This was not disrespect on the
Lord's part. He loved her perfectly. But this I know, it is never
right to tell the Lord what to do. He said, woman, what have
I to do with thee? My hour is not yet come. And he was speaking of the same
hour that he spoke of in John 17, verse 1, when he said, Father,
the hour has come. Now, he said to his mother, my
hour has not yet come when I'm delivered up to men and they
get to do what they want to do with me. That hasn't happened
yet. Now this hour that he's speaking
of is the hour for which the world was created. the hour of
his death. God created the universe so his
son can come and do the most God-like thing God ever did,
die on a cross for sinners. Oh, what an hour. Mine hour has
come, but it hadn't come yet. And he says to her, by making
this statement, woman, this was not a term of disrespect, I'm
God, you do not tell me what to do. Verse four, or verse five,
his mother saith unto the servants, whatsoever he saith to you, do
it. Now there is the most safe course
of action, there is the rule of our life. Whatsoever he saith
to you, do it. verse 6. And there were set there
six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of
the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Now, six empty
waterpots made out of stone after the manner of the purifying of
the Jews, containing two or three firkins, and a firkin is nine
gallons. Each of these vessels would have
held between 27 and, I'm not doing my math right, but 27,
36 gallons of wine, but they were empty. And I think it's
interesting he says it's after the manner of the purifying of
the Jews. Now, the manner of the purifying of the Jews is
not God's way of purifying. They had taken the gospel and
turned it into a thing of salvation by works. They had their way
of purifying, not God's way, but their way. Now, we read the
Jews' Passover was at hand. They had prostituted it. Not
God's Passover, the Jews' Passover was at hand. John 5.1, a feast
of the Jews. John 5.16, therefore the Jews
did persecute Jesus. Now, I'm not picking on the Jews
being anti-Semitic. I'm just as guilty as they are
of all these things, and you are too. This is not singling
out the Jews, but it was the Jews the people Christ came for
who rejected him. I've done the same. You've done
the same. He's talking about the prostitution of the gospel
by the Jews and everybody else that is in religion contrary
to the gospel. The Jews murmured. The Jews'
feast of tabernacles 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 this saying. The Jews took
up stones again to stone him." So this is the Jews' manner of
purifying. It didn't purify. You know, six. Six water pots. That's the number
of man. Adam was created on the sixth day. The biblical numerology,
that's the number of man. Stone. Stone, cold, dead and
empty. And here we have human purifying. You have six empty pots with
nothing in them. That's the best man's purifying
can do. Hebrews 1.3, here's God's purifying. When he had by himself purged
our sins, made purification for our sins, the same word in the
original, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on
high. Now you have the Jew's way or man's way of purifying.
It doesn't do anything. It leaves you empty. And we have
God's way, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse seven. Remember, Mary said, whatsoever
he saith to you, do it. Here's the miracle. Jesus saith
unto them, fill the water pots with water. And they filled them
to the brim. You couldn't get another drop
of water in these. Now, when God saves somebody,
that's what he does. Colossians 2.10 says, you are
complete. You are filled to the full in
him. You're full of Christ. Because Christ is in you, you're
in Him. All God sees is Jesus Christ. All you need is found in Christ.
Nothing can be added to you. You can't get any more loved.
You can't get any more accepted. You can't get any more saved
than you are in Christ. You're filled to the full. He
filled those water pots to the brim. Verse 8, And he saith unto
them, draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bear it." This is the
preaching of the gospel. We bring the message. And we
say, taste yourself. I'm not trying to manipulate
people. I'm saying, taste for yourself. Taste what I'm saying
for yourself. Taste and see if not the Lord
is gracious. Taste this for yourself. What
comfort do you have at this message? What hope do you have in this
message? Bear it out to the governor.
Verse nine. when the ruler of the feast had
tasted the water that was made wine." Now there's the miracle. Water was made wine. It was made to be what it was
not before. It was not water that tasted
like wine. It was not water that looked
like wine. It was not water that smelled
like wine. The water was made wine. It was made to be what it was
not before. It doesn't say 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
that Christ infused wine into the water. Now this miracle is
given to us to give us a glimpse of what I would say is there
is no more important verse of scripture than this. And this
miracle gives us a glimpse into what this scripture means. Now listen to this scripture,
2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. For he hath made him. to be sin, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now here's the answer to that
initial question, how can God be just and justify the ungodly? Here's the answer. For He, God,
hath made Him, His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin. Do you hear what that says? He
made His Son on the cross to be sin. The sins of God's elect became
His sin, so that He became guilty of that sin. He made Him to be
sin for us, everybody He died for, and instead of Christ who
knew no sin. He never sinned in His person.
He never committed a sin. He's perfectly holy. He's perfectly
righteous. For He hath made Him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Now let's take this text for
face value of what it says. It does not say that God made
Christ to be a sinner. It said He made Him to be sin. It
does not say that we're made righteous. It says we're made
the righteousness of God in Him. It does not say that God imparted
sin to him, nor does it say God imparted righteousness to us. It does not say God imputed sin
to him, nor does it say God imputed righteousness to us. Just as
Christ made that water to be wine, God made Christ to be sin. It doesn't tell us how He made
Him to be sin. But it tells us he did make him
to be sin. Whatever sin is and whatever
this means, he was made to be sin. Now, when he was made to
be sin and God punished him, God was not punishing the innocent. He was punishing the guilty. When Christ was made sin, he
became guilty of that sin. And not only was he made to be
sin, the scripture says every believer is made to be the righteousness
of God in him. You see, When he obeyed God's
law perfectly, that is the righteousness of God, his perfect obedience. Just as truly as my sin became
his sin on Calvary's tree, his righteousness, the righteousness
of God becomes my personal righteousness. Hence, God has found a way to
be just, absolutely just, inflexibly just, perfectly righteous, and
yet justify, clear of all guilt, declare to be justified and sinless,
everybody for whom Christ died. That wine is what it was not
before. It's now wine, it was water,
it's now wine. Christ was made to be what he
was not before. He was holy, he's now made to
be sin. And because he was made to be
sin, every believer is made to be the very righteousness of
God in him. I wanna read you a scripture
from Proverbs 17, verse 15. We read, he that justifieth the
wicked and he that condemneth the just, Even they both are
an abomination to the Lord. Now, if God justified me when
I'm unjust, it would be unjust. If God condemned me when I'm
innocent, it would be unjust. God made a way to be just and
justifier through making Christ to be sin that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. And Paul put it this way in Philippians
chapter 3 verse 9, Oh that I may win Christ and be found in Him
not having my own righteousness, which is of the law. but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God. by faith. Now that water was
made wine, and that explains to us what took place on the
cross. Christ was made sin, and because
he was made sin, everybody he died for, that perfect righteousness
that he worked out, they're all made the very righteousness of
God in him. Now, 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, and saith unto him, every man
at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have
well drunk, and their taste buds have become numb, and they can't
tell the difference between good wine and bad wine, then that
which is worse, but thou hast kept the good wine. until now. You have done what men don't
do. Men bring out the good wine first, and then they bring the
bad afterwards. But you have brought the good
wine afterwards. That's not the way men do. Now
understand, God is not like me and you. He has no needs. You and I, everything we do,
we have an agenda. We're trying to help ourselves
in some way. And even when we help people
we love, well, it's our loved ones we're helping. We're self-centered,
self-selfish. What we do, we do to benefit
ourself. God has no needs. He doesn't
need to do anything to benefit himself. So when he does something
for somebody, it's just his goodness, because he's good. He does it
not out of a need, but because of his own great goodness. Now, this man says, you've saved
the best for the last. And you know, this describes
the experience of the believer. Beyond the best is always the
better. And in heaven, each, I know there's
no time in heaven and I'm saying this without any other way to
describe it. Each day in heaven is the best
and the next one is always better. That's the way of the Lord. He is altogether glorious. The best comes last. This beginning of miracles did
Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth his glory. Oh,
His glory is seen in how He's made the way for God to be just
and justify the ungodly. And His disciples believed on
Him. Now this is an important distinction.
It doesn't say they believed in Him, they believed on Him.
How can I illustrate that? I see an airplane. I believe
the plane will get me to the desired destination. I believe
on the plane when I go in and trust the plane to get me there. Now you won't believe on the
plane if you don't believe in the plane. But if you believe
in the plane, you'll believe on the plane. And when you're
on the plane, you're not helping them fly. You're completely dependent
upon the plane to get you to the desired destination. And
that's what faith in Christ is. We completely rely on Him to
get us to the desired destination. Now we have this message on CD
and DVD. If you call the church right
or look at our website, we'll send you a copy. To receive a
copy of the sermon you have just heard, send your request to btod.nyvon
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