Why Jesus turned water into wine in the six stone waterpots. The mystery revealed no one taught you.

Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
092020
Why Jesus turned water into wine in the six stone waterpots. The mystery revealed no one taught you.

Now, it is here that we see the time has come for our Lord to begin manifesting the fact that He is God, just as much as the Father and the Holy Spirit.

At this time, our Lord had six disciples, and notice it is here that in verse 11, they are said to have believed but it does not mean they all got saved or born again.

It means that the six disciples were believers because they were disciples of John the Baptist whose ministry was to prepare the Jews for the coming of the Messiah.

And so, the six waterpots represented some new followers who had been following John the Baptist along with a few new men who decided to follow our Lord.

These jars could not be ceremonially clean unless they were made out of stone and cleansed by water.

You will notice that there are six waterpots and as most of you know the number six is usually the number of man, but there are also some other references to the number representing the work of God.

For example, six days God worked and the 7^th day He rested, in Genesis, the pots therefore could very well represent the work of Christ to come.

Then our Lord told them to put water in the waterpots first and then draw it out so that they would know that there was nothing in the pots except the water that they were beginning to use beforehand.

Therefore, our Lord demonstrated His marvelous ability to master the processes of nature realizing what the apostle John said when he said in Joh 1:3, "All things came into being by Him."

We also see that we shouldn’t demand that God meet our schedule or our desires.

As the Creator of all things, the Lord will do what He wants when He wants, all in His perfect timing.

No longer were the Jews to be cleansed by the water in the waterpots, but now they could be cleansed spiritually by believing upon the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ and His work upon the Cross.

He told them to put water in the pots first and then draw it out so that they would know that there was nothing in the pots beforehand.

Now, in spite of the fact that God begins the work and completes it, we do have a part in the work that He began.

The word large is the adjective megale which means great.

In 1PE 2:5, the church is called a spiritual house.

Therefore, in context, the large house refers to the church or the body of Christ.

And the vessels in the house refer to born again believers.

In fact, the Bible describes the human body of the born again believer in the Church-age as a vessel in 1Th 4:4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,

Some believers are being prepared through progressive sanctification through the word and through the Spirit to have a great impact in history.

Other believers through negative volition are becoming vessels unto dishonor.

They are the salt that has lost its' savor and is good for nothing in MAT 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty {again}? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men."

One that is being fitted out for honorable purposes called good work which in verse 21 means having a positive historical impact with divinely good production.

The other type of believers are loser believers, usually very moral and very self-righteous, works oriented and phony!

By the way, the gold and silver vessels represent believers in the pivot.

Believers in the gold are those who have reached maximum glorification of God.

Believers in the silver are those who have reached spiritual adulthood and are plugging on.

Wood represents humanity or the flesh and those of wood and earthenware are born again believers either in carnality or reversionism.

They enter into religious fanaticism, self-righteous arrogance, Christian activism, and they even assume that violence is a way to solve problems.

And when the savor is gone from the salt then the salt is worthless.

In fact, it's not only worthless but it has a negative impact on the land and it is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men said TLJC.

The word for man is the indefinite pronoun tis which should be translated anyone referring to the born-again believers in the great house or the assembly that you have been called to.

2TI 2:21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself away from these things [the characteristics of the dishonorable vessels, the reversionistic believers], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified,

Now, the word sanctified refers to progressive sanctification which is the will of God or the agenda of God for you and I.

JOH 17:17 "Sanctify them [progressively] by means of the truth; Your word is truth." = known as experiential sanctification.

And that means the believer is beginning to enjoy freedom from the control of the soul by the sin nature.

Freedom from the cosmic system controlling his mind.

Freedom from diabolical influences from principalities and powers.

He has freedom from false doctrine, whether it comes from human viewpoint called doctrines of men in Eph 4:14, or from satanic fronts called doctrines of demons, 1Ti 4:1.

2TI 2:21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself away from these things [the characteristics of the dishonorable vessels, the reversionistic believers], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified [set apart], useful to the Master,

It is the noun skeuos and it means vessel because a vessel is something that is empty and all born again believers are empty and they need to be filled by the power of the Spirit and the intake of doctrine.

The word useful is the adjective euchreston which means to be very profitable.

And the word Master refers to the owner of the house, God.

The born again believers who go for progressive sanctification become a vessel for honor, sanctified [set apart] for a very profitable use by God.

Next we have the phrase having been prepared [because the verb is in the perfect tense] for every good work.

Good work is “agathon ergon” which doesn't man good works in the sense of moral deeds, it means positive impact and many profitable accomplishments.

It means personal impact defined as blessing by association with the mature believer who executes the PPOG through the function of the spiritual mechanics.

It means historical impact defined as blessing by association to the Gentile client nation through the formation of the pivot of mature believers.

It means international defined as blessing by association to a non-client nation through missionaries who have attained spiritual maturity.

It means angelic impact defined as the invisible hero becoming a witness for the Prosecution in the rebuttal phase of Satan's appeal trial during human history.

It means heritage impact which is blessing by association with the invisible hero after his death.

So progressive sanctification makes one an honorable vessel.

And the honorable vessel is simply the born-again believer who through PVTD and exploitation of divine grace becomes a vessel of honor.

Juvenile lusts includes approbation lust, the need for recognition and approval by your peers....something most pastors desire to have all the time.

It includes the stupid flight to recapture your youth when you start to hit middle age....called the mid-life crisis.

It includes power lust which is the worst of all, for almost all other lusts are related to this one, especially if you have any inferiority problems.

It includes stimulation lust which has many parts, in which we cater to the nerve centers and functions of our body in the name of pleasure.

So, in 2TI 2:22 Now flee from juvenile lusts, and pursue righteousness [experiential righteousness, the divine agenda instead of your own agenda], faith [doctrine], virtue-love and prosperity, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

It means those who exalt rapport with God above rapport with people.

So, Paul says do this with those who attach themselves to the Lord,”

2TI 2:22 Now flee from juvenile lusts, and pursue righteousness [experiential righteousness, the divine agenda instead of your own agenda], faith [doctrine], virtue-love and prosperity, with those who attach themselves to the Lord from a pure heart.

The word pure is the adjective katharas which means a cleansed heart referring to rebound.

The cleansed heart comes from rebound.

And then the cleansing of the word going throughout the soul.

2TI 2:23 But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations,

The word speculations is the noun zeteseis which means doctrinal controversies for the purpose of debating and arguing, it also means argumentative debate and dialogues which are useless and of no instructional value.

2TI 2:23 But refuse foolish and ignorant arguments about doctrine, knowing that they produce quarrels.

And the word quarrels is the noun machas which means contentions, fights, quarrels, battles and conflicts.

Now the point is in spite of the fact that God begins the work and completes it, we do have a part in it if we desire!

Ultimately we are all going to be glorified by God the Father as a part of Him completing the absolute good work that He began in us.

This is why we read in PHI 1:6 {For I am} confident of this very thing, that He [God the Father] who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

We are all going to be glorified by God the Father as a part of Him completing the absolute good work that He began in us.

This is one of the many reasons that the apostle Paul said to the Corinthians 2CO 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you‑‑ unless indeed you fail the test?

I can give you three basic tests that a believer can take to find out if God the Father has begun an absolute good work in them.

The first test is when our faith is operative or functioning as God desires us to follow His plan, Phi 2:6; Jam 2:14-19.

JAM 2:14 What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?

JAM 2:15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

JAM 2:16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for {their} body, what use is that?

JAM 2:17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, {being} by itself.

JAM 2:18 But someone may {well} say, "You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

A second test you can take to see if God has begun a good work in you is when your love is laborious, 1Jo 3:14-18.

1JO 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.

1JO 3:15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

1JO 3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

1JO 3:17 But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

1JO 3:18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

Our love is not to be in words only but in deeds and in truth.

A third test you can take is if your hope and confidence in the plan of God remains and you don't quit, Heb 6:17-19.