Good to see you all out this
morning. Remember those requested prayers, especially remember
Deborah Lindsey, who's going through some hard times right now. Remember her
in your prayers. Happy birthday this week to our
piano player, Miss James, on the sixth. She'll be 29 again,
and that's good to know. Hymn number 40, Great is Thy
Faithfulness. ? Great is thy faithfulness, O
God my Father ? ? There is no shadow of turning with thee ?
? Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not ? ? As thou hast
been, O God my Father ? Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I seek. All I have needed thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness. sun, moon, and stars in their
courses above, join with all nature in manifold witness to
thy great faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies
I see. All I have needed, thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness. Thine own dear presence to cheer
and to guide. Strength for today and bright
hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with ten thousand
beside. ? Great is thy faithfulness ? Morning
by morning new mercies I see ? All I have needed thy hand
hath provided ? Great is thy faithfulness After scripture and prayer, we'll
sing hymn number 352. If you have your Bibles, turn
with me to the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 9. We'll read verses 14 through
17. Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and
the Pharisees fast off, but thy disciples fast not? Jesus said
unto them, Can the children of the bridegroom mourn as long
as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the
bridegroom shall be taken from him, and then they shall fast.
No man putteth a piece of new cloth into an old garment, for
that which is put in to fill it, fill it up, taketh from the
garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new
wine in old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runneth
out, and the bottles perish. But they put new wine into new
bottles, and both are preserved. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven,
we thank you for great grace for ruined sinners, helpless
and hopeless in this world, have nothing in and of themselves
to recommend them to you. We thank you for that grace and
glorious electing grace that before the world began, before
man even existed, you chose out of a fallen race that did not
even yet exist a number that no man can number, an innumerable
company of sinners, and turned them into saints by the work
of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, He is their sanctification
and redemption and righteousness and wisdom. We are thankful,
Father, for the gospel of Jesus Christ that teaches us anew every
day, that indeed great is your faithfulness When we don't believe,
you abide faithful. You cannot deny yourself. We
thank you, Father. We are frail and weak, falter
often, and yet you always hold us up. We thank you that you
are our refuge and our sweet solace in this cruel and awful
world. Father, we pray for those of
our company who are sick, We ask, Lord, you'd be with them
and watch over those who are going through trials and troubles
of the heart and mind. Thou knowest every case. We ask,
Lord, your help for them. And help us now, Father, to worship
you in spirit and in truth. Cause me to say right things
concerning you. And fix our eyes and hearts upon
him who's worthy of all praise and honor. It's in his name we
pray. Amen. hymn number 352, Jesus,
lover of my soul. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly, while the nearer waters roll, while the
tempest me, O my Savior, I, till the
storm of life is past, safe into the haven guide, O receive my
soul at last. Other refuge have I none, hangs
my helpless All my help from Thee I bring,
cover my defense. ? All I want more than all in thee
I find ? Raise the fallen, cheer the faint ? Heal the sick and
leave the blind ? Just and holy is thy name ? I am all unrighteousness
False and full of sin I am, thou art full of truth and grace. ? Thou of life the fountain of
? ? Freely let me take of thee ? ? Spring thou up within my
heart ? ? Rise to all eternity ? Let's stand and Steve, receive
the office this morning please. Let us pray. Father, again, we
come in the name of Jesus Christ. We ask that you would bless us
in this time of worship, and you would cause us in our hearts
to render unto thee that which you've given us, knowing that
you deserve all honor and praise and glory for what you've done
for us and for who you are. As we return these gifts unto
thee, let us do so with joy in our hearts. We pray in Christ's
name. Amen. You. by your attention back to Matthew
chapter 9 this happens directly after the
Lord is invited to Matthew's house and dismisses the Pharisees
out of hand. He has laid waste to all the
carnal hopes of the Pharisees because they were so appalled
by the spectacle of our Lord not only calling Matthew, who
was a publican, to be His disciple but to sit and eat with Him and
a bunch of sinners and publicans. In verse fourteen, the disciples
of John the Baptist count themselves with those who have just opposed
Christ and those whom Christ has dismissed out of hand. They
came to him and said, Then came to him the disciples of John,
saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast off, but thy disciples fast
not? I know that Christ's sheep will
not follow a stranger, I know that God's saints have unction
from the Holy One, and they understand all things according to Scripture. They cannot be deceived concerning
the gospel of Jesus Christ. But never think for a moment
that you have come so far that you cannot be led astray, because
everyone can, by some winning personality who appears to be
a good person, yet is really evil. The believer may fall under
the influence of wicked men thinking that they are doing good. Such
was the case with Peter and Barnabas in Antioch. They fell way short
of the truth. In Galatians chapter 2 and verse
11 it says, But when Peter was come to Antioch, Paul said, I
withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed. For before
that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles.
But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing
them that were of the circumcision, the law keepers. And the other
Jews dissembled them likewise with him, the Jewish believers,
In Galatia, they pulled out away from the Gentiles also, insomuch
that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
But when I saw they walked not uprightly according to the truth
of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou being
a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, and not doest
the Jews, why compelst thou the Gentiles to live the Jews? you
live like a Gentile, how can you compel a Gentile to live
like a Jew? He got drawn away because there is enough legalism
in every one of us that we might listen to the moral arguments
of some and equate it to righteousness before God. Sometimes believers
are fooled by those who appear to be sincere but ultimately
succeed in taking their minds away from Christ. run a rabbit
down a rabbit hole. Believers can sometimes get sidetracked
by meaningless issues. Meaningless issues. That is exactly
what happened here with John's disciples. They gave ear to the
Pharisees with whom they had in common the practice of religious
ceremonial fasting. And they, like the Pharisees,
had set aside the weightier matters of the law justice, mercy, faith,
redemption, grace, and forgiveness. And instead opted for more visible
fare, other things designed to immediately gratify the religious
appetites. They joined the Pharisees. They
were talking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, how come
you're disciples? don't fast like we and the Pharisees. Do you think there's some kind
of in the mind there that they might think that since they do
that they are somewhat better than those that don't? Of course,
that's how people think and that's how it's worded. Why do your
disciples not fast? Now they had put a premium on
fasting and the Pharisees had for some time back in Isaiah
chapter 58. This is before they was actually
called Pharisees. They were acting pharisaical.
And our Lord says what they were doing was sinful. He said what
they're doing now, they weren't doing, they weren't out drinking
and chewing and smoking and going to movie shows. What they were
doing is really important to them religious stuff. Stuff that
they did ceremonially. Traditionally, and it was important
to him, and one of the things was fasting. Fasting. Our Lord said in verse one of
Isaiah 58, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet
and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their
sins. So he's talking about sins and transgressions here. I know
what most people of mine go to. But that's not what he's talking
about. What is their sins and transgressions? Yet, they seek
me daily. They're very religious folks.
They delight to know my ways. They like to tell everybody how
God is. As a nation, they did righteousness.
They worshipped God in the manner in which He had ordained. They
forsook not the ordinance of God. They asked of me the ordinance
of justice. They would say, we want justice.
We want to be right and right on the line. And they take that
light in approaching me. They love prayer and you're going
to find out if they have it. If they do it. But they do it. Verse 3 says they do it so that
God will somehow pay attention to them. Give them his ear. They can bring down heaven if
you will call down the spirits loose the spirits as they talk
about today Wherefore have we fasted they say? And you're not
paying attention God Where have we afflicted our soul? Afflicted
our soul and now piss and now take us no knowledge Behold our
Lord says in the day of your fast you find pleasure satisfaction. And you exact all your labors.
You fast, which is denying yourself food. The object of fasting was
so you would put your mind on things of more value than food. But they were doing it and they
did it in a manner that gave them pleasure. How in the world
can you deny yourself food and get pleasure out of it? There's
only one way to do that, and that's if somebody else knows
you've done it. I remember many years ago, I went to a meeting
up at Straight Fork, and there's this revivalist that told me
to go here. Great, big, hefty fella, about
400 pounds and 5'9", jolly looking fella. And he stood up in the
pulpit and talked about having fasted 30 days. I mean, this
guy was huge. And I was thinking, I think he'd
need to do 30 more. Why did he tell people he fasted? So they'd know. So they'd know. Behold, you fast for pleasure
and you exact all your Labors not only do you fast and get
pleasure out of you make sure everybody else does it too You
make sure everybody behold you fast for strife you do it You
do it to incite people And nothing would incite me more than you
walking up to me and said I fasted all last week. I'd get so upset
I'd want to smack you upside the head for just for saying
it you fast for strife and And you smite with the fist of wickedness. You shall not fast as you do
this day, to get pleasure and exact all your labors, to make
your voice heard on high. You announce it, that you're
going to fast, and then you fast, and you announce that you have
fast. He says, is that such a fast that I've chosen? Is this what
I mean when I ordained to fast for you? A day for a man to afflict
his soul? Is it to bow his head down like
a bulrush which is on the end of a slim and not very stable
reed and has a big head, has nothing inside it? That's what
a bulrush is. And spread sackcloth and ashes
under him? Do signs of repentance? Well
thou call this a fast? An acceptable day of the Lord?
Now, that's not what the fast he's ordained. Here's the fast
that he's ordained, and this is what we're doing today. Right
now, you're fasting. You're fasting. This is the fast
that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo
the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, that you
break every yoke. That's a nice good fast. That's
the Lord's fast. But that's not the fast that
the Pharisees were practicing. It evidently was not the fast
that was being practiced by the disciples of John the Baptist. Our Lord makes it clear that
there was no reason for the Pharisees, for them to fast as the Pharisees
did. There were many occasions when fasting is reasonable. In
times of great discomfort and trial, Moses and Elijah and the
Lord all fasted. But with the Pharisees, fasting
became a common, publicly advertised ceremony. It was an outward show
of holiness, piety, and devotion that was done for the sole purpose
of attaining the praises of men. Read Matthew 23, you'll find
that they did what they did to be seen of men. Our Lord always dealt with this
as an insignificant thing, and insisted that when men do fast,
they must do it in utter privacy. He said that. When you fast,
don't let anybody know you fasted. And after you fasted, don't come
out with your hair all messed up, and a sad look on your face,
and needing to shave, and walking with stooped over. He said, so
people will know you've been fasting. He says, take a shower,
shave, comb your hair, put on a new set of clothes, and walk
out like you've been doing nothing. Why? Because fasting is a private
thing between you and God. Prayer, he said, is the same
thing. And giving is the same thing. Don't do it in front of
men. We are never to make a show of
religion. John's disciples seem to have placed a great emphasis
upon this religious custom. Perhaps they did so under the
influence of John the Baptist, as he perhaps prayed and fasted
for the revelation of the one to whom he was a forerunner,
expecting the coming of the Messiah. I don't know whether that's the
case. It may have been proper, our Lord says to John's disciples,
for the friend of the bridegroom and his disciples fast before
the coming of Christ to God. That's okay. That's okay. He said that, and Jesus says,
Can the children of the bridegroom mourn? That's what He attributes
fasting to, mourning. As long as the bridegroom is
with them, but the days will come when the bridegroom shall
be taken from them, and they shall not. Now, they fasted,
and our Lord didn't have any problem with that, except when
they make comparison to His disciples. Our Lord tells His disciples,
the disciples of John, seekers of the Messiah that for the children
of God to mourn for the coming of Christ when he's standing
right in front of them is just foolishness. To require the disciples
to fast when the bridegroom was with them was as ludicrous as
sewing a piece of new cloth on an old garment. That's the whole
argument here. Or putting new wine in old bottles. This may
apply to many different things but they always teach the same
lesson. They do not stand up under dissection as other things
do in the Word of God. We say things like a bird in
the hand is worth two in the bush. We probably apply that
saying to a hundred different circumstances, but the saying
always means exactly the same thing. Be content with what you
have. It always means that no matter
how you use it. that's always the meaning of
it. In verse 16 and 17 our Lord says, No man putteth a piece
of new cloth into an old garment, for that which is put in to fill
it, fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made
worse. Neither do men put wine in old bottles, and he's talking
about wine sacks. I had one of those I bought over
in Greece. Kept it for a long time. It was made out of goat
skin. In old bottles, else the bottles
break. And the wine runneth out, and
the bottles perish. But they put new wine into new bottles,
and both are preserved." Now these words may be applied to
many things, but the meaning is always the same. These words. This was a parabolic statement
or a proverbial statement. If you were to do something like
this, take something old and put it with the new, someone
might say, well, you don't put new wine in old bottles. You
don't patch up a new piece of gospel with an old piece of gospel. You don't do that. Just like
we'd say a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Whether
it applied to the old man and the new, or the old covenant
and the new, the old paths and the new, the old things and the
new, or the old world and the new, the meaning is essentially
this. We must never try to combine the two. We must never try to
mix them up. We must never apply the patch
of the old covenant to the new covenant. Nor should we ever
try to patch the new covenant to the tear in the old covenant.
We must never try to mix things that do not mix. This is what
this is teaching in simple matter. Many great evils have risen in
the church that could have been avoided if this lesson had been
simply heeded. The failures of the Reformation
and the return of many Reformed denominations to the elements
of papacy are due to this mixture. They can't quite let it go. If
you were to go into the Presbyterian churches this season of the year,
you're going to find them doing something called Hanging of the
Green. Why are they doing that? Because
the papacy does that. never quite you'll find them
sprinkling babies. Why? Because the papacy does
that. Can't have the mixture. Can't
have the mixture. Many evils existing in the church
today could be corrected if this lesson were followed. Don't put
new wine in old bottles. Don't try to patch an old cloth
with a new patch. In spiritual matters we must
never attempt to mix things that differ Our Lord taught this spiritually
in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy chapter 22. Verse 10 and 11. Odd sayings, you think. This
is odd. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. That
means you can't put a cow and a donkey and a yoke and plow. It's forbidden. You reckon it
would work? Well, I expect if you train one, it may. You may
be able to train them to do it. But why does he say something
like that? Well, let's go a little further. Thou shalt not make
thee fringes, or thou shalt not wear a garment of diverse sorts,
as woolen and linen together. So what in the world does that
mean? It means exactly what this says. Old wine and new bottle. old cloth on new cloth. Same thing, don't, you can't
mix things that shouldn't, must not be mixed. Just as under the
Mosaic Law, the mixture of linen and wool and the plow and oxen
and ass together was prohibited, so in this age in which we live,
we cannot mix and must never try to mix things like law and
grace. They can never be mixed. One's
new cloth, one is old cloth. Christ and the world. No mixture. Carnal ordinances and spiritual
worship. No mixture. No mixture. The problem at Galatia was that
they tried to put the old wine of Mosaic laws and ceremonies
into the new bottle of grace. That's what they tried to do.
The Judaizers of Galatia were trying to mix Judaism and Christianity. Kind of a hodgepodge or maybe
it was what people call ecumenism today. They tried to hold both
to the law and the gospel and there are those who do that today
and say there are many who are calling themselves reformers
who say they believe in the gospel of God's grace and his sovereign
mercy and yet want to bring people back under the law. That's putting
new wine in old bottles. It's not to be done. Something's
going to bust loose. Something's not going to work.
It's going to be tearing the fabric if you do it. Such mixture can never take place.
Either we're under the law or we're under grace. It's just that simple, that plain. Romans 6 says we're not under
the law, we're under grace. Galatians says we are dead to
the law, by the law, no mixture with grace. By grace You're saved
through faith and that not of yourself. It's a gift of God,
not of works or the law that any man could boast. Either we're under the law or
we're free from the law. In the early church, many tried
to mix the philosophies of religious customs of a pagan world with
the gospel of Christ, just as they do today. Read the book
of Colossians. These worldly elements were always
there. Nothing is new under the sun.
We just read from the prophet Isaiah, and it sounded like we
were reading today's newspaper. Why? Because there's nothing
new under the sun. Those who attempted to make the
gospel palatable to the world by mixing religious customs and
traditions and opinions of paganism with the gospel of Christ, err
according to the truth, and always it ends up bad. The result was disastrous then,
and it shall be now. In those days, compromise paved
the road to Romanism. Today, men are laying the road
back to Romanism as fast as possible. The success of any so-called
churches in the world today is due to their ability to mix that
which our Lord prohibits to be mixed. And successful because
of it simply cannot be any mixture of flesh and spirit. There is
no mixture of flesh and spirit. Galatians makes that painfully
true. Not only is it prohibited, it
can't be. You cannot apply to the spirit
to do anything in the flesh. And you can't apply to the flesh
to accomplish anything in the spirit. These things are contrary
to one another. Yet men want to mix it. Can't be any mixture of grace
and works in the worship of our Lord. Paul said, we are the circumcision. Who's the circumcision? He was
talking to a bunch of Gentiles in Philippi. Philippi was where
the first European church started. Well, we got the gospel here.
Started with a gal named Lydia, whom God opened her heart, and
she opened up her house and started the church at Philippi. And later,
the Philippian jailer, I think, and his family probably became
members of that church. And that church grew out of Europe
and ultimately the gospel came to this nation because of it.
In Philippi. But he says to the Philippians
who were Gentiles, he said, we're the circumcision. Romans 2, 28,
29 says, is not a Jew who is one outwardly but one inwardly,
the circumcision of the heart and not of the flesh, whose praise
is of God and not of men. We are the circumcision. and the circumcision worships
God in the Spirit. Now we are sitting here in the
flesh with our bodies and everything, but the true worship of God is
done from the heart and the mind and the soul. It is attributing glory and grace
to Him. All glory and all grace. This is what worship is. It comes
from Two Greek words, proskuneo, which means a hound dog licking.
That's basically what it means. If you ever had a dog, you know,
you punish them or something, what do they do? They crawl up
on their belly and they'll lay at your feet and lick your boots.
Why? They're worshipping you. You're their master. That's the
language used in the scripture. Worshipping God. Coming on our
belly where we belong with our face in the dust. calling out for mercy and grace
and giving honor and glory to God alone for Him. We are the
circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in
Christ Jesus, which is what it is to worship God in the Spirit.
Rejoice in Christ Jesus. Why do we rejoice in Him? Because
He alone is our salvation. He alone is our righteousness.
He alone is our sanctification. Our redemption, our wisdom, He
alone is our being. For by Him all things consist. It says in Scripture. And we have no confidence in
the flesh. That's what the circumcision
is. We say circumcision has to do with cutting the foreskin.
No. Not the circumcision of the heart. We're the circumcision who has
no confidence in the flesh. in the flesh. What does that
mean? We deny ourselves. That does not mean self-denial.
I know I've repeated this a thousand times but it seems like we all
need to remember it over and over again. Denying oneself is
not self-denial. Self-denial is keeping yourself
back from something that you might want and thinking you please
God by doing so. Self-denial. Denying oneself
is saying I had nothing whatsoever in any way, shape or form have
anything to do with my salvation. It is all of Jesus Christ. We rejoice in Jesus Christ and
have no confidence in the flesh. Crosses, pictures of Christ,
I saw this on TV the other day. It's got
a Jesus doll. It looks kind of like a raggedy
end, but it's a Jesus doll. And it says the disciples' prayer,
our Father which art in heaven. A Jesus doll. You can have your
Jesus doll now. Just in time for Christmas. Just in time for Christmas. pictures
of Jesus, angels, big enough, ain't people
like angels? They all got wings, but none
of the angels in scriptures do. Religious symbols, crosses, little
fish on the back of the trunk of your car, the law, sabbath keeping, ceremonialism,
genuflecting, kneeling, religious showmanship are the order of
the day. But they are a duke's mister where it will benefit
neither the old or the new. The old covenant is gone. Don't mix it with the new. Don't
mix it. The law is dead to us and we
to it. Don't mix it. Don't mix it. Don't sew the righteousness of
Christ on the garment of your personal merit to patch up the
holes therein. Do not drink the wine of communion
mixed with the wine of fornication from Babylon. Don't put new wine in old bottles.
We simply cannot mix law and grace. The gospel and the old
covenant cannot be mixed. Flesh and spirit can never work
together. The world and Christ simply does
not mix. First Corinthians 5, 7 says purge
out. Purge out therefore the old leaven. What is leaven in scripture?
Pharisaical self-righteousness. Purge out the old leaven that
you may have a new love. As ye are unleavened, for even
Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, if any man
be in Christ, he's a new creature. What's that about the old creature?
They don't mix. Wait a minute, he's an old creature.
Yes, he is. Born in this world, he's an old
creature. The new creature don't mix with him. There's no mixture. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. Don't put new wine in old bottles. Father bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.