Three reasons we rejoice. That's
what we'll be seeing here. Three reasons we rejoice. It's
such an instructive passage in what our Lord says here. Again
in verse 9, Matthew 9, 9. As Jesus passed forth from thence,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom. And
he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
You know, Israel was under Roman rule at this time, and they would
use the Jews to collect taxes. And so they would, if they were
collecting taxes in a city or a region, they would put out
contracts. You could bid to be the tax collector,
and whoever agreed to give the Romans the most money got to
bid. And so the tax collector would
collect the taxes to pay what they agreed to pay them, what
the legal amount was, but anything they got above that they'd keep.
So they were great sinners, great extortioners, and not only that,
they were regarded by the children of Israel as traitors. you know,
in unity with the Romans. So that's who Matthew was, and
that's what he was doing. But the Lord came by, and just
with two words, the Lord created life in his heart and faith in
his heart. The Lord just came by and said,
follow me. That's all he had to say, follow
me. And with that, Matthew followed him. Luke says, he rose up, Matthew
says, he left all, that's, he never had moved a muscle. He
left all, rose up, and followed him. With those two words. And he did what believers do
when the Lord calls you. Matthew wanted his friends to
know the Lord. So he had a dinner. And he invited
all his friends to this dinner and invited the Lord and his
disciples. And it says in verse 10, And
it came to pass, as Jesus said it, meet in the house. Behold,
many publicans, that's the tax collectors and sinners, came
and sat down with him and his disciples. And you get this picture,
there's the Lord, Jesus, at the same table with his disciples,
but he's there with these known tax collectors, so hated by the
Jews, and these harlots and other sinners that are all there at
the table with him. And the Pharisees saw this. And
here's the first question they asked. It says, when the Pharisees
saw it, they said it to his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? They thought they were whole.
They thought by their religious deeds that they were righteous. Those sacrifices they would make
and the things they did in religion was their righteousness. And
they thought that was the righteousness that would make them accepted
of God. So when they saw the Lord with these sinners, This
was their question. Why does your master eat Republicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he
said to them, they that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I'm not come
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Christ made Matthew
know he was a sinner, and he makes his people know we're sinners. He teaches us that we're sinners,
that we need the great physician. We can't produce a righteousness
in anything we do. And he teaches us that and brings
us to cast it all on the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He saves
by mercy and makes us righteous by mercy, not by sacrifice, which
we've done. If there's a sinner here today,
if you go and confess your sin to Christ and ask mercy from
the Lord Jesus Christ, he will have mercy on you. If you can
do that, he's already had mercy on you, and he will show you
more mercy, and he'll show you mercy until the end. This is
how he saves. He is the righteousness we must
have. Verse 14 says, And then came
to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees
fast often, but thy disciples fast not? Now Matthew says here
that this was John's disciples that came and asked him this.
Luke and Mark say the Pharisees came and asked him this question. John's disciples
probably came with the Pharisees and both asked the question.
And the reason John's disciples asked the question is because
the Pharisees put this question in their mind by pointing this
out to them. Both questions here show the
leaven of the Pharisees. Our Lord teaches us and warned
us to be on guard against the leaven of the Pharisees. The
leaven of the Pharisees is external, carnal, fleshly, legal religion. It is a religion of sacrifice,
a religion that teaches sinners that their righteousness is of
their own doing. And because of that, it results
in despising others. It results in the Pharisees,
they were watching others, and they pointed out the sins of
others. And Christ, he taught us in that
Sermon on the Mount, he taught us not to fast or to pray or
to give alms to be seen of men. Don't do it before men. And so
not doing that outwardly, the Pharisees didn't see them do
this outwardly. Maybe they didn't pray that day
when they were sitting there eating. Because the Lord taught
us not to do those things out in public to be seen. And he
said, enter into your closet when you pray. He said, when
you give alms, don't sound a trumpet. He said, when you fast, don't
disfigure your face so everybody knows that you're mourning and
you're fasting. And so not seeing them do that
with the carnal eye, the Pharisees presumed they didn't do it at
all. They didn't do it at all. That's
what they presumed. But be sure to get this now,
and this is so important. Any true disciples that were
made through John's preaching, they were the disciples of Christ
too. They were disciples of Christ too. John preached, but it was
the Lord Jesus, the triune God that called any disciples that
were made through John's preaching, born of the same Spirit of God,
given one faith and one hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, robed
in the same righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when
it says John's disciples, it's just distinguishing them as those
that were called to faith through John's preaching. But they're
all Christ's disciples. And yet, by the Pharisees pointing
out this outward difference, by them pointing out this external
difference. It caused these disciples that
had been called to Christ through John's preaching, it caused them
to unite themselves with the Pharisees rather than with Christ
and their brethren. It caused them to set themselves
up as judges so that they, with this question, are reproving
not only the disciples made by the Lord Jesus, but they were
proving the Lord Jesus Christ Himself with this question. They exalted themselves over
Christ as well as their brethren. Listen to the question. Why do
we and the Pharisees, see how they put themselves with the
Pharisees? Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but thy
disciples fast not? They're disciples of Christ too.
called through John's preaching. But they're separating themselves
from those Christ called through preaching. So we see here in
these disciples that John made, true believers. We still have
sin, brethren. You and me can do this very thing
that they did. The 11 of the Pharisees will
happen and puff up believers if we start listening to vain
preaching. It points us to us, points us
to our works, away from Christ. Differences based on touch not,
taste not, handle not. That's what this created in these
true disciples of our Lord Jesus. But they did one good thing.
They came directly to Christ and asked Him. They came to Christ
and asked Him. Brethren, whatever questions
you have, whatever problems you have in this world, go straight
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only high priest we
have. He is seated on a throne of grace
and He's taught us to come directly to Him. That was a good thing
they did. They went straight to the Lord
Jesus. Scripture says, through James, the Lord said, if any
lack wisdom, let him ask. Go to our gracious master and
ask him. We have not a high priest who
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He was tempted
in all points just like you and me are, yet he was without sin. And he's seated now on a throne
that is a throne of grace. And he tells us, you come to
him that you might find mercy and grace to help in time of
need. You go straight to the Lord Jesus. He's the one you need to go to.
He's wisdom. He's wisdom. You really believe
Christ? You really believe the Lord Jesus
Christ is seated on a throne and he really commands you come
to me and ask me and I'll instruct you and I'll teach you. That's
so, brethren. Go to Christ. You go directly
to the Lord Jesus. Now we're going to see here in
our Lord's answer also that our Lord's grace is not based on
anything in His people. His love is not based on anything
in His people because His grace toward them and His love toward
them did not change He said this graciously to them and taught
them. He was long-suffering, forbearing
with them. What they did here, if it was
based on what the Pharisees were basing their righteousness on,
that is their works, then these disciples of John would have
been cast out right then. Because what they did was sin.
But our Lord Jesus did not change toward them one bit. He so much
He so far surpasses you and me in the way He deals with His
people. He's our righteousness. Now look
at what He says here in verse 15, and this will be our text.
Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride chamber
mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will
come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then
they shall fast. You notice there, mourning and
fasting. or one and the same. He said,
can they mourn while I'm with them? When I'm taken, then they'll
mourn. Then they'll fast. Now look at
this parable he gave them. No man putteth a piece of new
cloth into an old garment, for that which is put in to fill
it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither
do men put new wine into 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." And
we're going to see from Luke that he said, and once a man
has tasted the old wine, he doesn't want the new wine, because the
old wine's better. Now let's see what our Lord means
by these things. The first reason that we don't
join with Pharisee, when you're born of the Spirit of God and
taught the Lord Jesus is your righteousness and your holiness.
Everything that you need he is to his people. And the reason
his grace and mercy keeps you from joining with Pharisees but
keeps you rejoicing in Christ is because he is the bridegroom
and You're the bride. You're the children that are
His, and you're one with Him. He's with His people all the
time, and you're one with Him. He said there, can the children
of the bride chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with
them? Christ is the bridegroom. He's
the bridegroom. In God's wedding ceremony, The
bridegroom is the focus. And Christ is the bridegroom.
And everybody God chose by his free grace in eternity is the
bride. And that bride, that church,
his body is made up of children born of him through the mother,
through the bride, through the church. Children of the bride
chamber. That's who we are. That's who
we are. Christ used this analogy I think
it's interesting that he used this analogy because this is
what John the Baptist preached. This is what he taught them when
the Pharisees came asking if he was the Christ. Go over there
to John chapter 3 and let's see this. No doubt that's why the
Lord used this analogy because they had heard they were John's
disciples and they had heard John preach this. John 3 and
verse 28 They had come and asked if he
was the Christ, and he said, you yourselves bear me witness
that I said I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom. That's Christ. But the friend of the bridegroom,
which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of
the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must
decrease. He that cometh from above is
above all. He that is of the earth is earthly
and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is
above all. This is the Lord Jesus. And you
see, John said, I'm not mourning. I'm not fasting. I'm rejoicing
because Christ is with me. And I'm his. And he's my rejoicing. But he had told them this. Now
the Pharisees physically fasted. And, you know, they'd do without
food. And then they would pray and they would give alms, do
good deeds for people and provide financially and whatever for
people. But they would do it sounding the trumpet. They would
do it so that men made sure to see them do it. They did it in
public places. And Christ teaches his people
never to do this. That's why we don't advertise,
you know, things that we do for one another and for other churches
and for missionaries. We don't put that on our website,
advertise things we're doing. That's what the world does. They
market those things to attract people. And we have one attraction,
and that's the preaching of Christ's name crucified. And Christ said,
don't do those things to be seen of men. So the Pharisees did
it though, because that was their works to be accepted of God.
They were actually putting confidence in those works. And then another
reason they did it was because they were trying to justify themselves
before men. They were wanting men to see
them as being holy men. And they did it also so that
they could exalt themselves over others. Go with me to Isaiah
55, and let's hear the Lord say that's exactly why they did it.
Isaiah 55. And look here in verse 3. I wrote the wrong passage down. I believe it is, hold on. Isaiah 58. I want you to see
this. Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58. And look at verse
3. This is what the Pharisees would
say. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not,
they're speaking to God. Wherefore have we afflicted our
soul, now take us no knowledge. The Lord said, Behold, in the
day of your fast you find pleasure. This is your joy, your works,
he's saying, rather than Christ. You exact all your labors, you
count them up, you make sure you keep a track and a tally
of all you've done. Behold, you fast for strife and
debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness. That's what
they were doing that day when they were pointing out that Christ
and his disciples didn't fast like they did and like John's
disciples did. And he said, you do this for
debate. You do this to point out that you're better. And he
said, you should not fast as you do this day to make your
voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I've chosen?
A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head
as a bull rush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Wilt thou call this a fast, an acceptable day to the Lord? Now
hold right there just a minute. A true fast is of God. A true
fast is the Spirit of God teaching us we're the center. so that
we have no ability in ourselves to come to Christ and to make
ourselves righteous is turn us from all the legal vanity we
were in and thinking by nature to Christ, who is our righteousness,
from all our works to trust Christ to deal. And that's fasting from
all our vain bread and all our worldly bread and all this that
we thought was life. He makes you to fast from that
and trust the living bread. And then he makes you deal this
same bread out to other sinners. You want to see other needy sinners
saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus. You want them to hear
about Christ. That's what Matthew was doing. He was bringing his
friends to hear this Savior. And so you declare Christ. Look
at verse 6. It's not this the fast that I've
chosen to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy
burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every
yoke, that you take this oppressive legalism off of people. Is it
not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring thy
poor there cast out to thy house, when thou seest the naked, that
thou cover him, that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
You see, this is the fast that our Lord accomplished for his
people. He who was rich became poor,
that we through his poverty might be made rich. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is the living bread. He's the true bread. He came
down from heaven. We were starving and bankrupt
and He came down and gave us the living bread and gave us
the true riches Himself. Himself. We were naked and He
covered us in His righteousness. He didn't hide himself from us.
He came to us and revealed himself to us, and he showed us mercy,
even though we were sinners, even though the Pharisees would
hide themselves from men that were sinners. Stand over there,
come not near us, we're older than thou. The Lord Jesus didn't
do that. He came to you, the sinner, and
he's still coming to you, even though you're his and believe
him. You're still a sinner, but he still comes to you in mercy
and makes you know this about that. See what he's doing to
his disciples that day? He's teaching them still, even
though they had sinned so against him in what they asked, and this
awful leaven that had puffed them up in their heart. His love
and His grace makes every believer willing to do this for other
poor, starved, naked sinners. We want them to hear Christ and
do it for one another. Now under the Old Covenant, go
over to Zechariah 8. Under the Old Covenant, there
were three fasts. that were observed in three different
months, and they were in remembrance of Israel's sin. And our Lord
is saying in Zechariah what He'll do when He comes and accomplish
the redemption of His people and then comes and reveals the
gospel to us. He said this, Zechariah 8 and
9, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The fast of the fourth month,
and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and
the fast of the tenth, There are four, four of them. He said,
they shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and cheerful
feasts, therefore love the truth and peace. You see that? He said,
when I've done this work for you, he said, it's not going
to be anymore a fast of mourning and crying. It's going to be
a feast. And it's going to be a feast
of joy and a feast of rejoicing that he has done. And that's
what our Lord has accomplished by His grace. I'm sorry, Zachariah
8, 19. I see you looking. I had trouble
writing my scriptures down, obviously. Zachariah 8, 19. Thus said the Lord of hosts,
the fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and
the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall
be to the house of Judah joy, and gladness, and cheerful feasts."
Doesn't that sound like a paradox? How are you going to fast and
have a feast? Because you're fasting from what
you once put all your confidence in, and thought was your righteousness
by your sacrifices, and you're feasting upon Christ Jesus the
bread, and all that we have in Him. And so we love the truth
of this gospel and the peace of Christ our peacemaker. But
when he brought his disciples to him, just like he called Matthew
to faith and sat down there and dined with him, that's a time
of rejoicing. That's not a time of mourning.
Not a time of what the Pharisees regard as fasting. sackcloth
and ashes and bowing down and being all sad. Now when our Lord
went to the cross and laid down his life, they mourned then.
That's what our Lord's referring to. But they only did it for
three days. He came back and revealed himself
and you know how he gave them peace? You know how he restored
them? He sat down and he ate with them. He feasted with them.
And that's how he makes you to fast from this world and all
the works of the flesh and all the leaven of the Pharisees.
He comes to you and makes you know he's with you, he's for
you, and he feeds you the living bread so that you feast upon
him and you have rejoicing and joy and gladness and peace in
the Lord Jesus. That's the first reason we don't
turn back to the Pharisees because we have Christ and we're his.
He's the bridegroom and we're one with him. The second thing
is we don't let Pharisees turn us back to the law. We rejoice
with Christ because he doesn't use the old to patch up, he doesn't
use the new to patch up the old. That's not what he does. The
Pharisees were turning his disciples back to the old covenant, back
to the law, to trust in their righteousness. Christ said, no,
no. Christ alone is our righteousness. He says here in verse 16, no
man put a piece of new cloth onto an old garment. for that
which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment and the
rent's made worse. If you have an old garment, you've
washed it a bunch of times, it's already shrunk and all that,
and it's got a hole in it, and you take a new piece of cloth
and you try to patch that with a new piece of cloth, well, as
soon as you wash it, that new cloth's going to shrink and the
rent's going to be worse than it was before. When the Pharisees were mixing
the old covenant of works with the new covenant of grace, when
Judaizers would do that, it made the rent worse. Men who try to
mix law and grace make the division between them and God worse, twice
dead. Because now they're darkness,
but they think they're in light. Now they're lost, but they think
they see. Christ fulfilled the New Covenant
in His blood. He came and said, remember when
He gave us the table? He said, this is the New Testament
in my blood. He came and fulfilled the whole
law of God for His people. He fulfilled all righteousness
for His people. He fulfilled everything that
was written in the law for His people. And he did it so God's
just to be merciful to us. And then he came to us and taught
us this, that we're under this new everlasting covenant of grace. And it's not that he's mixing
the old with the new. That's what sinners in religion
always want to try to do is mix the old and the new. He's not
mixing an old garment with this new covenant of grace. Christ
gives you faith to trust his righteousness alone, not to try
to mix his righteousness together with some righteousness in ourselves.
That's not what we're doing. That kind of religion won't save.
It'll make us worse. By his grace, we've been stripped
of our fig leaves. And just like he was doing right
here, they were trying to put those fig leaves back on. They
were trying to take, they were, the picture here is they're trying
to patch together some fig leaves of their own righteousness and
their own observing and fasting together with this new covenant
of grace and the robe of his seamless righteousness. And that's
not going to mix. And our Lord said, I'm not using
the old and the new together. He said, I've already come and
made all things new, and he's robed his people in the seamless
robe of his righteousness. And here's another thing. Christ
doesn't use anything of our sin nature when he reveals the gospel
in us. He didn't reveal the gospel to
the you that was born of your mama the first time you were
born. He didn't reveal the gospel to
that person. He came and created a new man
in you, gave you a new spirit, and poured in the wine of the
gospel into the new man he'd made. Look at verse 17. Neither do men put new wine into
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. If you put new wine into old
bottles, it's gonna burst the bottles. And the Lord does not
put the new wine of this gospel into our old man. He creates
a new man, entirely new, and puts this new wine into this
new man. This is what it means to be born
again of incorruptible seed through this new wine of the gospel.
You know 1 Peter 1.23, being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible. can't be corrupted by the Word
of God which liveth and abideth forever. Why does he have to
do this? For all flesh is as grass. All the glory of man is
as the flower of the grass. The grass withereth, the flower
thereof falleth away. Everything about us is corrupt
by sin that's about us and it's going back to the dust. But the
word of the Lord endures forever. And when you're born of the word
of the Lord, that new man is new and abideth forever. And
this is the word, he said, by which the gospel is preached
unto you. Peter said this hidden man of
the heart that Christ created is not corruptible. Born of incorruptible
seed, this new man within you and me that's been born of God
is not corruptible, knows no sin, is holy by Christ abiding
in you, and can't be corrupted. The sin is of our flesh, our
sin nature that we got from Adam. We've been created anew in his
righteousness and his holiness. The Pharisees, all they were
trying to do was to appear holy before men. They were doing these
alms and they were sounding the trumpet. They would pray and
they'd pray out in the streets or they'd go to a public restaurant
and they'd bow their heads so everybody could see them praying
and brag on them for praying. And then they would do these
physical fasts and they would disfigure their faces so everybody
knew they were mourning and they were sad and they would tell
everybody that they were, oh, I'm in a fast. I'm fasting for
the Lord. Christ teaches his child, don't
do any of these things. And here's the thing, is when
he has made you a new creature, when he's done this and put this
new eye of the gospel in you, we stop trying to do things before
men to make men think we're holy. You know why? Because he's made
you to know by Christ abiding in you, you're now abiding in
Christ and you are holy. You are holy. That's the only
way a man will stop doing it. That's the only way men will
stop thinking that something they do is their holiness. And he makes you to know Christ
is your holiness. It affects everything you do.
But he makes you to know he's your holiness. And that's when
we stop sacrificing. Remember when the Lord said in
Hebrews, he said if those sacrifices put away sin, they'd have stopped
offering them because they'd have had no more conscience of
sin. And when he's done this work in the heart, you stop trying
to appear religious before men and show and justify yourself
before men and make men think you're holy because he made you
know you are holy and you're righteous in Christ's righteousness. Lastly, The reason his people
don't turn back to the law but go on rejoicing with Christ is
we've tasted the old wine and it's far better than the new.
And he said this over in Luke 5. You'd have to turn there to
read the scripture. In Luke 5 in verse 39, He said, no man also, having
drunk old wine straightway, desireth new, for he saith, the old is
better. He's saying straightway, as soon
as he's tried the old wine and tasted the old wine, he says,
I don't want the new wine. The old's better. Old wine's
always better than new wine. And brethren, Our Lord promised
in Isaiah, he said, in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make
unto all people, his people out of all nations, a feast of fat
things. A feast of wines on the leaves,
of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the leaves well refined. The gospel of Christ is the old
wine. It's as old as eternity. When God the Father elected His
people in Christ, He blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in Christ according as He chose us in Him before the foundation
of the world. Not only that, from eternity
Christ entered covenant to be our surety and he's been our
righteousness before the world was made, then he came forth
and redeemed us. Not only that, in eternity God
predestinated each of his children to the time when our Lord Jesus
would send the Holy Spirit and bring you to hear the gospel
and make you to be born again and teach you this good news.
And that's when you taste the old wine. And when you've tasted
the old wine, you don't want anything new that men come down
the pike trying to tell you is the gospel. Because you've had
the old wine. This old wine is better. Now
hath Christ obtained a more excellent ministry, more excellent than
what? Than the priests and the Pharisees
and the old covenant. By how much he is also the mediator
of a better covenant established upon better promises. He promised
that the covenant he would make with us, he would teach us in
our heart the gospel, he'd write it in our heart, write it in
our mind, and all his people would know him from the least
to the greatest. And he said, and I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. He's not only declaring this
to them, Right here when they ask this question, He's showing
them that He doesn't remember our sins and iniquities anymore.
Because rather than casting them out
because of this great sin and asking this question, He teaches
them again these things that He's teaching us right here.
He doesn't remember your sins and iniquities. He has mercy
because He's put our sins and iniquities away. Why do we not
turn back to carnal religion, outward fleshly religion? Why
do we not turn back to that? Why do we have our affections
set on Christ? Because the bridegroom's with
us, and we're his children, and he keeps you rejoicing in him
only. It's because we're robed in His seamless garment, His
perfect righteousness, and made new creatures in the Lord Jesus
Christ by Christ abiding in us, so we rejoice in Christ. We're
holy and righteous, in the righteous one, in the holy one. And we've
been given a taste for the old wine. And no man, having drunk
old wine, desires the new, the old better. That's three reasons
why we rejoice right there. Our great God and our Father,
we ask you, Lord, if you would teach us this again in such power
that we understand, such power that we rejoice with you for
what you've done. Lord, make us to see we have
no reason to mourn and and turn back, we have every reason to
rejoice and be happy for what you've done to us and for us
and in us. Lord, we thank you for this mercy
and this grace and we pray you continue teaching us. Thank you
for dealing with us like you dealt with your people here and
continue to teach us. Lord, thank you for forgiving
our sins and not remembering our sins and iniquities anymore.
Thank you for receiving us in Christ Jesus. Thank you for this
rejoicing you've given us. In Christ's name we pray, amen.