Once again, we turn in our Bibles
to the book of Luke. If you'd like to join me, and
we're in Luke chapter 5. Oh, how we are as a people. How we get so tired of our old
things. You know what I'm talking about.
We leave a lot of waste behind us in this world of what we call
life that we walk through, don't we? Always desiring the newest
things that are available, the newest car, the newest clothes,
the newest computer, the newest radio, the newest whatever it
is. We love our new things, don't
we? We've been playing with that thing for a little while now,
you know, that ball that you bounce around outside and you
play outside until the dark. That's the way it was when I
was a kid. Nowadays it's the newest thing is sitting around
looking at our phone. playing on the computer. I'm
guilty of this. I'm talking to myself here. We
love new things. I remember Tom Sullivan, some
of you may know of him. He was a radio show host here
in California for a while, and he mentioned when the electric
cars came out, he said, I can't wait until the next one comes
out. I'm going to go buy it. I've got to have something new.
It's our nature. We get excited about the new
things. I've played with that. I've done that. I know it's all,
yeah, I want this new thing. We love our new things, don't
we? That's my point. Religion is no different. You know, one of the things that
amazes me most about Scripture is that everything we see in
the Old Testament all the way back to where the Lord inspired
Moses to record is happening exactly the same today. Religion
is no different. No different. What's the newest
in technology? How can we get the word out more
in the newest thing? What can we do in the pulpit
that is newer today that we might attract the younger group, the
younger folks. You know, they've gone through
a lot of that over these past few years, haven't they? Since
I was a kid, I remember when Warehouse Ministries was kind
of the first religious group to introduce rock and roll bands
into the church. They would bring in groups and
they would fill up warehouses full of kids, full of young folks. the Haight-Asbury group of my
day, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. And they filled up the
church with young folks who loved the rock and roll. That was the
new thing. And then they expanded on that even more to the point
where there was this one church in Las Vegas that we attended
one time. Boy, I'll tell you, I didn't want to go there, but
I was kind of cornered into it, so I did. And I went to the church,
and they had Starbucks. They had their own Starbucks
Store, not free coffee, but store on each end of the building.
2,000 people would gather in that church on Christmas Eve.
Three times. So that's 6,000 people. They
had their own Starbucks. They had TV screens so big behind
the guy, or behind him, I'm sorry, back in the back of the room.
They were so big that you couldn't even fit them on my front room
wall. Three of them. And the only people looking at
it was the guy standing on stage. to see how he looked. And then
I was over at another church over here in Roseville one time.
One of my business associates came
to church here and so I had to go to church with him. He said,
now I went to your church, you've got to come to mine. All right,
I'll go with you. They had fog. You know that fake fog that you
can produce with a machine? I mean, it was just like, what
in the world? Why is it so foggy over there? And the music was
playing, just, you know how it is, old yeller type music, just
grabs your heart. They do that with music, you
know. It's called elevator music. It was proven in that. Music
can grab your heart. And I asked the guy afterwards,
I said, what in the world is all that for? He goes, just to
enhance the music, to grab at your heart, to get you to come
down to the front and give yourself to Christ. Really, people love
the new things, don't they? In Luke chapter 5, our Lord had
just called, with a holy calling, one of his elect. His name was
Levi. That's Matthew, by the way, if
you don't know. That's Matthew, the one who wrote the book that
we know of, Matthew. He was so elated that the Lord
saved him, a wretch like him, that the Lord gave him a new
heart. He was so elated that he went
out and he took his riches and he threw them back and he invited
everybody in. all of his friends, all of his
buddies that he hung out with, the other publicans, the other
tax collectors, the other sinners. And he invited the Pharisees
in. The Pharisees, the religious
group. They invited them in to come
into his house, to this banquet. Hear this one who calls people
out of the darkness they walk in. Hear this one who gives sight
to the blind. Hear this one who calls his people
with the power of God. And they all came, including
some apostles of John the Baptist. Remember John the Baptist? He
had some followers, some disciples that followed him, including
them. They came. He was so elated that the Lord
would have mercy on a wretch like him. He threw this banquet
and he invited all of his friends. We looked at that last week,
or two weeks ago, in the book of Luke, titled, The House of
Sinners. But not only did he follow Christ,
he wanted others to know him. He wanted others to follow. Come
hear about this man who saved this sinner. Come hear about
the one who rules over everything, who's sovereign God over all
of creation, who's my Lord. Levi, Matthew wanted six sinners,
six souls to know the healing of the Master's hand. So he threw
a lavish dinner in honor of the Son of God, and hordes of people
came. Tax collectors, Romans, Jewish scribes, Pharisees, disciples
of John the Baptist, the Lord's own disciples were there, the
Son of God himself, and numerous sinners. Numerous sinners. Again,
the religious leaders were not happy about that at all. Oh,
they came, but they said, look at all these people. They should
be over there in this temple where we're worshiping. And here
they are, over here, where this guy is. Look with me if you would
at verse 30 and 32 of Luke chapter 5. But there scribes and Pharisees
murmured against his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink
with publicans and sinners? And Jesus said to them, They
that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." And then
these Pharisees who were murmuring about this, they ignored his
answer and they went on in their feeble attempt to charge our
Lord and Savior. and to charge those that follow
him with something. Look at verse 33. And they said
unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make
prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but thine? Thine eat and drink. Why do John
the Baptist's disciples do what we do, fast and pray, and yours
are celebrating, having a good time eating, having a big banquet? Folks, that's what we're doing
today. We're feasting right now. You've been invited into this
little place in rescue, those of you who are here personally,
those of you who are online, to feast on the Savior. That
was what Matthew was doing. He was inviting everybody to
come in and feast on the One who we eat His flesh and drink
His blood. Not literally, but spiritually. Why do yours eat and drink? It's common to go out in the
old days, it was common to go out and show with a public declaration
how you deny yourself the needs of your body in making you a
holy person. How many do we know every Sunday
morning go out into public and make a declaration of themselves
as something holy. Something holy. Fasting was exactly
that. It was something that God gave
as part of the law. You know, I'll get to that in
just a moment, actually. I recall hearing Mary's words once, I
can't join you on Sunday till after I get out of services.
I gotta go to church first. And then we can go drink all
afternoon and play at the lake. Our Lord answers these Pharisees
again. This time he refers to the bride
of Christ. Look at verses 34 and 35. And
he said unto them, Can you make the children of the bride chamber
fast while the bridegroom is with them? Can you make those
who are celebrating The joy of their bridegroom with them? The
bride? That's what it's referring to.
You and I are the bride of Christ. He's the bridegroom. Can you
ask them not to have joy while he is with them? See, fasting
in the old days was this. Fasting was a sign of repentance
and sorrow. Pouring sackcloth and ashes on
your head. I'm a sinner. I've sinned, and
this is what we do. And they took that ordinance
that God had established in His law, and like they do with everything,
they began to add stuff new to it. They took the new things. You know, that's not good enough.
Let's go out into the public and do it there. They did the
same thing with prayers. They would go out into the marketplace
and pray for hours on end. See how holy I am? See how dedicated I am to the
Lord? I'm out here praying to you right
now. They took something that God
had set for them as an ordinance of repentance. That's what fasting
was all about. It was turning from being gluttonous
Turning from... James has been experiencing that
quite a bit for the last couple of weeks. I'm a glutton. But
you've been fasting a little bit. Yeah. Not to make you more
holy, but to make your body better. And that's the whole idea of
what fasting was in that time. Yes, it was a picture of turning
from the flesh and turning to Christ. That's what repentance
means. It means to be turned from. Lord, turn us and we shall
be turned. Repentance is granted of the
Lord. I say those two things because
so many in today's world think that repentance is something
we give to God. Folks, we give nothing to God.
He gives us everything. Fasting was an ordinance that
was given to Israel in the law to be a symbol of our natural
tendencies of raising oneself up above what we should and to
mourn for our sin. Certain fasts were prescribed
in the law as times of personal and national public humiliation. But the Pharisees had ignored
the spiritual thing, symbolized, and they capitalized on it into
the outward ceremony. It was like all the clothing
that they put upon themselves, all the fancy robes, just like
the pope and the Catholic pope does. This makes me so much holier. This lets everybody know that
I'm a holy man. They not only insisted on keeping
their days of fasting, But they added many, many, many more to
it. So by the time it come around to this, it was by nature. It was their desire. Our Lord
warns us in the book of Jude of men who will creep into the
churches and do the same thing. They'll turn the word of God
into lasciviousness. That's what these Jews had done.
That's what the religious Israel had done. They turned the Word
of God into wickedness. Our Lord and His disciples had
nothing to do with such nonsense, and you and I should beware of
such as well. With regard to fasting, our Lord's
doctrine is clear. His presence and grace removes
all need for sorrow and mourning. That which is fasting symbolized
among his people. He says this, he says, when the
bridegroom is taken away, then the bride will be sorrowful and
mourned. That was the time of fasting
and the God's people did. When we consider the Lord and
His table, we fast for a moment when we come to our Lord in humility. and what we are before Him and
be reminded of what the greatness of what He did in His grace and
His mercy for us and giving Himself for us. But that's not the way
it is right now. Our Lord has risen. We have celebration
all the time. Folks ask me, you know, what
was that, Easter? Easter is a symbol of the resurrection
of Christ. I celebrate the resurrection
of my Savior every day. Not just one day a year, every
day. Every day is a day of celebration
for my Lord sits on His throne. There was a time of weeping for
the bride when the Lord was crucified and buried, but with the resurrection
of our Lord, the outpouring of the Spirit of Grace is upon us.
Now we rejoice what grace our Lord has for us, what mercy He
has for a people. We rejoice in a way that is unspeakable
and full of glory, glory for Him. The Bridegroom is with us
to provide for us, to protect us, and to comfort us. Why should
we fast now? These things we rejoice in our
hearts. Our Lord identifies Himself as
the Bridegroom and all the chosen redeemed sinners as His Bride.
Mark your spot here in Luke and turn over to Ephesians chapter
5 if you would. Ephesians chapter 5. In Ephesians
chapter 5 we read these words. Speaking of our Lord identifying
Himself as our bridegroom, look at verse 25. Husbands, love your
wives even as Christ also loved the church. What a beautiful
picture. Oh, how I wished Oh, how I pray
that I could love you as our Lord loves us. Husbands, love
your wives. Is there any more beautiful picture
of our Savior and His people than that? As Christ also loved
the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify it,
set it apart and cleanse it, cleanse it with the washing of
water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious
Church, a glorious Church not having spot. Folks, we are spotless. All of our iniquities were laid
on Him. He gave Himself for His Church
that we might spend an eternity with our bridegroom. A glorious
church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing that it should
be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. Just to express to you and I,
us men, just to express to us, if we didn't understand what
he said a moment ago about loving our wives like he loves us, Love
our wives as ourselves. That's how Christ loves us. Does
he not love himself? Would he not give himself everything
as the creator of all things? Well then why wouldn't he give
you and I all things? He gave his only begotten son,
how shall he not give us all things? Him that loveth his wife
loveth himself, verse 29, for no man ever yet hateth his own
flesh, but nourisheth it, and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
of the church. For we are members of his body,
and of his flesh, and of his bones. The Son of God espoused
himself to us in eternity before the world was ever made. He had
bought us and washed us in His own blood when He came here in
the flesh and shed His blood for us. We are wed to Him by
faith, wearing the wedding garments that He has provided us with.
We are His bride and He is our husband. What does that mean?
That means that we're objects of His tender love. If He's loved
you, Roger, from before the world was, how shall He not give you
everything? How shall He not adorn you, clothe
you in the most wondrous thing He has? His own Son, His own
righteousness. We are privileged to enjoy the
mystical union between God, between the Son of God and ourselves.
We are forever His. Our Lord says in His Word, He
says, What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. He also says, He hateth putting
away. We shall forever participate
in and possess all that is His. That's what we read in Romans
8, verses 16-17. It says the Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children,
then heir. You know what it is to be an
heir, right? That means you receive part of them. In our day, to
be an heir means to receive something that they've earned, something
that they've built up. But to be an heir is to receive part
of something of them. To receive our inheritance of
God, which is everything. That's what it says. It says,
then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
He's the bridegroom of our souls. and will one day present us before
his father and all of the universe as chaste virgins, perfect, without
blemish. Now let's see the warning of
this that we've just read. True believers are sometimes
weak, aren't we? If God's going to show us one
thing, If He's going to show us one thing outside of the love
of His Son, the Lord Jesus, He's going to show us how weak we
are. He's going to let us stumble,
won't let us fall, but we can sure kick that coffee table corner,
can't we? In the middle of the night and
scream out, oh my toe! That was painful. We were talking
about this in Bible study. Do you think Jonah found it to
be painful when he ran from the Lord? The Lord allowed him to
do that, didn't He? As Lord of all, He allowed Jonah
to run. He allowed Jonah to, after He
told Jonah to go forth and do something, Jonah said, No, I'm
not, and he ran the other way. I knew you were going to do that,
and here comes the good part in it. You're going to stub your
toes so hard you'll come out the other side. Salvation is
of the Lord. True believers are sometimes
weak. Weak believers often are swayed easily. Easily. Sidetracked, you might say, especially
by religious practices. Customs of men. New things. Things that people want to add
into services. John's disciples. Though true
disciples they were, were greatly impressed by the Pharisees, by
the outward show of religion, with the washing of the hands,
with fasting and praying in public places, I can tell you this for
sure, God's sheep will not follow a stranger's words, not into
death, but we can stumble at those around us in our lives.
I have a family member who loves to spend time with those who
worship on Saturdays. And I'm told, and I was almost
swayed by this, As I thought more and more about it, I was
almost swayed by this. I was told, you know, God mentions
the seventh day in Sabbath so many times in his scriptures
that it's got to be good for the soul. It's kind of like walking
in the ways of God. Walking in a godly and practical
godliness. We do it because it's good for
us. It's like You've tilled the land
for six years, and in the seventh year you rest. Why? Because it's
good for the land. I almost fell for this. I almost
fell for this. And Shirley back there, she's
been through it. She knows exactly what I'm about to say next. But she worships with those who
believe that that's salvation. That if you don't do that on
Saturday, you're not saved. If you don't do this and you
don't do that, then you're not saved. That's how easy it is
to fall into those around you. Religious ceremonies. A friend of mine is mixing it
up. They used to come to the Lord's
table, And I'm thinking that it might not be such a bad idea.
They only come to the Lord's table certain times. They only
sing. They get up and they pray the
same way every Sunday. They get up and they sing the
songs every Sunday. And he's mixing it up, thinking,
you know what, maybe we've made a ritual out of this. That's
possible. That is possible. John's disciples
were greatly impressed by the Pharisees' outward showing of
religion and public prayer. God's saints have an unction
from the Holy One and cannot be deceived with regard to the
Gospel, but the saints of this world are frail, are we not? We're weak, are we not? We're
simple men and women of the flesh and blood. Sometimes we fall
under the influence of wicked men, thinking that they're doing
something good. Sometimes by bad influences of
people we think that are sincere, we get sidetracked a little bit,
we might get pulled into it. That's exactly what had happened
with the disciples of John the Baptist. They got to listening
to the Pharisees, with whom they had in common the practice of
religious ceremonial fasting. They ignored the indescribably
far greater issue, and that is the issue of redemption. They
ignored the issue of grace, the issue of forgiveness, and they
joined the Pharisees. They actually joined them. and
railing on God's disciples, on the Lord Jesus' disciples. That's
what we just read there. If you look over in the book
of Matthew, chapter 9, you can do this in your own time. Go
look at Matthew 9, 14. It'll tell you. They joined in
on the railing with Christ. Why is this a warning to you
and I? Because we're no different than anybody else. If the disciples
of John the Baptist were easily swayed, you and I could be too.
Is coming to the table a ritual for us? Examine your hearts. That's what this is bringing
to me. Examine my heart. Am I in the faith? Or am I in
the ritualism of religion? May God the Holy Spirit keep
us from being moved away from the simplicity of the gospel. We had a couple come here for
a while who, a retired preacher, most of you know who he was.
When he found out he couldn't teach, When he found out that
I wasn't going to let him teach about the end times, he left. My thought is, where was the
gospel to him? Were the end times so important
that the gospel was no longer important to him? Now I want
to address the real issue, and I'll make it quick. I've only
got a few minutes left. The issue is, old is better. I've had people leave messages
on the church phone, John if you'll just call me, I live in
Chico, I can be there easily on a Saturday and teach you how
to grow your church. I get emails to the church website,
to the church email address, Such and such web builder can
build up your website to where you can attract more people.
We have new things to attract more people. I want to get to
the issue. The issue is old is better. The old ways are better. Look
at the front of your bulletin if you would with me, please.
Old Testament ways. Jeremiah 6.16, Thus saith the
Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see. And ask for the old paths. That's the same word, paths and
ways. Ask for the old ways. Where is
the good way? And walk therein, and ye shall
find rest for your soul. I mentioned earlier, times haven't
changed. People today are the same as
they were then. People in the days of Jeremiah were the same
as they are today. They were looking for something
new, something more. The gospel was not enough. I
need more than that. Do you need more than the gospel?
Do you need a bunch of fancy places? This is not the places
you're going to find a fancy band playing the music. We play
the same music. You hear the same message every
Sunday, every Friday night. Christ and Him crucified, because
that's the gospel. That's the gospel the Lord uses
to save His people. That's the gospel He uses to
call His children out of darkness. That's the gospel He uses to
feed His sheep. I'm one of His sheep, and that's
what I want to hear. I want to hear about my Savior,
who gave Himself for me out of His love for me. Look at this
parable, verse 36-39, And He spake also a parable unto them,
No man putteth a piece of new garment upon an old. That's our Lord's Word. Our Lord
is speaking to you and I right now. The old ways are the ways
of Christ. the ways of the gospel. No man
putteth a piece of new garment upon an old, if otherwise then
both the new maketh the rent, and the piece that was taken
out of the new agreeth not with the old. Verse 37, And no man
putteth new wine in old bottles, else the new wine will burst
with the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
But new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved.
No man also have drunk old wine, straight away desireth new, for
he saith, the old is there. You say, well, John, what are
the old ways? Did you know the gospel was preached the very
day that Adam and Eve sinned against God? That was the gospel
message that came forth when the Lord saw that they were naked,
when they had seen that they were naked. What were they naked?
Their sins were presented before God. God saw it all. They saw
their nakedness and they tried to do what? They tried to clothe
themselves. I was listening to Aaron Greenleaf
preach this morning in Danville at Don Fortner's church. Buddy,
I'll tell you, if you've got time to listen to a message this
afternoon, go tune into YouTube to Danville Gospel Church. Listen
to Aaron Greenleaf preach a message today that will blow your socks
off. But he was bringing out in the message how the gospel
has been around since the beginning of time. There are two types
of religion. The religion of works and the
religion of grace. And both of those religions were
expressed in the very thing that Adam and Eve did in the garden.
They tried to clothe themselves. They tried to make themselves
righteous. They tried to cover their own
sins. by taking fig leaves and sewing
them together. What was it that cleansed Adam
and Eve from their sins? The clothing of their savior. The blood was shed. An animal
was sacrificed. That was the true clothing. A
picture of the one who clothes us in his own righteousness.
Did you know that thousands of years had passed before the law
of fasting had been given? before any of the laws of do
this and don't do that were given. That didn't come along until
after Moses and the children of Egypt had been delivered from
Egypt. That was a long, long time. Yet grace was preached
from the beginning. The old story is the story of
grace. The old story is the story of
sovereignty. The old story is the story of
the god man, the old stories, the story of his blood. The old
story is the story of his resurrection and repentance. Turn over to
the book of Jonah. I've got a minute or two left
here. I'll try to cover this in that two minutes. Turn over
to the book of Jonah. Aaron brought this out in a much, much more
in-depth way. And I highly recommend you listen
to his message today. But look with me here at chapter
three, if you would. We're talking about the old ways,
the ways before the law was given. Jonah sees here, and the word
of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise. So
the word of the Lord came to Jonah. First off, Jonah didn't
get smart. He didn't just all of a sudden
say, I'm going to stop walking in the old path, I'm going to
walk in a new one. The Lord's word came to him as
it comes to all of God's children. And the word of the Lord came
unto Jonah the second time. That brings out another thing
that Aaron thought of. Did you hear that? He came out a second
time. Remember the first time Jonah was given the Word and
he ran from God, didn't he? God loves His people so much
He's never going to leave us. He's going to come to us again
and again and again in His Word. Oh, I'm so thankful to hear that
because I've got to come to His Word as often as I can. I want
His Word to come to me all the time. He says, Arise, go into
the great city and preach unto it. Do what? Preach! Preach the
old message. Preach the message of grace,
the message of love. The message of sovereignty. Preach
the message that I bid thee. So Jonah arose. Here we see God's
people do what God has told us to do. We may not do it perfectly. We may not do it as the way we
want to. There's a day coming when we will. There is a day
when the Lord will deliver each and every one of us out of this
body of death into the glorious presence of our Savior, the Lord
Jesus. He rose and he went to Nineveh
according to the word of the Lord. And Jonah began to enter
the city a day's journey and he cried and he said, yet forty
days and Nineveh shall be thrown. Something Aaron brought out this
morning that really hit home. The message that he's bringing
here, if you just notice what we just read, is 40 days and
Nineveh shall be overthrown. Folks, if I don't tell you this,
And you die and go through that door marked death and your blood
is on me. There's a day coming. There's
a day coming when each and every one of us will stand before God
Almighty and answer for our actions. What is your answer going to
be? Is it going to be, but Lord, have I not done things in your
name? Or is it going to be, Lord, I
have no answer except for Christ? and Him crucified for me. I'm
not worthy for you to even look upon me in this flesh. But in
my Savior, I stand perfect in Him. If I don't warn you that
the day is coming, and the day may be the day where you'll go
through that doormarked death, if you're not in Christ, you're
going to spend an eternity trying to pay your debt and never succeed.
And Jonah began to enter the city of day's journey and he
cried and he said, yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
So the people of Nineveh believed God. Did you notice who they
believed? They didn't believe Jonah. They believed God. They believed
the message that God had sent Jonah to preach. Let's continue
on. Proclaim that God had proclaimed
to fast and put on sackcloth and the greatest of them even
to the least of them for the word came unto the king of Nineveh. They believed for this reason.
For the word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from
his throne. Jesus Christ got up from his
throne. And he took off his robe, he
laid his robe from him, and he covered himself with sackcloth
And he sat in ashes for you and I. He humbled himself and became
flesh. He was obedient even unto the
cross. And he caused, verse 7, and he
caused it to be proclaimed. The King, who is the King? Our
Savior, Jesus Christ. Who is the King? He caused it
to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh. by the decree
of the king and his nobles, saying, let neither man nor beast, herd
nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water,
but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily
unto God. Yea, let them turn every one
from his evil way." Aaron brings out the message of, you know
what the way of man is? Works. That's our natural way,
is works. Turn from your evil way. And
turn to the way, the one who says, I am the way. What is the way? It's grace. It's grace from our Savior. It's
mercy from the Lord himself. I bid you this morning, folks,
turn from the way that is natural to you. and turn to the way of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what repentance is. I've
been told that I don't preach enough on repentance. Folks,
every time I ask you to turn from your ways, every time I
warn you to turn from the ways that are natural to you, to turn
from our idols, ourselves, our sin, and turn to Christ, that's
repentance. Amen?