unsearchable riches of Christ. Read verses 14 through 17 with
me. Then came to the Lord the disciples
of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but
the high disciples fast not? And 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 them, and then shall they fast. No man putteth a piece of new
cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill
it up taketh away 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. It says the disciples of John
came to our Lord. And there mentioned a few times
in Scripture disciples of John. But soon there would be no disciples
of John anymore, but only disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
really blasphemous to be called a disciple of any man. When you
hear people call themselves by the name of Lutheran or Wesleyan
or even Calvinist. As much as I love John Calvin,
I am not his disciple, but a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Better
to be called a Christian than a Calvinist, although we do ascribe
to those doctrines John Calvin preached, which are nothing more
than a short term for what the truth is. But these disciples
of John came and said to the Lord, why do we and the Pharisees
fast often? Your disciples don't fast. Now,
and they did fast often. I remember our Lord said in Matthew
6 that they loved to fast. They loved to be seen fasting,
like praying. And He told His disciples, when
you fast, don't let it be known. You do it in secret when you
pray. Don't do it to be seen. Be careful. Take heed that you
don't do your alms to be seen of men. Pharisees, that's why
they did it. They disfigured their faces,
he said. They wanted people to know that they were fasting,
to see how sincere they were when they were in fact hypocrites. Our Lord called them that. But
they fasted often. Now, I looked this up, and you
can look it up for yourselves. But nowhere in the law of God
is fasting commanded. Nowhere. It's not there. I looked
it up. The Lord does not command us
to fast. Fasting is a voluntary thing. Fasting is not a duty or a law
or something that you do per se. It's a way, like prayer. It's an attitude, it's a feeling.
Fasting, and you may fast and don't even
know it, but fasting comes in a time of great sorrow. When
a person is greatly sorrowful, they won't eat, will they? Fasting
means doing it without the necessary food. A time of great sorrow
is when you'll fast. Sorrow over whatever. But the
sorrow of God's people is chiefly over sin and guilt. And then
supplication. That's the time. But it's not
a thing to be seen. It's not a thing to do as a show. Look at Mark chapter 7. But these
Pharisees made a law out of it. And they fasted twice. in the week, like the Pharisee,
remember, and the publican, the Pharisee, boasted of his fasting. But it's not in God's Word. It's
not commanded of. Look at Mark chapter 7. Four
times he said in this chapter that men laid aside the Word
of God for their own tradition and commandments. He said in
verse 7, he says, you in vain you worship me, teaching for
doctrine the commandments of men. Verse 9, you reject the
commandment of God to keep your own tradition. Verse 13, you
make the Word of God of no effect through your tradition. So the
Lord didn't command this, but they made a great show of it.
And our Lord answered them. Go back to the text. The Lord
said about fasting, that his people would fast out of sorrow. Verse 15, the Lord said unto
them, Can the children of the bride chamber mourn as long as
the bridegroom is with them? No. The friend of the bridegroom
loves to hear the bridegroom's voice. And as long as he is with
them, they do not mourn, but rather feast. They feast. Every one of the feasts that
the Lord gave, seven of them I believe, were just that, feasts. And he calls the marriage supper
just that, a marriage supper. It's a time for feasting. and
happiness and laughter as long as the bridegroom is with them,
as long as he's there. Now, there's times when we do
not feel, I'm talking to believers here, children of God, when we
do not feel his presence. That's a time for fasting. to do away with everything until
you feel it's present. It's a time because of our sins
that always are the reason The thing that separates us from
our God. That's the time to seek his face.
To do away with everything. Self-indulgence. Do away with
it. To seek his face. That one thing
needful. Now, the Lord is addressing these
disciples of John, but we're hearing it. We're reading it.
And he says, you don't do these things to be seen. You do them
out of sorrow. sorrow. And he said in verse
15, there will come a time when the bridegroom shall be taken
from them. He's referring to himself. There will be a time, he says,
when I am taken from my disciples. And then they'll pass. But when
is that? Well, it was just for three days.
Just three days. Our Lord said, I'm going somewhere
and you can't come. Like Abraham and Isaac going
up that mountain. I and the lad will go. You stay
here. When he went to the cross and endured the wrath of God
for his people, he did that alone. When he went to the tomb, he
was buried. He stayed in that grave like
Jonah was in the belly of the whale. And all that time, do
you know how sorrowful the disciples were? Those were the worst three
days of their lives. They were distraught. They were in deep despair and
depression. All their hope, their life, their
salvation was in Christ. And now they thought, He's dead. And they were deeply sorrowful.
And I guarantee you, they didn't go on like with everyday life,
eating and drinking and making merry. No, sir. They were sad. They were distraught. But then,
he arose. And he said before he left, the
last thing he said to them, Lo, I am with you always, even to
the ends of the earth. Never leave you. So, we don't
fast. We don't fast unless we feel
the loss of His presence. Unless we feel separated from
Him. And He says, draw nigh unto Me,
I'll draw nigh unto you. So, that's the only reason for
fasting. Verse 16. Then he says this,
he says, now no man put a piece of a new cloth under an old garment. These Pharisees boasted themselves
of keeping the law. Man's got to dress the law. And
the disciples of John, they made this a law. But we're not under
the law. Believers are not under the law.
to Christ, the royal law of Christ. But that's what he's talking
about here. No man puts a piece of new cloth
onto an old garment, for that which is put in, the new cloth,
to fill it up, takes from the garment and the rent is made
worse. In other words, you can't try
to patch up an old, rotten suit of clothes with a new piece
of cloth. It won't work. I remember, and
those of you who were children of the 60s all had jean jackets. You know, I had one that when
you kept them until they just were rotting and you'd start,
do you have one? You'd patch things, you'd patch
it up, keep patching it up, you know, putting patches all over
it. And it didn't do any good. That garment was rotting and
there was nothing you could do. The only thing to do with a rotting
garment is what? Throw it away or take it to Goodwill.
But look at Isaiah 64. What garment is he talking about? Isaiah 64. What garment do men
and women try to patch up with new ways? Turn over a new leaf. I'm going to patch a new leaf
on this old Fig leaf garment. It's their righteousness. Scripture
speaks so much of the garment of righteousness, covering. A
garment is for a few things. A garment is something to cover
our nakedness, to cover our shame. A garment is something we need
for protection. Man is the only animal born that
doesn't have a covering. That should tell you something.
A garment is something we need for warmth. A garment is also
for adornment. A garment is also something you
wear in honor. Look at verse 6 of Isaiah 64. It says, We are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousness says, All that we've ever done, all
that we do, everything about us, all that men and women take
pride in, he says, are as filthy rags. Now, anyone who's ever
looked that up, what filthy rags mean. Do not want to be crude, but
this is what that means. Minstrelss cloths. Filthy rags in the sight of God. They're all as an unclean thing,
he said. All that man does. Because God
looks on the heart. God sees through the facade of
man's good work, so-called, of man's sacrifices, so-called.
He sees through that. He sees the motive. He sees the
heart behind it, or rather, the lack of it. And these things
that men and women do to make themselves appear to be righteous,
our Lord calls them filthy rags, despicable, stinking garments. There's only one covering that
is a sweet smell and savor to God. Only one garment that is
the wedding garment that we must have. What is that? Can you tell
me? It's the righteousness of Christ.
The righteousness of Christ. And we must have it. Christ is
righteousness. And, you know, these things that
we do won't protect us. They won't cover our nakedness
and our shame. They are our shame. Matthew Henry
once said this, you know, man was created naked. He didn't
need any clothing at first because he was without sin. Well, then
he sinned against God. He rebelled against God. And
the first thing he knew was he was naked. And he needed clothing,
and what did he do? He got some fig leaves. You can't
cover your nakedness with fig leaves. As soon as you pick them,
they're dead, aren't they? They're dead, and they will wither.
All our beauty, all the things we do, it's going to wither.
And the only tree that our Lord cursed while He was on this earth
was what tree? The fig tree. That's by design. But Matthew
Henry said this, you know, man is so ignorant that clothing,
which only purpose for clothing is to cover our shame, yet we
take pride in it. We wouldn't even need clothing
if we weren't sinners. But men and women take pride
in it and glory in it, honor in it. The only thing we should
take pride in and glory in, God forbid that we should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That garment that
He wrought with His own hands, like the psalmist says, the king's
daughter is all glorious in her apparel. She's in wrought garments
of the Son making. He did that. A wedding garment. And anything we do, Don't take
pride in it. Our righteousness is of the Lord.
In Ezekiel 16, it says that child that was cast out to the loathing
of its person, filthy, lying in its own pollution, its blood.
And then the Lord came by and He said, Thy time was a time
of love. I looked upon you and I said,
live. And then He said, I spread my skirt over you and covered
your nakedness. And then He said, He went on,
that she was made beautiful through my comeliness. And that's the only garment there
is. So our Lord said, you don't...
Go back to the text. You don't put a new garment on
an old piece of cloth. Throw that old cloth away. What's
he talking about? Well, he's talking about the
new birth. He's talking about a new creature and a new righteousness. Not that of the law, but the
righteousness which is of God by the faith of Jesus Christ. That righteousness that he wrought
out. Then he says something about
a new wine. Look at this in verse 17. Neither do men put new wine into
old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out,
and the bottles perish. They put new wine into new bottles,
and both are preserved. A new wine. You know, Scripture
talks much about wine. It doesn't forbid it. It encourages
us, in fact, to drink a little wine for thy stomach's sake and
not off to infirmities, as Paul told Timothy. He talked about
wine that makes glad the heart of man, wine that gladdens the
heart, made for feasting and laughter. What is this wine?
Is he encouraging us to drink actual, literal wine? No, not
necessarily. Eat my flesh and drink my blood. This is the new wine. The new wine that God gives His
people. The wine of His blood. The wine
of the gospel that gladdens the heart. And this new wine can't
go into old bottles. The old man, the natural man
receiveth not the things of God, neither can he know them. He
can't do it. The old man won't even hear it.
The old man won't see any glory in Christ. The old man won't
receive the Word. The old man won't get any joy
from it. The old man. He's got to be a
new creature. And when the wine of the Gospel
comes, this new creature is created and rejoices with joy unspeakable. Our Lord said, if you put new
wine in an old bottle, it will burst. The eye hasn't seen, the
ear hasn't heard, and neither have the ear and the heart of
man the things that God has prepared for them that love Him. But it
does a little bit. If we could truly see things as they are, if we could
truly enter into these things, we'd burst. We couldn't make,
we couldn't live here. David said, I was as one ready to burst. The truth, the
gospel, the word in me was like this new wine in me and I was
ready to burst. And this new man, this new creature
receives the love of God, the love of the truth, the gospel,
this new life, new spirit, new gospel. And he doesn't put this
new wine of the gospel in an old man. He doesn't patch up
the old man. He doesn't improve the old man. The old man is like that old
garment. He's going to be folded up and
cast away. And you're going to have a new
body. A new body. Someday, you know, we try to
sing, don't we? We try to worship. And we fail
miserably. But he's going to give us a new
body. And we're going to have a new voice and a new mind. And
we're going to be able to worship as we ought. We're going to sing
at the top of our lungs from the bottom of our heart without
any self-consciousness. In perfect tune. All doing the
same thing, one accord. In closing, he said in 2 Corinthians
4, listen to this. But in verse 16 of 2 Corinthians
4, he says this. He said, we faint not for the
cause of the gospel. We faint not. But though our
outward man perish, it's getting old, fading, decaying, change
and decay in all around I see and me. soon to die, yep, the inward
man, that new man, unseen man, hidden man is renewed day by
day. How is it renewed? With this
wine, with this gladdening wine.