Now, the Lord Jesus Christ went
home with this wicked fellow named Levi. That's
what publicans were. They were just about the worst. Nobody liked publicans. The Lord went home with this
fellow, and he sat in on a big feast
or party that this fellow had in his honor. And there were
all sorts of these people there, all sorts
of, many public ones, it said. It said here, Imagine what the
others were like. A rough crowd. And Christ ate
and drank in the midst of this crowd. He was eating and drinking,
drinking wine. And the scribes and the Pharisees The modern-day equivalent of
a scribe and a Pharisee would be maybe a deacon in a local
Baptist so-called church, or a Sunday school teacher. That's
who these scribes and Pharisees would be today. They murmured
against Christ and his disciples. Look at verse 30. Verse 30 says, Why do ye eat
and drink with publicans and sinners? Now, they were saying
this to his disciples who were with Christ in on this feast.
They were sitting there with him in the midst of all these
rabble-rousers. And the scribes and Pharisees
took one of them to the side. disciples decided, why do you
eat? They were really directing this at Christ, but they were afraid of him,
and so they dealt with the disciple. They said, why do you eat and
drink with publicans and sinners? Publicans and others. Now, they weren't asking a question
here. They weren't asking this. They were just expressing their
condemnation of the disciple and of Christ, cheaply. And they
weren't asking a question. What they were doing when they
said this was drawing attention to the fact that they didn't
do this sort of thing. You see? Why do you eat and drink? Well, we don't do that. See,
they weren't asking. a question. They were just condemning
them and showing themselves to be too righteous, too pious to
do that. Religious people like to ask
questions. I get asked a lot of questions, but they're all
usually the same questions. You know what they ask, they
ask you the same question. First question, you know what
the first question is, they ask When they hear that you're religious,
especially if they hear I'm a preacher, I know it's coming. I can expect
it. I can say something for them to tell me how religious they
are. And if they ask me a question, it's this. Every time, how many do you have? How many of you
run in Sunday school? Scott Richardson said, it sounds
like you're in the cattle business, doesn't it? How many of you run
it? How many head? That's what they're
in. That's the business they're in,
counting heads. Usually it's how many, how big
is it growing? And they're not interested in
growing in grace and the knowledge of Christ, they're talking about
numbers. What about your choir? Do you meet on Saturday or Sunday?
Are you Baptist? What are you? What denomination
are you? Mostly, they're not asking
questions for information, but they want to tell you how religious
they are and how many they're running, and what they are, Baptist
or whatever. Where this or that? Well, the Lord confronted these
Pharisees. Now, they asked the disciples,
and the Lord is the one that answered them. And that's good. We need to remember
that. God's word is what we need to
confront men with. Well, this is what I think. Oh,
yes, our church—it doesn't matter what our church. does or said,
is what God said. The Lord confronted these fellows,
and look at verse 31 and 32, and Christ answering said unto
them, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick. He said, I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. What a blessing that was, what
a blessed thing he just said. common people, people that are
sick with sin, people that are sinners. Boy, they'll hear that
gladly. Aren't you glad when he said
that? Aren't you glad he said that? If you're a sinner, you
are. But they didn't hear him. They didn't hear what he said.
They weren't listening, because they wanted to ask another question.
And people aren't asking questions for information. And if they
do ask you, they're not hearing your answer, they won't tell
you something else, or ask something else about you. Now look at this. Here they start asking more questions.
Look at it. Verse 33, they said unto him, What a blessing, he just said,
I come to call sinners to repentance. They didn't even answer that.
They didn't even consider what he just said. Verse 33, they
said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers or
go through public prayers. And likewise, the disciples of
the Pharisees fast and pray, but dine, eat
and drink. Why do the disciples of John
and the Pharisees fast and make public prayers and so forth,
but dine, eat and drink? John is the last of the Old Testament
prophets in it. Right there you have the prophets. And in the Pharisees were lawyers. So what you have there is the
Law and the Prophets. People who were disciples of either
the Law or the Prophets, or people who prided themselves in prophecy,
or even called themselves that. I'm from the Church of the Living
and the God of Prophecy. And you have people who are all
taken up with the prophets and the prophecy. And then you've
got the law people, who are disciples of Moses, you know, who pride
themselves in keeping the law and the way they live and look
and so on. Disciples of John, disciples
of the Pharisees of the law, the law and the prophet. And then look at this third group
of disciples. He said, There you've got the disciples
of John, a man, and then the disciples of the Pharisees, and
then they said, But Thine. Now, this is the kind of disciple
I want. But Thine disciple. Listen to
the Thine disciple. Listen to our Lord in John 17,
verse 6. He says, I have manifested thy
name. This is Christ praying to God
the Father. He says, I have manifested thy
name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were. They're thine. Thine they were, disciples of
thine, before the world began. And thou gavest them me, and
they kept thy word. Listen to this. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, not
God's disciples, not the disciples of the Pharisee, but for them
which God has given me, for they are mine. And mine are thine,
and thine are mine. That's who the disciple I want
to be. One of these thines will be a
heathite and a thine's disciple. That's who we are. That's who
believers are. I want to be one of Christ's disciples, not a
follower of a man, John. See, John's disciples. Anybody that was still following
John was following the wrong person, weren't they? You remember,
there were two disciples of John? And John said, Hey, right there's
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Follow
him. And the two of them, they left and followed Christ. Now
those were bound, those were bound disciples. Anybody still
following John from there on out was not, that's not God's,
he wasn't one of God's. Neither is anybody who's following
a man today. Let a man come in his own name,
and whoever is a disciple of that man, he'll receive him.
But he is a disciple, a follower
of Christ, a true disciple. Well, look at this, look what
he says here in verse thirty-four. He says, Thine eat and drink.
Well, he said unto them, well, here's his answer to them for
the reason why his disciples eat and drink. He said unto them,
Can you make the children of the bridegroom fast, or that
is, refrain from eating while the bridegroom is with them? Do you remember over, and we
won't turn for the sake of time, but our Lord in wisdom and divine omniscience was dealing
with these people at the very point that John did. They brought
up John's disciples, and Christ said, well, can you make the
children of the bride chamber fast when the bridegroom was
with them? Do you remember what John said
over in John chapter 3? Do you remember what John said
in John chapter 3, where John said, the friend of the bridegroom
rejoiceth at the voice of the bodgrunner." Do you remember
that? When he hears the bodgrunner.
Because some people came to John and said, well, this fellow,
we're talking about Christ, he's over here baptizing, and you're,
but you're baptizing, and John said, hey, I'm just baptizing
with water. He it is. He's the one you need
to be following. He's the one that baptized with
fire. That's the bad groom. Don't sit and look at and sit
and talk to and be amazed with the friend. The friend's amazed
with the bad groom. Don't listen to me. Go to the
source. Don't be taken up with me. I'm
a nothing. I'm a nobody. He it is. He is God, that's who he is.
He is the Lamb. He is salvation. Go to him. That's
what John said. Remember when he said that? And
our Lord in wisdom said, talking about the bridegroom. Are you
with me? He was talking about the bridegroom.
And he said, can you make the children fast or refrain from
eating when the bridegroom is right in the middle of them? Well, if y'all are eating and
drinking and laughing and having a good time, why? We've got our
faces all down. wearing sackcloth and ashes,
and we're looking sad and real pious and religious and so forth.
Why are you all laughing and eating? Because the bridegroom is with
us. Joy and rejoicing. Do you remember
over in Luke 24? Do you remember those two disciples
who were walking on the road to Emmaus? Do you remember that?
And Christ came to them? And he hid himself from them,
and he didn't reveal himself to them. And they were walking
along, and Christ said, Why is it that you're talking about?
You're walking along, and it's just sad. Remember that? Why is it sad?
And they said, Well, we trust you. Are you a stranger here?
We trusted that this, that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, and
that he was going to restore the king. And I started talking
about prophecy. And Christ said, Oh, slow to
believe all that the prophets have spoken." The prophets bore
witness of Christ. The law and the prophets bear
witness of Christ. And beginning at Moses and the
Psalms and the prophets, he expanded unto them the things concerning
himself. What happened to him then? When he revealed himself
unto them in birth, he went home with them, and they started eating.
And he broke bread and revealed himself to them and said they
were filled with joy. He said, Let's eat some more.
You talk and we'll eat. You preach and we'll eat. And then it goes on to say there
in Luke 24, finally, that he arose and it says, they all went
back rejoicing. Well, you know, joy and rejoicing
and feasting on fat things and wine on the leap. And he said,
look here, to verse 35. He said, The days will come when
the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall
they fast in those days. When is that? When the bridegroom
is taken away. When is that talking about? Then
they'll fast. Well, it only lasted three days. When Christ died and was buried,
three days, they were sad. It's not now, people. He's not
taken away. He said, I'm with you even on
the end of the world. There were two or three gathered,
I'm right there. So what do you do? Feast! Sinners? Let's eat. Let's drink. Wine and bread. What do you say?
Feast. Rejoice! Rejoice, I say, in the
Lord. That's what you feast on. Who
do you feast on? Then the Lord brought up clothing.
That's going to be the next question, isn't it? Isn't that always the next question
by a religious person? They talk about food, eating
and drinking. What's the next question? Our
Lord said in Matthew 6, he said, all these things are the Gentiles
taken up with. He said, the kingdom of heaven
is not in meat and drink or clothing, he said, but this is what everybody
is taken up with. What do you eat? What do you
do down there? What do you wear? Do your women
wear pants? Do they wear a covering? Doesn't
that go to the next question? So our Lord, before they ask
it, he deals with it. Before they get to it, well,
we're all, see these Pharisees and these scribes, they looked
like, they looked the part. They had their long robes and
broad phylacteries and fish hats or whatever they wore back then,
you know, they looked the part, their long beards and, I'm not
making, yeah, yeah, I'm making fun of them. They looked the part, didn't
they? And they looked at these disciples and, well, they just
looked like They don't look like good Jews
to us, they look like fishermen. That's what they are. Like somebody said to my mother
one day, you don't look like a preacher's wife. By the way,
what are they supposed to look like? Where is the book, where
does it say? I know what they think they're
supposed to look like. You don't look like a preacher. You don't
look like a Christian. I know most everybody in here
this morning has all got their best clothing on. We might look the part, but most
of the time, during the week, we just look normal. Well, we don't look like that. Well, our Lord deals with them.
Look at it here in verse 36. He said, Why do you eat and drink? Why don't you wear long clothing,
phylacteries and so forth? Why don't you wear a t-shirt
with How Much You Love Jesus on it, or a bumper stick? Look at verse 36. And he spake
also a parable unto them, and said, No man putteth a piece
of a new garment upon an old. If otherwise, then both the new
maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new
agreeth not with the old." I wondered before why he said this, and
now I know. Now we know, John, because he
said that, he talked about people are taken up with, wherewithal
shall we eat, drink, or what shall we wear? How shall we be
clothed? going to deal with it. All right?
Food and drink and clothing. Now, it's not the Lord. The Lord
teaches us, listen to me, listen carefully, all right? The Lord
teaches us the importance of food and clothing. Yes, he does. The necessity of
eating and drinking certain foods. The Lord teaches and preaches the necessity
of eating and drinking certain foods, that if you don't, you'll
die. Are you with me? I don't see
who's with me. If somebody's with me, they'll be smiling about this
poem. He says, if you don't eat certain foods and drink certain
things, you're going to die. And he's not talking about spinach. He's not talking about What's
he talking about? Remember that? He said, except
you eat something and drink something, you'll die. What? He said, my
flesh and my blood. Oh, well, they got all confused.
Remember, they got confused. Can this man give us his flesh
and his blood to drink and eat? Can we eat him? Are we cannibals
here? No, but if you don't eat this, you'll die. I don't understand why you're
looking at things that are sane, you see. This water will leave
you thirsty. But the water I give, he said,
you'll never thirst again. This water you see and feel.
Feelings come, feelings go. It's just a feeling. It's just
water. Christ, the water of life. You drink from within. You don't
see. things that are not seen are
eternal. Bread that I give you, he says, is myself. Manna come down from heaven. Unless you eat and drink certain
foods, you're going to die. And then he said, unless you're
wearing something. Unless you're wearing a certain
clothing, you're not going to get into heaven. You've got to
have a certain type of clothing on, or you're not going to get
into heaven. Oh, well, then, well, let's just cover up. It won't work. I'll just cover up, I'll be like
a Muslim, you know, I'll cover everything but my eyes. Boy,
that's really where the sin comes out and goes in. Cover them too. But then you can't cover your
mind, can you? You especially can't cover your heart. Christ
said, Out of the heart proceedeth adultery and fornication. Out
of the heart, he said, are the issues of life. Oh, cover the
flesh up all you want to, but it won't cover what's really
showing before God. Now look at this. This is important. He said, unless you're wearing
a certain kind of clothing, you're not going to get into heaven. Now listen to this. Turn to Genesis
3 with me. Genesis chapter 3. While you're
turning, let me say this. Genesis chapter 3. There are
those people, there are some people who who wear the most conservative
clothing you can wear, and I'm not against that. I'm not against
that. Not at all. I believe the Scripture
talks about modesty. I know it does. Scripture commands
a woman to dress in shame, facelessness and sobriety, modesty, modest
apparel and so forth, respectful and so on. Not against that, but there are
those who are wearing the most conservative clothing of all,
but are flat and naked before God Almighty. I mean naked. And there are those who eat the
world's delicacies, eating and drinking the finest food and
drink that you can eat. But all those who have Christ
now have food and rain, and boy, they're content. They ought to
be content. Look here in Genesis chapter
3. What is this new garment Christ
is talking about that you must have on? New garment, I've got
to hurry. This is Christ's righteousness,
is what this garment is. Christ's righteousness. It's not just a point of doctrine
I'm giving you this morning. This is salvation. This is the
wedding garment. This is what Christ said, except
you're wearing this wedding garment, you're not going to get into
the kingdom of God. It's the righteousness of Christ, something
he did, something he made with his own hands that covers you. It'll cover you. And look here
at Genesis 3. You remember the story. Remember
Adam and Eve? This woman saw a tree that was
good for food, and she took and ate and gave her husband, and
he did eat. And it says, verse 7, their eyes
of them both were open, meaning that they became sinners. And
look at the first thing they saw when they became sinners.
The first thing their eyes were open to was their own nakedness. They saw they were naked. Look
at it. They were naked. So what did
they do? We've got to cover. We've got
to cover up. We're naked. Well, I'll tell
you what we'll do. Eve, there's a fig tree. Let's get some of those leaves
and we'll sew them up. Sew them good now. Not make a
nice little apron. And we'll sew it up and we'll
wear those in our covers. Fig leaves. And people, this is a picture
of when man, when God reveals to a man or a woman what they
are before God, a sinner, in the eyes of God Almighty, the
first thing they see is they're naked and naked. And some people try to sew little
things up, you know, to cover, you know, make them little, do
little things. They think that, you know, going
to atone for their sin. Well, I'll turn over a new... Is it any mere coincidence, Jenny,
that they say, well, this is what I'm going to do, you know.
I've been a sinner. I've been a bad person. So what
I'm going to do is turn over a new leaf, a fig leaf. I'll turn it over and I'll cover
me and God won't see me. And I'll turn over a new leaf,
you know, he'll be pleased with me. A fig leaf? How long would a fig leaf last?
First, strong wind that blows. But it won't cover you, it won't
warm you either. Well, look what God did. God
made something, and it clothed him. Look at verse 6. I'm sorry,
verse 21. It says, And to Adam also and to his wife
did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothe them." God killed
an animal, an innocent animal. I just happen to believe he was
a lamb. As a matter of fact, I'd just about stake my life
on a lamb. Wouldn't you? You'd better stake your life
on a lamb. But God killed a lamb, shed its blood. What did he do
with the blood? And then he took that skin. God made it. God made a coat. You reckon it
was a good one? God made a coat. And he took
this coat and covered these two naked sinners. And they were clothed. They were
covered. What is this? We'll turn to Romans
4 with you. Romans chapter 4. I've already
told you the answer. This is Christ's righteousness.
All right? Romans chapter 4. When Christ
came down here to earth, why did he come? To show us how to
live. Is that why Jesus Christ came
down to this earth? To show us the way. And if you live the way, then
you can get there too. He said, Christ, you know, he
lived as a good man. If you live as a good man, good
woman, too, you'll get to God, too. Is that what he did? To
show us the way? Christ said, I am the way. He didn't say, no, there's the
way, walk in. He said, I'm the way. He didn't say, now I'm going
to show you how to live, did he? He said, I am the life. Christ came down here to live
as a man, not to show us how to live, but to live for some
people, for his own, as a representative, to establish, the scripture says,
righteousness according to the law. God says, it must be perfect
to be accepted. God said, I'm holy, you better
be holy, or I'm not going to have anything to do with Well,
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Not this
man. Not the God-man. Not Christ. Christ came down
here as a man, thirty-three and a third years, lived a perfect
life, and it's got to be not just outwardly, but inwardly. Remember? Out of the heart, proceed. Christ said He had clean hands,
a pure heart, never sworn deceitfully. Perfect man, so perfect, God
said out loud from heaven twice, He said, I'm well pleased with
this man. God never said that about any
man who ever lived. He said, This man, I'm pleased
with. You'd better hear him. You'd
better get in him. He'd better come to you, or you're
naked. There's none good, no, not one.
There's none righteous, no, not one. None, but right here's one. That's a holy man. You can come on into heaven.
Man, this man, Jesus, the man, Christ Jesus, he could walk right
into heaven. He earned it. But why he did that? Why did
he do that? Just to show that he could? No! I couldn't do it. I can't do it, no matter how
hard I try. And so he did it for me. He did it for me. If you need
it, he did it for you. Who'd he do it for? Well, he
already said that. Sinners! I'm not a sinner like this publican
over here. Then you don't have a covering,
and you're naked. Huh? Look here at Romans 4, verses
5 through 7. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him, Christ, that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. His faith. Even as David described
the blessedness of the man. Here's the blessed man. Here's
the saved man. The one unto whom God imputeth
righteousness. And I've always likened this
righteousness. that Christ made. It's the best
illustration I can give. It's a Biblical illustration.
It's called robes. Scripture talks about robes that
the saints wear, robes of righteousness, white robes. Remember that over
in Revelation where it said, what are these robes that they're
wearing? It's the righteousness of the saints. Well, where'd
they get them? Did they make them? Did they
all sit around and make them? No, the king made them. He made
them all with His own hands. He sewed them all up. They're
without seam and they're perfect and they're pristine and beautiful
and they're multi-colored. You know, Joseph was given a
coat of many colors. He was a favorite of the prophets. And over in Psalm 45, it talks
about the king's daughters. Not just sons, but Deborah, it
says the king's daughters are all glorious in their apparel.
They wear wrought gold. that the king gave these garments
to them. Every one of the king's daughters
have a garment. And the king made it with his
own hands. And that's the life Christ lived,
the holy life. And for every naked sinner, he
says, you need one of these, you need this. He imputes it
to them. That's what that means. Look
at it. Look at verse 7, "...blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered." And it's a warm one. It's made
out of wool. Wool! What's wool? Lamb's skin. Nothing warmer. That's what this
coat's made out of, by the way. Virgin wool, mind you. It warms you, it covers you,
Christ's life. If you don't have it on, God
sees right through you. You say, but I'm a sinner, I've
got... No, you're covered. Justify. See, you remember the Pharisee
and the Publican in Luke 18? Pharisee came up, he made him
a little religion. He made his religion. He made
his peace with God. He was, he sewed him up a little
fig leaf, right? He had a garment. He had a robe
on. He was wearing a robe just for a second. You remember what I like in that
robe too, don't you? I got one of these hospital gowns.
Everybody in here, anybody been in the hospital, you wore one
of those gowns? Do they cover? Do they cover you, those hospital
gowns? Huh? Well, they look pretty good
up front, don't they? Huh? Ain't that good enough?
Whenever my man sees you, you know? They won't cover you. They're not warm, and they won't
cover you. As a matter of fact, what you are is showing. Yes, sir, what you really are,
shows. And so is man's righteous religious
that he patches, you know, sews up. And that's what our Lord
says here. He says here, you don't patch these two together.
You don't patch the righteousness of Christ up with yours. You
don't take the work, the perfect, pristine robe of Christ and put
your little merit badge on it. See, Christ came down here and
lived. He said it behooves us to fulfill all righteousness,
every jot and tittle. We don't even know our every
jot and tittle. We don't know the half of it, do we? We're
ignorant of the law. We don't know what it requires.
We think we know it, thou shalt not kill. It goes much deeper
than that. Every jot and tittle of the law
must be fulfilled perfectly. Christ knew it by his knowledge
from our righteous servant, justify many, by his knowledge. I'm ignorant
of the law. He's not. He wrote it. I can't
keep the law. He can. He did it. He did it. And he says here, you don't patch
these two together. You don't take this beautiful
robe of righteousness which Christ made and put your little patch
on it. And you don't add it, too. You
know, you don't try the best you can. If that fails, you know,
you believe on Jesus. That's a little insurance. No
sir, you're either wearing, you're either under the blood and in
his righteousness or nothing. All or nothing. Somebody said that when Christ
said the way is straight and narrow, said it's so narrow that
you've got to take all your clothes off to get in. And you've got to have oil on
you. It's so narrow, you've got to
take all your clothes off, only the naked get in. And once in,
they're clothes. Well, look at the text, and I
quit. He said, No man puts a piece of a new garment on an old one. He says it will make a rent.
The new and the old don't agree. They're just not in agreement,
new and old. I grew up in the, born in the
50s, grew up in the 60s and the 70s. Everybody that grew up in
the 60s and 70s wore a jean jacket. That was just, you know, you
just did. Everybody did. And I had one
that, oh, my poor mother. It was, you know, it was ready
to be thrown out. I mean, it got ragged. I mean,
it got rotten. This ginger was my favorite.
And I had her patch it up for me. She had sewed new collars
on it, new sleeves on it, new pocket on it. You know, just
kept sewing and sewing and sewing. It didn't last. I mean, she'd
no sooner wash it than something else would come unraveling. Would
you sew that up, Ma? I don't want to lose that. I
don't want to lose that. That's my favorite. Well, it won't last. And this is exactly what our
Lord is saying. You know, our old religion's
got to go. When Bartimaeus saw Christ, what did he do? He was
wearing an old blanket, something, a security blanket that comforted
him. He thought it covered him, you
know. He was blind. That thing was in rags. And so
are our righteousness. They're filthy rags. And as soon
as Bartimaeus saw Christ, he took that rag and threw it away.
I don't need that. I need him. and got to Christ. And he not
only saw, but I just bet you Christ gave him a new suit of
clothes, too. Wool clothes. I just bet you. I know it. I
know it. He gave the same thing to me. See, Christ's righteousness
and man's don't mix. They just don't mix. One's spiritual,
one's flesh. That which is flesh is flesh.
Grace and works don't mix. No, sir, you're saved by grace,
or you think you're saved by works. You're not saved with
both. The gospel and the law don't
mix. They're like two opposite poles of a magnet, right? They
don't meet. They don't mix. Well, listen to this. The world says this, and religion
says this. Religion says this, and see if
you don't hear this today. You can't do that. Don't touch
that. Touch not, taste not, handle not. Touch not, taste not, handle
not. The Word says all things are
lawful for men. Christ said that. Some aren't
expedient. It's all lawful. What enters
into my mouth is not going to Is that right? Who said that? Jesus Christ said that. A lot
of people got mad at that. Who got mad at it? Those that
didn't touch or taste or have? Well, I've never done that in
all my life. It doesn't matter. I wouldn't
defile you. Byron used to say, y'all go home
and take a bath in it right now. Right now, go home and just take
a bath in it. realize what you are. Touch not, taste not, handle
not, Christ said, all things are lawful. The world says, wear
this, wear that. Christ said, no, I'm your covering. I'm your covering. David one
day, you remember David? Ran after God's own heart, he
got naked. Oh, and his wife got offended.
Do you remember that? Michael, his wife, she got real
offended. David went out and was wearing
nothing but an ephod, dancing before the earth. And his wife
said, oh, my, you expose yourself for all the women. He said, I'll
be more, my, you religious, pharisaical woman. I'm dancing before God,
not you. David got naked. Some people need to get naked,
take all that stuff off the day that they're glorying in. Just
get naked before God. Yes, sir. We all do need to spiritually. The world says, observe this
day, that day. Christ said, I'm your day of
rest. The world says, the law is our
rule of life. Christ said, I am life. Whatever
I say, you do that. Moses says this. Moses and Christ,
they don't agree. The only way they agree is Moses
agrees that Christ is their Savior. Moses does agree on that point.
But Moses says, do. Christ says, none. So they don't agree. They're
opposite. Moses says, do. Christ says, none. Moses says,
do. Christ says, pardon. They don't agree? Huh? Moses
says, you're bound by the law. Christ says, free, free, free,
and turn them loose. Moses says, get them bound. Christ
says, turn them loose. Moses says, yo, yo, yo. Christ
says what? Pay. They don't agree. Don't
let anybody get you under that bondage. Don't let them drive
you to Moses, the gift of Christ. And I don't have time to deal
with a new wine. Yes, I do. I'm going to take
time. New wine, old bottles. He said this, he said, No man
puts new wine in old bottles. What's that? What's the wine?
What's the new wine? I'm drinking it right now. Ah, it's good stuff. We're talking about the gospel,
the wine of gospel, wine being Christ's blood. It's good wine, it's new wine.
It makes glad the heart of man. David said, wine makes glad the
heart of man. You'd better not drink wine,
you'd better drink this wine. Wine ain't never touched my lip,
it's obvious. It's obvious. Like my pastor said, most people
have just enough religion to make them miserable, and everybody
else around them miserable. It makes glad the heart of man. Huh? New wine is the gospel which
makes glad the heart of a sinner, the doctrine of Christ which
old bottles can't endure. The doctrine of the gospel, sound
doctrine, the gospel which says God sovereignly saves, sovereignly
elects, particular redemption. Old bottles can't endure that.
They must! Oh, that makes me frightened
mad. And now I want to destroy, and
look at this, it says the new wine, it says to burst the bottles
and spill the wine. The wine is defiled and so is
the bottle, you know. But new wine put in new bottles,
oh, they're both preserved. A newborn, new creature, a vessel
of mercy prepared by God, receives this wine and, oh, man, hold
on to it, preserves it, loves it. New creature just loves this,
just loves the truth, and receives it. Verse 39, now get a look
at this, Christ said, The last verse says, No man also,
having drunk old wine, straightway desired the new. He doesn't desire
the new. And he says old is better. Wait
a minute, is he saying two different things here?