If you would, turn with me in
your Bibles to the book of Luke, chapter 5. Luke, chapter 5. Now the title
of the message this morning is, Out with the old, in with the
new. Out with the old and in with
the new. Let's begin reading at verse
Luke chapter 5, verse 33. The Lord Jesus, in His earthly
ministry, showing Himself here to be the Savior of sinners.
Paul said, this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. The angel informed Joseph
that his name would be called Jesus. The child's name would
be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
Christ here, he says, I came not to call the righteous. They
don't need salvation. They don't need grace. But I
came to call sinners to repentance. The physician, the great physician,
he came not to heal the well, but the sick. raised the dead,
literally. In verse 33, look at Luke 5,
it says, they said unto him, now the they there, this is the
Pharisees, the scribes, the religious people of the day. They said
unto him, why do the disciples of John, that's John the Baptist,
fast often and make prayers? And likewise, the disciples of
the Pharisees, but thine eat and drink. Your disciples don't
do what John's disciples or the Pharisees' disciples are doing.
But thine eat and drink. And the eating and drinking there
is not just those acts, but it's talking about an attitude. It's
talking about feasting and joy. That's what he's talking about,
joy. In verse 34, he said unto them, Can you make the children
of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them?
Now who's the bridegroom? That's Christ. in the scriptures
and it's in the old testament and through the new christ is
called the bridegroom his church is his bride they were betrothed
they were given to him in that covenant before the foundation
of the world and they are as it were betrothed to him when
they're born again by the spirit christ having paid the dowry
by the price of his blood on the cross redeeming them from
their sins and then they're betrothed to him in the new birth when
we come to see Christ and believe in him by the power of the spirit
and then in the future there's that marriage of the lamb the
marriage of the lamb and his bride which is referring to our
final glory in him but he says the bridegroom is here and he
says in verse 35 but the days will come when the bridegroom
shall be taken away from them now there he's talking about
his death his burial, his resurrection, his ascension unto the Father.
And then shall they fast in those days. Now fasting, again, it's
not just an act, it's an attitude. It has to do with sorrow. It
has to do with sorrow over sin. That's the greatest spiritual
lesson of fasting is sorrow over sin and denying self. But he said the bridegroom is
here. So in this, what he's talking about is the essence of salvation. And let me help you to understand. I believe I know what this is
talking about. You see, these Pharisees, these
religious people, their salvation was wrapped up and founded upon
their religious efforts. their duties such as fasting
and praying that this this is what salvation was to them and
part of that had to do with with keeping people beat down uh... adjust you know it's not like
people today you know preachers who try to whip people with the
law keep them down in order to get him to give or get him to
come to church things like that it's it's legalism and that was
their righteousness Their righteousness before God was not in Christ,
it was in their fasting. And let me show you that over
in Luke 18. We looked at this last time,
a couple of weeks ago. But you remember the parable
of the Pharisee and the publican? In verse 9 of Luke chapter 18,
he spake this parable unto certain people, Luke 18, 9. He spake
this parable unto certain people which trusted in themselves that
they were righteous. and despised others. You see,
that's the issue here, and it's the issue over here in Luke 5. How does God, how is a sinner
made righteous before God? Well, verse 10 of Luke 18, two
men went up into the temple to pray, so you have prayer. The
one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God I thank thee, and I always point out
when we read this parable, understand this, this man was not attributing
these things to himself. Because the first three words
he said, or four words, he said, God, I thank thee that I'm not
like other men. And he said, as other men are,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. So
there his righteousness, you see, was wrapped up in the negative,
in what he's not, what he doesn't do. But then here's the positive. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. You see, that's what this man
looked upon as his righteousness before God. This is what gives
me a right standing before God. I'm not like this, but I fast
and I give. I'm a devout worshiper. And I
would ask you, is that what's your righteousness? What is your
righteousness before God? Because that's the issue here
now. That's the issue over here in Luke 5. That's the issue in
religion. And of course, he gives the publican's
view. He says in verse 13, the publican standing afar off would
not lift so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his
breast, saying, God be merciful. And I think most of you know
that word merciful there is the same word as propitiation, propitious. which means satisfaction based
upon just, it means forgiveness and salvation, justification
based upon justice satisfied by sacrifice. And he said, be
merciful to me, a sinner. The public can recognize that
he needed a substitute. He needed a propitiation. He
needed mercy. In other words, don't give me
what I deserve or what I've earned. I need Christ. So back over here
in Luke chapter 5, when they talk about their fasting and
their praying, they're not just talking, should we fast? Well,
fasting is not required. You know, there was only one
fast required even under the Old Covenant, and that was on
the Day of Atonement. Fasting is not commanded but it's a good
exercise. There's nothing wrong with fasting
if you do it in the right spirit and the right attitude with the
right goal in mind. Nothing wrong with it at all.
And certainly we're commanded to be people of prayer. Nothing
wrong with praying. But here's the key. That's not
my righteousness before God. I can pray 24-7 and it still
will not make me righteous before God. To them, that's what it
was all about. You see, that's why you've got
to do that, because you can't be saved without it. And Christ
answers them, He says, well now look, He said, shall the children
of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is with the bridegrooms
here? You see, The person who truly
is convicted of sin and knows Christ, the person who is saved
by the grace of God, his or her salvation is wrapped up in the
Bridegroom. The Bridegroom's here. He's my
salvation. He's my forgiveness. He's my
righteousness, not my fasting and my praying. Christ is. The Bridegroom's here. He's my
justification before God. And all of this links us back
to that marriage union of Christ and His people. That marriage
union. That's why I had Brother Joe
read that in Isaiah 62 because it speaks of that. We'll look
back at that in a minute. But look at what he says here
in verse 36 of Luke chapter 5. Now here's... He gives them a
parable after that. And listen to what he says. Some
people say this is the first parable Christ ever spoke. It
may be. Doesn't matter, all the parables are his word, aren't
they? He says in verse 36, and he spake also a parable unto
them, no man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old. If otherwise, then both the new
maketh a rent or a tear, and the piece that was taken out
of the new agreeth not with the old. You got an old garment,
old worn out garment, and it needs a patch. And if you take
a piece of cloth, That's not been stretched and not been worn. And you put it in there, it won't
agree with it. They'll make a tear and the garment
ends up worse off. That's the way Mark puts it in
his version, Mark 2. He said that it ends up worse
than what it was when it started. And then verse 37 of Luke 5,
he says, And no man putteth new wine into old bottles. Those
bottles there were the wineskins. Else the new wine will burst
the bottles and be spilled, and the bottle shall perish. As that
wine ferments, it'll burst that old bottle. It's got to be put
in a new bottle that'll stretch, that it's pliable, of being with
it as it ferments. But verse 30, but new wine must
be put into new bottles, and both are preserved. No man also
having drunk old wine straightway desireth new, for he saith, the
old is better. In other words, as long as you
try to hang on to the old, that's where your heart will be. And
what's he talking about? Well, he's giving an illustration
here of Christ as the justification and the life of his people. In
this little parable, he teaches that we need two things. What
do we need as sinners who cannot save ourselves? What do we need
as sinners who cannot cleanse ourselves from sin? Who cannot
justify ourselves? Who cannot give ourselves life?
We're born dead in trespasses and sin. What do we need? We
need two things. We need a right standing before God. A righteous
standing before God. And we need new life within.
That's what we need. Those two things. He mentions
this garment. A lot of times in the Bible,
The justification of a sinner is portrayed and symbolized by
the putting on of a new garment. We'll talk about that in just
a moment. We need to be justified before God. That new garment
is the righteousness of God in Christ. That's what it is. It's
His righteousness imputed, charged, accounted to us. It's the entire
merit of what Christ accomplished on Calvary to put away our sins.
and bring in everlasting righteousness whereby God could justify the
ungodly. And that new wine, that's the
work of the Holy Spirit within to give life. That's the joy,
that's what wine symbolizes, the joy and peace of the Holy
Spirit. And so what he's talking about
here is the essence of salvation. Look back over in Isaiah 61. Joe read from Isaiah 62, but
look at Isaiah 61. Listen to what it says here in
verse 10. The prophet here speaking of
Christ, the coming of Christ. In verse 10 of Isaiah 61, he
says, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be
joyful in my God. You see, he's talking about joy
in Christ. That's that new wine. That's faith and repentance and
love. All of the gifts and graces of
the Spirit in the heart. For, and here's the basis of
it, here's the ground of it. For he hath clothed me with the
garments of salvation. And I think I dealt with this
a couple of weeks ago and I've been dealing with it in the book
of Job too. When he says garments here, he's not speaking literally
here. It's not a literal coat that
I take off and put on. It's not something just upon
the outside of a person. I've heard preachers who want
to diminish the value of this beautiful, beautiful truth of
grace. And they'll tell you, well, it's
not just a pasted on righteousness. I said, where are you getting
stuff like that? That comes out of the cesspool
of the human mind. It didn't come out of the scripture.
And that's what I'm saying, you know, this garment of salvation
is a beautiful, and look at it, look what he says here. He hath
covered me with a robe of righteousness, and as a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
And then verse 11, for as the earth bringeth forth her bud,
as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring
forth, So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring
forth before all the nations, that's Christ and his people.
And then look at Isaiah 62, verse 1, for Zion's sake, that's the
church, that's his bride. For Zion's sake will I not hold
my peace and for Jerusalem's sake, the city of God, that's
what we're, if we're in Christ, we're citizens of the new Jerusalem. He says, I will not rest until
the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation
thereof as a lamp that burneth. See, this is a light. Light reveals
truth and it warms the soul. In verse 2, and the Gentiles
shall see thy righteousness. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue and nation. Somebody said, well that's for
the Jews. Oh no, he said the Gentiles shall
see thy righteousness. When are they going to see it?
When they see Christ. Because He is the Lord our righteousness.
And all kings thy glory Thou shalt be called by a new name.
We're talking about out with the old, in with the new. Going
to be called by a new name. Jeremiah, I love those passages.
Jeremiah 23, 5 and 6 and Jeremiah 33, 15 and 16. The first one
talks about Christ. Jehovah Sikhanou, the Lord our
righteousness. That's His name. And Jeremiah
33 talks about the church. Her name shall be called the
Lord our righteousness. Why? Because the bride takes
the name of the husband. She's identified with her husband.
Verse 3, Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. We'll be the glory
of God because that's where the glory of God is, in the face
of Jesus Christ. Thou shalt no more be termed
forsaken. Look at verse 4 of Isaiah 62. This is great. For
thou shalt no more be termed forsaken. We're forsaken in Adam,
but in Christ neither shalt thou be any more be termed. We're
desolate in Adam. But thou shalt be called Hephzibah. Hephzibah. My delight. That's
what that means. The delight of the Lord. Think
about that. A sinner called the delight of
the Lord. How? In Christ. And thy land
Beulah. You know what Beulah means? It
means married. That's what it means. You'll be married. See,
Christ is talking about the bridegroom. The bridegroom's here, and the
children of the bride chamber are rejoicing in the bridegroom.
He's here. For the Lord delighteth in thee,
and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a
virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee, and the bridegroom rejoiceth
over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. Go back
to Luke 5 now. You see, that's what he's taught.
He speaks of a new marriage union here, not like the old. You know,
under the Old Covenant, the Lord said that he was a husband to
Jerusalem, to Israel. He married himself to Israel
in a temporary way, in a temporal way, for a temporary period of
time. Because in Jeremiah chapter 8, he says, I issued him a bill
of divorcement. He divorced himself. You know,
divorce under that covenant was given under two reasons, adultery
and abandonment. Israel committed spiritual adultery
and they had abandoned their God. They'd forsaken the fountain
of living waters and hewed out cisterns. They committed spiritual
adultery and God said, I issued them a bill of divorce. Now let
me tell you something that's new right away. Christ marries
His bride and He'll never divorce us. He'll never issue a bill
of divorcement to his bride. And you know why God issued a
bill of divorcement to Israel? Because the terms and conditions
of their marriage covenant to God was conditioned on the bride,
Israel. And they failed, just like we
all would. But the terms and conditions
of the marriage union between Christ and His bride are conditioned
on Him. And He'll never fail. You see
the difference? That's grace. That's what grace
is all about. Well, listen to this parable
again. What's he saying? He's saying in the kingdom of
God, there's got to be a radical change brought about for those
and in those who are members of that kingdom. You cannot intermingle
the kingdom of God with man's old legalistic system of works
religion. Grace and works will not mix
or mingle. You can't do it. That's the whole
point of this parable. In other words, if you're going
to embrace Christ, you've got to leave everyone and everything
else as far as salvation is concerned. The gospel does not bring about
reformations of old systems. But it brings an end to the old
system. How does it bring an end to that
old system? Well, first of all, by the coming of Christ to accomplish
his work on Calvary. He said it's finished, didn't
he? And you remember what happened in the temple? The veil in the
temple was torn in two from top to bottom. That's over. That's
done away with. Don't try to bring it back up.
Don't try to reinstitute it. Don't try to reform it. It won't
happen. And then it's brought to an end
in repentance. You can't come to Christ without
repenting of every other way. John the Baptist told the Pharisees,
he said, bring forth fruits, meat for repentance. Christ said
here in Luke chapter 5, I came not to call the righteous but
sinners to repentance. You see, it's not intermingling
your old way with the new way. Because that's like putting a
piece of a new cloth on an old garment. It's going to tear.
That's like trying to pour new wine into an old bottle. It won't
work. You can't mix it. I hear people today talking about
the Judeo-Christian ethic. Now, I want you to think about
that. Usually, when people talk about that, they're talking about
the Ten Commandments. Just the Ten Commandments. The Judeo-Christian
ethic. Now let me tell you something.
The moment you take the Ten Commandments and seek salvation, seek righteousness,
by keeping the Ten Commandments, you've denied Christianity. You've
denied Christ. What does Romans chapter 9 tell
us about the Jews who sought after righteousness by their
works? They didn't attain it. Why? Because they didn't seek
it by faith. They didn't seek it in Christ.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes it. You can't do it. There's no such
thing in the Bible as a Judeo-Christian ethic. And let me tell you something. Christianity didn't begin in
A.D. 33 either. Christianity began before the foundation of
the world. Paul spoke of it. Salvation which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Christianity
was instituted and established and revealed in Genesis chapter
3 right after the fall of man when God prophesied of the seed
of woman in Genesis 3, 15 and then when He slew an animal shed
blood and made coats of skin, that's what he did, and put them
on Adam and Eve. You know what he did before he
did that? He took off the fig leaf apron. Can't mingle them. Can't mix them. That's Christianity. Abraham was a Christian. Yes,
he was a Jew physically, but spiritually he was a Christian.
How do you know that? John chapter 8, Christ looked
at the Pharisees and he said, Abraham, rejoice to see my day. And he saw it and was glad. Abraham
knew nothing of a Judeo-Christian ethic. All he knew is Christ.
Salvation by grace. Abel was a Christian. Noah was
a Christian. He was a preacher of righteousness,
the righteousness of faith. What is that? That's Christ and
Him crucified and risen again. The whole hall of faith, every
one of them, David was a Christian. He believed in Christ. He looked
to Christ. So you can't mix them. Grace
and works will not mix. Our righteousness, Christ said
in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 and verse 20, must exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. It's not,
you can't add to it, you see. You must embrace Christ. That's
true Christianity. Paul wrote about it. Look at
Philippians chapter 3. This is a great example of the
very thing that this parable is talking about. Out with the
old and in with the new. Look at Philippians chapter 3. And look at the old. In verse 5, here's what Paul
thought made up his righteousness when he was unsaved, when he
was unregenerate, when he was Saul of Tarsus. circumcised the
eighth day, the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew
of Hebrews, touching the law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless. Now here it is, here's what Christ
is teaching, verse seven. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ. Out with the old, in
with the new. Well, wait a minute, Paul. Can't
you just kind of incorporate Christian doctrine into your
old way of thinking? Oh, no. Out with the old. It's
loss. Didn't that count for something
back then? I mean, good night. Look at all
your relatives back then. Grandma taught you that, you
know. Oh, no. It's loss, he says. Look at verse
8. Yea, doubtless I count all things but loss. Out with the
old. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord. In with the new. for whom I suffered
the loss of all things and do count them but done out with
the old that I may win Christ and be found in him not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law but that which
is through the faith of Christ even the righteousness of God
which is by faith in with the new. You see that? Go back to Luke 5. Christ shows
here the deadness of religion and efforts performed by unjustified,
unregenerate, unbelieving Sinners, no matter how religious they
are. No matter how religious they are. Well, look at verse
36 again. He speaks of a garment. He spake
also a parable unto them. No man putteth a piece of a new
garment upon an old. If otherwise, then both the new
maketh a rent, a tear, and the piece that was taken out of the
new agreeeth not with it. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the garment of justification before God. He's
talking about the righteousness of God in Christ. What is that
old garment? That's man's own righteousness.
Just like Adam's fig leaf. It's an old garment because it's
as old as Adam's fig leaf. That fig leaf that Adam put on
trying to hide himself from the wrath of God, trying to hide
his shame from God. God said it won't do. That represents
man's efforts. He said the only way that you
can be justified before a holy God is that death must occur,
the wages of sin is death. Remember he told Adam in Genesis
chapter 2, in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely
die. So what did God do in Genesis
chapter 3 and verse 21? He took that old off, that old
fig leaf apron that represents the works and efforts of man
trying to cover his shame and nakedness, shield himself from
the wrath of God and he slew an animal. Shed blood, for without
the shedding of blood there's no forgiveness of sins. And he
gave him a coat of skin representing the righteousness of the Lamb
of God. That's a picture, you see. That was a type. He put
it on him. And it represents Christ's righteousness
imputed, charged, accounted to a sinner. Fig leaf aprons won't
do. King tried to put on his fig
leaf apron. He came to God presenting His
work. Abel pled the blood of Christ, the righteousness of
Christ. You see, God had to replace it
with His own righteousness. It's called the righteousness
of God. That's the new garment. Really, it's older than the old
garment, but it's made new in time by Christ. God Himself sent
His Son to redeem us from the curse of the law. Christ is our
right. To be righteous or to have righteousness
before God, we must have the righteousness of God. That's
the new garment. And to try to take a piece of
that and patch up an old garment with it is just death, you see.
That old garment's worn out, it's torn, it's rotten. It stinks
in the nostrils of God. It's like old Joshua, the high
priest in Zechariah 3. He's wearing filthy garments.
That's what it's called. That's man's works. And what
did the angel of the Lord say? Take off that filthy garment.
Out with the old. Here's a new garment. Put on
the new. clothe him with garments of righteousness. Where am I going to get that
from? Well, join a church. Get baptized. Give your money.
Do this. Do that. Don't do this. Don't
do that. Get with these folks. Avoid these
folks. Is that going to make my garments clean and spotless? No. The garment, as Revelation
tells us, has to be washed in the blood of the Lamb. I have
to find Christ. I have to see Him and know Him.
He's it. Isaiah said in Isaiah 64 6 that
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags before God. Not good enough. Should we be people of good works,
zealous of good works? Yes, we should, but our good
works are not good enough to make us righteous, folks. And you think about this, an
old garment always needs mending, repairing, renewing, has to be
patched up. Man's righteousness will not
mend. There's no way a patch can patch up man's righteousness
and make him acceptable before God. When you patch up, when
you patch him up with religious reforms and duties, you corrupt
what's good. That's what Christ told the Pharisees.
You go out here and you try to get proselytes, and you get them
into your religion, and he said, what you do, Matthew 22, I believe,
verse 15, he says, you make them worse off than they were before,
twofold more the child of hell than you are. Remember that woman
with the issue of blood? So she went to many physicians,
human physicians, and what did it say about her? She was worse
off than before. That's what people do. They try
to get religion. They go to this preacher, that
preacher, this denomination, that denomination, this duty,
that duty. What happens? They're worse off
than before. Their only way is to take off that old and put
on Christ. That's it. That's the new garment,
the righteousness of Christ. It must be put on us. And how
is it put on us? First of all, by a divine act
of imputation. God accounts it to us. He clears
our record in heaven by giving us the righteousness of Christ.
And then secondly, by an act of God within us through regeneration. Look at Galatians chapter 3 with
me. Galatians chapter 3. Look at verse 26. He says, for you are all the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Do you see that? You are all the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. In other words, without faith
in Christ Jesus, you have no right to call yourself a child
of God. Now somebody said, well, now think. Now I've heard somebody
say, well, the universal fatherhood of God is one of the great truths
of the Bible. Now listen to me, the Bible doesn't teach that.
Now it is true, Paul spoke of this in Acts 17 about all people
are children of God by creation, but we fell in Adam. We came
under condemnation under the sentence of death in Adam, ruined
by the fall. We're enemies of God by human,
fallen human nature, born dead in trespasses and sin. And what
he's talking about here is children of God by election, children
of God by redemption, children of God by regeneration. Look
at it, verse 27. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ, that means united with Christ, placed into
Christ, have put on Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek,
bond nor free, male nor female, for you're all one in Christ
Jesus. And if you be Christ, that's a possessive, if you belong
to Christ, Then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise. Look back at the passage that I read at the opening of
our service today, Romans 7. Listen to this one. See the first thing we need is
to be justified before God. declared not guilty, made righteous
before God. How is that possible? The old
garment of self-righteous works religion will not do it no matter
how they appear. How sincere you are, it won't
do it. You can spend your life in religion
and you will not reach that goal. You can't do it. What do we need? We need Christ. We need His blood
to wash away our sins. We need His righteousness charged,
accounted to us. Look at Romans 7 and verse 4.
Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law. Now
what does that mean? It means you're dead to any obligation
to the law's requirements. The law cannot condemn you. You're
dead to it. Now how did I get that way? By
putting on Adam's fig leaf? By joining the church? No, by
the body of Christ. You see it there? What is that? That's his death. He died for
my sins. He was made sin. Our sins were charged to him.
He became legally responsible and accountable, willingly, for
the sins of his sheep. And he died that death that we
deserved and earned. Christ who knew no sin that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. And he said all
this happened that you should be married to another even him
who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto
God. Now here comes the new wine in the new bottles for when we
were in the flesh when we were unbelievers when we were unregenerate
the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death. In other words when we were unregenerate
Unbelievers, all we could do is bring forth fruit unto death. Now, it could have been religious
death. It's like Saul of Tarsus. Saul
was doing his best to keep the Ten Commandments. And as far
as men could see, he kept them. Now, he didn't keep them. But
he thought he did, and men thought he did. And he was dedicated. He was sincere in doing it. But,
but, all it was was fruit unto death. But he says in verse six,
but now we're delivered from the law that being dead when
we were half, that we should serve in newness of spirit and
not in oldness of the letter. Out with the old, in with the
new. Now go back to Luke five. Now let's look at the new wine.
Let me show you what he's talking about here. He says in verse
37, no man putteth new wine into old bottles. else the new wine
will burst in the bottles and be spilled and the bottles shall
perish." Now what is that new wine? That new wine is the life,
the grace, the power of the Holy Spirit in bringing a sinner to
Christ. It's regeneration and conversion. It's the new birth. It's that
unction that is put into the heart. It's that circumcision
of the heart. It's being given a new heart.
That new wine is the joy and peace. You know, over here, let
me just read this to you over in Romans 14 and verse 17. Listen
to this. Paul writes, For the kingdom
of God is not meat and drink. It's not wrapped up in fasting
and all these things that people associate, but righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. That's that new wine.
Righteousness in Christ, whereby the Holy Spirit gives us joy
and peace in Him. It's that divine grace, that
divine life, that knowledge. The eyes to see, the ears to
hear. And this bottle, the bottle,
the old bottle, that's the old natural heart of man. That's
the dead heart. That's the unregenerate heart.
That's the uncircumcised heart. In other words, for a sinner
to receive Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, he's got
to be given a new heart. You can't put that new wine into
an old bottle. He's got to be given a new spirit.
Ezekiel spoke of it in Ezekiel 36. He's got to be born again
by the Spirit. That heart's got to be circumcised.
These bottles must be filled, you see. Man's heart by nature
is empty of the grace of God. the spirit of life. It's dead
in trespasses and sin. God has to fill it. And a power
over and above and outside it must pour the wine in. The same
is true of the natural, active work of God the Holy Spirit.
An old bottle cannot hold new wine. The fermentation, the growth,
the power of it, the beauty and glory of it will burst that old
bottle. It has to be a flexible wine
skin. A heart, a fleshy heart, Ezekiel
called it, which means a heart that's pliable, not flesh in
the sense of sin, but one that's pliable, one that's bendable,
a broken and a contrite heart over sin, not a stony hard heart
that puts up its shields and its objections against the grace
of God. Man by nature in his unregenerate
state cannot retain grace even if it were given to him. You
see, one old preacher said it's got to be radical spiritual heart
surgery. I've heard some preachers say,
well, it's not just heart surgery, it's a heart transplant. Well,
that's okay. Scripture says in Ezekiel 37
we're given a new heart. But you know, it also calls it
a circumcised heart. That's surgery. It doesn't matter.
Those are symbols, you see. Don't get bogged down in arguments
over words with these guys. They'll do you no good. Just
believe God. That new wine. Look over at Isaiah
55, and I'll hurry. Here, Isaiah 55. This new wine. This power. This truth and knowledge. of the Holy Spirit. In Isaiah
55, look at verse 1. He says, Ho everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye buy and eat. How are you going to buy and
eat when you have no money? Well, something has to be given here.
That's grace. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money, without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread? That's religion. Christ is the
bread of life, you see. Religion is the bread of death.
For your labor and your labor for that which satisfies not
hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and
let your soul delight itself in fatness incline your ear and
come unto me here and your soul shall live and I will make an
everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David. You know what the sure mercies
of David are? That's the mercy of God found in Christ. Here's
the wine of God's grace, joy in the Holy Spirit, the milk
of the word, begotten again by the word of truth, the gospel
feast, the grace of God, the fruit and blessing of the Holy
Spirit, strength, joy. You know, wine is used because
it's the fruit of the vine. That's why he uses wine. And
who is the vine? Christ said, I'm the vine. You're
the branches. Bringing forth fruit does not
make us righteous. We bring forth fruit because
we are righteous in Christ. And by Him the Spirit gives life.
Gladness of heart. One more thing. Look at chapter
Luke 5. He says in verse 38, But new
wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved. That's
the new heart. With the power of the Spirit,
the work of the Spirit, the life of the Spirit. Verse 9, No man
also having drunk old wine straightway, desireth the new, for he saith
the old is better." Now what he's saying here, that word straightway,
this old wine refers to the delights of the flesh, passions of the
flesh, and they're not easily given up. Man by nature has no
taste for the things of the Spirit, for Christ. But he's got to have
a totally new heart provided for him outside of himself by
the power of God. He's got to have a radical change
here. But as long as you try to mix the two, here's what he's
saying, as long as you try to mix that old way of thinking,
that old way of religion, that old system of works with some
notion of Christ, you will always in your heart prefer the old.
In other words, you're not a believer. You're not a child of God. You'll
always, always in the end, prefer the old to the new. Christ will
have no rivals in your heart. He's not in competition with
your work, your efforts, your past, your experiences, your
dreams, your visions, whatever you've done. It's either Christ,
all in all, or nothing. That's what He's saying. And
as long as you keep trying to mix it up, You'll always prefer
the new, which reveals what? The old heart's still there.
The old heart is still the only heart you have. And that's it. No life, no righteousness in
him. All right. Let's sing as our
closing hymn, hymn number