Turn to Mark chapter 2. The title of the message, Things
That Cannot Be Mixed. Things That Cannot Be Mixed. There were certain things in
the Old Testament that were not to be mixed. Let me read over
in Deuteronomy chapter 22. Let me read something to you
here. In verse 9 of Deuteronomy 22,
Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse or different seeds. Don't mix them. Lest the fruit
of thy seed which thou hast sown and the fruit of thy vineyard
be defiled. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment
of different sorts, as of wool, woolen and linen together. Early, early it was taught to
God's people that there were certain things He did not want
them to miss, and they had their spiritual lessons. They were not even married They
went in and took over these other nations. They were not to even
marry into these other nations or take any of them to be their
wives, those men, lest they be led into worshipping other gods.
They were not to do that. They were not to be unequally
yoked. That's what the Scripture teaches. Let's look in verse
18. And the disciples of John and
of the Pharisees used to fast." They did this twice a week, religiously. It was their religion. They did
it twice a week. And they come and saying to him,
why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but
thy disciples fast not? The first lesson we need to learn
here is about this matter of unequally yoked. Turn over to
2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Paul says to them in verse 14,
be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers in worship. You know, you can't take and
have a completely mixed congregation here of one believe this, one
believe that. I mean, there's no worship going
to happen. It's not going to happen. Now, they're welcome to come
here and sit down and listen. Listen to the gospel preached.
I had someone call me here not too long ago and ask about coming
over. I said, well, come along. I'd be glad to have you. Just
come on over and listen. Listen to the gospel. But for
each one to stand up and say what they believe, that would
be a mess, wouldn't it? That would be a mess. He said,
don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And here's
the reason why. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? There's no fellowship there.
There's no oneness. There's no kindred spirit there
at all. And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? What part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? Absolutely none. Absolutely none. And we're dogmatic about this.
I have learned over the years that the reason people are not
dogmatic about things like this, about the gospel, is because
they're not sure. They're just not that sure about what they
believe and where they stand. It's like the Athenians. They
built an altar to the unknown God, just in case we missed one. Well, I tell you what, it has
nothing to do with in case we missed one. There's only one.
There's only one, and there is none else. I am God, and there
is none else. And He's the only one we worship.
Crucified is the only one we preach here. They don't mix. They don't mix. If you'll notice
here, did you notice when I read this, and the disciples of John
and other Pharisees used to fast, they come and say unto Him, unto
the Lord, why do the disciples of John and the Pharisees fast,
but thy disciples fast not? What in the world are the disciples
of John doing over there with the Pharisees? What mixture do they have? The disciples of John believed
the gospel, but here's the problem. They were still influenced by
those Pharisees. They were still mixing and mingling
a little bit around those Pharisees, and they were influenced, influenced
by those Pharisees over this matter of fasting, and it made
them raise this question, why did the Lord's disciples fast
and we don't. Why did they do that? We'll get
into that in a minute. But the one thing I want to point
out here, John was in prison. And they were vulnerable. They
were vulnerable. Here's the lesson. This just
jumped out at me as I was reading this. This teaches us how important
it is to have a faithful pastor, a faithful leader. John was put
in prison, and after that happened, they were influenced by those
Pharisees. God has given pastors and teachers
to watch over the flock, to teach the flock, and to watch over
the flock. And we get sidetracked, especially
if the leader's missing. Don't think you won't. Don't
think that can't happen to you or me. It can happen. You can
start listening to the wrong voice. Now, the Lord's sheep
are not going to follow strangers. The Scripture teaches us that,
but they can get sidetracked. And right here, John's disciples
were influenced by those Pharisees. And then this matter of fasting.
They said, why do John's disciples and the Pharisees fast and yours
don't? See, fasting is something that
believers did when under a great trial, a great strain. Moses
did it. Elijah did it. Our Lord fasted. Read where our Lord fasted. It's
something they did when they was under a great strain or trial. It showed their seriousness in
a matter. They denied themselves. But the Pharisees turned it into
a religious ritual. They took it and turned it into
a religious ritual in order to be seen of men. That's all they
wanted out of it. It made them look very spiritual. It made them look like they were
just as though so serious and spiritual. That's what it made
them look like. But all it was was a show of hypocrisy. Turn
over to Matthew 6. Matthew chapter 6. In verse 16, our Lord gives us
this lesson. Moreover, when you fast, be not
as the hypocrites, those Pharisees, of a sad countenance. They walked
around like they were just so sad and so somber. For they disfigure
their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say
unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou fast, anoint
thine head, and wash thy face. Because it's between you and
God. It's between you and God. "...that thou appear not unto
men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret. And thy Father
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." If I went around
telling someone that I'm fasting, I'm fasting over a situation.
Well, I'm not. You can be sure of it. I might
be doing a lot of things. I might even be losing weight
over it, but I'm not fasting. I'm not fasting. It's nothing
but a religious show. That's all it is. He said, when
you go out and you talk about it and you spread it about and
you disfigure your face, he said, that's not fasting, that's just
hypocrisy. That's all it is. But know something
else here. See, John's disciples were influenced
by the Pharisees, and you know what happened? They became partakers
of their jealousy. They're jealous. Those Pharisees
were so jealous. They were so jealous of the freedom
and the liberty that the disciples of Christ had that they pulled
John's disciples in on this, and they made an issue out of
it. They made an issue out of something that was not an issue.
Isn't that stupid? But that's typical human nature. So they pulled John's disciples
in, and the reason they did so is because of this. They were
jealous. They were jealous. False religion, and you mark
this down, false religion is always picking on someone, always
trying to bring into bondage, always leads, it always leads
to bondage, it always does. Now here is our Lord's answer
to it, verse 19. And Jesus said unto them, Can
the children of the bride chamber The bride chamber is the room
where the bridegroom waited, and they are in there with him.
Can the children of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom
is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom
with them, they cannot fast. Why? What do they have to mourn
over? Do you have Christ? That's joy. That's not a reason to fast.
That's a reason to be joyful. But he says here, can the children,
whose children is he talking about? He's talking about the
children of God. He's talking about those who
believe. That's what he's talking about. He's not talking about
the Pharisees. They said they claim to be children of God,
but they were not. Christ said, you're of your father the devil.
It says in Galatians 3.26, for ye
are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. The children. The believer, he
says, has no need to fast. I'm with them. I'm with them. Christ in you. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
They had no reason to fast. They had Christ in the room with
them. And he's talking here about a wedding. A wedding is a time
for what? Feasting. It's a time for feasting. But he says here, the days will
come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and
then shall they fast in those days. He's speaking here of his
death. He said there's coming a time here in just a little
while that the bridegroom's going to be taken away. Christ's going
to be crucified. He's going to be buried. He's
going to be gone for three days. And they're going to mourn. They're
going to mourn. That was a mournful time. That
was a real mournful time for them. But they're only going
to mourn for a short while. And I thought about this. We
have a reason to fast, to mourn, when we cannot detect our Lord's
presence. David said in Psalm 51, Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation. If we lose that, If we lose that
by sin, and it can be done, we can lose the joy of it. We can't
lose the salvation, but we can lose the joy of salvation. I'll
tell you what, that is a time to mourn. That is a time for
spiritual fasting when we can't detect His presence. That's a
time for it. But my soul, my soul, if we have
Christ, if we have the liberty of praying to Him and call upon
Him, and when we hear the Gospel, And it rejoices our soul. That's
not a time for fasting. That's a time for rejoicing.
To rejoice. Now we come to the parable. We
come to the parable about things that do not mix. Things that
we cannot mix together. They were trying to mix their
old rituals of fasting with the new joy of having Christ. Having the Messiah, having the
Redeemer, they were trying to mix the old with the new. It doesn't work. He said if you
do that, the rent is what? It's made worse. You're worse
off if you try to mix these things. If you were, you'd just left
them alone and go do something else. It's worse. No man, verse 21, No man also
seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment. This is common sense. This is
so wise that this is true. He's saying you don't do this.
And this is a parable. A parable is an earthly illustration
given a heavenly meaning. Else the new peace that filled
it up takes away from the old, and the rent is made worse. It's
worse than when you started. You know, those Pharisees, they
would go across, they encompass sea and land, and it makes people
proselytes. And the Lord said, all you did
was make them twofold the children of hell. They'd have been better
off if you'd have stayed home. This is where the Galatians got
in trouble. They got in trouble. Paul said,
who hath bewitched you? They tried to mix the old with
the new. They tried to take Judaism and
mix it with Christianity. It doesn't work. It does not
mix. You know, it's like fire and
gas. You don't mix it. Oil and water, you don't mix.
They don't go together. There are some things that does not
go together. The old way, it works. The law
and the gospel, the old covenant, the new covenant, they don't
mix. They don't mix. That's why Paul said in Galatians
5, 1, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free. Don't you go back under bondage
now. Do not go back under the ceremonies and the rituals and
all those do's and don'ts. Do not go there. They tried to
mix it, and all you're doing is going back under bondage.
Behold, Paul says in Galatians 2, Behold, I, Paul, say unto
you that if you be circumcised, and that was a ritual they did,
don't you miss that for religious purposes now, for spiritual,
religious purposes. Don't mix it, because if you
do, Christ shall profit you nothing. Nothing. Christ is to come of
no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you are what? You're fallen from grace. Grace
and law does not mix. Being justified by your works,
being justified by grace, they don't mix. They don't mix. Our Lord says don't do that,
don't try to do that. They were trying, those Pharisees,
and they pulled John's disciples in on it now. They pulled his
disciples in on it, and they were trying to mix this old ritual
of fasting. Of course, you know they tried
to mix everything else in with that too. No, you can't do that. Our Lord's given us a real example
here. You can't do that. Grace and
works do not mix at all. Look over in Romans chapter 3. Let's go to verse 19, Now we
know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who
are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deed of
the law, by the doing of the law, there shall no flesh be
justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Now look in verse 28. Therefore, we conclude, again,
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds, without the
doing, the keeping of the law. That's how you justify it, without
it. Justified by the blood of Christ,
justified by faith in Christ, justified by the grace of God,
but not by the law, not by me keeping the law. Don't mix that. They had a real problem with
that. The flesh and the spirit do not mix. They do not mix. That's a warfare, what that is.
Look over in Romans chapter 8. You can read the first 14 verses
of this, but listen, I'll read some of them. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Why? Because there's no mixture here.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made
me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could
not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God sent in
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and foreseen condensing
in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. They don't mix. They don't mix. Except to agree, how can they
walk together? How can a believer and an unbeliever
walk together now, have communion and fellowship and just thoroughly
enjoy each other's company? You're not going the same direction.
You are not going the same way. It's not going to happen. not without trouble, not without
trouble. The new covenant and that old
covenant do not mix. They do not mix. Listen to this
in Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 8, verse 8, for finding fault
with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah. He's not adding to it. He didn't
add the gospel. Salvation by grace alone and
Christ alone is not an addition to that old covenant. It's not
an amendment. Our laws in Washington are always
making amendments. God's not making an amendment.
He's taking one and doing away with it and establishing the
second, the new. There's no mixture. That's why
he's teaching here. That's what he was teaching them
and that's what he's teaching us now. There is no mixture. In verse 13 of that chapter,
he says, In that he saith, The new covenant, he hath made the
first old. Now, what do you do with that
which is old and decayed? What do you do with it? Frame
it? You know, you and I are just,
you know, we're sentimentalists. We're sentimentalists and that's
just who we are. And we put it in the chest and
keep it forever and look at it and go all over it and bring
back old memories. God does away with it. God does
away with it. He doesn't keep that old covenant
around and we look at it and do it all. No, He's done away
with it. We are not going to resurrect
those old rituals and sacrifices and that old priesthood. We're
not going to. It's gone. It's gone. Over with. He hath made the first old, now
that which decayeth and waxes old is ready to vanish away. One day he's going to fold this
whole creation up and put it away. He's not going to just
put it over on the shelf away off to look at once in a while.
No, it's gone. It's going to be gone. It's going
to destroy it. It's going to annihilate it and
it won't even exist. There won't even be a, there
will not even be a trace Not even a trace of it. Like
our sins. Not even a trace of it. Gone. The new man and the old man do
not mix. There's no mixture here. The
old man is not improved. He's not infused with a bunch
of new principles. There's a complete new creation. Now there's a new
creation. Ezekiel 36, 26, look over there
real quick. Ezekiel chapter 36. Verse 26. A new heart, not an improvement on the old
heart. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit.
A new spirit will I put within you. I'll take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, and I'll give you a heart of flesh." John chapter 3, Christ told Nicodemus,
you must be born again, Nicodemus. Nicodemus couldn't understand
that. Why? Because that which is born of
the flesh is flesh and it'll always be flesh. There's no improvement
on flesh. There is no improvement in any
way, shape, or form on that new nature or that old nature. It
is what it is. It's dead and it'll stay dead.
It's enmity with God and it'll always be that way. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. Two totally different natures. And they, I'm telling
you, they do not mix. They do not mix in any way, shape,
or form. Paul says over here in Philippians
chapter 3. Let's go over here in Philippians chapter 3. Paul says in Philippians 3, verse
3, for we who believe the gospel are the circumcision, the true
Israel of God, which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence, no confidence in any way, shape,
or form in the flesh. We have no confidence in this
flesh. We have no confidence in our heritage. Our confidence
is in Christ. It's in Christ and Christ alone. And then the world and Christ
do not mix. Oh, I tell you this, you can
see this so much in just, that's their culture and religion, trying
to mix the world in with what they do and trying to make it
more appealing to the flesh. Listen to this, James 4, verse
4. Chapter 4, verse 4, "'Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not
that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever
therefore would be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.'"
Because they don't mix. They don't mix. He said, if you're
a friend of the world, if the world is what you enjoy, I mean,
the things of this world, the principles of this world, the
joys of this world, if that's what gives you real joy, you're
an enemy of God. That's what he says. That's what
the Word of God says. Come out, he said, from among
them, and touch not the unclean thing, and I'll receive you. And I'll receive you. Salvation. Here's what he's saying. Here.
Kind of put this in a nutshell. Salvation is not patchwork. It
is not patchwork. It is not my filthy rags and
the Lord's righteousness. It is not the Lord patching on
His righteousness over my filthiness. No, He does away with my filthiness.
He does away with my filthy rags. I'm not taking those with me. Turn over to Isaiah 61. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with her jewels." No patchwork going on here, is there? No patchwork
at all. I am adorned, we who believe
the gospel are adorned in the righteousness of the Son of God. It's not a mixture of me doing
good and what Christ did for me. It's not a mixture of that.
It's all Him. It's all His righteousness. It's
all His doings. It's all of it. And then verse 22, And no man put as new wine into old bottles,
else the new wine just bursts the bottles and the wine is spilled
and the bottles will be marred. But new wine must be put into
new bottles. The new wine of the gospel is
not put into the old nature. It's not put into the old nature.
It would burst. You want to really drive someone
crazy if you try to do that. You just try to do that. He said it'll burst. It'll burst. It says on 2 Corinthians 5.18. Let me read that to you. 2 Corinthians
5.17. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature, a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. New. Not a mixture. Not a mixture. New. The new wine
of the gospel is not put in that old nature. It's put into a new
one. A new one. The gospel of Christ must be
put into a new heart. And when that happens, when that
happens, when God saves a sinner and Christ is formed in that
sinner, that new man, both are preserved. Both are preserved. In Matthew's gospel it says this,
in Matthew 9.17, neither do men put new wine into old bottles.
else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles
perish. But they put new wine into new
bottles, and both are preserved." Listen to this, Jude 1, verse
1. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ,
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father, and preserved. out in Jesus Christ and called. Both are preserved. Nicodemus,
you must be born again. And that man or woman who's born
again has Christ on them. It's new wine into new bottles.
When that happens, I assure you, by the word of God, both are
preserved. Both are preserved. Listen to this scripture, Colossians
1.21, And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in His sight. Is that preserved or what? Is
that kept? 1 Peter 1.5 says, "...who are
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to
be revealed in the last time." Our Lord is teaching us something
here. Are we listening? Are we hearing? Have we learned something this
morning? Again? You know, there's things that
I've learned that I forget. There's things I learned in school
I forget. I've forgotten. And every now and then I run
across and I say, I remember that. This dude, him what? Remembers. We learned this all
over again. When we take the Lord's table,
we learn all over again. We remember all over again. We
rejoice all over again. We are forgetful a lot. We are
forgetful a lot. No man puts new wine into old
bottles. If he does, it's not going to work. There's no sense
in me trying to talk the sinner into getting saved. It doesn't
work. I'm not going to try to talk
someone into accepting Jesus as their personal Savior. It
doesn't work. The other day I was thinking
about this congregation and preaching and Lord saving. I was thinking
about the Lord saving sinners. And this scripture came to me
so clearly. The only way to have a successful,
I mean a truly successful ministry, I'm not talking about this having
a big crowd. I'm talking about the only way to have a truly
successful ministry, if I be lifted up. It's not if I talk
to you and do something. I can make you feel bad. That's
not going to get anywhere. Christ said, if I be lifted up.
Man, it was just like somebody turned, I mean I know that, but
it was just like, Just like I knew it all over again. Just like
I knew it all over again. Here's the key to it. Here's
the key to a successful ministry. If I be lifted up. If Christ is lifted up, sinners
will be saved and that new wine will be put into those new bottles. Putting them into old bottles
does not work. It does not work. You know, we teach our children
growing up, do this, don't do that. Does it work? Sometimes
it does, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes they don't do it, and
sometimes when you're not looking, they do it. You're trying to put good, sound
teaching into old bottles, into an old nature. Oh, he says, that doesn't work.
Here's what works. Here is what works. You put new
wine into new bottles. And both are presumed. Both are
presumed. So what is our Lord teaching
us? What is He teaching us? We cannot mix works and grace. You cannot mix the old covenant
with the new covenant. The flesh and the spirit do not
mix. The old nature and the new nature do not mix. They don't
mix. Let the old go. Let it go. Let tradition go. Oh, we've done
this all our lives. Well, quit doing it. Just quit. Try to quit. Just get in the habit. A habit
is something you just keep doing, and you just do it, and you do
it, and you do it without even thinking. There's times I'd go
to drive over here, and I'm headed out to the shop. And stupid me,
I catch myself, and I'm glad I'm the only one in Detroit.
I'm the only one in there. And Vicki's done this to me several
times. Where are you going? I thought we were going over
here. I thought, well, OK. Habit? It's just habit. Drop
it. Not easy, is it? Not easy to
drop those habits, because they're habits. And he's saying here, do away
with that old, let it go. Don't, he's telling his disciples
there, and he's telling us, don't reach out there and try to pull
the world in. Don't do that. Just preach to them. Preach the
gospel to them. Preach Christ there crucified.
He's the one who'll put the new wine into the new bottles. He'll
do it. And if he does it, both shall
be preserved. The gospel will stay here. Now
listen to this. Both will be preserved. We stick
to the gospel. The preacher of Christ crucified,
the gospel will be here. It'll stay here. I assure you,
when we start trying to mix, it'll be gone. It'll be watered
down, and the next thing we'll know, we'll have religious services,
and the gospel won't be preached here at all. Oh, the Bible will
be used. You can't call yourself a Christian
if you don't use the Bible. Christ won't be here. He won't be here. They don't
mix. The gospel must be put at the
new hearth. The religion of the world cannot be mixed. with the
true religion of Christ.