Turn back to Matthew chapter
9. Matthew chapter 9. I titled this message, and this
is the title that just stayed with me as I studied this portion
of Scripture. Christ's work is work of redemption,
work of salvation. It is not patchwork. It is not patchwork. He didn't
come to patch up that which was broken or torn. He didn't come
to mend. He came to save. He came to establish. He came to establish that new
covenant and do away with the old. And he is set forth here By himself, he sets this forth,
himself as the bridegroom. He's the center of attention.
He's the bridegroom. The Son of God is the bridegroom. He came into this world to take
to himself a bride. My, what a place he came to,
and what a bride he took. The bride is made up of centers.
Saved by grace. And this was, I thought about
this last night. This was a prearranged marriage. This was a prearranged
marriage. The father chose the bride. You know, back in the Eastern
countries, they would have, and they still do, prearranged marriages. I bet there are no more failures
in them than there are the other way. Not at all. But the Father prearranged this
marriage and chose His bride. And He came into this world that
He might become bone of her bone, flesh of her flesh, and He might
make her spirit, that they might be one. Scripture tells us that
when a man and woman are married, they become one flesh. Well,
God is spirit and we are flesh. So what does
he do? He comes into this world and
becomes bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, that we might
be born of the spirit. And that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. Now we can become one. Now we
can become one. Look over in Ephesians chapter
5. Let's look at this in the Scripture.
Ephesians chapter 5. In verse 25, Paul says, Husbands,
love your wives. And here's the standard. Here's
the standard. Even as Christ loved the church,
and gave himself for it." Love your wives, even as Christ
loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify
and cleanse it. His bride needed cleansing, like
Hosea and Gomorrah. She needed cleansing. That He
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by
the Word. That He might present it to Himself. That she might be presented to
Him. He's going to present her to
Him. That He might present it to Himself. A glorious church. Oh, how we started out. Sinful,
wretched, born in sin, corruption. But when this is over, when it's over, what a glorious
bride he's going to have. She's going to be without spot
or wrinkle. That he might present it to himself,
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle. No blemish. When this is over, His bride will not have one blemish
and never will again, never will. She won't even have a wrinkle,
not even a wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be
holy and without blemish. Now look down in verse 31. Well, let me just read this whole
thing. Let me read the whole thing.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies? He that
loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourished and cherished it, even as the Lord
did cherish. We are his body. Does he not cherish us and take
care of us? We are his bride. We are his body. For we are members
of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause
shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined
unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great
mystery." Paul said, this is a great mystery. But I speak
concerning Christ and the church. Boy, he's come to get his bride.
He came to give her his name, but a man and a woman are married,
she takes His name. And He came to give us His name
and to give us all that belongs to Him. We have all that belongs
to Him. But He not only did that, but
He also took. He came to give and He came to
take. He gave us His name. He gave
us His riches, His righteousness. Everything that He has, He's
given to us. And He's taken our sins. He took away our sins. That's what He did. He took our
sin debt. When a man and woman's married,
the man assumes the debt of his wife. And this our Lord willingly
did. He assumed the debt of his wife,
of his bride. Sin debt. And He paid it in full. If you're going to marry a woman
that's in a lot of debt, you better be rich. You better have a deep pocket.
But our Lord was able to come into this world, take all her
debts, wipe them clean, and take her home to glory, debt free. What a bridegroom. That's the kind of husband we
ought to be. I've got to be careful here. That's the kind of husband
we ought to be. Assume all the debts. All right, let's look at this.
Our Lord did not come into this world to repair Judaism. He did not come into this world
to mend the broken parts of religion. He came to establish that new
covenant and do away Do away with that old covenant of works. That's what he came to do. Now,
here in this verse, in verse 14, the disciples of John came
to Christ while he was eating in Matthew's house. That's where
he was at. You remember, we looked at this last week. He was eating
with publicans and sinners and the Pharisees were upset about
this. Why does your master eat with publicans and sinners? And
so apparently they went and stirred up John's disciples. Because
they couldn't get to the Lord's disciples, they were with him.
So they go get John's disciples. John was in prison, John the
Baptist. He was in prison at this time. And they stir them
up. And they come. And they ask this question. Why? Why do we and the Pharisees
fast often? Why do we deprive ourselves,
deny ourselves, Often, and your disciples fast not. There's two
problems I see here. First of all, they ask this question,
why? Why? I think they knew why, but
I don't think they knew why. They could give an answer, but
not the correct answer. Because if they could give the
correct answer, they would have never asked the question. They
would have never asked this question. Why? Why do we do this? And here's
the second problem I see. They still identified themselves
with the Pharisees. They said, why do we and the
Pharisees, this self-righteous, works religion, they were still
identifying with it. The Lord says, come out from
among them. Come out. We ought to come out from them.
And this question is for us also. I thought about this last night.
If you'll notice, the Lord did not answer the first question. He answered the second one, why
his disciples were not fasting. But he didn't answer their question,
why are they fasting? You ought to know the answer.
I'm going to leave that answer to you. Why? Why did you come
here this morning? Why do we believe what we believe?
Why do we do what we do? We have to answer that question.
Why? Why do we do this? We all have to answer that question
for ourselves. Why do we fast, they said? You
see, fasting was supposed to be, and done correctly, was a
form of worship. Mourning over sin. It was a form
of worship. But the Pharisees turned it into
a sideshow. They would get out and they would
disfigure their faces. They would look like they were
in pain in order to be thought of by men They must be very religious. They must be close to God. They
took what should have been a form of worship and twisted it into
self-glory and self-righteous acts. That's what they did. And
then they'd also use it trying to squeeze something out of God.
They'd fast trying to get something out of God. That's not what that's
about. It's a form of worship. It's a form of mourning. mourning
over sin. Here's my advice to you is this. Don't do anything. Do not do
anything if you don't know why you're doing it. If you don't
know why, don't do it. Don't do it. Especially when
it comes to worshiping God Almighty. If you don't know why, know why
you do what you do and know it. And besides, Who said His disciples
were not fasting? The Lord said to His disciples,
when you fast, go to the closet. He said when you pray, go to
the closet. When you fast, wash your face, put on your clothes,
just go out like nothing's going on. Because that's between you
and God. So who says they weren't fasting?
They were probably doing as their Lord said, secretly. Now Matthew calls them here John's
disciples. John's disciples. That's jumped
out at me. John's disciples. And I know what he means. I know
what he means by that. John was preaching and they followed
John. But really, everyone who believes God is Christ's disciples.
We're not the disciples of men. We're the disciples, the followers,
the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're His. When the Lord
saves a sinner, through the preaching of the gospel, that sinner follows
Christ, although God uses men to preach and pastor His people. So it says over in Ephesians
4, Paul said this in one place, follow me as I follow Christ.
Look over in the Gospel of John, chapter 1. Here's what happens
when the Lord sends forth the gospel in power. John chapter
1, verse 35, Again the next day after John
stood, and two of his disciples, two of John's disciples, and
looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of
God. And the two disciples heard him speak. They heard John speak.
And what did they do? They followed Jesus. They followed
the Lord Jesus Christ. They became His disciples. His. Let me give you a word of warning.
Don't let anyone drag you into their spiritual unbelief. Don't
be dragged into it. You know, I've worked in plants.
for years. And I've been around when one
or two men would just get upset over something and try to drag
the whole shop into it. I worked at a company one time
and the men got upset and they came to me and said, we're going
to walk out at noon. I said, you are? They said, yes. I said, well, go ahead. They
said, you're going with us. I said, no, I'm not. I knew what
their problem was. All of us are going out. I said, go ahead. I said, I'll walk in the office
with you and talk to the man, but I won't walk on the street.
And we ended up going in the office and settling the matter.
But I was not going to get caught up in their problem. It was one
man. One man stirred that whole...
The Pharisees here, the Pharisees stirred them up. I have no doubt some of these
men were born of God and bathed in Christ. Not all that followed
John were saved. Not all that followed Christ
were saved. In one place they said, this is a hard saying.
And they said, many of them went back and walked no more with
me. And the Pharisees stirred them
up. They put them up to this. They
took advantage of them. They took advantage of their
naivety. They took advantage of it. Satan is subtle. He is
subtle, subtle. He'll use babes to cause confusion.
You let a babe start crying in this audience. You bring a baby
in here, and you let that baby start crying, you won't hear
a word I say. It'll just mess this whole thing
up. And that's what they did here.
They used these babes to cause confusion. But our Lord, the
wisdom of God, wisdom of God, he used the occasion
to reveal some great truth. He used it to reveal some great
truth. And the great truth coming out
of this is this. He didn't come to mix works and
grace. He didn't come to patch up. He
came to establish. But something else here before
I go on. It's also evident here that the Pharisees and John's
disciples did not like fasting. They did not like what they were
doing. They did not like this form of worship. They were saying this in a way
of reproof. Why do we have to do this? And they get to sit
and eat and feast and we have to go through these hardships.
Why? They were upset. They lost her. They're all upset about it. If you find, if anyone finds,
worshiping Christ and denying ourselves to just be unpleasant
and wish we didn't have to do it, there's a problem. If worship,
coming here and worshiping, if that's a problem, there is a
problem. There is a problem. Here's our Lord's answer now.
Here's our Lord's answer. Can the children of the bride
chamber mourn? See, that's what fasting is.
Mourn. Can they mourn while the bridegroom
is with them? No. The answer is no, absolutely
not. The Lord's disciples had nothing
to mourn over. The Lord's with them. The bridegroom
is with them. Christ is with them. If Christ
is with you, with me, we have nothing to mourn over. Rejoice,
Paul said. Rejoice in the Lord. Again, I
say rejoice. Rejoice in Him. You see, true
fasting or mourning is when Christ is absent. That's when we really
truly mourn is when He's absent. But when He's present, we have
nothing to mourn over. Nothing at all. We have everything
to rejoice over. That's the reason I read to you
in Isaiah 61.10 there. Look back. Isaiah 61.10. In verse 10 of 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." He says, I greatly rejoice. Oh, we have everything
to rejoice about. All things are yours in Him.
In Christ we have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, forgiveness,
pardon. Everything we need we have in
our bridegroom. We don't have to bring anything
to Him. He brings it up. Rejoice. But now He speaks and
says there's going to be a time of mourning. There's going to
be a time when my disciples here are going to mourn. And it's
going to be at my death. He speaks of His death. There's
going to be a time that I'm going to be taken from them. He says
the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken. He was taken to prison. He was
taken to judgment. He was taken to the cross. He
was nailed to it and suffered the wrath of God and died and
was buried. And they mourned. They mourned. He said they'll come a time when
they shall mourn. But I tell you this, weeping
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And they
went and found that tomb empty, and the Lord revealed Himself
by what joy they had. What joy! Then He gives here a revelation.
Here's a revelation. See, salvation comes by revelation. Thou hast hid these things, our
Lord said, from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them
unto babes. It comes by revelation. He says no man puts or sews a
new cloth, a new garment, onto an old one. You don't do that. You don't do that. The new cloth
of the gospel The gospel of grace, the gospel of Christ will not
be sold or added to the old works of religion. He says it's not
going to do it. This is not going to happen.
It's not going to happen. The liberty that we have in Christ
by grace is not going to be sold to the
bondage that we have in the law. They're not going to be put together. There's not going to be a patchwork
here. There's not going to be no patchwork done. But there's
going to be a new work. A new work. His work. His work. His work of redemption.
His work of satisfaction. His work of justification. It's
going to be His work. A new work. The old is going
to be done away with. And the new is going to be established.
He came to establish this new covenant and do away with this
old covenant. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
8. Hebrews 8, look in verse 6. But now hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a
better covenant, which was established upon better For if that first
covenant had been faultless, if it had no fault, then should
no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault
with them, he said, 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, not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead
them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in
my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. It won't be just a cold,
dead letter. I'll write it in their hearts,
and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me from
the least to the greatest. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness
and their sins and their iniquities, for I will remember no more.
And that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old."
He came to do away with that old covenant. Now that which
decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. It's no good.
Our Lord says in Revelation 21.5, Behold, He says, Behold, I make
all things new. I make all things new. He says
in Revelation 21, He's going to make a new heaven
and a new earth. He says, I'm going to make a new heaven and
a new earth. He says in Revelation 2.17, you're going to have a
new name. A new name. He says in Revelation
3.12, He's going to make a new Jerusalem. He says there's going
to be a new Jerusalem. This old one is going to be done
away with. This type of pictures and shadows, they're all going
to be done away with. I'm going to sing a new song. You're going
to sing a new song in Revelations 5 and 9. And there's going to
be a new man to enjoy all this. I'm going to make a new man.
Ephesians 4.24 and 2 Corinthians 5.17. The old is over with. The old ceremonies, the old rituals,
It's all over with. That's what he told that woman
at the well. He said, our fathers worshipped
here on these mountains. He said, you're not going to
worship in those mountains and you're not going to worship in
Jerusalem. Here's how you're going to worship. You're going
to worship God in spirit and in truth. That's how you're going to worship. Now, if we try to sew these two
together, you know what he says? that terror will be made worse.
Just like this woman with the issue of blood we'll look at
next week. She tried all the physicians. She tried everybody.
Everyone that she could try. It says she spent all her living
and rather grew worse. And to try and sow that old works
religion to grace, you'll just make it worse. That's all it
does. It just makes it worse. It doesn't make it better. Grace
and worse will not match. They'll not match. You can't sew them together.
You see, the new is stronger. Well, that jumped out at me.
The new is stronger. The old is weaker. He can't take
it. But the new is stronger and it'll
make the tear even worse, even more apparent. So don't try it. Don't try it. The Galatians made
that mistake, didn't they? The Galatians made that mistake.
It is Christ alone, grace alone, His blood alone, His righteousness
alone. It is Him alone, without any
works on our part whatsoever. And then He turns and He speaks
of the new wine. You can't take a new garment
and sew it to an old piece of cloth. It won't work, he said.
It will not work. And neither do men put new wine
into old bottles. The new wine of the gospel cannot
be put into the old wineskins of religion. That's what he said. You can't put it into the old
wineskins of religion, nor can you put it into the old nature
of man. You can't do it. There has to be a new wineskin
for that new wine, Christ, to be poured into. There has to
be a new wineskin made first, and then the new wine of the
gospel of Christ can be poured in. And then both, it says, are
preserved. Both are preserved. Look over
in Ezekiel 36. Here's what he's talking about
in Ezekiel 36. In verse 26 of Ezekiel 36, a
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you. And I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in
My statues, and you shall keep My judgments and do them." Look
over in 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. He says in verse 3, According
as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath
called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world." He said there has to be a new wineskin if you
are going to pour in new wine. If you try to pour in the new
wine of the gospel of Christ into an unregenerate heart, it
will perish. I don't care how much reformation
is accomplished, it will perish. I don't care how much a man straightens
up, he will perish if God does not regenerate him. The gospel poured into an old
heart will not save anyone. It won't save anyone. It's the
gospel poured into a new heart that brings joy and peace and
gladness and the salvation of God. Only a new living man can drink
of the new wine and rejoice. Only a new man. The old dead man will not drink.
He'll burst. Eventually, he'll burst. Eventually he'll hear what you're
saying and he says, I don't believe that. He'll burst. He'll burst. As the wine ferments and grows,
he will burst because, now listen to this, he cannot expand with
the new revelation of God, of Christ, and of himself. It'll
kill him. He'll burst. He just can't take
it. He'll leave. But that new man that's created
in Christ Jesus, that new wineskin can expand and grow in Christ
to a fully mature person in Christ and come to know God and Jesus
Christ whom He has sent. Now, what have we learned in
our clothes? What have we learned? First of all, that the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, is the bridegroom. That's what he said,
I'm the bridegroom. And he has come. The bridegroom
has come. And those that make up the bridegroom
are sinners saved by grace. Sinners saved by grace. Not good
people. There's not any. There is not
any. God said, I didn't write this.
God said there's none good, no, not one. If you want to get mad
at somebody, get mad at God. He's the one who wrote it. But
I agree with him. I agree with him. He's the one
who wrote it. And I fully agree. Here's the second thing. Those
who have Christ, you have the Lord Jesus Christ. You have nothing
to mourn about. I know we mourn over our sins,
but our sins are gone too. We mourn, but we rejoice in this. Our sins are all taken away.
He put them away. He has clothed us in His righteous...
Oh, what a garment. Why would I want to try to sew
up a wedding garment of something that I'd come up with when the
God of heaven and earth has provided one? Why would I want to do that? And then here's another thing.
We cannot mix works and grace. It's either all of grace For
it's all of works. You can take, and I thought about
this this morning, you can take an ocean of grace, a vast ocean
of grace, you can take an eyedropper, this is an example, and put one
drop of works in it, and you know what becomes? A dead sea. Dead. Useless. It's all of grace. Salvation from beginning to end
is all by the grace of God. And then last, there must be
a new creation. There must be a new man before
he can receive the gospel to any benefit. Any benefit. Well, the bridegroom has come. And we have nothing to mourn
about. Not in our bridegroom we don't. Okay, Mike.