All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn again with me to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. Last week we looked at the first
of these two parables, and I hope we saw the absolute
uselessness of attempting to patch up what our Lord calls
the old garment. He's talking about man. The text declares that no man,
no man, I don't care who you are, I don't care how good your
intentions are, I don't care what the goal is that you have
in mind. He said no man, no man. putteth a piece of new cloth
onto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up
taketh from the garment, and the rent, the tares, is made
worse." In Luke's account he puts it this way, and I told
you last week there's an account in Mark chapter 2 and Luke chapter
5. All three of these men record
these parables. And in Luke's account in chapter
5 he says this, Both the new maketh a rent, and the peace
taken out of the new agreeth not with the old." Now this whole
thing began with the questions that John's disciples ask our
Lord about fasting, or that the Pharisees a little later on ask
about eating corn on the Sabbath, or that the scribes ask when
they sat down to eat with unwashing hands. They didn't fast like John's
disciples fasted, and they wondered why not. How come you're so different? Why do your disciples act different
from John's? Why do you act so contrary to
a religion established for 4,000 years? Why all of a sudden has
everything changed around and different? That's what they wanted
to know. That's the heart of these questions. And rather than
a host of theological expositions and arguments, and that's what
we tend to want to do. Somebody comes to us, Winston,
and they ask us a question and we just bury them. theological expositions and arguments
and all these things. This can't be because of this,
this, this, and this. And they're just standing there.
They've never heard anything like what you're telling them.
They didn't hear the first thing you told them, let alone the
next 25. Our Lord didn't do that. Our
Lord just pointed to a union. That's all He did. John, He didn't
confuse things. He just simplified things. And
you see, can the children of the bride chamber, can they mourn
and fast while the bridegroom's there? How are they going to
act? How are they going to act? Because if you can find out the
answer to that, the rest of it will be clear. If you can get
the picture, if you can just see the picture, everything else
will be clear. You see what he's telling them?
He doesn't confuse the matter. Real preaching doesn't confuse
men. Men are born confused. They're
already confused. They're confused about everything.
They open this book and they can't understand how can this
book declare a literal, actual creation when our scientists
have told us from the time we was children that these things
evolved. They're already confused. And
you'll stay confused until you bow to the Word of God. till
he brings you to submit to the words of this book. They're already
confused. Real preaching doesn't confuse. It's simple. These illustrations
and these examples and things that our Lord gives are so simple
that a child... He said, though you were a child,
you could not err in the way. And that's what we are. We're
children. The bride acts the way she acts because she loves
her husband. When he's near, she rejoices.
She rests all is well. When he departs, she pines for
his return. If he's angry, she's quiet. If
he's silent, she's confused and upset. If he speaks softly to
her heart, she melts in his arms. You see what he's saying to her?
You want to know something about the behavior of my disciples,
of true believers? Here it is. It's born out of
a union. It's born out of an affection. It's born out of a
relationship with me. Now let me show you something
over here in the Gospel of John. Turn with me to John chapter
3. Before John was cast in prison,
the Pharisees, and this is what they were wont to do all the
time. They stirred up a contention. They came out and got to talking
to John about his baptism, which is what I believe it is. It's
what most of the theological writers believe. There was a
contention over purification. This purification had to have
something to do with the old purifications under the law and
baptism that they were seeing. Nobody was baptized before John. But John came forth baptized.
And so there was a contention there, and they sought to drive
a wedge between Christ, who also baptized, and John. And so they got this contention,
whatever it was, about purification. And here in John 3, verse 25,
it says, Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples
and the Jews about purifying. Now, I know what this question
is because I've been dealing with it ever since God called
me to preach. It's a contention about imputed righteousness.
It's a question about this righteousness. Is it something I do or something
He gives me? Is it just charged to my account
or am I actually righteous? That's the question. And I don't
care if it's in the sprinklings of the law, or if it's when walking
down an aisle, or if it's in keeping the Sabbath day, or paying
tithes, or whatever it is. There's only two kinds of righteousness,
self-righteousness and the righteousness of Christ. And Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. He's the end of the law. But
this controversy, sent them in odds with both John and the Lord
because both of them baptized, both of them preached the same
gospel. And they came to John and they said, Rabbi, he that
was with you beyond Jordan, back yonder, that came down and you
said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world, and that you led down in the water and baptized this
same man that you witnessed, and told us about beyond Jordan,
to whom thou bearest witness. Behold, the same baptizeth, and
all men come to him." Those that used to come to you are going
to him. Why is that? How come? Why did their behavior change?
What brought about the change? Now get the picture. Here's the
forerunner, the herald of Christ, and he's come sounding a clear
note. He said, here's why I've come.
I'm just a voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight
the paths of the Lord. Make straight the way of the
Lord. The way of substitution. Make
that clear. The way of imputed righteousness.
Make it clear. The way of the Lord. Make straight the way of the
Lord, the way of redemption, the way of righteousness, the
way of a mediator, the way of covenant redemption, the way
of blood atonement. I'm the voice of one crying in
the wilderness. Make straight the way of the
Lord. And all of a sudden, the ministry
of Christ begins to out... Now, John was a controversial
figure. Everybody, it said, went out to hear him. Everybody went.
Jews went out. Pharisees went out. Scribes went
out. Everybody went out. They thought he might be the
Messiah. And that's what they asked him. And he said, I'm not
him. I'm just a voice. And now they're telling him,
well, man, everybody come out to see you. Now everybody's going
to oversee him. What brought about the change?
What brought about the change? And old John tells his disciples
two great monumental truths right here. He states them. Here is
the first one, John 3, verse 27. He said, ìA man can receive
nothing except it be given him of God.î He doesnít take this office to
himself. He doesn't gain this understanding
by his own abilities. He didn't come out here and win
his popularity and win his fame on his own. A man can receive
nothing. Now you can just take that as
broad as you want to take it. You're not going to eat tomorrow
if God doesn't give you some food. I know well, I can go down
to Kroger's and buy my food. Where are you going to get the
money? Well, I'm going to get me a job. Who's going to give
you the job? Who's going to give you the breath
to live long enough to do the job to go buy the food? You can't
receive anything, temporal or spiritual, except it be given
you from heaven. Everything we have in this world
is the gift of God. You can't receive anything except
it's given to you. Given to you. Anything, everything
concerning God must be given from above. He said, by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. The gift of God is eternal life. The gift of God. Listen to this,
Romans 3, verse 15. Just hold your place there. But
not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through
the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and
the gift of grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded
unto many." Jesus Christ, the gift of God. The gift of God. Everything we have is the gift
of God. The clothes we wear, the water we drink, the food
we eat, the jobs we have, our families, our health. And we
take these things for granted, but God, He can take them away
just like that. And it appears He's doing it
in this country. He can take it away. See, I'm so sick of
hearing about self-made men. I just can't understand it. Just
can't understand it. And this principle applies especially
in salvation. How shall you hear, he said,
without a preacher? Anybody, whosoever will, let
him call. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. But how are you going to call
him in whom you have not believed? How are you going to believe
in him of whom you have not heard? And how are you going to hear
without a preacher? It's the gift of God. It's God's gift. How come we're here this morning?
How come we're not down in some cathedral, Russell, taking mass? Sitting back there, you know,
in our little things and watching a man come down the aisle with
a smoker and the incense and the altar boys and taking the
little tablet that they give you and all that. How come we're
not down there doing that? How come we're not out here in
some fundamentalist organization where a man stands up here, some
religious cheerleader, and talks us into coming down the aisle
and making a profession of faith? How come we ain't out there?
How come we're not running around in some building somewhere like
a lunatic? yipping and waving our arms in
the air and seeking evidences and signs and wonders from God
and seeking some kind of higher life that's not being... How
come? How come we're in here hearing
the truth? Clear out here in the middle of nowhere. How come?
Because it's given. That's what our Lord told His
disciples. It's given. They were just fishermen. They
weren't anybody. You see, you call them, brethren,
not many wise men after the flesh, not many noble, not many mighty
are called. God hath chosen the foolish.
These were fishermen. Oh, but Luke, you go back and look at the history
of the prophets. They were nobodies. They were
nobodies. How come they got to be a prophet?
The gift of God. The gift of God. Paul said, who
maketh thee to differ? Talking to those Corinthians.
What have you gotten that you haven't received? And if you
received it, why do you glory like you haven't? It's the gift
of God. You see what John's telling them?
It's not up to me. He said it wasn't on my account
that everybody come out to start with. You can't receive anything
except it be given to you. It's got to be given. It's the
gift of God. We're in such a bad shape that
like Bartimaeus of old, we're totally dependent on the Lord.
If He don't pass by where we're at, we're just going to sit there
in that old rack in our blindness until we die. Now that's true. So let that be established. We
can't receive anything except it be given to us of God. And
the second thing he tells them is this, and this is what I want
you to see, verse 29. John 3, verse 29. He said, He
that hath the bride is the bridegroom. He didn't say, He that's seeking
the bride, did he? He said, He that hath the bride.
How did he get her? He said, my father gave her to
me. Isn't that what it says? A certain
man prepared a wedding for his son. He arranged it. He arranged the
garments. He arranged for the wine. He
arranged for the whole shoot match. And the end of it was
a glorious union between his son and his bride. He has the bride. And the Godhead
agreed in a covenant concerning this bridegroom and this bride
before the world was. He made a wedding for his son.
And the Word of God testified of this love and testified of
this union from Genesis to Malachi. It talks about it. The whole book of Hosea is about
it, isn't it? Isn't that about a marriage? Isn't that about a prophet God
sent to marry a harlot? It's about a marriage. What's
the book of Ruth about? It's about a marriage. It's about
a kinsman redeemer. And you can just go on and on
and on in the Scriptures. The bridegroom came and he gave
himself for his bride. He labored for her. He suffered
for her. He was humiliated on her behalf. He died in her place and he rose
from the dead to secure her inheritance. He hath the bride. That's what
John said. He's got her heart. He's got
her mind. He's got her will. He's got her
way. He has to buy. And I can stand
here this morning secure in this knowledge. I am His and He is
mine. That's my hope. I don't have
another hope. Well, Preacher, don't you believe
a believer's got to do it? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I believe a believer's
got to do everything this book says that he will do. But he
won't do them until he comes to know the bridegroom. He's not going to do it. He's
not going to do it. And that's what these two parables
over here in Matthew chapter 9 are all about. In these parables,
two things are set forth. Now, I want you to listen to
them. I'm going to repeat myself from last week. These two things answer every
question man has to ask. It doesn't matter what the question
is. I don't care if you talk about the purpose of this world,
the history of man. I don't care what it is you want
to talk about. You can talk about the old nature and the new. You
can talk about anything you want to. These two things answer every
question natural man has about the things of God. These two
things. give the reason for the appearing
of Christ in this world. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God came into the flesh. These two things justify the
behavior of all true believers. It's going to justify that behavior.
These two things declare the whole of Scripture, both the
law and the prophets and the apostles of Christ. These two
things describe and sum up the history of man. Everything you
want to talk about, man, here's his history in these two things.
And these two things judge between false and true religion. And
here's the two things, the old and the new. The old and the
new. An old man fallen and depraved
and a new man come from God. There's an old nature and a new
nature. An old religion and a new and
living way. Isn't that what he said? There
is an old world and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
There is an old body and a glorious new body. Old and new. There is an old garment and he
said it's rotten and it's raggedy and it's full of holes. And you
can't patch up that old rotten rag, it won't hold the patch.
You can't patch up a tattered old garment because the material
won't agree. It's a new garment, the Old Testament.
Now listen to me. It weaves a garment that will
just fit one man. Only one man, John, in all of
the history of men can put on this robe. Only one. Christ. And when He came, He put it on
and it fit Him to a T. In Psalm 13, verse 14, I mean, in Romans 13, verse 14,
we are admonished of Paul to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And can't we say it? Put Him
on. Put Him on. Don't patch up that
old robe. Don't bother with it. It's rotten.
It ain't going to hold no thread. You put the patch on, it won't
stay where you put it. It'll just slide around somewhere.
You ain't going to take care of that rip and that old rag.
That rip, you put a patch on there, it'll just rip all the
worse. You can't patch it up. Put ye
on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh. Don't provide for it. Don't even
attempt it. Don't even take notice of it.
Just quit even acknowledging it. Just leave it alone. Put
on Him. This is where the hope is, up
here. This is where the security is,
it ain't here, it's up there. That's what I'm trying to get
men to do. They look for it in the church,
they look for it in the altar, they look for it in the preacher,
they look for it in an experience, they look for it in a dream.
It ain't down here, it's up there. But God, who is rich in mercy
and for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sin, quickened us together with Christ and caused us to
sit in where? Heavenly places in Him. That's where your hope is. That's
why you're so sad and so upset and so downhearted and so fearful
all the time because you look in here for the hope and you
can't find it. It ain't here. It's there. There
it is. That's where faith looks. Faith
looks up there. It finds Christ. It sees Christ. It sees Him. He's the new wine. And that's what He's telling
them. You can't put this new wine in an old bottle. That old
bottle is made out of goat skins is what they made them wine bottles
out of back in that time. That's what they're talking about.
Them old dried up, out in that desert country, old goat skin. poured that thing full of wine
and it sat in there for however long it took to consume that
wine. And he said, you're not going to take this fresh batch
of wine that you just made, freshly fermenting wine, and put it in
that old goat skin, are you? Because here's what's going to
happen. It can't contain it. It can't
hold it. It'll blow that bottle. It'll
just run out the holes. It'll run out the cracks. It'll
run everywhere. It can't contain it. That bottle
is useless. That bottle is old and rotten.
Our Lord took the cup of wine and He passed it around to His
disciples and He said, take and drink it all. Receive it into
yourselves. Let it become a part of you.
Drink it all, for this is my blood of the New Testament. This
is the new wine which is shed for many for the remission of
sin. putting new wine into an old bottle. God put Himself into
a virgin-born Son. This time of year you go and
you see the little manger scenes and you hear them singing all
the carols and all the things and none of them got an ounce
of sense about what this thing is all about. This is God coming
down in the person of a man and born of a virgin. He is not of
that old Curse. He's not of that old seed. He's not of Adam. Turn with me
to 1 Corinthians 15. Brethren, every son of Adam is
just like his daddy. What's the expression? He's a
chip off the old block. That's what he is. That's what
he is. He's got his weaknesses, every
one of them. He's got his flaws. He's fallen. He's corrupt. You look at Adam
and you see yourself. Well, I can look back on my life.
I see Adam all in me. I see him right now today. We've got the nature of a cursed
man. A cursed man. I'll hold you in
place there in 1 Corinthians 15. Just let me read you something.
I've read it to you several times in the past. two or three weeks
over here in Ephesians chapter 2. I just quoted you one of those
scriptures right there in Ephesians chapter 2 where he's talking
about us being dead. But Paul explains what that deadness
is. And he said, you walked, John,
you walked according to the course of this world. What in the world
is he talking about? You walked according to your
daddy Adam. Every son of Adam walked this
path, every one of them. Well, what is that path? It's
the course of this world. And you walk that path being
influenced by the God of this world, the Prince of the power
of the air, the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
That's what he said. Now listen, and you were by what? Nature. We were by nature the
children of wrath even as others. I know we look down our noses.
We used to look to Mormons back when I was in religion. We'd
look to Mormons to look down our nose. That's the way the
Jews used to look at the Gentiles. They'd look down their nose at
them. Poor, cursed, ignorant. They'd look down their nose at
them. He said we was children of wrath even as of. Just like
those Gentile dogs that are down there falling down in front of
them snakes and falling down in front of those animals and
all them foolishness that they do, that's exactly what we was
doing when God found us. We've got that nature, that fallen,
cursed nature. And you can't put this new wine
in that body. You can't put it in that person.
It just leaks out the holes. You see what I'm saying? That's
why you can't find any hope. Are you with me? You can't find
any hope in here because we're looking for it in here. It ain't
in here. It's up there. It's up there. Listen to this. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 47. If you get time, read through
this chapter. This is a blessed chapter. And we hear this read
a lot at funerals. Listen to this, 1 Corinthians
15, 47. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. He's a created being. God took
him from the dust of this earth and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life. He's a created being. God made
him. Isn't he? In his own image, in
his own likeness, he said, created we then, both male and female. Took him right out of the dust.
He's a created being. The second man, he said, is the
Lord from heaven. He is. You see the language of
Scripture? The second man, he is. He always was. He ever shall
be. I am. That's my name. You go
down there and tell Pharaoh, I am sent you. He is. He always was. He ever shall
be. You see what I'm saying? He said,
I'm the first and the last. I'm the Alpha and Omega. I'm
God, that's what he said. I'm the way, I am the truth,
I am the life, I am the resurrection, I am the light, I am He, and
except you believe that I am He, you'll die in your sins.
The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthly, such
are they also that are earthly. As is the heavenly, such are
they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthly, we are going to bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, he said, I am going to
show you a mystery. I am going to show you something
you have never seen. We shall not all sleep. We're
all going to be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye at the last trump, for the trump will sound, the
dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. Why?
Why? What are we going to be changed for? Because this bottle won't hold
that wine. That's why. It won't hold that
wine. Because this corruptible, he
said, must, see that word M-U-S-T, it must put on incorruption,
and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the same that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. I tell you, we go around, we
pamper these bodies. Boy, I was in there this morning
rubbing cream on that dry skin. We just pamper these bodies and
fear for them and watch after them and treat this world like
these things are going to stay here forever. God is going to
fold them up. I told you that last week like
a garment. He's going to lay them down. These old bodies,
they're going back to the dust. They're on their way. They're
on their way. I don't go in there anymore from
one week to the next. I see new wrinkles, new spots,
new this, new that. It's on the way. It's going back
to the dust. Back to the dust. Now, he said,
you take this wine and you drink it. This is my blood in the New
Testament. I'm the new wine. I'm the new
life. This is the new body. And you
take this wine, and you remember my blood, and you remember my
covenant, and you take this bread, and you remember my body broken
for you, given for you, provided for you." But now listen to what
else he says. He said, "'But I say unto you,
I'll not drink henceforth of the fruit of this vine until
the day when I drink it.'" What? New. Until we see it. New. "'With you in my Father's kingdom.'" God took that new wine of His
grace, that new wine of His purpose and His will, that new wine of
His mercy and His love and His kindness toward us, and He preserved
it. Ain't that what the parable says?
He is going to put this new wine in a new bottle so it can both
be preserved. Both body, and spirit, and character,
and glory, and everything that God has for that sinner, He put
in Christ, and He took Christ, and He seated Him at His own
right hand. And it is preserved. That is what faith says. That
is what faith says. It doesn't look for evidences
down here. It looks for that evidence. That evidence. Seated at the right hand of God,
both are preserved by faith. And we see it. And we receive
it. And we rejoice in it. And I'll tell you what it is.
Turn with me over to Luke chapter 5. Let me show you this before
I quit. Over here to Luke chapter 5. Same parable. Same everything, all the way
down to verse 39. And then he adds something. He said in Luke 5, verse 39,
No man also having drunk old wine, straightway desireth new. But that man says, the old is
better. The old is better. John Gill
said that old wine is forgiving. He said it's smooth. That old
wine goes down easy. It's been there. You're used
to it. You're confident in it. You see
its history and you drank it before. It just goes down easy. The old wine of tradition and
that old wine of self-righteousness and that old wine of religion
and self and world. It's smooth. It doesn't have a bite to it.
It's just smooth. And men drink it right now. They
say it's better. It's better. We'll go over and
drink that. It's better. And he said, straightway, now
watch this, no man having drunk old wine straightway desires
the new. He's not going to immediately
jump up and grab the new wine. Peter said, I'll tell you when
you're going to lay all these things aside. You can read about
it over in the book of Peter. I'll tell you when you're going
to lay aside envy and lies and all these things. He said, I'll
tell you when you're going to do that. When you taste that the Lord
is gracious. When you taste that wine, that's
when you'll desire it. That's when you'll desire it.
Oh, God give us a taste for His wine. It said, Over in the book of Revelations
it said, the Spirit and the Bride, they say, come. And let him that's
thirsty, let him say it too, come. And whosoever will, what a word,
let him take of that water of life freely. Oh, God give us
a thirst for Christ.