Matthew chapter 9. And I'm taking the title for
the message from the words found in verse 15. The bridegroom and
the children. The Lord said to those who had
asked the question, why don't your disciples fast at this particular
time? And the Lord Jesus said to them,
can the children of the bridegroom mourn? as long as the bridegroom
is with them, a wedding feast at the time for rejoicing about
the bridegroom and the bride being married. It's not a time
to mourn, but the days will come, the days appointed of God, the
days will come by God's decree, God's purpose, when the bridegroom,
the Lord Jesus Christ, shall be taken, taken from them. That is, he laid down his life
for his bride, didn't he? Then, then they'll fast. Then
they'll fast. Then they'll fast. The children,
the bridegroom, and the children. The bridegroom and the children.
Remember from our study in Hebrews chapter 2, the Lord called the
captain of our salvation, and he said, Behold, I and the children
which God hath given me, He'll lose none of his children. All
that the Father giveth to me, they will come to me, and those
that come to me I will in no wise cast out. The Lord Jesus
Christ we know is the bridegroom. He is the bridegroom of his church. The church is called the Lamb's
wife. Remember from our study in the
book of Hebrews chapter 21, the Lord is called the Lamb's wife. In Revelation 19, blessed are
they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.
God's people are married to the Lord Jesus Christ in that eternal
covenant of grace. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is called our husband. Did you know that? He's our husband. Isaiah 54 said, thy maker is
thy husband, the Lord of hosts is his name. He's thy redeemer.
He's the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall
he be called. You remember we read just a moment
ago in John chapter three, in John chapter three, where our
Lord, where John, the forerunner of the Lord said, he that hath
the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom
withstandeth and heareth him, rejoices greatly because of the
bridegroom's voice. This, my joy, therefore, is fulfilled."
John was rejoicing. He said, I must decrease, he
must increase. John was rejoicing in the ministry,
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the bridegroom. He that hath
the bride is the bridegroom. And the Lord Jesus Christ, we
are married to Him in that covenant of grace. Let me read this to
you in Ephesians chapter 5. Let me just read it. Husband
loves your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself for it. that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, not having wrinkle,
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blame. That's how we are presented before
God in Christ our Bridegroom, in Christ our Redeemer, Christ
our Savior. Now remember from our lesson
last Last week in Matthew 9, 11 down to verse 13, how the
Lord sovereignly and affectionately called Matthew out of darkness
and death and ignorance, called him out of his sin to light,
life, and righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ. He walked
right up to the front of Matthew's table of collecting taxes from
the Jews to pay the Romans, and he said, irresistibly command
of God, the irresistible command of God, follow me. And what did
he do? He followed the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not only that, Matthew, when God opened his heart and made
him a new creature in Christ, Matthew opened his home. The
Lord Jesus Christ was home with him, and Matthew had made a great
feast. made a great feast, and the Pharisees
saw the Lord Jesus Christ, many publicans and sinners, it says
in verse 10, came and sat down with Him and His disciples, Matthew
9 verse 11, and the Pharisees saw it and they said to His disciples,
Why? Why does your Master, notice
they don't say the Master, why does your Master, why does your
Lord hang out with publicans and sinners? The Pharisees saw
it. They said, why do you eat? But
when Jesus heard that, he said, they that behold need not a physician,
but those who are sick. Verse 13, go learn what that
means. I will have mercy, salvation
by his mercy. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I will have mercy, not sacrifice. If sacrifices could put away
our sin, no need for him to come. But our sacrifices will not put
away sin. Our works will not put away sin.
He said, I will have mercy, not your sacrifice. I've come not
to call the righteous, but sinners, sinners to repentance. Can you
identify with that word? Can you identify with that word
sinners? Christ came to save, save, save, everlastingly save
sinners. The Pharisees and the scribes,
When they see the Lord Jesus Christ feasting and sitting down,
they got very, very, very upset. They became agitated. They became
aggravated in their heart and they bitterly, bitterly complained. Why? Why does the Lord do what
He does? Well, He came to save sinners.
He's called to friend the sinners. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that the Lord Jesus Christ came to
save not good folks, sinners." And the Apostle Paul said, I'm
the chief one, I'm the chief one, I'm the chief sinner. Not
only did they complain about the Lord eating and drinking
with sinners, they also complained about the disciples of the Lord
rejoicing in mercy given, instead of being in a state of mourning,
praying and fasting as they did, or as they said they did, Or
as the disciples of John, as they said they did. Look at verse
14. Then came to him the disciples
of John saying, now this is John the Baptist, why do we and the
Pharisees fast often and your disciples, we don't see them
acting like we do. His disciples didn't stand in
the street corner to be seen of men, but they did pray. I'm sure they did pray. Now,
instead of being in a state of mourning and fasting as John's
disciples, they went about to establish the righteousness of
their own. Turn over here to Luke 18. You
remember in that parable the Lord gave in Luke 18? Luke 18, He spake, verse 9, unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and
despised others. Two men went to the temple to pray, the one
a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God I thank Thee, I'm not like other men,
I'm not an extortioner, unjust, adulterer, even as is publican,
I fast twice in a week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
He was bragging on himself how righteous he is. And the publican,
standing far off, would not so much lift up his eyes to heaven,
but smote his breast, saying, upon his breast, saying, God
be merciful to me, the sinner. I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone
that exalted himself shall be abased. and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted." Exalted in Christ. So the Pharisees got
upset, as they always did, about the disciples of the Lord. You
remember our Lord said of them, turn back here to Matthew chapter
6. Our Lord said of them, they do what they do to be seen of
men. In Matthew 6 verse 16, Moreover when you fast, don't be as a
hypocrite, of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces,
that they may appear unto men to fast But I say unto you, they
have their reward. But thou, when you fast, anoint
thy head, wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast,
but unto thy father, which seeth in secret. And thy father, which
seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." So do what you
do in your heart before God. Don't go around and blast the
trumpet and tell everybody, I'm praying. I'm fasting. Don't go to the courthouse on
the day of prayer and hold hands around the flagpole to show everybody
how holy you are. God's not impressed. God's people
are not impressed. God looks upon the heart. It
seems, as reading as this is given in Mark chapter 2, and
also in Luke chapter 5, it seems like both the disciples of John
and the Pharisees had some sort of strange alliance here. It seems that, like many of them,
they did not It seems like many of them did not follow the declaration
of John's message to behold the Lamb of God that takes away the
sin of the world. They're still trying to find
acceptance with God by what they do rather than what Christ had
done for him. Remember what John told his disciples? Behold the Lamb of God that takes
away the sin. John didn't point He said, I'm
not the Christ. John didn't point sinners back
to the law, to the sacrifices under the law. He pointed to
the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold Him. Evidently,
they did not hear. The disciples of John did not
hear. Now, verse 15, our Lord answers
that question. Why do we and the Pharisees fast
often? but thy disciples, they do not
fast. Verse 15, and the Lord said,
can the children of the bridegroom mourn? The children of the covenant,
the children of God, the sons of God, the bride of Christ,
shall they mourn as long as the bride is with them? The bridegroom
is with them, the Lord Jesus. The days will come when the bridegroom
shall be taken from them, then they will mourn, then they will
fast. There is a time to fast and mourn,
but there's also a time to rejoice, right? In the book of Ecclesiastes,
it says, to everything there is a season, Ecclesiastes 3,
1, following, to everything there is a season and time, to every
purpose under heaven. There's a time to be born, and
there's a time to die. There's a time to plant, and
there's a time to harvest. There's a time to wound, and
a time to heal. There is a time to weep, and
there is a time to laugh. There is a time to dance, and
there is a time to mourn. While the bridegroom, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is with His disciples at this time, it was the time
to give thanks in the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus
Christ. While the Lord was with His people,
especially in that day, it was the day of salvation. It was
the day of rejoicing. There came a time when the Lord
was crucified and departed from them that they did mourn. They
did fast, and they did pray. Then it was a time of mourning.
Our Lord said in Luke 5, it's recorded, "...the days will come
when the bridegroom shall be taken away, and then shall they
fast in those days." And they did mourn, and they did fast
when the Lord was crucified among them. But on that resurrection
morn, as He went to the cross, and as He was dying upon the
cross, they did mourn, they did weep when they saw what was happening
to their blessed Savior. And they did mourn, and they
did fast, and they did weep. But on that resurrection morning,
when the Lord the third day came forth, And then for 40 days the
resurrected Lord was with them in a real, tangible body. Our Lord said in Luke 24, Behold
my hands and my feet, that is I myself. Handle me and see,
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. He's a real man, a glorified
body. In John 20, he told Thomas, you
remember Thomas said, I won't believe that he's risen from
the dead unless I put my Anchor in his hands and side, my hand
in his side. And when the Lord appeared, Thomas
said, my Lord and my God, and bowed and owned him. Our Lord
said to Thomas, behold my hands, behold my side, it is I myself. And Thomas said, my Lord and
my God. That was a time of rejoicing. when the Lord came forth from
the dead, being delivered for our offenses, raised again for
our justification. And in the day since His ascension
to the right hand of God, seated, enthroned in glory, seated and
enthroned on the sovereign throne of God, today for us it's a day
of rejoicing, is it not? We're no longer mourning about
how are we going to put away our sin. No longer mourning about
how are we going to establish a righteousness to satisfy God.
We're rejoicing that the Lord Jesus Christ did all those things
for us. Here's the reason that we rejoice.
We rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. For
us in this day is the day of rejoicing as believers. We rejoice
that the Lord Jesus Christ has put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself. You know, sin is very hard to
put away. It's against God. our sins against God. He must
provide an atonement for himself, for us, to put away our sin.
But we do rejoice that our sins are gone. We're no longer mourning
about how our sins are going to be put away. We know the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all our sin. So we are
rejoicing. No longer mourning how we're
going to put away our sins. We're no longer mourning over
establishing a righteousness by our morality. How good do
you have to be morally to be accepted of God? You gotta be
pretty good, don't you? You gotta be perfect. You gotta
be as perfect as God. Well, preacher, that's impossible.
You're right. You're right, but we're no longer
mourning about how righteousness is established. We're rejoicing
that the Lord Jesus Christ established a complete, full righteousness
for us, and he freely imputes that into us. Blessed is the
man whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. We are rejoicing
in righteousness given to us in Christ. We are rejoicing in
redemption that He obtained for us with His own blood, eternal
redemption. The bride of Christ is rejoicing
that we have been ever forever reconciled unto God. We're reconciled
unto God. You know what reconciliation
is? Reconciliation is the opposite
of separation. So what happened when Adam sinned? Separation. Our sins separated
us from God. Well, how are we going to be
reconciled? How can we be reconciled? Certainly not by what we do.
God was in Christ reconciling us unto himself. We are reconciled
through the mediatorial work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
reconciled us unto God. We're no longer mourning about
how we're going to please God. Christ pleased God for us. The bridegroom ever lives the
inner seed for us right now. The Lord Jesus Christ as our
Head, our Husband, our Redeemer, our Savior, our Bridegroom is
coming back to take us home and to enjoy us forever. God bought
the church. He's not going to leave it here.
He's going to take it to Himself and enjoy us forever. He said
in John chapter 14, let me just read it to you. He said, I'll
go away. I'm going to go away and I'll
come again. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. My Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself
that where I am, there you may be also. He's coming back to
receive us unto himself. The Lord fully intends to have
his chosen bride to be with him forever. Nothing will ever separate
the bride, the church, from the Lord Jesus Christ. Read Romans
chapter 8. There's an exhaustive list which
says, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not life, not death, not trial,
not heartache, not sorrow. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. In John chapter 6, where
he talks about the will of the Father, This is the Father's
will, which has sent me, that all which He has given me I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. And this
is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone would see that
the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life, and
I'll raise Him up at the last day." There's going to be a glorious
resurrection morning. where he'll raise up our dead
bodies and give us a glorious body like unto his body, and
there shall we ever be with the Lord. The church and Christ,
the bridegroom and the bride are forever one. In that eternal,
unbreakable union with him, he is the head, we are the body.
Remember he prayed in John 17, I in them, thou in me, that we
may be made perfect in one. That union we have with Christ,
we are one with Him. What's true of the head is true
of the body. Where He is, that's where we are. You know it says
in Ephesians 2 that we're already seated together in the heavenlies
in Christ? Every believer is already there in Christ. A representative
man. What Christ is and what Christ
has, we are and have right now. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with the Lord Jesus Christ. John says in 1 John 4, because
as He is, so are we in this world. As believers now, and we rejoice. We rejoice in Him. He presents
us before the Father, holy, unblameable, unreprovable, in His sight, without
spot, blameless, faultless. That's how God presents us. in
Christ. Christ presents us before God,
rather. Now, here's the second part of
this answer. And remember, this is the answer
to the question, why do we and the Pharisees fast? But your
disciples, they don't fast. And here's the second part of
that answer to that question. No man, verse 16, no man puts
a piece of new cloth on an old garment For that which is put
in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and it just makes
the garment worse. No man putteth a piece of new
cloth on an old garment. Verse 17, Neither do men put
new wine in old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine
runs out, and the bottles perish. But they put new wine in new
bottles and both are preserved. We are preserved in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I give them eternal life, He
says, and they'll never perish. Now, our Lord, He, you think
Almighty Infinite God, Eternal Infinite God, uses such a homely
illustration to teach us little children about a worn out garment
You don't try to patch up an old, worn-out garment with a
new piece of cloth. Salvation, you can't put a new
cloth on an old garment. Salvation is often described
as a garment of salvation, as a robe of righteousness provided
by the Lord Jesus Christ. For example, in Isaiah 61 verse
10, we read, 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, as a bride adorneth
himself with jewels. As with jewels. You see, our
Righteousness described before God is described in Isaiah 64
as filthy rags, right? All of our righteousness before
God are as filthy rags. So we don't try to take our morality
and try to patch up our filthy rags, do we? A lot of people
do that. A lot of people do that. The
Lord described all self-produced righteousness as filthy rags. Now here's the point. You cannot
take the righteousness revealed in the gospel, given, imputed,
and reckoned to believers, and sew it together with the righteousness
of your own to make a patchwork salvation, partly of your doing,
and partly the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
see what he's saying? We don't have before God a patchwork
righteousness. We have a complete, provided
righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's freely given. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believe it. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written. So Paul
writes about it in Romans chapter 10. He said, we're no longer
going about to establish the righteousness of our own, but
we are resting in Christ, submitting to the righteousness of God that's
revealed in the gospel. So we don't take our morality
and patch up this garment of filthy flesh, fleshly rags, and
present it to God. Will that work? That won't work. You cannot have the righteousness
of Christ added to your filthy rag to patch it up or to plug
in the holes. You cannot mix your righteousness
with his. It's either all Christ or none. It's either all Christ that justifies
the ungodly or none. And it can't be both. It's either
all of God, all of grace, all in Christ, or it's not. It can't
be both. It cannot be both. To the believer,
from the Word of God, Christ is all our righteousness before
God. That's why Paul, when he writes
as that converted Pharisee, he was one of those Pharisees who
often fasted in public and mourned in public, going about to establish
the righteousness of his own doing. But when God taught him
the gospel, he said, I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered
the loss of all things, and count them but dung that I may win
Christ and be found in Him. You see, Christ is our righteousness
before God, all of our righteousness before God, not part of it, not
part of our salvation. A lot of people have the idea,
he pays a part, he does a part, and I do my part. And we take
that part and that part and put it together, and we have a whole. That may be good math, but it's
not good theology, and it's certainly not salvation. Salvation is all
of God. Salvation is all of grace, and
grace alone. Now, if you want to turn with
me, you can, but this scripture often comes to my mind about
trying to mix works and grace. And a lot of people try to do
that, law and faith. In Romans 11 verse 5, "...even
so, then, at this present time, there is a remnant according
to the election of grace." Romans 11 verse 5. There is a remnant
according to God's elective love, according to God's electing grace. then it's no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no longer
grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no more of grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. You see, it cannot be both. It's
either all of grace or all of works. And we know that this
book teaches that salvation is all of God's grace. Sovereign,
free, eternal grace. It's grace that first chose us.
It's grace that elected us. It's grace that redeemed us.
It's the grace of God that keeps us. It's the grace of God that
will present us before the Father, holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in His sight. Now, the second thing He gives
us here in verse 17, Neither do men put new wine in
old bottles. Now remember, those bottles in
those days were wine skins. They were animal skins. And as
you know, leather, as it gets old, becomes brittle, doesn't
it? So you don't take new fermenting wine and put it in an old, brittle
leather bag. As it ferments, it expands, and
when it expands, it'll break. It'll break that old wineskin.
So our Lord is saying here, we put new wine, and that's the
new covenant in my blood. Neither do men put new wine in
old bottles, because the bottles will break, and the wine runneth
out. They put new wine in the new
bottles, and both are preserved. Now, what's he saying here? What's
he saying here? New wine represents the gospel
of Christ. The new wine must be put into
new bottles. The old bottles represent His
old, sinful, dying flesh that we're born with, born in sin,
shaped in iniquity. And the lesson for us is here,
sinners must be regenerated by the power of God and made new
creatures in Christ in order to receive the gospel of the
grace of God, in order to believe the gospel of the grace of God.
This old man, this old flesh is like that old wineskin, it
cannot receive the gospel of the grace of God. If any man
be in Christ, he's a new creature. God has to give us a new nature,
a new will, a new heart. He must grant us faith to believe. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Old things are passed away and
all things have become new. He puts new wine in that new
nature that makes us to believe the gospel of the grace of God.
The natural man will not receive and cannot receive the gospel
of Christ. The carnal mind is enmity against God. The carnal
mind receiveth not the things of God. It's foolishness unto
him. We must be given a new heart. We must be given a new nature.
That's why our Lord said, you must be born again. No man can
believe except he's born again. We must be partakers of a divine
nature created in righteousness and true holiness. Peter writes
about it this way, "...whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers
of a divine nature." When God makes us new creatures in Christ,
when He regenerates this old, dead heart and gives us a new
heart, He causes us to receive the new wine of the gospel and
to believe it and love it in our heart. The prophet Ezekiel
recorded these words, God said, a new heart also will I give
you, Ezekiel 36, 26. A new spirit will I put within
you. I'll take away that stony heart
out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I'll put my
spirit within you and cause you to love my word. And you shall
be my people, and I will be your God." He puts new wine in new
bottles. He gives us a new heart, a new
nature to love God, to believe God. We still have this flesh.
Paul said, I know that in me, that in my flesh was no good
thing. But we also have in Christ a
new nature given, a divine nature given to us in the new birth.
We must be given a new heart. to believe the gospel. The old
man, you ever wonder in your heart about this old flesh, and
the unbelief of this old flesh? That's all the flesh can do,
is not believe God. And here we've been given a new
nature, and that new nature does believe God. And there's a conflict
there, isn't there? The flesh left against the spirit,
and the spirit against the flesh. These two things are contrary
to each other. That's why the Lord said you
must be born from above. Only God can regenerate us and
make us new creatures in Christ. Now turn back to John chapter
3, and I'm going to close with this. John chapter 3. And you're familiar with the
story in verse 1. Here we see this man named Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee. He was one
of those that fasted often to be seen of men. He was probably
one of those that complained, as the others did, about the
disciples of the Lord rejoicing with the bridegroom. The same
came to Jesus by night, John 3 verse 2, and said unto him,
Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for
no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be
with him. And the Lord said to him, Truly,
truly, and that's what verily means, I say unto thee, except
a man be born from above, born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. He can't understand, perceive,
or know. And Nicodemus said to him, how
can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? And our Lord said, verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit. Water there represents the Word
of God. Born of the Word and the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of
the flesh, That's flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you,
you must be born again. The wind blows where it listeth. You hear the sound thereof, but
you cannot tell from whence it come or whither it go. So is
everyone that's born of the Spirit of God. It's a sovereign wind
of God's mercy. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, how can this be? And the Lord said, are you a
teacher, a master? Knowest not these things? Verily
I say unto you, we speak that we do know, and testify that
we have seen, and you receive not our testimony. If I have
told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe
if I tell you heavenly things? No man hath ascended up to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is
in heaven. So, the new birth. The new birth. Let me say this about the new
birth and being born again. A lot of people are of the idea
that we believe and then we are born again. It's just the opposite. A dead man can't believe, a dead
man can't see. God must quicken and give life.
So, he that believeth that Jesus is the Christ He's born of God. We believe the gospel, love the
Lord Jesus Christ, but He's given us a new spirit, a new heart.
We've been made a new creature in Christ Jesus.