Mark 2:18-22

Go ahead and with me take out your copy of God's Word and turn to the Gospel according to Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

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Uncomfortable moments for the Pharisees as Jesus makes great affronts to the religious culture of His day.

We started there at the beginning of chapter 2 as He heals a paralytic and establishes authority to forgive sin which flew in the face of their religious culture.

It was a blasphemy to them and it was indeed if He wasn't in fact God in flesh.

And see that He spent time with sinners.

That He reclined with them.

That He came to heal those who were sick.

Who needed spiritual renewal.

And then we come here to verse 18.

And we speak today about fasting which struck me just before in the service is rather hilarious considering what this week tends to be all about with Thanksgiving and a great gorging of food.

We're going to talk at length today about fasting.

But join me in reading Mark chapter 2 beginning in verse 18.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.

And people came and said to Him,

Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

And Jesus said to them,

Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

And as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast in that day.

No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment.

If he does, the patch tears away from it.

The new from the old and a worse tear is made.

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.

If he does, the wine will burst the skins and the wine is destroyed.

And so are the skins.

But new wine is for fresh wineskins.

Join me in praying.

Father God, we thank you for the blessing of the Word and the privilege to come together and to learn from it.

And I pray God, for all of us here, by a great work of your Spirit,

you will plant the truth of your Word deep in our hearts that we might become more like Christ

to the praise of your name and for our good.

Father, we recognize this morning in great humility that we have no good thing in and of ourselves,

but only those things that you have worked and are working in us by your Spirit.

So I pray that he will move and be powerful in us this day.

And we pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.

So, as he's confronting this religious culture,

we have a very specific group of people that were constantly standing in opposition to the ministry of Jesus.

And there was particularly these Pharisees.

We see some broadening groups of people.

We see the Sadducees.

We've got the scribes, which some were Pharisees, some were not.

But there's this particular group of about 6,000 people in this day.

Their founding happened way back in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.

And it was this particularly pious group of people that practiced an apostate form of Judaism.

And they thought they practiced it very well.

This is exactly what Jesus is saying at the very end of verse 17.

He says,

Those who are well have no need of a physician.

They were righteous in their own minds.

They trusted in themselves.

And it's these people that we see once again fasting,

but in an improper way.

Interestingly, in the beginning of verse 18,

we also see them collectively put in with John's disciples,

referring to John the Baptist.

And just as an aside,

note here that they're still being referred to as John's disciples.

We see in chapter 1 a great multitude,

all Judea is coming out to John to be baptized in the Jordan.

But look here how few of them have followed Christ.

Have had faith worked in their lives that they might follow Him in obedience.

And you still have many who are John's disciples,

even though John was saying,

not me, but Him.

They were missing the point.

And here we find them fasting right along with the Pharisees.

And a question is asked.

And it's a question of accusation.

Not so much an honest question,

as we might propose,

but a question of accusation.

There was constantly a case being built against Jesus

for the claims that He was making.

And here they are, once again,

trying to say,

look at the pious nature of John's disciples and of the Pharisees.

Why are your disciples not this way?

Why is it that you're supporting an unholy living

while these are so holy?

These are righteous and your disciples are not.

How dare you make the claims that you're making?

That is what is loaded into this question here.

You see, the Pharisees,

the religious culture of the day,

recognized that the teaching of Jesus Christ

was completely opposite of their teaching.

It was diametrically opposed.

It was distinct in every way.

And they knew that they had to shut Him down

if they were going to continue

to serve in the way that they served.

This is the case for all world religions today.

Apart from Christianity.

Apart from those who believe that

grace comes by faith in Christ alone.

That is the way of salvation.

All other religions are merely a creating of law.

A work to change the exterior

and the morality of that.

It's Christianity.

It's this message of the Gospel

that seeks to change our hearts.

Change who we actually are.

All world religions recognize

that there's a great symptom,

a great issue with humanity.

This problem of sin.

And yet they treat symptoms.

It reminds me of Western medicine.

Always treating symptoms,

but never treating root cause.

It's Christianity that comes and treats the heart.

And so they had to shut Him down.

If they were going to remain right,

Jesus had to be wrong.

And so they approach Him on this question

of fasting and why it was

that His disciples were not fasting.

Now to really understand

the question they're asking,

we have to understand first fasting.

What it was meant to be

and the way in which they

were practicing it in this day.

And so let's kind of step over

just for a moment

and let's talk a bit about

fasting this morning.

And this is the hilarious part

coming into this week.

First, Matthew 6,

the Sermon on the Mount.

Fasting there is assumed

of Jesus' disciples.

He brings about correction.

He tells them not to be like the hypocrites

who practice fasting in this way,

but to rather practice fasting in this way.

It's an assumption that is made.

And I would ask you then,

as a follower of Christ,

do you, have you ever fasted?

It's an assumption that you will,

in fact, fast.

And as we look a little bit more

about what fasting is meant to be,

I think you'll understand

why it should be the case

that we do fast.

Maybe not the way you've seen it done,

but that we ought to be fasting.

It's an assumption that is made

on our part.

We find a multitude of examples

of fasting in the Scripture.

Very little expressed prescription

for how it ought to take place.

But we see it happening

all over the place.

More places than I could possibly

present to you this morning.

We see it in varying amounts.

Fasting always being

the not eating of food.

It's not,

I'm going to avoid chocolate for a week.

Right?

It's the abstinence from food altogether.

No eating of any food

is what fasting is always referred to

in the Scriptures.

We see one day fasts.

We see three day fasts.

We see seven day fasts.

Fourteen day fasts.

We see forty day fasts.

Right?

Note,

here in our chapter,

Jesus has fasted.

Right?

Mark 1, 12 and 13

states that He was

sent out into the wilderness,

driven out into the wilderness

by the Spirit of God,

when He was there for forty days.

And both the Gospel of Matthew

and Luke add that He was fasting.

He was there for a forty day fast.

And it's important, I think,

that we understand here

why it is that He was fasting.

Right?

Why did Jesus go into the wilderness?

And why was it while He was in the wilderness

He was fasting?

Right?

I believe,

and I think that the scriptural evidence

of why fasting took place

derives at this,

and again,

we're going to step into that

in a moment here,

but that He went as a preparation

for the work that He was about to do.

Right?

He had just begun His ministry.

He had just gone down to the Jordan

and was baptized.

Right?

It was continuing this process

of completed perfection.

He was baptized.

He comes up,

and then immediately,

in verse 12,

chapter 1,

it says,

the Spirit immediately drove Him out

into the wilderness.

He went out to be alone with God.

Right?

To set His face before Him

and to prepare for the work

that He was to do.

He knew full well

what He was sent to accomplish.

What would happen to Him

some three years later

on the cross

and the ministry that was to take place

between this time and that.

I believe that's why

He went out there,

taking the example of Elijah

in 1 Kings chapter 19,

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

who fasted for 40 days.

He was actually given

a special meal by the angels.

And He fasts for 40 days

on Mount Horeb

where He gets to preach,

I mean speak,

with God Himself.

So I believe that Jesus goes out

to do this very thing.

I've often heard it proposed

that He did this

so that He was very weak in the flesh,

that it actually exalted

the temptations

that were given to Him,

made it more difficult

for Him to stand up.

It was a way in which

He showed forth His perfection

and that He was very weak

and therefore it was harder

for Him to resist

the temptation

that was given to Him.

But I think that

while He was weak in the flesh,

having fasted properly,

He was strong in spirit.

He was actually more prepared.

He had been close with the Father

and was ready to stand

against the temptation of Satan.

So what does it look like?

When fasting is done rightly,

what should it look like?

And this is brief at best,

but firstly, done rightly,

it is a response to God's providence.

It's a response to God's providence,

not a means of obtaining God's favor.

It's not some sort of equation

that we put into play.

If I want God to speak to me clearly,

I am going to fast.

I am going to stop eating food

because that's what happens

when you stop eating food.

God speaks to you.

It's not an equation in that way.

In fact, it should be a response

to God's providence,

the fact that He is, in fact,

in control.

Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 58.

Isaiah 58 · chapter mention

Let's look at an example

of fasting done improperly

and then God's prescription

for what fasting should look like.

This will just give you some clue

as to what I'm trying to say to you here.

Isaiah chapter 58.

Isaiah 58 · chapter mention

God says to Isaiah,

cry aloud, verse 1,

cry aloud, do not hold back,

lift up your voice like a trumpet,

declare to my people

their transgression,

their sin,

to the house of Jacob,

their sins.

Yet they seek me daily

and delight to know my ways

as if they were a nation

that did righteousness

and did not forsake

the judgment of their God.

They ask of me righteous judgments,

they delight to draw near to God.

Now, those of you who hate sarcasm,

this is sarcasm, right,

in the Scriptures, right?

God's being very sarcastic.

Yet they seek me daily

and delight to know my ways

as if they were a nation

that did righteousness

and did not forsake

the judgment of their God.

Verse 3,

the response of the people.

Why have we fasted

and you see it not?

Why have we humbled ourselves

and you take no knowledge of it?

There's their question.

We've been doing this thing.

We've been carrying out

this equation

that we think

we've done this thing.

We should be receiving God's favor

because of our action.

Last part of verse 3.

He gets at the very heart of the issue.

Without spending all the time

of explaining all these things,

what God is saying is

you're doing something

on the exterior,

but yet in the inside

you are still wicked.

You are evil.

Verse 6,

Is not this the fast that I choose?

To loose the bonds of wickedness?

To undo the straps of the yoke?

To let the oppressed go free

and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread

with the hungry

and bring the homeless poor

into your house

when you see the naked

to cover him

and not to hide yourself

from your own flesh?

Then shall your light

break forth like the dawn

and your healing

shall spring up speedily.

Your righteousness

shall go before you.

The glory of the Lord

shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call

and the Lord will answer.

You shall cry

and He will say,

Here I am.

So it's a response here

of the goodness of God

on their heart.

It's their heart

that matters

in this process.

And so it should be

a response in this way,

not a prescription,

not a means of obtaining

God's favor.

Secondly,

done rightly,

it avoids the praise of men.

Turn to Matthew 6,

which I referenced

just a moment ago.

Again, remembering

that Jesus assumes

that His followers

will in fact fast.

He assumes some other things

as well,

that they'll give to the needy,

that they'll be philanthropic

in that way,

that they will pray.

And He brings some correction here.

We can see in

the final place,

verse 1,

verse 5,

and verse 16.

Beware of practicing

your righteousness

for the people

in order to be seen by them,

for then you will have

no reward from your Father

who is in heaven.

Verse 5,

And when you pray,

you must not be like the hypocrites,

for they love to stand

and pray in the synagogues

and at the street corners,

that they may be seen by others.

Truly I say to you,

they have received

their reward.

Verse 16,

And when you fast,

do not look gloomy

like the hypocrites,

for they disguise their faces

that their fasting

may be seen by others.

In fact,

they put makeup on

to look sadder

than they really were.

Right?

They disguise their faces

that their fasting

may be seen by others.

Truly I say to you,

they have received

their reward.

So done rightly,

it avoids,

it tries to get around

the praise of men.

It's intention is not

to show people

how holy and how pious

and how set aside you are.

Right?

It avoids this very thing.

Right?

That you might have

a reward in heaven.

This is the instruction

given to us

by our Lord

on fasting.

Done rightly,

it avoids the praise

of men.

Thirdly,

done rightly,

it is the sorrowful,

prayerful rejection of food.

It is the sorrowful,

prayerful rejection of food.

It's characterized by

a hunger for God

that drives out

a hunger for food.

A desire to see Him

move and work

both in your life

and in the lives of the people

and in the world.

That it drives out

the desire for food.

I say to you

that this is often

a voluntary

type of fasting.

Not something

that I prescribe to you.

We as a church

are going to go through

a time of fasting.

Right?

But it's something you do

out of a compulsion.

Out of a sorrow

for your sin

and the sins of others.

Out of a desire

to see God

repair such things.

To bring reconciliation

to such situations.

Almost every Sunday

I get up very early

to prepare for Sunday morning.

Sometimes that's because

I'm just really not prepared

for Sunday morning.

I just don't feel like

my notes are together.

They're a scramble.

They're just a big mess.

I've got to get them

in the right order

so I can speak

in some fashion

that you'll be able to follow.

Sometimes I'm entirely prepared.

Sometimes I've got

all my notes ready to go.

I can sleep another

couple of hours.

But I always have this

great desire

to get up

and to start preparing

my own soul

to stand before you

each day.

And I don't do this

as an intentional effort.

I don't wake up

on Sunday mornings

and say,

man, this is a big day.

It's important

what we're going to do today.

I'm going to fast

so that I can call down

the favor of God

on what's going on.

But I feel the weight

of Sunday morning.

And I feel the weight

of preaching

the Word of God.

And I'm so aware

of my frailty

and my incapability

of doing a good job

of it apart from

God working.

And I find that often

I don't eat

on Sunday mornings.

Not as a choice.

I don't go,

I'm not going to eat.

I'm not really that hungry.

I just don't think about it.

I so want to see

God move

and work

on our Sunday mornings

that I just

don't think about it.

It doesn't cross my mind.

I'm not hungry.

It's often right

before the service

that I start to get hungry.

Like right now,

I'm pretty darn hungry

right now.

And totally unintentionally,

I love that we do

the Lord's Supper

every Sunday

because I get a snack

that reminds me

that Christ is my nourishment.

Isn't that good?

That I very often remember

as I get that little bit

that hits your stomach

and you go,

okay,

I can get through to lunch.

Right?

But that Christ Himself

is my sustenance.

So in that way,

I fast just about every week

but not as dogma.

If I were hungry at 9 a.m.,

I would eat something.

I don't think of it

in those terms.

I'm just not hungry.

So some examples

of voluntary fasting

in the Scriptures.

Esser chapter 4.

Proceeding this

in chapter 3,

we have the king of Persia,

Ahasuerus,

has,

we've got Mordecai

not bowing down

or paying homage

to Haman

who's been put in charge

of a region

by the king.

So Haman

receives the king's blessing

to have all the Jews destroyed.

Right?

In order to destroy Mordecai,

he receives the king's blessing

to have all the Jews destroyed.

And then chapter 4,

verse 3,

it says,

And in every province,

wherever the king's commands

and his decree reached,

there was great mourning

among the Jews

with fasting

and weeping

and lamenting

and many of them lay

in sackcloth and ashes.

They had this outward expression

of their mourning

for what was going to happen.

And you know why?

They knew this was

a judgment of God.

They knew it was

because of their sin.

They were in captivity

to begin with.

They knew this was

a judgment of God.

And therefore,

wherever the decree reached,

the decree was not

that they should fast.

The decree was that

they would be destroyed

by Haman.

They fasted.

Joel chapter 1.

Joel 1 · chapter mention

Joel brings a word

from the Lord

calling for a fast

to lament the loss

of grain and wine

at the hands of a plague

of locusts.

Again,

as a judgment from God.

They became aware

in this plague

that they were sinful

and God was bringing

a judgment against them.

And so a fast

is called for.

Daniel 9.

Daniel's outpour

of prayer

for his people.

Again,

they're in captivity.

This outpour of prayer

is done

while fasting.

Right?

He's mourning.

He's sorrowful

for the state

of his nation.

And so he fasts

and prays

the beautiful prayer

of Daniel 9.

I'll encourage you to read

at a later time.

There's only one time

in all of the Old Testament.

Right?

This would have been

what the Jews

would have had

to help them

guide the practice

of their own fasting.

There's only one time

that it's commanded

for them to fast.

There's one time a year

for one day,

the day known as

Yom Kippur,

the Day of Atonement.

One day

of the entire year

that they were commanded

as the nation of Israel

to fast.

That was it.

Leviticus 16,

29-31

is where you can read

about that

if you'd like to.

This fast

was meant to express

their sorrow

for their sins

on the Day of Atonement

when the High Priest

went into the Holy of Holies

and made atonement

for the sins of Israel

for that year.

Right?

It was meant to express

the condition

of their hearts.

A real sorrow.

A real humility.

Right?

Not just some religious

rite and practice.

That's what it was meant for.

So we see it both

being voluntary

and commanded,

but just the same,

it was always meant

to be done

in sorrow

and prayer

and that's why

you reject the food.

You're just not hungry.

You so desire

to see God

move and work.

That is what you hunger for.

That the desires

of your flesh

fade away.

Now the practice

of fasting

in this day

was quite different.

Right?

This fasting

that was being done

by the Pharisees

was quite different.

They in fact

had elevated fasting

to a really high degree.

So much so

that they fasted

twice a week

on Monday

and Thursday.

If you were going

to be part of

the in crowd,

if you were part of

God's crew

in this day,

these Pharisees,

this is the way

in which you fasted.

You didn't eat

sun up to sun down

on Monday

and on Thursday.

You recall

Jesus' parable

of the Pharisee

and the tax collector

found in Luke

Luke 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18.

Beginning of verse 9

we see recorded,

He also told

this parable

to some who trusted

in themselves

that they were righteous.

Hear the wording there.

Who trusted

in themselves

that they were righteous

and treated others

with contempt.

Those who didn't

carry out this

new religious fast.

Verse 10,

Two men went up

to the temple

to pray,

one a Pharisee

and the other

a tax collector.

The Pharisee

standing by himself

prayed thus,

God, I thank you

that I am not

like other men,

extortioners,

unjust,

adulterers,

or even like

this tax collector.

I fast twice a week.

I give tithes

of all that I get.

This is the evidence

of his righteousness

before God.

I fast twice a week.

This man-made law

that had been put in place

which was merely external.

Something they had done

to look more pious

than others.

John MacArthur said

in a sermon

on this text,

Empty ritual

is the enemy

of true godliness.

Empty ritual

is the enemy

of true godliness.

Joel 2,

Joel 2:12

verses 12 and 13

says,

Yet even now,

declares the Lord,

return to me

with all your heart,

with fasting,

with weeping,

and with mourning,

and rend your hearts

and not your garments.

It's an issue

of the heart.

This is the condition

that needs to be fixed.

This is the condition

that the gospel

of Jesus Christ fixes.

It's distinct in that way.

No other religious system

accomplishes this.

If you practice religion

for that reason,

and if you're here

just because you're going

through those motions,

I would encourage you

to stop.

There are better,

more fun things to do.

If your end is destruction

one day,

you better get it in now.

It's a beautiful day.

Go hiking.

It's a waste of your time

to be here.

If your heart's not regenerate,

if you're not coming

and seeking to worship God

in spirit and in truth,

and you're merely going

through the exterior motions,

what a waste

of your time.

I can think of all kinds

of things I could do

with two hours

of my day.

If it's merely exterior.

If I'm trusting in this

to put righteousness

on myself,

even the preaching

of the Word.

If I say,

I'm glad I'm not like

other men.

I preach the Word of God

on Sunday mornings.

That is not my righteousness.

Christ is my righteousness.

The Gospel is distinct

in this way.

This is what the religions

of the world need to hear.

This is how Christianity,

a devotion to our Lord,

is different than all of them.

And he gives us two

little examples.

These are really kind of

the first parables

that we see recorded in Mark.

Little examples that are

really fairly simple

to make the point.

Would have been very

familiar to them

in their cultural context.

He says to them,

can the wedding guests

fast while the bridegroom

is with them?

As long as they have

the bridegroom with them,

they cannot fast.

The days will come

when the bridegroom

is taken away from them,

and they will fast

in that day.

Weddings,

we get this,

weddings are a time

for joy.

We come together

to celebrate.

It was more so

in this day.

Some wedding festivities

went on for a week.

Much joy was taking place.

Big parties were going on.

You remember what Jesus did

in one of His early miracles?

He turned water into wine.

Jesus was into big parties

and celebrating at weddings.

That's what it was for.

There's actually an old

rabbinic document

called the Megalot Ta'anit.

You don't have to remember that.

I just wanted to say it out loud.

In English,

the scroll of fasting

gave rules

to the way in which

this should take place.

And it forbid fasting

at a wedding.

You know why?

Because no one wanted

these bummers to show up.

Right?

To come in

all self-righteous

and pious

with their makeup

on their face

looking sad

and ruining the buzz

of a wedding.

It was meant

for celebration.

And that's the point

that Jesus is making here now.

He predicts His death.

There's going to come a day

when the bridegroom

is going to be removed from them.

And in that day,

they will fast.

They will.

It's going to happen

that they'll fast

in those days.

But now,

I am with them.

And they have reason

for much joy.

This is why

my disciples don't fast.

Right?

And I love that Jesus

is telling you

why, in fact,

His disciples aren't fasting.

I wonder if that's really

even the case

for them personally.

Counted amongst that number,

I'd go,

that's a great reason, Jesus.

That is why

I'm eating

and enjoying this food.

Right?

But this is what He tells us.

This is why they're fasting

because they're experiencing

the joy

of the bridegroom,

the one

Jesus Christ.

Two more examples here.

No one sews a piece

of unshrunk cloth

on an old garment.

If he does,

the patch tears away from it.

The new from the old.

And a worse tear is made.

This is probably

a little bit removed

from a lot of your thinking

because most of you

probably don't patch

your own clothing.

Most cloth we buy

is probably in some way

fabricated

so that it's pre-shrunk

or something like that.

But,

any of you ever had a horrible,

I've got some clothes

that have just been

shrunk horribly on me.

And it happens still

these days

that you put something

in the dryer

in the wrong way

and it ends up

a whole lot smaller

than it was intended to be.

And you have to get rid of it

because you can't wear it

any longer

because it would be

obnoxious.

What's going on here

is when they patched clothing

they had to pre-shrink

the patches

before they put it on

to the clothing.

So that when

that patch shrunk

in the wash

from the fabric

that had already been shrunk

it didn't cause

a greater problem.

You don't do this.

This was a very simple

analogy for them.

They'd all go,

of course not.

No, you wouldn't do that.

Of course you've got to

shrink the patch

before you sew

the patch on.

It says that no one

puts new wine

into old wineskins.

If he does,

the wine will burst

the skins

and the wine

is destroyed

and so are the skins.

But new wine

is for fresh wineskins.

He didn't come

with a message

to patch the old system.

He didn't come

to bring in

a little fix

to this form

of Judaism.

And remember,

this is the apostate Judaism.

They weren't practicing it

the way it had been

prescribed to them

in the Old Testament,

which was still

a message of faith.

So this is not

Jesus coming

and replacing

the Old Testament.

The Old Testament

is still gospel saturated.

But this is the

apostate form of Judaism

that was being practiced today.

It's the modern form

of Judaism.

It's apostate

in all manner.

He didn't come

just to fix that.

He came to

replace

that.

He gave us

another parable,

Matthew 13,

Matthew 13:44–46

verses 44-46.

He said,

The kingdom of heaven

is like treasure

hidden in a field,

which a man found

and covered up.

Then in his joy

he goes and sells

all that he has

and buys that field.

Again,

the kingdom of heaven

is like a merchant

in search of fine pearls,

who on finding

one pearl of great value

went and sold

all that he had

and bought it.

Put away

everything else

for the value

of this treasure.

Jesus came to

replace

not to patch.

Now in this day,

if you don't understand,

I'm going to teach you today

everything I know

about wine,

which is going to take

just a few moments.

But in this day,

they used goat skins

to store wine in

in the process

of it fermenting

and they simply,

when they skinned the goats,

they stitched them back up.

They stitched the leg holes

and the neck hole shut

and that's how they

stored wine.

And the process

of wine fermenting,

it expands.

It produces carbon dioxide

and it expands

and new goat skin

does the same.

It also can stretch

because it's still

pliable.

Old boots,

you've got to

condition the leather

to keep it soft

so it doesn't get all

dry and brittle.

So they would do this

and as the wine

fermented,

as it was forming,

it would separate.

There'd be less

beneficial parts of it,

often called dregs.

I don't know why.

I didn't take the time

to figure it out.

But that would settle

to the bottom

and they would pour off

the better portion

of the wine

into another new goat skin

and they would continue

that process

until the wine was

where they wanted it to be

and then it would be consumed.

So these sediments

would settle

and they would do this.

Once that portion

was poured out,

if the wine skin

was just thrown

to the side,

it would get dry,

it would get brittle,

it would crack.

What he's saying is

you can't pour the gospel

into old,

dry,

cracked wineskins

of religion.

That's not where it belongs.

It'll burst out of it.

That's the point

that he's trying to make here.

That you need new,

a new thing.

Throw away the old.

This apostate Judaism.

You need the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

You cannot place

the gospel of grace

into any system of law.

That is not the gospel

that we celebrate.

Now to be clear,

a response

to the gospel of grace,

the changing of our hearts,

definitely yields fruit.

It has to

to be genuine faith.

We will live

a certain way

in light of the truth.

But we don't earn

our salvation

because of the work.

We get it

caught before the horse

all of the time

this happens.

The rest of the world's religions

seek to find

grace with God

because

of their action

and not the other way around.

He gives us grace

and therefore

we act.

I love the story

of John Bunyan,

the man who wrote

Pilgrim's Progress

when he

was thrown into prison

because he was

preaching the gospel

without a license

from the state.

He was in prison.

He would actually preach

in the courtyard

and people would gather

around the prison

in the thousands

so they threw him

into a dark dungeon.

That's where he wrote

Pilgrim's Progress.

So if you read that book,

if you haven't read it,

you should read that book.

That's where he was at.

He had a copy

of his scriptures.

He had a copy

of Fox's Book of Martyrs

and he wrote

Pilgrim's Progress

there in this

dark, dark dungeon.

There were another group

of men who were also

thrown into the darker

part of the dungeon

to their commendation.

They were also

preaching the gospel

without a license.

Good job, men.

Right?

Also,

evangelical believers.

But they were

very concerned

with his message

and they said,

you must stop

teaching people

how much God

loves them

by grace

in Christ.

If you keep doing that,

they're going to do

whatever they want to.

Right?

They saw he was

giving a license to them.

God loves you immensely

and that will never change

and he pours out grace

on you in Christ.

This was his message.

And they said,

stop.

They're going to live

however they want to.

They're going to take

that grace

for advantage.

They're just going to live

in whatever way they want to.

And he said,

no,

if I teach God's people

about God's love for them,

they'll do whatever

he wants.

Right?

So it's a natural response

to the gospel of grace

that we live rightly,

but we don't live rightly

that we might receive grace.

Now, interestingly,

to drive this home,

turn to Luke chapter 5.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

Luke adds a little bit

to the story here

under the inspiration

of the Spirit.

He records after the same phrase

we see here in Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

It says,

and then Jesus went on to say,

so it says,

and no one after drinking

old wine

desires new,

for he says,

the old is good.

And no one after drinking

old wine

desires new,

for he says,

the old is good.

Does that get your wheels turning?

I hope so.

I hope on Sunday mornings

you don't just go,

explain please,

but you actually start thinking.

Get your mind engaged

in this process

this morning.

It's an interesting way

to end his little parable,

this little journey

that he's been on,

because when you're

looking through it,

you think,

well, wait,

isn't the new wine

the thing that we've just

understood to be the gospel?

Isn't that what we've understood?

And yes, it is.

When he's talking about

new wine,

old wineskins,

the new wine,

he's referring to the gospel.

I just drove that point

for a little bit.

So then it seems to say

that old wine

is preferable to new wine.

What is he talking about?

So it's been suggested

by some scholars

that this phrase,

the old is good,

is people who are content.

They like the old

apostate Judaism.

Right?

And so therefore,

it's just the reality,

the truth of things

that Jesus is saying to them.

And those of you

who think you have

old wine,

who have drunk

of the old wine,

you're just content

and satisfied with that.

You don't want new wine.

But that's troubling

because new wine

was not as good

as old wine.

That's true today.

Now that's all the information

I have.

I don't know anything else

about wine.

Old wine was less tannic,

was less severe

in its flavor,

more mellow.

It was more nourishing

than new wine.

It was the much preferred,

much preferred wine

over new wine.

So, I think that

what Jesus is saying here

is that these people

who say the old is good

are people who have drank

of the old wine

of the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

I think what he's doing

is he's flipping his analogy

back on them

as they are coming

thinking that they have

the old religion.

Right?

This apostate Judaism.

They're coming and saying,

whoa, whoa,

what is this new teaching?

Right?

Jesus expresses it

as a new thing

and then he flips it around

to say,

actually,

it's an ancient thing.

Right?

That began before

the foundation of the world.

The gospel of Jesus Christ

is old wine.

And those who have tasted of it

never drink new wine.

Never care for this

apostate version of Judaism

or any other world religion

or ours for that matter.

The trappings that we tend

to stack on our faith as well.

It's the old wine.

Those who've been saved

by faith through grace

Noah,

Abraham,

Moses,

Isaiah,

to name a few.

These were drinkers

of the old wine.

The wine that the apostles

drank of.

These that were now

not fasting

because they understood

the gospel of grace.

But they were rather rejoicing

while the bridegroom

was with them.

I believe that's what

he's saying to these.

That have created

a religious system

and have replaced

the old good message

of the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

We see the first proclamation

of it in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

I hope and pray

that Adam drank deeply

of that.

One day we might rejoice

in heaven with him.

And so today,

you have to ask yourself

the question,

if you're here,

are you here

because you have

genuine saving faith

in Christ?

Is it because you believed

the gospel of grace?

Are you here

because you merely

find this an external thing

in the hopes

that you might

earn favor?

If you have fasted

or are considering fasting,

is that why

you would do that?

Because you think

in some way

you can work your way

to God.

You can't.

Our righteousness

is found in Christ.

Christ.

That is where it's from.

When God sees us,

He sees Christ

because of what Christ

has accomplished

on our behalf.

And if you haven't,

I pray this morning

that you will drink

of the old wine

of the gospel of grace.

That you will repent

and believe,

which is the call

that Jesus has given to us

in chapter 1,

verse 15.

And those of you

who have drank

of the old wine,

why do we trade

what is good

for what is of lesser value?

We do this so often.

Right?

Having begun

by the Spirit,

Paul says in Galatians,

are we now being

perfected by our flesh?

In this rhetorical,

again,

sarcasm.

No,

of course we're not.

We've begun

by the Spirit

and we're being

perfected

by the Spirit.

Why do we

so often

march off

on our own

thinking that

in some way

we can get it right?

We can't.

In our flesh,

we get it wrong

every time

without a doubt.

This whole analogy

ought to draw us

into desperation

for God to continue

to move

and to work

in our living.

I want to exalt Christ

with all of my life.

I want to lift Him up.

This life is so fleeting

and this is the highest aim

of any man's life.

This is what I want to do.

And I know,

at least here,

day by day,

that I cannot accomplish that

apart from His work in me.

Why do I so often

try to do it on my own?

And every time

I fail,

those of us

who have drunk

of the old wine

need to continue

to do that

and to live

by the grace

that's been given us.

And the Lord's Supper,

again,

is this display.

It's old wine.

It's actually grape juice,

but it represents that,

doesn't it?

The symbols

of the Gospel of Christ.

His body broken

and His blood spilt

on our behalf.

And so as I'm praying,

men who have volunteered

this morning

to hold those elements,

I'll ask you to go ahead

and make your way back there.

Reflect upon this.

Have you drunk

of the old wine

of the Gospel of Christ?

Let's pray.

Amen.