Luke 5:36-39; The Old and the New

Luke Chapter five today the Old and the New. So

we're still at Levi's house, and we're going to begin

today in verse thirty six, So this is our third

time here.

We're still there.

Levi's feast is still going on, and the Pharisees are there.

The Disciples of John the Baptist are somewhere outside there

inside with Jesus's Levi, the Publicans, and the others. As

Luke puts at the others, the other gospelers tell us

that these are sinners. Who knows what kind of sinners

they are, but they're there. Apparently everybody knows that they're sinners,

maybe even I'm sure they do too. But they're there,

and they're having a feast, and Jesus has gone from

answering them their questions, you know, they ask him two questions.

The first one was, you know, why do you eat

with republican and sinners? And of course the Pharisees are

too ashamed to ask Jesus, so they spoke to the

disciples and Jesus answers, and then they say, why are

you eating? So he can't win? Why are you even eating?

How come you're not fasting? You know?

Okay, So now Jesus goes from answering these questions to

teaching them by way of parable, beginning in thirty six,

and thirty six contains this parable. Jesus told them that

the physician was come to call sinners to repentance, and

that the children of the bridal chamber could not fast

while the bridegroom was with them.

Then he gives them two more.

Parables to illustrate the weakness of their position. And it

says there at the beginning in verse thirty six that

He's spake also a parable unto them. So now we're

going to launch into this parable, this parabolic statement that

Jesus makes about the old.

And the new.

So while don't we read our passage thirty six through

thirty nine, and then will have word of prayer. And

He's spake also a parable under them. No man putteth

the piece of a new garment upon an old. If otherwise,

then both the new maketh a rent, and the peace

that was taken out of the new agreeth not with

the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles,

else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled,

and the bottles shall perish, but new wine must be

put into new bottles, and both are preserved. No man,

having drunk old wine straightway, desireth new, for he saith

the old is better.

Father.

We thank you for all the better things in this life.

We ask you, Lord, to help us to embrace the

better things. And Lord, not the better things of legalism,

but the better things of grace.

We thank you that.

All the promises that we've heard today from your word,

and we thank you for the benefits that you load

us with. Load us today, Lord, with benefit from this passage,

that you might speak to us, you might shine light

upon us. May your face shine upon us today, Your countenance,

we asked that you would speak to every heart, speak

through me today for our praying Jesus' name. Amen, he

spake a parable unto them. No man putteth a piece

of new garment upon an old. Okay, let's first of all,

we need to define old and new.

What's old?

Well, two garments are mentioned here, so let's just start

with the old garment. The old garment. The Pharisees had

been expressing their desire for conformity to tradition. Don't eat

with sinners, Republicans don't enter the home of a stranger.

That's never said, but I'm sure it's implied in their minds.

It was a.

Tradition of the elders not entering the home of a sinner,

and of course fasting.

Fasting is better than eating and drinking.

These were traditions handed down from generation to generation and

had created fences around the law, which is what they wanted,

But it also had created a system of legalism that

made this list of actions mandated not by law but

by rabbinic tradition. So somewhere at the core of all

of this stuff that they did there was the Law

of Moses, but all of the things that they had

built up around it so that they wouldn't break the

Law of Moses had become tradition, and then from tradition

it had become law in a sense. You weren't allowed

to do some things. If you were going to be

a good jew, you had to behave in a certain way,

dress in a certain way, eat in a certain way,

fast in a certain way.

And all of.

Those things had built up and built up, like you know,

barnacles on the bottom of a ship, until you couldn't

see the bottom of.

The ship anymore, and so that's what's old here.

These legalistic behaviors created a sense of righteousness in those

who practiced them, which legalistic behavior always do.

And Jesus even said they're.

In that very first piece when he's answering about the

publicans and sinners, he said, he said that the they

that are whole need not a physician. They that are

hold need not a physician. So the Pharisees thought that

they were Oki doki, They're fine, not a problem. Yet

the old is frail and weak and apparently has holes

that need to be patched. However, you cannot fill holes

in a legalistic system with anything other than more legalism.

If you put grace in there, it just will not agree.

You'll notice.

He goes on and says, no man putteth a piece

of a new garment upon an old if otherwise than

both the new maketh a rent. So if you try

to fill the whole with something different, you end up

with a tear, because they are incompatible. In this illustration

of the old garment and the new patch, the old

garment is frail, it's friable, and the old cloth of

legalism will be torn by the new and the new

will be ruined by the old.

You notice that Jesus says both there.

If otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, So

both the old garment is torn and the new patch

is torn, that they cannot exist together. The Greek word

here for rent is skizi, from which we get our

word schism. It's a very descriptive word, suggesting the horror

of a tear which cannot be mended. Sometimes we use

it when we talk about organizations splitting. We'll say that

there was a schism within the organization, and when we

use that word, that means it's deep and it is unrepairable.

There was a schism in that church they split, And

so when we say that, we know this is bad

because if there was a schism there, then.

It's not going to be mended.

So Jesus says that both the new maketh a rent,

So the old and the new both are torn. And

then we have the disagreement of the cloth. Notice what

he says there, and the peace that was taken out

on the new. Agree if not with the old, well,

of course not legalism and grace. Never agree, never agree.

If I have to do something for salvation. Then that

is complete contrary to God does all things for my salvation,

completely contrary to it. So legalism and grace never agree.

You cannot put the new into the old and expect

a peaceful outcome or conformity.

This is not gonna happen. There is no.

Syncretization of the old and the new. They do, they

are not compatible the traditions of men. Their conformity to

sin into the license of fleshly desire demands allegiance. They

will demand that Grace do it just like they say it.

Should be done.

And of course God's not going to be a part

of that. Remember what happened to the early Church is

this is all recorded there in Acts chapter fifteen.

Chapter before that. Also the.

Judaizers, although they're not called that in Acts fourteen, the

Pharisees they come down and they begin teaching the disciples

that Paul and Barnabas had preached to that they needed

to keep the law. As a matter of fact, it

says they're in Acts fifteen to one. Certain men came

down from Judea taught the brethren and said, except you

be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved.

Okay.

So here's an example of the Old and the New disagreeing. Okay,

And Paul and Barnabas they stood up to that and

they said, no, you're wrong. This is not the way

it should be. So then they go to the apostles.

They stand before the apostles, and this is the first

church council. They're in Acts chapter fifteen. And then again

we have the certain of the sect of the Pharisees,

which believed. Now these are believers, but they hadn't believed

right because they said that it was needful to circumcise them,

that is, the Disciples, the Greek Disciples, and to command

them to keep the law of Moses. Okay, so they're

sticking with it. So not only circumcision, but keeping the

law of Moses. They're in eleven and twelve of that

fifteenth chapter. Peter pointed out the incompatibility of these two

things because he says this, you know, this is fifteen

Acts fifteen, eleven and twelve. He says, now, therefore, why

tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck

of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were

able to bear? And that's the old But we believe

that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we

shall be saved, even.

As they that's the new.

So the old is a yoke that Peter says we

couldn't and our fathers couldn't keep. The new is the

grace of God in Christ Jesus, that God has given

for all men to be saved. Can those two things agree?

So you could never come close to breaking the law.

That was the thing about the tradition. They wanted to

make sure you didn't break the law. But you have

to remember that Jesus kept the law perfectly. But these

same men were mad at him because they didn't keep

their traditions according to their specifications. See Okay, so that's

the old.

What's the new? I've already alluded to it.

Now there are two bottles mentioned here in this next piece.

In verse thirty seven, he.

Says, no man putteth new wine into old bottles, So

like the new patch from a new garment. So here

we have new wine. Jesus has already illustrated the new.

Wine for us.

He's talked about those who are sick. Those are the

ones who need a physician. The sinners that he's come

to call to repentance.

This is new.

The children of the bridal chamber who celebrate the presence

of the bridegroom. This is new, the new patch that

disagrees with the old garment. The old wine skin is

legalistic dependence on works to gain the favor of God,

while the new wine is the grace of God, calling

sinners to repentance who do nothing more or less than

believe on the one who called them, the Lord Jesus Christ,

the bridegroom from just last week. No man putteth new

wine into old bottles, else the new wine will burst

the bottles. Here's the same result. Remember with the patch

and the old garment, there was a schism. It tore unrepairable.

Both the old garment and the patch are ruined. Here

notice the language new wine will burst. Does that give

you a word picture. It's not just that it gets

a little leak.

We've had so much rain.

I have a pot on my back porch, but it

doesn't have a drain hole in it. It's just a

little bitty thin plastic thing and it's full of water.

And I had plants floating, plants floating.

In my pot.

This is still soil in there, but the plants are

floating around. And so I took my pocket knife yesterday

and I drilled a little hole in the bottom because

I figured we're gonna get rain again today, which we are.

Drill a little hole in the bottom, and it though

all the water drained out. Now my plant's not gonna

drown because it's full of water. It'll drain.

That's not this.

That's not a little pinhole in the bottom, so the

pot can drain. This is an explosion. It just goes everywhere.

And if the wine, if the new wine explodes the

old bottle and the new wine goes everywhere. What happens

to the new wine?

It's ruined.

How are you gonna gather it up off the ground.

It's gonna soak in and be gone. You just have

a stain lift, that's all. And the old bottles, what's

gonna happen to them? Are you gonna use them again? All?

They go right in the garbage can. I can't use

it again. There's no repairing that old wine skin. You

cannot put Christianity into man made legalism. Legalism is stiff

and inflexible. It's fragile because most of the time rests

on the dictates of human reason rather than on the

word of God.

Let me tell you a story. The story is.

About a lady named Harriet. Harriet was tired of biblically

centered gospel worship at her church. She wanted something more

exciting that would attract a bigger crowd. She secluded herself

on her parents' farm, living in the barn loft for

several weeks. While she was there, she wrote praise music

based on the teachings of her favorite prosperity gospel prophets,

self help gurus, and Catholic mystics. She claimed to be

in contact with the angelic world while locked away in

the barn. After her retreat, she found a group of

musicians who agreed to play her music and help her

start a new church. Air quotes, she called it a

church for people who don't like church, a retreat for

those who are tired of the strictures of Bible doctrine,

and a place where all lifestyles could be equally celebrated.

A location was soon provided by a wealthy donor and

a temple constructed. The doors opened to huge crowds who

came to hear the professionally produced music listened to the

unique teachings of Harriet, who now called herself an apostle,

and to see the Grand Temple. Actually, they gave tours

of the Grand Temple. So much money had gone into it.

Harriet soon published a book containing all the visions and

teachings that she received.

In the barn.

Everyone who applied for membership at the Grand Temple was

required to read and memorize the vision and the teachings.

Harriet soon established a board of lesser Apostles, whose responsibilities

it was to interpret the visions and expand the teachings

of the Apostle. Harriet Address code was soon established, a

diet giving rules, a special day for worship, mandatory fasting,

and strictures on relationships with non Tempolites. All these good deeds,

as they were called, were ordained by the lesser Apostles

and were implemented by teaching elders to draw the Tempolites

closer to the angelic world.

Does any of this sound familiar?

In the course of time, one of the lesser apostles

heard a gospel sermon, repented of his sin and turned

to Christ. He began asking questions which were not allowed.

Some of the Tempolites began leaving the strictures of the

Grand Temple, embracing the preaching of the c and the

teachings of the Bible. Soon the Grand Temple was empty,

the musicians fled for greener pastures, and Harriet penniless was

living on her parents farm. Why because the legalism of

man made religion never satisfies the true need of men.

The legalism of man made religion never satisfies the true

need of men. Only the grace of God can make

us new. There's a hole, it needs to be patched.

But ladies and gentlemen, the hole's not the problem. The

problem is.

The old garment.

We are dead in trespasses and sins. We are lost

and alone in this world without Christ and without God.

You read the book of Isaiah. Isaiah says it once

twice three times, there is no peace to the wicked

saith my God. And people go on and on about

their life, trying to live with a legalistic mindset that

they could just do some things and will be okay,

and maybe a little Jesus ever down.

It doesn't work. It will be spilled.

As he says, here the wine bottles burst and they

are spilled, and if wine is spilled, it's ruined and unrecoverable.

Harriet's scheme failed because it was incompatible with the message

of grace, and it was it was weak in its

effort to help lost men. The only person that really

helped was Harriet, who became very wealthy because of it.

The bottles perish, So you notice, do you notice the

the verbs here burst, spilled and perish. This is the result.

This is the result when you try to marry gospel

message with legalism, both are destroyed. This deeply, I think

the word parish really deeply illustrates the problem of Christianity

placed in non Christian, frail, strict, human oriented systems. And

then the parable is rescued here because as all these

verbs here at the end bursts, spilled, parish kind of

leave us wanting. But then't notice what Jesus says at.

The very end.

But new wine must be put into new bottles, and

both are preserved. The scriptures are clear as to what

this looks like. Let me just read you a few passages,

some selected portions today Tewo Corinthians, chapter five, verse seventeen.

You probably thought of this one already. Therefore, if any man.

Be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things

are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. You

don't need an old garment, you need a new garment.

Ephesians chapter four, verses twenty two through twenty four. That

you put off concerning the former conversation the old man,

which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be

renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that you

put on the new man, which after God is created

in righteousness and true holiness. Old man, new man, Colossians

chapter three, verses eight through ten.

But now you also put off.

All these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of

your mouth. Lie not to one another, seeing that you

have put off the old man with his deeds, and

have put on the new man, which is renewed in

knowledge after the image of Him that created him. So

the old, according to Paul in Sewod Corinthians five. In

Ephesians four and clautions three, the old man or the old,

looks like this, dead, corrupt, filled with deceitful lusts, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,

filthy speech, and lying. The old looks like this, according

to Paul in these same passages, the new looks like this.

It's living righteous, true holiness, having the knowledge of Christ

and his image.

This is the new.

That's why these do not go together. So what's the problem.

The problem is corrupt desire. No man having drunk old

wine straight desire at the new.

Now, this is unique.

If you look at the parallel passages in Matthew and

in Mark Mark chapter two, Matthew chapter nine. I think

if you look at those parallel passages, this does not

accompany the previous parable of the old garment new garment,

or old garment old wine bottles.

This is unique. This verse is unique in Luke.

No man having drunk old wine straightway desire at the new. See,

the problem is a corrupt desire. Our nature gets in

the way of receiving.

The new wine.

We like having our own way, we say with the

Heartlea of Proverbs. Stolen waters are sweet and bread eating

in secret is pleasant. We're used to the old way.

We like the corrupt desires. It feeds our flesh and

makes us feel good. Why is it the churches like

Harriet's are full of people because they get what they want.

They're told what they want it tickles them, It makes

them feel good. And when we're all about feel good

ladies and gentlemen, we won't see about gospel. Witness. No man,

having drunk the old wine straightway, desireth to new, for

he saith the old is better. The problem is not

a choice over the new or the old.

The choice has already been made.

We always will choose for ourself the old way, the

old garment, even with its holes, the old wineskins that

have a few drops of old wine in them. It

just tastes better to us. We've made this choice because

our souls are dead, lifeless and corrupt. And what do

we need. We need a physician. We need a physician

that will call sinners to repentance. That's what we need.

We don't need good deeds. We don't need to wear

the certain clothes and the funny hats and the colored

shoes and to do all the things that religion tells

us to do. We need Jesus, that's what we need.

We need the old garment to be made new. We

need the old wine skins to be made new. That's

what we need. Because He wants to put the new

on us. But the first thing that has to happen.

There has to be a change, and that comes about

when Jesus calls us to himself. The only thing here's

my application today. The only thing that will resolve the

problem of corrupt desires is the great physician calling sinners

to repentance. The great physician now is near the sympathizing Jesus.

He speaks the drooping heart to cheer, Oh hear the

voice of Jesus. Must we go on in churches today

acting like our good deeds have any effect on the

grace of God?

How long?

How long before we abandon all of that and realize

that the only thing that we bring to salvation is

our sin and corruption. That's it, That's all we add

to it. He does all the rest, He's done all

the rest, and he's calling men and women, boys and

girls to himself right today. He speaks the drooping heart

to cheer, Oh hear the voice of Jesus. If you're

trusting in anything other than the mercy of God, in

Christ Jesus, than your in jeopardy, perishing, bursting, spilling is

on the menu. Feasting on stolen waters and secret bread,

and yeah, and secret bread leads to nothing good As

a matter of fact, if you go back to Proverbs nine,

where the harlot speaks, Solomon writes at the end of

that he says, but he knoweth not that the dead

are there, and that her guests are in the depths

of hell. The old is better, the stolen water, the

secret bread. We think it tastes fine and wonderful, but

the dead are there, the guests are in the depths

of hell. Father, thank you for giving us this parable bar, Savior,

and we ask that you would help us to apply it.

May there be many today who come to know Jesus,

who trade in the old for the new, and we

just thank you for that. We asked that you'd speak

to hearts today, for we pray in Jesus' name, Amen,