The Gospel of Luke "The New is Better" 03/05/2023

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Our Father, for your word, we thank you, our God, that it reveals Jesus Christ to us so wonderfully and clearly.

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We pray, our God, that you would help us to grow in our understanding of you and your ways. We pray that you would open this word to us, our

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God, as we consider it, as we consider our Lord Jesus. Bless us, we pray.

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Bind the devil, our God, that he would not hinder our understanding or deceive us in any way.

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Help us to see Christ and all his glory in these words. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

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Now, today we're dealing with a passage that addresses fasting along with our

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Lord's words regarding putting new wine in new wineskins.

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The subject of fasting and our Lord's words regarding wine in wineskins both speak to the difference between Judaism and the kingdom.

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The message that Jesus was bringing to the people, how incompatible they were with one another, and how the old order of Judaism was being replaced by the new order with the onset of the promised kingdom of God.

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Now, the passage that we wanna give attention to is Luke 5, 33 through 39, and of course, if you're looking at your notes,

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I set all three passages of the Synoptic Gospels in three columns side by side so you can see the differences of details and emphases that the

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Holy Spirit moved these three writers to record for us. We will just read

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Luke's account, of course, Luke 5, 33 and following. Then they said to him, to Jesus, why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers?

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And likewise, those of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink. And he said to them, can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

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But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days.

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And then he spoke a parable to them. No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one.

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Otherwise, the new makes a tear. And also, the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.

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And no one puts new wine into old wine skins or else the new wine will burst the wine skins and be spilled, but the wine skins will be ruined.

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But new wine must be put into new wine skins and both are preserved. And no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new for he says the old is better.

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Let's consider these details, the differences really between the gospel accounts. There really are a few.

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This episode, like others we have considered, is recorded in the other synoptic gospels.

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Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And so we can see them side by side. And by comparing them, we can see what kind of details distinguish them from one another and how the

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Holy Spirit was conveying a message, a distinct message through each one of them.

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What are the distinctions between these three accounts? Well, first, notice who it is that posed the initial question to Jesus.

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Matthew tells us it was the disciples of John, that is John the Baptist, who queried

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Jesus. Mark records simply that they, the pronoun they, that is some people who came to Jesus to ask the question, why do we and the

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Pharisees fast but your disciples do not fast? Luke identifies the questioners by the pronoun they.

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And the context of Luke suggests that they were the Pharisees and their scribes.

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The Pharisees and scribes were the antecedent of the pronoun they. And so it would seem where Luke portrays the occasion of Jesus answering his critics at a charge leveled against him,

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Matthew and Mark show Jesus answering what appears to be a sincere and honest question of John the

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Baptist's disciples as to why the practice of Jesus' disciples differed from that of John's disciples and the

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Pharisees. Different emphasis, more of an idea of conflict in Luke's gospel.

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And so conflict between Jesus and his opposers is more evident in Luke's account than the others.

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And then secondly, all three gospels record the initial response of Jesus. He said, can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?

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But Mark also includes our Lord's statement, as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

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Mark's account really adds no additional information, although it adds those words that Jesus spoke on that occasion.

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And then third, Luke alone has the concluding statement of our Lord respecting the established religious order.

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This again contributes to the idea of conflict in Luke's gospel. No one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says the old is better.

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And the ESV has the word good instead of the word better in the New King James Version.

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And so there are differences between the gospel accounts, subtle differences, but they're significant also.

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The idea of conflict that Jesus is having with the religious establishment seems to be pronounced.

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Well, let's consider the teaching of Luke's account. First, we read of the distinctiveness of Jesus's ministry in Luke 5 .33.

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Then they said to him, why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers and likewise those of the

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Pharisees, but yours eat and drink? Again, Luke used the pronoun they as the ones who had posed this question to Jesus and within the larger context of Luke's account, the antecedent of they would be the

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Pharisees and their scribes. The Pharisees and their scribes recognize that the practice of Jesus's disciples was significantly distinct from their own practice and that of the disciples of John the

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Baptist. While Jesus and his disciples were feasting with tax collectors and sinners, we just considered that episode recently, the

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Pharisees and the disciples of John were practicing fasting, the very opposite behavior of feasting.

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While Jesus and his disciples were feasting, that is celebrating, the disciples of John and the Pharisees were fasting, that is mourning.

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Our Lord responded to them by stating that it would have been totally inappropriate for his disciples to fast while he was present with them.

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Fasting was commonly practiced by people in great distress or mourning. What our

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Lord was implying was that the happenings that were characteristic of his ministry were a cause of celebration and his disciples demonstrated that.

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Observance of religious fasting was common in that day and yet it should be recognized that the

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Mosaic law did not prescribe and require a great deal of fasting by the people of God. In fact, there's only one occasion in the year when the

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Jewish people were required to fast and this was on the Day of Atonement.

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Fasting was not commanded for other times of the year, other occasions.

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Nevertheless, as the history of the nation of Israel unfolded through Old Testament times, fasting became an increasingly common practice.

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In addition to the Jewish nation fasting on the Day of Atonement, the people fasted four days every year in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem that occurred at the hands of Babylon in 586

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BC. And we know from the gospel accounts that the Pharisees fasted twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays as they prayed for their nation.

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I didn't put it in our notes but I read that in the second century, Christians began to fast twice a week also but rather than on Mondays and Thursdays like the

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Pharisees, Tuesdays and Fridays to distinguish them apparently from the

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Jewish Pharisees and their followers. The disciples of John the

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Baptist fasted as well. Fasting was an emblem of either solid memory over something in the past like the destruction of Jerusalem or a solemn mourning over present conditions and longing for deliverance in the time of blessing.

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Fasting was accompanied with prayer all the time. Fasting was practiced commonly by the

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Jews then and fasting should probably be more common among the people of God today. The common practice of fasting by pious

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Jews was an addition to the instruction of scripture. Again, scripture just commanded fast on the day of atonement and therefore invalid is something to be required or even expected of others but this was the nature of the

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Judaism of the day. Why do the Pharisees fast? Disciples of John the

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Baptist fast but your disciples don't. Over the course of time, the

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Jews religion had developed into a system of religious practices that was incompatible with the arrival of the kingdom of God.

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They should have been feasting too with the arrival of Jesus the Messiah, the onset of the kingdom of God.

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As one once wrote rightly, the main lesson conveyed is that the new order of things which

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Jesus by his coming has ushered in, bringing healing to the sick, liberation to the demon possessed, freedom from care for the care ridden, cleansing of lepers, food to the hungry, restoration of the handicap and above all salvation to those lost in sin does not fit into the old mold of man ordained fasting.

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It was incongruent. The ministry of the

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Lord Jesus and the onset of the kingdom of God that he brought were in fundamental conflict with the existing order and the practice of Judaism.

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And so our Lord's response was essentially now's not the time for fasting but rather for feasting.

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His ministry was a cause for great joy and festivity. People were being reclaimed, being delivered from sin and from Satan.

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How could anyone be mourning or fasting in the presence of the blessing of God that they were witnessing?

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And our Lord gave an illustration of the bridegroom. Very common image of scripture.

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He gave the illustration of the occasion of a festive wedding. Verses 34 and 35. And he said to them, can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

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But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days.

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To what is he referring? Well, Jesus himself was rejoicing in what was occurring through his ministry as a bridegroom rejoices at his wedding.

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He essentially reasoned, can you expect his disciples as friends of a bridegroom to fast and be in mourning on such a joyous occasion as this?

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But then our Lord went on to say, but the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days.

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Now, when Jesus described himself as a bridegroom among his friends or attendants, he was making a reference to a well -known biblical image.

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The Old Testament, the love that Jehovah has for his people, Israel, is likened to the love of a bridegroom for his bride or of a husband to his wife.

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We see this in passages everywhere in which God spoke of his love for his people, but also on occasion when he was pronouncing judgment upon them, he also expressed his love toward his people as a bridegroom toward his bride or husband toward his wife.

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Isaiah 54, one, for your maker is your husband. The Lord of hosts is his name.

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The Holy One of Israel is your redeemer. The God of the whole earth is called. And then

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Isaiah 62, five records, for as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you.

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And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. Speaks of a loving, intimate relationship.

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In Jeremiah 31, 31, in the promise of the new covenant, behold, the days are coming, declares the

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Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, the house of Judah. And of course, that's what he did.

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Then the night that the Lord's supper was instituted, he brought the new covenant promise to bury upon the nation of Judah and Israel.

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We know from many places that Gentiles were also gonna be brought into that place of blessing, which you and I, of course, are witnesses to.

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And so, I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel, the house of Judah, not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day when

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I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. It wouldn't be like the Mosaic covenant. My covenant they broke.

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Though I was their husband, declares the Lord. The Lord was the husband to Israel. But they broke that old covenant, that Mosaic covenant.

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Then of course, we come into the New Testament, we find this image of the relationship of the bridegroom to bride to describe

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Jesus Christ and his relationship to his church. John the

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Baptist had described himself as a friend of the bridegroom, referring to Jesus. John had said, the one who has the bride as the bridegroom, the friend of the bridegroom, referring to himself, stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice.

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Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. John saw it. We also read that when

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Jesus gave his parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25, there he depicted himself as a bridegroom who would come for his bride.

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This should be familiar to us. Then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps, went to meet the bridegroom.

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Five of them were foolish, five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.

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And as the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept, but at midnight there was a cry.

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Here is the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.

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But the wise answered, saying, since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers, buy for yourselves.

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And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.

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And afterward, the other virgins came, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, truly

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I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

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And that's a word to professing Christians, isn't it? We don't know the day or the hour in which our

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Lord will return. Now here, again, the Lord is set forth as the bridegroom, who would come for his bride on their wedding night.

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It's an emblem of the second coming of Christ. But the bride is nowhere designated here in this parable.

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Okay, and so Christians are not here portrayed as a bride, not in this metaphor, but rather they are the attendants to the wedding, the friends of the bridegroom.

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The 10 virgins represent professing Christians who are anticipating the sudden arrival of the bridegroom so that they may join in the wedding procession through the streets of the city to the wedding celebration.

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But again, note in this parable, the disciples of Jesus are not identified as a bride, but rather they're the young women of a community that may have a part in the celebration of a local wedding.

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Too often, there are terms taken from one metaphor, one parable, and imposed upon another, and as a result, you get a wrong interpretation.

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I originally intended to go off on something entirely different here and show the error of dispensationalism that distinguished the nation of Israel, the

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Jewish people, as the true people of God and the church as another separate, distinct people of God, two peoples of God, the

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Jews and the church. And classical dispensationalism, C .I.

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Schofield, Lewis Barry Schaeffer, and others, said you say here Jews are the friends of the bridegroom, but the church is the bride.

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Two different peoples, two different purposes, two different kingdoms, two different nations. And this is where they fail, is they start imposing the meaning of one metaphor in one context upon another, and they come up with this idea that there are basically two peoples of God and God's purposes in history.

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I wanted to deal with that. Realized we didn't have time to deal with it in detail.

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Paul used the imagery of Jesus as the bridegroom in several contexts. He wrote at the church at Corinth as betrothed, engaged to Christ, as it were, for I feel a divine jealousy for you since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

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He's talking to the church at Corinth, the local church, as the bride of Christ.

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And Paul wanted to present the local church at Corinth as the bride of Christ to Christ.

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But the most commonly cited Pauline account in which Christ is likened to the bridegroom to his church, the bride is found, of course, in Ephesians 5, where Paul gave instructions to husbands and wives to respond in love and obedience to their spouses as Christ and his church behaved toward one another in love.

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Paul wrote, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

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See, he serves her, he loves her. Doesn't dominate her, but loves her.

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Gave himself for her that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor the marriage day without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish.

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That should be the design and desire of the husband toward his wife. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.

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He who loves his wife loves himself. No one ever hated his flesh. You hear it all the time.

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What you really need to do is to learn to love yourself. Now, the Bible says that's the problem, that you need to learn to love others.

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My old friend Doug Moore, he's with the Lord, but he was a school teacher in an all -black community and they loved him.

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He was a second grade teacher. And one day they had a big teacher's meeting because little Johnny stabbed another student with a pencil.

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And one of the people in the crowd, you know, this was back in the 70s, spoke up, the problem with Johnny is he doesn't love himself enough.

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And Doug rightly said, no, the problem with Johnny, he doesn't love others enough. That's where the real problem lies.

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You know, the Bible says that we love ourselves and the Bible says here, no one ever hated his own flesh.

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The motivation is because others don't love you the way you think that you ought to be loved. That's the course of the source of the problem.

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Rather, a person nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church.

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Then of course, the book of Revelation describes the church as Christ's bride, rejoicing in his presence at the consummation of history.

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We're toward the end of the Bible. Let us rejoice and exult, give him the glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.

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It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

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The righteousness that we exhibit in life as Christians will be manifest in that day.

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And then in Revelation 21, nine, second to the last chapter of the Bible, then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues spoke to me and said, come,

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I'll show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. Well, here our

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Lord used the metaphor of himself as a bridegroom to show principally that while he was present and ministering among his people, it was a time for celebration, like at a wedding, not mourning.

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It was a time for feasting, not fasting. But he also used the metaphor to intimate the occasion when he would be taken away from them.

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This is the first place, first time in Luke's gospel outside of the infancy narratives where his death is suggested.

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It's very subtle, very indirect, but it's there. Then they would mourn.

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In other words, then they would have reason to fast. Actually, this expression, taken away from them,

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Jesus being taken away from them can be understood in two ways. First, he would be taken away from them, then they will fast in those days speaks of the short period of time between Jesus's arrest, his crucifixion, his burial, and then of course that time of mourning or fasting comes to an end with the resurrection.

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And so this is how some emphasize the meaning. And so this future time of fasting or mourning when he's taken from them is short -lived in duration for upon his resurrection from the dead, when they would then feast again, celebrate.

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They would then have joy of which no one could take away from them. Now, this interpretation cannot be discerned directly from this passage, but it can be a conclusion elsewhere in the gospel record, namely the gospel of John.

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This time of mourning or fasting for his disciples would only last for the three days in which the body of the

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Lord lay in the grave. John's gospel teaches this. And so there we read in John 16,

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Jesus said to his disciples the night he was betrayed, a little while you will not see me, again, a little while you will see me because I go to the

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Father. And some of his disciples said among themselves, what is this that he says to us a little while you will not see me?

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And again, a little while you will see me and because I go to the Father. They said, therefore, what is this that he says a little while we do not know what he's saying.

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He's referring to his crucifixion, death, burial for three days.

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Now, Jesus knew that they desired to ask him and he said to them, are you inquiring among yourselves about what

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I said a little while you will not see me and again, a little while you will see me. Most assuredly,

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I say to you that you will weep and lament. See, there's your mourning, there's your fasting.

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But the world will rejoice and you will be sorrowful but your sorrow will be turned unto joy.

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Speaking about the resurrection. A woman when she's in labor is sorrow because her hour has come but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

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Therefore, you now have sorrow but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and your joy no one will take from you.

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Think of Pentecost and the joy of the people of God as exhibited through the book of Acts.

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We see, therefore, that in our Lord's words that he would be taken from them here in the fifth chapter of Luke that the

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Lord's death is suggested to the reader. Now again, his death had been earlier expressed in the infancy narratives.

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It was told Mary that the sword would pierce her heart too, that he would die but this is the first occasion during our

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Lord's ministry that his death was intimated before his disciples in Luke's gospel. Of course, there'll be more information with greater detail communicated to us as readers as the gospel account unfolds but this is the first, the first intimation of his death.

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But there's a second way in which Jesus's words that he would be taken from them could be understood and this speaks about this entire kingdom age from the time our

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Lord died and ascended into heaven on the resurrection until his second coming. And so our

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Lord may have been intimating that during his earthly ministry while he was physically with them in the early days of their discipleship, they would enjoy the blessing of his presence.

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After he leaves them, however, at the resurrection and ascension, having entrusted to them the proclamation of his kingdom throughout the world, then would come time of their hardship.

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Then they would have to be praying and fasting. Matthew Henry took this position.

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It was a wonder of his grace that in the discipline under which he trained up his disciples, he considered their frame, their weakness and proportioned their services to their strength and standing and to the circumstances they were in.

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It was objected as a blemish upon his conduct that he did not make his disciples to fast so often as those of the

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Pharisees and John the Baptist did. He insisted most upon that which is the soul of fasting, the mortification of sin, the crucifying of the flesh, the living a life of self -denial, which is as much better than fasting and corporal penances as mercy is better than sacrifice.

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It was a wonder of his grace that Christ reserved the trials of his disciples for their latter times, when by his grace they were in some good measure better prepared and fitted for them when they were at first.

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Now they were as the children of the bride chamber when the bridegroom is with them, when they have plenty and joy and every day is a festival.

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Christ was welcome whenever he came and they for his sake and as they met with little or no opposition but this will not last always.

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The days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them and when Christ shall leave them with their hearts full of sorrow, their hands full of work and the world full of enmity and rage against them, then shall they fast and shall not be so well fed as they are now.

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We both hunger and thirst and are naked, wrote Paul in first Corinthians four and then they shall keep many more religious fasts than they do now for providence will call them to it and they will then serve the

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Lord with fastings. Acts 13 verse two, that's where the church at Antioch was praying and fasting together when the

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Holy Spirit spoke, separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work I've got for them well then we read of the unique nature of Jesus's ministry in verses 36 through 38, we read of the parable our

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Lord gave him the patching of a garment. Again, then he spoke a parable to them, no one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one otherwise the new makes a tear and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old and no one puts new wine in old wine skins or else the new wine will burst the wine skins be spilled and the wine skins will be ruined but new wine must be put into new wine skins and both are preserved.

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Now just before this in verses 33 through 35, Jesus had spoken about how different his ministry was from current

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Judaism. They were feasting while the others were fasting. However, in verses 36 through 39,

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Jesus related how incompatible his ministry was from current Judaism, not just different but is irreconcilable the two of them.

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He first stated in verse 36, no one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one otherwise the new makes a tear and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.

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And so trying to patch an old garment that's ready for discarding with a patch cut out of a new garment is senseless he argues for it would result in the ruin of the new garment besides a new patch would not even match the old garment.

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This is quite a remarkable statement the Lord was suggesting here he was not attempting to reform

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Judaism but rather he was replacing it. The new garment, the old garment needs to be discarded.

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The old garment had served its purpose but now it was ready to be discarded. Judaism which was based on the uniqueness of Israel as a physical people which had its tenant the exclusion of sinners and Gentiles from any hope of salvation must be discarded.

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Our Lord was bringing in a new era it was the age of salvation dawning in which redeemed sinners became the people of God.

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It wasn't going to fit within the context of Judaism as it was there in the first century.

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And so in the plan of God Christianity superseded Judaism. There's salvation in no other name except in Jesus the son of God who seeks out sinners leading them to repentance from sin and faith.

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And to illustrate further this incompatibility of his ministry with current Judaism our Lord gave the illustration of wine and wine skins.

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No one puts new wine into old wine skins or else the new wine will burst the wine skins and be spilled and the wine skins will be ruined.

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But new wine must be put into new wine skins and both are preserved. And so new wine with the capability and certainty of her many cannot be contained within older inflexible non -elastic wine skins in other words

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Judaism. A vessel wholly new, in other words the church must be the means of which this new message of Jesus must develop fully.

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Any effort to contain the gospel within Judaism was doomed to failure. Not only will

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Judaism not contain it but Judaism itself will be burst by the gospel.

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If you take away distinctiveness between Jews and Gentiles by declaring everybody sinners and all in need of salvation and further that only

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Jesus Christ can bring salvation you effectively remove any barriers that previously existed between Jews and Gentiles.

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That which had separated them from one another and so with the coming of Christ death and resurrection

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Jewish distinctiveness which was at the heart of Judaism ceased in the sight of God because they were declared to be sinners.

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They broke the Mosaic covenant and Paul reasons in Romans that God did this so he could have mercy on all.

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If he determined Jews were also sinful they're no better than Gentiles and so God can have mercy on any and all.

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That brought an end to the distinctiveness of the Jewish people as the unique people of God and the whole teaching of dispensationalism as God returning to the

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Jewish nation once again in the future is not biblical. The church of Jesus Christ, the new covenant replaced that earlier program.

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There's now no longer any distinction between Jew and Gentile. We're all one in Jesus Christ and this could make that very clear.

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There's so much error about this. All must come by the way of the cross whether you're

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Jew or Gentile and Paul wrote this forthrightly in Ephesians 2 that Gentiles in Christ were now full participants in the

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Israel of God, the commonwealth of Israel. In other words reconstituted

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Israel under a new covenant, not the old covenant established at Sinai with the physical people but the new covenant.

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So he wrote, Paul wrote in Ephesians 2 11 therefore remember that you, he's talking to Gentile Christians.

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Therefore remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by what is called circumcision made in the flesh by hands.

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The Jews look down on you because you're Gentiles, you're uncircumcised. That at that time you were without Christ speaking about when the

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Gentiles were unsaved. You're without Christ being aliens. At that time you were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.

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He's implying that you're now a part of the commonwealth of Israel. Before you were not being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.

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Strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

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So we are in the commonwealth of Israel now. Spiritual Israel. Israel reconstituted under a new covenant for he

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Christ himself is our peace who's made both one. Jewish and Gentile believers both one.

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He broke down the middle wall of separation. That was a mosaic covenant that distinguished Jews from Gentiles.

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Kept them from coming together. Christ broke that barrier down, that separating wall having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, the mosaic covenant.

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So as to create in himself one new man from the two thus making peace that he might reconcile them both

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Jews and Gentiles to God in one body through the cross thereby putting to death the enmity that had existed between Jew and Gentile.

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Forgive me for my paraphrasing. And he came and preached peace to you Gentiles who were far off and to those who were near.

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The Jews who were near he preached peace to them too. For though through him Christ we both have access by one spirit to the father.

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And now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens.

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See we're fellow citizens with Israel, the covenant people of God. With the saints, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

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Abraham is our father, father of faith. Members of the household of God having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

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Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the

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Lord, a spiritual temple in whom you also are being built up together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit.

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Again the whole teaching of dispensationalism that after a future rapture of the church God's going back to his original plan to deal with Israel as a

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Jewish physical nation and then on to a thousand year Jewish millennium.

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It basically undoes everything in Ephesians two. That middle wall of separation is put back up between Jews and Gentiles.

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Gentiles once again excluded from the commonwealth of Israel after the rapture of the church. It's terrible error.

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Clearly when Christ came he broke that down. There's one people of God and this was

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God's purpose in eternity. We are the children of Abraham who has had the same faith as Abraham.

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We're the promised children of Abraham as Isaac was a promised child of Abraham.

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You and I are promised children of Abraham according to the book of Galatians. And so Jesus was saying the new wine of the gospel the kingdom would not and could not be received by the old wineskins of Judaism which excluded

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Gentiles from having the same relationship with God in Christ as Jews who were in Christ. So here early on in our

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Lord's ministry he was speaking about how there's no compatibility here. What he was bringing was gonna replace which had been.

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And then he speaks about the exclusive nature of Jesus's ministry in Luke 5 39. Luke provided one further statement of our

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Lord. It's not found in the other gospels Mark and Matthew. Therefore we read and no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new for he says the old is better.

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This suggests one further element. The refusal of many Jews to consider something new because of a resistance to change.

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A resistance to abandon customary ways. This suggests the unrelenting opposition that the majority of Jews would have toward Jesus and the

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Christian community that he was creating. There would be no resolution for there could be no yielding of the

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Jews to Jesus their promised Messiah. Also betrays a problem that many have that is the refusal to be corrected of what we've been accustomed to believing and hearing being taught.

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I was reminded the other day of a sermon I gave years ago but I'll probably be noted for bossy wives and slacker husbands and based on the exposition of the fall of man

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Genesis. Well if that's a sermon I'm known for I'll probably be known for the saying it's harder to unlearn than it is to learn.

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And that's what this is talking about. The old wine is better. This is how we think.

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And it's very difficult to be taught and to unlearn what we've assumed to be true.

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But this is part of growing. These Pharisees and scribes as well as the disciples of John the

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Baptist were resistant to what the Lord Jesus had been teaching his disciples and the manner in which he led them to serve

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God. Their opinion was the oldest better. There was a bias of resistance.

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And so the episode here in Luke five reveals that the Lord knew at an early stage of his ministry there would be continual conflict with no hope of reconciliation.

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And further he hints for the first time his own self -awareness that rejection and tragedy awaited him.

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There would come a time when his disciples would mourn and fast for he would be taken from them. And so it is with us as Christians in the world today.

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We do not have conflict with Judaism as our Lord did although some Christians do in parts of the world.

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You cannot stand on a street corner in Israel and preach the gospel. You'll be arrested.

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Israel will not allow Christian missionaries to come into their land. You have to come under another auspice.

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I had a friend who was a travel guide whose purpose was to be a evangelist to Jewish people in Israel because it was illegal since about 1978.

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You cannot be a Christian missionary. We recognize that the faith that we have and the life we attempt to live is totally incongruent with the ways of the world and we're seeing that increasingly.

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I saw this week some politician, minor politician somewhere said we cannot vote Christians into office because they have some real strange views about sexuality.

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Think about, you know, it's coming more and more. And further we recognize that our faith in the gospel is totally incongruent with non -Christian religions.

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We do believe Christ is the only way of salvation and that will not fly in today's multicultural world.

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The gospel caused us to be distinct in our ways and incompatible with any and all who would proclaim another gospel.

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That's false, that's wrong. This is true, what's in the word of God and that will not be accepted in today's world.

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Never has, but increasingly not so. And so we can expect conflict as well.

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We have to wrap things up. But on page eight, I just wanna say a few words about some doctrinal practical considerations in this passage.

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What is biblical fasting? Well, although there are of course many health benefits for fasting, the

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Bible does not address this as a motivation for fasting, nowhere. Fasting is the voluntary denial of food or drink for a period of time in order to devote oneself wholly to prayer.

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Fasting enables one to be more fully attentive and devoted to the matter of praying. Fasting enables better focus, concentration on spiritual matters, on anything that requires the mind.

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I always fasted before taking a test in college and seminary so I could think clear.

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I never, probably in 25 years, I've probably had something to eat maybe a half a dozen times before church on Sunday morning because I want my mind to be most alert.

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And fasting enables that. One can fast for a short duration, perhaps one meal or an extended period of time.

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However, I just read last week, somebody died trying to keep a 40 -day fast. You need to consider whether or not it is healthy.

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Fasting should not be viewed as an outward show to others of one's devotion or commitment. Jesus spoke against that.

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When you fast, by the way, he doesn't say if you fast, but when you fast, don't be like the hypocrites who want to do it for show, to show themselves as pious and holy.

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No, you do it in secret. And the father who sees you in secret will reward you openly.

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We might think the scriptures speak a great deal about fasting, but actually in the New Testament, fasting is only mentioned directly a few times, a couple times in the gospel.

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But after you get out of the gospels, it's only mentioned twice in the rest of the New Testament and both times in the book of Acts, Acts 13 and then

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Acts 14. Only time in the New Testament outside the gospel, fasting is mentioned.

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Acts 13, two, we alluded to earlier, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, that was the church at Antioch, the

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Holy Spirit said, separate or set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which

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I've called them. And then in the next chapter, Luke is describing

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Paul and Barnabas starting churches. And then they appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting.

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They committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. But aside from these two references, New Testament outside the gospel is silent on fasting.

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Nevertheless, fasting has been a practice of Christians through the centuries and should be. Fasting is mentioned in our confession of faith twice.

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First, it's in the article on our religious worship and the Sabbath day, paragraph five, top of page nine.

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The reading of the scriptures, preaching, hearing the word of God, teaching, admonishing one another in Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with grace in our heart to the

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Lord. That's all words taken from scripture. As also the administration of baptism, the

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Lord's Supper are all parts of religious worship of God to be performed in obedience to him with understanding, faith, reverence, godly fear, moral or solemn humiliation with fastings and thanksgivings upon special occasions ought to be used in an holy and religious manner.

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And then the second place that the word fasting is used in our confession, again has to do with ordaining elders.

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That's what Paul and Barnabas were doing in the churches, praying and fasting.

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The way appointed by Christ for calling of any person fitted and gifted by the Holy Spirit onto the office of bishop or elder in a church is that he be chosen thereunto by the common suffrage of the church, they were congregational, the church votes, itself and solemnly set apart by fasting and prayer with imposition of the hands of the eldership of the church if there be any more before or constitute therein and of a deacon that he may be chosen by the like suffrage or voting of the church set apart by prayer, doesn't mention fasting with regard to deacons for some reason and the like imposition of hands.

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And then we're gonna close with this. I went to the website of the National Day of Prayer and it listed the history of prayer in our nation and I picked and chose, it just went on and on and on and many times it just mentioned prayer only but I only selected some that mentioned prayer and fasting as official declarations of our government and noted persons in government.

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Days of prayer and fasting have long characterized our nation and I was putting these words down in these notes,

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I thought to myself, these notes are going out to all the world and several hundred of these people are in Africa and India and Asia and elsewhere and whatnot and here they're seeing the nature of our nation early on, fasting and prayer.

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Look at the notable day of prayer in 1746 toward the bottom of page nine. When French Admiral Danville sailed for New England commanding the most powerful fleet of the time, 70 ships with 13 ,000 troops, he intended to recapture

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Luceburg, Nova Scotia and destroy from Boston to New York all the way to Georgia.

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Massachusetts Governor William Shirley declared a day of prayer and fasting.

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October 16th, 1746, to pray for deliverance and in Boston's Old South Meeting House, Reverend Thomas Prince prayed, send thy tempest,

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Lord, upon the water, scatter the ships of our tormentors. Historian Catherine Drinker Bowen related that as he finished praying, the sky darkened, winds shrieked, the church bells rang, a wild uneven sound though no man was in the steeple.

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A hurricane subsequently sank and scattered the entire French fleet with 4 ,006, 2 ,000 dead including

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Admiral Danville. French Vice Admiral threw himself on his sword. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote in his

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Ballad of the French Fleet, Admiral Danville had sworn by cross and crown to ravage with fire and steal our helpless

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Boston town from mouth to mouth spread tidings of dismay. I stood in the

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Old South saying humbly, let us pray. Like a potter's vessel broke, the great ships of the light were carried away as smoke and sank in the brine.

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And it's just wonderful stories in history of God bringing wonderful deliverance.

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Benjamin Franklin called for a general fast approved by Pennsylvania's President and Council published in the

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Pennsylvania Gazette. We have thought fit to appoint a day of fasting and prayer exhorting all both ministers and people to join with one accord in the most humble and fervent supplications that Almighty God would mercifully interpose and still the rage of war among the nations and put a stop to the effusion of Christian blood.

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And we're not going to read others, but talk about George Mason, you know, the primary writer of the

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Constitution. George Washington wrote in his diary June 1st, 1774, went to church, fasted all day.

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George Washington, before the Battle of Lexington, prayer and fasting and they're quite significant.

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And I hope if you take time, you'll read through those clearly down through our nation's history, all the way up through the 20th century, by the way.

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I noticed as we got through the 20th century, even though the president still called for days of prayer, the term fasting began to drop away.

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And it was just a national day of prayer. The last being a public declaration for the nation to pray was under George Bush.

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Praying, you know, prayed for our nation. It's a matter of importance and it ought to be practiced by us.

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And I trust it is practiced by us. We don't make great notice, take great notice of it, nor should we.

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We're to do it, you know, in a private manner. Sometimes as a church, it would be good to be called, you know, to call upon the church to fast and pray for some real special concern or need that's appropriate.

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It's appropriate for a community, for a nation and certainly for our world.

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We should not think, and I had it in a note, I didn't mention it, we should not think that somehow fasting adds a degree of acceptance to our praying to God, as though it's some kind of work that renders our prayers acceptable to God.

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No, fasting is for our benefit. It enables us to concentrate and think and fully focus on a matter.

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It is in no way meritorious and doesn't add weight to our prayers before God. That it would be a wrong way to view fasting.

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And so may the Lord help us to be true and right and balanced in our understanding of these matters.

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Amen. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word. Thank you,

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Father, for the many illustrations we have in your word regarding your relationship with us as Lord Jesus as a bridegroom and we your bride.

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Help us, our God, also to understand that we're not gonna be able to present the

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Christian faith in a manner that's gonna please or be acceptable to the world, but rather help us to be clear, kind certainly, but clear and direct, our

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God, as you summon people out of a fallen world, out of the kingdom of the devil, and bringing them into the glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ.