NEW WINE INTO OLD WINESKINS
Glad to have you join us again for more
of our study of the Gospels. In our last story, we learned about Jesus
healing a man who was possessed by demons. This was commonplace for those who followed Jesus as He perfomed miracle after miracle for the Glory of God. Now, we will be seeking to understand the true meaning of the New Wine Into Old Wineskins Bible parable.
Let's pick up where we left off ... After that, Jesus crossed
back over the sea of Galilee to Capernaum once again and word got
around that He was there. Immediately many people gathered together
and the house that He was in couldn't hold any more people. He
preached the Word of God there and some people brought a man to Him
who was paralyzed. They couldn't get near Jesus because the crowd was
so thick, so they uncovered the roof of the house and let down the bed
that the man was lying on.
When Jesus saw their faith, He said, Son, be of good cheer; your sins
are forgiven. There were some religious leaders there and they thought
to themselves, This man is a blasphemer. Who can forgive sins except
God? Jesus immediately knew in His Spirit that they were questioning
Him in their minds and He said to them, Why do you think evil in your
hearts?
Is it easier to say, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Get up
and walk? Just so you know that the Son of man has power on earth to
forgive sins, (then Jesus said to the paralyzed man) I say get up,
take your bed and go home. The man got up, took up the bed and left as
the people watched. It amazed everyone. They had never seen anything
like it!
Jesus went back to the sea side, the crowds followed Him and He taught
them more. As He passed by, He saw Levi (Matthew) sitting at the
receipt of custom (where taxes are collected) and Jesus said to him,
Follow me. Matthew got up and followed Him. Jesus went to Matthew's
house and many followed. There were a lot of publicans (tax
collectors) and sinners there who sat down with Jesus and His
disciples and ate.
When the Pharisees saw it, they asked the
disciples, Why does your Master eat with publicans and sinners? Jesus
heard, and answered them, People who are well don't need a doctor, but
the sick do. But you go and figure out what this means: I will have
mercy, and not sacrifice, because I came to call sinners to
repentance, not the righteous.
Then the disciples of John the Baptist asked Jesus,
why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don't? Jesus
answered them in a parable. Can the children of the bridechamber fast
as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the
bridegroom will be taken from them, then they'll fast.
And much like the New Wine Into Old Wineskins Bible parable, Jesus shared this ... No man sews a piece of new cloth on an old garment, or the patch will shrink and the
tear will be worse. Neither do men put
new wine into old bottles or the bottles break and the wine runs out
and the bottles are ruined, but they put new wine into new bottles,
and both are saved.
What was Jesus saying in the New wine into old wineskins Bible message and what is New Wine? Well, He was teaching the New
Testament. You can't have a new game with the same old rules or you'll
just have . . . the same old game. He was showing them, He IS the Son
of God, You CAN be healed by your faith in Him, and sacrifice is being
replaced by mercy now with the new rules.
Jesus did not send His disciples out with teachings of the Old Testament Laws (The old garment and the old
bottles) but rather sent them out to teach the world about the New Covenant which is all about God's Grace (Which is the new cloth
and the new wine). What Jesus was saying in the New wine into old wineskins Bible truth was that, God is putting a new
Covenant into new hearts and then both will be saved. (Pssssssst ... He is talking about YOU)
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
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So, what is the moral of the parable of the new wine into old wineskins Bible tip for Christians? The point is not to put try and mix your new Christian life with your unclean old worldly life. What is new wine? It is the new Christian way and/or the Holy Spirit.
Now this is an absolutely essential New Wine Into Old Wineskins Bible tidbit for you. Keep trying daily to keep your mind, body and soul Spiritually clean because the Holy Spirit lives within you when you become a Christian and in doing so you have obeyed our Lord Jesus by choosing not to put the New wine into old wineskins.
However, remember that if you fall down in trying to keep yourself clean, that you need only repent, get up, dust off and carry on. All Christians fall down even if they do not admit it. Even the Saints are just the sinners who fell down and got up. Remember, Peter denied Jesus three times. It is a slow process to truly Renew your soul. Take it easy on you as you sojourn along in your Christian walk.