1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:05,600 Today we're going to be in Matthew Chapter 9, verses 14 2 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:11,280 through 17. Then the disciples of John came 3 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,680 to him saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your 4 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:17,920 disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, can the 5 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:22,400 wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:26,360 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from 7 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:30,640 them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk 8 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:34,440 cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the 9 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:36,600 garment and the worst tear is made. 10 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,160 Neither is new wine put into old wine skins. 11 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:43,680 If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the 12 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:48,000 skins are destroyed, but new wine is put into fresh wine 13 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,400 skins, and so both are preserved. 14 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:55,120 This is the word of the Lord. Amen. 15 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:58,840 You guys can have a seat. My name is Eric, one of the 16 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:00,960 pastors here. Glad to be here with you today. 17 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:05,239 As always, We're continuing in the book of Matthew. 18 00:01:05,239 --> 00:01:09,440 We're going to be in Matthew Chapter 9, verses 14 through 17 19 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:13,560 if you want to turn there. If you don't have a Bible, we 20 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:15,400 have free Bibles back at the book cart. 21 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:17,440 As always. All those books are actually 22 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:22,440 free, but please grab a Bible if you don't have one and or you 23 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:24,600 can follow along if you have a Bible app on your phone. 24 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,120 I only have some of the verses on the screen. 25 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,360 We also keep all of our sermon notes online as well. 26 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,680 If you want to refer to these later on our website, 27 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:42,400 redemptitsnorthogden.redemptionchurch.com. That's our website and you'll be 28 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:45,280 able to hear this sermon later if you want to share it with 29 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:48,600 someone. But today I've titled our 30 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,680 message, Don't miss the wedding of the King. 31 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:56,160 Do not miss the wedding of the king. 32 00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:02,040 Can you imagine for a moment your friend, a family member, a 33 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:07,080 loved one was getting married? Maybe you were playing a part in 34 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:09,759 the wedding, like you know you're in the line, or you're 35 00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:14,280 the best man or the maid of honor, or you played a very 36 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:20,160 important role in this wedding. And the day of the wedding comes 37 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:25,720 and you missed it. You missed it because you either 38 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:32,040 had the wrong dates in your calendar or somebody gave you 39 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:35,600 bad directions and you never actually found where the wedding 40 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,040 was. Can you now just imagine that 41 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:44,800 for a moment? Well, today I want you to think 42 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:50,600 of that, but in in a sense more spiritually. 43 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:57,680 The Bible says that Jesus Christ has a bride and that's his 44 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:01,520 church. And one day, one day he's coming 45 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:05,560 back to get the church and there will be a full consummation of 46 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:09,400 this marriage and wedding ceremony. 47 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:17,000 And I don't want you to miss that because of bad directions 48 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:22,120 or some misunderstandings. And there are people along the 49 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:28,440 way over this last 2000 years of the church that have given bad 50 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:33,760 directions or have misunderstood the Bible. 51 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:39,040 Have you ever heard the Bible used as an acronym, Bible basics 52 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:41,120 instructions before leaving Earth. 53 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:46,280 These are our instructions to make it to that wedding. 54 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:53,320 This is better than Google Maps, all right, And but there are 55 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:55,360 people that come along and they're like, we'll wait a 56 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:58,640 minute. This says this and this means 57 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:00,360 this. And I think that this is what 58 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:04,160 this means. And that and and and so they get 59 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:08,160 along the way distracted or misunderstood and and they don't 60 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,480 stay within kind of the frameworks of the doctrines of 61 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,640 the faith and can lead many astray. 62 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,079 So that's why I've, I've titled this don't miss the wedding of 63 00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:23,680 the King because Jesus is in this context where we're at in 64 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:27,960 Chapter 9, he has come to teach about who he is. 65 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:32,200 And he does that through little stories, little analogies, 66 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:37,160 healings, miracles, interactions with the Pharisees and the 67 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,760 religious people of the day. And, and when we look at these 68 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:45,840 stories, sometimes they seem like so obscure, maybe hard to 69 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:49,720 understand. And, and we've got to get this 70 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:51,640 right. We've got to dig into it. 71 00:04:52,280 --> 00:04:55,200 We've got to look at these words and compare it with the rest of 72 00:04:55,200 --> 00:05:00,360 Scripture to come up with the truth of what Jesus is saying. 73 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:05,800 By the way, there's only one meaning to what is said in the 74 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:09,040 Scriptures. I know that we want to look at 75 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:12,600 it and and we think that this could possibly mean this or that 76 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:18,560 because it's hard to understand, but it only means one thing and 77 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:21,440 that's our job as Christians for the rest of our life. 78 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:23,600 We're trying to look at these words and we're trying to find 79 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:28,120 out not what it possibly could mean, but what does it mean? 80 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:31,960 What is the truth? I need this boiled down to me to 81 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:35,240 understand what God is saying to me. 82 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,760 And so that's what we do when we gather together as the church 83 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,960 and we study and we hear the preached word of God. 84 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,000 We're trying to boil down the truth of the passage. 85 00:05:47,280 --> 00:05:52,000 So today I've got three points that I want to talk about while 86 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:54,640 Jesus is using this time for a teaching. 87 00:05:55,280 --> 00:06:00,640 And the first one is this, that legalistic religion 88 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:04,360 misunderstands the Old Testament. 89 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:08,520 There's a lot of things in the Old Testament that could be 90 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:13,120 taken the wrong way or or taken too literally or not literally 91 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:17,720 enough. And then comparing it with the 92 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:21,280 New Testament, like what? What things in the Old Testament 93 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:24,160 am I supposed to carry along with me to the New Testament? 94 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:26,800 What things still apply to me today? 95 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:30,880 And if we get this wrong, what happens is legalism. 96 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,960 If we try to apply these old standards in the old system to 97 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:41,760 the new teachings of Jesus, then we can get it wrong. 98 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,040 And that happens a lot. That happens a lot in the 99 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:46,840 church. That happens a lot with us even 100 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:49,320 as we're reading Scripture. So, so let's look at what Jesus 101 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:53,040 is saying here as we unpack this point a little bit more, 102 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,800 starting with verse 14. It says, then the disciples of 103 00:06:55,800 --> 00:07:01,760 John came to him saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast? 104 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:07,600 But your disciples do not fast. So they're talking about 105 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:10,080 fasting. And by the way, the context of 106 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:15,880 this is that we've looked in Chapter 9, Jesus healed A 107 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:21,320 paralytic and the scribes said Jesus was blaspheming because he 108 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:23,840 was forgiving sins. And Jesus used that as an 109 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,480 opportunity to correct their theology and their teaching. 110 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:32,960 And then Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners. 111 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:38,480 We looked at that last week and the Pharisees came in and tried 112 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:42,960 to single out the disciples and, and and and ask why does your 113 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:47,200 teacher eat with such filth? And Jesus uses that as a time 114 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:50,080 for teaching as well to correct them. 115 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:55,760 Now we're in this third part of, of Jesus going to correct some 116 00:07:55,760 --> 00:08:00,680 false thinking. And it starts with the concept 117 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:03,440 of fasting. So he was just feasting. 118 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:08,840 He was eating with these sinners and tax collectors, and now it 119 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:12,920 says the disciples of John come up to him. 120 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:15,040 They're talking about John the Baptist. 121 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:19,360 And why is it that we fast, the Pharisees fast, the religious 122 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:23,040 people are fasting, but Jesus, the guy who's supposed to be the 123 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:27,880 leader of this whole thing, isn't following our system, 124 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:32,240 isn't following our Old Testament system of fasting. 125 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:35,320 Now let's talk about fasting. We've done some sermons on 126 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:36,640 fasting. You can go look at those. 127 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:39,880 I'm not going to do a full comprehensive study on what 128 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:45,000 fasting is, but but a little bit fasting is just going without 129 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:46,760 food. All right. 130 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:51,160 That's why we call breakfast, breakfast break. 131 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:54,560 You're breaking your fast from sleeping and not and going 132 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:57,040 without food for a while. Then you wake up and you eat for 133 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:00,280 the first time. So Simply put, fasting is going 134 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:03,560 without food. Now doing it, as far as faith is 135 00:09:03,560 --> 00:09:08,160 concerned, it's done as an act of dependence, worship, 136 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:13,800 repentance, and mourning. But let me tell you this, this 137 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:15,440 is probably what might shock you. 138 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:19,840 There's no command in the New Testament for Christians to 139 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:22,640 fast. Not one place does. 140 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:27,120 It says you must do this in order to be right with me. 141 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:32,520 Not one. In the Old Testament, there's 142 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:37,440 only one command. There's one command in the Old 143 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:43,560 Testament and it was one day a year on the Day of Atonement in 144 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:47,480 Leviticus 2327. It says now on the 10th day of 145 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:50,160 this 7th month is the Day of Atonement. 146 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:53,680 It shall be for you a time of holy convocation. 147 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:56,120 And here's what it says. It says you shall afflict 148 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:59,320 yourselves and present a food offering to the Lord. 149 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:03,760 Now that word afflict and other translations might be used as 150 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:08,040 fast, fast from food so that you can present a food offering to 151 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:13,160 the Lord. So one day a week, Israel would 152 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:16,280 come together while they're wandering through the wilderness 153 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:22,160 and, and and instituted this day of fasting on the Day of 154 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:28,280 Atonement. So why do I bring up legalistic 155 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:33,480 religion misunderstands the Old Testament because so many people 156 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:37,880 in the history of the church have instituted kind of this, 157 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:43,240 this legalistic, you must fast. And if you know anything about 158 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:45,640 the state of Utah and the predominant religion in the 159 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,440 state of Utah, they hold a fast once a month. 160 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:52,360 It's something that they are supposed to do in order to be 161 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:57,680 righteous and holy. Other religions do fasting a lot 162 00:10:57,680 --> 00:11:01,240 more than that, but we know the Bible says that the Pharisees 163 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:05,960 fasted twice a week and they were all doing this as religious 164 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:09,680 activities to stay right with God. 165 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:14,760 But we misunderstand some things sometimes in Scripture, and we 166 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:22,080 turn them into legalistic religious activities that make 167 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,240 us think that these are the things that God is pleased with. 168 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:27,840 And he's going to, he's going to be happy when we follow all 169 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:33,200 these things that we do. But we have to understand that 170 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:36,680 there's only one command, and it's in the Old Testament, in 171 00:11:36,680 --> 00:11:40,240 the New Testament. Now we'll get to the fact that 172 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:45,640 Jesus does assume that we will fast, but often times in the 173 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:48,880 church we've been taught that fasting is a way of manipulating 174 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:51,280 God basically like for our good, right? 175 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:55,400 If you really want something done and he's not answering your 176 00:11:55,400 --> 00:12:01,000 prayers, all you have to do is quit eating for a while and then 177 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:05,160 maybe God will listen to that because he likes it when you're 178 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:10,320 starving for some reason. And so that's what's kind of 179 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:15,080 turned into, you know, some people's beliefs about what the 180 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:20,760 purpose of fasting is. A little bit more on on fasting 181 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:27,200 in just a moment, but why is John the Baptist's disciples 182 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:31,640 coming and and talking to Jesus? You would think that John the 183 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:34,840 Baptist disciples had the right information. 184 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:38,720 You would think that they they were they were following the 185 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:43,720 correct teachings of Jesus. In fact, John himself pointed 186 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:48,040 his He had a following for a moment, but then when Jesus 187 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:52,960 stepped on the scene, he pointed them to him. 188 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:57,280 John baptized Jesus and said this is the Christ. 189 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:03,560 But it is believed that there was a following of John the 190 00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:08,960 Baptist that kept going on for actually decades after Jesus 191 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:12,680 even that never actually came to the full truth about who Jesus 192 00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:16,240 is. So these disciples of John 193 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:18,800 aren't necessarily on the right team. 194 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:21,800 They're just a little bit further ahead than the 195 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,200 Pharisees, but they're still stuck in legalism. 196 00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:30,600 And that's why they say, why do we in the Pharisees fast and I 197 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:34,200 can prove this to you because John had some some confused 198 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:37,640 followers. If we go to John chapter 3, it 199 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:41,520 says now in a discussion arose between some of John's disciples 200 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:44,600 and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said 201 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:48,400 to him, Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan to whom 202 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:51,320 you bore witness. Look, he is baptizing and all 203 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:56,920 are going to him. So in that passage, his his 204 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:01,440 disciples are confused and and they say he who was with you 205 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,800 across the Jordan. Here's the problem. 206 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:09,760 Some of John's disciples started started following John, lifting 207 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:14,160 John up on this pedestal, thinking he was better than the 208 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:18,440 coming Messiah. Don't we do that sometimes as 209 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:21,040 well? We just we did this. 210 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:24,520 We're doing this series, very spicy series. 211 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:27,320 You should come to it. It's called Tulip and we're 212 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:30,440 basically talking about Calvinism versus Armenianism in 213 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:36,000 Sunday school. And you know, one could say that 214 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:39,320 some people follow these people in history more than they 215 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:41,960 actually follow the teachings of the Bible or Jesus. 216 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,680 They get obsessed over names in history. 217 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:48,160 That's not to say that there aren't people in history, 218 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:51,680 reformers, Puritans, and, and people that are well respected 219 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:55,960 that their teachings were pretty good and they fought for a lot 220 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,760 of good doctrine and truth. But sometimes we have all these 221 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,400 different followers or followings in, in the in the 222 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:07,480 Christian Church where we can get confused. 223 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:10,760 We're not following some guy dead guy in history. 224 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:14,000 We're following a guy who's alive in heaven. 225 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:20,560 His name is Jesus Christ, Amen. But these guys were confused. 226 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:25,040 They're following John and you can see it in their language. 227 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:29,560 He who is with you. They don't say the Christ, the 228 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:34,600 one who who had come, the one that you bore witness to and 229 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:37,960 Jesus correct Or John corrects him here and he says a person 230 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:41,680 cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from 231 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,760 heaven. It's like he's irritated. 232 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:49,480 You know, he's like, you guys are so depraved, you can't 233 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:54,760 understand it, right? And he he has to remind himself, 234 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:58,480 OK, they haven't got it yet because it hasn't been revealed 235 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:01,400 to him, I guess. But he says you yourselves bear 236 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:08,360 witness that I said I am not the Christ, but I have been sent 237 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:12,320 before him. And then he goes on to say he 238 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,200 must increase, but I must decrease. 239 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:18,280 So this is where they got that wrong. 240 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:19,840 They're following guys in history. 241 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:21,960 They're following a guy rather than following Christ. 242 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,480 The Pharisees who are mentioned here, obviously, they're stuck 243 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:28,800 on the law in the hundreds or even thousands of rules that 244 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:33,000 they added. They are the ultimate legalists 245 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:37,680 and leaders of a false religion that rejects Jesus and his new 246 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:43,520 covenant. The problem is one of both 247 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:49,800 confusion and pride because both of these groups of people are 248 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:52,040 misunderstanding the Old Testament. 249 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:57,360 Now we're blessed. We're blessed because we have 250 00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:02,680 the complete word of God. So now let's look at what's the 251 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:07,560 point of fasting in Scripture. Then it's a call to repentance. 252 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:14,359 In Joel 113 he says, put on sackcloth and lament. 253 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:17,680 O priests, wail. O ministers of the altar, go in, 254 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:21,520 pass the night and sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because 255 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:23,839 grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the 256 00:17:23,839 --> 00:17:27,960 House of your God. Consecrate a fast, call a solemn 257 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:31,000 assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land 258 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:34,280 to the House of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. 259 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:39,480 So we'll look at these things and we'll say, oh, there's 260 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:44,320 another command to fast. But this is the prophet of God 261 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:49,520 telling the people at the time like you need to mourn, you need 262 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:54,400 to afflict yourselves, you need to fast in a way that shows 263 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:58,040 repentance. So as I said, fasting can 264 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:02,440 represent repentance. I'm going without because I'm 265 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:08,920 just sick about my own sin. The same thing with mourning, 266 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,960 Joel 212 yet even now declares the Lord, Return to me with all 267 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:18,480 your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, and 268 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:21,000 rend your hearts and not your garments. 269 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,400 Return to the Lord for His gracious, merciful, slowed 270 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,920 anger, abounding in steadfast love, and He relents over 271 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:34,200 disaster. Mourning Daniel 10/2 In those 272 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:37,560 days, I, Daniel was mourning for three weeks. 273 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,960 I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine under my mouth, nor did I 274 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:43,040 anoint myself at all for the full 3 weeks. 275 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:46,720 Now, we don't often think of fasting as a time of mourning. 276 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,200 And it's funny, we as Christians, we look at the Bible 277 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:56,640 and we even misunderstand the Bible because you can look all 278 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:58,800 over the Internet and you can find this thing called the 279 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:02,000 Daniel fast, can't you? And I know you've done it 280 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:05,800 because I've done it. A way to get healthy. 281 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:10,080 The Bible says Daniel did a fast. 282 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:13,800 And so that's what we need in order to be healthy, right? 283 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:18,240 When really the fast for 21 days in the book of Daniel was about 284 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,240 morning. It wasn't about your health. 285 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:27,320 Or here's another one. I'm guilty of Ezekiel 49 bread. 286 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:30,920 All right, there's this organic bread that's in the freezer 287 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:32,520 aisle. It costs a lot of money and it 288 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:37,200 tastes like cardboard and it's really healthy for you. 289 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:42,480 And, and some, and it's named Ezekiel 49 bread. 290 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:44,440 Why is it named Ezekiel 49 bread? 291 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,760 Because in Ezekiel 49, it has this passage that talks about 292 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:52,920 you're going to have to put spelt and Millet and all these 293 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:55,160 different ingredients together and you're going to have to 294 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:56,680 bunch it together. And that's what you're going to 295 00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:00,000 have to survive off of. And someone looked at that and 296 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:04,120 it was like, hey, there's an ingredient, a whole an 297 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:06,760 ingredient for the most healthy bread in the Bible. 298 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,480 But do you, if you go look at the context of that passage, 299 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:13,520 it's actually about judgment. It's about you're not going to 300 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:17,040 have enough food, so you're going to have to scrap all these 301 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:19,440 little scraps together to make your bread. 302 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:21,680 And here, what have we done as humans? 303 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:25,400 We've turned it into the most expensive, organic, healthy 304 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:28,000 bread because it has a Bible verse attached to it. 305 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:31,400 That's what we do. And I'll tell you right now, I 306 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:35,760 have Ezekiel 49 bread in my fridge right now, and I eat it 307 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:39,720 and it's healthy, but that's not the purpose. 308 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:43,400 I don't think there's an extra special blessing on me because I 309 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:48,240 have the right ingredients. We're a little bit superstitious 310 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:52,160 with the Bible, aren't we? Read verses here and there and 311 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:55,280 just to start applying them to our lives, hoping for a 312 00:20:55,280 --> 00:21:00,760 blessing. But here you can understand 313 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:03,920 mourning, can't you, for a second here? 314 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:08,320 And and how was fasting connected to morning? 315 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:15,160 Well, when you get a call on the phone that so and so has been in 316 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:21,280 an accident or a family member's sick or someone has passed away, 317 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:25,680 do you immediately start thinking about food right then 318 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:30,160 and there? No, you're sick to your stomach. 319 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:34,840 Your food is the furthest thing away from you that you are 320 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:38,320 thinking about when you get the bad news right. 321 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:43,720 That's the type of fasting that's most often talked about 322 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:47,720 in the Old Testament. When you get the bad news that 323 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:53,480 hey, you've sinned against God, there are consequences. 324 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:59,720 There is judgment coming. There is a you should, you 325 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:04,880 should mourn over your own rebelliousness. 326 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:08,880 And that's the type of fasting that the Old Testament is 327 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:14,600 talking about most of the time. And I'm pretty sure we as a 328 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:19,160 church probably aren't fasting that way much often. 329 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:23,880 But if you want to fast, fast in repentance and mourning. 330 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:28,120 I mean, I'm not saying you can't fast for non religious reasons. 331 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:30,880 You know, you can fast for your health or do intermittent 332 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:33,320 fasting, things like that. If there's nothing wrong with 333 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,320 that, there probably is health benefits to it. 334 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,800 But what I'm saying is, is that we need to understand why things 335 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:43,040 are in scripture and quit applying them to our lives. 336 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:46,840 If it's some kind of legalistic superstitious blessing that 337 00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:50,720 we're trying to get from God. That's what happens with 338 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,560 religion. Got whole religions made-up of 339 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:56,240 this type of stuff. And I could go on and on 340 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,200 pointing out, you know, kind of the charismatic movement and all 341 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:03,680 that other stuff as well. But we have to protect, we got 342 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:10,080 to understand scripture. And he also says we're not 343 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:11,600 supposed to be hypocrites about it. 344 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:14,840 We we looked at the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says when 345 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,480 you do it, you shouldn't be like the hypocrites, like the 346 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:23,720 Pharisees, don't be like them, but we got to get these things 347 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:27,760 right. So coming back to our text, 348 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:31,560 they're saying, why isn't Jesus doing the things that we are 349 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:34,720 doing? And Jesus is saying, because I'm 350 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:38,400 the God of the Scriptures and I'm coming to tell you what that 351 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:42,200 actually meant and what this means, that I'm standing before 352 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:44,000 you. And what Jesus is going to say 353 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:45,920 in this next section is my next point. 354 00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:50,840 God with us is cause for celebration. 355 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,880 Why would why would we be fasting and mourning if God 356 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:02,320 himself has come down to earth and he's here and he's providing 357 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:05,040 and he's forgiving and he's healing and he's doing all these 358 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:09,320 miracles? This is time for joy, not for 359 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:14,200 gloomy mourning. Here's what he says. 360 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,000 You said to them. Can the wedding guests mourn as 361 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,320 long as the bridegroom is with them? 362 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:24,840 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from 363 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:31,400 them and then they will fast. This is interesting here. 364 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:34,200 This is why I've titled it Don't miss the wedding. 365 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:40,640 Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom. 366 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,280 Now, what is this? Just some analogy? 367 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:48,400 Like he's like, Oh, you guys are very familiar with weddings and 368 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:53,280 and, you know, at a wedding, nobody fasts at a wedding. 369 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,720 Why would you fast at a wedding? That's ridiculous, right? 370 00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:00,040 You might fast all the way up into the wedding so you can look 371 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,560 the best you possibly can, right, to fit into that suit or 372 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:08,880 whatever. But when you have the wedding, 373 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:13,040 it's a feast. It's a celebration. 374 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:19,800 Yeah, that logically makes sense, but it's even deeper than 375 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:23,920 that. In the Old Testament, a time and 376 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:30,920 time again, God himself is referred to as the husband of 377 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:33,640 Israel, the bridegroom of Israel. 378 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:40,240 And Isaiah used the very word bridegroom, but more, more other 379 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,680 words that are related to that being the groom of the bride. 380 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:45,520 What? That's what that means that God 381 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:55,440 is is the husband of his people. There's a an illustration of the 382 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,360 relationship that that God has with his people and it's through 383 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,520 weddings and it's through marriage and that by the way, 384 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:05,160 you're married person here today or even if you're not. 385 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:09,400 That is the number one most important thing about marriage 386 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,760 is that it's an illustration of God and the church and that 387 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:17,640 should rule and govern how you treat your spouse or your future 388 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:20,440 spouse. It's not just about the other 389 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:24,480 person can take care of your needs and this and that and the 390 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:28,520 most important thing is that a wedding is a walking analogy 391 00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:32,920 illustration of God's love for his people, a covenant that 392 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:38,600 cannot be broken, a promise and love fulfilled. 393 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:43,600 But this is good news. Nobody's fasting at a wedding. 394 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:48,000 And, and and Jesus takes this time to say, yeah, I'm the 395 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:51,520 bridegroom. What does that mean? 396 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:55,880 He's saying I'm God. I am the God of the Old 397 00:26:55,880 --> 00:27:01,680 Testament that has now come to you, Israel, and you're not even 398 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,480 getting it. You're still fasting, you're 399 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,720 still mourning. You haven't experienced the joy 400 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:12,280 of my presence of coming in, going on in in that that part 401 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,920 where I was talking about where John the Baptist was telling his 402 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:19,280 friends that they weren't getting it. 403 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:24,880 He says this about Jesus. The one who has the bride is the 404 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,480 bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who 405 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:31,360 stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's 406 00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:34,680 voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is 407 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:39,880 now complete. We should be joyful. 408 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,920 That's what that's what the Pharisees and and even John's 409 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:52,920 confused followers missed. The joy of the Lord has here the 410 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:56,400 Messiah had come. This is the good news. 411 00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:01,120 All the judgment in the morning can stop because the promise has 412 00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:06,520 been fulfilled that he's come to save them, to take away their 413 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:16,790 sins. You know, again, I'm guilty of 414 00:28:16,790 --> 00:28:20,200 this, but you know, when you have something as big as a 415 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:26,560 wedding or a party or holiday parties with your family, isn't 416 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:29,960 the the killjoy of the party, the one that's on a diet, by the 417 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:31,840 way, they just won't eat anything. 418 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,480 You know that that all with all these people put all this effort 419 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:39,240 into cooking all this great food and and someone's over there all 420 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:42,680 like sucked up face like I can't eat anything. 421 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:45,800 That was me. I've done that before. 422 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,320 I've probably, you know, been the killjoy at many parties. 423 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:54,440 But there's no joy in that right, like feasting and food. 424 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:58,400 And it is it's it often is connected with celebration 425 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,960 because we're celebrating the joy that we have in Jesus 426 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:10,040 Christ. So back-to-back to the verse 427 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:13,960 again, it says in Jesus, he, he said to them, can wedding guests 428 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,320 mourn? Again, He applies that word 429 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:21,080 mourning to fasting. He knows that fasting is about 430 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:23,160 mourning. As long as the bridegroom is 431 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:25,080 with them. The days will come when the 432 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:31,240 bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast. 433 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:39,680 What does that mean? Well, Jesus is God with us. 434 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:43,720 Emmanuel means God with us. And when he came to earth, He 435 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:45,920 was fulfilling that name, God with us. 436 00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:49,560 But even in Matthew 2820 when he ascended to heaven, he said, I 437 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:52,800 will be with you always to the end of the age. 438 00:29:53,280 --> 00:30:02,720 So God is always with us. But in this time period, in a 439 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:05,320 moment of time, what he was saying was true. 440 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:10,760 There will be a time of scary deep darkness of mourning and 441 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:12,960 confusion that people aren't going to understand. 442 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:17,080 He's going to be taken away again. 443 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:21,160 This fulfills something that he was trying to teach them that 444 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:26,960 the prophet Isaiah said prophet Isaiah and the most the most 445 00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:33,000 Christocentric or the most the the chapter that has the most 446 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:36,680 prophecy of Christ's crucifixion. 447 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:41,920 The Gospel of Isaiah in chapter 53 verse 8. 448 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:47,080 It says by oppression and judgment he was taken away and 449 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:50,320 As for his generation who considered that he was cut off 450 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,040 out of the land of the living stricken for the transgression 451 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:57,680 of my people. Jesus was telling them right 452 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:01,400 then and there there's a party I've come the the wedding has 453 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,440 started or at least the engagement. 454 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:08,400 It's not fully consummated till he comes back again. 455 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,920 But this has started with my first coming. 456 00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:17,080 But he will be taken away and he's saying he will be killed. 457 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:27,280 So if we are to fast then it would be because we're sick of 458 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:31,120 not seeing Jesus face to face. It would be sick. 459 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:35,480 It would because we are sick of this world. 460 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:40,040 It would be like the the writer of Revelation, John. 461 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,560 Some of his last words were Come, Lord Jesus, come. 462 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:49,520 We're not fasting to manipulate God in our prayers or to do it 463 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:53,960 as a religious activity. We would be fasting because we 464 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:59,640 are longing for the bridegroom to come back. 465 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:02,040 And here's a beautiful thing about this. 466 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:06,720 He gave us a promise in John 14. He says in my father's house are 467 00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:10,000 many rooms. If it were not so, would I have 468 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,320 told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 469 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:16,400 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and 470 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:20,840 we'll take you to myself. That where I am, you may be 471 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:23,360 also. What he was saying in there was 472 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:25,600 he was giving another analogy of this. 473 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:30,960 I'm your, I am. I am, I'm in a a covenant 474 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:35,240 relationship with you, but the marriage isn't consummated yet 475 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:40,120 because what I need to go do is go back and prepare a place for 476 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:42,760 you. Like a husband would go and 477 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:47,480 build a house for his wife that they could go live happily ever 478 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,160 after, right? We've got to prepare a place 479 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:55,280 where we can go live together and start a family and and enjoy 480 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:59,080 each other. And Jesus is saying that that's 481 00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:03,800 what he's doing in heaven right now, preparing a place for us. 482 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:10,200 The groom of the church coming to get his bride one day. 483 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:14,040 And it's such a beautiful thing. Revelation 19. 484 00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:18,600 It says there's going to be this great feasting again at the 485 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:21,640 marriage supper of the Lamb. Write this, Blessed are those 486 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:25,000 who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. 487 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:28,560 And he said to me, these are the true words of God. 488 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:37,320 There is going to be another party again soon, church, and we 489 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:44,480 can look forward to that. This is what Jesus is saying 490 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:47,880 here in these words. He's telling them that he's God. 491 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:51,080 He's telling them that he's the Messiah, the Savior that has 492 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,760 come, that you've got some things wrong, You've 493 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:56,040 misunderstood the whole Old Testament. 494 00:33:56,200 --> 00:34:00,800 And so I want to end with this last kind of take away point 495 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:05,600 here. The old system is fulfilled in 496 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,239 the new covenant, and there's no going back. 497 00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:17,239 Augustine, who was in a 4th century, 5th century theologian, 498 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:20,560 very brilliant. Some people think he was one of 499 00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:23,679 the greatest theologians of the Christian Church before it. 500 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:30,440 It got kind of messed up into the dark ages and then some 501 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,400 people recovered some of his teachings and not say any. 502 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:36,679 He said all the right things because he had some other weird 503 00:34:36,679 --> 00:34:38,520 teachings as well. And that's where I'm saying 504 00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:41,239 don't follow a person, follow Jesus Christ. 505 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:44,760 But when where people are right, we can acknowledge that. 506 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:49,360 And here's what Agustin said, kind of along the lines of the 507 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:54,040 point that I'm trying to make. He said the old the Old 508 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:58,200 Testament is in the New Testament revealed and the new 509 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:04,800 is in the old concealed. As Christians, if we want to 510 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:08,880 know God and what he wants from us and how to live, we need to 511 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:13,920 know the entire Bible. OK, but we don't get to go read 512 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:17,560 the Old Testament without knowing what the New Testament 513 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:21,960 already says. And we don't go read the New 514 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:27,280 Testament without understanding all of the fulfillments of what 515 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:31,560 it meant in the Old Testament. We need to know the entire Bible 516 00:35:31,720 --> 00:35:35,600 to know the whole counsel of God so that we can know God, we can 517 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:42,280 worship God, and we can be amazed at what He's done in the 518 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:47,840 New Covenant. Let's go to the text. 519 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:54,800 He gives us 2 analogies, and these analogies are a little bit 520 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:56,760 hard to understand at first glance. 521 00:35:56,760 --> 00:36:00,000 I think people have looked at these and been puzzled for a 522 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:06,000 long time about them. But let's ask the Holy Spirit to 523 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:12,360 help us through these analogies. Here He says, no one puts a 524 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:17,200 piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment for the patch tears 525 00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:20,640 away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 526 00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:23,960 Neither is new wine put into old wine skins. 527 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:27,400 If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the 528 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:32,120 skins are destroyed, but new wine is put into fresh wine 529 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:41,720 skins and so both are preserved. OK, so this imagery of you've 530 00:36:41,720 --> 00:36:48,320 got an old piece of clothing. How many hate it when your 531 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:52,320 clothes get shrunk because of the dryer, right? 532 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:55,600 Not because we ate too much and haven't been faster enough, but 533 00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:59,080 because of the dryer or whatever the, the, the clothes are 534 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:02,920 shrunk. That's what he's getting at is 535 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:07,520 clothes overtime shrink. They, they, they, they expand 536 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:12,360 and contract. And if that piece of cloth gets 537 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:18,160 a hole in it, you don't, Wisdom says you don't go take a brand 538 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:23,520 new piece of cloth and sew it around it, because then when it 539 00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:27,360 is washed again and again and again, what's going to happen? 540 00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:29,400 They're expanding and contracting at different rates. 541 00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:32,800 It's going to tear a hole. It doesn't fit. 542 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,040 It's not going to fix the problem. 543 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,640 That's what it's saying. This patch is not going to fix 544 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:44,760 the problem. Same thing with the the the wine 545 00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:47,920 in the wineskins there. But he's telling kind of a he's 546 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:53,480 making the same point with two, two analogies with new wine. 547 00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:58,360 Well, let's let's say this with old wine skins. 548 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:03,760 They they're old and brittle and they've already been expanded. 549 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:08,640 There's some kind of scientific magic that happens with new wine 550 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:15,000 put into a new wine skin where how you're going to preserve 551 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,920 wine in the olden days was it was like the the organ or the 552 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:24,640 flesh of an animal sewn together that made a vessel and it was 553 00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:28,480 basically watertight and you would pour wine into it. 554 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:33,160 And then anybody who's a wine drinker, I'm not a wine drinker, 555 00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:38,920 but I know that it's always best after it's been aged, all right? 556 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:41,320 The more it ages, the better it tastes. 557 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:47,440 And so you're aging the wine in this wineskin, this vessel. 558 00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:50,040 And this is where the magic happens with the science. 559 00:38:50,240 --> 00:38:55,480 You know, where the gases from the wine fermenting, because 560 00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:58,760 it's fermenting more and more in the grapes of fermenting, it 561 00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:02,880 causes a gas, it causes an expansion in this vessel. 562 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:06,880 And now it's puffed up and now the wineskin has reached its 563 00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:11,400 kind of Max capacity. It starts to harden and now it's 564 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:14,720 it's preserved in that wines going to be good for years down 565 00:39:14,720 --> 00:39:20,200 the road. But if you take an old wineskin 566 00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:23,680 that's already been stretched and cracked and the gases have 567 00:39:23,680 --> 00:39:27,200 already caused it to harden and all of that, and you put new 568 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:30,320 wine into it, hoping that's going to preserve the wine, 569 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:33,720 what's going to happen? It's going to further expand and 570 00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:36,520 it's going to burst. OK, Hopefully that makes sense 571 00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:39,000 to you. Maybe I'm just saying this 572 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:42,000 because it's making more sense to me as we're speaking. 573 00:39:44,720 --> 00:39:50,920 Going back to the point then, that that the old system is 574 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:54,320 fulfilled in the new covenant and there's no going back. 575 00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:02,360 This is talking about our faith in Christ, Christ in the new 576 00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:07,000 covenant, the gospel that he came to take away sins. 577 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:11,320 There's a new system. There's no more need for all of 578 00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:17,320 the sacrifices in the temple and to following the 613 commands of 579 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:20,720 the law in the Old Testament. It was all pointing to Jesus. 580 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:24,840 It was all pointing to this perfect sacrifice. 581 00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:29,600 But what he's telling them is you can't keep your old system 582 00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:35,640 and take the new revelation of Christ and put it in that 583 00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:39,480 without changing it and it ruining the whole thing. 584 00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:42,840 They don't go together. It's not compatible. 585 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:48,480 If you're trying to keep the old system without understanding who 586 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:53,240 Christ is. You cannot put Christ into the 587 00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:56,440 old misunderstood legalistic system. 588 00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:01,120 He's come to make it obsolete. Hebrews tells us the new 589 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:04,880 covenant makes the old covenant obsolete. 590 00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:14,360 The Son, Jesus Christ came and he did that for us. 591 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:19,160 We have the Holy Spirit now in our hearts that convicts our 592 00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:22,120 minds to know and to the will of God. 593 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:28,560 They didn't have that then. Everybody was so confused and 594 00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:32,240 Jesus is saying if you're going to hang on to this old way of 595 00:41:32,240 --> 00:41:35,600 thinking and even your misunderstandings of it and try 596 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:41,080 to add me in there, you're going to burst. 597 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:44,120 That's almost talking about judgment. 598 00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:52,280 If you add legalism or keep legalism with the grace of Jesus 599 00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:56,200 Christ by faith alone, salvation, if you add legalism 600 00:41:56,200 --> 00:42:00,280 to it, you will eventually burst from that. 601 00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:03,560 You will be judged at the end of your life or whenever He comes 602 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:06,320 back. You will not be in the faith. 603 00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:12,760 There will be a great tear. That's a warning. 604 00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:22,800 We as Christians are the the wineskins that should be aging 605 00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:28,240 with joy, with the joy of the Lord that he's come to fill us 606 00:42:28,240 --> 00:42:33,440 up with his new covenant. This was always talked about in 607 00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:36,320 the Old Testament. By the way, look at Jeremiah 608 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:41,600 3131. He says, behold, the days are 609 00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:44,400 coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with 610 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:46,000 the House of Israel in the House of Judah. 611 00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:49,120 Not like the covenant that I made with your father's on the 612 00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:52,640 day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of 613 00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:55,160 Egypt. My covenant that they broke 614 00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:59,680 though I was their husband declares the Lord right there. 615 00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:08,000 The bridegroom analogy, Jesus is making sure that they understand 616 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:10,640 that all these Old Testament scriptures are being fulfilled 617 00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:13,720 and is standing right there. I'm the husband you should be 618 00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:15,840 celebrating. You shouldn't be fasting or 619 00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:19,760 mourning and holding on to this old covenant because I've come 620 00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:22,160 with a new covenant. And then he goes on to say, For 621 00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:24,600 this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel 622 00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:26,040 after those days, declares the Lord. 623 00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:29,680 I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts, 624 00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:32,880 and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 625 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:36,600 No longer shall each one teach his neighbor, and each his 626 00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:40,000 brother, saying, know the Lord, for they will all know me from 627 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:41,800 the least to the greatest, declares the Lord. 628 00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:46,040 For I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin 629 00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:52,480 no more. The covenant in the Old 630 00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:58,560 Testament was just a shadow of the things that God was going to 631 00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:05,160 do and fulfill in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10 tells us this over 632 00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:07,880 and over again. You see that word shadow, and 633 00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:13,960 actually I think I have it in in Colossians 217. 634 00:44:13,960 --> 00:44:18,120 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance 635 00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:23,360 belongs to Christ. In Hebrews 10 it says, For since 636 00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:27,000 the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of 637 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:30,400 the true form of these realities, it can never, by the 638 00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:33,480 same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, 639 00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:35,000 make perfect those who draw near. 640 00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:40,160 We need to quit looking at the Old Testament without 641 00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:45,000 understanding the new and trying to pull out principles and pull 642 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:50,280 out rules and pull out demands and laws that we're always just 643 00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:54,840 pointing to Jesus Christ. But this is what legalistic 644 00:44:54,840 --> 00:44:59,200 religion does. And I know this is kind of a 645 00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:04,120 history lesson, but this is very prevalent in our day and age in 646 00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:08,120 the communities that we live in, but also internally in the 647 00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:12,560 churches as well. In Christ's churches, legalism 648 00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:15,760 happens because of misunderstanding of looking at 649 00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:20,360 words by themselves or paragraph or sentences by themselves and 650 00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:23,040 piercing together this these theologies. 651 00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:28,880 They misunderstand that Jesus came for sinners. 652 00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:33,400 Like we talked about last week, He did all the work of 653 00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:35,120 fulfilling the Old Testament law. 654 00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:39,560 He never broke one of those laws or commands while he was here 655 00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:46,880 and he willingly submitted himself to the cross to be the 656 00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:50,880 sacrifice of all of these sacrifices that were that were 657 00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:55,040 pointing ultimately to his. He's the lamb. 658 00:45:55,040 --> 00:45:57,840 This is we talked about the marriage supper of the lamb. 659 00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:01,520 It was most, most of the time a lamb, a perfect spotless lamb 660 00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:05,240 that was sacrificed for once a year for the sins of the people. 661 00:46:05,240 --> 00:46:09,280 And Jesus is that perfect, spotless lamb that Hebrews tells 662 00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:14,480 us once and for all time. He was the sacrifice for the 663 00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:22,800 sins of all of us. But don't misunderstand the Old 664 00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:25,600 Testament. Don't misunderstand the New 665 00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:29,480 Testament. Don't miss the wedding. 666 00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:37,120 Don't fall for other people's legalistic standards when it 667 00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:42,000 comes to salvation either. In this passage in Colossians 668 00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:46,720 217, it says, Therefore let no one pass judgment on you and 669 00:46:46,720 --> 00:46:49,840 questions of food and drink, or with regard to festival or new 670 00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:54,600 moon or Sabbath. It says You were dead in your 671 00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:58,160 trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh God 672 00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:02,480 made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our 673 00:47:02,480 --> 00:47:06,400 trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood 674 00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:11,960 against us with its legal demands, He set aside nailing it 675 00:47:12,120 --> 00:47:16,640 to the cross. All of the requirements of the 676 00:47:16,640 --> 00:47:21,600 law are fulfilled in Jesus Christ and everywhere Where we 677 00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:26,600 broke those, Christ died for those. 678 00:47:27,440 --> 00:47:30,880 So faith in him alone, not by adding a bunch of religious 679 00:47:31,440 --> 00:47:35,560 works or laws to it, but Him alone. 680 00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:40,240 You will not miss the wedding if you believe that brother or 681 00:47:40,240 --> 00:47:42,160 sister. And if you're here today and 682 00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:44,840 you've been so confused about all of this, I know that even 683 00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:50,120 today, probably confusing still, but one thing I hope and pray 684 00:47:50,120 --> 00:47:55,720 for you is that you would simply see that Jesus Christ is God in 685 00:47:55,720 --> 00:47:57,800 the flesh who came 2000 years ago. 686 00:47:58,440 --> 00:48:02,600 God has a holy standard that all humans should live by, but they 687 00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:05,000 can't, and they couldn't, and they've rebelled and they've 688 00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:08,080 sinned. But Jesus Christ, sent from God, 689 00:48:08,080 --> 00:48:13,640 is the one and only person who can take away your sins. 690 00:48:14,520 --> 00:48:16,960 He took them on the cross. He rose from the third day. 691 00:48:17,080 --> 00:48:21,920 And by faith in him alone can you be made right with God and 692 00:48:21,920 --> 00:48:24,560 be with him forever. Let's pray. 693 00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:34,640 Lord, thank you. Thank you for revealing more 694 00:48:34,640 --> 00:48:37,520 truth to us. And it always comes back to 695 00:48:37,600 --> 00:48:38,880 Jesus. Always. 696 00:48:38,880 --> 00:48:41,680 The whole Bible is centered around Jesus Christ. 697 00:48:41,680 --> 00:48:47,360 If if we ever center our our our learning and our teaching on 698 00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:50,240 anything else other than the cross of Christ, Lord, we've 699 00:48:50,240 --> 00:48:55,320 missed the way. But here you've graciously keep 700 00:48:55,320 --> 00:49:00,440 bringing us back to the cross to Jesus Christ and it's as deep as 701 00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:05,080 we want to go. It doesn't just stay milk for 702 00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:10,480 the the new people or the brand new believers, but it is it is a 703 00:49:10,520 --> 00:49:16,480 full course meal of what it means that God came in the flesh 704 00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:19,640 to die for us and we will never quit talking about it. 705 00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:22,720 Father, help us to continue.