Old Whiners Or New Wineskins? Series

There are times to fast, but even when you fast, you shouldn’t lose your joy. Joy is your birthright as a child of God. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of chili; it was red stew with beans—we call that chili. The devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy. He wants to kill your joy, steal your birthright, and destroy your testimony. Don’t make a deal with the devil. Satan can’t rob you of your salvation, but he will try to steal the joy of your salvation. Guard it carefully. Don’t let him steal your joy.

2. A NEW PATCH WILL RUIN AN OLD GARMENT

Today we have developed all kinds of synthetic fabrics that don’t shrink when washed. In Jesus’ time, new cloth would always shrink after the first few times it was washed. A person wearing a new garment had to make sure it was a couple of sizes too large so over time, the garment would shrink down to the right size. Garments were often torn or moth-eaten so they were constantly repaired. If you had an old robe with a hole in it, it would be foolish to sew a new patch of cloth on it. Obviously, when it was washed, the new patch would shrink, but the old cloth would stay the same. Rrrrriiiiipp! That was just good common sense back then. It would have ruined the new patch and the old garment. But let’s take a deeper look from just the surface meaning. What is Jesus teaching?

Personal application: Jesus doesn’t just patch up your old life; He gives you a new life!

In this parable, the old garment was the Old Testament—the Old Covenant, what we would call “the law.” Jesus was saying He didn’t just come to improve the Old Covenant—He came to replace it with something totally new. There was no way His new covenant could be used to “patch up” the old one. The Pharisees were threatened by this because their religion was based upon keeping the law instead of living under grace.

Some people think they’re pretty good and only need Jesus to just “patch up” some problem areas of their lives. Most men love duct tape. Someone said that all a man need to be happy is duct tape and WD-40. If it moves and shouldn’t, use the duct tape. If it doesn’t move and should, use the WD-40. But the truth is Jesus didn’t come to put duct tape on your heart. He came to give you a new heart.

When Jesus comes into your life, His goal is not to reform you. His purpose is to transform you. We are all sinners by nature and by choice. To try to “fix” our sinful character is like sewing a new un-shrunk patch on an old garment—rrrrriiiiipp! In our first birth (physical) we were deformed by sin. That’s why Jesus says we need a new birth (spiritual). The Bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

A hillbilly mother had nine or ten children. One of her boys fell down on a new blacktop road and was covered in tar. He was a mess. His mother was outside trying to clean the sticky tar off of him and said, “I declare, Tom, it would be easier just have another one than to clean you up!” That’s like us. Jesus doesn’t just try to clean our old hearts up; He gives us a new heart.