The Parable Of The Old Garments And Old Wineskins Series

Dr. Bradford Reaves

CrossWay Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD

www.mycrossway.org

We are continuing on with our study of the parables of Jesus. This fascinating study has discovered some remarkable truths of the Kingdom of God. We've also learned about the significance of adequately interpreting these parables. Having the proper context of how these parables were applied gives us better application into the theological implications of studying these parables in our own lives. Today's parable is like many other of the parables Jesus presents. On the surface, we find a simple illustration, but digging into it gives us a wealth of understanding. Let us read it together in Luke chapter 5, starting in verse 33 and continuing to the end of the chapter.

33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, spill it, and destroy the skins. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” (Luke 5:33–39)

The goal of the gospel is a message of forgiveness through the work of Jesus Christ alone, apart from our works. The gospel, as presented by Jesus, is unique in its own sense. Therefore, by its very nature, it is incompatible with any other religious system in the world, including Judaism of Jesus’s day you cannot mix the gospel into other religious, political, cultural, or other social constructs. It accommodates no other religion. It is absolutely exclusive.

Being a Christian means that we abandon all other religious systems and especially the idolatry. Salvation is through faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone. When Jesus came, he wasn't offering himself an addition to 1st-century Judaism or any pluralism; he didn't come to blend himself in with whatever was in the heart of man. Jesus came to turn man's heart toward God and atone for man's sins once and for all. With that, he absolved all legalistic means of coming to God. As Gentile Christians, we do not add Jewish feasts or traditions to our life in Christ. We abandon everything for Christ. The same will be said for all Jews. They are not adding Christ to their Judaism, rather Christ has fulfilled the entirety of the law for their salvation.

God came to save sinners, all sinners.

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned (Romans 5:12)

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, (1 Timothy 2:5)

1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1–2)

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

All of these things convey the significance and the solidarity of the gospel and the believer's life. It is not compatible with any other religious construct. Available with any idol, spirituality, or religion. God will not share his throne in heaven and he will not share his throne in your heart.

This is where the hostility began between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day. If you go back to the earlier parts of Luke's gospel, you will find that Jesus was connecting with sinners in Israel. He forgave sins, healed sinners, and made them his disciples. These were people hated by the religious elites of Jesus' day. And the more Jesus connected with these people, the greater his influence all over Judea.

The reason was that the religious leaders were self-righteous. To everyone, that self-righteousness was the way to appease and please God. Meanwhile, Jesus was associating with so-called sinners. He was eating in the houses of tax collectors and sitting among prostitutes. This wasn't an endorsement of sin but a means to connect the gospel to the hearts of those who needed it the most. And so he gained the title of being a friend of sinners and tax collectors. Not to identify with the sin, but as a means of being a salvation from the sin.