The Radical Messiah

Take your Bibles and open them to our text for this morning, Luke chapter 5.

Luke chapter 5 and find verse 27 and I'm going to read from verse 27 to the end of the chapter. That's our text for this morning, Luke chapter 5, 27 through 39.

Luke writes, After these things he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi. That would be Matthew, of course.

Sitting at the tax office and he said to him, follow me. So he left all, rose up and followed him.

Then Levi gave him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against his disciples saying, Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

Jesus answered and said to them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Then they said to him, Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, 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?

But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days. 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 into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.

But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new.

For he says, The old is better. Now, you might at first think that what we have here are a number of kind of unrelated stories.

I mean, certainly all this is happening at the same time, but how can we put all of these things together into one particular theme? And I would suggest to you here in the front end, and I hope it will be clear to you as we go along, and that we have the same theme running through this entire kind of collection of some stories in the life of Jesus in relation to Matthew.

You see, when you read the Gospels, Luke is one of them. We have four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. When you read through the Gospels, there's one thing that becomes apparent, and really very clear.

And it is that in nearly every single way, Jesus is radically different from what the Jews were expecting in their Messiah.

Have you noticed that when you're reading the Gospels? I mean, herein maybe defines to one extent or another, though there are other features of this, of course, it defines the conflict that was always there from almost the beginning of his ministry all the way through and certainly to the end.

I mean, Jesus did not fit the bill. They were looking for the Messiah, and he just didn't fit it. That is, their conception of who the Messiah would be and what he had come to do and what he would preach and all of these things.

He just did not fit that mold, that paradigm, or whatever term you want to use. Nothing about his ministry matched their hopes and their expectations.

They were not looking for a carpenter or the son of a carpenter. What were they looking for? They were looking for a ruler. And they were not looking for a Savior, which is what Jesus had come to do and did do.

They were not looking for a Savior. They were looking for a ruler. And they were not looking for some preacher, a preacher of righteousness. They were, rather, looking for a king.

I mean, listen, dear folks, we need to understand that the Jews were looking for a, quote, son of David, of the lineage of David, who would come and seize the throne of Israel and defeat their enemies, their oppressors, in this time period, the Romans.

And then, not only that, but then he would come and restore Israel to her glory days. That's what they were looking for. Like the days of King David, their most beloved king.

They had no use for a preacher of righteousness. None whatsoever. Why? Because in their own eyes, they were already righteous. They had no need for a Savior from sin.

Because, again, in their own eyes, they had no sin. They had no sin whatsoever. And therefore, they needed not to repent. But, and here's the point of the text.

You put it all together and you see this theme running throughout. Here's the point. Jesus came to do something radically different than what they were expecting, what they were wanting to see.

How he came into the world was radically different, of course. Who he came as, the son of a carpenter, son of a peasant family. The way he lived in life certainly was very radical to them.

What he preached and what he demanded, all of it, all of it, and many more things I could mention. Radical. Radical. See, Jesus did not come.

This is what, where the problem was. He did not come to validate and support what the Jews believed in. He didn't come to do that.

Jesus came to do something brand new. And he did that. In fact, and let me give you just a little taste of this and later we'll flesh this out. But look at verse 39, the very last verse of the chapter.

Jesus said to these Pharisees, he said, and no one, now pay close attention to what he's saying. It's very interesting. And, as we'll see later, frightening.

He said, no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, the old is better. Now, what is he talking about? Well, in the first place, when he refers to the new and old, he's not, this is not a reference to the old and New Testament, New Testament, Old, it's not a comparison of the New Testament with the Old Testament, that somehow the new is better, the old is bad, the new is right, the old is wrong.

That's not the reference here. So don't, just get out of your minds right now that he's talking about the Old and New Testament here. Not talking about that. Jesus is comparing two ways of salvation that existed in the world in his day and still exists today.

He is referencing these two new ways, the new way and the old way, in a sense, the gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, that's the new way, or a new wine, and Judaism's system of salvation by works of righteousness or works of merit or, and also combined with all these external rituals and so forth, that's the old wine.

So that's what he's talking about here. And sadly, this old wine is what Judaism had degenerated into by the time that Christ came into this world.

They were literally drunk with it. They were drunk with a works righteousness theology. So drunk with it that they did not desire the new.

To them, the old was better. Now that kind of sets the stage here for what's going on throughout this entire text. They were drunk with self-righteousness.

A works salvation. So drunk with it that they not only could not see the new, but they had no desire for it.

Now, I would ask you at this point, what has changed today? Nothing. Nothing. If anything, Jesus Christ and true biblical Christianity has become even more radical in the eyes of the world at large.

Radical. Francis Schaeffer called it the scandal of the cross. He said, the true scandal is that however faithful and clearly one preaches the gospel, at a certain point the world, because of its rebellion, will turn from it.

Men turn away not because what is said makes no sense, but because they do not want to bow before the God who is there. The scandal of the cross.

Now, here's the rub. Christianity, true biblical Christianity, preaches an exclusive gospel.

Do you know that? It's an exclusive gospel, an exclusive way of salvation. And here is the rub.

We're preaching an exclusive gospel to an inclusive world. And inclusive, certainly that would characterize our culture, but really it characterizes the world of man.

An inclusive culture. Now, I say inclusive in this sense, inclusive in, that is, of every religion other than biblical Christianity. Alright?

That's excluded. But inclusive of every other form, every other religion, every other way to, salvation in whatever way a person understands that or conceptualizes that.

They're inclusive to any and every way. But we preach an exclusive gospel.

Jesus perhaps defined it in the best way, most concise way in all of Scripture in John 14 and verse 6. You know the verse, but let me expand it a little bit.

Jesus, here's the exclusive gospel, Jesus is the one and only way, the one and only truth, the one and only life, and absolutely no one comes to the Father but by Him.

Now, that's very exclusive, isn't it? And too exclusive for our culture. all the various ways of salvation, I think, can be grouped together under two.

The religion of human achievement, merit, works, that's one way in the world's eyes.

The other is the religion of divine accomplishment. just put it down just like that. Those are the two ways. The religion of human achievement, to somehow please God, appease God, somehow pay for your own sins, somehow make yourself worthy, somehow merit God's salvation, His blessing.

That's the religion of human achievement or the religion of divine accomplishment, the cross, grace. Now, both of these ways promise salvation, but only one can deliver.

Only one. And that is, of course, the religion of divine accomplishment, the cross of Christ. Now, that is at the heart of the conflict between Jesus and the Jewish leadership in our text for this morning.

The Jews were satisfied, again, literally drunk, according to Jesus' metaphor, drunk with their religion of human achievement, and along comes this radical would-be Messiah, and they're about to butt heads with Him and will continue to butt heads with Him until they finally have Him crucified.

Let's see just how radical Jesus was to them and is today. Let me just give you the outline on the front end.

first, here's how radical our Messiah is. First of all, Jesus allows no rival. No rival to Him.

No rival to His absolute lordship over your life. He allows no rival. That's very radical. Second, Jesus allows no denial.

That is, no denial of personal utter sinfulness. And third, Jesus allows no equal. No equal to the one and only gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone.

No equal to it. No rival, no denial, no equal. So first, Jesus allows no rival. The story here, of course, opens with Jesus calling Levi to be one of His disciples.

He's calling Levi. That, again, of course, is Matthew. And so look at verse 27 again. After these things, He went out and saw a tax collector. The King James has the word publican.

That's kind of just a crossover from the Greek language. It's a tax collector named Levi, Matthew, sitting at the tax office. Now, I want to stop right there for just a moment, because Jesus' selection, you ought to know that Jesus' selection of Matthew to be one of His disciples was a hugely radical thing for Him to do.

Right? A publican. And I'm sure you have some knowledge of what a publican was and how serious and how hated he was among Jewish people.

They hated him because, see, tax collectors Republicans were Jews, of course, and these Jews were selected by the hated Roman government, their oppressors, their masters, and so they were selected by the Roman government to collect the taxes for the empire, and these tax collectors were given not only the authority to collect the required number of taxes, but they were also given an authority, the authority of the empire, to collect over and above the required number of taxes, and therefore make a huge profit.

And they did, most of them. In fact, most tax collectors in this day became quite wealthy. You might remember one particular tax collector the Bible tells us about, Zacchaeus. Remember him in Luke chapter 19?

The Bible says of him that he was rich. That is, he was an incredibly wealthy man. And we have some sense of just how wealthy he was by what he did after he was converted.

Do you remember he said, I give half of everything I have to the poor, and all those that I have swindled, have cheated, give back what I cheated fourfold.

Now, he had to have a lot of wealth in order to do that, right? He was a wealthy man. What made him rich? He collected extra taxes from the people, from his own people, you see.

And so, is it any wonder that the Jewish people hated tax collectors? They equated tax collectors with sinners. In fact, a bit later, they are going to separate tax collectors from sinners, not because they want to elevate them above sinners, it's because they have put them below sinners.

They're the worst of sinners to the Jews. They were traitors to their own nation. They were extortionists, criminals in their eyes, and they were among the worst of sinners in the Jewish mind.

And who does Jesus select to be one of his disciples? Ultimately, he's going to select him as one of his twelve apostles. Matthew, a publican, a tax collector, radical, right?

Very radical to be sure, but the most radical part of this part of the story comes next. Look at it. And he said to him, follow me.

And this, I think, is Luke's summation of a larger conversation that Jesus had with Matthew. I don't think he just simply said that.

Matthew had already heard the gospel apparently, or maybe Jesus had shared the gospel with him, and he concludes that with a call to follow him, which he did, right? He responded with obedient faith.

But here's the radical part of it. So he left all, rose up, got up from his tax collector's booth there, left it, rose up, and followed him.

A radical response. And that is exactly what Jesus demanded of him. follow me. You see, a radical, he demanded of Matthew a radical abandonment of everything in his life that would compete with his complete allegiance to Jesus Christ.

That's what Jesus demanded of Matthew. Let me say that again. A radical abandonment of everything in his life, everything in his life that would compete with his complete allegiance to Jesus Christ.

That's what he was called to abandon. Jesus would allow no rival in Matthew's life. No rival at all. Similar thing is found earlier in Luke.

We touched on this passage earlier, though didn't dwell on this part of it, but the same thing happened with Peter and Andrew and I think James and John, the fishermen. Jesus said, follow me, and they left the fish, the nets, the boats, their father, the family, everything, and followed him.

Same kind of message. Jesus allows no rival. Now, the mistake we make here is in thinking that Jesus' call of Matthew was something unique, strictly unique.

Dear people, the fact is the same radical demand that Jesus is made of Matthew. He makes of all he calls to be his disciples.

That includes you. That includes me. Jesus said in Luke 14, 26, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Now, I don't know what you're going to do with that.

You say, Pastor, surely God does not want us to hate father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters. Well, you missed the point.

It is meant to jar us into understanding the basic principle. And that is that Jesus comes first, not second.

And anything that would vie for supremacy over our faith in and obedience to and life for Jesus must be abandoned.

Jesus will have no rival. No rival. You certainly remember Jesus' encounter with the rich young ruler. That's what we usually call him in Luke chapter 18.

You know, this rich guy, he comes and he asks Jesus this question. He says, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus, ultimately, Jesus answered, we're not going to consider the entire text or many other things that Jesus is doing there in that passage, but ultimately Jesus gives this answer, sell all that you have and distribute to the poor and come follow me.

That's pretty radical. And we know what Matthew did when he got a similar call. What did the rich young ruler do? He became very sorrowful.

Why? The Bible says because he was very rich. His wealth was a rival to Christ and he would not abandon it.

So here's the point. To be Jesus' disciple requires that there be no rival. Jesus allows no rival to his lordship in your life.

And listen, I don't propose to know what that looks like for you. We could spend the rest of the day, I could, listing the possibilities for you.

I don't have to do that. I don't have to know what it looks like for you. But this I do know, that following Jesus is not a second or third priority. Jesus will not allow that.

Following Jesus is not some hobby that you kind of do on occasion, you're infatuated with it, maybe you love it for this time and you kind of fit it into your schedule.

It's not something you do with your spare time following Jesus. Following Jesus is not something you just simply calendar for your week, work into your schedule.

It is a radical commitment that allows absolutely no rival to absolute devotion to Jesus Christ. I'm sorry, that's just what it is.

It's radical. And it is this devotion that dictates who we are, how we live, what we like, what we don't like, what we involve ourselves in, what we do in life, how we talk, how we think, the places we go, we could go on and on.

This devotion that Jesus requires, this allegiance will allow no rival, it dictates everything in our lives.

Let me tell you something else. Not only does Jesus allow no rival, but as we read further, we also understand that he allows no denial. No denial.

What does that mean? Well, let's look at it. Verse 39, then Levi gave him, that's Jesus, a great feast in his own house.

I like this part. What could be more appropriate than this? I mean, Matthew's just been saved. He's just come to Christ. His eyes have been opened, his heart has been changed, she's been gloriously saved and it's time to celebrate that and it's also a time to show gratitude to Jesus and it's also a good time to do something else.

Look further and there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with him. So, what did Matthew do? He invited all of his unsaved friends and his acquaintances.

What was his circle of friendship? Tax collectors like himself. And what could be more appropriate than to invite them to a feast so that they could meet Jesus?

Makes perfect sense. Kind of what we call in Ukraine and our ministry there, we call it a gospel supper where a member of the church will invite unsaved friends and family and neighbors and so forth, invite them to the home and put on a big supper and the Americans are there and we get to share our testimony and share the gospel to unsaved people.

That's kind of like what Matthew is doing here. And so imagine this scene here, a house full of sinners. I mean, sinners, the lowest of sinners in the Jewish mindset, publicans, tax collectors, traitors to the nation, extortionists.

And what happens next? Well, verse 30, and their scribes and the Pharisees complained against his disciples. That means the disciples were there also. Peter, Andrew, James, John probably are there.

Some others that were invited. And the Pharisees complained. What did they say? Why, they asked, do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? What a radical thing for the Messiah to do.

To fellowship with a bunch of heathens, tax collectors and traitors. And what was Jesus answered? Verse 31, those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick.

Well, of course. But then he said, I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Now, Jesus is not suggesting here that the Pharisees are so healthy that they don't ever need any doctors.

That's certainly not the point. And Jesus is certainly not suggesting that the Pharisees are righteous. So don't get the idea that they are righteous. Alright, so Jesus has come to save sinners but not righteous so I've come for these sinners but I don't need to come for you because you don't need me.

You're already righteous. He's not saying that at all. So what is he saying? He's saying that the Pharisees think they're righteous. The Pharisees do not think they need what Jesus has come to offer here.

And the Pharisees do not think they need salvation. They are in utter denial of their true condition before God. No acknowledgement of sinfulness.

No acknowledgement of a need for salvation. So therefore there's no need to repent of sin. And so therefore there is no salvation for them.

Not at this point. And worse no hope. Dear people that is the case with all who deny their sinfulness and their need for God's grace.

Someone has said the worst form of badness is human goodness. goodness. That is when human goodness becomes a substitute for the new birth in Christ.

Think about that for a minute. I heard a story about a college student who went to the dormitory laundry room to wash his clothes and he took all of his dirty clothes and he wrapped them inside of a sweatshirt and then just kind of tied the arms together so he had a nice big neat bundle.

But when he got to the laundry room he was so embarrassed about how dirty his clothes were he decided he would just throw the whole bundle in the washing machine untied.

You know still tied up rather. And so when the spin cycle was over he took the bundle out and threw it into the dryer and when it was dry he picked the bundle up in his arms and went back to the dormitory finally untied it and what did he find?

Dirty clothes. Dirty clothes. They had not been cleaned. So what's the lesson? The lesson is don't keep your sins hidden away in a nice neat tightly packed bundle.

All of your sins need to be cleansed by the Lord Jesus Christ. They need to be thoroughly cleansed and before you can do that you've got to open them up to him.

See? This is what the Pharisees just could not get. Now folks listen. Here's where it becomes very personal.

Who in this story represents you? Not you as a group but each of you individually. each one of you ought to ask the question who in the story which group of people here in the story represents me?

The publican? The publicans here? The sinners? Or the Pharisee? The self-righteous?

self-righteous? The who in the who in world represents you? And I would say to you that every single one of us here today falls into one of these two groups.

Publicans? Sinners? Or Pharisees? Self-righteous? There's no middle ground.

There's no partly this and partly that. There's no in-between. If you do not know willing to openly acknowledge that you're a hopeless bound for hell sinner or if that is never been your thought your honest acknowledgement and therefore if you do not know that you need God's grace for salvation then guess what?

You're sitting with the Pharisees but if you know you are a sinner not just have sin but are sinful sinful and I would even add if you think somehow are thinking that your sin surely is beyond the reach of the grace of God then I've got some good news for you.

You're sitting in the seat of the publican and here's what Jesus is saying to you I've come to save sinners just like you.

Jesus allows no rival no denial and lastly and here's how radical Jesus is Jesus allows no equal no equal look at what happens next you might be thinking that we've kind of moved to a different subject but the subject is still the same verse 33 then they said to him why do the disciples of John that's John the Baptist of course why do they fast often and make prayers and likewise those of the Pharisees but yours eat and drink so a question about fasting fasting and praying see the Pharisees had in this day in Jesus day they had already added kind of to the law of God this kind of stringent requirement for public fasting and praying and not only that but also the giving of alms or tithes it was a public thing according to

Luke 18 12 they fasted at least twice a week fasted twice a week and again they did this publicly this was not something they did privately something it was a part of their own private devotion you know when the Bible gives instructions about fasting Jesus says make sure that you wash your face and make sure you don't look like you're in agony you know because this is something between you and God and you're not putting a show on here you're not desiring to be very public and to kind of present some super spirituality and yet that was not the case with the Pharisees and the way this particular law was written it was to be a public thing and so they were putting on an extreme show so for the righteous the self righteous Pharisees fasting and praying and also the giving of alms though it's not mentioned here these were done publicly and these were to them the three public expressions of their piety their piety people want you to look at something with me in Luke chapter 18 we have an example of this in Luke chapter 18 you can look at that in your own

Bibles looking at verse 10 this is a very familiar story that Jesus tells he says in verse 10 two men went up to the temple to pray one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector a publican so we have the two here in this story as well tax collector and a Pharisee the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself that's quite a phrase isn't it you ever done that just prayed with yourself and you're just going along and suddenly it dawns on you I'm having a conversation with myself God's not even a part of this because my focus is not him only this was the the mindset the very life of this Pharisee prayed thus with himself what did he pray

God or we could even insert their self because God was himself I thank you that I'm not like other men translation I'm thankful I'm not a sinner extortioners unjust adulterers or even this tax collector you know he's probably pointing over there to him he's off in a distance somewhere kind of off in a corner because his is not a public thing as we're going to see and he said I'm not like that public so this Pharisee true to form absolutely no acknowledgement whatsoever of sin and sinfulness so I'm not like that publican I fast twice a week I give tithes of all my all that I possess just look

God how good I am the tax collector standing afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven beat his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner now I tell you Jesus is telling this parable I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other that is he went home saved not the other not the Pharisee for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted perfect illustration of what's going on here in Luke chapter 5 between the Pharisees and the publicans the dynamic of both of them you see the Pharisees their question about fasting they didn't care about fasting that was not the issue but their question about fasting is consistent with the overall theme of this entire text it is a question that reveals to us their self righteousness it is a question that reveals their religion of human achievement now how did

Jesus answer their question well first he answers with a kind of a cryptic reference to his death which is what the Messiah had come to do look at verse 34 can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them can you imagine especially in our day going to a wedding and fasting I'm sure there are a lot of fathers of brides that would love for the wedding party to fast I mean the enormous expense these days putting on a wedding I'm glad I have boys and not a girl but I've been to some weddings you have two probably many maybe more than I have and you don't go expecting to fast you go expecting to feast in fact you can't wait till the ceremony's over so you can get to the reception and eat all the food that's laid out before you as extreme as it may have become in our day it still is a reality and so

Jesus is stating what is true what is true and common knowledge you know while the bridegroom is with the friends of the bride and bridegroom you don't fast at that time alright the days will come he said though and here's this cryptic reference to the cross the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them then they will fast in those days which we do today don't we but Jesus specific answer to their question about fasting really comes next starting with verse 36 here's his real answer to their question and really what he's addressing is the real problem it's the radical gospel is his answer need to see this not only is the gospel of Jesus

Christ unique among all the other religions of the world living and dead I mean there are some religions that have come and gone and there are some that have come and they're still here and before this life is over we'll probably see others come to on the scene but the gospel is unique among all the other religions of the world but that's not the only thing he's saying here the gospel of Jesus Christ is incompatible with all the other religions of the world and philosophies of this world and philosophies of man it's incompatible there can be no mixing of them and why is that because the gospel of Jesus Christ is strictly salvation by divine accomplishment and all the other religions and philosophies of man and of this world represent in one form or another salvation by human achievement that is what marks

Christianity unique among all other religions and also conveys the truth that Christianity is incompatible with all other forms of religion but the radical Jesus says there can be no equal no other thought or way of salvation or attempts to gain favor from God there can be no other religion set of religions or theologies or philosophies that could be put side by side with the gospel of Jesus Christ there are no multiple ways to heaven which sadly is being preached in a number of churches in our day no multiple ways and Jesus is not just one of the good ways maybe one of the best ways he's the only way it's not

Jesus plus someone else be it the pope or whomever or Mary the mother of Jesus it's not Jesus plus someone else it's not grace plus works or some combination of those two things and Jesus uses two metaphors to convey this truth and then he concludes by the way with a very frightening reality look at it verse 36 no one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one otherwise the new makes a tear why is that because the new is unshrunken material alright makes sense and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old the design might be different the color might be different even if it's the same color it be a different shade of color and you just don't do that it just doesn't work the new will shrink where the old will not and it will tear away from the old garment and then it won't match either it just doesn't work so the garment is ruined that's the point of the lawn or something like that or painting but you know you get the idea and though

Jesus does not explain this to them he doesn't explain the parable he rarely did explain parables to unbelievers the point is clear the gospel is radically different there's no equal to it gospel has no equal Jesus did not come then to be a patch sewn on to Judaism like as if there was some hole it was incomplete and so we've got to get he's come to to be combined with it and not only Judaism that was the immediate case here but he has not come to be a patch sewn onto any other form of salvation by works or human merit there's no equal to Jesus no equal to the gospel Jesus came to do something new brand new and what about the second metaphor verse 37 no one puts new wine that's a reference to just simply fresh squeezed grape juice right out of the grapes you know it's unfermented pure wine the bible calls it no one takes that grape juice

Jesus says and puts this new wine into old wine skins that's what they put wine in wine skins leather bags pouches no one does that or else the new wine will burst the wine skins and be spoiled and the wine skins will be ruined and you don't have to think very hard about what this means I mean the image is pretty clear the new unfermented wine put into an old kind of maybe weathered and cracked wine skin and so when the new is put in there it begins to ferment and the gases build up and it expands and then it bursts the old wine skins which is a very clear analogy and Jesus says nobody does that but do you see the point of these metaphors you put them all together the point is that the old garment in the first metaphor that's you the old garment is you it's me it's or hopefully who you once were the sinner and the gospel of grace cannot be patched can't be a patch sewed into your old works religion your old self trust and faith and righteousness it cannot be sewed into works of human achievement!

life likewise the old wine skin guess what that's you or again hopefully who you once were the old you the sinner maybe for some of you that's who you are now the gospel of grace in this metaphor the gospel of grace the new wine cannot be put into the old wine skin of a life of self righteousness and trust in human effort and goodness a life dominated by a religion of human achievement it can't be put into that kind of life and so again salvation by human achievement must be absolutely utterly abandoned and if not the old wine skin will be ruined you will be ruined eternally there is no equal no equal no

Jesus plus self no grace plus works isn't that what Paul wrote in Romans 11 6 he said and if by grace then it is no longer of works they don't come together there's not a combination of the two there's not grace that somehow contributes to works makes the works valid or any version of that it's either grace or it's works it can't be grace part works he says grace then it is no longer of works otherwise grace is no longer grace if you're going to choose works or any degree of works then there is no grace for you and therefore no salvation there's just no middle ground there's no middle way there's no in between there's no combining of the two because there's no equal for Jesus and for the gospel the good news of Jesus

Christ that is the whole point here and then Jesus concludes again I say with a very frightening word of judgment really but it's a it's a reality and there's even an answer for that but look at it and no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new for he says the old is better now the new and old are still the same thing still same identity the new is salvation by divine accomplishment the cross grace of God the old is still the same it is human salvation by human achievement works merit however you want to define it those two are still the same thing and so what is he saying immediately he's saying the Pharisees had been drinking from the wines of self righteousness and form religion and outward ritual they've been living by that so long that the religion of divine accomplishment just made no sense whatsoever to them they were drunk with the old way the human way the man centered way and what

Jesus offered was so radically different that they simply did not see it for them the old was better but listen so it is with all sinners not just the Pharisees in Jesus day maybe even for some of you left to yourself you would never choose the new wine do you understand that that's what Jesus is saying it is a frightening reality left to yourself without any divine intervention divine accomplishment left to ourselves we would never choose the new wine we would never choose it the new wine of salvation by divine accomplishment we would never choose it it takes the grace of

God my prayer is that for someone here this morning I don't know who you are my prayer is that God's grace this morning would activate your heart toward repentance repentance!

an open acknowledgement of sin repentance! and faith in Christ alone that's my prayer that this morning you would put your sin or excuse me your faith put your faith where God put your sin and where was that on Jesus Jesus came to save sinners that's the good news that's what he came to do to save sinners just like you and he will allow no rival there could be no other and he will allow no denial of your sin and he will allow no equal to his saving grace

Thank you.