Luke 5:33-39
Some Thing New

The text we are looking at this morning is a parable or some might
call it a proverb.  Either way, it is an earthly story in which Jesus
reveals heavenly truths.

This parable is found in all three of the synoptic gospels: Matthew,
Mark, and Luke.  Not only is the same parable found in all three of
the gospels but all of the details are the same in the three gospel
accounts.

In all three gospels, Jesus had arrived in Capernaum.
In all, a great crowd had gathered outside of someone’s home.
In all, the story is given out a man was let down through the roof.
In all, Jesus called Matthew to be His disciple.
In all, Matthew gave a feast.
In all, Jesus was questioned about those He befriended.
In all, Jesus was questioned about fasting.
And in all, Jesus answered with this two part answer.

Luke 3:33  And they said unto him, Why do the
disciples of John fast often, and make prayers,
and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees;
but thine eat and drink?

To summarize, Jesus was asked, "Why don’t your disciples fast?"
Jesus’ answer was:
    1. \\#34-35\\ It is not time yet.  They will when the bridegroom
        leaves.
    2. \\#36-39\\ It is time for some thing new.

It is that second answer that I would like to think about this
morning.  Jesus gave to illustrations to emphasize that some thing
new was needed.
    1. Old garment being patched by a new cloth.
        a. The "rent" is made worse.  The old is rotten. The patch
             won’t hold.
        b. It "agreeth not." The old is faded.  It won’t match.
    2. New win in new bottles.  The bottles were sheep skins.  As
        juice ferments, it gives off a gas causing the bottle to
        expand, but old bottles have already expanded as much as they
        can.  The new win being in the old skins would cause the
        skins to bust.

In both accounts, Jesus was saying, some thing new is needed.  So
part of Jesus’ answer to the question of why His disciples were not
doing what John’s disciples and what the Pharisee’s disciples were
doing was, "Some thing new is needed."  We are past the place of
band-aids.  Some things cannot be fixed.  Some things need to be
replaced.  We are going to do things differently from now on.

What things was Jesus talking about?

I. First, a new life is needed.
    A. Jesus was not just talking about the religion the Jews had.
        Jesus Himself came to give those who would accept Him, new
        life.

Lu 19:10  For the Son of man is come to seek and
to save that which was lost.

        1. This had never been done before—at least not like Jesus
            came to do it.

Eze 34:16  I will seek that which was lost, and
bring again that which was driven away, and will
bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen
that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat
and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.

        2. Notice that Ezekiel used future tense verbs, indicating
            that this prophecy was going to be fulfilled in the
            future.
    B. The Old Testament did include the salvation of the souls, but
        it did not grant the follower the privilege of becoming a new
        creature in Christ.
    C. That came only when the Holy Ghost began to inhabit the
        followers of Jesus.
        1. Prior to that, Old Testament saints had a rule book to
            live by, the law, but not the indwelling presence of God
            to empower and change them.
        2. So when Jesus came, He preached a new birth.

John 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God.

7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be
born again.

        3. Why do we need a new birth?  Because the new birth gives
            us the ability to live the new life.
    D. This birth is a spiritual birth.

John 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is
flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit.

        1. Every person here this morning has been born of the flesh,
            but to have this new life, you must be born of the Holy
            Ghost.
        2. That means you must trust Jesus as your Savior so that the
            Holy Ghost can move inside of you, be "born" inside of
            you.
    E. Friend, there simply is no other way for you.
        1. You cannot quit sinning any other way.  God let man have
            the Old Testament rule book for 1300 years.  He could not
            keep the rules.  Many could not follow the plays. God did
            not do this so that HE COULD FIND OUT
            WHETHER MAN COULD KEEP THEM OR
            NOT, but so that we could!  We cannot.
        2. Even if you could keep the rules, that would not fix the
            rules you have already broken.  There is not rule for
            undoing a previous wrong.  You are in the penalty box and
            you will have to stay there for all eternity.
    F. Band aids aren’t going to fix this one.  You need some thing
        new.  You need a new life.
    G. But that is not all that Jesus was talking about.

II. A new relationship with God was needed.
    A. The Old Testament saints had a relationship with God, but it
        was not working.
        1. It was a formal very relationship - Only certain days
            under certain circumstances with certain people present.
        2. It was a potentially deadly relationship.
            a. Nadab and Abihu - Aaron’s sons, priests, but they
                offered a "strange fire" before the Lord and were
                killed.
            b. \\#2Sam 6:6\\ King David wanted to move the Ark of the
                Lord to Jerusalem.  Uzzah helped, but David did not
                follow the rule book on how to handle the Ark.  Uzzah
                touched it and he died.
        3. It was a scarily relationship. \\#Ex 19:16\\ God came down
            to Mount Sinai to meet the people, but His presence was
            so powerful that a cloud covered the mountain, and it
            began to thunder and lighten.  Smoke came from nowhere
            like a great furnace, the mountain began to quake, and a
            trumpet became to blow louder and louder.  The people got
            so scared, they ran and hid.
    B. This was not getting it.  The people did not did not feel
        comfortable with God.  Some thing new was needed.
        1. So Jesus came to change that relationship.

Joh 15:15  Henceforth I call you not servants;
for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth:
but I have called you friends; for all things
that I have heard of my Father I have made known
unto you.

        2. I used to read that and wonder why Jesus did not say, "I
            have called you my FAMILY," then I saw how about family
            relationships can get.
            a. Family is by birth but friends are by choice.
            b. There is no limit on how far a friendship can go. You
                can take a friendship as far as you want.

Pr 18:24  A man that hath friends must shew
himself friendly: and there is a friend that
sticketh closer than a brother.

        3. Now, God is our Friend.  This is a new relationship.
            a. There is no formality any longer.
            b. God is always with us.  There are no go-betweens.
                Nothing can limit our access.  He is always with us.

Matt 28:20 …lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world. Amen.

Heb 13:5 …for he hath said, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee.

            c. This is a Friend that you will never run off.  He will
                never cast you away, never abandon you, never hurt
                you.
            d. You will never have a reason to be afraid of Him.
            e. God is now your Friend.

III. A new method of living was needed.
    A. I have already mentioned that the Old Testament saints were
        under the law, God’s rule book of behavior.
        1. The law had rules and sacrifices for everything.
            a. It told man what he could eat, when he could worship,
                how he would live, and a thousand other things.
            b. That did not work.
        2. Giving man a book of rules to follow does not change man.
            a. In fact, it only frustrates and angers him, usually
                causing him to just give up.
            b. The law just was not getting it done.
            c. Man needed some thing new, something more than a book
                of rules.
        3. So Jesus gave us a new method to live by.
    B. It is called Grace.
        1. Grace and law are so different, that some believe the Old
            Testament was given by one god and the New Testament was
            giving by another.
        2. Others believe God just made a mistake.  He tried the law
            and found out it would not work.
        3. That’s not it at all.  God knew before man would
            appreciate grace and mercy he first had to understand
            the expectation and penalty.
            a. God’s expectation is perfection.
            b. The penalty is death.
            c. You live under that kind of pressure for awhile and
                you can really come to appreciate grace and mercy.
     C. Grace does not mean that Old Testament wrongs are alright
         now.  Wrong is still wrong.  Right is still right.
     D. It just means that instead of focusing on the rules, you need
         to focus on God, your Friend, that lives inside of you.
         1. You still need to read and know the rules, but you let
             God talk to you and help you obey them.
         2. The problem was never the rules.  The problem was always
             our inability to keep them.
         3. Now, God lives inside of us to teach us what the rules
             mean and how we can live them out in a sick, sin-cursed
             world.

IV. A new opportunity to serve was needed.
    A. In Genesis 12, God called a man to serve Him.  From that man,
        God created a nation, Israel.  From 1300 BC until 33AD, God
        worked through the Jews.  The only problem with that was the
        Jews usually rebelled.  The Jews never really surrendered to
        serve God.  Some thing new was needed.
    B. So God created the church.
        1. The church is God’s unique, self-contained, self-trained,
            elite, special forces unit.
        2. It is comprised of the saved from all over the world,
            stationed all over the world.
        3. Our one purpose is to serve God.
        4. The church has been equipped with an arsenal of the most
            powerful weapons the world will ever know - prayer,
            soul winning, and the Word of God.
    C. The church has been charged with the tasks that Israel was not
        willing to perform.
        1. Tell them about Jesus.
        2. Love them.
        3. Help them—spiritually, physically, emotionally, and
            financially.

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