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The Parables of Jesus - Sermon Series New Garments and New Wineskins Sunday Morning - 01/01/23
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The Parables of Jesus - Sermon Series New Garments and New Wineskins Sunday Morning - 01/01/23
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The Parables of Jesus - Sermon Series New Garments and New Wineskins Sunday Morning - 01/01/23
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Psalms chapter 78 verses 1 and 2 if you can and then to Matthew chapter 13 verses 34 and 35. Stand with us together. So in Psalms chapter 71 verses I'm 78 verses 1 and 2 Psalmist says give ear oh my people to my teaching incline your ears to the words of my mouth I will open my mouth in a parable and then in Matthew chapter 13 in verses 34 and 35 and all these things spoke Jesus unto the multitude in parables and without a parable he spoke not unto them that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet saying I will open my mouth in parables we just read that verse from Psalm and I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. We're going to start a series this new year a new series on the parables of Jesus I'll say more about that in a moment but I need the Lord's help this morning as we always do for his anointing to anoint me and to anoint your ears to hear. Dad will you lead us in prayer this morning please You may be seated. Thank you for standing and for praying. Again Happy New Year to everyone. It's great to be in service on New Year's Sunday. It's a great way to start the year and this of course is not my first time to pastor a congregation I did for five years prior and then ten years we didn't have a role in church leadership and then we've been here five years this October and for any of you that's been here since the beginning or joined since I've done something here that I haven't done in any other church or any other time about preaching a series of sermons and y'all have been patient and gracious with all that it's been different it's been challenging it's been enlightening at the same time so when we started in October there we jumped right into the characters in the Christmas story and for 90 days every service I was preaching on one of those characters in the Christmas story from October November and December and then I wasn't planned and then we went into 2018 for those that remember and we've had reference to it quite frequently we preached on Jesus in every book of the Bible that was that was an experiment almost I had folks that that suggested that that a pastor should not plan a whole year you don't know what a year brings and and some were a little bit critical somewhere a lot critical when I was asking for some advice I figured you know what if I'm just talking to the Lord I don't need to ask everybody else what they think I just need to preach but we preached anyway and we preached on 66 books in 52 weeks and I didn't know how that was going to go I do remember in the book of numbers about the Lord being a pillar and a cloud by day and fire by night that that I had thought I was going to preach something on the brazen serpent and and out there in my car in about 30 minutes which for y'all preachers know you don't usually get a message within 30 minutes but I got one I didn't preach on the brazen serpent I preached on on on Jesus as a cloud by day and a fire by night with his presence and and boy I really felt like I was on the right track by then after Genesis and Exodus but getting into numbers and then Valentine's Day it was on Ruth and that Sunday Ruth and Boaz in the book of Ruth Jesus being our Redeemer I think in Valentine's Day love story that goes pretty good that's not too bad we get into the Palm Sunday in Eastern I had not planned it all out but Palm Sunday when Jesus rides in on the donkey as the bridegroom and and his own do not receive him well we were in Solomon the book Jesus in the in the book of Song of Solomon by then and Solomon is riding on on a on a horse on a donkey to go as a bridegroom so we looked at Jesus as the bridegroom of course that's the Sunday before Easter Song of Solomon goes into Isaiah and so it's Easter Sunday and I'm preaching on Jesus the Messiah from the book of Isaiah I'm like well you can't you can't get any better than that and then anyway we ended up being on Hosea with Gomer on Mother's Day when she was one bad mom in the Bible and we Jonah on Father's Day it just lined up and so it worked out just fine and I'd never preached most of those messages before we got to see Jesus literally on every page of the Bible it was like from Genesis to Revelation so there's no one better to preach about than Jesus although preachers and teachers preach and teach on a lot of other things than Jesus and some don't preach on Jesus enough it would seem like so 2019 we talked about the miracles of Jesus and there's 40 of them with there being 52 Sundays and there being this past year Appreciation Day, Fathers and Mothers Day, guest preachers, youth Sunday, homecoming, all the rest, camp meeting in North in Piedmont for Sunday and different things it took a whole year to go to the miracles of Jesus and we did the miracles of Jesus in chronological order and I preached most of the miracles of Jesus before but I had not preached all of them and I preached some of them in different ways I remember Jesus walking on the water and that third watch of the night and there being that 3 a.m. miracle that in any way just different messages at the right time and we got to see Jesus in his power and his authority and the miracles of Christ and then well 2020 happened and we all know what 2020 was like sometimes our church doors was open most of the time our church doors was open there's a few times our church doors was closed but church was not even canceled when we had service out there and I preached on a Mother's Day on the Shunammite woman and we had a chance to come back into the sanctuary and we preached a series of sermons on Elijah and Elisha and it didn't take up the whole year but but with those miracles it took you know there's there was over 20 25 sermons there on Elisha and Elijah and us being a Pentecostal Church the importance of the Holy Ghost praying and preparing when we went into 2021 we preached on the Holy Ghost in every book of the Bible and that was enlightening and encouraging and correcting and I say all that because we got into 2022 last year and for a majority of last year we preached on the book of Acts well I've been praying since Labor Day about what to preach this year and we're going to be preaching on the parables of Jesus this year and there are 40 parables of Jesus there's a lot I'm a little nervous because I've only preached on three of them the Good Samaritan which we're not preaching today the Prodigal Son not preaching today either or the parable of the sower I want to preach on the parables of Jesus in chronological order I took some of the the Christmas cash that some of y'all had given us in Christmas cards and we thank y'all so much for it but ChristianBook.com had after Christmas sale I was able to purchase eight books on the parables of Jesus for about a hundred and twenty five dollars and I have just started to look at a few of them none of them have anything with the parables that we're looking at today which is all right but we're wanting to look and I need to get into it I know Mark chapter 2 verses 21 and 22 I just feel it felt like the best way to go into these parables this year was in chronological order like we did the miracles and it just landed on the right Sunday and just like in the miracles of Jesus and the 66 books in the Bible just whatever I don't know which parable I'm going to be preaching on which Sunday in this year but I know the Lord knows I know what I've been studying the parables of Jesus toward the end of the his parables a lot of them are on his second coming when he's going to separate the sheep from the goats and being ready when he's coming and I just feel like at the end of 2023 when it gets past Thanksgiving into the end of the year and we're thinking about Jesus is first coming we're going to be preaching a lot of parables about Jesus the second coming so I can already get excited about that but I can't preach those yet we're going to get to those I've also noticed that the lot a lot of the parables are salvation messages building a house on a rock or building a house on a sand the the wise virgins and the foolish virgin virgin the ones that were forgiven of little and forgiven of much the separation from the wheat and the tares and the parable of the sower with the seed there are a lot of the parables that have an emphasis on salvation and I preached a lot about the miracles of Jesus I preached a lot about who Jesus is I preached about Old Testament characters like Elijah and Elisha I preach sermon after sermon on the Holy Ghost and I've noticed here that a lot of these parables coming up this year are going to be salvation centered messages and if I've been here a while you know we have an altar call I preach to the same and to the center the altar calls are always open and and conviction has been here in some strong powerful ways even most recent in my memory is when we celebrated Brother Ron's 80th birthday and I was planning on preaching about Brother Ron and the Lord opened up that part of the verses about Barnabas but then when I was up here and the last 10 minutes of my message about what kind of man Jesus was gracious and generous I hadn't have any of that in my notes I wasn't planning a lick of that to say all that was just the Holy Ghost helping me out and I didn't preach it in an ugly way or in a harsh way and we were here to celebrate and honor Brother Ron and celebrate his 80th birthday but about the last 10 minutes of that message there was conviction in this place and well I don't know which Sunday I'm going to preach which message but I know we've had more visitors this year than we've ever had before whether it's family from from from church family whether it's visitors it's just come and we don't know where they came from or if it's folks that that Will's invited to church or people that's come but I know that in this year I'm going to be preaching more salvation centered messages that I've probably preached the last five years we've been here and the Lord knows which message we're going to preach it's going to be so much salvation centered and Lord knows who's going to be here too and I'm just praying that the Lord moves on those hearts and if we get visitors and we get family and friends that are here and co-workers that need to know Jesus that when they hear these parables of Jesus it's just going to leap off the page and grab them by the heart and they'll come down to the altar and get saved. So as you can tell I guess I'm excited and I can't get into this message. Parables of Jesus are short most of them. Parables of Jesus really just have one main point and I think every single parable also we're going to be having these three point outlines where it is the illustration or the parable itself the story and then number two the explanation of the parable because sometimes the parables need a little explaining even to the disciples Jesus had to explain some of the parables and then number three it'll be application so the three points probably Sunday after Sunday after Sunday the theme and the topic might be a little bit differently certainly the parable is going to be different but that's the three things we're going to be going over the illustration of the parable what the parable actually says but then the explanation of the parable what it means and then the application of the parable what does it mean for us and how can we take the words of Jesus and go live it out in our daily lives. John doesn't have any parables and John is my favorite book in the Bible. I could preach on the book of John all year long. That is my go-to. I can't read the book of John enough and it kind of sad to me that I ain't gonna be preaching the book of John all year. There's no parables in the book of John. Parables are just found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Mark has six parables and only one of those parables is exclusive just to the book of Mark. All the other parables are found in Matthew or Luke. We're going to be looking at Matthew, Mark, and Luke here. The first parable in chronological order is Mark chapter 2 verse 21 and 22 and I need to get to it and read with you and then we're going to read Matthew and Luke's gospel as well. One of the books that I've been reading on so far has talked about that the parables that are in Mark and Luke, Mark, I mean Matthew and Luke, Luke being a physician and Matthew being a tax collector, that most of the parables that are mentioned in Matthew's gospel is just the facts because he is a logical, mathematical, tax-collecting kind of guy and so his book with the Holy Ghost is with his personality and it is like reading the parables in black and white. When you go to Luke, he's a physician, he's more precise, he likes details, and the parables that the same parables that are in Matthew that are in Luke have a lot more details, a lot more adverbs and adjectives in there. Colorful. In fact, the one writer had said if you read the parables it's like reading the parables in black and white in our in Matthew's gospel and it's like reading the parables in color in Luke's gospel. So we're going to see those too. But anyway, Mark chapter 2, verse 21 and 22. This is Jesus's first parables and they're short and we'll talk about it in context here because some people come to Jesus and say, hey, your disciples are not fasting. John the Baptist disciples fast, the Pharisees disciples fast, but your disciples don't fast. Jesus tells them why, but Jesus also adds this parable, No man also sews a piece of new cloth to an old garment else the new piece that is filled up is taken away from the old and the rent or the tear is made worse. And he's got his second parable, so we're actually gonna be looking at two of the forty parables this morning because they're parallel sister parables here. And no man puts new wine in old bottles lest the new wine burst the bottles and the wine is spilled and the bottles are marred or destroyed but new wine must be put into new bottles. That's found in Mark's gospel. Now in Matthew chapter 9 because Matthew is more topical and not written in a timeline, but in Matthew chapter 9 verse 16 and 17, Jesus says, No man puts a piece of new cloth into an old garment for that which is put in is to fill it and take it from the garment and the tear of the rent is made worse. Verse 17, Neither do men put new wine in old bottles else the bottles break and the new wine run it out and the bottles perish, but they put new wine into new bottles and both are preserved. Just two verses there in Matthew, just two verses in Mark, but when we look into Luke there's more than just two verses as Luke is explaining it as well. Luke chapter 5 verse 36, 37, 38, and 39. So Luke here, what the other writers say in two verses, Luke says in four. And he spoke also a parable unto them, verse 36, No man putteth a piece of new garment upon an old, otherwise both the new maketh the rent or the tear and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man puts new wine in old bottles or else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilt and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into a new bottle and both are preserved. No man having drunk the old wine straightway desires new, for he says the old is better. Now that's the illustration of the parable. That's what Jesus talked about. His first parable is about new garments and old garments and holes and patches and new bottles and old bottles, wineskin and new wine and old wine. Now that is first century. We're in the 21st century. We don't know too much about old garments and old wineskins. I don't think any of us have wineskins at the house. Some of us may not even know how to sew. So they may have to, some of these parables we have to have a little bit more illustration and explanation. But in those days about the garments which still apply today, if you took a new piece of cloth that had not been washed and had not shrunk yet and you patched the new cloth to an old garment with a hole in it, once it washed, once it was wore, it would stretch and it would tear and it would make the hole even worse. So then your new piece of cloth is ruined and your old garments just gotten even worse. Another illustration that Jesus said in there was the old and the new with the wineskins. If you put new wine into new wineskins, as the wine ferments and gets older, it would get bigger and it would stretch the wineskins and the wineskins made of the animal leather would stretch a little bit, at least once. And so that the wine in the wineskins was preserved basically because as the bottle got bigger, when the new wine, when the wine expanded, the bottle would expand and it'd be okay. But if you then put some more new wine into those same old bottles, they've already stretched once, they won't stretch again. So they'll bust, they'll crack. And then you'll ruin both the wine and you'll ruin the wineskin. That's what Jesus is saying. I'm going to try to say it the same way but different to try to explain to us what that would be like for us today as well. Now, my boys are a little bit more excited about this part of the message because they know a little bit what's going on because they remember, especially during the miracles of Elisha, that I used object lessons. I brought out things. In fact, they remembered, they were telling me, remember when you preached with the salt shakers? And I said, yeah. Do you remember what that message was? And Mark and Caleb was like, yeah, that's when the water was bitter and the man of God, Elisha, took the salt and threw it in the water and it became pure drinkable water. They remembered that miracle. They remembered that message. Oh, because I passed out little salt shakers. So I wanted to test them again. I said, well, do y'all remember when I passed to the whole church, little rolls and some of the people was eating the rolls while I was preaching, which is fine. I didn't tell y'all y'all could. I didn't tell you you couldn't. But we were passing out little rolls. I said, you remember that? But yeah, that's because Elisha, before Jesus fed the five thousand, Elisha fed the multitude with a few pieces of bread in the Old Testament. They remembered the miracles of Elisha because, and I had that big pot here for one of them, and I was preaching on Mama Grizzly Bears a different time and all those other illustrations. So for their eyes and for yours, for their memory and for y'all's too, I've tried to bring out some illustration this morning for us to remember, to help us. So I have, and it just so happened that this is the preacher's jeans. Now, I've always asked, was I going to wear them today? I was like, no, we're not wearing jeans today behind the pulpit. But, and they're old pair of jeans. But a few weeks ago, just a few weeks ago, they ripped on me. So if you can see right here, see this? It ripped bad. It was just like one day I, I bust through my jeans like a, like a can of biscuits. Right there, you can see. You see me? You see, Jude and Sister Fay? I mean, y'all would know more about sewing, much more than I do. But this is a ripped pair of jeans. A ripped pair of jeans from the buckle store. Not a cheap pair of jeans. Gonna wear them out, gonna wear them for years. But hey, I mean, that's the style for some people to wear. But this is not bought this way. It did look that way. But now it's this way. Goes like this. Like that. Now, I'm sure some of you men in your drawers have socks with holes that you hadn't thrown away yet. And your wife's probably wondering, why do y'all keep those socks? Every time they do laundry, gonna throw them away. If you've got little boys or some men with some jeans with some holes in them. Some of us may have some shirts with some holes in them. Some of them may have some other things in your house with some holes in them. You're like, why in the world? Get y'all new underwear for Christmas for a reason. Things ain't changed. Jesus uses an illustration like that. But then he doesn't say, when there's an old pair of jeans, you know what I'm not gonna do? I'm not gonna go to the store and buy a brand new pair of jeans and then cut it off at the knees. I'm not gonna take a brand new pair of jeans and cut a hole in a brand new pair of jeans to patch up this hole. I'm just not gonna do it. You know why? Because this is an old pair of jeans. Maybe I'll play with the boys outside. Maybe I'll use this when I'm on the grass or working in the yard. Maybe you'll do it when you're working around the house, out in the woods, you know, some old pair of jeans that you don't mind ruining because they're already ruined if you want to keep them or trash them. What you're not going to do is take a brand new pair of jeans and then cut the new jeans out because then you're just going to ruin a brand new pair of jeans and then it's not going to make the old pair of jeans last much longer anyway. You need to be wearing jeans not just with holes but jeans with patches. If Jesus was around today maybe that's something he would say to us if he was still on earth preaching and he just he's like if you got an old pair of jeans with a hole, you got an old pair of socks with holes in the heels, you're not going to take brand new socks and cut them up and patch up old because you don't ruin something brand new because the old garments don't go with the new garments. But he said another thing too just to get the point. He said old wineskins and new wineskins. I'm sorry to disappoint y'all but I have no wineskins today to share with y'all but I do have something else. Now I should have asked the pepsi man for some pepsi products but in the church refrigerator and if you've seen the church refrigerator before you've gone in there occasionally there will be some items in the refrigerator that is past the expiration date. I would just say if you want some ranch dressing sometime in the fellowship hall just check the expiration date or the sour cream because there have been sometimes some items in there that doesn't get thrown away but then doesn't get used and then we didn't realize how those weeks and months add up and sometimes we just toss some stuff. Well this is a sprite that's been in the back of the refrigerator for I don't know how long but but when I shake it up ain't nothing in it. Very eating. Y'all know what a flat coke or a flat sprite tastes like? Nobody wants a flat soda. I'm sure some of y'all wonderful church people have been at a restaurant on a Sunday afternoon just treating everybody wonderful and y'all have told that waitress or waiter this drink is flat can I get another one? There's nobody you don't want you know bible talks about lukewarm you want it hot or cold you don't want it lukewarm well nobody wants a flat soda and if I was to pass this out to y'all y'all would not want to drink it it tastes bad because a carbonated beverage that's lost all its fizz is not worth drinking. So I went to Dollar General today you can tell how old that is it's not even the same bottle now they got these new bottles that's how old that sprite is. Sprite now looks pretty and clear when you go buy it in a store they don't even use the old green bottles anymore. Y'all got a green bottle at your house you got some old sprite it smells like old sprite I haven't even tried tasting it but this is brand new and if I shook this up and then opened it up now we wouldn't do it with a Dr. Pepper for sure but with a sprite you would know that this is a new bottle and this is an old bottle and this has fizz and this is flat. Which one of y'all you want to drink? Everybody would if you drink Sprite or drink Pepsi or drink Coke or drink Mountain Dew or whatever Dr. Pepper you would want this and I don't even know if I can still oh everybody heard that already you gotta do it slowly because otherwise I'm gonna have a mess but you can even see the fizz and the carbonation anyway I don't want to make a mess what we're not going to do is we're not going to take the new Sprite and pour it into the old Sprite to try to make the old Sprite better because nobody does that this is no good you're just going to throw this away nobody wants to drink a flat soda but no one takes a fresh soda and pours it into a flat soda to make the flat soda better if you do you've run them both no one's going to take a half a bottle of fresh Sprite and pour the old Sprite and mix it together because then it's not going to be drinkable no one's going to take some old Coke and some new Coke and mush it together I mean they tried a new Coke recipe and called it new Coke once it didn't go over very well either but no one's going to take a fresh Coca-Cola and an old Coca-Cola or a fresh Pepsi which is common sense for us it's what Jesus would be telling about in in in his days you don't put new wine in old wine skins you just don't mix the old in the new that's what Jesus was saying in two different ways they came to Jesus and they said our disciples are fasting John the Baptist's disciples are fasting the Pharisees are fasting the old way of doing it the man-made way of doing it if you want to be like the rest if you want to go with the click if you want to go with the flow if you want to be like us if you want to be respected Jesus your disciples are not fasting it wasn't biblical it was extra biblical stuff that they added to and Jesus had just said to them you don't fast when the bridegroom's here I'm here it's time to party not time to fast I'm going to be gone there's going to be a time to fast but then Jesus adds it and he says nobody takes an old garment and puts a new garment with it nobody takes old wine skins and puts new wine skins so what's the parallel there Jesus is talking about the old way of doing things and the new way of doing things and he said before I was here there was an old way of doing things now that I'm here there's a new way of doing things and now that I'm on the scene you can't mix the old with the new that's what Jesus is telling them I'm here and you can't take the old way that you were living and apply it to the new way and Jesus is saying you know this in the natural so I'm going to teach you and preach to you a parable and a parable and we'll get to it in other Sundays but simply put is a spiritual story or a story with a spiritual truth and application to it but Jesus spoke to the crowd in parables but this time it wasn't to a crowd it was just to a few that came up to him and Jesus is saying you want me to do things the old way when I'm here and you can't take that old religion of Judaism and put it with the new that I'm teaching he didn't come to abolish the law he didn't come to do away with the law he didn't come to expire the Old Testament but they weren't adding Old Testament truths to they weren't talking about that they were they were talking about man-made pharisaical ways of doing things and they wanted to apply to Jesus but Jesus is saying you can't take the old with the new and he says you know that you can't take an old garment with a new garment it won't work you can't take old wine skins with new wine skins together it can't work and today we would say you can't take an old pair of jeans with a new pair of jeans you'll run both pair of jeans now you'll have the one that's already ruined because it's ripped and then you'll just rip and ruin a perfectly brand new pair of jeans for no reason you can't fix the old coke the old sprite you can't mix it with the new and the old you can't mix something together Jesus is dealing with external stuff about what it looks like within a garment he's dealing with internal stuff with what's in the wine skins but he's basically just saying you can't take the old and you can't take the new now I've been praying since labor day about these messages I didn't know if I was going to preach them from Matthew Mark and then Luke I didn't know if I was going to categorize them and preach on the kingdom parables or or the lost parables or whatever I didn't know if I was going to preach them chronologically which one was chronological and which one's first but then I prayed and said well we're going to preach on the first parable that Jesus gave I didn't even know which one the first parable was but this is the first parable on new wine and new garments versus old wine skins and old garments and then I didn't even know which Sunday I was going to preach and didn't even realize that the first Sunday of the year was new year but the Lord knows so the first Sunday is new year Sunday and in a new year we're preaching about new garments and new wine so I think the Lord is up to something good at Grace Fellowship for this year in 2023 about the parables but how this applies to us in this new year is when we come to Jesus we can't mix the old life with the new life because that's what some new converts try to do that's what the hypocrites try to do that's what if we're not careful we'll try to do is we'll have one foot in the world and one foot in the church we'll have a little bit of our old life and a little bit of the new life well I want new friends in the church but I want my old friends too well I want the new stuff that's in the word of God but I like that new church music but I want that old music that on my phone that I still listen to I want to hang out and do things in the world but I want to hang out and do things in the church and that old and that new does not mix together let's see some more scriptures here that are to that point 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 I put these verses together so frequently recently that I didn't even write them out but 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. You don't hold on to the old. It's passed away. It's gone. It's not here anymore. There's a verse of scripture found in Galatians chapter 6 verses 12 through 15. As many have desired to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, like the old school way of doing things, lest they should suffer persecution for the cause of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire that you be circumcised that they may glory in their flesh. But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. For in Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything or uncircumcision, but a new creature. I want to say all that in context. He says, for as many as walk according to this rule, peace beyond them and mercy upon the God of Israel. For henceforth, let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the mark. But verses 12 through 15, but as a new creature, they came to Paul and the churches in Galatia, just like they came to Jesus and they said, we want you to do it the old school way. And Paul says, no, we're doing it a new way. In Romans chapter six, verse four, therefore, are we buried with him by baptism unto death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in, Bible says, newness of life. Just like Jesus was dead and buried, and that's a picture of water baptism with our buried of our old life, our old life is dead and buried with Christ. But we have been raised with Christ in newness of life. That old man, that old woman is dead. Who you used to be before Jesus is dead. There's no going back to that old Will. There's no going back to that old Joe. There's no going back to that old Phillip. That man before Christ is dead and gone. We're in newness of life. Ephesians says it this way in Ephesians chapter four, verses 20 through 24. But ye have not so learned Christ, if so be that you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. Here it says that you put off concerning the former conversation of the old man, which is corrupt to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Then he gives examples of that in verses 25, where he talks about now you're going to put away lying and speaking truth with his neighbor. God angry and sin not, and you're not letting the sun go down on your wrath, and you're not giving place to the devil. And if you used to steal, you don't steal anymore, but now you work and labor with your own hands. Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth, but that which is good, now you're going to speak that which is edifying. You're not going to grieve the Holy Spirit of God where you're sealed in the day of redemption. Verse 31, now bitterness is all gone, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, you're going to put away from you with all that mouth. But now, you're going to be kind to one another, now you're going to be tender hearted one to another, now you're going to be forgiving one another, even as Christ hath forgiven you. To the book, to the church at Ephesus, Paul is writing, you're putting off that old man, and you're putting on a new man. And where you did speak this way, now you're going to speak this way. Now that you used to treat people this way, now you're going to treat people this way instead, because there's been a change. You don't mix the old and the new. You don't take your old broken life with sin, and get a little bit of Jesus, and patch up your old life, and hope you can go on your own way in your old life. With a, well, my marriage is not working over here, and my work situation is not working over here, and my parenting skills over here, and my finances over here. So when everything seems to be ripping apart and falling apart, I'm going to come to church, I'm going to open up my Bible, I'm going to give a little bit of my tithes and offerings, and I'm going to come to Jesus for a quick fix. I'm going to patch up my old life here, I'm going to patch up my old life there, and then I'm going to go on my merry way, and I'm going to just get a little bit of Jesus. Get a little bit of religion. Get a little bit of God, so I can make it through. That's not what turning your life over to Jesus is. It's not getting a little bit of Jesus to fix and patch a little area here. We take those old garments that are stained with sin and defile the flesh, and we throw them away, like Jude says, and we put on the new man. With newness of life. We don't talk like we used to talk. We don't go where we used to go. We don't watch the same things that we used to. And if we're not careful, when we're living a Christian life, then we'll start watching some of those things that we used to watch. We'll start listening to those things. We'll start doing some of those things that we used to do when we weren't saved. If we're not careful, we'll let that old man creep back in. We'll let that old woman creep back in. He says it this way in the book of Colossians chapter 3, beginning in verse 3. For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. My old life is dead. The old Micah is dead. The old Micah is flat and ruined. I can't take the new me and mix it with the old me and think that everything's going to be okay. The old is good for nothing but to be thrown away and left alone. And when we try to mix the old with the new or the new with the old, it is all ruined. I don't get married to a new wife. And then try to still have old girlfriends. Ain't nobody happy in that situation. You don't get a new employer and then try to go work for a competitor too. You don't work for Pepsi and then say, well, I'm going to have a side hustle with Coke over here. You need to be all in. People don't want to be all in with Jesus. They just want to put a little in. But the next verse says, when Christ, who is our life? Jesus is my life. Jesus should be your life. The songs that Philip led in congregation this morning was all about Jesus. And for the new year in 2023, you need to be all in with Jesus. We say, well, maybe if I take a little bit of Jesus, it'll help me be a better husband to my wife, Laura. Well, if I look a little bit in the Bible and maybe it'll help me be a better dad to Mark and Caleb. Well, I want to be more successful with Aflac. I want to hit quote and hit bonus and be a superstar at work. Let me find some Bible verses that apply to my work ethic. Well, I want to do a good job as pastor. I want to increase the congregation. I want to please the people and feed the people. Let me look at the parables of Jesus and how I can feed the people. I don't need to try to get a quick fix here and there on how I can be a better son or a better brother or a better pastor. When if I just say Christ is my life. He affects every area of my life and makes every area better. When I just throw the old away. The Bible doesn't stop there. But it says, mortify your members therefore. Talks about fornication and uncleanliness and corrupt affection and evil things and covetousness, idolatry. For those things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience, in which also you walked past tents sometime when you lived past tents that way. There was a way we used to live and it was wicked and it was corrupt and it was sensual and it was perverted and it was distorted and it was evil and it was wicked. But the Bible says in verse 8, But now, present tense, you also have put off all these anger and wrath and malice and blasphemy and filthy communication out of our mouth. We don't lie to one another saying that you have put off the old man with his deeds, but you have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. You're putting off the old man and you are putting on the new man. Verse 22, put on therefore, as the elect of God, be holy and beloved and merciful and kindness and humble in mind and meekness and long-suffering or patient. Verse 13, forbearing one another. That means we put up with each other. Forgiving one another. As any man has a quarrel against you, even as Christ forgave you, so also do. And above all these things, put on charity or love, which is the bond of perfection. And then let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with wisdom. Teaching and admonishing one another and singing in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And whatsoever you do in either word or in deed, in your conversation or your conduct, do all in the name of Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by Him. Talks about putting off the old and putting on the new. When you put something on, you feel different, you look different, you act different. For any ladies that are here that remembers their wedding day, you wore that wedding dress just one day in your life. You don't put it on any other time. But when you put that wedding dress on, you look different, you feel different, you act different. Any of those first responders that was here on First Responders Sunday, when the firefighters put on their uniform, when the police officers put on their uniform, when those in the military and armed services put on their uniform, they are preparing for their day. They're preparing to go put their life on the line. They're preparing to go fight the enemy. They're prepared to go save the day, pull people over, catch the bad guys, put out the fires. When we put on our work clothes and we get ready to go work, when we put on our play clothes and we're out there, the kids are ready to go play, when the kids put on their school uniform to go to school, what you wear, what you put on, identifies who you are and what you're going to do and what you're ready to do and what you're prepared to do and how you live. Because you can look at someone by the way they're dressed and say, that's a police officer and that's a fireman and that's an army man, man in the army, a soldier. She's a bride. Or he's a welder. That's a construction worker. That's a UPS man based on what they're wearing and how they're acting and what they're saying and what they're doing. Those verses that we read said we put on Christ. We put off the old man and we put on the new. So this parable with Jesus, they come to Jesus and they say, we want you to act like all these other people are acting. And Jesus says, I'm here now and we're not acting like we used to act. We're not looking like we used to look. We're not doing what we used to do. Now that I'm here, things are different. And he says, he picks two. And the parables are so simple, but they're profound. They're so easy to read. And if you're not careful, you can just skip over it. But Jesus chooses two things to illustrate the new life in Christ. And he has one thing about the garment that is external that people see holes and patches. And then he deals another with the wine skin and the wine that goes into the wine that is internal. So Jesus is explaining it in two different verses. There are two different examples saying, you're going to be new on the outside and you're new on the inside. We look at these verses in Romans and Corinthians and Colossians and Ephesians. And over and over again, it's telling us you're new on the outside and you're new on the inside. We don't look the same. We don't dress the same. We don't talk the same. But any external change is just a reflection of what's happened on the inside. So we're not the old man anymore. We don't talk that we sing that hymn. I'm in a new world. All things have passed away. Behold, all things are new. Ever since that happy day, he opened up my blinded eyes. And then I had a great surprise. I'm in a new world since the Lord changed me. I want to be different in 2023. But as Brother Marlin expressed, most New Year's resolutions made on January 1st are broken and no good by Martin Luther King Day. Most New Year's resolutions don't get anywhere. People start going to the gym, try to start eating redder, quit smoking, exercise more, whatever their New Year's resolution is, and it doesn't last most of the time. So how in the world is it possible? Because being a Christian is not turning over a new leaf. Being a Christian is not trying to do better. Being a Christian is not even trying to be better. Being a Christian is that you are better only because the very best, Jesus, has changed us. When we're in a new world, when I get up from an altar, when you are saved, you don't struggle with the same things you used to struggle with because the Bible says here, you are a new creature in Christ Jesus. That's why we say the phrase born again. We're not a sinner anymore struggling. We're not a saint still struggling with sin. There are things where you can battle. There are fights that you can go through. There are victories that you can claim. But you aren't the same anymore when you come to Jesus. Not the same on the inside, not the same on the outside. And I want to be new in 2023 because I want to be more like Jesus. There's a Bible verse in Psalms that says, I will be satisfied when I awaken in your likeness. I am not the same man that I was when I got saved. I can look back at the old me and say, I don't recognize him. I'm different. I look different. Talk different. Dress different. Act different. Go to different places. Listen to different music. Everything's changed. But at the same time, I can look at the Jesus in the Scriptures and say, I'm not what I used to be, but I still got room to go. I still have progress I can make. I still want to be more and more like Jesus. Like that song that we sing, to be like Jesus, to be like Jesus. That's all I ask, to be like him. And in this new year, we can say we want to exercise more. We want to sleep more. We want to eat better. We want to manage our money better. We want to manage our time better. We can make our new year resolutions. We can make our plans. And we should. But more than anything, we should say, in 2023, I want to be more like Jesus. I want to put on Christ. I want to put on Christ. Because if I've got shortcomings at home, if I've got shortcomings at work, if I've got shortcomings in church, it's because I didn't put on Christ that day like I should have. And I wasn't acting like the new me. I was acting like the old me. Jesus changed Simon's name to Peter. But whenever Peter was acting like his old self, Jesus didn't call him Peter. Jesus called him Simon. Jesus said, I'm going to change your name, son. You're not going to be called Simon anymore. You're going to be called Peter, Petra, Rock. And upon this rock, I'll build my church. He didn't want Peter to be the old Peter, Simon. He wanted to be the new man, Peter. But whenever Peter was acting like Peter, Jesus complimented him and called him Peter. Whenever Peter was acting like his old self, Simon, Jesus criticized him and didn't call him Peter, but called him Simon. I don't want to be the old me. Because the old me and the new me can't mix. It doesn't work. It ruins it. Most unhappy, miserable person you'll ever meet is not someone living 100% for Jesus. And it's not someone living 100% in the world for the devil. It's the person that's the hypocrite that's trying to do both. It's the person that's trying to be one way in church and one way in the world. That's trying to mix the old and the new. Jesus says, you can't serve two masters. You're either going to choose one or the other. Joshua says, this day I've given you two choices. Choose life that you may live. And this parallel that we will see, I mean, it's two roads. The wide road or the narrow road. It's two gates, the wide gate or the narrow gate. It's two foundations on rock or on sand. It's two different types of folks, lost and found, sheep and goats, wise and foolish. And here Jesus starts off the parable saying, there's two ways of living. The old way or the new way. But you can't have both. You can't put the new garment with the old garment. You can't put the new wine with the old wine skins. It just doesn't work. And too many church people are trying to live in the world a little bit and in church a little bit. And we have to look at these Bible verses and say, it's time to put off the old and it's time to put on the new. That old man is dead and are walking in newness of life, a new creature in Christ Jesus. So for the new year, I want to be a new man. Amen. My wife says, Amen. In Christ Jesus. And in 2023, how I can be a better pastor or a better employer or a better father or a better husband or a better friend is for me to be a better Christian. And that doesn't come from me doing a checklist or me trying to be better on my own. It's let Jesus live in me and the old life gone and the new life here. Amen. So if you've been struggling with the old and the new, you've been going back to those old ways and those old thoughts and you catch yourself losing your temper, you catch yourself starting to lose your temper. You catch yourself stumbling. You catch yourself slipping. You worry too much at night when you should be having faith. You need, the Bible talks about those examples, bitterness in your heart when you should be forgiven. Lust when you should be pure. A temper when you should be patient and forbearing. Struggling with stuff that you shouldn't be struggling with anymore. It's time to come to the altar and say, I want to put on Christ and I want to crucify that old man dead in his trespasses and sin. And I don't want to try to mix that new with the old. Amen. A brand new year. A brand new garment. A brand new wineskin. I want to be new on the inside. I want to be new on the outside. That newness of Christ that we can put on Christ. Find a place to pray this morning if you can. At your seat or at the altar.
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