The true revolutionary

This transcript has been automatically generated

Luke 5:33-39. And they said to him, the disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink. And Jesus said to them, can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. He also told them a parable.

No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says the old is good. Now this might be a very strange question to ask in a church meeting, but why does the Lord Jesus have to be at the centre of absolutely everything? Admiral Nelson, and we may have heard of him, famous on top of Nelson’s Column, Trafalgar Square, won the Battle of Trafalgar for us. And as the Admiral, he famously invoked God and the Almighty lots of times in his letters. He even made sure that the ships he captained, they stocked piles of prayer books and hymn books before they set sail for battle.

But famously, he never mentioned the name of Jesus in all of his correspondence. Why is it so dangerous to ignore, ignore Jesus like that? I don’t know if we’ve experienced this at all, but yesterday I was in a conversation. We were talking about Christianity and faith and God, and I think we even got on to discussion of sin and discipleship. But when the name of the Lord Jesus was mentioned, and suddenly the temperature just raised a little bit, um, it seemed to be a higher stakes conversation.

And why is that? Well, what we do with the Lord Jesus, if I can put it like that, defines us eternally. And Luke, our author, he’d have us be certain that if we miss Jesus, we miss everything. That if we have Jesus, we have everything and the potential of fullness of joy. But those that don’t recognise Jesus, no matter how religious or even Christian we might look, we don’t truly know God and we face destruction.

Now, these verses are really one piece with what the verses before in verses 27 to 32, and they directly continue from the other. And they answer this question together: why do so many who appear to be outwardly religiously devoted miss out on the kingdom of God? Why does that happen? Well, last week Jesus said that some don’t recognise their own sin, and this week it’s because others don’t recognise their Saviour, which is a devastating thing because we’re going to consider together firstly that Jesus is the joyful salvation that all true religion looks towards, um, verse 33 to 35. And then after him, continuing religion that fails to recognise Jesus faces destruction in verses 36 to 39.

Now, if you weren’t here last week, um, Jesus was at a massive party at someone called Levi’s house, and his opponents, they think that puts him out of line. Out of line with the last and greatest Old Testament prophet, John the Baptist. So verse 33, they say to him this, and they said to him, the disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so did the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink. You know, they’re effectively saying, you know, we’re at the temple fasting and praying, and your guys, they’re down at Five Guys with their heart-stopping burger and a refillable Coke, whatever you get there.

And the question they ask shows a complete failure to recognise the occasion. And fasting isn’t wrong. Fasting is deployed in Israel’s history for corporate repentance and dedicated prayer, that is calling on God to act in light of his mercy and his promises to his people. I’ve given some examples on your sheet if you want to look at that later. The only recording fasting we’ve had in Luke so far is done by Anna who is a woman in the temple.

Chapter 2, verses 36-38, we find that she’s fasting and praying in the temple every day. And why does she do that? To express repentance at Israel’s sin and calling on the promises of God to redeem Jerusalem, and that is to bring in the kingdom of God. And John’s disciples are likely doing a similar thing, but the Pharisees are weaponizing that to attack Jesus.

But Jesus responds in verse 34, and he essentially says, um, I am the feast that you should be fasting for, that I am the feast you should be fasting for. Verse 34: And Jesus said to them, can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? Now again, just remember, this is right off the back of Jesus having attended a great feast in a rich man’s house, verse 29. And have we ever been to a great feast before? I was at a great wedding yesterday, and I guess there was theoretically meant to be a fast between the ceremony and the wedding breakfast, the break— breakfast later on.

The truth is that Abby and I scoffed some bananas and cake in the car to keep us going in between the two. But it was a truly great feast yesterday evening. There was food and drink and joy and celebration. And a real sense of happiness in the marriage. Or picture the scene in Harry Potter where Dumbledore clicks his fingers and at the start of term feast in the Great Hall.

I don’t know if any of students have had that as first years, and all the tables filled with food. And we read earlier in Isaiah, or Gabby read for us, this is the picture of the Lord’s great salvation. Isaiah says, on this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And the image of the bridegroom we began our meeting with today is the image of the Lord himself and coming into his creation to bring about salvation and his kingdom. And together these pictures picture the wedding feast of the Lord.

And Jesus says, that’s what’s happening right now with me here in Galilee and Jerusalem. I am the Lord bringing about that joyful salvation. It’s party time, and this is the feast you should have been fasting for.

What’s his evidence for that? Well, that’s all he’s been doing in Galilee and Judea in these opening chapters. If we’ve been here for a few Sundays, now’s the time for a bit of memory recall, if we can manage that this Sunday evening. What’s he been doing? And Jesus has been driving back the forces of Satan in the world, casting out demons.

He’s reconstituted the people of Israel not around 12 tribes but 12 apostles who will spearhead a mission to fish for people from all over the world to join his kingdom. Instead of being contaminated when encountering leprosy, leprosy is cleansed when it encounters him. He heals the paralysed and the sick. He will soon raise the dead. And most of all, he’s announcing God’s promised forgiveness of sins.

And we’ll see next week, bringing in true Sabbath rest for everyone who follows him. This is a picture of salvation, the wedding feast of the Lord. When people recognise their sin and recognise Jesus is for his Savior— who he is, our Savior— it’s time for joy. And celebration. It’s not a time for fasting and contrition, unlike the Pharisees.

Now, I think the next 6 PM wedding in this building is that of Ryan Davidson and Jess Davis. Now, Tom James, who’s here I think this evening, is one of Ryan’s groomsmen. I mean, it’s an interesting choice, but each to their own, each to their own. But imagine how Ryan would react in a number of weeks’ time if something like this happens at the reception. Tom sits down, and instead of pouring wine or accepting a glass of champagne, he pours himself a glass of water.

Now, Ryan might think, okay, not everyone drinks, but he could have a Coke or something, but okay. Then Tom— the servers, they kindly bring the first course over. Tom waves it away, sitting there rather somberly. And Ryan thinks, well, I mean, he picked his own menu, but maybe he’s gone off fish since then. But then Tom again— the servers come around with the main course and Tom waves them away.

And Ryan this time— I’m not going to try the accent, but he said something like this. He says, Tom, you’re my best man, this is my wedding day, and why aren’t you celebrating with me? When Tom responds something like, I’m having a voluntary fast, I don’t think it’s going to go down that well. It’d be weird, wouldn’t it, at the top table? It’d be stupid.

It would be disrespectful. And Jesus says in response to those questioning his disciples’ social schedule, he says, can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? And if you read Luke’s Gospel, there’s a number of movable wedding feasts, a bit like a sort of wedding reception on tour. I don’t think Ryan and Jess have that planned. But in the gospel, they represent the Lord coming to marry his people, repentant sinners celebrating with their Saviour.

There is a feast, and it’s a picture of the fact that the Lord Jesus is the Lord himself come in history, come to bring the joy of salvation to all who repent. And I hope everyone in this room has experienced forgiveness at some point in their life. You know, when you’ve known you’ve done something wrong to someone you care about or respect and they genuinely forgive you, it’s a joyous thing, isn’t it, when that happens? And how much more with the Lord himself when we know and we are aware of all we’ve done wrong to our Maker, and yet he forgives us in the person of the Lord Jesus. It’s a cause for celebration and for joy.

And being a Christian is not a cakewalk. Jesus will have more to say about that later. But it’s an amazing privilege, it’s an amazing invite to have, knowing we’re forgiven, accepted by God, not facing condemnation when we die, knowing Jesus— we have it in him, we have eternal life beyond the grave, that he is with us by his Spirit. He promises never to leave us or forsake us, and knowing that he will see his kingdom expand to the ends of the earth.

Now, sorry if this seems a bit sentimental, but it is a serious thing for me as well. And every day, or most days of the week, I get the privilege of dropping my daughter off at school, and we remind each other that God loves us and watches over us today. And we say this thing to each other. One of us says, and this is the day that the Lord has made, and the other one says, let us rejoice and be glad in it. And now, not every day is a good day, and— but we can live our lives in light of the salvation the Lord Jesus brings.

And I can leave my daughter at school with confidence knowing that whatever happens, the Lord Jesus has her back as well as mine. And we get to enjoy some of the implications of this wedding feast even now.

But we see in verse 35, and this is a picture and a taste and not yet fully consummated, or it’s not all fully there yet. And Jesus adds, verse 35, The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.

Now Jesus then, and Jesus not yet, and now, is not walking the earth physically permanently with us today. And in being taken away, Jesus is alluding to his coming death, resurrection, and ascension. And that is how he’ll fully accomplish the salvation he’s bringing in. Right now he sits at the right hand of his Father in heaven as his gospel advances until he physically returns and brings about the fullness of this wedding feast to come. But in the meantime, Jesus says his disciples will fast, which they do in places like Acts 13 and Acts 14.

But it’s not now to pray for God’s forgiveness to come or his salvation to come, but it’s to ask that that salvation will continue to advance And as the gospel word advances and more and more people receive the forgiveness of Jesus.

And Jesus is the fulfilment of all the promises of God, and he is the gift who incorporates all the gifts we need: forgiveness, rest, life, freedom, relationship with God, God’s purposes fulfilled in the world. And Jesus is everything. And if you’re in the first century Israel and you have any idea who he is and what he’s doing And he’s right there in front of you, and the only sensible thing to do is eating and drinking and feasting and celebrating. And Jesus is the joyful salvation of God and the feast that the fast was praying for.

So if Jesus is the joyful salvation of what all true religion points towards, that means that continuing religion that fails to recognise Jesus faces destruction, he says, verse 36 to 39. Now Jesus is continuing to respond to his opponent’s question here. That’s reinforced by the use of a 3-part parable. Parables are used in the Bible as devices of judgement, and he’s illustrating why those clinging on to the old religion when the fulfilment of it, the new, is right there, are missing out. In verse 36-38, we see that clinging to the old is incompatible with the arrival of the new.

Let’s look at those again. He also told them a parable. No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts one— no one puts new wine into old wineskins.

If he does, the new wine will burst the skins. And it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.

Now, both images, they speak of what happens when you’re trying to fix an old thing with a new thing, but it all doesn’t end well. New unshrunk fabric, I’m told— I’ve never really done this, so I’m just having to take Google’s word for it— but new unshrunk fabric will tear if you attach it to old clothing and try and wash it. Old wineskins and the way wine used to be held, And if you put fermented wine in it, the fermentation process, it makes them brittle, and with that wine in, so when you add new wine and it ferments, it smashes them apart.

Jesus hasn’t come, he’s saying, to patch up the old but to transform it. He isn’t like a sort of super sub in football, like an Ole Gunnar Solskjær in the early noughties scoring the last-minute winner. I mean, he doesn’t fill up what is lacking. He doesn’t put the icing on the cake. He is the fulfilment of what some people call the Old Covenant.

That is how Israel, how God’s people related to God before Jesus came in the flesh, was pointing towards. And all the things we mentioned earlier that Jesus is bringing in salvation, it fundamentally changes the way that believers relate to God now. And Satan has been dethroned, we saw, as a spiritual power behind the rulers of the world. So now God’s kingdom is not just limited by being centred on one geographical nation. And Israel is no longer defined by 12 tribes but is governed by the word of 12 apostles, and they have a renewed commission and power to be fishers of men from all over the world.

The cleanliness laws, um, that separated Israel as a priestly nation have been overcome by the cleansing power of Jesus. There are no ceremonially unclean people anymore. Anyone can draw near to God in the Lord Jesus. And there are no need for animal sacrifices anymore because the one great sacrifice they anticipated has come. So the definitive forgiveness of sins has arrived, and the Sabbath is transformed as the rest it has anticipated.

Has begun in the Lord Jesus. That’s quite a long list already, and that’s just what’s mentioned in these chapters. But the point is, although the Old Covenant prepares the way for the New, and so it’s completely compatible in that sense, it’s completely incompatible to keep operating under the old system when the New Covenant has fulfilled and transformed and resurrected it all. And old and new don’t mix together. One comes after the other as the fulfilment of the other.

And Jesus in the parable is the new garment the wearer of the old should be waiting for.

Now, this is really not my area of expertise, so do forgive any heresies in this area, but I believe in one of the more retellings of the Spider-Man storey, it starts off with Spider-Man having a sort of rudimentary suit that he’s made himself. That it gets a bit tatty after a while, and he’s struggling with it. And then one day, Iron Man, Tony Stark, gives him some sort of super technological special suit or something like that. Now, Peter Parker doesn’t get his scissors out and start chopping up that new suit and sort of sewing it to his old one. That would be stupid.

He said, thank you very much for my cool new suit. I don’t know if he said that actually, but Maybe you should have done.

And we mentioned Anna from the temple earlier, and Anna comes along with a guy called Simeon. Here’s a sort of quiz question if you were here in autumn last year: what’s the most notable thing about them, Anna and Simeon, in the Bible? Sorry if you weren’t here. And they are both really old, uh, like really old. What’s notable about them.

And they’re prophets, and they authenticate the coming of Jesus and the coming of salvation as they hold up a baby in the temple. And they embody the fact that the Old Covenant was old, and Israel in its current arrangement was coming to an end, giving way to the new era of salvation in this baby, to start with, in the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the new era, the new garment who comes at the end of the old. He is a transformation of it, not a top-up, a fulfilment, not a fixing up. He’s a resurrection of Israel to a much more glorious body, not a resuscitation of the old dying body.

Trying to turn back the clock on the arrival of the promise is a rejection of that promise. It’s a rejection of the wedding feast. It’s incompatible.

Think about it a bit further. It’s an insult or a rejection of Jesus to keep offering sacrifice if he says he’s the one true sacrifice that all sacrifices have pointed towards. It’s spitting in the face of what he’s done for us. It’s an insult to follow some sort of separation rules between us and other people And when the Lord Jesus says in him he’s united everyone from every nation.

And maybe most simple of all, it’s an insult to look for God, to look for the Lord of heaven and earth in anyone else and anywhere else, when the Lord says he’s come in the person of Jesus Christ to be found by us. He is the revelation of God. It’s incompatible to go back and try and rewind the clock to things that pointed to Jesus when Jesus himself is here.

So clinging on to Judaism without Jesus, after Jesus, is a false religion just as much as Islam is, or moral agnosticism is, or whatever we care to think of without Jesus, because Jesus’ kingdom is the fulfilment of all true religion.

Am I speaking to someone in this room a few weeks ago, and their colleague is married to a Jewish woman, and they were hearing about, um, what one of us believed about the Lord Jesus. And they said, you know what, you should cheque out Judaism, and there’s some stuff in there that sounds a bit similar, and you might like it. I think they were thinking, yes, Jesus is the King of the Jews. And in the Luke Gospel, Jesus says that every word of the Old Testament is about him. If you miss him you’ve missed everything, and which is the case of, as we said, every other religion as well.

If we’re looking for forgiveness or joy or peace or truth or contentment or hope for life after death and without Jesus, if we’re still looking for the God on heaven and earth and discount Jesus, we’re looking in the wrong place. We’re looking in a place that only leads to destruction as we reject God himself, because Jesus is the Lord bringing in his joyful salvation.

But it’s more than incompatible in these verses, isn’t it? I wonder what we think there. It’s not just like a dating couple who’ve decided that engagement and marriage is not for them, and they go their separate ways as friends. It’s more like treating your husband like your boyfriend and rather than your bridegroom after you’d married him, or maybe even leaving him at the altar and trying to burn down the church when he turns up. And if you cling on to the old when the new has come— verse 37 again— it says the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled and the skins will be destroyed.

Now it might sound strange that Jesus is saying that the new and the old will be destroyed.

But it’s actually an incredible picture, a bit like the bridegroom being taken away earlier. Here’s another picture of what’s to come in the gospel. As well as being a parable, this is prophetic. This is what actually happens, and the blood of the Lord Jesus is in fact poured out, chapter 22, verse 50. And chapter 20, verse 16, that seals Jerusalem and the whole religious establishment’s fate.

Of destruction for putting the Lord himself to death on a cross. See, holding on to the old after the new has come, it’s an incendiary mixture. That means it goes boom, it blows up, which is really bad news if you’re clinging on to old religion. But it doesn’t spoil the Lord’s plans, and the Lord still uses that in his salvation, and his plans cannot be thwarted no matter how anyone responds to him. And here’s an incredible thing to understand in the Bible storey.

I think this is always part of the Lord’s plan. And, and the law, the way that Israel related to God, it fulfilled God’s purposes for believers, for people who trusted him as they walked with God while they waited for his kingdom. It showed them their sin, it ordered their life, and it pointed to Jesus. But it also worked to fulfil God’s purposes in unbelievers, those who rejected God. It exacerbated and concentrated sin over 1,500 years until that sin could be dealt with in one person once and for all.

It created the conditions in history so that at just the right time, it 33 AD, sinful Israel and the sinful world represented by the Roman Empire could conspire to crucify the Lord Jesus. And in doing that, he paid for the sins of the whole world. And the working of the law in sinful men was God’s agent in bringing about the salvation it pointed towards. In other words, Peter says in Acts 2:23, And this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God— God planned— you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. And you did.

And the Lord even uses the sin of the world as part of his plan to bring about the salvation of the world. Now, that’s expanding quite a bit from here, but it’s all to say that the Lord uses the sinful clinging onto the old as part of his plan to see the coming salvation of the new. God so weaved the tapestry of history to use human sin to bring about salvation, and that’s how big he is. The pouring out of Jesus’ blood seals the forgiveness of the repentant, and it also seals the destruction of the unrepentant. And religious unbelief is not a problem for Jesus’ salvation plan.

It’s a problem, sadly, for those who don’t accept his invitation to his great wedding banquet. I was going to say that still leaves us with a question. And why do some men who seem to be devoted to the Lord Jesus, if this is the outcome, why do they still choose to stick with the old rather than turn to the new? And I think it’ll be a great discussion afterwards to have a look down at verse 39 and think what it means that even though the old is good and people won’t turn to the new. Why don’t we chat about that later on?

And I’ll lead us in prayer now.

Our Father, thank you for sending the Lord Jesus as the promised bridegroom, that he fulfils all that true religion points towards and offers us his wedding feast like a salvation. Please help us see him as our Lord and Saviour and not be tempted away from him when others don’t see him like that, or old religion seems appealing. Amen.