Jan. 15, 2023 - Just Informed Talk - Craig James
11:38
| 
| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| Let's do another segment of God's Grace is Greater where we talk about God's grace and how it is truly greater and we go deep into the scripture. | |
| Today we have a piece of scripture that I'm really excited to share with you guys. | |
| This is scripture that we can find in finishing Luke chapter 5 and it talks about... | |
| Jesus giving us an explanation of what it means to fast and he's being asked this at a very critical time where a lot of people were comparing the ministry of Jesus to the ministry of John the Baptist and In those times, it was a very common thing to do, and this is something that Jesus kind of addresses here in the final part of chapter 5, verse 33 to 39. | |
| We're going to read through it, and we're going to hear a couple parables. | |
| Or at least one parable from Jesus about this very thing, and it's very fascinating. | |
| There's a lot we can take away from it, and we're picking up from right where we left off, which was Jesus calling Levi, Matthew, to follow him and to be one of his disciples, and he has this great banquet at Matthew's home, and he's a despised tax collector, and the Pharisees Why are you with this guy? | |
| And Jesus tells us, where we left off last time, the healthy don't need a doctor, the sick do, and that Jesus says, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. | |
| So we're picking up from that point, which is always contextually important to understand, where you're picking up from and where you're going with the scripture, because you can't just read... | |
| Sometimes it really helps to read Scripture contextually and understand where you're at in each book. | |
| And in this case, in Luke, we're picking up from that point in chapter 5, verse 33. | |
| Let's go ahead and read. | |
| He also told them a parable. | |
| No one, after drinking old wine, wants new because, he says, the old is better. | |
| Wow. | |
| So what do we take away from this? | |
| Well, there's a few things to understand here, right? | |
| First off, this is Jesus again responding to the Pharisees and the scribes who are in the middle of this, you know, questioning Jesus. | |
| First, they're asking him about this banquet he's having with Matthew, right, where they're drinking and they're feasting, and they say, basically, they tell Jesus, what are you doing with these sinners and this tax collector? | |
| Like, what's wrong with you? | |
| And he says, the healthy do not need a doctor, but the sick do. | |
| do I have come to call the righteous, but not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. | |
| Then they say to him this, well, John's disciples fasted and say prayers, and those of the Pharisees do the same, but yours eat and drink. | |
| So imagine Jesus trying to explain to them in these next verses, Why? | |
| They haven't fully understood what's happening yet. | |
| And what is Jesus really trying to teach them and tell them? | |
| Well, you can imagine, first off, what was John the Baptist doing? | |
| John the Baptist said he came to prepare the way for the Messiah, for Jesus. | |
| And Jesus was the Messiah. | |
| The bridegroom had arrived, right? | |
| Right? | |
| And Jesus was there, and what he ends up saying to them, it makes perfect sense when you understand what What we needed to do or what he felt they would be doing or should be doing when Jesus was there. | |
| As the Messiah says, you can't fast while the groom's with him. | |
| Now, he's talking about wedding banquets. | |
| And in those days, you know, during a wedding, you would have this grand banquet, you know? | |
| And it says in these Gospels and in the Bible that Jesus is essentially the bridegroom and we are wedding to him, right? | |
| Right? | |
| So he's telling the scribes and the Pharisees, I am here. | |
| The Messiah is here. | |
| This is the time to feast and to drink and have these times of thanks that we can give in this great time. | |
| Because he says, there's going to come a time where I'm going to leave. | |
| He's foreshadowing his own death, burial and resurrection. | |
| Then he says, that will be the day to fast in when he's not with us anymore. | |
| Right? | |
| So he goes on and he tells them this parable. | |
| Now he gives a couple of examples here. | |
| First he talks about taking an old patch or taking a new patch or an old patch and putting it on a new garment. | |
| Or excuse me, taking a patch from a new garment and putting it on an old garment. | |
| Now what would happen there? | |
| Well back in those days there was... | |
| Basically, what would happen if you take an old piece of fabric and put on a new piece of fabric is that it wouldn't fit and eventually the new piece of fabric would stretch out and it just wouldn't fit correctly anymore. | |
| That's why you'd have to match what you were mending with. | |
| Excuse me, I'm getting blasted by sunlight here. | |
| I forgot to shut one of the blinds here. | |
| It was cloudy out and now it's sunny. | |
| But the light of God shines on us and I am thankful for that. | |
| Now, what we see here is Jesus giving them this example of that and then following it up with the wineskins and saying that no one puts new wine into old wineskins. | |
| So what is this talking about? | |
| Well... | |
| They would use like a leather, I think it was goat skin, to make these basically containers for the wine. | |
| And what they would do is they would press the new wine and they would put it into a new wine skin and it would be a skin that, because it was new, could stretch. | |
| Right? | |
| Because as the wine aged and fermented, the skin would be stretched out and we would put it in a new wine skin so that it could stretch and it could maintain its seal because it was sealed to keep the liquid in. | |
| What Jesus is saying is you wouldn't take new wine and put it into an old wine skin that's already been used and stretched out because... | |
| If you filled an old wineskin and then the wine starts to ferment and it expands, it would tear the old wineskin because it wouldn't have the give to stretch and it would basically... | |
| They flop and open up and let all the wine spill out everywhere. | |
| So he's saying to them, you wouldn't do this. | |
| This was a common thing for them to understand in those days why he was saying it. | |
| And he also says, no one after drinking old wine wants new because he says the old is better. | |
| So what Jesus is saying, essentially, and I love how it's put here. | |
| I'm going to read you this explanation. | |
| But here's what it says. | |
| It says, And I love how that's put, right? | |
| Because that's the lesson he's trying to teach to the scribes and the Pharisees who continually question him at every chance they can, to question the validity and his authority that he teaches with and that he presents himself to the masses with because he is the Son of God. | |
| So in the same way... | |
| We should not be attached to the traditions of old, rather. | |
| We should be made anew with Christ every single day. | |
| And we should allow ourselves to be changed and molded and shaped by God and His glory and His power in our lives every day in every way possible. | |
| I know that some of us get settled in our way, and we're always looking for something to pull us in one direction or the other away from the most important thing, and that is God. | |
| Because we love distractions, right? | |
| We all love to go and do something that takes our mind off of the troubles of this life. | |
| And in a way, that's healthy and good. | |
| But what we can learn from what Jesus says here is that in our own lives, We should be, as it says here, we should be able to follow Jesus and understand the radical breakthrough that takes us away from that old life that we were once living and into the new and embrace it and live fully in that moment. | |
| So, when we get saved and we have that moment with Christ and we find ourselves looking to We're good to | |
| go. | |
| To overcome the affliction that we face in this world every single day. | |
| So, that's where I'm going to go ahead and leave it. | |
| I hope you guys enjoy that. | |
| We're going to pick up tomorrow in Luke chapter 6. | |
| Well, not tomorrow because there's going to be no show tomorrow. | |
| But, next week we'll be back. | |
| So, with that being said, let's go ahead and say a prayer and then we'll wrap it up. | |
| Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank you for this amazing gift of learning from your scripture. | |
| Lord, I pray that in whatever way is possible that the words that we've shared here with one another speak to the hearts of not only myself, but all those out there listening. | |
| Help open up a new way of understanding, Lord. | |
| Help us break away from the old life and come into the new life with you and to embrace you, Lord, in our hearts more fully every single day. | |
| To embrace the life everlasting through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and share that gift with as many as we can. | |
| We thank you most of all for our eternal salvation in Jesus' name. | |
| Amen. | |
| Alright guys, I hope you enjoyed that episode. | |
| We're going to go ahead and wrap it up there. | |
| But, make sure you like, share, subscribe. | |
| That helps out big time. | |
| If you're watching over on YouTube, there's a link in the description on how you can find my new show that goes on right before this segment. | |
| It's on Rumble. | |
| It's on BitChute. | |
| There's links in the description. | |
| Go check it out. | |
| Also, your financial support helps keep this channel alive, so consider making a donation if you can. | |
| There's links in the description below. | |
| But I want to say thank you all for watching this episode of God's Grace is Greater. | |
| We'll see you on the next one. | |
| Until then, my name is Craig. |
Export Selection