If you've got your Bibles of course you should have them go back to Luke chapter 5
Luke chapter 5 and for those that are visiting us for the first time on Sunday mornings
We go through the Bible chapter by chapter at the moment
We're going through the book of Luke and we're up to chapter number 5
So Luke 5 look at verse number 4 Luke 5 verse 4 the Bible reads now when he had left speaking
He said unto Simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a dry
Draft the title of the sermon this morning is let down your nets let down your nets
Let's look at verse number 1 Luke chapter 5 verse 1 else. There's a lot to cover again
The chapters in the book of Luke are pretty chunky and I always try my best to go through the whole chapter if possible
So Luke chapter 5 verse 1 and it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God
he stood by the lake of
Gennesaret, all right. So what you're first thing I want you to notice there and I talked about this last week
Okay, what should we be pressing upon the Lord when we come to the house of the Lord?
What is it that we're seeking to hear? You know, we're seeking to hear some music that's appealing to the flesh
You know, are we seeking to be entertained? Are we looking for the smoke machines and and the and the purple spotlights?
What is it that we're looking for when we come to the house of the Lord
Hey, what were the people wanting when they pressed upon him?
Hey, they were coming and they were thirsty to hear the word of God is what they came for
Okay
and so
Churches ought to be and what's saying just our church and saying all the churches that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ
Ought to be focused primarily first upon the Word of God you start moving away from the Word of God
You start moving losing direction. You start losing the will of God
You start moving away from the dark from the example that the Lord Jesus Christ has left us with okay
So we need to ensure that our church is always based upon the Word of God in season out of season
Whether I like it whether you like it is irrelevant. We need to preach the the full counsel of God
Okay, so look at verse number two and and saw two ships standing by the lake
But the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets. Okay, so here we have the disciples
we have Peter and
And Andrew I believe as well. They are washing their nets these these shipping boats were empty
Meaning that they had already spent the time the day out fishing and they were wrapping things up
They were now just washing things, you know packing up, you know that and you'll see later on that they didn't catch anything
They had a pretty unsuccessful
Day out fishing look at verse number three
Speaking of Jesus and he entered into one of the ships which was Simon's that's Peter and
Prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land and he sat down and taught the people out of the ship
So, of course the people were pressing upon him, right?
There's a lot of people
Jesus found it better to just be going to the ship be pushed out into the shore and not have all those throngs of people
Around him but he was able to preach there from the ship. Hey look
Wherever it is guys, you know, we have a nice pulpit now, but if all we had was a ship
Hey, that's that's a good place to preach the Word of God. All right
It doesn't matter what you have available to you use what you have Jesus in this case
use the ship pulled himself out and preached the Word of the Lord and
And verse number four now when he had left speaking so once he finishes preaching
He said that to Simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft
Okay
now that word draft you might not be familiar with it that word draft basically means to pull or to draw when you let down your
Nets to go fishing when you collect the fish you're pulling or you're drawing upon that net aren't you? That's the draft
That's what Jesus Christ is speaking about. And so when you understand what's going on here
It's a bit of an unusual request
Because the fishermen just spent all day fishing they're already washing already packing up and Jesus
Hey, let down your nets for the draft
Let them down because you're going to have a great catch and you're going to be able to catch a great number of fish is
What Jesus is saying but notice what he asks of?
Peter what the title of the sermon is this morning is to let down your nets nets
Plural okay more than one all the nets that Peter had all of them that he was washing
Jesus asked him. I let him all down. Okay, and of course
We see how Simon Peter answers verse number five and Simon answering said unto him master
We have toiled all the nights. So it's not just a day. It's also the night. Oh, they were working the whole night
Surely these men were tired
Surely these men were sleepy
Surely these men were a little discouraged right and then he says and have taken nothing. We've worked all night
Jesus, you know, we're tired and we've taken nothing and now you're asking us to do it again
But then look what he says
Nevertheless at thy word. I will let down the net
Wait a minute Peter. How many nets did Jesus ask you to let down?
The nets plural all the nets that you had with us how the son respond
I'll let down the nets. All right, so we see that Simon Peter had a lack of faith here
You know, he did it in obedience to Christ and sometimes we can do things in obedience to Christ
But we don't do it in the full capacity that Jesus Christ asks of us
All right, and we see this play out and I love these stories in the Bible, you know
We see the failure of men, you know that proves to me that I'm going to fail
I'm going to do something wrong that proves to me that all of you are going to fail at some point when the Lord Jesus
Christ asks of you right, but we need to learn from the examples that we have in the Bible. Okay now
Obviously we can say that Peter was tired from a from a night of fishing
And I just want to quote to you from Galatians 6 to 9. You don't need to turn there
It says and let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season
We shall reap if we faint not
Hey, Simon Peter was weary. He was tired
Right and Jesus Christ says look just keep the work keep going and you know what?
Doing the work of the Lord is weary. It gets tiring
Okay, there are moments where it's like, you know what it'd be easy if I just don't serve the Lord today
It'd just be easier if I don't go soul-winning today, okay
It'd just be easier if I just don't do the commands that God has laid out in the scriptures
Okay, sometimes you might have that thought in your mind, but the Bible says look don't get weary in well-doing
Okay
We need to take time to refresh ourselves and we'll soon see that even Jesus Christ had to take time to
Refresh himself to recharge his batteries doing good works
All right
Just make sure when you get weary, you don't stop make sure when you get weary
You don't have forsake the work of God. All right, take your break
Yeah, but then get back onto it let down all your nets once again and start fishing again
look at verse number six Luke 5 verse 6 and
when they had done this when they
Had this done they enclosed a great multitude of fishes
Look at the next thing and their net singular and their nets break
Why did that net break because Jesus Christ had blessed them with a great catch, right?
What a great what a great blessings for these fishermen right at this point in time
It was their livelihood at this time. There were great multitude. They're listening to Jesus Christ
I'm sure this great multitude wanted to eat as well. I what a great blessing but what happens?
Could they sustain the blessing could they catch the blessing? No, their net broke
Because they disobeyed what God had asked of them
They were to let down all the nets if he had let down all the nets he wouldn't have this problem
He'd have sufficient nets to catch the fish on that day. All right
Now this is what I want to talk about guys
Is that we need to let down all our nets when Christ asks us to do something
Don't doubt be in faith and do exactly what Christ asked of you
Okay, look it is everybody if you're an able person if you're a healthy able person
It is everybody's responsibility to go fishing. It is everybody's responsibility to let down the nets
Okay, and what I mean by that is the soul winning. Okay going out knocking the doors
Preaching the gospel the good news
You know the words of eternal life
You know something that can change an individual's eternal destiny
It's all our responsibility. Okay, and if we as a church
Have people that are able to do this
But don't do it. Then what are we doing as a church? We're not letting down all our nets are we?
We're letting down some nets, but we're not letting down all our nets
Okay, and of course look I understand there are situations that make it difficult
You know illnesses or little babies or whatever can make it challenging
But look if you're a saved believer, if you're a saint you've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
It's your responsibility to go out there and do some fishing. All right, and
Look we can apply we can apply this to many other aspects of our life, you know many aspects
You know, we should be reading our Bible every day
We should be spending time every day and if you skip a day, guess what? There's a that's a net that you've not let down
Okay, you can be prayed, you know should be praying to the Lord, you know confessing your sins
You know following the commands that are in the Lord whenever we disobey whenever we do wrong whenever we sin
That's a net in our life that we've not let down and we've held back
Okay, and the problem there is when the Lord does come and bless us
We can't take in the full blessing that God would have wanted us to have
Because if we only have a few nets down our nets can break. Okay, look at verse number seven Luke 5 verse 7 and
Because the net break it says here and they beckon unto their partners
Which were in the other ship that they should come and help them and they came hey, this is what it means
This is this what's good about having good partners. Hey, if you can't go soul winning you're like, I'm too
Timid to talk. I'm too timid to preach the Word of God. That's fine. Just be a solid partner
Hey be a partner that can come and help the soul winner that can come and help the preacher
They came and they helped these were good friends and they came and filled both the ships
So that they began to sink. I mean that's how much fish was caught on that day that he began to sink
Hey and when this church building when we've run out of seats
Right when we have enough people here this building's going to begin to sink and we need to find some other solution moving forward
I hope that's the case one day. All right
But uh, you know when we go fishing we should share that news with our partners. We should share the blessings
Hey you get someone say hey, even if you don't get someone saved, but you had the chance to
Plant a seed it's a great thing to share that amongst others to share in the blessings that God has given you the opportunity
To be a worker for him a fisher of men
Verse number eight when Simon Peter saw it. He fell down at Jesus's knees
Saying depart from me for I am a sinful man. Oh Lord
Hey Simon Peter recognized his disobedience to the Lord
Right when he saw the great miracle that Christ did all he could do was bow before Jesus Christ
Confess himself a sinner and say depart from me
I you know looking at Jesus Christ in who he is, you know
The righteous holy Lord God right and he was able to do that
Hey look, and if there's been times in your life where you've held back some nets from the Lord
You know, you've not been obedient to the Lord. This is the same thing you need to do
You just need to bow yourself before Christ and say look I'm a sinner forgive me. I've done wrong
Okay, and do better next time
That's number nine
For he was astonished
why was Peter astonished and all that were with him at the draft of the fishes that they had taken and
so was also
James and John the sons of Zebedee which were partakers with Simon and Jesus sent out to Simon fear not
From henceforth thou shalt catch men
Okay, fear not. Don't be afraid you do it better next time
In fact, instead of catching fishes you're gonna go and catch men. You're going to be a soul winner
You're going to catch the souls of men for the kingdom of God God Jesus Christ uses this illustration
you know of catching the fish and
aligning that with being a soul winner and I love how they respond in verse 11 and
When they had brought their ships to land they forsook all and followed him they forsook all and followed him
Now let me just say a couple of things here
They forsook their livelihoods. They forsook their jobs
They forsook their jobs as fishermen. All right, as I mean did they fish other times?
They probably did okay, but as far as a day-to-day job they forsook that
Okay. Now what I will say this though
Is that it is not a call to everybody to just forsake all your jobs
Like you've got a family and kids, right? And then you've got you've got a job and you're like well look at this
I want to follow Jesus Christ. So I'm just going to quit my job and serve him 100%
That's not a call for everybody. Okay in this part of the ministry of Jesus Christ
You know, he was going to teach his disciples and he knitted them on board. It's only three years of his ministry
There's a short time that Jesus Christ was there to teach them and they could have made the decision
Do I keep working my job or do I follow after Christ and become a fisher of men?
All right, and they you know, thank God they made that decision to follow after Christ now
Look if your church, you know
If the ministry you're going into is able to provide for you and for your family, that's one thing, you know
Then yeah, of course, you know quit your job and serve the Lord in your church or what have you but I have come across
people believers and
They're just like well, you know, they're not liking their job for whatever reason
It's like well, I'm just gonna quit my job and just serve the Lord and he'll provide for me
look
You know, the Bible says that as men we are to work to earn an income to provide for our family
To make sure that needs are met
That is a commandment of God. This is clearly taught in the Bible
So if you're doing that, what are you doing? You're following Jesus
Look, you don't need to quit your jobs to just follow Jesus Christ
You can do you can follow Christ in all aspects of your life and I've covered this before
But you could be working a job
You don't even like but as long as your mindset is that I'm serving the Lord Jesus Christ
And you work hard and you work for him then you are following Christ. You are serving Christ
Okay, so please don't have a mindset that God only wants people that are in full-time ministry
Okay, that's not the case God wants all of us to follow after him
Okay, even if it's not full-time ministry that you're involved in
Verse number 12 and
It came to pass
when he was in a certain city behold a man full of leprosy who seen Jesus fell on his face and
Besought him. So this man is sick with leprosy. He comes and he searches for Christ
He's been looking for Christ saying Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean
Hey, we see that this man had his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ
He had no doubts that Christ could have healed him from the leprosy
All right, this man had faith to begin with
Verse 13 and he put forth his hand and touched him saying I will
Be thou clean and immediately the leprosy departed from him and he charged him to tell no man
but go and show thyself to the priests and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded for a testimony unto them I
Was going to go through Leviticus 13, but I won't do that because I've got a lot to cover here
But if you're interested into as to what Christ is asking this man to do then go home and read Leviticus 13 on your own
But I do want to bring this this note though to your attention
So if someone was concerned about having leprosy
maybe maybe not they were required to go to the priest and the priest was to assess and
Determine whether that person was unclean or clean
Okay
Yeah, this is a practice of the Old Testament
This proves to us that as Jesus Christ and this is important for later in the chapter
So keep this in mind as Jesus Christ was serving in his ministry. The New Testament had not yet started
Yes, Jesus Christ was teaching New Testament truths
Absolutely, right and and the writings that you know
The Gospels Matthew Mark and Luke and John they were written once the New Testament had started
Yes
but as Christ was on the earth the Old Testament was still in effect and
Christ who was to fulfill the whole law was asking this man to keep the commandments of Moses to go to the priest and
Show himself to be clean. All right
Now it's interesting in verse 14. He says and he charged him to tell no man
Hey, don't go around and tell people that it was me that cleansed that healed you. Okay, and
You might you might say that's a bit weird. Why is he saying that don't doesn't Jesus want everybody to come to him?
And yes, he does. He does. All right, but we'll see in this chapter that Jesus Christ was already
Overwhelmed with the amount of people that were coming to him. That's why it starts off that the people were pressing into him
Okay, and of course Jesus would eventually go, you know
His goal was to go town to town city by city and even with his apostles
He sent them out in places that he could not go or even in places to prepare for his coming
And so yes, we see that it was the heart of Jesus to ensure that
Everybody knew about him, but it was in his time
If everyone came rushing then there'd be people that would be a miss out on on Jesus Christ
But look at verse 15 Luke Luke 5 15
Even though Jesus Christ tries to stop
You know his popularity it says in verse 15 and so much the more when there are fame abroad of him
Because look there are thousands of people coming to him you think they're all keeping their mouths quiet. No, right? They're excited
They're telling people of Jesus Christ and look and great multitudes came
Together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities
Alright, so even though Jesus tried to prevent the excessive news about his fame
It still it still came the the fame was still spreading all over the place and
Christ was being overworked great multitudes were coming to be healed. All right
now look at verse 16 and
He withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed look even Jesus Christ
Needed to take a break even he needed to stop for a while. But look
He still healed these people he still made himself available to the multitudes
But there came a time even Jesus Christ in his flesh grew weary
Put himself aside into the wilderness away from all the noise
Away and for us, you know, it's away from from Facebook
Yeah, it's it's away from from the noise and the hustle bustle life. Sometimes we just need to get away somewhere quiet
You know, we all need to find a place of wilderness that we can go and just be alone with the Lord God
You know might be the first thing in the morning before your children wake up just a place of quiet
We can just bow your head and go before the Lord and pray and we see that's exactly what Jesus Christ did
Remember he left us his steps that we can follow after him even Jesus Christ needed to recharge his batteries
Okay, and then get back into the work
verse 17
Verse 17 and it came to pass on a certain day as he was teaching that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by
which were come out of every town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and the power of the Lord was present to heal them and
Behold men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy. That's like cerebral
palsy and they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before him and
When they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude
They went upon the housetop and let him down through the tiling with his couch. Sorry
Yeah with his couch into the midst before Jesus
So we have this group of friends bringing their friend who can't walk and they can't come
Through the front door because of the multitude that are trying to hear the Lord Jesus Christ
So they go to the roof they take down the tiles and they let him down in the roof, you know
Could you imagine this place was packed out and people wanted to come and hear the word of the Lord and all of a sudden?
We see the the roof open up right the the elements coming down, you know, the beauty material falling down
I suppose and this man being brought down, you know, just to hear the word of the Lord, right? I mean and
look at verse 20 and I this is the memory verse and I want you to memorize this for a reason and
When he saw their faith
He said unto him man thy sins are forgiven thee. I
Want you to understand this?
What is it if we want our sins forgiven if we want to be made right with the Lord?
What do we need to have?
first
Faith, okay. It's not that your sins are forgiven and then you have faith in the Lord
No, it's always faith first
Just like the man of leprosy. He came seeking the Lord
He had faith that the Lord Jesus Christ could heal him and so he did
Right and we see here before Jesus Christ even bothers healing this man of his sickness
He realizes this man has sins, but he sees the faith of the man and he sees the faith of his friends
He says when he saw their faith, right? He said unto him man thy sins are forgiven thee
Hey look
The only thing that's going to cause you to be forgiven of your sins
the only thing that's going to cause you to be right before the Lord and have eternal life is
For you to place your faith on the Lord Jesus Christ
That's it your faith 100% on the Lord Jesus Christ and look it's my opinion
It's not clearly spelt out in the Bible, but I could make a study of this and prove this quite strongly
But it's my opinion that Jesus Christ
When he when he went healing people with sicknesses
It was people that had faith on him that had already
Placed 100% their faith on Christ not faith that he could just heal them
But faith in who he was the Christ the Son of God
The only exception to this that I can see in the Bible are those that were
Possessed by Devils or possessed by unclean spirits, okay?
So Christ would cast out the Devils and then these people would be a sober minded and they'd be able to believe on him
Okay, that's the only exception that I see but every other sort of sickness
That's your sort of your standard illnesses and diseases that are in the world
You know people had their faith in him and we could do a study we could I could show you how many times it?
Speaks of their faith and then healing Jesus Christ healing them all right now I
Believe that is that is symbolic of salvation
Okay, I believe what Jesus Christ is doing is symbolic. We're all diseased with sin. We're all diseased with that
We're all deserving of hellfire, but Jesus Christ says when he looks upon our faith on him. He'd come and heal us
he'd come and forgive us of our sins all right verse 21 and
the scribes and Pharisees
Began to reason saying
It's interesting here in verse 21. It says they're saying these things
Who is this which speaketh blasphemies who can forgive sins, but God alone?
Hey, they're saying the truth
But they're not accepting the truth right of course the only one that can forgive sins is God alone
Hey, this is a great passage that proves the deity of Jesus Christ that he is God
Yes, Christ could forgive sins because he is God all right his God manifest in the flesh and the
Pharisees were so close to seeing this, but they just couldn't put their faith on Christ himself look at verse 22
but when Jesus
perceived their thoughts
Hey, how were they saying this were they using their mouths? No, they were just thinking this right
It was just in their minds who can forgive sins, but God alone and again Jesus Christ
He proves that he's God he's able to read their thoughts
Perceiving their thoughts he answered answer and said unto them what reason ye in your hearts
Verse 23 whether is easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee or to say rise up and walk
So someone came here that couldn't walk
You know let's I don't have the power to forgive sins
But it'd be easier for me to say thy sins be forgiven than to make this man walk all right
so
Jesus Christ is basically saying it's easier for that for that okay, so
If his sins were truly forgiven and we'll see this play out
Then what would be harder is his ability to walk if he's able to walk
Then that proves that his sins were forgiven if that makes sense i'm not sure if I explained that right anyway verse 24
But that ye may know that the son of man have power upon earth to forgive sins
So is jesus wanting these pharisees to be saved
Of course
Right he's trying to show them his deity right he's saying there in verse 24 that ye may know
That the son of man have power upon earth to forgive sins
He said unto the sick of the palsy I say unto thee arise and take up thy couch and go into thine house
So what he's saying as the son of God he does have the power to forgive sins
Right and he commands this man to stand up and prove that his sins were forgiven verse 25
And immediately he rose up before them and took up that whereon he lay and departed to his own house
glorifying God
He was a glorifying god, right verse 26
And they were all amazed and they glorified god and were filled with fear saying we have seen strange things
Today right christ healing them forgiving his sins
Causing him to walk. These were strange things. These were strange happenings
But this is what I love about our lord god. This is what's wonderful about being a christian
Is that in verse 26 it said and they glorified god and were filled with fear
look look
Besides god if you have fear of something
You don't glorify in it
All right, um brother. Jason mentioned that he has a fear of asparagus
Meaning he doesn't glory in asparagus
All right, or if there's something that you glory in you don't tend to fear that thing
But it's an amazing thing that we can have a god of the universe who's perfect who's holy who's without sin
And we know his anger and his wrath
And we see how he's kindled when he when he when he casts souls into the lake of fire
That's something to fear right we can fear his how awesome he is how great he is
How terrible and mighty how great god is?
And yeah at the same time when you're when you're when you're a believer when you have your sins forgiven
Right when you're made a child of god at the same time you can glorify him
It's an amazing thing that you can do both these things with the lord god
But there's nothing else in the world that you can do this right fear and glory in the two things
So what am I up to verse 27?
I think after verse 27 and after these things he went forth and saw a publican named levi now this levi that's matthew
Okay, it's the author of the of the book of matthew the same guy
Sitting at the receipt of custom and he said unto him
Follow me
Verse 28 just like the fisherman and he left all rose up and followed him
Okay, so
What I want to point out there guys
Is that jesus christ?
Once you're saved once you have your faith on him. He wants us to follow after him
Okay, it doesn't matter if you're a blue-collar worker like a fisherman
Or if you're a white-collar worker like matthew was a tax collector working for the government, you know behind a computer
It doesn't matter what your profession is
Obviously matthew wasn't behind a computer, but whatever your profession is
What whatever your place is in society whoever you are rich or poor great job poor job
Doesn't matter. Okay
Jesus christ wants all of us to follow after him. Okay. Here's the final answer to everybody
Regardless of who you are. All right
And I love how he just raises up
He probably had a a good job like a well-paying job and he was willing to forsake that and seek after the lord. Jesus christ
Verse 29 and we can see that he's probably a wealthy man because look in verse 29
He says and levi made him a great feast in his own house and there was a great company of publicans
So hey, he invites his his work colleagues
Right, and if you get an opportunity and I appreciate brother callum every now and again
He gives us an update on some someone in his workplace that he's trying to preach the gospel to hey
If you have an opportunity in your workplace
To tell them about jesus christ do it right we see levi set this example
He gets his work buddies to come and hear jesus christ
And uh and of others that sat down with them verse 30
But their scribes and pharisees murmured against his disciples saying why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
Now this is an interesting
Part of the bible here and jesus answering said unto them
Remember the pharisees and and and the scribes these ones in particular were not believers of jesus christ
They were being critical of his ministry and jesus answering said unto them they that are whole need not a physician
But they that are sick
All right
Verse 32. I came not to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance
wow, all right, so
And it's unfortunate because when you go through the bible sometimes you've got you can't just preach the truth
I mean i'm hopefully i'm always preaching the truth, but sometimes you've just got to stop and deal with false doctrine
Okay, because this passage here
For those that believe you've got to turn from your sins to be saved
Right, they say faith alone in christ is insufficient. You've got to do more
You've got to keep the works of the law. You've got to turn from your sins to be saved
Those people that preach a false gospel
This is one of the verses they turn to and say see look
Jesus christ came not for the righteous, but he's calling the sinners to repentance
And so they interpret this verse to say jesus christ is saying to the sinners turn from your sins to be saved
But they never explain the first bit
About the righteous. All right. So let's let's take a look at this
first of all
Did jesus christ come?
Seeking only some people no the bible says in second peter three nine that god is not willing that any should perish
But that all should come to repentance
all
Okay, so when we look at this when christ says he's called sinners to repentance
Is he's talking about just a certain group of people?
No, he's talking about all for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god
Okay
Everyone is a sinner
Otherwise what you're saying here if you're saying that
To be saved you must turn from sins to be saved
Then what are you saying? You're saying that there are some that are righteous
On their own and are saved
You understand that they're right because jesus says does not come for the righteous
So did these people and he's referring obviously to the pharisees and the scribes in the context of this
Were the pharisees and scribes here saved?
No, they were rejecting the lord jesus christ, all right
So let's understand what is jesus talking about here when he says i've not come to call the righteous
What he's saying to the scribes and pharisees is that they're self-righteous
Okay, they're self-righteous and they need to be like these publicans that recognize they're sinners
The only way you can be saved is to turn from your self-righteousness
And recognize your condition as a sinner before the lord
Hey, this is why when we go door to the soul winning, you know
The first things that are out of our mouth is that they're a sinner but they're not perfect that they've broken the law of god
Because the very first things that come out of the mouth is i'm a good person
God's gonna allow me to heaven because i'm good and we need to tell no you're not good. There is none good
No, not one
All right
Same thing for these pharisees. They thought they were self-righteous. All right, if you're self-righteous you can be that way
Okay, but uh, you're not going to be saved
You need to see yourself as a sinner first
And that's why christ was was able to fellowship with these publicans because they were ready to recognize that about themselves
And and uh and receive jesus christ as their savior
Verse 33
And they said unto him these are the pharisees why do the disciples of john fast often
I find this funny because the pharisees they didn't like john the baptist either but he's using a godly man
To criticize in a sense another godly man. All right, that's what the wicker do. All right
Why do the disciples of john fast often and make prayers and likewise the disciples of the pharisees but thine eat and drink?
So they are comparing jesus and his disciples to the pharisees and the disciples of the pharisees and john the baptist
Verse 34 and he said unto them. Can you make the children of the bride chamber fast?
While the bridegroom is with them
So, you know a bridegroom that's just a the groom we call it the groom today
When you're a groom or a bridegroom
You're given that label just before you're getting married or shortly after you're married. Okay now a marriage
Is that a time to fast
Is that a time to not eat bread and to go without food? No
You know a marriage is normally followed with a reception with some sort of marriage feast. It's a time of celebration
It's a time of rejoicing. It's a time to uh, enjoy food and enjoy fellowship with one another and jesus christ says look
You know, we know that he's only his ministry is only for the three years that he's there and he says look while i'm here
With them we're going to be feasting because it's not a time to fast
Verse 35, but the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them
And then shall they fast in those days, right?
When was jesus christ taken away from them?
When it was after his death
Resurrection and ascension into heaven, right?
After the new testament was brought in
Okay, hebrews 9 15. You don't need to turn there. It says and for this cause speaking of jesus
He is the mediator of the new testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first
Testament that they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance
The promise of eternal inheritance
For where a testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the testator for a testament is of force
after men are dead
Otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. So what is jesus christ saying here?
He's saying once the new testament is in force
That's when my people are going to fast
Okay, and remember the the man with leprosy jesus christ was operating under the old testament at that time
And now he's speaking about the new testament the new testament, which is shortly going to come to pass. All right
And remember again guys the book of luke keep in mind as you study as you read the book of luke luke
Makes makes it makes an effort to keep it thematic to keep it topical
Is not too focused on it being in in perfect chronological order
Because this all adds up to the end of the chapter the old testament in force the new testament
Have been spoken about when jesus christ will be taken away from them
And we'll start to see this toward the end of the chapter how it all comes together
Verse 36 luke, um luke 536
And um, let me just say the rest of this chapter
I've never heard anybody preach on these verses
I just i've been in church my whole life baptist union independent baptists
People just skip this and I understand why because I had difficulty with it. I was going through it
But I think i've come to to an answer. Okay verse 37
That's 36. Sorry and he spake also a parable unto them
Now this parable
It's it's got three parts. I used to think it had two parts, but it's got three parts. Let's read it
Okay
No, man put off a piece of new garment upon an old
Now the reason I was talking to you about the old and new testament is because I want you in your mind to be thinking
About the when he talked about the old and new I want you to be thinking about the old and the new testament. All right
Uh, sorry, um, no man put off a piece of a new garment upon an old if otherwise then both the new maker for rent
And the piece that was taken out of the new agree if not with the old
So if my shirt, you know, let's say i've been wearing this for six months and then it uh, there's a tear
So christina, you know instead of me buying a new shirt
We we get a piece of new garment and we just patch it on there. Okay, so
The new garment has not been has not been stretched like the old garment, you know
Maybe it's not shrunk in the watch. I washed like the new garment. All right, it's it's uh, it's a it's a much stronger fabric
Because the old garment has been used up a little bit, right?
And so when you put a new a new garment on it can stretch or it can uh shrink and it can
It's stronger than the old garment so it can cause a tear and just make it worse
It's not going to be the solution. You need the new garment put away the old garment and you need to purchase yourself a new garment
That's pretty easy to understand verse 36, but the next verse is a bit challenging verse 37
And no man put a new wine into old bottles
Else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled and the bottle shall perish
But new wine must be put into new bottles and both are preserved
Now I used to think verse 39
Was part of verses 37 verse 38. I no longer see that because look at how verse 39 starts
No, man
Okay now
Look at verse 36 again. How does it start and it's very comparable unto them. No, man, right?
Then verse 37 and no man
So there's another part and then verse 38 verse 39. No, man
So you see there are three parts to this one parable each illustrating a very similar concept
Okay, and I think this is important to help understand what we're reading about here because again and i've got to deal with this
Because I don't you know, I believe drinking alcohol is a sin
All right, and i've seen people use these passages to teach
Hey, look, jesus christ is saying it's okay to drink alcohol
No, all right. Let's look at this
And I think that's why a lot of people just avoid it
Because it there is a bit of a challenge, but I think if we just take it as it is
We'll be we'll be fine. All right now look at this
Um
Let's look at verse 37 first and no man put a new wine into old bottles else
The new one will burst the bottles and be spilled and the bottle shall perish. All right, so
So
I've got some new wine here
That's freshly squeezed grape juice
All right, freshly squeezed. Don't worry
New wine now when the bible talks about new wine, it's always freshly squeezed grape juice fresh non-alcoholic grape juice. All right
now
When you crush grapes
There's a film of yeast on the on on the skin of the grapes and as soon as you crush them
Even though you don't you don't notice it with your eye it starts to ferment immediately
The yeast starts to eat away the sugars of the grape juice
And in time once the sugars are all used up it becomes alcoholic
Okay. Now when fermentation takes place it releases, um, you know starts to carbonate
It releases carbon and it starts to expand, you know, and I'll give you an example of this if you've ever purchased fruit juice
Like in a normal plastic container if you've ever left it out for a few days or it's been in the fridge for too long
sometimes you'll notice that the the
Or or even milk
Have you ever finished milk drinking milk and then you've closed it and you've left it and the bottle just starts to expand
This fermentation taking place during that time it starts to expand and what i've learned about the old testament, uh bottles
Now, I don't think they were using glass bottles, but a lot of people suggest that we're using leather
Bottles and that would make some sort of sense
Okay, make it make a bit of sense because if those leather bottles and leather can be stretched
All right that when when fermentation takes place
That the leather bottle would be expanded. Okay, and then it'll weaken
So you wouldn't put new fresh grape juice into that already expanded bottle
Because as it continues as the new wine ferments, you know, it'll it'll burst those
Those are skins and then it'll be you know, you waste the bottle and you'll waste the juice
All right
The point I want to say here is guys is that as soon as you crush the grapes
Fermentation starts to take place. There's already expansion. It doesn't have to become alcoholic
for it to be uh, uh for fermentation to be taking place
Now I was I was looking this up a little bit if you took normal grape juice and just left it crush the grapes
You didn't add any sugar. You didn't add any yeast to it
It takes about a week or two before it becomes alcoholic wine
But even then the alcohol content is not as as high as the breweries because the breweries add sugars add yeast
And make the alcohol contents even higher. All right
So let's understand this
um
So what christ is saying here what christ is saying is that um
Once the new testament is in place
Okay, then his disciples will fast
And you cannot go back into you can't put the old testament upon you
Okay back upon you now if you've read the book of acts or even the epistles you you'll recognize that there are certain jews
That aren't happy with how the gentiles, you know were saved by faith on the lord
Jesus christ and they're saying look they need to get circumcised, right?
You know, they're taking old testament principles and trying to apply that to the new testament, right? And that's wrong
You know, they were called out for that
Because old testament circumcision was a picture of circumcision in the heart
That that takes place both in the old testament and in the new testament
Okay, you can't take things that are necessarily physical that were required personally for the nation of israel
And then apply that and force that upon new testament believers
No, god had had a system for old testament israel the nation of israel
Okay, and a lot of what they did was symbolic of truths of the bible
All right
So we need to be mindful when we when as we're in new testament times that we're not going and sacrificing animals
You know that we're not forcing people to go and get circumcised
Right because these things are no longer in place. Jesus christ came and fulfilled the law of god
Now i'm not saying the old testament you throw out the old testament. No, there is great truths
You know, the new testament is built on the old testament
Okay, many of the things that we see in the new testament just points us back to the old
There's a lot of things to learn there, you know, you should know it all i'm not saying that
But you can't enforce the things that god put upon israel and the law of moses upon the new testament saints
You know and this is where people start to corrupt the gospel as well. We won't go into that right now
All right. Now let's understand verse 39
Well, actually one more thing one more thing
Um because i've heard people that that promote alcohol say this
Well, they must have been drinking alcoholic beverages back then if this uh, this expansion was taking place
now
I looked this up, but there's a process called pasteurization
If you've gone to high school or school primary school, you probably learned this. Okay, it's a process that came
I think it was the 1880s by a guy called something pasture. It's named after him where in order to preserve
Say milk or to preserve fruit juice they found because you know
There's microorganisms all over like in the air, you know all the time you you've got bacteria in your body all the time
You've probably even got parasites and things like that. And so when you open, um, you know juice or milk
Stuff that's in the air will go into the into the the juice and spoil it
Okay. Now in order to uh prevent to to preserve uh juice or milk, whatever what they found is that you could boil
Or heat up, um the juice heat up the milk to kill all the yeast and kill all the bacteria
And then you you seal it airtight
So there's no other microorganisms that go in it and that will preserve the drink longer
In fact, I called the the vineyard that made this and I said how long does this last as it is?
They said easily two years easily and probably beyond that. They just don't guarantee the quality after two years
Okay, because it's been pasteurized it was heat up. It's been sealed tight, uh airtight
And uh, and it'll last okay
and so this
Cannot become
On its own and unless you you go and add yeast to it or something. This cannot become alcoholic
Now people say well see pasteurization only came in the 1800s
Look
Yes
Modern pasteurization came in the 1800s. Yes. I recognize that. All right, but do you honestly do you honestly want to tell me?
That for the thousands of years and I believe the people back then
Were smarter than us, right?
Are you going to tell me they could not figure out to just boil juice or boil milk for it to last longer?
All right, and I looked this up and yeah sure enough there's documented evidence that different societies throughout the world even before pasteurization
Were doing the same process heating things up. So it killed the bacteria and it'd be preserved longer
my point is
The juice that's in these bottles may very well just be pasteurized grape juice and never intended for it to become alcoholic
But you know what? Even if I open this bottle up right now
And I left it open for a little while and then closed it and expo and you know
Allow the elements to sort of fall into it
This will start to become this will start to ferment
Okay, there'd be certain bacteria that would come in here start eating away the sugar and it'll start to expand and it starts to spoil
Okay, but that doesn't mean it's going to become alcoholic
It just means it's going to ferment
It's going to uh, all the sugar is going to be used up and it's it's not going to be nice at all
It's not going to be good to drink. And so my point is
Even with the example of pasteurization
The expansion of the bottles does not necessarily mean it's alcoholic. It doesn't have to mean that but obviously those that want to teach
That alcohol is fine will find a way
You know any scripture they can to put that in there and say see jesus christ is you know promoting alcohol here
That's not the case
Okay, it's not the case. You're really drawing a long bow there
Especially when you know the rest of the bible what it teaches on this topic
Okay, but I wanted to give you an answer to that just in case, you know, that's that's on your mind
Let's end with verse 39 verse 39 the third part of this parable
No man also having drunk old wine
Straightway desireth new for his sayeth the old is better and again the alcoholics will say see
Here's a man drinking old wine and by that they mean
alcoholic wine
Okay that they would prefer to drink that alcoholic wine than to drink fresh grape juice
Well, here's my question to that
if someone
Loves their alcohol. Okay loves
Alcoholic wine if that's how you interpret it
Why would he ever desire new wine?
Think about that because the new wine is freshly squeezed grape juice. That's non-alcoholic
Why would the the drunkard ever desire the freshly squeezed grape juice?
It's not the case. It can't happen right because he always wants the old he always wants the old
He's never going to want the new
All right. Now what jesus christ is saying here no man also having drunk old wine old wine
Straightway desireth the new so eventually he will desire the new
So is this talking about an alcoholic?
You know wanting fresh grape juice at some point no, it's just that
Um, he's been you know, we understand that the concept of the bottle is breaking
Obviously he's going to finish what he has
Before he opens the new, you know, why is he going to open the new wine and cause that to ferment for that to spoil?
Okay, and then you're going to have problems on both ends. You haven't finished the old wine
It's it's going to burst, you know, it's going to uh, uh spoil and then you open new wine
And it's going to ferment you'd create two problems if that's the case
What I believe this is teaching is that he's going to finish his old drink
So let's say this was open halfway through i'm going to finish what I started before I open up the new bottle
Okay, that's what's happening. And so what jesus christ is teaching here is that we're waiting at this point in time
They're waiting for the old testament to pass away so that the new testament could come into fruition
All right, hebrews 8 13 says this
In that his sayeth a new covenant
He have made the first old
Now that which decayeth and waxes old is ready to vanish away
Okay, the old testament there was the time for it to vanish away and today it's definitely gone
Okay, and now the new testament is in effect with the lord jesus christ. This is what he's teaching
Okay, and this is what the pharisees needed to understand in their mind
Okay, is you need to get to a point now where you're moving away from the old testament and you start receiving?
Jesus christ the test data of the new testament
All right, let's leave it there. Let's pray