Go back to Matthew 9, and I'll be preaching through to verse 17, and then the second half next week.
But Matthew 9, verse 12, look what it says there.
But when Jesus heard that, He said unto them, They that behold need not a physician, but they that are sick.
The title of the sermon tonight is, They that are sick. They that are sick.
So let's pick it up there in verse number 1.
It says, And he entered into a ship and passed over, and came into his own city.
And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed.
So this man is a man who could not walk, a man that was disabled.
And Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.
One thing that you'll notice in this chapter as we go through it, but even next week,
is Jesus does many healings. He heals multiple times, and every time He points to their faith.
And it says there, look, what does it say in verse number 2?
It says, Seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy.
So it's not just the man that is sick, but also his friends that brought him to Jesus.
The people that were with him, Jesus saw their faith, they had their faith on Jesus.
They had their faith that Jesus would be able to heal them, and He heals them.
It says, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.
Now it's something very interesting, because here you would expect that Jesus would just heal the man.
You think He would just raise him and allow him to walk.
But now it says, look, just be happy, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.
And I think sometimes we need to be reminded as believers, you know,
we go through life, we go through the hardships, we go through the trials,
you know, family, friends, you know, finances, difficulties,
whatever it is in your life that you might come across,
we need to remind ourselves to be people of good cheer,
people that are happy, the people that are rejoicing.
Why? Why should we be happy? Because thy sins be forgiven thee.
Hey, with God, you know, our sins have been forgiven.
When we place our faith on Jesus Christ, we too have had our sins forgiven.
We too are righteous before God, and we can rejoice in that.
It doesn't matter how bad this world can get.
It doesn't matter how many people can betray us,
and our best friends, you know, backstab us or whatever.
Hey, we can always rejoice in the salvation that God has given us.
Say, Jesus, why aren't you healing this man? This man can't walk, you know.
Well, he's making a point, obviously, right?
But I want you to also notice that Jesus had the power to forgive sins.
Okay, he had the power to forgive sins.
This is him demonstrating who he is.
Okay, he's not just the Son of Man.
He's not just, well, he is the Son of God, obviously,
but he is God manifest in the flesh, because it is only God who can forgive sins.
Let's look at verse number three.
And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves.
So they're not speaking out loud.
They're saying this within themselves.
They're just thinking about this, right?
They're just thinking about it.
What are they saying?
This man blasphemeth.
You know, they're too afraid to speak up.
They're too afraid to say that verbally.
You know, this man blasphemeth, because there's a great fame for Jesus.
Everyone loves him, right?
So they won't speak up.
But they, in their hearts, are saying this man blasphemeth.
Now, just very quickly, keep your finger there and turn to Mark chapter two.
Turn to Mark chapter two, because I want you to understand
why they're saying he blasphemes, okay?
And I think within the context, we can make sense of that here.
But just, Mark chapter two makes it a little bit clearer.
Mark chapter two, verse seven.
Look at this.
Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins but God only?
Hey, these scribes are saying the truth.
The only one that can forgive sins is God only.
So do they, are they considering Jesus Christ as God?
Of course not.
That's why they're saying he speaks blasphemies, all right?
Hey, but those that are listening, those that believe in him,
what are they identifying when he says that thy sins are forgiven?
They're saying, hey, this is true.
This is God in the flesh.
This is the son of God.
This is the son of David.
This is the Messiah.
This is the promised one that was to come.
Now, I'll get you guys to turn to Titus chapter three.
Turn to Titus chapter three.
Titus chapter three, and I'm going to read to you from the book of Isaiah, okay?
You guys go to Titus three.
Isaiah, now I'm turning to Isaiah 43, verse three says this.
For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior.
Hey, who's the Savior of Israel in the Old Testament?
It's the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel.
Hey, you know that that title of the Holy One is also given to Jesus Christ, all right?
Now, I'm just going to read to you from verse 11.
He says, I even I am the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior.
There is no Savior beside God.
So if Jesus is able to forgive sins, what's he saying?
He's saying, I am God.
I'm God almighty.
Hey, these references in Isaiah is pointing us to Christ,
that God will be manifest in the flesh.
You guys are in Titus three.
Look at verse number four.
Titus three, verse four.
And look how the New Testament puts this for us.
It says, but after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared.
Hey, who's our Savior?
In verse number four, it's God, right?
God our Savior.
Verse number five, not by works of righteousness, which we have done,
but according to his mercy, he saved us.
Who saved us?
God.
God saved us by his mercy, okay?
By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
because we know when we believe in Christ, internally we are renewed.
We're given that new man.
The new spirit has been revived in us, the renewing of the Holy Ghost,
which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.
That's a powerful passage there.
You know, verse number six, Jesus Christ our Savior.
Verse number four, God our Savior, all right?
So we can see, you know, if this is a fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith,
you know, that Jesus Christ is God.
He's our Savior.
He has the power to forgive sins, you know?
And look, no one, no, there's no other religion.
There's no other religion of their founders,
what they call the founders, that claims they can forgive sins.
There's no one else, or maybe the cults, all right?
But you know, Muhammad cannot forgive sins.
You know, Buddha, he can't forgive sins.
Hey, but the God of Christianity, Jesus Christ,
who we name ourselves after as Christians, as Christ followers,
he has the power to forgive sins.
Even better than that, he's God.
He's God, the only Savior that we have.
Go back to Matthew chapter nine, please.
Matthew chapter nine.
So we see Jesus Christ forgiven the sins of this man, of the palsy.
And look at verse number four.
I love verse number four because it confirms for us,
it confirms to the scribes that he's God, all right?
Because remember, these scribes,
they're just thinking about it in their hearts, all right?
And they still reject him, because look at this.
And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said,
wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
Jesus says, I know your hearts.
Why do you think evil in your hearts?
Why do you think evil in your thoughts?
I mean, if I was one of these scribes,
and Jesus is saying the things that I'm thinking about,
I'd be like, this is God, right?
And the reason for that, I'll just read to you very quickly.
Jeremiah 17 nine, it says,
the heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked, who can know it?
Who can know the hearts of men?
And then in verse 10, it says,
I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins,
even to give every man according to his ways,
and according to the fruits of his doings.
Hey, so who can know the heart of man?
Who can know the thought life?
God says, I know the hearts.
I try the reins.
And so again, just by Jesus doing that to the scribes,
and these scribes, they know the scriptures.
That's why they know only God can forgive sins.
And yet now Jesus knows my heart.
They should have woken up to themselves and say, this is God.
Now we can see, it just seems like
there are certain people in this world,
no matter what you show them in the scriptures,
no matter how much you prove to them the Bible is true,
they're still going to reject it, all right?
Let's go back to Matthew chapter nine.
Matthew nine, verse five.
Matthew chapter nine, verse five.
Jesus says, for whether it is easier
to say thy sins but forgiven thee,
or to say arise and walk.
It's easier for me to forgive their sins to say that,
or to make him to walk.
Of course, it's easy to say your sins are forgiven, okay?
Because we can forgive each other's sins, right?
If you do a wrong to me, I call you out, you apologize,
I can forgive you for the sins you've committed against me.
That's easy, but can I make you rise and walk
if you can't walk?
That's hard, right?
That's even harder.
Verse number six.
But that ye may know that the Son of Man have power on earth
to forgive sins, then saith he to the sick of the palsy,
Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thine house,
and he arose and departed to his house.
So Jesus does the greater difficulty,
does the greater work, and heals this man
in his physical flesh to prove that he had the power
also to forgive sins, all right?
That's what we see there.
And verse number eight.
And when the multitudes, this is why the scribes,
the Pharisees, that's why they're quiet,
that's why they talk within themselves,
because when the multitudes saw it,
they marveled and glorified God,
which had given such power unto men.
Now I can't help but think that they're glorifying God
because they're glorifying Jesus.
It's not very spelt out there,
but we can see who Jesus claims to be by his actions,
and then it says the multitudes glorify God.
Wouldn't surprise me if they glorify Jesus Christ as well,
because they've seen that Jesus Christ
has the power of God in him.
Verse number nine.
And as Jesus passed forth from thence,
he saw a man named Matthew,
so this is the apostle Matthew to be,
sitting at the receipt of custom,
and he said unto him, follow me,
and he arose and followed him.
So the apostle Matthew, he was a tax collector.
He was at the receipt of custom.
The Bible also calls him a publican, okay?
And in this time, the publicans were not well,
I'm sure there's corruption in government even today,
but by and large, there's a lot of,
in Australia anyway, there's a lot of rules,
there's a lot of things that people need to follow,
lots of processes.
So the corruption in Australia
is probably not even that great,
but I'm sure it's out there, okay?
But these people at this time
were known for their corrupt ways.
That's what they were hated by many of the Jews,
the publicans, you know?
And even the Pharisees are calling out the publicans
as wicked people, you know,
because they were known to be cheaters,
they were known to cheat their fellow man.
So he calls Matthew, Matthew comes and follows him,
and then we go to verse number 10,
and he came to pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house.
Now it's not spelled out in this gospel,
but in the gospel of Luke,
it clearly says that this house is the house of Matthew, okay?
So Matthew, the one that's following after him,
that leaves his job to follow after Christ,
he invites his fellow publicans,
he invites his fellow workers,
his colleagues to come to his house
to hear of Jesus Christ.
Now I think that's a really great example for us,
for the people that we come across,
the people that we work with,
when we get the opportunity that we should invite them
so they can hear the words of Jesus Christ,
so we will be able to preach them the gospel,
you know, invite them to church,
or just invite them to come and hear the words of God.
But we see Matthew straight away,
as soon as he follows Christ,
he gets his fellow publicans,
invites Jesus to her house,
come and preach to my work colleagues,
come and preach to my friends.
And it says there,
behold, many publicans and sinners came
and sat down with him and his disciples.
And when the Pharisees saw it,
so they're seeing Jesus eating,
you know, having a meal,
having a feast with all the publicans and sinners,
and when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto his disciples,
why eat of your master with publicans and sinners?
Hey, why is your master,
why is Jesus the so-called son of God,
you know, the so-called one that does miracles,
why is he hanging around with the wicked,
why is he hanging around with the sinners?
What are they saying about themselves?
You know, hey, you know, we're without sin,
hey, we're righteous, okay.
And look at this,
but when Jesus heard that,
he said unto them,
they that behold need not a physician,
but they that are sick.
Now, obviously that's very true,
you wouldn't necessarily go to the doctor
unless there's a problem with you,
you know, and if you're a stubborn man like me,
man, we have a problem,
you know, we get sick,
and our wives are like,
you better go to the doctor,
and I was like, nah, nah,
see it out, see it out,
you know, week after week,
you know, for me even several months,
I can be coughing, you know,
and it's like, just go to the doctor,
and after a few months I'm like,
yeah, I think I might go to the doctor,
you know, I mean,
even our brother Luke,
when did you have your injury on your knee?
20 years ago,
I mean, even brother Luke,
you know, knowing that he had a problem with his knee,
it took 20 years to go and get it checked out
by the doctor,
you know, men, we've got a problem with that,
right, we've got a problem with that,
but it's normal if we're sick
that we would need to go to a physician,
but those that are sick, all right,
so what is he saying?
He's saying that these publicans,
these sinners that are eating with Jesus Christ,
hey, they're admitting that they're sick, right,
they're admitting that they need a physician,
and of course by physician
he's referring to himself,
Jesus Christ the physician,
the healer,
these people are coming to Jesus
because they're recognizing themselves as sinners,
they're seeing themselves as sick,
needing a physician.
Say, what about the Pharisees?
Don't they need a physician?
But look at this, verse 13,
but go ye and learn what that meaneth.
So Jesus says, look,
go and learn,
like he's rebuking these guys,
these guys are meant to be religious leaders,
he says, go and learn what that meaneth,
and then he says, what does he need to learn?
I will have mercy and not sacrifice,
for I am not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance.
All right, now you say,
why is Jesus saying to them,
go and learn this?
Because this is a reference
found in Hosea chapter six, verse four.
Okay, Hosea, if you want to turn that you can,
just to check it out,
Hosea chapter six, verse four,
I think if we go back to the Old Testament,
it's going to clarify for us,
what is Jesus referring to?
Why is he saying these words to the Pharisees?
Hosea chapter six, verse four,
the Bible reads,
O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee?
O Judah, what shall I do unto thee?
For your goodness is as the morning cloud,
as a morning cloud,
and as the early dew it goeth away.
You know, God is saying to Israel here,
he's saying, look, you got some goodness,
but your goodness is like this morning cloud,
it's like the dew,
you know, that morning,
the morning, what's the word I'm looking for?
Humidity, you know,
that's there in the morning,
you know, it's cool,
it's, you know,
but then by the time the sun's up,
by the time we get into day proper,
that's all dissipated, it's all gone.
All right, he's saying to Israel,
look, even your goodness,
yeah, it's there, but it's gone,
for the large part of the day,
it's not even there.
And then he says in verse number,
what was I reading from?
Verse, sorry?
Yeah, Hosea chapter six, verse five,
therefore, so because your goodness goes away,
all right, the early dew it goeth away,
therefore have I hewed them by the prophets,
I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
and thy judgments are as the light that go forth.
And then he says this,
for I desired mercy and not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
All right, so he's saying to Israel,
look, you're coming and you're doing the burnt offerings,
you're going about, you know,
you know, week to week,
going to church as it were,
obviously to the temple,
you know, you're doing the sacrifices,
but you don't have the goodness in you,
you haven't got the mercy in you,
you're not doing it to serve me,
you're just going about it and doing the practice,
but it means nothing to you, all right?
So God is calling them out,
you say, what does that have to do with the Pharisees?
Of course, you know, the Pharisees on the outside
were doing all the things,
you know, they were tied in,
they were the religious leaders,
they were teaching things of the law,
you know, even Jesus recognized
some of the things that they teach were correct,
were accurate, but they weren't,
their hearts were far from God,
and sometimes we, you know,
can come to church every week,
sometimes we can put on the show,
we can even go soul winning on a regular basis,
you know, but we're not doing it for the Lord,
we're just going about the motions and doing it,
and it's not such a bad thing,
you know, to get into a habit and go,
look, I'm going to go soul winning
because I know I have to go soul winning,
I'm going to go to church
because I need to go to church,
that's awesome,
but more important than the sacrifice is the mercy,
mercy comes first before sacrifice,
and God wants to show us mercy,
God wants to show us mercy first,
how does it show us mercy?
By us coming humbly before him,
when, you know, God shows us mercy
when we come humbly calling on his name for salvation,
but not just that,
you know, when we're far from God,
when we're in sin,
we need to come before God and seek his mercy
and ask for his continual forgiveness
so we can be walking in fellowship with the Lord God,
hey, that comes first before your sacrifice,
before your service, all right?
And, you know, I encourage you before you come to church,
before you go soul winning,
before you do anything,
any kind of sacrifice for the Lord,
make sure you go before God first and seek his mercy, okay?
Ask for forgiveness,
go in humility before the Lord God,
that's what he wants first,
and so let's tie that back into the story,
go back to Matthew chapter nine,
Matthew chapter nine,
so what is Jesus then pointing out to these Pharisees?
You got all the sacrifices,
but you haven't got the mercy of God,
okay, your heart is far from him, okay?
And he goes, but go ye and learn what that meaneth,
what he's saying to them is that you're also sick,
all right, yes, you know,
and then the story says,
for I am not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance,
hey, listen, the righteous person,
the person that believes in their own righteousness,
if they think their own righteousness
is gonna get them to heaven,
they're not going to be called to repentance
because they have to be humble,
they have to realize that they're a sinner,
they have to come before God and realize
they're a sick person needing the physician
in order for them to obtain the mercy of God,
so what Jesus Christ is then is saying to these Pharisees
is you're also sick,
you also need a physician,
okay, but you don't see that in yourselves,
that's why it says, look, go away and learn it,
go read the scriptures and learn it,
and that's about you,
that's about you, you know,
and so I hope that's given you sort of clarification
as to what's going on there, all right?
Let's keep reading verse number 14,
then came to him the disciples of John saying,
why do we in the Pharisees fast oft,
that's often, and thy disciples fast not?
So we can see the Pharisees,
the disciples of the Pharisees,
the disciples of John,
or the Pharisees and the disciples of John,
they used to fast, you know,
and they're saying, why don't your disciples fast?
Because what are they doing?
They're at the feast,
they're at Matthew's house,
they're eating it up,
they're, you know, they're having a good time,
you know, the fellowshipping,
the preaching, the word of God,
you know, these publicans are getting saved,
it's been awesome, they're eating,
you know, and says, why, you know,
why are you eating so much?
Like we fast, why don't you guys fast?
Verse number 15,
and Jesus said unto them,
can the children of the bride chamber mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come
and the bridegroom shall be taken from them
and then shall they fast.
So the bridegroom is the groom,
you know, we just dropped the word bride there,
but I'm just calling the man the groom.
He says, look, you know,
and when are you called the groom?
You're called the groom on the day of your wedding, aren't you?
Or shortly after the wedding, okay?
So think about a wedding,
when you're at a wedding,
is that a time to fast?
You know, is that a time to mourn?
No, when you're at a wedding,
that's a time to rejoice.
When you're at a wedding,
it's a time to celebrate,
you know, that union between husband and wife,
that's why usually straight after the ceremony,
there's a reception with food, you know?
And so, you know, that's a time to eat,
it's a time to rejoice.
And he's saying, look, my disciples here,
they have the bridegroom, they have Jesus Christ,
it's a time to rejoice.
But he says there's coming a time,
but the days will come,
when the bridegroom shall be taken from them.
What do you think that's a reference to?
His crucifixion.
When he'd be arrested,
he'd be taken away from them,
he'd be crucified, die,
raise again from the dead,
and then it says,
and then shall they fast.
And look, fasting ought to be
something that we do in our Christian lives.
Because notice what Jesus just says,
and then shall they fast.
So we are people that should be fasting,
you know, the world doesn't tell us how often
but it is something that we should try to apply
in our Christian lives.
I won't go into fasting too much right now,
but I want you to understand what's going on, okay?
There's a coming a time
when the bridegroom will be taken away,
we know that's his crucifixion, all right?
Now I'm just going to read to you very quickly
from Hebrews chapter nine verse 15,
just very quickly, listen to this.
And for this cause, talking of Jesus,
he is the mediator of the New Testament,
that by means of death,
for the redemption of the transgressions
under the first testament,
they which are called
might receive 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 a force after men are dead,
otherwise it is of no strength at all,
while the testator liveth.
So what Jesus is saying,
look, I'm here, it's time to eat,
it's time to rejoice,
but there's a coming a time
when I'm going to be taken away,
hey, that's going to be the death of the testator
and bring in, and we'll see this later on,
bring in that New Testament,
and we live now in the New Testament times,
now it's time for us to fast and mourn, okay?
So why, say, why is that important?
Because we're going to keep reading,
you know, don't detach,
you know, we get into a habit as Christians
to study the Bible,
we take a verse here,
we take a verse there,
it's all right, you know,
we should do that,
but we should also,
should always, you know,
always keep in mind,
let's try to keep these verses
within the context of the chapter
or the books that we're reading, okay?
So why is that important?
Because look, verse number 16,
Jesus explains these things,
he says,
no man putteth a piece of new cloth
onto an old garment.
Now as we read through these analogies
that Jesus gives,
I want you to think about the new cloth
or anything to do with new,
about the New Testament,
and anytime he talks about the old,
that's the Old Testament, okay?
Remember, John the Baptist
represented the Old Testament,
he was the last prophet of the Old Testament
and, you know, he brought, you know,
Jesus Christ obviously being the first
that brought in that New Testament at his death.
So it says no man, verse 16,
no man putteth a piece of new cloth
onto an old garment,
for that which is put in to fill it up,
take it from the garment,
and the rent is made worse.
So, you know,
let's pretend this shirt right now,
I've been wearing this,
I don't know how long I've had this shirt,
maybe a few months,
let's say it starts to wear and tear,
I've been wearing it,
it's been washed,
it's been stretched,
maybe it's even shrunk a little bit
in the wash or whatever,
and then I've been wearing it,
but then I get a tear,
all right, there's a bit of a tear,
and my wife comes up and says,
oh, I'll fix that up,
and she gets a piece of another garment,
a new garment,
and she sews it onto that,
you know, that tear that's there.
Okay, so what Jesus is saying is,
that new piece will be stronger
than the other piece,
because it hasn't,
you know, it hasn't stretched,
you know, it hasn't been worn out.
Okay, so what's going to happen,
let's say we take that garment,
we put it into the wash,
once again,
let's say it shrinks,
like it's a stronger material
because it hasn't been worn,
like I said,
let's say it shrinks or whatever,
it changes,
what's the word I'm looking for,
it changes,
anyway,
it changes whatever,
because it shrinks or whatever,
then it's going to pull or rent
that old garment,
it's going to make that tear worse,
all right,
so what Jesus is saying,
we can't fast now,
because it's time to rejoice,
where, you know,
he's operating under the Old Testament
at this point in time,
but he's going to bring in that New Testament,
okay, he's going to bring in that New Testament,
and what I believe he's saying to the disciples
of John the Baptist and to the Pharisees,
hey, you're operating under the Old Testament right now,
but there's going to come a time
when the bridegroom is taken away,
when you need to receive Christ
under that New Testament,
okay, that New Testament teaching,
let's keep reading,
because it keeps going,
verse number 17,
neither do men put new wine,
and by the way,
let me just stop there,
new wine in the Bible is always a reference
to freshly squeezed grape juice,
that's why it's called new wine,
it's just been squashed,
it's just been pressed,
it's new,
okay, it's non-alcoholic grape juice,
neither do men put new wine into old bottles,
else the bottles break,
and the wine runneth out,
and the bottles perish,
but they put new wine into new bottles,
and both are preserved,
so what's that about,
is that,
well, you know,
if you just took grapes,
and on the skin of the grapes,
there's yeast,
and there's a film of yeast naturally on it,
if you were to just crush grapes right now,
take grapes and make grape juice,
that yeast that's on the skin of the grapes,
will start to ferment the sugars in the grape juice,
and it'll start to ferment,
it starts to bubble up,
you know,
and you say,
is Jesus then talking about alcohol here,
I don't believe so,
because even regular fruit juice,
if you took regular fruit juice,
you know,
let's say,
I don't know if you guys have fruit juice,
you know,
it usually says on the bottle,
drink within three to five days,
or something like that,
okay,
and the reason for that is,
because once you've opened it,
okay,
there are microorganisms in the air,
you know,
there are little bacteria things,
all over your body,
it's all over the air,
there's all microorganisms that operate,
there's a secret world of all these microorganisms,
so when you open that,
and you expose it to oxygen,
you know,
some of those microorganisms will go into the drink,
and in the same way as the yeast,
it'll start eating away at the sugars,
and will start to ferment,
all right,
have you ever like had a bottle of juice,
where,
you know,
you've had it out for too long,
or maybe it's been the fridge long,
and you've drunk it,
and it's been like really bubbly,
a bit fizzy,
I don't know if you've experienced that,
it's been there longer,
or maybe it's been out in the heat,
so then it's gone sort of quicker,
or that's the expansion,
that's the fermentation that takes place,
and usually you'll find your bottles,
they've expanded a little bit,
they expanded because it's been bubbly,
all right,
or think about milk,
even milk,
you know,
if you've left,
you know,
if you drink milk,
and you left the milk bottle out,
and you just have the residue of the milk,
and you have it closed,
after a while,
after a few days,
the milk bottle starts to expand,
because a little bit of what's in there,
has started to ferment,
all right,
so what my point is this,
those the bottles,
what I've read about,
from what I understand,
the bottles that were used in this time,
were bottles made of leather,
or skins,
all right,
so when you think about that,
if you have new wine,
you've got freshly squeezed grape juice,
and you've had it in that bottle,
and you've been opening it,
you're drinking it,
there's been time for it to ferment,
okay,
and like if you're saying is that alcohol,
well,
normally,
when I look this up,
alcohol normally takes a week or two weeks,
before the yeast completely eats up the sugars,
all right,
before it becomes alcoholic,
now I don't want to go too much into all of that,
I have also seen that,
you know,
obviously there's pasteurization,
if you don't know what pasteurization is,
it helps keep things to last longer,
like for example,
you know,
you've got long life milk,
you know,
and the reason why it's called
is because when it's been harvested from the cow,
it's been heated up,
okay,
and when you heat it up,
you kill the bacteria,
you kill all the microorganisms
that's within that drink,
and then they airtight,
they seal it airtight,
and that's why it lasts longer,
because all those microorganisms have been killed off,
that's why it's called long life milk,
it's been heated up,
it's gone for a different process
than your regular milk,
okay,
the same thing can be done with juice,
you know,
a lot of grape juice is heated up,
once it's been squeezed,
it's been boiled or warmed up,
it's killed the yeast,
it's killed the bacteria,
and then they airtight,
they seal it airtight,
and that grape juice will never ferment,
will never become alcohol,
unless you open it,
and then,
unless you obviously open it and throw yeast into it,
or something like that,
okay,
my point is,
you know,
any kind of juices,
any kind of liquid like that,
will start to ferment,
will start to bubble up,
once it's been open for a while,
so when you put the new wine in there,
and you're using old bottles,
those old bottles have already expanded,
they've expanded,
they've become weaker,
and then if you take new wine once again,
and add it to those old bottles,
again,
it's going to go through a bit of fermentation,
it's going to become weaker,
at some point,
those bottles will burst,
at some point those bottles will burst,
so what he's saying here,
is when you've got the new wine,
in verse number 17,
but they put new wine into new bottles,
and both are preserved,
okay,
because if you put new wine in an old bottle,
it's likely that it's going to burst,
you lose that bottle,
and you'll lose the liquid,
that was contained in it,
okay,
so what he's saying,
he says look,
there's going to come a time,
where the New Testament comes in,
when the bridegroom is taken away,
okay,
and at that point,
you need to take the new wine,
and put it into new bottles,
okay,
you need to go from the Old Testament,
and receive the test data,
of the New Testament,
okay,
now,
I'll just end with one more verse here,
Hebrews chapter 8 verse 13,
which says,
in that he saith a new covenant,
he have made the first old,
now that which the kayeth and waxeth old,
is ready to vanish away,
okay,
so we see the New Testament has come in,
the New Testament is referred to as being new,
and the new,
and the first covenant is referred to as old,
and so what I believe Jesus Christ is teaching in these,
about the fasting,
about the new wine,
about the new garments,
is that the New Testament is coming,
and you better receive the test data of the New Testament,
you know,
so that's what I've got for you so far guys,
I hope I went about half an hour,
maybe I went longer,
I'm not sure,
but let's pray.