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THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

 

PATCHES AND BOTTLES

Luke 5:36-38

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.      Jesus is known as “The Master Teacher.”

1.       He spoke with power and authority (Matt. 7:28-29).

2.       He spoke with simplicity (Mark 12:37).

 

B.      One of his teaching methods involved the use of parables (Matt. 13:34).

 

All these things spake Jesus unto the multitudes in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them.

 

1.       It was prophesied that He would speak in parables (Ps. 78:2).

2.       A parable has been defined as “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.”

a.       Jesus would tell about a real event in the everyday life of man.

b.       Alongside the story, He would place a spiritual application.

c.        The parables show man how closely related both the physical world and the spiritual worlds are.  The Creator implanted spiritual lessons in His creation.

3.       Our study this morning involves a parable of Jesus (Luke 5:36a).

 

And he spake also a parable unto them…

 

C.      This account is found in all the Synoptic gospels:  Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Matt. 9:16-17; Mark 2:21-22; Luke 5:36-38).

 

I.                   A LOOK AT THE PARABLE (Luke 5:36-38)

 

And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.  But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.

 

A.      Two examples are provided in this parable.

1.       One deals with patching a garment.

2.       The other involves the wineskins in which wine was stored and carried in those days.

 

B.      In order to understand the parable, one must be familiar with two processes:  the fuller’s process and the fermentation process.

1.       The fuller’s process (ISBE, Vol. 2, p. 1148)

 

“The fuller was usually the dyer, since, before the woven cloth could be properly dyed, it must be freed from the oily and gummy substances naturally found on the raw fiber.  Many different substances were anciently used for cleansing.  Among them were white clay, putrid urine, and the ashes of certain desert plants (Arab. kali, Bib ‘soap’; Mal 3 2).  The fuller’s shop was usually located outside the city (2 K 18 17; Isa 7 3; 36 2), first, that he might have sufficient room to spread out his cloth for drying and sunning, and second, because of the offensive odors sometimes produced by his processes.  The Syrian indigo dyer still uses a cleaning process closely allied to that pictured in the Egypt monuments.  The unbleached cotton is soaked in water and then sprinkled with the powered ashes of the ishnan, locally called kali, and then beaten in heaps on a flat stone either with another stone or with a large wooden paddle.  The cloth is washed free from the alkali by small boys treading on it in a running stream in many changes of clean water.”

 

2.       The fermentation process:  “Fermentation is a metabolic process that converts sugar to acids, gases or alcohol” (www.wikipedia.com, “Fermentation”).

 

C.      Jesus’ teaching

1.       Garments

a.       An old garment has a tear and needs to be repaired.

b.       If a new cloth were used, it would be somewhat damp when applied.

c.        As the cloth dried, the tear would be made worse.

2.       Bottles

a.       Bottles were not made of glass or plastic.  They were made of animal skins:  goats, sheep, and oxen.

b.       As they aged, they would dry out and become very brittle.

c.        One has said that the fermentation process is a violent process.

1)      As the new wine ferments, it produces gases and acid.

2)      Old bottles could not withstand the wine’s transition.  They could crack and burst and the new wine would be spilled out.

 

D.     The main teaching of the parable:  There are some things that are not meant to be put together.

 

II.                APPLICATION IN JESUS’ DAY

 

A.      The Law of Christ was never made to be applied to the Law of Moses.

1.       Jesus is the high priest of the New Covenant.

a.       Under Judaism, only those from the tribe of Levi could be priests (Num. 3:5-6).

 

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him.

 

b.       Hebrews 7:14

 

For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.

 

2.       The Law of Moses was a covenant between God and Israel.  The new covenant is bound upon all men.

a.       The Old Covenant – Israel

1)      Exodus 19:5-6

 

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people:  for all the earth is mine:  and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.  These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

 

2)      Deuteronomy 5:2-3

 

The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.  The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.

 

b.       The New Covenant – the world (Mark 16:15)

 

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

 

c.        Clarke:  “The institutes of Christ, and those of the Pharisees, could never be brought to accord:  an attempt to combine the two systems would be as absurd as it would be destructive.  The old covenant made way for the new, which was it completion and its end, but with that old covenant the new cannot be incorporated” (e-sword).

 

B.      The scribes and Pharisees tried to bind their traditions upon the Law of Moses.  This was not really a possibility.

1.       They became so burdensome that not even the religious leaders would abide by them (Matt. 23:1-4).

 

Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:  all therefore they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on man’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

 

2.       Their traditions oftentimes conflicted with the teachings of the Law of Moses (Matt. 15:1-9).

a.       Two statements:

1)      Matthew 15:3

 

But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment by your tradition?

 

2)      Matthew 15:6b

 

Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

 

b.       An example (Matt. 15:3-6a)

 

III.             MODERN APPLICATION

 

A.      False doctrine and the truth will not go together.

1.       Passages of Scripture

a.       Galatians 1:8-9

 

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

 

b.       I Timothy 1:3

 

As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightiest charge some that they teach no other doctrine.

 

c.        II John 9

 

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.  He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

 

2.       Examples

a.       The one church and denominationalism do not mix.

b.       Faith only and the true gospel plan of salvation do not mix.

c.        Once saved, always saved does not mix with the possibility of apostasy.

d.       Calvinistic predestination does not mix with the free moral agency of man.

e.        Jesus as the head of the church and the doctrine of the papacy do not match.

f.         Islam and Christianity will never mix.

 

B.      Conservatism and liberalism will not match.

1.       The difference between the two

a.       Conservatives hold fast to God’s Word.  Liberals take liberty with God’s Word.

b.       Conservative are very slow to change.  Liberals are given to change.

2.       Examples

a.       Instrumental music in worship

b.       Women taking leadership roles within the church

c.        Saturday night worship services complete with the Lord’ Supper

d.       Fellowship with denominations

e.        Willing to accept sin:  adultery and homosexuality

 

 

C.      Point:  Jesus said that two things will happen when two things that do not mix come together.

1.       The rent is made worse.

2.       The bottles will burst.

3.       There will be divisions and problems in the body of Christ.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.      False teachers had entered into the church at Corinth.  Paul talks about their incompatibility with the truth (II Cor. 6:14-16).

 

B.      He also presents the cure (II Cor. 6:17).

 

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

 

C.      Remember:  There are some things that are not meant to be put together.

1.       Sin within the body of Christ

2.       One divorced for an unscriptural cause and marriage to another