“THE LAW AND GRACE”
LUKE 5:33-39

I. Introduction
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is unique. It is unique because no man-made philosophy can be compared with it. It is unique because no man-made religion can be blended with it. It is unique because it leaves no room for compromise. It is unique because it will not enter into partnership with any form of relativism. All of this is true because no man created it. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was created by God for man, not by man for God.

Because it was created by God it can only be comprehended when God opens our ears to hear it and our eyes to see it. Therefore, it can only be received on God’s terms. And so, as Shakespeare said, “Therein lies the rub.” Sinful man wants things on his own terms. He wants to control his own destiny and he wants to do it his way. So ever since man’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden he has invented hundreds (if not thousands) of gods, philosophies, and religions.

Every one of them is designed to achieve some level of self-confidence, self-esteem, self-importance, self-respect, or even self-control. Man desperately wants to be significant and yearns to be immortal. The problem is that man tries to accomplish significance and immortality on his own. But in the final analysis, every man-made god, every man-made philosophy, and every man-made religion fails to accomplish its purpose. So if the God who made us did not reach down from heaven to save us we would have no hope.

Thus the Gospel of Jesus Christ is truly unique. In it alone is found the only real hope of mankind. God offers to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He offers to save us from our own feeble and foolish attempts to save ourselves. But, in our fallen condition we are too vain, too prideful, too deaf, and too blind to hear or to see the simple truth – even when it, or should I say, even when He stands squarely in front of us and clearly declares divine truth.
*John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”

In that one short, simple, and yet eternally profound statement, Jesus Christ declares the most basic and fundamental truth that is to be found in all of Scripture. And, to be sure, in that one statement, all man-made gods, philosophies, and religions are forever ren-dered invalid. All of them are instantly declared worthless.

But it’s not just that statement made by Jesus in John 14:6. Listen to the apostles.
*Acts 4:12 (Peter preaching the gospel)
12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
*1 Corinthians 3:11 (Paul to the church at Corinth)
11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is (already) laid, which is Jesus Christ.

All three of those verses are reflective of God’s grace in sending His Son to die for us. The unsaved tend to think they can achieve significance and immortality through good works and human effort. They will believe anything except the truth. They will turn to anything except God’s Word. They will cling to the gods of their own making rather than to the God of the Bible. In their vanity and pride men would rather reject God’s free gift of grace and instead make up their own traditions, rules, regulations, and laws.

Often the most religious of these people will manipulate and distort God’s own perfect Law in their misguided attempts to earn their salvation. In this morning’s passage we’ll see men doing that very thing and thinking their laws have more value than God’s grace.
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II. Review
Two weeks ago we studied Luke 5:27-32. In that passage Jesus called Levi to be one of His followers, a disciple. Levi, also known as Matthew, who would later write the gospel that bears his name, was a hated tax-collector. But when he met Jesus, Levi was so pro-foundly changed that he called all of his friends and associates to his home for a feast.

Since we know who and what Levi was, you can imagine the crowd that showed up for dinner. You can be sure that neither the Pharisees nor any of the so-called “good peo-ple” came. For one thing, it’s unlikely that Levi knew anybody like that. For another thing, the hyper-religious Pharisees and other so-called good people wouldn’t go near a tax collector. He was “anathema” to them. But Jesus went.

In fact, He was the evening’s guest of honor. The Pharisees immediately questioned Jesus’ motives. “Why do you eat and drink with the tax-gatherers and sinners?” (Luke 5:30) They might as well have said, “We are so much better than they are. We do not ‘soil ourselves’ by associating with such scum. Can’t you see that we are holy men?” Jesus’ response was beautiful in its power, its clarity, and its simplicity.
*Luke 5:31-32
31 And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.
32 “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Jesus was saying, “If you think you are righteous (spiritually well), then I have not come for you. But if you know you are a sinner (spiritually sick), then I have come for you.” This should have shaken the Pharisees to their very cores. But it didn’t.

It had no on affect them at all. Have you ever made a really important point to a child? Maybe you think it will be a life-changing moment. You’ve just dropped the Wisdom of Solomon on him or her and you expect a wise and enlightened response.
But instead, the child stares at you and says, “Cool, what’s for supper?”
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III. Text
That’s the kind of response Jesus gets from the Pharisees. The divine truth He has spo-ken and wisdom He has imparted are too much for them. They are blind and they are deaf. Instead of receiving Jesus’ words, or even taking the time or making the effort to understand Him, they just charge ahead from, “Why do you eat with sinners…?” to, “Why don’t You do the same religious stuff we do?”
*Luke 5:33-39 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
33 And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers; the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same; but Yours eat and drink.”
34 And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the bride-groom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?
35 “But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”
36 And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece (of cloth) from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.
37 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.
38 “But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
39 “And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’”

Such religious people as the Pharisees are everywhere today. They’re not a new pheno-menon. While they’ve always been around, they seem to be more prevalent in today’s world. They are the professing believers who are more concerned about fulfilled lives than they are about humility before God. They are more concerned about social causes than they are about spiritual truth. In fact, they are often the ones who look down their noses at true Christians who hold to the black and white of biblical absolutes.

They are those professing Christians who spend their lives trying to look good to others and feel good about themselves. In other words, they are trying to establish their own righteousness, all the while rejecting God’s. Jesus described such people in the sixth of the seven “woes” He angrily poured out upon the Pharisees in Matthew.
Matthew 23:27-28
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like white-washed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
28 “Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

So in Luke 5:31-32 Jesus spoke divine truth to the Pharisees but they didn’t hear Him. Instead, in v. 33, they accuse Him.
*Luke 5:33
33 And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers; the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same; but Yours eat and drink.”

The hostility these religious leaders have for divine truth has already been seen. Jesus’ healing of the paralyzed man and His presence and participation in the feast at Levi’s home have brought out the Pharisees’ contempt for Him. In v. 33 they just ratchet it up.

The Jewish religious custom of the day was to fast and pray ritual prayers. What is a ritual prayer? The “Hail Mary” of Roman Catholicism would be one example.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among
women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother
of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death. Amen.”

Not only is that a ritual prayer, it is a prayer that is based on a grievous misunderstanding of biblical truth. Furthermore, it actually teaches false doctrine. Mary is not God’s mother, nor is she mediating for us in the throne room of God.
1 Timothy 2:5 (Paul to his young protégé Timothy)
5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

But even the “Our Father” (what we know as the Lord’s Prayer) would qualify as a ritual prayer if the words are just spewed out from memory with no conscious thought to what they say or what they mean.

What about the tradition of fasting as it was being done by the Jews in Jesus’ day? The religious leaders were doing it publicly so everyone could see just how pious they were. Now let’s be clear. There is nothing wrong with praying or fasting. But neither should be done publicly so that you may display your godliness and piety before men. Jesus sternly warns us against such hypocrisy in the Sermon on the Mount.
*Matthew 6:1, 5-7, 16-18
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”

5 “And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
16 “And whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.
17 “But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face
18 so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

The principle is clear, is it not? It’s a great lesson for all of us. Listen, at one time or another we are all tempted to try to make ourselves “look good” to our brothers and sis-ters in Christ. But the real issue is how we look to God.

And besides, given time, if we truly look good to God, we will ultimately look good to our brothers and sisters in Christ anyway. So do you see why what you and I are on the inside is so much more important than what we look like on the outside? (back to Luke)

In Luke 5:33 the thing that really angered the Pharisees was that Jesus showed no respect for their customs and traditions. He was unimpressed with their showy displays of religi-osity. And to make matters worse, Jesus goes on to defend his disciples.
*Luke 5:34-35
34 And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the bride-groom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?
35 “But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”

Jesus compares the situation to a wedding, a time of joy. People aren’t fasting at the wedding feast. On the contrary, they are celebrating and enjoying the banquet. They’re not thinking about the groom being rejected or about his ultimate death. And that is the point Jesus is making.

Jesus, the Bridegroom, is here now. So the very thought of His friends and attendants fasting is absurd. But, as He says in v. 35, “when the bridegroom is taken away,” refer-ring to His pending sacrificial death for His bride, the church, then they will mourn. Then, in that mourning and sorrow, fasting will be a reasonable thing for them to do. But not now – He is there. He is with them!

How does this apply to us right now? Jesus isn’t with us in the flesh as He was with His disciples two thousand years ago, but don’t forget what His name means.
Matthew 1:23 (Gabriel speaking to Joseph)
23 “Behold, the virgin shall bear a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”

Jesus has been with us, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, ever since the church was born on the Day of Pentecost. That’s what He was referring to when He comforted His disci-ples and prepared them for His coming death.
John 14:26
26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

In Luke 5:35 Jesus refers to His coming death. Then the disciples will mourn for Him and fasting will be appropriate. It will be a legitimate expression of sorrow. But that sor-row won’t last long. It will only last from the time of Jesus’ ascension to the Day of Pen-tecost, when the Holy Spirit will be poured out on them.
*John 16:19-22
19 Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not behold Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’?
20 “Truly, truly I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy.
21 “Whenever a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she remembers the anguish no more, for joy that a child has been born into the world.
22 “Therefore you too now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one (will take) your joy away from you.”

The disciples were filled with the joy of Jesus’ presence when the Holy Spirit came. The lesson for us should be clear. Those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior have the joy of knowing His presence with them. So while fasting was a require-ment under the OT law, it is not required today. You and I do not mourn for Jesus because He is with us in the Person of the Holy Spirit.

I began this morning by saying that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is unique. I said nothing man-made, no religion or philosophy, could be compared with the gospel because there is nothing man-made that could be blended with it. I said it’s unique because it leaves no room for compromise and refuses enter into any sort of partnership with relativism.

In the rest of this morning’s passage Jesus illustrates these facts through the first of the many parables we will encounter in Luke’s gospel.
*Luke 5:36-39
36 And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece (of cloth) from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.
37 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.
38 “But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
39 “And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old
is good enough.’”
This parable constitutes a warning against syncretism. Syncretism in religion is simply the idea of combining or reconciling different beliefs, practices, or systems into one. Think of synchronizing two clocks so that they are both telling the same time. While that may work well for telling time, it doesn’t work with Christianity. Again, biblical Christianity and the Gospel of Jesus Christ will not be synchronized with anything else.

If Christianity could be synchronized with any other religion you would think it would be with Judaism. After all, Judaism was older. It worshipped the same God. It prophesied the same Messiah. It prayed for the same deliverance from sin and death. But with all of that, Jesus flatly declared that the new must not be mixed with the old.

We all resist change. That’s true even when God is the One directing it. By the first century the Jewish leaders had become very content under their system of laws. Their religion had become comfortable because they had developed a complex list of “dos and don’ts.” But such a system makes fertile ground for human pride and usually leads to a rigid legalism. “I do my religious duty more often and better than you do it.” Or, “I don’t hang around with them. I don’t drink this. I don’t go there. I don’t do that, etc.”

That is the system the Jews had developed and, I use the term loosely, perfected. But Jesus was bringing freedom. It wasn’t just the freedom from slavery to sin. It was also the freedom from slavery to men’s laws. So the Pharisees saw Jesus as a real threat to their well-being, their authority, and their personal pride.

Let me give you an example of the kind of trap we can fall into. It’s the kind of thing that seems good but can become a source of pride, and in the process, make a brother or sister in Christ feel somehow inferior.

Many Christians are convinced that their personal “quiet time” should come first thing in the morning. It’s not uncommon for exhortations about such things to come down from pulpits. So every day some Christians “get up with God.” That’s not a bad thing, but it’s not a Scriptural command. Yet to some Christians the time of their private worship has become as important as the act of their private worship.

If that’s true, then what about all those Christians whose quiet time comes before bed or even at midday? Might they begin to feel guilty because they don’t do what they hear others say is right? We need to be very careful that we don’t construct “laws” out of per-fectly good ideas that are nothing more than our preferences and traditions.

Jesus is telling the Pharisees that their system of laws will never be able to blend with God’s grace. The parable Jesus tells is actually three very short parables, each one of three making the same or similar point. First, in v. 36, He says that you don’t patch a tear in an old piece of clothing with cloth from a new piece of clothing.

For one thing, you would ruin the new piece of clothing.
And for another thing, once you wash the repaired garment, the new “unfaded” and “unshrunk” patch will shrink and tear away. The result is that you would have two ruined pieces of clothing.

Let me say it again. Christianity cannot be “sewn into” another religion. The Jews said they were already righteous because they claimed they obeyed God’s Law. But Jesus told them they were sinners who must repent.

So, in this case, the old cloth was not God’s Law, which is good and righteous and holy. The old cloth was the Pharisees pride in the “doing” of their religion. But the new cloth was the gospel. The Pharisees needed to humble themselves before God and repent. There is no agreement between pride and humility, is there?

But Jesus isn’t through. In v. 37-38 He illustrates His point again. In the second part of the parable He says that you do not put new wine into old wineskins. Wine was normally stored in containers made from the skins of animals. So if you tried to store new wine in old skins they would stretch and burst when the juice expanded during fermentation.

That’s because the old skins had already been stretched out. Not only would the old wineskin be ruined, but the new wine would run out. Again, as with the parable of the patching cloth, the point is made. No human effort or works of righteousness can ever be compatible with the righteousness that comes purely from the grace of God. Again, there is no agreement between the two.

How important is this fundamental biblical truth? Jesus has told the Pharisees twice. But now He tells them of the tragedy of rejecting these truths. The third part of the parable says that if Pharisees persist in their ways and cling to their man-made religion, they will become so comfortable with it that they will never be able to appreciate the pure, unfettered, and freeing gospel of Christ. In v. 39 Jesus drives home that very point with His third and final illustration. “And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’”

I’ve heard it said that people who continually eat extremely hot food (meaning heavily seasoned) eventually destroy so many of their taste buds that they completely lose their ability to taste anything that isn’t heavily seasoned. Consequently, they can’t taste things with a delicate flavor unless they lace it with salt, or pepper, or hot sauce. I don’t know for sure if that’s true but it certainly seems reasonable.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the best food one could ever hope to eat. Didn’t Jesus say, “I am the bread of life…” (John 6:35)? The gospel can’t be “spiced up” by human effort.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the best drink one could ever hope to drink. Didn’t Jesus say, “He would (give us) living water,” and “…the water that I shall give…shall become …a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:10, 14)? The gospel can’t be mixed with man-made religion.
In Luke 5:39 Jesus is saying that false religion slowly but steadily deadens peoples spiri-tual senses to the truth in much the same way that alcohol slowly deadens a drinker’s senses to the reality around him. When someone begins to drink, the taste may be impor-tant to him. But after a while the taste doesn’t matter. All that matters is the affect.
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IV. Conclusion
This morning’s passage is a lesson for us in what happens to those who succumb to the effects of man-made gods, man-made philosophies, and man-made religions. All of them are like the songs of the sirens. In human terms they can often be beautiful but the reality is that they lure the unsuspecting to their deaths. All man-made religions veil the real truth and as such, they lead their followers away from the real Jesus, not toward Him.
*2 Corinthians 4:1-5
1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart,
2 but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbe-lieving, (so) that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.

Do you see how adding works, effort, philosophy, or man-made religion of any kind to the pure gospel obscures the gospel, and ultimately takes away from it? Do you see why trying to get to heaven by obeying God’s Law is impossible? Do you see why God’s grace is the very heart of the glorious truth of the gospel? Do you see why the Gospel of Jesus Christ is truly unique?

Listen, I want to make this very clear. God’s grace does not negate the Law of God. It’s simply that the Law cannot contain it. It is only grace that opens the door to heaven. But the door will remain forever closed and barred to anyone who tries to rely on any form of human work or effort.

Come to Jesus. Recognize who He is. Humble yourself before Him. Admit you are a sinner who falls infinitely short of the glory of God. Repent of your sin and ask Him to forgive you. If you are sincere, He will forgive you. Then He will make you a new creation in Him. He has promised to do so and He cannot lie.

It is only when you come to Him for salvation and when you lay aside all of your own efforts, that the door to heaven will open wide. Don’t let another day pass.
~ Pray ~