Chapter 2. 15
Spiritual
Wineskins
You cannot put new wine into old wine skins
because
they will burst, you must get brand New
Wineskins.
Your old body cannot be filled with the Holy
Spirit;
it just cannot contain it; you must be Born
Again.
First
Word
A similitude is similar to a parable, it is a
likeness, a resemblance or an allegory. In the day of Jesus, bottles were very
expensive therefore they were not very common. Most people used leather from sheep or goat
skins where the orifices where the legs would be, had been sewn up and sealed,
except for the neck; leaving the goat hair on the outside.
Ropes would be tied to the leg portions and hung about their shoulders
making them easy to be transported,[1]
while other skins were shaped by a tanner to look like bottles. They held all sorts of liquids, but most often
were used to hold wine. New wineskins
were used for New Wine while they were still pliable and elastic; the skins
would stretch and expand accommodating the fermenting gases.
You must get the point here; you can put NEW WINE into a wineskin
only once because it will be only elastic enough to stretch and expand once. If you put NEW WINE into and old
wineskin, it will burst and both the skin bottle and the costly wine will be
lost.[2]
The Illustration
According to Scripture, man is born
void of the understanding of spiritual things like a wild ass’s colt.[3] Things of the spirit are just foolishness to
him because these things are spiritually discerned. The heart of the old carnal man receiving the
new spiritual things will leak like a sieve leaving behind in his heart, the
chaff, the bran and the refuge of
the world.
Jesus used Wineskins to illustrate a point
about being filled with the Holy Spirit. It was the custom to transfer old wine into
old wineskins. This similitude was
actually about the infilling of an old container with “The Religion of the Day”. The
dynamic NEW Gospel could not be
contained in an OLD bottles of Tradition. Christianity cannot be contained in Judaism,
nor can grace
be confined in the bonds of the Law.[4]
The nature and the actions of man can be redirected, restrained or
changed because of the enforcement and prosecution of the severe laws of the
land; however his change is just Make Believe. A nature can be adjusted because of a good
education; one that brought knowledge of the results of what happened in past
history, but he is still just a Make Believer.
A nature can be modified because of reading God’s laws, conforming and
obeying them only because of the terror or fear of the Laws themselves; however
“The Heart”
is still carnal and “The Will” is still rebellious.[5] He remains a Make Believer. None of these things can change the evil in a
man’s heart. A renovation of the whole
man, body and soul must take place; you could say he must be Born Again.
The carnal heart of man must be changed or made NEW…
It cannot hold the NEW WINE of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit
I need to get a couple of big
words out of the way here so we can continue:
JUSTIFICATION is God's act of removing the
guilt and penalty of sin while at the same time declaring a
sinner righteous through Christ's atoning sacrifice through His death
on the cross.
REGENERATION is the
objective work of God in a believer's life. Spiritually, it means that God brings the
Christian to a new life from a previous state of subjection to the decay of
death. When man comes into a justified
state, he is at that very moment is also regenerated. When the Holy Spirit enters into the Natural
man, he is changed into a NEW man; he is “Born Again;”
anew.[6] Old things are passed away, old affections,
passions and notions, etc.
You will know them by their fruits; by what they do.[7] Every tree that does not bear fruit is cut
down and thrown into the fire; they are just Make Believer Trees. SELAH; Ponder that
Deader
than a Mackerel
Man is predisposed to walk after
the passions of his flesh; following the desires of his body and mind, dragged
along by the course of the world. Man, before receiving the grace of God
is spiritually DEAD.[8] Without the grace of God, he cannot even reach
out for a life preserver even if it was floating right next to him.[9] While it is true that he may naturally do
things that are morally good; they are not spiritually good.
You
are PARTNERS with darkness;
your mind and conscious has been defiled. Scripture says that the unregenerate man’s
prayers are without his heart and are an abomination to God; like that of a rebelling
howling dog on his bed.[10] Man
in a spiritual sense is blind and cannot see the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ nor the beauty of holiness. He
must be made alive to breath, see, hear and walk. A person can become a new man, but not reformed;
he may become reformed, but not renewed.[11]
He must be transformed with the renewing of his mind or he is
just a Make
Believer.
Side Bar
When someone is accustomed to the
OLD, they cannot be expected to
immediately like the NEW. There is a naturel revulsion to a sudden
change; however time will cure this.
Over time the New Wine will also become Old or aged and will become the
preferred taste. So, it is natural to
expect the NEW Gospel of Jesus Christ
to be rejected at first in favor of the OLD
comfortable ways of Judaism.[12]
The Wineskins are a teaching about a
change in dispensations from the Old Testament of LAW
to the New Testament of GRACE. The Old Covenant dispensation of Law was
ending. When I first heard the similitude of the
Wineskins, I thought it was just an exercise in wisdom, like don’t patch an old
garment with new unshrunk material because it will eventually tear out. I did not get the spiritual aspect; you simply
cannot MIX
the two materials.[13] Just as you cannot mix new wine into old skin
bottles. You cannot mix the Law of Judaism with the Grace of Christianity.[14] They cannot be patched together, trying to do
so would ruin both.
The new age movement takes the best
forms of worship, praise and songs from
the many different religions and tries to Mix or homogenized them into one; you just cannot do this, it’s a lie born out
of the pit of hell. Christianity is a
totally different way of life; Christianity is NEW WINE. You cannot pour the New wine of Grace into the Old skin bottles of Legality, it cannot be reduced
or contained by tradition. NEW WINE can only be
contained in a NEW FORM.
The Regenerated Man
A wineskin left unused in
the smoke of a windowless kitchen, becomes brittle and dry. We are told to be filled and refilled; to stay
soft and pliable. Job said it best… his
feelings about spiritual things were like bottled up New Wine in old skins that
were ready to burst. [15]
The Take Away
The
references to wine in the Bible indicate that wine was very common in
their everyday life and was part of their regular diet. Some scholars feel that it would have been
impossible to have wine that was unfermented during Biblical times as it was
stored for months in jars and wine skins and kept in cool cellars. Jesus could not have been tempted to drink
“too much wine” unless he had the same temptation as we have.
Drinking wine is not a sin; drunkenness is
a sin. Eating is not a sin, gluttony is
a sin. It’s not what goes into our mouth
that defiles us, it’s what comes out. The
Kingdom of God is not what we eat or drink.[16] We are free to drink alcohol in moderation
if we choose, but not to the extent that it causes someone else to stumble in
their faith; so it seems advisable to me to not drink in public. Although we have freedom in Christ, others
may feel quite differently.
I feel pretty sure that this Word study
will please only about half the folks that read it; the ones that drink. I just hope that it is controversial enough
that it will cause you to dig through God’s Word for yourself to get your own
special revelation. If I can get you
excited enough to check out God’s Word for yourself, then this study will have
accomplished that which it was sent to do. SELAH
The
Gospel is New Wine that
cannot be poured into an Old Wine Skins; it simply cannot contain
it. Christianity cannot be contained in
Judaism, nor can grace be confined in the bonds of the Law. It cannot be mixed nor homogenized with other
religions. We must be Born Again with the new wine skin of a new heart. Apart from Jesus Christ, we can do nothing. [17] It’s in the Book
[1] Genesis 21:14 – Goat skin of water was carried on their shoulders
[2] Matthew 9:17 – You cannot put NEW wine into
old wineskins. -- Luke 5:38 –
New wine must be poured into new wineskins -- Job
11:12 – Man is born like a wild ass’s colt and is void Understanding
[3] Job 11:12 – Man is born like a wild ass’s colt and is void Understanding
[4] 1 Corinthians 2:14 – The natural man cannot receive the Spirit
[5] 1 Corinthians 2:14 - Things of the Spirit are foolishness to him
[6] John 3:3 – The Natural man must be BORN
AGAIN to enter the kingdom of
heaven -- John 3:7 - Do not marvel - You must be born again --
2 Corinthians 5:17 - The
old passions are passed away, he is a new creature -- 2 Corinthians 5:17 - If a man is in Christ, he’s a NEW creature
[7] Matthew 7:16-19 - You
will know them by their fruits, by their works
[8] Ephesians 2:1-3 - You were DEAD in your sins -- Ephesians 5:7-8 – You were once partners with darkness -- Titus 1:15 – Your mind and conscience is defiled
[9] John 15:5 – Without Jesus Christ, you can do nothing
[10] Hosea 7:14 – You have not cried unto the Lord, but howled like dogs and
rebelled
[11] Romans 12:2 - Be transformed by the renewing of your mind
[12] Luke 5:39 – The Old Wine will be preferred over the New Wine
[13] Matthew 9:16 – Don’t use unshrunk new cloth to patch an old garment
[14] John 1:17 – Law came through Moses; Grace came through Jesus
[15] Psalm 119:83 – A wineskin unused in the kitchen becomes brittle --
Job 32:19 – I am like bottled-up wine, READY TO BURST. -- Ephesians 5:18 –
Command; be FILLED with the Holy Spirit
[16] Matthew 15:10-11 – It’s
not what goes in a man that defiles him, it’s what comes out -- Romans 14:13-17
– The Kingdom of Heaven is not what you eat or drink.
[17] John 15:5 – Jesus is the vine; we are the
branches, apart from Him we can do nothing
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