I invite you to turn to Matthew 9. Again, Matthew chapter 9. The parable this evening, actually two parables, back-to-back, two separate verses each parable, is one verse. So we'll be covering, in the parables at least, verses 16 and 17. But as I usually do for the parables, I would like to start in verse 1 and read through just to give us the context. We really need to know the context. If I just preach on verse 16 and 17, although I can preach on those two verses alone, you really don't see the context. And I think with the parables it's absolutely necessary that we understand what's happening And what brought about these parables? What was it specifically that brought Jesus to the point of teaching and preaching and speaking these parables? So again, Matthew 9. We'll start at verse 1. So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. Then, behold, They brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven you. And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemes. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Arise and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. Then He said to the paralytic, Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. And he arose and departed to his house. Now when the multitude saw it, They marveled and glorified God who had given such power to men. As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, follow Me. So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? When Jesus heard that, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician. but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break. The wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." Let us pray. Lord God, once again, we just thank You for this time together. We thank You for these parables, these back-to-back parables which You preached. Help us again this evening. We need Your help. We need to know what it is that you would have us to know about these parables. And I do pray, Lord, that my words will guide us in this endeavor. I pray that my words will reflect your true intention for these parables, that I will speak your words. We pray that you will open our hearts, that we will receive your word. that we will allow You, through the Spirit of God, to challenge us and tenderize us and make us Yours. We ask You that this evening. Do that for us. In Your name we pray. Amen. So, again, we had these two parables before us, and I wanted to read in context so that we would have the full picture. And you see that Jesus is interacting with many people. And there's quite a few reactions, as always was the case. As Jesus taught and He spoke and He came in contact with people, there's many who would reject Him, many who would question Him. In fact, we have two questions here that led up to these parables. So, what we see, again, with the questions in particular in the last questions which came from the disciples of John, we see that they came and asked Him, why do Your disciples, why do those who are following You, why do they not fast? In other words, why are they not doing as the Pharisees do? Why are they not doing as we do? And that's really the question that led into the parables. So we must keep that in context. We must hold that. That is the reason that the Savior spoke these two parables. And what was the major problem? Well, again, they're coming to Jesus. And they're asking, why are your disciples not as religious as those of the Pharisees, as those that are following John? Why are they not doing as those are doing? Why are they not fulfilling the ceremonial duties? In this case, fasting, as we just read. So if we say their problem with Jesus is that Jesus is not acting in a religious nature. Jesus is forgiving sins, which is impossible of man. We read that in verse 2 here. He's curing. He cured a paralytic. He has all power. But in a sense, He's not following the religious outcomes and duties that they think are prescribed of any man of God. He's not fasting. His people are not fasting. His disciples are not fasting. And that's really the question. He's not being as religious as they think He should be. Again, verse 11. If you look at verse 11, we see that in context. Verse 11 again says, And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors? and sinners. Why is he doing that? Well, the Pharisees, of course, would not do that. That was taboo. You don't do that. You don't eat with the sinners and the tax collectors. You just don't do that. That's what religious people do or don't do in this case. And then we look at verse 14. Then the disciples of John, so John the Baptist, the disciples of John the Baptist came to him saying, why do we in the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not? And again, they're pinpointing a specific duty which they think should be done, which Jesus and His disciples are not doing. So in one sense, in verse 11, He does what He is not supposed to do. That is, eat with the sinners and tax collectors. And then in verse 14, He doesn't do what He's supposed to do. And they have a beef with that. They have a problem with that. Well, He's curing people, He's doing things that no man can do, but yet he's not playing by the religious rules. And again, that's the context of this parable. He's not playing by their rules. I don't know, as Christians, perhaps you've been accused of that before by others, those that are not Christians. Well, you just don't play by the rules. You don't play by the religious rules that have been dictated. What are the religious rules of man? All right? Often, think about many religions, different religions around the world. What is the primary thing that defines that religion? You do things. Certain things are prescribed and you do them. And that's what makes you religious. So, we think about perhaps Muslims, Islam. Pray five times a day. You're a good Muslim if you do that. There are some other things too, but that's one of the primary things. Pray five times a day. You're a good Muslim. Right? A Buddhist. We lived in Thailand for six years. Follow the Eightfold Path. You're a good Buddhist. Right? Do that. In other words, religions, all those religions around the world, other than Christianity, it's a thing of doing, of showing. Follow this. and you're a good practitioner of that particular religion. The Jews themselves, of course. In this case, Levitical laws. Follow those. Ceremonies, follow those. And you're a good Jew. That's what made you a good Jew, in this case, or religious practitioner. So, others, when I say others here, I say broadly the humanity, right? Other religions, certainly. Other religions are known by their doing. Well, if I ask you this question, what is Christianity known by? Is it known by its doing? What would you say? Partially, perhaps. We should follow the teaching of Jesus, certainly. We should be a disciple of Jesus, certainly. But is Christianity known by these two things? Only partially. But the most important thing is, we are known by who we know and who knows us. Again, other religions are known by their doing. Christianity, known by their knowing. And that's what we see here. This is the major problem. Look at verse 13, once again, just to set us up. Verse 13, "...but go and learn..." Now he's speaking here to the Pharisees. "...but go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice." Now if we really think about that, I think we just read through this and we don't think about what's happening here. That's again why I want to bring the context before you. We just read this and we don't think through it. Who are the Pharisees? They are the elite, right? We think of the educational elite of that day. They know the Scriptures, right? They know how to apply it, at least in their way. They understand it. They've studied it. And look what Jesus does here. He's looking at that group of people and He says, but go and learn what this means. Do you see how that could be a shock to them? Here they are, The religious elite, they feel at least that they know, they've studied, they've learned. And Jesus says, go and learn what this means. In other words, if you really want to know who I am, if you want to know what motivates me, go and learn. I desire mercy. That's what I desire rather than sacrifice. And so Jesus, in a sense, gives them a little lesson about Himself. But He sends them on their path, right? Go educate yourself. and learn what this means. And that sends a shock to them. It should. In a sense, it should as well send a shock to us. We need to go and learn. We need to understand Christ Jesus, understand our Savior, what He wants from us, what He's trying to teach us, and what we should do. Yes, what we should do, again, we are motivated by our relationship with Christ Jesus. That is our primary motivation. But we do want to be a disciple. We do want to learn from our Master. That is the background. And so to answer that question, what is the question here again? Basically this, why do you and your disciples not act as religious as these others? That's really the question. And how does Jesus answer that? Well, He gives two parables. The first parable, verse 16, is about the unshrunk cloth and the old garment. And He doesn't say too much about it, but we can understand what's happening here is you have an old garment. Just think of a very old garment. There's a rip, there's a tear, there's a hole, and an individual tries to mend the hole, takes a new piece of cloth and mends that hole, but that new piece of cloth is unshrunk. The old garment is shrunk. It's old, it's used, it's tattered perhaps, it's been washed many times, it's already shrunk. And here you put the new piece on, and it's not been shrunk, it's unshrunk. And as soon as it's washed, what happens? It shrinks and it pulls away, and it tears from that garment, and it makes the problem worse. And so that's what we see in verse 16, the unshrunk cloth and the old garment. So what's the lessons here? Just a quick summary. What are the lessons that we would take from this particular parable, verse 16. Well, we could say Jesus is trying to teach us that the old is made worse by the new. Is that what Jesus is trying to teach us? Perhaps, but we've got to think. What's happening in context? Again, He's encountering what? The religious elite. They're coming to Him. They're questioning Him, whether it's John's disciples or the Pharisees right before that. They're questioning Him. And then He gives these two parables. So, why would He talk about clothing? What does that have to do with these individuals asking why the disciples don't fast? What does that have to do with it? Well, we've got to understand that. We've got to understand what that has to do with it. So, when we look at that, is it that the old is made worse by the new? Well, if the old is the old system, that is the ceremonies, the laws, And the new, Jesus is coming in and inaugurating a new situation. The new is pulling away, in a sense, from the old. Is that what Jesus is trying to teach us? Perhaps. We will keep that in our minds. What about this? Is Jesus trying to teach us the new separates itself from the old? Just like the patch separates itself from the old garment? Is that what Jesus is trying to teach us? Well, again, perhaps yes. Jesus will not be patched on to any system. You cannot view Jesus simply as a patch. Again, speaking of Buddhism, living in Thailand for six years, this is what sometimes happened. Buddhists would think well of Jesus. He's a great teacher. He's a great individual. I like him. I like his teaching. But they wouldn't give up Buddhism. They would just bring Jesus in as a patch. He would fill a few gaps perhaps they have in their own system or teaching, and they like Jesus. They may even say, well, Jesus is a good man. Maybe I'm almost a Christian. But can you do that? Can an individual do that? The answer is no. Jesus is not simply a patch. He will pull away. He has to be the main thing. He has to be the true devotion. He has to be the one that is truly known. Jesus will separate Himself from man-made religion. Is that what Jesus is teaching us again? Perhaps so. What's the main point of this particular parable, verse 16? I think it's this, no mixture here is possible. What happens in the end? The old garment, the new patch, bring them together. What happens? It's worse than when it started. There's no mixture. You can't bring these two together in such a way. Now, interestingly, in the Luke passage, Mark and Luke both have this parable. In the same parable in Luke, you don't have to turn, but Luke 5, it says this about this situation with a patch in the old garment. It says, "...the piece that was taken out of the new agreeeth not with the old." So that really sums it up for us. It doesn't agree with the old. It doesn't work with the old. They don't mesh. Something is lacking. The two together will not function as they should. And again, we're reminded in Amos 3, do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? Something is amiss here. I think though John Gill perhaps notes the relationship very well. And he pinpoints the righteousness at issue here. And I tend to agree with him. Again, thinking about the full context. What's the full context? Religious elite, religious people are coming to Jesus asking these questions. In other words, they're saying, why don't you fast? Why don't you do what religious people do? Why don't you earn your righteousness in the way that we earn our righteousness? Man-made righteousness. And so John Gill says it this way, Moreover, nothing is more disagreeable than such a patchwork. Christ's righteousness and man's own bear no likeness to one another. And such a patched garment must ill become, must not become, the character and dignity of a saint, a child of God, an heir of heaven." In other words, it can work both ways here. What happens? You can't mix the two together. The old system, they try to patch it with the new. It makes the tear worse. The new tries to take in the old, and it brings in a situation where the new is not pure, is not also beneficial. So I think here we can view it from this angle, and I believe that this is the right take. We're thinking about the righteousness. And we know that Jesus often encountered this situation with the Pharisees. This makes sense. The Pharisees are often coming to Jesus with these same situations. These same sorts of questions. And it's really related to the righteousness that they have set up, the righteousness of man, and the true and errant righteousness of God and here of Christ Jesus. What about verse 17, the new wine put into old wineskins? Well, this of course is very similar. These two parables are back to back. They certainly are teaching us a very similar lesson. And it's no surprise here, you think of the situation, would anybody have wineskins at home? I don't think so, right? But in this time frame, they had wine made out of some animal skin and they kept their wine in it. And in this particular situation, this wineskin was old. It had been used a lot. I think it probably had expanded a great degree from what it originally was. And if you put new wine in that old wineskin, what's gonna happen? Well, a fermentation process is not going to be able to contain and it will burst open. It will ruin it. The wine will be wasted and lost. So that's the situation. Well, what again does that teach us? What are we to learn from that? Again, keeping this whole context in our heads, what are we to learn? Christ is inaugurating a new thing. The old is not able to contain it. Can you see that? What's the old system? Well, again, Judaism, ceremonies, laws, Levitical laws, all these things that are coming at Jesus now. Why don't you do this? Why don't you do that? Why don't you perform this? Jesus is setting up a new thing. And He makes it clear here. The new will not, in this case, work with the old. In two separate parables that are teaching us very similar things. So what's common to both parables? You can't mix two heterogeneous things, two different things. You can't mix two heterogeneous things, old and new, in this case related to religion. Old and new religion, it will not work. And that's the full context we have before us. And so Jesus spoke this parable, these two parables. So the question that I would like to focus on from this point forward. If Jesus is introducing in a sense, you know, this is my new work. I am fulfilling all that had come before. The new work that I am establishing will not, in this case, be contained by the old. So the question we should ask is what is the new thing? What is that new thing that Christ is introducing? And that's what I'm going to focus on for the remainder of our time. Now, some of this indeed, again, I've already mentioned that these two parables, they're only a verse each. So we don't have a full picture in these two parables alone of what Jesus might be talking about or referring to as the new thing. But we do have that picture from the rest of Scripture. But all of that is related here to this parable. So, I'd like to focus on four aspects, or you might say four extensions of these two parables. That is, Christ is introducing a new way. That new way would birth a new people. Those new people would live under a new covenant that would exhibit a new life. So what's new? What cannot be contained by the old? A new way, a new people, a new covenant, a new life. I do want to, before discussing each of these, I do want to give a little bit of a caveat here. When I say new, perhaps you're thinking of something brand new. We think of that in English often. If I say new, you think, well, it has to be brand new, something entirely different. than has ever been seen before. Now, when we say new in Scripture, that's not always the context that is brand new. In fact, most often in Scripture we hear new, and new is often related to these other terms. New is related to better. I'll be speaking of that in a few moments in the book of Hebrews. It's better. It fulfills. It brings things to a culmination. It fulfills. It's superior to. We've heard that from Scripture a lot. It's superior to the other. It supersedes the other. And it surpasses the other. So what we see here is Jesus inaugurating a new thing that is a better fulfillment. It supersedes. It surpasses what has come before. That which has come before cannot contain this new thing that Christ is bringing about. And that's what we see. Well, first the new way. Let's look back again at verse 14 and 15. Verse 14, Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, and your disciples not fast? Verse 15, And Jesus said to them, Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? Let me stop there. Do you see again the focus? What's the focus of the question? Why don't you fast? Why don't you do this? Why don't you do that? Why don't you perform these duties? And what does Jesus do? What does He do? He turns it to Himself. he turns it to a person. He says, why will my disciples fast when the bridegroom is with them? Well, that makes no sense. What's supposed to happen at a wedding? You've got the bride and the bridegroom. Are they sad? I certainly hope not. That's not a good forebearing for the rest of the marriage if the two are sad, right? You've got two, they're coming together, they're going to be married, and they're happy. They're joyful. They're not sad. They're not mourning, as the parable is talking about. They're not mourning. They shouldn't mourn. Everything is coming together. They should be happy. And so that's the question. Why are they not fasting? Why are they not mourning? The bridegroom, Jesus Christ, is with them. You don't mourn when Jesus Christ is with you. That's the last thing you should be doing. And this is the lesson that Jesus is teaching them. So, Jesus is turning this from some sort of religious duty to a personal interaction. The person is Jesus Christ. He's focusing on the person, not a certain procedure. And so that's the first thing, the new way. What's the new way? The new way is not a religious duty, it's Jesus Christ. It's the person. Now we think again, what about other religions? Buddhism? Is Buddha the main thing? No, it's his teaching. Right? Buddha's dead and gone. It's his teaching. What about Islam? Muhammad's dead and gone. Right? It's his teaching. It's the discipline. It's following the statutes and the commands. Right? But what about Jesus Christ? No, we do follow His teaching. We are His disciples. But what is it? It's Jesus Christ the person. It's Jesus Christ the individual. That's who we worship. We don't worship the teaching. We don't worship the discipline. We worship Jesus Christ. The bridegroom is with them, right? In a sense, what he's saying is, I'm here. I'm on the scene. Everything that is spoken about me in the past, I am now here. I am fulfilling that. I am on the scene. There's no reason to mourn. There's no reason to be sad. I am here. We know this from passages throughout the Scriptures, right? Jesus often turned conversations to Himself. He often spoke of Himself as the main figure, the one to be worshipped. John 14, 6, a lot of you know this very well. Jesus answered, I am the way, right? What did He not say? I will teach you the way. He didn't say, I will teach you the way. He said what? I am the way. It's the person. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 10, 9. We've got all of these I am statements, just wonderful I am statements in the book of John. Just read it and go through and just pick them out. I am. I am. And we don't need to get into this now, but there's a connection there between those statements, the I am statements, and back in Exodus 3.15, when God says with a question there, Moses says, who do you say that I am? He says, I am who I am. So, Jesus is saying, I am. I am. And they would have picked that up. He's claiming. He's claiming to be divine. He's claiming to be God. Well, John 10.9, I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. That's a definite, right? Not whoever enters through me might be saved. Perhaps could be saved. No, whoever enters through me will be saved. Jesus Christ is the focus. It's the person. It's not the procedure. So this is the first thing that we learn from this parable. He turns the conversation quickly away from duties, fasting, whatever it might be. He turns it away from the duties and he says, no, it's on me. Focus on me. I am the bridegroom. I am the person. This is about intimate knowledge of myself. That's what this is. In a sense, he says it this way, if you want to know God, know me. I am He. And that's the focus. You know, we've talked about this and we've mentioned this. One of the scariest things in the Bible is when all of those people come to Jesus, right? And they say, I've done this, I've done this. And what does Jesus say? His warning at that point, I've done this, is what? Depart from me, I never... Was it, depart from me, you're not following my teaching? No. Depart from me, you're not following certain disciplines? No. He says, depart from me, I never knew you. I never knew you. It's an intimate knowledge of a person, Jesus Christ. That's the new way. And He's establishing this new way, clearly. Now, we might want to ask the question, why does this aggravate man so much? I hope it doesn't aggravate us in this room, but perhaps we should ask that individual question. Does this new way of Jesus Christ focused on a person, focused on an intimate relationship, does that aggravate me? Does it aggravate you? Well, I ask the broad question, right? Why does it aggravate so many people? Well, it's not man's way of righteousness, right? Man wants to do something to achieve his own righteous standing. That's by nature what man wants to do. And here Jesus turns that on its head and said, no, it's not about that. It's about knowing Me. It's about loving Me. It's about a relationship with Me. A lot of people, they want to stay away from the relationships. Too much involved with relationships, right? I'm accountable. I have to interact on a regular basis, right? No, I would rather go, maybe talking about Catholicism, I'd rather go into the Catholic Church, do what I need to do, perform whatever task I need to perform, and I'm out the door. I've done my religious duty, and now I'll live however I want to live. That's most of the religion around the world. That's what happens. Jesus says, no, it's about me. What's the second focus here? Again, a new way that would birth a new people, a new church. Look again, verse 15, And Jesus said to them, Can the friends of the bridegroom... Again, the friends of the bridegroom. Now, I'm not sure which translation you might have. Some translations say the wedding guest for the friends of the bridegroom. But either way, it says, can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? Again, we're picturing a what? We're picturing a wedding. The friends of the bridegroom. Well, is that not, in spiritual terms, the church? Is it not those that have come together under the banner of Jesus Christ and worship Jesus Christ? Aren't those the friends of the bridegroom? What sense do the friends of the bridegroom have in mourning? They should be happy. They should not be sad. We know this. Matthew 16, 18. Who will build the church? All of our fancy techniques? No. Jesus Christ will build His church. Jesus Christ did something different at this point with the church. We say the old church, the new church. Sometimes we refer to those that believed in the Old Testament as the old church. But primarily those in the Old Testament, the old church, who were they? They were made of what? Israelites, Jewish individuals, right? God's chosen people. What's different with that group and the church today? Well, let me invite you to turn to Acts 2. Many of you know this passage, of course. These passages, Acts 2, related to the birth of the church. There's a lot here for us. And unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm not going through Acts 2 this evening, but I would like to read this section, the first 13 verses, just to give us the picture of what's happening here. So Acts 2 verse 1, "...when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all of one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own tongue, his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Do you think you would be amazed if that were to happen before us today? I think so. Right? Logical reaction to the situation at hand. They were amazed. We would be amazed as well. They were amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear in each of our own languages in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus in Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs. We hear them speaking in our own tongues and all of the wonderful works of God. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, whatever could this mean? And then look what they were accused of. Others mocking said, they are full of new wine. New wine. Now they were accusing them of being drunk, right? Well, in a sense they were full of new wine. The Spirit had descended. And that church, that old church, the Jewish church, could not contain what God was about to do in bringing all these nationalities into a believing community. They couldn't contain it. Did God bring new wine? Yes, in His way. They weren't drunk. They were filled with the Spirit of God. The new church was starting to form. God was bringing all peoples His people from every nation, all nations, many nations, to Himself in forming the church. So again, we've got to ask this question, does that aggravate us? I'm using these terms provocatively perhaps, but does that aggravate us that God is building His church? Christ is building His church in His way? His multicultural church? You know, all of that hate that we saw in Charlottesville, All of it related to racism, groups hating each other, despising each other, fighting in the streets. What's the remedy for that? Christ Jesus and His church. We come together and it should be multicultural. I long to see the day when this church right here, looking around, we have people from all nations sitting in these pews. Worshipping God together. That's God's church. And if you have a chance to go around the world and see it, it's an amazing thing. It's an amazing thing. God bringing people all around the world to His saving grace and His knowledge and worshipping God together. One more question. Just think to yourself, is there any person, and I have to think about this as well, Is there any person who, walking through that door, sitting beside of you, whatever the situation, a certain ethnic background, certain whatever, whatever it is, is there any person that would come through that door and sit next to you and you would think, oh well, this is not going to work? That should not be our thoughts. Christ is building His church. And Christ is drawing all peoples to Himself. It doesn't matter what racial background, if we even use that term. Ethnic background, better. Whatever it is, Christ is drawing. So God is doing something. A new way, a new people, a new church. The old church, primarily Jewish believers. The new church from all nations. A beautiful thing. A new covenant. Right? We're talking about weddings. We're talking about community and wedding scenarios, and this passage particularly. What is a wedding? It's a covenant between two people. It's a covenant between two people. And I ask your apology. I know that I'm taking a little bit more time this evening, but I want you to turn to Hebrews 8. I think that this is worth our time. We need to spend just a little bit of time here with Hebrews 8. Thinking of the New Covenant. You know, in the Old Testament, there were covenants. There were plenty of covenants. But Christ says something very specific, right? We say it every time we have communion. Luke 22, 20. New Covenant. This is the New Covenant in my blood. Something different about the New Covenant. It's a culmination of all of which came before. So, again, Hebrews 8. Let me start in verse 6. But now He, He being Christ of course, but now He has obtained a more excellent ministry inasmuch as He is also mediator of a better covenant. Well, who was the mediator of the old covenant? Moses. And that's what, if you read a few verses earlier, that's what you'll get. He's a better mediator of a better covenant which was established on better promises. It's better. A lot better. Verse 7, For if the first covenant had been faultless, right? The old system, the old way, right? If the first covenant had been faultless, it certainly was not. If it had been faultless, then there would be no place to seek a new one, a second one. Verse 8, Because finding fault with them, He says, Behold, now this is from Jeremiah 31, right? Very familiar passage here. Jeremiah 31, "...Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah." What has He done? What happened to the house of Israel and house of Judah? They were separated. What's this new covenant? Brings it all back together. Not only that, this could be multicultural, right? He's bringing these things back together. This is His new covenant. not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant." What's that language there? They did not continue in my covenant. They broke the covenant, right? Now, I will come back to this in just a second, but in the passage that we have there in Matthew 9, Jesus actually quotes from Hosea 6. Most of you remember what the book of Hosea is about. What's the book of Hosea about? It's about covenant unfaithfulness. So in their minds, the Pharisees, they would have picked this up, I'm sure. Here's the context. You've been covenantally unfaithful. And here it is again. "...to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in My covenant." They've been unfaithful. And I disregarded them, says the Lord, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. The Lord will do that. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. That's sometimes what we call the Emmanuel principle. You will be My people. I will be your God. That's what God says. Continuing. Intimate relationship. Does that not speak of an intimate relationship? It certainly does. Continuing. 11. None of them shall teach his neighbor... This is the result of the New Covenant, right? None of them shall teach his neighbor and none his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me from the least of them to the greatest. Know the Lord, A new way. A relationship with Christ Jesus. Know the Lord. What does it say? All of them will know the Lord. All of those in the New Covenant will know the Lord. It's an intimate relationship. Verse 12, "'For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.'" What happened in the Old Testament? They kept breaking the covenants, breaking the covenants, breaking the covenants, breaking the covenants. And for at least a temporary moment, God turned His back, punished them. But what is He saying here? I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more. If you're in the new covenant, your sins are remembered no more. No more. They're gone. Verse 13, in that He says this, "...a new covenant He has made..." Sorry, my glasses are over there. "...He has made the first obsolete." Now, this is pretty strong language. He had made the first obsolete. But what's the Lord doing? I say the obsolete. We've got to understand, what is the Lord writing on the hearts of the New Testament believer? What does it say up here? He writes what on the heart? His laws. There's certainly some continuity here. His laws now are not written on stone as they were in the days of Moses, right? Those laws were written on stone and they kept betraying those laws. In the New Covenant, where are the laws written? On the heart. God enables us to obey those laws, to obey Him. That's just powerful. The New Covenant, this new relationship we might say, the New Covenant is superior to, is better than those old covenants. Did the old covenants have their place? Of course. But what were they? They were types and shadows. Leading to what? Jesus Christ who established a better covenant on better hope, better promises, better mediator. It's all there in the book of Hebrews especially. All of that established on better principles. Jesus Christ. The last point, new life. Jesus established new life. The old life, this is individual. When I say individual, I mean to the person, your person, my person. Individual, the new life. The old life cannot contain the new life. You know some of these Scriptures. 2 Corinthians 5.17. Some of you might be able to quote that by heart, perhaps. When we think about 2 Corinthians 5.17, What are we thinking about? And those that believe in Christ, what are they? New creatures. 2 Corinthians 5.17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. They're new. It's not an addendum. They're new. New desires. New focus. New longings. New obsessions. A new love that is focused on Christ Jesus. It's new. It's different. It's better. Ezekiel 36. You know, one thing I'm amazed about, and I can't go into this here, I know our time is fading again. It's already faded, you would say. Jeremiah, the passage that I just read in Hebrews 8, quoting Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah, that prophet, this is when the exile was happening in Babylon. Jeremiah, the prophet, he remained in Jerusalem. Ezekiel, the prophet, went to Babylon in exile. And God spoke to each of those prophets And what do they communicate to us? Basically the same thing, at least along these lines. Listen to this, Ezekiel 36 regarding the new life. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. to cause you to walk in my statutes or law." The law on the heart, right? It's on the heart. It's written on the heart. And you will be careful to observe my ordinances. That's the new life. So, if someone comes to me and says, well, in the New Testament, the law is done away with. I will say, well, no. God writes the law on the heart. It's just now I can obey it. Whereas before, when I did not have Christ in my life, I was yet a believer, I could not obey His law. Now, the Spirit working in me, and you too, if you have this relationship, allows us to obey that law. By the way, here it says, He will remove a heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. What is He saying here? This is the action of God on our behalf. He's saying, I will put new wine in your new wineskins. That's what he's saying. And it will remain. It will be permanent. Bunyan says it this way, love to God is more seen in desires than in any Christian act. What are your desires? Are your desires to serve the Lord? To obey His law. Is that your desires? To love Him? To honor Him? Do you long for time with Him? Well, these are things of the new life. Things that Jesus brought about. So, the question remains for each of us today. This is the question from the parable. Are you mourning or are you happy? Well, that really relates to the relationship that you have. Do you have a covenant relationship with a bridegroom? If so, do you have reason to be mournful? What did Jesus say? On the Mount of Olivet, Jesus said this, "...Lo, I am with you always." If you're a New Covenant believer, He's with you now. The Broad Groom. True in the future, in the culmination of all things, that wedding ceremony will be an amazing thing to behold. But even at this moment, as a New Covenant believer, you're in fellowship with Christ. You're in fellowship with the Broad Groom. What do we have to mourn? Should we be sad? So that's the question. Are you a new creature? Has all things become new? Or are you still looking to old things, your own righteousness, your own system? Do you desire the old or the new? Is your righteousness found in service, sacrifice, ceremonies, traditions, or in Christ alone? That's the question. Let us pray.