"And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a 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. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.
In today's lesson, when asked why His Apostles kept company with the "publicans and sinners", an action that was forbidden under the Law of Moses, Jesus spoke a parable to the scribes and Pharasees explaining that, while He was still present with them, His Apostles were free to accompany Him as He engaged the lost souls among the Jews, even the "publicans and sinners".
When Jesus said it was, in essence, useless to put new patches on old cloth or to put new wine in old bottles, He was saying also that it was impossible to mix the Law of Moses with the coming new law of salvation by grace, through faith in Him.
Until Jesus had finished His earthly sacrificial ordeal and had ascended to heaven, the Law of Moses remained in full effect. However, Jesus knew that after He had completed His sacrificial ordeal, the old Law would be fulfilled for all who would place their faith in Him, and adherence to the Law would no longer be required.
Although He couldn't come right out and denounce the Law before He fulfilled it, Jesus knew the restrictions of the Law would soon come to an end.
There are still many "Christians" today who contend that as children of God, we are still, in many ways, bound by a Jewish Law that was NEVER intended to apply to those who are born again by faith in Jesus Christ. For us, through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, the sin debt is eternally paid. A soul sealed by the Holy Spirit of God cannot come into disobedience to the Law, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." (1 John 3:9)~
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