WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.299 church, and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today. A special welcome if you're new or 00:00:05.299 --> 00:00:09.160 visiting with us. We're glad that you're here, and we're glad that you're here not just because we're 00:00:09.900 --> 00:00:14.259 trying to fill seats, but because we're following Jesus together as one community. 00:00:15.120 --> 00:00:19.719 And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced that there's no one so good they 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:25.039 don't need God's grace, and no one so bad they can't have it, which is why we come back 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:32.179 week after week to hear what God has to say to us in His Word. We're continuing our series in the 00:00:32.179 --> 00:00:36.759 Gospel of Mark. You'll remember that the Gospels tell the story of Jesus and His life and His death 00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:42.359 and His resurrection. And as we're going through, we're asking two questions together. We're asking 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:49.939 the question of who is Jesus and how do we respond to Him? Last week, we saw Jesus calling Levi, the 00:00:49.939 --> 00:00:55.559 tax collector. And when we got into that, we understood why the Gospel is so offensive. God 00:00:55.559 --> 00:01:01.299 doesn't save people that we would save, and God does save people that we wouldn't save. His dividing 00:01:01.299 --> 00:01:06.319 line is not between the good and the bad. His dividing line is between those who know their need 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:14.159 and those who don't, because as He tells us, He has come not for the well, but for the sick. He came 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:21.439 not to call the righteous, but sinners. This week, we're continuing in a series of stories of Jesus' 00:01:21.659 --> 00:01:26.599 conflict with the religious leaders, and we're jumping in in verse 18 in this question about 00:01:26.599 --> 00:01:31.560 fasting, and we're going to be looking at the newness and the joy and the celebration of the 00:01:31.560 --> 00:01:37.099 Gospel, what it is that Jesus brings that we didn't have before. And so we're going to jump right in. I 00:01:37.099 --> 00:01:42.479 invite you to turn with me to Mark chapters 2, starting at verse 18. You can turn in your worship guide. 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:47.820 You can turn on your phone. You can turn in your Bibles. No matter where you turn, remember that 00:01:47.820 --> 00:01:53.340 this is God's Word. God tells us that His Word is more precious than gold, even the finest gold, 00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:58.920 and it's sweeter than honey, even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb. And so that's why we 00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:06.500 read now, starting at verse 18. Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people came and 00:02:06.500 --> 00:02:14.120 said to Him, Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? 00:02:14.819 --> 00:02:22.099 And Jesus said to them, Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the 00:02:22.099 --> 00:02:29.680 bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. Verse 20. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:35.939 and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:42.520 If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:49.140 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, 00:02:49.319 --> 00:02:56.340 and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins. 00:02:56.340 --> 00:03:02.860 I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's Word. Our Father in Heaven, we 00:03:02.860 --> 00:03:10.520 thank you again that you have not left us alone to figure out this world on our own, but instead you 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:16.099 have given us your Word to guide us and direct us. We ask that you would do that this morning, 00:03:16.640 --> 00:03:22.400 that you would help us to see your beauty, and your glory, and your purity, and your holiness, 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:28.360 that you'd help us to see our need for you, and you'd comfort us as you show us how you meet us 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:33.700 at that very same point of need. We ask that you would show us the newness and the joy and the life 00:03:33.700 --> 00:03:40.439 that you bring in Jesus Christ, that it would give us new hope, new energy, new zeal as we go forward 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:45.659 in this week. We ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 00:03:45.659 --> 00:03:45.819 Amen. 00:03:48.780 --> 00:03:55.539 I've mentioned a few times that growing up, my mother constantly would read aloud to us, and as young 00:03:55.539 --> 00:03:59.639 children, one of the series that we dug into was the Boxcar Children, which if you're familiar with 00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:04.919 it in the very first book, they discover this boxcar that they're able to have all sorts of adventures 00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:11.439 in, and in book two, in Surprise Island, the children's grandfather owns a private island that he invites 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:15.840 them to for the summer, and they find all these different artifacts, and they have this wonderful 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:20.699 idea that they're going to put together a museum that they can display, you know, the seashells, 00:04:20.719 --> 00:04:25.480 and the flowers, and things that they can find. Now, my brothers and I, we did not have a grandfather 00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:31.420 with a private island, unfortunately, but we did decide it was a great idea to put together a museum 00:04:31.420 --> 00:04:38.040 just like they did in the book, and so family members began giving us a variety of objects. We put this 00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:43.040 museum in the crawl space in my parents' house where we grew up, and it's only now, as someone who's 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:47.319 older, I can appreciate the terror of being someone visiting our house and having these young kids 00:04:47.319 --> 00:04:53.020 invite you to come down into this little crawl space so you could see their museum. Of course, we were 00:04:53.020 --> 00:04:58.120 much more flexible as young children, right? But one of the objects that we received was from my grandmother, 00:04:58.379 --> 00:05:06.160 who gave us her book of ration stamps from World War II. My grandmother was born in 1931, and then, you know, 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:11.620 Pearl Harbor happened in 1941, so she was 10 years old when the war broke out, and everyone in the 00:05:11.620 --> 00:05:18.380 family would have had their own ration book for a variety of things, for gas, for groceries, perhaps 00:05:18.380 --> 00:05:22.600 for a variety of household items. In fact, the story's told of a couple who wanted to go on their honeymoon, 00:05:23.080 --> 00:05:29.360 and so they decided to walk everywhere so they could save up their gas ration stamps for that time when 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:34.440 they actually wanted to travel. So, of course, something that's challenging for us even to wrap our heads 00:05:34.439 --> 00:05:40.560 around today, but the same thing was true in World War I. They would have meatless Tuesdays, 00:05:40.620 --> 00:05:44.680 wheatless Wednesdays, and they had this phrase where they'd go around saying, food will win the war. 00:05:45.860 --> 00:05:49.680 So, I want you to hold that image in your head. I also want you to remember another image, 00:05:50.220 --> 00:05:57.379 not from 1941, but from 1945. In August, we had VJ Day, Victory Over Japan Day, and there's that famous 00:05:57.379 --> 00:06:03.120 image of that sailor who's kissing a woman in Times Square. And so, you have both of those images I want you 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:08.500 to hold side by side, which give us two different ways that war works. One, there's a general principle 00:06:08.500 --> 00:06:17.040 here. It's during war time that you fast and that you ration. It's when victory comes that you celebrate. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:25.300 You don't celebrate during war. You don't fast during victory. Okay, so there's an appropriate time 00:06:25.300 --> 00:06:32.660 for different actions. What's appropriate in one setting could, in fact, be shocking, scandalous, 00:06:32.939 --> 00:06:39.020 offensive, rude in another setting. And that's the principle that Jesus is applying here in this 00:06:39.020 --> 00:06:47.340 passage. In Jesus' ministry, at this time, it is inappropriate to fast. That's the story that we jump 00:06:47.340 --> 00:06:52.879 into here. John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people think they were fasting at the 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:58.519 very same moment that Jesus was feasting with Levi. And so, this might be the reason that this question 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:03.639 is coming up, that Jesus is enjoying himself at the same time that they're restricting themselves. 00:07:04.300 --> 00:07:09.319 And Jesus points out here that there's something tone-deaf, something socially inept about what 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:15.279 they're doing. That fasting is not bad. It's just bad at the wrong time. And during Jesus' ministry, 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:20.040 it's wildly inappropriate. And so, we see here in verse 18 the question, 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:26.860 Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:31.560 And Jesus gives them this answer. Well, it's the wrong time. It's not fasting time. 00:07:32.120 --> 00:07:38.680 Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:47.900 them, they cannot fast. Fasting is for mourning. Feasting is for joy. In other words, we're not in 00:07:47.899 --> 00:07:55.399 wartime right now. We're in victory time. Okay? The war is coming to an end. The disciples of John and 00:07:55.399 --> 00:08:03.299 the Pharisees are tone-deaf. They can't read the room. They can't understand and see what it is that's 00:08:03.299 --> 00:08:08.899 happening before their eyes. Of course, we know that very same thing. We're in November now. You're in the 00:08:08.899 --> 00:08:12.959 first Sunday of November. That's why we have our communion table set up. Thanksgiving is right around 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:18.639 the corner. Okay? Thanksgiving is not the time or the place for counting calories. 00:08:21.319 --> 00:08:27.459 Diets are not something for November and December. When are diets for? Diets are for January. 00:08:28.919 --> 00:08:35.600 While the holidays are here, we cannot fast. When the holidays are over, then the guests of the 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:41.579 bridegroom can fast, right? There are seasons and timings for when it's appropriate to grieve, 00:08:41.580 --> 00:08:47.000 when it's appropriate to celebrate. You ration during war, not victory. You fast when you mourn, 00:08:47.220 --> 00:08:54.320 not when you celebrate. The party is not about you. If you can't celebrate with everyone else, 00:08:54.480 --> 00:09:01.700 then don't go. Jesus is so strong here, he uses the language of cannot. As long as they have the 00:09:01.700 --> 00:09:06.000 bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. It's not even that it's a bad idea. It's that it is impossible. 00:09:06.400 --> 00:09:10.720 It's something that you should never even think about doing. Of course, we know also about things that 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:18.180 we cannot do. If you go up to a woman, you cannot ask her about her pregnancy unless she has made it 00:09:18.180 --> 00:09:23.060 clear to you that she's pregnant. Okay? It's not just a bad idea. It is something you cannot do. 00:09:24.180 --> 00:09:31.220 If you're invited to a black tie event, you cannot wear sweatpants. It's not just that it's a bad idea. 00:09:31.220 --> 00:09:37.899 It is something you cannot do. There's nothing wrong with sweatpants, by the way. Okay? Great piece of clothing. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:46.840 Just the wrong time. When do you wear sweatpants? When you're at home after the party is over. 00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:55.379 Okay? There's an appropriate time and setting and place. When do you fast, verse 20, after the bridegroom is gone? 00:09:55.379 --> 00:10:02.899 Jesus is the one here who is coming and bringing the party. Of course, fasting here in some ways is the 00:10:02.899 --> 00:10:07.500 background point. If we get obsessed with fasting, we have missed the thrust of this passage. What is 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:13.100 standing in the foreground, what Jesus is trying to tell us is that he is in fact the bridegroom. The 00:10:13.100 --> 00:10:20.179 bridegroom is present. We saw in our Old Testament reading from this morning from Isaiah chapter 62 that 00:10:20.179 --> 00:10:25.120 this image of the bridegroom is used to represent God and his relationship with his people. And it 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:31.159 appears not just in Isaiah chapter 62, it appears throughout the Old Testament as this concept and 00:10:31.159 --> 00:10:37.339 idea to explain God's attitude and disposition, his relationship with his people, that he loves them, 00:10:37.399 --> 00:10:43.879 he's committed to them, he is coming to be with them, and he rejoices over them. So if you turn back with 00:10:43.879 --> 00:10:47.839 me to page four on your worship guide, you'll see at the very end of our Old Testament reading, 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:55.060 verse five, for as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you. And as the 00:10:55.060 --> 00:11:01.660 bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. That shall is a future word. 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:06.220 God is coming, that's what's promised in the Old Testament. He's coming to be present with his 00:11:06.220 --> 00:11:12.360 people like a bridegroom with his bride, and he's going to come and rejoice over them and be with them. 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:19.759 And so the fasting here is a background point made to highlight a foreground reality, which is that 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:26.159 Jesus has finally come as the bridegroom to fulfill God's promises from the Old Testament that he would 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:30.659 be with his people. It's the words that he'd given them over and over of the covenant that I will be your 00:11:30.659 --> 00:11:39.560 God, you will be my people, I will dwell with you forever. And so anyone here who knows their Old Testament 00:11:39.559 --> 00:11:44.699 in this setting in Mark chapter two would understand what Jesus is telling them implicitly, 00:11:45.119 --> 00:11:55.799 I am not just a good teacher. I am the bridegroom who has been promised for thousands of years. 00:11:57.259 --> 00:12:04.819 I am not just a man. I am God who has come to be with his people. 00:12:04.820 --> 00:12:12.720 Something new and great and glorious is happening. You'll remember the summary of Jesus' teaching from 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:18.160 Mark chapter one in verses 14 and 15. He comes preaching repentance, and he comes preaching that 00:12:18.160 --> 00:12:25.220 the kingdom of God is here. He has come to bring in a new and entirely different reality. Something 00:12:25.220 --> 00:12:32.140 has changed about the world. There is something fundamentally different about the age that we live in now 00:12:32.139 --> 00:12:41.559 because we live in the time after Jesus' coming. In his book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, 00:12:41.659 --> 00:12:47.580 C.S. Lewis tells the story of four children who are sent to a professor's house during World War II to 00:12:47.580 --> 00:12:52.740 escape the bombing. And if you're familiar with the story, you know that they find a wardrobe that serves 00:12:52.740 --> 00:12:57.740 as an entry point into an entirely different world. And while they're there, they're fleeing from the 00:12:57.740 --> 00:13:03.060 antagonist, this evil white witch. And the children, as they're going about, they meet a variety of 00:13:03.060 --> 00:13:08.299 characters. They meet Tumnus the fawn, and they meet the beaver family. And Tumnus is the one who first 00:13:08.299 --> 00:13:15.180 tells Lucy the harsh reality of living under the spell of the white witch. He tells her the way to 00:13:15.180 --> 00:13:23.139 understand it is that it is always winter and never Christmas. Okay, it's always winter, never Christmas. 00:13:23.139 --> 00:13:27.919 So Lucy then begins to tell her siblings about that. And they go, they hang out with the beavers, 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:33.019 if you're familiar with the story, and they have to flee with the beavers from the agents of the 00:13:33.019 --> 00:13:38.199 white witch who are coming after them. However, as they flee, when we're in chapter 10, the spell 00:13:38.199 --> 00:13:46.279 begins to break. They realize something is different about the world because they hear a person nearby as 00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:51.840 they're hiding in this beaver hideout. They think it's someone who's come to hurt them, but in fact, 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:58.720 it's quite the opposite. It turns out it is Father Christmas. And so Mr. Beaver says this, 00:13:58.820 --> 00:14:05.519 didn't I tell you that she'd made it always winter and never Christmas? Didn't I tell you, well, just 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:12.960 come and see. And then they were all at the top, and they did see. Of course, they see this sled with 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:19.019 reindeer and a man who looks like Father Christmas. And he tells us, but now that the children actually 00:14:19.019 --> 00:14:24.340 stood looking at him, they didn't find it quite like that. He was so big and so glad and so real 00:14:24.340 --> 00:14:33.240 that they all became quite still. They felt very glad, but also solemn. I've come at last, said he. 00:14:33.740 --> 00:14:41.019 She has kept me out for a long time, but I have got in at last. Aslan is on the move. The witch's magic 00:14:41.019 --> 00:14:48.199 is weakening. And Lucy felt running through her that deep shiver of gladness, which you only get 00:14:48.199 --> 00:14:55.299 if you are being solemn and still. Jesus is telling these people that in the time of the Old Testament, 00:14:55.399 --> 00:15:00.460 as they were looking forward to his coming, their experience of reality spiritually was that it was 00:15:00.460 --> 00:15:07.799 always winter and never Christmas. And now that he has come, the spell of evil in the world is broken 00:15:07.799 --> 00:15:15.000 in a new way. There is something decisive that has changed in the world. It is better and greater and 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:20.879 more powerful. The powers of darkness have weakened and lessened. They are dimming now that Jesus the 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:26.559 bridegroom is here. As his people have looked and longed for God's presence with his people, it has 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:36.500 finally arrived. The moment that they have been told about for hundreds of years has come. Aslan is on the move. 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:44.039 And so they, and we like Lucy can feel running through us that deep shiver of gladness, which you only 00:15:44.039 --> 00:15:57.359 get if you are being solemn and still. The King has finally arrived. The possibility of Christmas is here. 00:15:58.199 --> 00:16:01.500 There is something new and different and decisive. 00:16:01.500 --> 00:16:08.620 And if Jesus here is quoting from the images of the Old Testament, then of course he's saying that he 00:16:08.620 --> 00:16:14.480 is also God. He is what we're about to celebrate as we begin Advent in a couple of weeks. Emmanuel, 00:16:15.139 --> 00:16:22.019 God with us. Father Christmas came because Aslan was breaking the power of evil in the world. 00:16:22.379 --> 00:16:30.480 Jesus has come with victory in the war over and against sin in this world. This is victory over Japan day. 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:37.320 This is the sign that something is new and definitive. This is not the time for ration stamps. 00:16:37.620 --> 00:16:44.680 It is the time for celebrating in Times Square. The enemy has finally come to the end of his power. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:49.800 Chapter 1 verses 14 and 15, the kingdom has arrived. 00:16:51.820 --> 00:16:58.480 And so we celebrate as well, knowing that the bridegroom has come. We know God's love in a greater 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:05.559 way than people in the Old Testament. We understand God's plan more clearly than they did. We know God's 00:17:05.559 --> 00:17:16.860 presence even more. We know what it's like for the bridegroom to have arrived. There is something new 00:17:16.859 --> 00:17:22.039 and distinct and permanent just like there is with any wedding. 00:17:24.199 --> 00:17:32.059 Jesus has come. The spell is beginning to break. Christmas is on the way. 00:17:33.639 --> 00:17:36.579 The long wait has ended. 00:17:36.579 --> 00:17:46.899 Now the title here is a question about fasting, but we expand beyond fasting. We start with fasting. 00:17:47.019 --> 00:17:52.720 We just don't end there. We expand here to something larger, more holistic, this greater point that Jesus 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:58.519 wants to make. Fasting is just one manifestation, one illustration of what Jesus is trying to teach 00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:03.259 them here about the newness of his arrival in the kingdom. He is teaching them about something bigger 00:18:03.259 --> 00:18:10.500 and broader. Jesus is making a larger point that there is something new and different in the world. 00:18:11.779 --> 00:18:19.039 And so when we talk about fasting, we're talking about celebration versus grieving, joy versus mourning. 00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:24.319 Jesus expands this though to tell us it's not just that, it's also the new versus the old. 00:18:25.660 --> 00:18:32.279 It's also the new versus the old. And so he gives us two very simple images about new things 00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:38.639 and old things not going together. First in verse 21, we have the example of clothing. We all know 00:18:38.639 --> 00:18:43.059 that when you wash clothing, especially if you put it in the dryer, it's going to shrink on you. 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:49.359 So if you have an old piece of clothing that has already shrunk, you put a new patch on it that 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:54.039 hasn't shrunk, it's going to contract, right? And it's going to pull the old clothing in with it. 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:58.819 So it's going to ruin it. In other words, the new can't mix in with the old. It will destroy it. 00:18:58.819 --> 00:19:04.419 And then he gives us an image that we're probably less familiar with, some of us, verse 22, 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:10.579 this idea of fermentation. When you ferment things, including wine, they're going to expand. 00:19:11.559 --> 00:19:17.480 This is, by the way, why people who ferment often will use mason jars, because you need glass that's 00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:23.259 strong enough to handle the internal pressure. That's why if you're brewing certain things, 00:19:23.259 --> 00:19:27.819 you'll have a pressure release on the top to make sure the air that needs to get out can get out. 00:19:28.619 --> 00:19:35.160 Things that are new and fermenting expand. And so, of course, if you put it inside something that's 00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:42.059 already been expanded, an old wineskin, it has no stretch left to it. And so it's going to be ruined. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:50.599 This clothing here, this wineskin, is telling us about the old system of Judaism. Jesus is bringing 00:19:50.599 --> 00:19:57.980 something new. The system of religion does not know. He is bringing something new that it cannot 00:19:57.980 --> 00:20:04.099 coexist with. And so this might sound really theoretical and abstract. You might think, 00:20:04.139 --> 00:20:08.619 what does it even mean that Jesus is bringing something that breaks apart Judaism? Thankfully, 00:20:08.699 --> 00:20:14.399 we've already seen many examples. New wine and old wineskins looks like lepers being touched. 00:20:16.199 --> 00:20:20.059 Remember, under the old ceremonial system, they were supposed to be outside of the city. 00:20:20.059 --> 00:20:26.440 And yet Jesus comes and he violates that. The new coming and tearing apart the old means that tax 00:20:26.440 --> 00:20:31.619 collectors are welcomed into God's kingdom. Those who were such that even if you ate with them, 00:20:31.659 --> 00:20:36.819 you would become unclean are now part of God's new community, the one that Jesus is calling to himself. 00:20:37.299 --> 00:20:43.399 The paralytics are healed. Demons are cast out. Jesus is coming and doing something new. The old system 00:20:43.399 --> 00:20:49.399 in the Old Testament was meant to emphasize God's purity and his holiness, that we are outside of him 00:20:49.400 --> 00:20:55.800 and cannot come into him without a sacrifice. And so they had all these rules about cleanliness and mold and lepers. 00:20:56.280 --> 00:21:03.220 They had all these sacrifices and systems in the temple. Jesus comes with a new and better system that cannot coexist 00:21:03.220 --> 00:21:09.080 with those things because he comes and brings the cleanliness and the purity they were meant to point to. 00:21:09.079 --> 00:21:16.819 There is no need to cast lepers outside the camp anymore because what that represented, 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:22.359 our distance from God because of our sin has been healed and restored in Jesus Christ. 00:21:23.500 --> 00:21:27.500 And so the old system cannot hold anymore. 00:21:28.500 --> 00:21:31.299 The old distinctions lose their weight and their importance. 00:21:31.299 --> 00:21:36.099 The ceremonial law is done away with. There is no need for sacrifices anymore. 00:21:36.700 --> 00:21:40.619 Lepers who were socially isolated and separated, part of the Old Testament prescription, 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:47.019 are now brought in near and close to God because he is able to be with and near and within sinners 00:21:47.019 --> 00:21:52.819 and sinful people because Jesus is the one who has come and taken on their lack of cleanliness, 00:21:52.919 --> 00:21:54.379 their dirtiness for them. 00:21:54.380 --> 00:22:01.160 There is a new system that cannot coexist with the old anymore. 00:22:02.660 --> 00:22:06.280 The Old Testament was meant to teach people about the seriousness of sin, 00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:08.560 the need for God to cleanse them. 00:22:09.120 --> 00:22:13.780 Now the bridegroom has come to accomplish and do that cleansing. 00:22:15.320 --> 00:22:18.920 The Old Testament taught us about the holiness and purity of God. 00:22:19.380 --> 00:22:23.460 Jesus has come to teach us about the love and sacrifice of God. 00:22:23.460 --> 00:22:26.819 It is no longer separation but inclusion. 00:22:28.519 --> 00:22:33.480 You cannot mix new wine with old wineskins. 00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:41.180 Later on in Jesus' ministry, the temple curtain is going to be torn in half from top to bottom 00:22:41.180 --> 00:22:46.240 because the Holy of Holies is no longer needed. 00:22:46.360 --> 00:22:49.220 The old system's time has passed. 00:22:49.220 --> 00:22:54.100 And so Jesus challenges the very foundations of Judaism. 00:22:54.339 --> 00:22:59.579 He is tearing apart the current system that cannot hold together anymore. 00:22:59.579 --> 00:23:08.079 For us as people who live 2,000 years later after Jesus made this pronouncement, 00:23:08.179 --> 00:23:12.539 we still have joy and freedom that is there for us in Christ. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:15.339 We still celebrate the bridegroom. 00:23:16.139 --> 00:23:21.039 We know God's presence in a way that people in the Old Testament did not. 00:23:21.159 --> 00:23:26.259 We are able to see and know and understand, experience joy in God's work for us 00:23:26.259 --> 00:23:27.879 that they were not able to have. 00:23:27.879 --> 00:23:34.000 We have clarity about God's plan and purpose of redemption in this world that they did not have. 00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:37.539 We live in the era where Christmas is here. 00:23:38.859 --> 00:23:43.299 We can no longer say always winter but never Christmas. 00:23:44.359 --> 00:23:47.900 That was the watchword of the time before Christ. 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:53.619 Now after Christ, the new is so powerful and fresh it cannot coexist along with the old. 00:23:53.619 --> 00:23:59.359 The new is so powerful and fresh that we are able to see Jesus' work for us, 00:23:59.699 --> 00:24:02.479 understand how he is reaching all around the world, 00:24:02.599 --> 00:24:06.099 bringing people not just from in Judaism but from without Judaism. 00:24:06.339 --> 00:24:09.119 He is touching things no one else would touch. 00:24:09.199 --> 00:24:11.559 He is including those who no one else would include. 00:24:11.719 --> 00:24:16.319 He is saving people we would not save, touching people we would not touch. 00:24:17.059 --> 00:24:21.119 We live now at the beginning of a new and better age. 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:24.639 And so just like the Pevensey children in Narnia, 00:24:24.819 --> 00:24:29.899 seeing Father Christmas as the first sign that the power of evil is breaking, 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:33.779 we live having seen that sign as well. 00:24:34.939 --> 00:24:39.699 We know whatever snow there is of darkness in this world, 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:44.659 it is melting now and it will fully and finally melt one day. 00:24:44.660 --> 00:24:51.279 There is nothing and no one that can stop the advance of God's kingdom in this world 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:54.740 and we have more confidence of this than anyone else. 00:24:56.080 --> 00:24:59.980 It has been always winter and never Christmas in the past 00:24:59.980 --> 00:25:04.019 and that is not now and it will never be again. 00:25:05.700 --> 00:25:09.000 Jesus replaces the old with the new. 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:15.440 The world is decisively, definitively better now for us 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:17.720 after Jesus coming to this world. 00:25:17.819 --> 00:25:21.119 That is part of what we praise him for when we come to worship, 00:25:21.420 --> 00:25:24.400 that we get to live in this age. 00:25:25.859 --> 00:25:30.660 We get to live knowing the new wine and the new cloth. 00:25:30.660 --> 00:25:36.980 We get to live knowing the presence of the bridegroom. 00:25:38.620 --> 00:25:44.060 Jesus has come with victory over the war over sin. 00:25:46.320 --> 00:25:50.120 Now Jesus tells us they're going to feast now, 00:25:51.120 --> 00:25:55.360 but verse 20, he warns them of a day of fasting. 00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:59.759 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:02.939 and then they will fast on that day. 00:26:04.619 --> 00:26:09.500 Now days here, plural, many people think this is talking about the future church age 00:26:09.500 --> 00:26:12.199 when Jesus is no longer physically present with us. 00:26:12.439 --> 00:26:18.599 What we can say is Jesus' most immediate going away is going to be his death. 00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:23.119 In other words, they have him with them now. 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:26.039 There will come a time when they will grieve for him. 00:26:27.579 --> 00:26:32.740 There will come a time when Jesus dies on the cross and he is in the tomb. 00:26:33.719 --> 00:26:39.779 There will come a time when they wait and wonder to see what is going to happen. 00:26:41.219 --> 00:26:46.500 There will be a time when the bridegroom is taken away and they can mourn. 00:26:46.500 --> 00:26:48.880 There might be a wedding now. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:51.799 There will be a funeral later. 00:26:54.339 --> 00:26:58.980 And we know how that funeral ends. 00:27:00.460 --> 00:27:06.200 We know that the bridegroom is raised again from the dead on the third day. 00:27:06.519 --> 00:27:11.180 We know that the power of evil does not hold him down. 00:27:11.180 --> 00:27:16.740 We know even more than those Jesus is teaching in this passage 00:27:16.740 --> 00:27:22.180 how fully and definitively he has conquered sin and death forever. 00:27:23.580 --> 00:27:27.400 And so we, even more than them, are able to celebrate and see 00:27:27.400 --> 00:27:31.720 the bridegroom in his joy and glory and his presence with us. 00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:34.880 That he, as we're told in Isaiah 62, verse 5, 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:37.200 he rejoices over us. 00:27:37.260 --> 00:27:41.620 He rejoices over you, his church, here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian. 00:27:43.360 --> 00:27:44.640 And so Jesus dies. 00:27:44.760 --> 00:27:46.980 He gives up his life for the feast. 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:51.020 He's able to enable the time of celebration 00:27:51.020 --> 00:27:54.120 because the time of mourning doesn't last forever. 00:27:54.119 --> 00:27:58.859 It ends with him rising again from the dead. 00:27:58.919 --> 00:28:03.119 It ends with that power that shows us that death in this world 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:06.399 will have its full and final funeral. 00:28:08.659 --> 00:28:12.199 One day, death will sing its last song. 00:28:14.099 --> 00:28:17.219 And so Jesus will die for this very feast that he brings, 00:28:17.299 --> 00:28:18.859 the feast with the bridegroom. 00:28:18.859 --> 00:28:27.859 About 15 or 20 years ago, there was an episode, 00:28:29.319 --> 00:28:31.779 late night TV, that featured Ron Patrick. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:35.939 Ron was a Stanford University mechanical engineer. 00:28:37.139 --> 00:28:39.259 And Ron decided he wanted to take on a project 00:28:39.259 --> 00:28:41.519 that no one else had taken on before, 00:28:41.639 --> 00:28:43.459 and that was to put a jet engine inside a car. 00:28:45.399 --> 00:28:47.699 And so Ron chose the perfect car for that. 00:28:47.700 --> 00:28:50.740 It's exactly what you'd want to put a jet engine into. 00:28:50.840 --> 00:28:52.180 He chose a Volkswagen Beetle. 00:28:53.299 --> 00:28:56.259 And so he took this huge, sturdy Beetle, 00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:58.779 you know, with this truck chassis, as all Beetles have, 00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:02.220 and he attached this jet engine onto the back. 00:29:02.299 --> 00:29:03.440 So you can find pictures of this online. 00:29:03.539 --> 00:29:04.220 It's sticking out. 00:29:04.680 --> 00:29:05.799 So you have a Volkswagen Beetle 00:29:05.799 --> 00:29:07.600 and then just a jet engine sticking out of the back. 00:29:08.740 --> 00:29:10.400 There's only one problem with the car, 00:29:11.140 --> 00:29:12.900 and that's starting it. 00:29:13.140 --> 00:29:15.660 The jet engine goes over 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit. 00:29:17.700 --> 00:29:20.140 Which is hot enough to destroy the car itself, right? 00:29:21.360 --> 00:29:24.840 And so Ron Patrick has never tried to see 00:29:24.840 --> 00:29:26.259 how fast this car can go. 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:28.200 He says when he takes it on the highway, 00:29:28.299 --> 00:29:30.200 he just sets it to 140 and keeps it there. 00:29:31.580 --> 00:29:34.500 And he can't start it more than three times per hour 00:29:34.500 --> 00:29:37.120 because the heat is so great 00:29:37.120 --> 00:29:38.140 that if he did it more than that, 00:29:38.180 --> 00:29:39.539 it would destroy the car itself. 00:29:39.539 --> 00:29:42.539 At risk of stating the obvious, 00:29:43.059 --> 00:29:44.700 jet engines are meant for planes. 00:29:45.879 --> 00:29:48.559 They are not meant for cars. 00:29:49.500 --> 00:29:51.500 What Jesus is telling us in this passage 00:29:51.500 --> 00:29:55.559 is that he has brought a 1,350 horsepower engine. 00:29:55.859 --> 00:29:57.299 That's the power of the jet engine. 00:29:58.180 --> 00:30:00.779 He's brought it into a 90 horsepower world. 00:30:00.879 --> 00:30:02.500 That's the power of the Volkswagen Beetle. 00:30:02.500 --> 00:30:06.960 Of course the world cannot handle 00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:10.519 and sustain the power of his energy and victory. 00:30:10.700 --> 00:30:13.119 Of course we need something new. 00:30:13.519 --> 00:30:15.779 We need not a car for a jet engine. 00:30:15.980 --> 00:30:18.660 We need a full jet able to fly 00:30:18.660 --> 00:30:19.700 and take us to places 00:30:19.700 --> 00:30:22.940 that people would have dreamed only of in the past, right? 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:26.160 Jesus brings something more great 00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:28.339 and more powerful than we could even imagine. 00:30:28.339 --> 00:30:32.059 He brings his jet engine into a Volkswagen world. 00:30:33.299 --> 00:30:36.880 He comes with something exponentially more powerful 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:39.740 than we've seen or known or experienced. 00:30:40.920 --> 00:30:42.420 And so what do we do with that? 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:43.599 We celebrate him. 00:30:44.359 --> 00:30:45.920 We rejoice in him 00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:48.259 because he is the bridegroom 00:30:48.259 --> 00:30:51.359 who has finally come to be with us. 00:30:52.140 --> 00:30:54.900 He has brought something greater and more powerful, 00:30:55.460 --> 00:30:57.279 something more glorious and wonderful 00:30:57.279 --> 00:30:59.519 than we could ever imagine. 00:31:00.599 --> 00:31:02.220 He's the bridegroom who's come. 00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:03.680 To be with his people. 00:31:04.200 --> 00:31:04.660 Let's pray. 00:31:06.839 --> 00:31:07.880 Our Father in heaven, 00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:09.279 we thank you 00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:15.180 that you exceed our greatest and wildest imaginations. 00:31:15.640 --> 00:31:17.180 That the gospel is more powerful 00:31:17.180 --> 00:31:19.539 than we could realize or hope, 00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:23.140 powerful enough to end death itself. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:27.660 We ask that you would work that truth deep into our hearts, 00:31:27.720 --> 00:31:30.019 that we would able to praise you and rejoice in you 00:31:30.019 --> 00:31:32.440 more and more as we live life in this world 00:31:32.440 --> 00:31:35.420 knowing that no matter what our circumstances are, 00:31:35.960 --> 00:31:37.299 they do not have the final word, 00:31:37.559 --> 00:31:38.019 but you do. 00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:41.200 We ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. 00:31:41.660 --> 00:31:41.900 Amen. 00:31:41.900 --> 00:31:42.060 Amen.