New Wine Skins

Today I heard a message from one of the leading men in America, Dutch Sheets.  If you have never read any of his books, you've got to check one out. It doesn't matter which one you read.  They're all good!  But he was speaking today about the parable of the wineskin.    You''ll find the parable in Luke 5:33-39.  Jesus said youcan't put new wine into old wineskins.  To understand what Jesus was saying, we first have to look at why He said it.  Jesus was responding to a question the Pharisees asked.  "Why do your disciples eat and drink all the time?" Verse 33 says the Pharisees fasted often.

What they were really saying is, "We are more spiritual than your disciples because we fast and they don't."  That's when Jesus called them an old wineskin. He said you put new wine into new wineskins. (and thus insinuated the Pharisees wine was old) What he was saying is that you can't put fresh revelation into old thinking.

As I get older, the danger of becoming a dried out old wineskin increases.  But you don't have to be old to be an old wineskin.  In the New Testament,  wine is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.  New wine was fresh revelation and the old wineskins (the Pharisees) could not accept this new revelation. They rejected Jesus as the Messiah even though he fulfilled many prophecies.  The Pharisees could not accept Him because they were set in their ways. And please hear me.  You do not have to be old to be set in your ways.  I've seen toddlers and teenagers who are set in their ways!  That's because it is so easy to do.

We are all creatures of habit and we fall into habits much sooner that we realize.  Once those habits take hold, we become set in our ways. Even if you come to church every Sunday, the repetition of doing the same things for several weeks can turn new wine into old wine pretty quickly. Have you ever heard a worship song that moved you to tears?  What happened after the 50th time you heard or sand it.  You're no longer moved.  It has become "old wine."  Is the song the same?  Are the lyrics the same?  Is the melody the same?  Yes!  So what has changed?  You have!

In our walk with God, church attendance, bible reading, prayer, they can all become old, lifeless wine. So how do you keep things fresh?  You have to purposefully seek out fresh revelation. You have to seek new wine.  New ways to worship God.  New insights in the word. I don't care how many times you read the bible, there is always fresh revelation.  You just have to dig a little deeper. So let me give you a little assignment.  Read Psalm 23.  You might have read it 100 times but read it and ask the Holy Spirit to give you fresh revelation. If you do, I know the Holy Spirit will show you something deeper. So as you read the Word during the fast, ask God for fresh wine from some old familiar passages.  You will be surprised what happens!