EXPOSING THE OLD WINE SKIN OF RELIGION

TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE NEW WINE SKIN OF THE SPIRIT

 

TEXT: Luke 5:27-39 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. 29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" 31 Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." 33 They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking." 34 Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast." 36 He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.'" 

 

INTRODUCTION: 

 

One of the biggest obstacles to the coming move of the Spirit is the Church! More specifically, the “religious traditionalist” in the Church. There is nothing wrong with the traditions that have been passed down in the Church through the generations that have preceded us. As a matter of fact, solid church traditions, based on the Word of God, are a blessing. For example, our structure of worshipping God through hymns and spiritual songs at the beginning of our gatherings prepares the atmosphere, as well as our hearts, to receive the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The receiving of communion on a regular basis reminds us of the sacrifice of Jesus as our only source of salvation and hope beyond this life. I could go on, but the point I want to make here is that traditions that have been passed down to us as the church can be good in our worship and service to God. However, on the other hand, traditions in the Church can also be a religious hindrance to the new move of the Holy Spirit that the Lord desires to bring. The Church can become so fixed on how it has always been done that there is no openness to the new thing that God wants to do! The spirit of the “Pharisee” is still in the Church today! And it must be dealt with if the Church is to experience the new wine of the Spiritthat Father God desires to pour out! 

 

Therefore, our message to you today is to expose the old wine skin of religion to make room for the new wine of the Spirit. Let’s pray. 

 

I. The religious problem with old wine skins. 

 

The Pharisees, a major religious sect in Israel, were considered to be the conservatives of the Jewish faith. But in their zeal, they created new laws or traditions that were not part of the written word of God. For example, they created their own traditions that required the Jews to fast twice a week. Not only that, but in their drive to be “righteous,” they taught that following this tradition of fasting would make that person righteous in God’s eyes, even though God never said that. The Pharisees, in their zeal to be righteous before God, became ultra-legalists. And they forced their religious legalism on the people of God—a legalism that God never intended. Jesus referred to these legalistic traditions as heavy burdens that weighed the people down.

 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with fasting. It can be a blessing. But true biblical fasting is not a religious exercise that God requires if we are to be righteous before Him. Fasting should be something we do in obedience to the Holy Spirit. Its purpose is to get closer to God. It is a way to eliminate distractions so that we might better hear His Voice. It’s about relationship and not religion.

 

The point I want to make here is that legalism cannot prepare us for the coming move of the Holy Spirit. God is not going to pour out His Spirit on a legalistic Church that “checks all of the boxes of religious duty.” As a matter of fact, revival will completely bypass churches who are religious but do not have a genuine relationship with God. Religious legalism makes us proud of what we are doing and what we can do. But the scripture says that God resists the proud. The Spirit of God will not be poured out on those who think that they deserve it. Rather it will come to those who know that they could never deserve it! 

 

Just as God would never pour out His Spirit on a church who believes that grace gives them the right to live however they want to, so too He will never pour out His Spirit on those who believe that their religious righteousness makes them good enough is His sight. 

 

II. Another problem with old wine skins is holding onto “it’s never been done that way before.”

 

When the Toronto outpouring of the Spirit, known as the Father’s blessing, and the Pentecostal fire of the Brownsville revival happened back in the mid 1990’s, many “Pentecostal churches,” churches that are known for their love of the Holy Spirit,completely missed it! Why? How? Because it did not come in the way that they believed it would come! God did not do it like He had done it in the past. I personally talked to Pentecostal pastors who were offended by the laughter that would simultaneously break out in the revival services. Never mind the fact that “a merry heart doeth good like a medicine!” There was one prominent Pentecostal minister who spoke against the Toronto Outpouring and urged people to stay away from it!

 

I had a pastor call me during the Brownsville revival and told me that several of his members had gone to the revival and had come back to his churchwith unusual manifestations, manifestations that they hadn’t seen before. He asked my advice. I told him that he ought to go to the revival and find out for himself what his members had gotten into. He didn’t receive my counsel and rather quickly ended our conversation! 

 

I will admit that when I went to the Brownsville revival, there were things that I didn’t understand. There were things happening there that didn’t happen in the Huffman Assembly revival that I was part of back in the 70’s. For example, I had an initial struggle with being prayed for and then finding myself on the floor under the power of the Spirit! I went to a Pentecostal college and a Pentecostal graduate school that did not prepare me for what the Spirit was doing in Toronto and in Brownsville. But by the grace of God, I opened myself up to the new thing that the Spirit was doing, and we as a Church also embraced the new move of the Holy Spirit. I am so glad that we did. It altered the DNA of our Church as the Holy Spirit deposited in us both the spirit of intercession as well as the spirit of the prophetic. And I believe that those two things, intercession and the prophetic, are a very important in preparing us for the next move of the Holy Spirit. 

 

The point here is that a big part of being prepared as the new wine skin for the next move of God is to be free from the old wine skin of, “it wasn’t done that way before.”

 

And that brings me to the final point I want to make in this message. 

 

III. The third problem with the old wine skin of religion is that it’s “better” than becoming a new wine skin of the Spirit. 

 

Look at what Jesus said in verse 39. “And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.'"

 

The issue here is not the wine itself, but the person drinking the wine. It’s so much easier to just continue in the old ways of religion. The reason why is because we get so comfortable in religion. In religion we feel like we are in control, but in revival God is in control. So, there are many in the Church who say, “the old is better.” 

 

Back in the early 90’s, when the Lord began preparing this Church for a move of the Holy Spirit, a move that would continue for almost a decade, something had begun to happen on Sunday mornings. The Spirit was coming down during the worship. Consequently, the services began to go longer. As a result, I had some of those who were in positions of authority at the time come to me and tell me that what was happening wasn’t going to work. They told me that the worship was to only go so long and no longer. This at first shocked me. Why wouldn’t anyone who is a believer, especially a Pentecostal believer, not want to experience more of the Presence of the Holy Spirit in our services. Wasn’t that a big reason why we were meeting together as believers? I believed so, but not those who were in positions of leadership at the time. They told me, in no uncertain terms, that the worship was to be only 15 minutes so that we could be out of church by 10 minutes until 12! 

 

As a young pastor, I had a decision to make. Either obey God or men. I chose to obey God. I asked Brother Tommy to continue leading in worship for as long as the Spirit was leading, no matter how long that was!

 

He did, and at the next annual business meeting we had, those leaders who had given me the ultimatumto shorten the services called for a vote on whether I should remain as pastor. 

 

I will not get into details about that businessmeeting, and the politicking that went on behind the scenes in an effort to remove me as pastor, but I will tell you that the will of God prevailed. I obviously remained as Pastor, and our church experienced an amazing revival for years that touched hundreds of lives through the Presence of the Holy Spirit! 

 

It wasn’t that “the old was better,” but it was those who liked religion better than they liked the Presence of the Holy Spirit. Again why? because in religion they were in control, but in revival the Holy Spirit was in control! 

 

I remember hearing John Kilpatrick say that leading up to the Brownsville revival, 42 families left their church! Why? because it was easier to have the old wine skin of religion rather than to pay the price of becoming the wine skin of the Spirit. 

 

And that is where we are today as we stand at the door of another outpouring of the Holy Spirit! There are those in the church who prefer the old wine skin of religion. To them it is “better.” And they will have what they desire. A religion where they are in control and not the Holy Spirit; a lifestyle where serving God and building the Kingdom really has no room. For them, this is the better wine. The old for them is better. Consequently, they will not be a part of the new wine skin that the Spirit is preparing to receive the new wine of the Spirit. 

 

This is just the simple truth. It’s the way it is and has always been.

 

On the other hand, there is a remnant church that is being prepared for the new wine of the Spirit that will soon be poured out. This remnant Church is made up of those who are hungry for the Presence of God, regardless of the cost! 

 

This new wine skin that is being prepared are those who have no room for dead religion that has only the form of godliness but denies the power thereof! 

 

And as in the other messages I have preached, there is only one question that must be answered: where are you? Are you one that says the old is better? I prefer religion over relationship. I choose to remain in control. I am not willing to surrender fully to the Holy Spirit. I am unwilling to do what it takes to be part of the new wine skin that God is preparing for the coming revival. 

 

Or are you one that says, God, whatever it takes to have Your manifest Presence in my life and in our Church, I am willing. Prepare me Lord. I choose to be part of that new wine skin that is being made ready for the coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 

 

ALTAR

 

Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy tried and true. With thanksgiving I’ll be a living sanctuary for You!