Mark 2:22 KJV
And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.
Gill says the old bottles are representative of the Pharisees who had asked Him why His disciples did not fast. Wine is sometimes used to speak of the Holy Spirit.
At least one application would be that the truth of God's Word and the work of the Holy Spirit must be in someone who is born again. It does no good to reform a person from without. Changing a person's lifestyle, coercing him to reform his activities and habits, all of those things will only backfire if the person is not made a new creature first.
Perhaps the reason so many have ill feelings toward the faith today is for this very fact. Christianity, in order to force growth in the faith, has taken on a tactic of reformation rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to do a work of regeneration. We have learned to build the church using sales tactics and people management skills; we have marketed the faith as a means to solve perceived problems, and sometimes we have done it without the work of the Holy Spirit in the souls of men. Our work has left people feeling empty, but now without the hope of Christ. They falsely believe they have experienced the faith and it did them no good. The tragedy is that they never knew the Lord. That is a work only God can do in them. consequently, the bottle of their life has been burst and the wine of hope in Christ has been spilt.
Just some thoughts.
And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.
Gill says the old bottles are representative of the Pharisees who had asked Him why His disciples did not fast. Wine is sometimes used to speak of the Holy Spirit.
At least one application would be that the truth of God's Word and the work of the Holy Spirit must be in someone who is born again. It does no good to reform a person from without. Changing a person's lifestyle, coercing him to reform his activities and habits, all of those things will only backfire if the person is not made a new creature first.
Perhaps the reason so many have ill feelings toward the faith today is for this very fact. Christianity, in order to force growth in the faith, has taken on a tactic of reformation rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to do a work of regeneration. We have learned to build the church using sales tactics and people management skills; we have marketed the faith as a means to solve perceived problems, and sometimes we have done it without the work of the Holy Spirit in the souls of men. Our work has left people feeling empty, but now without the hope of Christ. They falsely believe they have experienced the faith and it did them no good. The tragedy is that they never knew the Lord. That is a work only God can do in them. consequently, the bottle of their life has been burst and the wine of hope in Christ has been spilt.
Just some thoughts.
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