The Parables of Jesus – The New and the Old Garment.
(Read Matthew 9:16-17 & Mark 2:21-22)
2 Corinthians 5:17 says,”Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Every born again Christian has two phases in his life – phase 1 : before being born again, phase 2: after being born again. In the short parable told by Lord Jesus Christ he talks about new and old garments as well as wine bottles.
Before knowing that we have a way to be redeemed from our bondage of sin, we continued in that bondage, helpless and vexed with our own sinful deeds. Even we were not happy with our lives. On one appointed day, the Holy Spirit has worked in us and reproved us of our sins ,and of righteousness, and of judgement.( Read John 16:8), and has enabled us to accept the prepared salvation. From that very moment as said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, we became a new creature in Christ, old things are passed away.
This is a replacement but not a modification.When you accept the Lord Jesus Christ, he will give you a new nature, he will not mend the old one. From that point of time, God sees you as a new creature, as a newborn baby. but not as a sinner.That is God’s nature to forget the past of a person and concentrate on his present.
Through this parable we learn that we are like the new cloth and the new wine after being born again. It is true that we do not use new cloth to mend the old one and in the same way we do not store new wine in old bottle. This clearly tells us that a new thing has nothing to do with the old.
After we become a new creature in Christ we have nothing to do with the old one. The main trouble faced by a new born again believer is that they are constantly reminded of their past. The Lord Jesus Christ says that he will never remember our sins once he forgives us as mentioned in Hebrews 8:12. Then who is it that reminds us our past sins?
It is the wicked one i.e. Satan. His job is to make us feel guilty for what is already forgiven, to tempt us and to attain his ultimate aim i.e. to take us far from the Lord. He reminds us our mistakes, shows them to us in a magnifying glass that we either start to hate ourselves or we yield to those temptations.
One thing that can happen if you give way to Satan to do his work in your life is he will remind you of your past filthy luxuries. If you get tempted, you will start comparing your past life with the present. You may find the old life more attractive and thereby backslide. In the parable we see clearly that we can not fit a new life into the old one. But we try to do it and thereby place our lives in risk.
For example, the Israelites were delivered physically from Egypt, but mentally they had the residue of Egypt in them . This made their journey long and difficult to the promised land, which they could have actually reached in days. God had to take them through tough trials only to remove Egypt completely from them.
Once you are born again you are sealed for eternity. No one can take you away from Lord’s hands. However, when you yield to the past life then God uses strict methods to correct you and to make you realize your mistakes.
Second thing that can happen when you are reminded of your sins is you can remain still, motionless in your spiritual life. We get stagnated in our new journey by thinking that we do not deserve to be called the Child of God. It is true that we are unworthy and undeserving, but we are made worthy and deserving through the sacrifice of Lord Jesus Christ.
In few companies when an employee loses his life that job is given to his educated children by the authorities out of mercy. The child does not go through the same process that the father went through. He is clearly not worthy for that position but he was made worthy by the authorities. People might blame him or mock him by showing how undeserving he is, but would he stop? If he stops, then he is insulting the person’s mercy towards him. So he would continue in his job by learning to work at his every step, ignoring all public talk.
This is what we as God’s children need to do. Satan reminds us how unworthy and undeserving we are. We should not give our ear to him and stop our journey but we need to look at our Lord Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross of Calvary and march forward. We are his children and he will teach us how to walk in his path.
Dear friend, do not backslide from your spiritual walk and do not stay stagnated in your spiritual walk at the cost of eternity. You are a new creature, forget the past.
