NEW WINE IN A NEW WINESKIN (PART I)

NEW WINE IN A NEW WINESKIN (PART I)

It is palpably clear that we are already in a new year. Stepping into the New Year without a doubt was made possible by the Mercies of God over our lives. God’s readiness this year is to release new-wine (freshness, fragrance, newness, anointing and Himself) through the power of the Holy Spirit in and upon vessels that are ready and available for His use.

Can you just picture a groom putting on old worn and tattered cloth after taking his bath in preparation to go to his bride’s Church where his wedding knot is expected to be tied! It will be an abnormal way to dress on such a red-letter-day. I will also take as read that it will be highly improper and unacceptable if you went to a restaurant and you were served both water and food in an unwashed (dirty) cup and plate. You will immediately reject flaringly what was served to you. This is just to make you consciously aware that unless a life is washed by the blood of the Lamb, it is practically impossible for the Lamb (Jesus Christ) to find an abode in such a life; it points that Jesus Christ cannot dwell in an unwashed life.

I have observed over the years an aphorism that is usually upheld by so many people no sooner than they step into New Year’s. The aphorism goes thus: “New Year, New Life”. This aphorism is believed that ‘every New Year, one is expected to have a New Year resolution to stop a sinful habit(s) or behavior(s) that is expected to turn one into a new life.’ The question I have against this aphorism is: ‘is it every New Year that one must come into a new life in Christ (being born again)?’ You will agree with me that the answer is No. The reason is because it is not covered in the scriptures. Jesus didn’t die once for us so that every year we should be getting born-again. Just as one cannot be born twice by his mother, so can one scripturally speaking not be born-again again. I have seen many people being bond/yoked again few weeks after the New Year despite their New Year resolutions to stop an addiction and sinful habits in their lives. They just try to put in new ideas into an old vessel (Old Life) in order for them to live by the new and living way consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His (Jesus) flesh. Realistically, the aphorism of ‘New Year, New Life’ strengthens a man to continually being trapped in sin and sinful habits. The more you uphold the view of “new year new life”, the more you may still live in perpetual sin. God has not called us unto “new-year, new-life”, even though New Year could be an opportunity for a man to enter into a new life in Christ Jesus. Having a mindset to stop a deliberate sin and/or an addiction just because you have made a resolution in a new year may not guarantee your deliverance from sin. Ideally, you cannot be saved by a mere resolution that is not even backed by the power of the Holy Ghost, but by having faith in Jesus Christ. For the number of years you have been making resolutions to be delivered from a sinful habit and an addiction, have you been totally delivered? You should know the answer better than I do. On this milieu, I can infer that the aphorism New Year, New Life is a strategy from the pit of hell to still trap people in their sins. It is a strategy to cage us from being a new wineskin that the new wine should settle in and upon.

It would be a waste of resources to pour a new wine into an old wineskin. The bible confirms this truism when it says, “Don't waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don't throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.” (Matthew 7:6, NLT). It will be a waste of effort therefore to desire to live a life of Christ this New Year by your human effort. In the book of Mark 2:21-22, KJV the bible says that “No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. 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.” This above quoted verse was a response by Jesus in continuation to the question posed by the scribes and Pharisees about why their disciples and that of John fast but his (Jesus’) disciples don’t. The response Jesus gave was to address a matter beyond that of fasting in its superficial nature. He was first trying to point the fact that until a man is saved, he is yet unclean. He was also pointing to the fact that He can only reside in the lives of those who would humbly accept to have their hearts cleansed by him. This reality can only happen when a man humbly comes before God in sincere penitence to be washed by the blood of Jesus. It is fallacious to claimed to be cleansed in the inside by taking the position of been cleaned when infact you are not cleansed. It is nothing but the life of Pharisees and scribes you are living, if you often defend your emptiness, unrighteousness and sinful habits with certain scriptures you have wrongly interpreted for defense. In reality, Jesus will only find expression in a life that he has found a dwelling place. The question “…How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?’ by the scribes and Pharisees when they saw him (Jesus) eat with publicans and sinners” (Mark 2:16, KJV) pre-supposes that they are righteous and without sin. Hence, Jesus should be eating with them and not with the publicans and sinners. Jesus’ further response to the scribes and Pharisees question on fasting showed that he came for the sinners and not for the righteous. It also showed that only those who acknowledge that they are sinners receive repentance, as against those who claim that they are already saved. The bible says in Mark 2:17 (NLT) “When Jesus heard this, he told them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor-sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” Taking the position of been cleansed by the blood of Jesus when you are not is nothing but Phariseeism.      

Understanding the new wine and new wineskin.

In a real sense, when wine is new, it is a state of fermentation. It bubbles and expands as the fermented gases are released. A fresh, pliable wineskin can absorb such expansion and slowly age with the wine until the fermentation process is complete. To put fresh wine into an old wineskin, however, is asking for trouble. The old wineskin has assumed a definite shape and is no longer pliable. It is fixed and somewhat brittle. They activity of new wine will stress it beyond its ability to yield. And so both the wine and the skin are lost. It shows that a man is prone to live in continuous trouble and error if he has no understanding of the new wine and new wineskin. As established earlier, we saw that many people who made resolutions upon resolutions every New Year to live a changed life from sin and sinful habits hardly enter into the reality of that new life in Christ. We also saw that people who desire new results and changes, but don’t want to sincerely change their old behavior and lifestyle might not have their lives changed anew. You can hardly get new things until your methodology and mindset for change is changed. You cannot live the new-life of Christ until you are born-anew. It is therefore a DELUSION for you to live above sin and sinful habits this year 2019 by just a mere New Year resolution that is not even backed by the power of the Holy Ghost. The dictum of NEW YEAR, NEW RESOLUTION’ in order to live a NEW LIFE is nothing but an ILLUSION if it is NOT BACKED by the POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST.

Expect more on The Wine Skin, and how the new wine settles in and upon a new wineskin in “New Wine in a New Wine Skin (Part II)”. Keep Expectant!!! 

Happy New Year!!! Happy First Sunday!!! (Written by Samson O. Daniel)