Christ, The Only Way

Introduction

Good evening Students! It is great to back with y’all this week. We will continue in our series through Mark, so open up with me to Mark 2:18-22. Our topic tonight will be One Gospel or the Exclusivity of the Gospel. However, before we get to tonight’s message, let’s recap what we have learned from last week. Last week, Jesus was continuing to teach, and He called someone to be His disciple. Who did He call? Levi. After He called Levi to follow Him, where did Jesus go? Levi’s home. What does that teach us as Christians? We should reach out to others no matter what their background is.

This week, our focus is going to be on Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation. In our modern culture, we live in a time that is mark by relativism. Relativism is the believe that all things are relative. In other words, our culture believes that everyone is correct in what they believe. For instance, someone could say that the sky is purple and that would be considered true. This has even seeped into the religious realm. People have begun to say things like all religions led to God. There are five major world religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. However, not all religions lead to God. Only faith in Jesus Christ leads to right relationship and eternity with God. Also, Christianity is not merely a religion it is a relationship. We do not follow laws to be made right with God. We place our faith in Jesus to be made right before God.

With that being said, let’s take a look at

Mark 2:18–22 ESV

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

Pray.

Remember, Jesus has just left Levi’s house, the tax collector turned Christian. While at Levi’s house, Jesus and His disciples had been feasting. Now, Jesus is questioned about fasting.

The Christian has joy in Christ.

Look back with me and lets focus in on verses 18-20.

Mark 2:18 ESV

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting during this time which was a religious practice. Oftentimes, Jews would fast in an effort to spend more time devoted to God. Or, at least that was the purpose of fasting. Fasting was performed to reflect a person who was mourning. Within Judaism, the Pharisees were continuing to seek to flaunt their self-righteousness through multiple fasts a week. For instance, the religious leaders would fast on Monday and Thursdays each week. What this means is that they would give up eating on those days.

However, in the OT, there was one day a year that was reserved for fasting. That day was the Day of Atonement. On the Day of Atonement the Jews would fast as they remembered and sought forgiveness of their sins. This again shows the external self-righteousness of the Pharisees. These men wanted others to see their observance of the law. Moreover, the Pharisees had gone further than what the Mosaic Law required. They were fasting two times a week. This was a manmade custom established by the Pharisees. Any Jew who did not follow this custom was called out or shamed and regarded as less holy or righteous.

Because of this, the Pharisees and John’s disciples call out Jesus and His disciples for their lack of observance to this manmade law. Remember, Jesus and His disciples had just finished feasting with Levi and his band of sinners. While Jesus and His disciples were feasting, the religious leaders were fasting. So, the religious leaders call Jesus out. The religious leaders were highly upset that Jesus and His disciples were not following this manmade law. This again reveals the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the Mosaic law only called for one day of fasting which was the Day of Atonement.

After they question Jesus for His lack of fasting, Jesus provides a response through a parable.

Mark 2:19–20 ESV

19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

Jesus provides a parable of a wedding. Weddings are joyful times within a person’s life. Whenever Jesse and I got married, it was a time of celebration. Weddings are meant to be joyful occasions and a time of celebration. That is why Jesus uses it as an example here.

Within this parable we must understand that fasting is reserved for times of grief and sorrow. In the Old Testament, people would fast as a sign of repentance from sin or they would fast after the loss of a loved one as they mourned. However, Jesus provides this parable of a wedding. He says that the guest of the wedding cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them. That would be highly disrespectful. The wedding guests are supposed to be celebrating with the bridegroom, not fasting as though this is a time of mourning. It would be offensive during this time to fast during a wedding.

In using this parable, we must understand what this parable means. First, understand that Jesus is the bridegroom in the parable. Jesus is described as the bridegroom multiple times in Scripture. Even in the end times when Jesus will return, He is described as a bridegroom coming to get His bride, the Church. So, here again we see Jesus described as the bridegroom. In verse 19, Jesus says as long as the bridegroom is with them, they cannot fast. Jesus has descended from heaven and was on earth at this time. This was a time for celebration because the Messiah had come. Jesus was the promised Messiah from the Old Testament, and He had come and was dwelling among humanity. Likewise, the question is posed to Jesus and His disciples. So, Jesus’s response is that His disciples should not be mourning or fasting because it is a time of celebration as He is on earth with His disciples.

MacArthur writes, “it was equally ludicrous to think that Jesus’ disciples ought to fast and grieve while the Messiah was in their midst.”

Then, the next statement Jesus makes is profound.

Mark 2:20 ESV

20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

This is the first prediction of Jesus’s crucifixion within the Gospel of Mark. Here Jesus reveals that He will one day be taken away from His disciples. Jesus is speaking specifically about the day in which He will die on the cross for the sins of humanity. Jesus knew His purpose in coming to the earth. Jesus’s purpose was to come and die for the sins of humanity in order that humanity may repent and believe in the Gospel resulting in salvation. Likewise, Jesus says that when He is taken away, that is the time for His disciples to fast. That will be a day of mourning and sorrow as the Savior of the world is crucified for the sins of humanity. This would be a time of immense sorrow for the disciples. The Messiah who they had been with for three years and loved would die though He never sinned or did anything wrong.

However, we know that this fasting and sadness only lasted for three days as Jesus rose from the grave victorious over sin, death, and satan. Upon His resurrection and ascension to the throne in heaven, we celebrate as Christians because of our salvation through Jesus Christ. There would be no celebration had it not been for Jesus Christ and His death on the cross. Now, we are redeemed from sin if we are in Christ. Moreover, their is coming a day when Christ will return for His Church and we will go to be with Him in heaven.

Joy coming in following Jesus because we know that He is the bridegroom that took our place on the cross. Jesus was our substitute that took our sins on Himself and bore the wrath of God on the cross. Then, He rose again on the third day victorious. Now, we have joy knowing our sins are paid for, salvation is ours, and He is coming back for us again. As a Christian, we can live with that joy each day.

I know that school can be tough and you can have a bad day. To be honest, you can have the worst day ever. But, you can still have joy because your eternity is secure. No matter what life throws at you, you can have joy in Christ because your sins are paid for and your eternity is in heaven. That doesn’t mean we will be happy all the time. Joy is different from happiness. Happiness is temporary but joy endures.

Faith in Christ is the only way to right relationship with God.

Let’s look at

Mark 2:21–22 ESV

21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

Jesus continues in His response to the Pharisees and John’s disciples regarding their question of fasting. He responds with to another analogies. This time Jesus uses the analogy of a garment and wineskins. He uses these analogies to explain the Exclusivity of the Gospel. Do not let that word exclusivity scare. What we mean by that is that the Gospel is the only saving message.

Let’s tackle the garment analogy first. If a worn piece of clothing has a hole in it, you cannot patch the hole with a new piece of material. First, the new material would not match the old material. Secondly, when washed, the new material would shrink causing an even bigger hole in the garment.

Jesus is using this analogy to explain that the Gospel cannot be attached to Judaism or repair the religious system. The Gospel cannot be attached to the superficial religion of the Jews. Instead, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a whole new garment. It is not used to patch up the old system of Judaism.

Secondly let’s break down the wineskins analogy. In this time period, wineskins were used to store wine. What people would do is the use the hid of a goat which would be flexible. As they put wine in the skin, the wine would begin to ferment and release gases cause the wineskin to expand. Then, the wine would be drank later. However, after a wineskin was used once, it could not be used again. Why? Because after the wineskin had expanded due to the fermentation of previous wine, it was stretched to it max. Then, if new wine was put in an old wineskin, the new wine when it began to release gases during fermentation would cause the old wineskin to bust because it was already stretched to the max. Then, you would lose all the wine and the wine skin.

Again, Jesus uses this analogy to explain the exclusivity of the Gospel. MacArthur writes, “Jesus’ point was that the good news of salvation could not be poured into the brittle, cracked wineskins of apostate Judaism. Nor is it compatible with any other manmade or demonic religion.” What that means is this, Christianity is the only true faith. Judaism was a work-based religion. It was a religion that called for it followers to follow and obey all these rules in order to be right with God. Now, Jesus come proclaiming grace which cannot be poured into the old worn out, worthless wineskins of Judaism. Christianity is a faith of repentance and grace. Likewise, Christianity is the only true faith.

The only true message is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Only faith in Jesus has the power to save. Islam says that if you follow the Quran and the five pillars, praying multiple times a day that you will make it to paradise. Judaism says that if you follow the Law and live up to it perfectly you will be saved. Hinduism claims that one should make sacrifices to idols in order to escape this life and enter into paradise. Buddhism ultimately is a philosophy for living a good life. All of these are false and ultimately lead to hell.

Galatians 1:6–9 ESV

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ leads one to repentance and faith in Jesus that results in the forgiveness of sin and eternity with God.

In our culture, we are surrounded by sayings such as “be true to yourself” or “you be you” or “find your truth.” These sayings reflect the relativism that our culture sells. Our culture claims that every person can have his or her own truth. But, that simply is a lie. God is truth. And truth is found within the Word of God, the Bible. Moreover, the only way to right relationship with God is through faith in Jesus. Jesus is the only One who can save you and me.

Why?

Because Jesus is the true, eternal Son of God who stepped down from heaven lived as fully human and fully God. He never committed sin and loves you so much so that took your sin upon Himself and died on the cross for you and me to be forgiven. Then, after three days, He rose from the grave victorious over sin, satan, and death. Now, He has the power to save your from your sins, and He is alive seated at the right hand of God the Father waiting to come again.

Every other religion’s leader is dead. Muhammad is in a grave. Buddha is in a grave. Abraham is in a grave. But, Jesus is not in a grave. His grave was borrowed and He is in heaven with God the Father.

Will you repent and believe in Him today?

Christian, will seek to share the Gospel in order for others to be saved from sin and turn from false gospels? Likewise, will you have joy in every day life despite your circumstances?