John Bevere - You Can't Put New Wine in Old Wine Skins

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This final lesson is on the new wine. Okay, so let’s go to Isaiah and read here: «Do not remember the former things, that’s the way God used to move through you or through others, nor consider the things of old. Behold, look and see, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?» In other words, are you going to be able to recognize it? Some people won’t; some people will. Who are the people that are going to be able to recognize it? People who come through the wilderness successfully. «Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.» What was once a parched, dry ground now becomes a very fruitful field; that is what God said would happen. If you look at this, I want to read from my notes because this is so important: the new thing that God is about to do is not new to God; it’s new to us.

We have to remember that 2 Corinthians 3:18 says we are changed from glory to glory. How does every change come? There’s a wilderness in between it, so embrace it because that’s where He does the new thing, where He brings us to the next level of glory. Often we resist change. Why? Because we’re people of habit; we get comfortable in a pattern. I’m really like that. I mean, ask my son; I’ve eaten the same breakfast for over 10 years—just the same thing every morning, right? So, I have to fight this. My natural inclination is to strive and make something happen. You know how Paul said, «I am the chief of sinners»? I used to tell people, «I am the chief of master strivers.» The other thing is I’m a person of habit, so it has taken some very godly sons and a very godly wife to help me make changes because I embraced the old, and it was really hard for me to go to the new. But now, at almost 60 years old, I’m like, «Bring it on; let’s go do something new, God! I love it!» I’ve seen what happens.

To talk about this change, I want to go to Luke’s Gospel, chapter five. I love this, and that’s why I saved it for the 10th lesson. One day, some people—everybody say, «some people"—said to Jesus, «John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?» Now, the first thing we have to ask is: who are these some people? Were they the Pharisees? We can find out for sure who they are in Matthew’s account of the same event. One day, the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked Him why His disciples fast and pray regularly, like we do and the Pharisees do.

Now wait a minute; we need to talk about this. These guys had made a lot of sacrifices to follow God because just a year earlier, John the Baptist was on the cutting edge of what God was doing on the Earth. Think about it; everybody’s going out to the wilderness. He’s the prophesied one meant to prepare the way of the Lord. These guys, to join John and become his disciples, had to live in the desert. You understand their food was locusts, okay? Did you hear what I said? Locusts—that’s his food. Wild honey—that’s his food. He’s living in the desert; he has a camel coat over him and a leather belt around him. This is the guy they worked for for several years.

Now their boss is in jail, and Jesus is not playing by their rules. He’s going to the parties, eating and drinking. They didn’t touch anything that came from the vine because John came as a Nazarene. So, they’re saying, «Whoa, whoa, whoa! You’re not serving God the way we’re serving God!» They come to talk to Him about it, obviously because John fasted a lot. They’re saying, «You guys go to all these parties, eating all these feasts while we’re fasting, so what’s this about?» They’re trying to bring Jesus back to their method of serving God because a year earlier, that’s how God was moving on the Earth: locusts, wild honey, and living in the desert—not the rich parties drinking the finest from the vine.

So, Jesus, I love the answer He gives: «Do the wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not!» What Jesus is saying is, «Why in the world do My disciples have to fast?» You’ve made a religion out of fasting! If they have a question, God manifested in the flesh is right here; all they have to do is ask Me, and I’ll give it to them. I love the way He exposes their religious spirit—always hanging on to what God did while resisting what God is doing. The Pharisees are saying, «Moses is our father,» but they’re resisting the Son of God who is right before them, and that’s what these guys are doing.

But now look at what Jesus says: «But someday the groom will be taken away.» Everybody say «taken away,» okay? This is the emphasis of the statement from them. Then they will fast. Now, is Jesus talking about food? Does He now go back to what they brought up? Yes, I can see that, but can I tell you what I think Jesus is really talking about? He’s talking about a fast of the presence of God. Someday, He’ll be taken away. What happens when He’s taken away? There is a fast of His tangible presence. Are you seeing this?

Now, how do I know this is the true interpretation? By what He goes on to say: «No one puts new wine into old wineskins, for the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins.» Now stop right there; I’m going to talk a lot about this. First of all, what is wine a type of in scripture? It’s always a type of the presence—the tangible presence of the Spirit. «Be drunk not with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.» In other words, Paul is saying that being filled with the Spirit is the real thing. People who get drunk on wine, high on drugs, are looking for the satisfaction that can only come by being filled with the new wine, which is the presence of the living God.

So, no one puts new wine in old wineskins. Now, what’s a wineskin? They harvest the grapes, trample them, and do all that kind of stuff. How many of you know the storage time for wine? In those days, they used sheepskins. They would call them wine bottles, but they were made out of sheepskin. Before they put the wine in, it was very flexible, pliable; it would bend. They’d put that juice into it, and it could hold the wine. But after months of the dry atmosphere in the Middle East, it would dry up and absorb the moisture out of the sheepskin. Now, once they poured the wine out, the sheepskins were no longer soft and flexible; they had become rigid and stiff.

If they were to put more juice into that skin, it would burst, and they would lose the wine. When I was a youth pastor, God showed me this. First of all, I want to say one thing: Jesus said it would spill the wine; you’d lose the new move of God, and it would ruin the skins. Can you see that the skins are the containers that hold the fresh move of God? Movements, churches, individuals—that’s what they are. Not only is God concerned about losing the fresh move of the Spirit, but He doesn’t want to see the skins broken. In other words, I see this as God saying, «If you want to remain rigid, stiff, and brittle, you can keep your old wine, but I’m over here doing something new, and you’re going to be stuck in the past without the power that this new thing will have.»

So, here I am praying, and God is showing me, «I’m making you into a new wineskin.» As I pray, I see a vision of this wine bottle being turned over, and every bit of the wine is poured out. I thought, «Oh my goodness, you have to pour out the wine to make the skin new again!» You know what they did when they poured all the wine out? They would rub the skins with olive oil. First, they’d soak it in water for days, then they would rub it with olive oil, making it tender and pliable again. Well, if you look at water, it symbolizes the washing of the water of the Word. Remember what Job said: «I held fast to Your words more than my necessary food»?

So, when we’re in a dry place, get into the Word of God. One of the things I do before I read the Bible in the morning is to say, «Holy Spirit, I’ve been reading this Bible for 38 years, but I can’t understand it unless You help me, and I’m asking You to show me an aspect of Jesus I’ve never seen before.» I do that even after 38 years of walking with God because I know how important the Word of God is; we’re washed with it, right? Then the rubbing of the olive oil symbolizes prayer. What He’s saying is that if you do this, you will be a vessel into which the new wine can be poured, resulting in a fresh move of the Spirit. Remember, it’s not new to God; it’s new to us.

If you look at all past moves of God, what do you end up with? You end up with institutions and people who are stuck. I’ve gone to churches and seen pastors who are still stuck in the 80s, doing what we did then—singing the same songs, the decor. I’ve seen pastors stuck in the 90s, others in the first 10 years of the 2000s. It is so important that we cry out for a fresh move of the Spirit no matter how long we’ve been walking with God. Are you getting something out of this?

Now look at what Jesus goes on to say: «New wine must be stored in new wineskins or renewed wineskins.» But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine; they say, «The old is just fine.» Here’s the deal: every time there’s been a fresh move of God in my life, the real battle I face is that I want to stay with the old because I like the old; I’ve gotten used to it. I’m a disciplined person, accustomed to habit, but yet God’s saying, «I want to do something new.» I’ve watched this with messages. Right now, I’m preaching «Killing Kryptonite» everywhere I go, and on the Bethel tour, we saw over 5,000 people get saved—crazy! But I’ve tried to go back and preach those old messages just because I needed something to preach, and they’re so flat. Yet when I preached them 10 years ago when God had me preach them everywhere, they were powerful.

This wilderness message is why you’ve never heard me preach it in all these years. I wrote this first book in 1991, and I recently read it; it was a prophetic message for the 90s, and this book needs to be totally rewritten. That’s why we’re rewriting it and launching it in January 2019 because it needs to be brought up to date. God is putting this in my heart because He’s preparing all these prophetic voices—young people your age and older guys like us are going to dream the dreams. He’s getting ready to do something fresh and new, so don’t get used to the old. Don’t sit there and say, «But I liked the way He did it a year ago through me; I liked the way He did it three years ago.» No, He’s doing something new—can you say amen to that?

Here’s the bottom line. Are you ready? This is what Jesus is saying: it’s much easier to stay with the old than to go through the diligent seeking process required to move into the new. That’s what keeps a person from going to the new. Make the decision in your heart right now—right now—make it before the difficult time comes when it’s dry. Because when it’s dry, your temptation will be to revert back to the old. It worked, and it will still work because there’s a residue of that old. It will still work, but you won’t be on the cutting edge of what God’s doing on the Earth.

So I’m going to have to wrap this up, but I want to share some final important points. Number one: release how you think God’s going to promote you. Just get rid of the way you believe God’s going to promote you. I remember I used to constantly figure out how a boy from a town of 3,000 people who went to Catholic church all his life could be raised up to preach to the nations. One day, I was trying to figure out how God was going to get Lisa and me into the preaching ministry when the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said, «You just figured out another way I’m not going to do it.» It’s amazing; I never figured out how God was going to do it because He does it. God is the one who gives the promotion.

So, clear your heart of offense with God. Paul said in Acts 24:16, «And herein do I exercise to always stay free from offense with God and with men.» Many times when we’re going through a wilderness, we want to blame God. We’re upset with God and get bitter toward God, but we’re too scared to admit it. If that has happened, first and foremost, be honest; pour out your heart to God. Be open and honest. Jeremiah didn’t complain to his friends; he went straight to God. You’ve got to say, «God, I’m so stupid because You’re perfect; You love me with a perfect love. My own natural father didn’t love me anywhere near as much as You love me. So obviously, I’m the one missing it; I’m the one kicking against the goads here.» You’ve got to release any bitterness or offense you have toward God.

Number three: don’t complain. It is the fifth thing that kept Israel out of the promised land. It is what caused them to be desert wanderers for the rest of their lives. When we raised our children, you’re going to think this is crazy, but we disciplined our children for rebellion whenever they complained. Why? Because complaining is an affront to authority. It says, «I don’t like what You’re doing in my life, and if I were You, I’d do it differently.» I remember a time in my life when I was fasting in the mountains of Georgia. Yes, there are mountains in North Georgia, and I was using someone’s house. I remember being at a point where I was almost proud of myself for not complaining. I had gone through some pretty sticky situations and made sure I was protecting myself from complaining. I woke up in that little cabin in the mountains of Georgia and heard the Holy Spirit say, «I hear the complaining in your heart.» I rolled out of bed straight to my knees and said, «Oh my God in heaven, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me.» So, protect your heart from complaining.

Number four: set your mind and heart to stick it out. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. This is so good! «Patient endurance is what you need now so that you will continue to do God’s will; then you will receive all that He has promised.» Look at it from the message: «It’s still a sure thing, but you need to stick it out.» I love that—stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you will be there for the promised completion.

Number five: if you stick it out, promotion will come. Again, promotion will come. Look at 1 Peter 5: «So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; He’ll promote you at the right time.» Remember, your time is usually not God’s time: Psalm 31, «My times are in Your hand,» that’s part of His lordship in our life. Live carefree before God, which means you don’t have to worry about bringing it to pass. God will see to it that it comes to pass; He is most careful with you.

I want you to see Psalm 75, which says, «Exaltation or promotion comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south.» Why? Because it comes from the north. God is the judge—remember His throne is on the sides of the north. He puts down one and exalts another. I have meditated a lot on this scripture, thinking, «God, what am I going to do the day if you put me down to exalt another?» I hope I respond correctly. I know that John the Baptist made the statement, «He must increase that I may decrease.» But after being in the dungeon, John sent his disciples to Jesus and asked, «Are You the coming one, or do we look for another?» Are you kidding me? He saw the heavens open and knew the Spirit of God was upon Jesus. That’s why Jesus sent the message back, quoting Isaiah, saying, «Blessed is he who is not offended with Me.» Promotion will come; know it.

Number six: keep the most important goal before you. Ephesians 1:11 says, «In Him, we also have obtained an inheritance, being predestined.» People get nervous with this word according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. Don’t be scared of the word «predestined,» please. Just because people have misapplied it and misused it, let’s look at it so you’re not scared. The prefix «pre» means before or prior to the beginning. The word «destined» or «destination» is where you will end up or the finish line. Put the two together, and you get to set the finish line before the start. God wrote out your life story before you were even born. It says in Psalm 139, «Before I was born, You wrote out my entire life story; every moment of my life was recorded in Your book before I was even born.»

He has a great plan for your life; it is filled with hope, joy, and promise. Don’t give up! What is the finish line? What has He predestined us for? Paul tells us, «For whom He foreknew, He also predestined.» He set the finish line before we began to be conformed to the image of a Son. That is the number one goal of Christianity; it is the number one goal of God creating us—to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. In ministry, we can miss the target.

Look at the Maccabees. They were determined to keep idolatry away from Israel; they were 200 years before John the Baptist. They started out okay, but their focus was inaccurate. Their focus wasn’t on the heart of God like David and Moses. They ended up becoming Pharisees. The number one focus, the endpoint of your internal GPS, is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. If you are a pastor, that is where you are directing your people toward. If you are a believer, a disciple of Jesus Christ, your goal is to become like Him.

Finally, number seven: as a final word, I want to read 2 Corinthians chapter 4 because I think it sums it up beautifully. It says, «Therefore we do not lose heart. Don’t lose heart; don’t give up! Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.» I love that. Look at this; he goes on to say, «For our light affliction"—and God considers the worst trials we go through as a light affliction—is «which is but for a moment,» remember, a moment for God can be a few years, «is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.»

What do we do? Paul says here’s his next statement: «While we do not look at the things which are seen.» Don’t look at your circumstances, but look at the things which are not seen. That’s the Word of God, the promises—until the time that His promises come to pass. «The word of the Lord tested him.» Look at the things which are not seen, for the things which you see are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Your calling that God has placed upon your life—guess what, guys? It’s eternal. No one can ever take it away from you. There is no one that can ever remove you from the will of God. I mean, Joseph’s brothers tried it; they said, «We’re going to kill him, and we’ll see if he ever leads us.» But you know what? They couldn’t do it. Saul tried to do the same thing with David, and he couldn’t do it.

The only one that can get you out of the will of God is yourself. Israel complained and murmured, and as a result, they never walked in the promises that God had for them. I want that for you. We need you to fulfill your calling and your destiny because we need what God wants to do through you to be done on this Earth so we can get our job done and get home.

So with that, I want to pray for you right now. Some of you might be at the beginning of your wilderness trek, some might be at the end, and some may not be in the wilderness; you’re in an oasis right now. It doesn’t matter; chances are very good you’re going to face one sooner or later. So let’s pray, and I want to believe God. Father, I thank You for everyone that has gone through this course. I thank You for their lives, and I thank You for the calling that You’ve placed on their lives. Their calling is significant; there is not one person watching me right now that has an insignificant calling. God, You said even the parts that are not seen are even more valuable and to be honored greatly than the parts that are seen.

So, Father, I pray that You would give them the strength, the fortitude, the endurance as my brothers and my sisters do what they have learned in this course—to obey Your word and to stay focused on You and on what Your word states. I pray strength into their lives; I bind the forces of darkness that have tried to hinder and stop them, and I release them into the wonderful plan and will of God. In Jesus' mighty name, amen.

It has been a real pleasure and an honor to share with you just a little bit about the wilderness. I’m sure in your Bible study now the Holy Spirit will open up much greater aspects of it, and you’ll continue to build on your understanding so that you do the right thing in the right season and get the right result. God bless you!