New Wine: A Type of the Holy Spirit
MARK 2:21,22
21 No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old gar-ment: else the new piece that
filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.
22 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.
Jesus said that no man puts new wine in old bottles. Back then, people used animal skins as
bottles to hold wine, and they supposedly could use those skin bottles only once because if
they let them lay longer than about a year, the skins would dry up and crack. Then if new wine
was put in them, the skin bottles would burst.
In the Scriptures, wine is a type of the Holy Ghost. And God couldn't give the Holy Ghost in His
fullness to a person unless he was made a new creature. (Thank God, through Jesus Christ,
man can be made a new creature in Him!)
Jesus said if you put new wine in old wineskins, the wineskins will burst (Matt. 9:17; Mark 2:22;
Luke 5:37).
If He put the Holy Ghost into folks who had not been born again, they would burst;
they would not be able to contain Him!
A person must become a new creature before he can be filled with the new wine — the Holy
Spirit. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature . . ." (2 Cor. 5:17). When you
have been made a new creature, you are ready to be filled with the new wine — the Holy
Spirit.
Born-Again Samaritans Were Filled With the Holy Spirit
The scriptures that helped me see the truth of God's Word that the new birth and the baptism
of the Holy Spirit are two separate experiences are found in Acts 8:5 and 12.
ACTS 8:5,12
5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them....
12 But when they BELIEVED Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of
God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Were these Samaritans saved? According to Jesus they were. He said, ". . . Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:15,16).
Notice Acts 8:14: "Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had
received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John."
Then in the first Epistle of Peter, we read, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever" (1 Peter 1:23). These
Samaritans had received the Word of God, so according to Peter they were born again.
Paul said, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16).
Philip
went down to Samaria and preached Christ to them. The Samaritans believed on Jesus and
were baptized. They were saved.
As a denominational preacher years ago, these scriptures in Acts 8:5 and 12 helped me to see
that if you were saved, you had experienced the working of the Holy Ghost in your life, but you
had not actually received the infilling of the Holy Ghost. For in these scriptures, we see that the
Early Church believed that receiving the Holy Ghost is an experience subsequent to or
following salvation.
We know this because the Bible says, ". . . when they [Peter and John] were come down,
prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost" (Acts 8:15). The disciples didn't pray
for the Samaritans to get saved. The Samaritans were already saved. Peter and John prayed
that the Samaritans might receive the Holy Ghost.
FFT: New Wine is only for New Creatures!
ACTION POINT: Becoming a New Creature is as simple as A-Accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour, B- Believe in His sacrifice on the cross of calvary, C- Confess and forsake all sins and you will have the joy of salvation. Do it now!
INTERACTIVE SECTION: Are you a new creature?
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