No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. Matthew 9:16-17

Jesus said “Unless you are Born Again, you can’t see the Kingdom of Heaven” (John 3:3) I know I say this over and over again, but I think it’s a point that most people who declare themselves “Christians” forget. Becoming saved is not just repeating a few words and doing a few religious practices, it’s a transformation of your soul, it’s bringing your dead self stuck in sin back to life. When you become saved, there needs to be a change, there needs to be fruit produced to show evidence of your conversion, (Matthew 7) otherwise you’re probably not saved at all

Jesus teaches this point in his parable about the New Wine skin, you can’t put a piece of new cloth on an old shirt, you can’t put new wine in an old wine skin. You can’t pour the Holy Spirit in a wretched sinful body, you have to become reborn. This is what Jesus meant you must be Born Again to enter Heaven. You can’t pour New Wine into Old Wine Skin, what happens? The Wine Skin breaks, it can’t handle the New Wine, same with a wretched sinner, you can’t handle the pouring of the Holy Spirit unless you change

When we look at Paul’s teaching of Baptism in Romans 6, when we are immersed into the water, it’s symbolic of our old self dead and being buried with Christ. As Paul says “Our Old Self was crucified with Him, so that the body of Sin may be rendered powerless” (Romans 6:6) This is exactly what Jesus is teaching about, your old self is dead to sin, and your new self has been raised with Christ (Romans 6:11) Walk in the newness of life (Romans 6:4) Paul didn’t say walk as you were , or your fine the way that you are, no your old self died and you have been raised new with Christ

Going back to the New Wine, remember when Jesus changed the water into wine (John 2) This was not a coincidence, this was an illustration of the transformation of Christ by becoming Born Again. You are not going to be Born Again living in a sinful body, an intoxicated body, you need to be set free from sin and that can only happen through Jesus Christ! Amen!