While wineskins aren’t something we talk about today, they were so prevalent in Jesus’ day that He used the illustration of wineskins in a parable. The people in that day would have easily understood the practical advice that Jesus presented at a surface level, but what He was really talking about goes a lot deeper. He was actually addressing the Jewish society’s belief that we are basically good, maybe need an occasional patch to fix a threadbare part of our lives, and should avoid contamination from outside influence.

Instead, Jesus was saying that we are fundamentally sinful and in need of entirely new life, found in Christ. In this message, Stuart Briscoe helps us understand the cultural relevance of this parable and urges us to trade in those patches for radical transformation.