| < Away With The Old, In With The New> |
| Date of message: 10 November
2002 Subject: Away With The Old, In With The New Shalom, Boker-tov (good morning), Recently my wife did some spring-cleaning of some of the cupboards and threw away many of the things that were no longer needed around the house. Her actions reminded me of the large pile of letters and receipts which have been sitting in my drawers for quite some time and for which I would need to sort out and spring clean as well. The same is true of our lives. There may be areas in our lives that we would need to review and make the necessary adjustments. However, there will be some old habits that may be so difficult to change that it is like removing the spots from the leopard. Jesus once told His listeners in Matthew 9: 16 - 17: - 16. But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved. New cloth are flexible and fresh and after washing, they generally shrink and if one were to sew a piece of brand new cloth onto an old garment, the shrinking process for the new cloth will tear the old garment which would have gone brittle by now anyway. Likewise, new wine undergoes a process of fermentation and a lot of gases are released during this time. Old wineskins are rather brittle and they may not be able to take the expansion without bursting the skins. What exactly did Jesus mean when He gave those two illustrations ( or parables )? Looking at the context of the passage of scriptures, we can see that the people came to Him to ask Him about some Old Testament practices about fasting and why He and His disciples did not observe those customs. In the Old Testament, besides the 10 commandments, there is an additional 653 ceremonial and social laws that devout Jews were expected to keep and these weighed heavily on the people. Jesus came into this world to die for our sins and to fulfill all the requirements of the law. Because He died, the Law has been fully satisfied and as a result, we are no longer under the yoke of the Law. It is not because we are good enough and God removed the Law but we have been delivered from the requirements of the Law. The price was paid and it was paid in full with the righteous blood of Jesus our Lord Himself. And because Jesus is God Himself, our guarantee is double clad sure. Since we have been delivered from the Law, does that mean we can ignore the Law and have the licence to go and do whatever we like even to the extent of violating the Law? Paul wrote to the church in Rome in Romans 6: 1-2: - 1. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2. May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Knowing that we have been made righteous in the eyes of God because of Jesus' blood, we would then want to love Him and as a result, we will not want to sin. Even if we do fall into sin, we are still righteous because of the blood of Jesus and that should give us great comfort just knowing that. Because of the Person who died, we are made righteous forever. It is not what we have done that saved us but what Jesus did that delivered us from the wrath of God. In Hebrews 10: 8 - 10, we know that God found fault with the first covenant made through Moses at Mount Sinai. In that covenant, the people were to offer blood sacrifices each time they sinned against God. However the Lord Jesus came to fulfill the will of the Father and "by this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" - Hebrews 10: 10. Paul, in Galatians 3: 23 - 29, wrote: - 23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendents, heirs according to promise. Again in Galatians 3: 1 - 5, Paul wrote to the church: - 1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain - if indeed it was in vain? 5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? So allow me to add to what Paul had been saying; we have been saved by our faith in believing what Jesus our Lord had accomplished for us on the cross; there is nothing more that is needed to be done. Our part is to receive what He did for us and we become children of God. The old covenant cannot bring us to heaven but the new covenant wrought through the Blood of Jesus guaranteed us that wonderful place with Him forever. Would you not rather have the new covenant? It is available and it does not cost you anything because the full price had been paid for by our Lord Jesus. You can have the benefits of this new covenant by simply believing in Him and receiving Him into your life. Why not spend some time and pray this simple prayer of faith and invite Jesus into your life and see the difference. Our Abba Father, thank you that You love us so much that You sent us Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ who came, loved You and loved us and was obedient to You even to the point that He died for all our sins. Thank you Lord Jesus that You took upon Your body all our curses so that we can receive Your blessings for our lives. Thank you that we are made righteous by Your righteousness and that we are now children of the LORD and joint heirs with You in Your kingdom. Come, Lord Jesus, into my heart and take up precedence over my life. Thank You Father that because of Your Beloved Son's death, I am now a child of Yours and I am greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved. Thank you and I pray all these in the most precious and holy name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. If you have prayed that prayer for the first time, welcome to the Family of the Father (and it is a very large universal family). It is important that you are not alone facing your personal trials but that you can obtain good help wherever you are. Why not take the time to find your own local Christian family (local church) and worship the Father together? You will be greatly encouraged when you meet together to worship the Father, for fellowship and for the study of the Word of Christ. The Lord blesses you and keeps you, The Lord makes His face shine upon you and be gracious to you and all your loved ones, The Lord lifts up His countenance upon you and gives you His shalom peace. Numbers 6: 24 - 26 Have a blessed week ahead, Shavrou-tov Andrew L W Lee |