Meditate On
Are You Mixed Up?
“By Him everyone who believes is justified from all
things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
Acts 13:39
To understand the grace of God, it is essential you
understand the differences between the old covenant of law and the new covenant
of grace. To help you accelerate your understanding of law and grace, I want to
share with you one of my favorite scriptures. I have preached this verse around
the world, from Hillsong Conference in Sydney, Australia, to Lakewood Church,
in Houston, Texas.
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth
came through Jesus Christ.
—John 1:17
The law was given through a servant. Grace and truth came
through the Son. The law talks about what man ought to be. Grace reveals Who
God is. In the first miracle of Moses, he turned water into blood, resulting in
death. In the first miracle of grace, Jesus turned water into wine, resulting
in life and celebration. The letter (the law) kills, but the Spirit gives life
(see 2 Cor. 3:6).
Under the law, God demands righteousness from sinfully
bankrupt man. But under grace, God provides righteousness as a gift. Now, which
covenant would you like to be under? The answer is obvious!
The truth is, through the cross at Calvary, all who
believe in Jesus and acknowledge Him as their Lord and Savior are under the new
covenant of grace. Yet today many believers are still living in confusion, and
get law and grace all mixed up by holding on to some aspects of the law and
some aspects of grace in their Christian beliefs and walk. Jesus said you
cannot put new wine into old wineskins. The new wine will ferment and break the
wineskins, and you will lose both (see Matt. 9:17). In the same way, you cannot
put the new wine of grace into the old wineskin of the law. One will cancel out
the other (see Rom. 11:6).
Under the law, God said, “I will by no means clear the
guilty, but I will visit their sins to the third and fourth generations” (see
Exod. 34:7). But under grace, God says, “I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more” (see
Heb. 8:12).
There has been a change! Can you see with absolute
high-definition clarity that there has been a radical change and it is all
because of Jesus? Choose to live wholly under the new covenant of grace today,
where through Christ’s perfect finished work at the cross, you have God’s
righteousness as a gift, and God’s own Spirit of life leading you to victory
over areas of defeat.
BLESSINGS
JOSEPH PRINCE
