Hebrews 8:8-9
“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.”
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Down through history, well-meaning people have come against grace. Mistakenly, they think are protecting holiness by fighting against what they believe it to be the false Gospel Paul taught about in the book of Galatians.
The True Gospel IS GRACE! What Paul taught about in Galatians is actually the false one that these well-meaning people teach in their Churches: Law mixed in with Grace. It is the topic of the entire book. Unfortunately, it has been preached so often for so long, it is mistaken for the real deal. IT IS NOT.
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New Covenant.
As you read in the opening scripture, God had planned to replace the Old Covenant. He outlines His new plan in the continuance of Hebrews 8:10-12 below:
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR MIND AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
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Punishment Visited On Descendants.
Under the Old Covenant, God not only punished sin, He VISITED punishment on future generations. In other words, you weren’t the only one who suffered punishment for your sins: Your punishment was handed down to your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren!
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Well, God didn’t want to have to that. He wanted to have a legal foundation to “REMEMBER THEIR SINS AND LAWLESS DEEDS NO MORE.”
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Jesus’ death on the cross provided a righteous foundation for Him NOT to “Visit” your sins!
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What Produces License?
You can tell by what Paul said in Romans 6 that some were accusing him of telling people to sin more so that Grace would abound. The “Media-nites” got it wrong back then and they are getting it wrong today because nothing could be further from the truth.
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Here’s what Paul said:
Romans 6:1-2
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?“
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NEWS FLASH! The Law DOES NOT PRODUCE HOLINESS. It wasn’t even designed to do that. Quite the contrary. It was given to bring us to the end of ourselves; to show us that we CANNOT obey it fully no matter how hard we try; to show us our need for a Savior!
It is the Law that produces LICENTIOUSNESS. Maybe they just forgot what it clearly says in 1 Corinthians 15:16 – “THE STRENGTH OF SIN IS THE LAW.” Could be.
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Dangerous Teaching.
It is a VERY DANGEROUS thing to preach the law to the Church. This is quite dramatically underscored in scripture in what happened at Beth Shemesh. Their story not only demonstrates the dangers of preaching Law, but highlights how DEADLY it is: LITERALLY!!!
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To read all about it, please follow the link below:
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Good Company!
So, if people are saying some of the same things about you or your ministry, not only are you on the RIGHT TRACK, preaching the real gospel: You’re in GOOD COMPANY…..the BEST in fact! If you are not being ridiculed as preaching license the way Paul was, well…..Let the reader draw their own conclusion.
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I submit to you that what many Churches are preaching today IS NOT THE REAL GOSPEL. It is a counterfeit.
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Council At Jerusalem.
This whole issue was supposedly settled back in Paul’s day at the Council of Jerusalem. But that’s man for you: The debate is raging still. Man always wants to think there is something he can do. Works, works, works.
If you’d like to read more on that topic, which concerned the Gentiles getting saved at Cornelius’ house, you may follow the link below:
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True Or False?
Think about it: If we were really preaching the exact same gospel Paul preached, we would be misunderstood to the point that we would be accused of promoting licentiousness, too. Since most preachers are not, then perhaps we need to look more closely at what we are preaching. It may not, in fact, be the real Gospel but a false one, the counterfeit about which Paul preached in the entire book of Galatians.
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Who Needs The Law?
Outside of the Church, people without the law will…..AND DO…..become lawLESS. That’s because they are SPIRITUALLY DEAD. They are the ones who need the law. Inside the Church is a whole other matter. Among believers the law is the “ministry of death, written and engraved on stones.” 2 Corinthians 3:7
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Here’s another question for you: What happens when you remove the stones (i.e. the Law) from dead people? THEY STINK!
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Make no mistake, Church: We are NOT like people of the world. We are resurrected spirits in unresurrected bodies. We are spiritually alive! We don’t need to be buried under “stones (the Law).” What happens when you bury a living human under a pile of stones? You would kill them. Yet that is exactly what many pastors are doing to their congregations: Burying them under a pile of stones.
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The Law Has Been Replaced.
According to the passage above, it is GOD Who writes His laws in our hearts…..and those laws are not the TEN COMMANDMENTS internalized. How could they be? God said He found fault with the Old Covenant.
Throughout scripture, He says it over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, everywhere you look. He always intended to RELACE–USURP–the Ten Commandments with the New Covenant.
One of the ways He demonstrates that is in the story below about Jesus’ transfiguration:
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The Man Or The Map?
New Covenant is not at all like the old one. Think of it this way: You are going on a long trip. Would you rather stop now and then to consult a map, or would you rather have The Man Who wrote the map IN THE CAR, WITH YOU, guiding you to your destination PERSONALLY? He knows where to go and knows all the reall ygood places to stop along the way, not covered on the map.
There’s the added benefit that He’d be wonderful company, knows all the best places to eat, and all the best sights to see. Since He knows where all the pot holes and all the pitfalls are, He would be a lot more help along the way. He’d even help you out whenever you ran into trouble. Better yet, let Him drive!
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In stark contrast, the law…map…tells you NOTHING. It is unbending. If you fall into a hole, it cannot help you. You’re on your own.
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That’s the difference between Law and Grace. The Law is like a millstone around your neck…..and it won’t stoop to help you when you make a wrong turn. Grace, on the other hand, is a PERSON WHO LOVES YOU.
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I don’t know about you but I’d rather have the Man than the map!
Emmaus Road Ministries 
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