Whose Gift Are You Seeking?
When it comes to the New Covenant, there is a significant shift in who we are to receive from.
John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
You see, it is very clear here that the law was given through Moses. However, through Jesus, something different was given.
It was not that there was no truth from Moses because we know he introduced the Israelites to the truth of the law.
However, intentionally, the Holy Spirit prompts John to write this passage as he did. He wants us to be very aware of what came to us through Jesus: grace and truth.
It would appear that many still prefer to receive rules, guidelines, and principles from Moses in churches today, thinking that if they just know what they are expected to do, they can deliver. They seem to be ignorant of what it says in,
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
The Holy Spirit never teaches us to take confidence in our flesh, in other words, to be self-confident with regard to what measuring up is required to look like.
We are not called to live a sin-conscious life; we are meant to live a Christ-conscious life. We are now created as new creations to live according to the Spirit, and this is made our reality by the grace and truth Jesus gave to us.
The blood of Jesus ratified the New Covenant, and it is a relationship and Spirit covenant made between God the Father and God the Son that we are born into when, by grace through faith in Jesus, we are born again and then receive the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit, according to faith. If, after receiving such a lavish and gracious gift in Christ, it is an insult to then seek after what Moses gave.
Galatians 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
I ask again, whose gift are you seeking? I encourage you to seek after that which comes through Jesus Christ.
