Memory Verse: Week of June 4th

Week of June 4^th

Luke 5:38

[38] But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.   (Luke 5:38 ESV)

[Context:  This statement was made by Jesus when the religious leaders were questioning why Jesus’ disciples did not participate in religious fasts.  Jesus was communicating that his coming was a whole new thing that did not fit in religious categories.   He was bringing new wine that was far superior to the old wine.  That new wine of the Gospel of His grace, could not fit into the old religious categories, any more than if you put new wine into an old dry stretched out wineskin. Once the new wine began to ferment, it would burst the wineskin and you would lose both the skin and the wine.

The Gospel cannot just be fitted into a religious structure.  They are not compatible.   Religion says, “Do!”  The Gospel of Jesus says, “Done!”     Religion could never provide a way for sinners to truly be right with God.   What religion could not do, Jesus himself has done. We have no categories for God himself becoming a human to live the life we couldn’t live and die the death we should have died – on our behalf.   

Jesus, based on his life, death, and resurrection, is offering you grace with a new life, a new relationship, a new identity, and a new destiny – where we can not only be forgiven, but granted the right to become the children of God.  Have you ever tasted wine like that?  Only in Jesus – who established a new covenant of grace – a whole new basis on which to relate to God as our Father.

Jesus put an end to religion and replaced it with Himself!  ]