The Hybrid Gospel

“No one puts new wine into old wineskins.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.” (Luke 5:36-39)

The natural man likes his old ways. He likes his old wine — that is, his old religion. It’s important to recognize that Jesus brought something new to mankind — the gospel.  Grace and truth.   He did not come into the world to do any patching on the old garment.  He did not come to patch up the Law.  He came to fulfil it and to pay the penalty of sin by dying on the cross.  He brought us the new wine of the gospel. This new wine must be placed into the new wineskin of grace, not into the old wineskin of the law. He came to give us something new.

There is an Old way that leads to frustration and disappointment.  There is a new and living way (Hebrews 10:20) that comes free of your efforts and works.  It is a gift that changes everything.  There also is a third way, a hybrid or a mix of the Old and the New that you find in most churches today.  It is a mongrel hybrid.  It is neither the Old or the New, it’s almost a permanent breed of religion that is stripped of even the fading glory the Old Covenant had (see 2 Corinthians 3:7-18).

A hybrid is something made by a mixture of two different things.  There are hybrid cars, they have both a gas and electric motors.  A mule is a hybrid of a donkey and a horse.  Although Jesus warned us about this mixture of the new with the old, much of the church continues to teach a mix of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.  They preach that you are saved by grace and then teach you that your salvation is kept now by you confessing each sin as you commit them. In other words, that you are saved by grace but kept by law.  This is more than just mixing a little Old with New, it’s a whole new breed of religion.  It is like a mule, it’s not a donkey, nor is it a horse.

The pure undiluted gospel of grace sounds too good to be true, therefore they have mixed some of the old and new together and produced a gospel that Apostle Paul says is no gospel at all.  (Galatians 1:6,7)  This hybrid message says we must obey some of the laws of the Old, especially the ten commandments.  God wants us to be able to rightly divide the Word and clearly separate what belongs to the old covenant of law and what belongs to the new covenant of grace.  Many believers today are living as if the cross did not make any difference!  Those who preach this hybrid tell us that we must confess each of our sins as we crawl to the throne of grace.  If we fail to confess one of our sins, then we’re not forgiven and if the rapture occurs, then you will surely be left.  And that God is displeased with us, even angry and that we are out of fellowship with God until we get ourselves back into fellowship by repenting.  That we need to put our sins under the blood of Jesus, as if His blood didn’t pay for and remove every sin.  How ridiculous!

There are huge differences in the Old Covenant and the New Covenant regarding dealing with sin.  In the Old-people were forgiven for their sins by atonement.  Their sin was not removed, but the sin was covered.  In the New Covenant, Jesus took away the sin of the whole world! (John 1:29)

God’s grace is not another subject of the Bible, GRACE IS the subject of the Bible.  Grace is a person and His name is Jesus.  Jesus did not come to preach Grace, but to Be Grace.  To be saved by grace is to be saved by Him.  I have watched this revelation of God’s grace bringing people into a passionate, powerful, and liberating relationship with their Heavenly Father.  I will never go back to trying to relate to God under the mixed message of law and grace.

*The above is an excerpt from my soon to be published book entitled, “Exposing Myths Heard in Church”.