PATCHWORK 

Luke 5:36-38 “And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.” 

Salvation can be described in so many different words, but the word exchange is powerful. Salvation is not patchwork; it is an exchange of natures. Many times people are given the nicotine patch to salvation. You know, first you’ve got this big patch that covers your whole arm and it shoots nicotine through your body. Then as your dependency lessens the patches get smaller and smaller, until you don’t need a patch anymore. But patchwork is not the answer for fallen mankind. God isn’t offering patches for our sin issues, He is offering a new nature that allows us to be completely free from our sin and live in totally victory. If you have a pornography problem, God isn’t trying to wean you off of internet porn; to magazine porn; to victoria secret catalogs; to jc penney mags until you stop looking at pornography. He wants to make an offer…I’ll take your old nature, the one who wants to sin and I’ll give you a new nature…one that desires my presence more than the pleasures of this world. Salvation is not a weaning from sin; it is a deliverance from sin.