When You Stand On Religion

We live in a world that has succumbed to the preaching, teaching, and living of a compromised faith. This faith, as weak as it is, waters down much of the Word of God, and it is killing the sharing of the message of truth about Jesus and salvation. Sadly enough, it has permeated every nuck and cranny of Christianity to the point where the message of salvation is being replaced with "feel good" teachings about feelings and mind fixes. It is good to get information about help in certain mental, emotional, or physical problems, but many times the helps are only band-aids that avoid getting to the root of the problem. Religion is man's attempt to reach out to God, whereas Christianity is God's successful hand reaching out to us. I mean He sent His only Son to die for our sins and make us right with Him and that is because of His grace and His love. As fallen people, otherwise known as sinners, we aren't capable of doing anything real and lasting on our own efforts. We are nothing without God. The more religious people see that they might have some goodness in them, the more they want to build on their self-esteem and begin to prove they can do it on their own. We can't! Only through God's help and the Holy Spirit can there be a life of victory, and that life depends totally on God's grace. Paul warned Timothy about people who professed to know God, but their "form" of Godliness was powerless. 2 Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. These people cannot see the forest because of the trees.

Some Christians get the whole thing backwards, and our enemy, the devil, is the leader in this happening. You can tell he is active right now, as evil seems to be what the world is promoting more than good. Like my wife says when we hear it on the news, "This is crazy!" And she is correct, but we still hope someone will step up. Religion won't get us anywhere. Look at what happened to Peter and John and what they had to deal with when they began to follow through with what Jesus had commissioned them to do. Preach the kingdom of God. Keep in mind, Jesus had just ascended to heaven, and the Holy Spirit had just fallen on them, equipping them to preach the gospel. Acts 4: 1 While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees. 2 These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead. 3 They arrested them and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning. 4 But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000.

They were preaching about the resurrection and got put in prison, and there were still 5,000 who believed. Those 5,000 had become new believers, or what we call Christians! The difference in this case is the power of the gospel against the power of religion, and guess who won? THE GOSPEL. But if we don't speak that message and offer it to those who are dying, the power will not be released. Only Jesus can save, and He saves ALL who come to Him. Romans 10:13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Religion, many times, will be the precursor to religious practices, which is what the religious leaders relied on to keep them in power over the people. Jesus broke that power because He is the way, the truth, and the life. Only Jesus.

Those religious leaders were not standing up for truth; they were standing up for their religion, what they believed was the way to do religion, but it was human-induced and human-contrived. FLAWED. This is how Christian sayings become scripture in our minds. Sayings like cleanliness is next to Godliness, God helps those who help themselves, or money is the root of all evil. They hold some grains of truth, but in reality, less than the pure truth of the Word of God is guessing. Christianity needs to keep from turning into a religion. It needs to remain pure and believe only the Word of God, and not our "assumptions." A rich young ruler came to Jesus for salvation, and Jesus knew His heart was not right in the way He was coming, and here is how Jesus dealt with him. Matthew 19: 16 Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 “Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. But to answer your question—if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.”18 “Which ones?” the man asked. And Jesus replied: “‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. 19 Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 20 “I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?”21 Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

It is only "through Jesus" that we have the salvation of our souls. Nothing else. No amount of the ten commandments we think we can live or accomplish is worth anything when it comes to being right with God. Only Jesus! We must put our human pride and reasoning on hold and let it bow to one truth and one alone. Without Jesus, we are bound for hell. With Jesus we can do all things through CHRIST who gives me strength. Don't dilute the message with prideful religious beliefs that are based on human goodness. It won't work, and don't stand on religion, but stand on the truth of the Word of God. To stand on the gospel is to stand against religion, and that will be a fight we all have to fight in the present condition of our religious world. In the end, Jesus wins, and we win. When You Stand On Religion, you will surely fall. But if you stand on the Word of God. A.W. Tozer writes, "Anything God has ever done, he can do now. Anything God has ever done anywhere, he can do here. Anything God has ever done for anyone, he can do for you." ~ Aiden Wilson Tozer

Today's Message,

David Warren