“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” Matthew 23:15 NKJV
Jesus hates religion because it spurns the grace of God. Jesus hates religion because it rejects the gospel of the grace of God. Jesus hates religion because it denigrates the all-glorious majesty of His person and finished work. Jesus hates religion because it assumes that man is able to bring an offering that satisfies the righteousness, justice, and holiness of Almighty God. Jesus hates religion because it asserts that what He did at Calvary is not enough. Jesus hates religion because it erects a barrier between the spiritually lost and the cross. Jesus hates religion because it enslaves, shackles, and imprisons the spiritually bound. Jesus hates religion because it fuels the deception and blindness of unregenerate sinners in spiritual darkness (Matt.23:1-36; Gal.1:6-9; Phil.3:8-9).
“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:6-9 NKJV
A wise man once said, “When man reaches up to God, it’s called religion. When God reaches down to man, it’s called grace.” Religion is like slapping a can of white paint on a dilapidated out-building and saying, “Voila, the Taj Majal!” It merely dresses up the outside through external conformity to sacramental rites and ceremonial traditionalism along with all its attendant accoutrements. By way of contrast, God’s revelation of Himself in and through the Holy Scriptures teaches that man must approach God in the prescribed fashion and therefore on His terms versus the pragmatic innovation of human wisdom even if its well-meaning. The old adage hits the nail on the head: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Religion is therefore to be considered a filthy dung pile of human righteousness that is reprehensible before the sovereign majesty of God’s Holiness. Man’s idolatrous attempt to merit God’s favor wreaks of the vile wickedness of his rebel heart and the depraved imagination of his corrupted mind (Is.64:6; Jer.17:9; Rom.3:9-18).
“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish [KJV “dung”], that I many gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.” Philippians 3:8-9 NKJV
Biblical Christianity is vastly different from human religion because God transforms the heart and life from the inside-out by His grace. This grace is manifested in and through the Person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an internal reality through a genuine relationship with Almighty God as our perfect Father in Heaven when Christ Himself takes up residence in the heart by the regenerating power, presence, and sealing of His Spirit. God did for rebel sinners what we could not do for ourselves and offers to us the results of His substitutionary sacrifice as a gift. The Bible teaches that God’s grace is free because Christ paid the price with His blood and is alive today having triumphed over the tyranny of sin, death, and the demonic forces of evil for time and eternity (Eph.1:7, 13-14; 2:1-10; Titus 3:3-7).
“But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” Romans 4:5 NKJV
Just as I’ve written elsewhere, always remember and never forget that the blazing center of the glory of God is vested in the Person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn.1:14; 2 Cor.4:6; Heb.1:1-3). God’s Word teaches that Christ is God the Son and is therefore 100% God and 100% Man. He is the theanthropic Person: fully God and fully Man (Is.9:6; Jn.1:1; Phil.2:6-8). There is nobody else in all of history like Jesus because it is in the all-glorious majesty of His Person that the divine fullness of the tri-une Godhead dwells in bodily form (Jn.8:58; Col.1:19; 2:9). Jesus Christ is the eternal King, sovereign Creator, and merciful Redeemer of rebel sinners (Ps.90:2; Col.1:13-18; 1 Tim.1:17). The precious and royal blood of Christ Himself propitiated or satisfied the thunderclouds of the Father’s divine wrath that exploded upon Him in undiluted measure at Calvary where “Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor.15:3 NKJV cf. Rom.3:25; Is.52:13-53:12). Missionary statesman, J. Oswald Sanders aptly explained in “The Incomparable Christ” that “our Savior drank a cup of wrath without mercy that we might drink a cup of mercy without wrath.” Glory to His Name!
In light of all these reflections on the 3 G’s of Gospel, Grace, and Glory, here are a few questions for you to prayerfully consider:
- Has God rescued your soul from the hellfire of His wrath by grace through faith in Christ or are you still trusting in your religion to save you?
- If you’re genuinely saved, praise Him every day for who He is and what He has done. To magnify His glory is our purpose for living. If not, is there anything keeping you from trusting Christ as your Savior right now by believing that He died for your sins, was buried, and rose again?
- If God has saved you, how are you deliberately building God’s Word into your life and growing spiritually as an adopted child in the family of the Most High God?
- Gathering for worship together with other believers any given Sunday at church, daily spiritual disciplines like Bible-reading & keeping a prayer journal, serving in some kind of ministry near and dear to your heart, and sharing these truths with others is key to learning how to trust your perfect Father in Heaven day by day through total dependency upon Him and His Word.
- How are you going to champion this stewardship responsibility before God and intentionally build these truths into the lives of your children and grandchildren?
- As much as possible, make it a priority to speak with them every day about these truths around the supper table/meal times, begin the habit of father-led Family Worship (if not already doing so), and invest in the future trajectory of their lives through home-based parent-led family discipleship via homeschooling.
- Check out GFM’s “Homeschooling 101” playlist on our YouTube channel for practical encouragement for you in passing on the faith to the next generation.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8,9 NKJV
