Scrap Your Worthless Religion and Embrace the Gospel
Response to comment [from a Christian]: "The word "religion" means to
ligare to bind or to re-bind. Man is trying to get back into the
Garden of Eden by trying to re-binding his relationship with God. He is
trying to re-bind his relationship with God by his works and obedience
to the law (religion).
Here is why religion is worthless. God does not accept the works and the
obedience of sinners. Paul makes it clear that all have sinned and that
there is none righteous, no, not even one, Romans 3:10, 23. God is not
the minister of sin and only accepts the works and obedience of Jesus
Christ
Here is another problem with religion. God has ALREADY put to death and
destroyed sin in Jesus Christ,
"Knowing this, that our old man (Adam) is crucified with him, that the
body of sin might be destroyed," Romans 6:6. God has already destroyed
sin in Jesus Christ. So why are you drinking grape juice or whatever,
trying to be like Christ, when God does not accept the works of dead
crucified sinners? Have you been crucified with Christ? If you haven't
been crucified with Christ then you can't be resurrected with Christ. If
you haven't been resurrected with Christ then you are NOT "In Christ" If
you are not "In Christ" you are in the flesh and under condemnation.
Jesus Christ in heaven at the right hand of God, which is a place of
honor and respect, tells us that God has accomplished his purpose in
Jesus Christ. What was his purpose? His purpose was to send Jesus Christ
into the world as the new Adam and fallen humanities representative. Man
cannot be saved unless certain conditions are met. Man has violated
God's Holy Law with his sin. Jesus Christ by his sinless life offers to
God the Father a life of perfect obedience to his Holy Law. He does this
in our name and on our behalf for our justification, Romans 3:26.
That is not enough, something must be done about man's sin. God is not
going to just forget about it. Jesus Christ as the new Adam and
humanities representative takes our sin upon himself. "For he has made
him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him," 2 Corinthians 5:21.
This is why religion is worthless. Christ has done it all and he did it
all for us. There is nothing, absolutely nothing to do except to believe
it and make it yours. The Gospel is the death of religion.
Religion is a denial of the Gospel. If you are trying to make yourself
acceptable to God by becoming religious you are in denial of the fact
that Jesus Christ has already made you acceptable to God by his life,
death and resurrection. The call now is to accept and believe what he
has done for you and enter into his rest, Hebrews 4:10."
"You are never
more than 180° away from pleasing God." ~ Jeff Schwarzentraub
"Praise Jebus."
~ Homer Simpson (right click, open)
2 Pe 2:1
See:
No Idolatry & False Teaching
Response to comment [from a Christian]: ""...[S]he [Mary] ] apparently had sex with Joseph after Jesus was born."
If the Roman Catholic Church told them that the moon was made of cheese, they'd believe it. It would take an act of God to rescue them from their false traditions.
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot [1 Pet. 1:18–19].
"“Forasmuch as ye know”—and I hope you know that you have been redeemed.
In these verses Peter is speaking of the objective work of God for your salvation, which is redemption. My friend, He had to pay a price for you. You and I stood under the judgment of God, for the Scripture says “… the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek. 18:4). God has never revoked that decree. God never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The immutability of God is the terror of the wicked—if they give any thought to it at all. We hear it said that we are living in a new age with new thoughts and new values, but God has not changed. There would be no reason for Him to change because He knew the end from the beginning. Neither did He learn anything when He looked at the morning newspaper or heard the television newscaster this morning. It didn’t give Him any information because He knows all things—past, present, and future. And God has not changed His decree that “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
“Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold.” Although silver and gold can be purified by being put into a crucible—heated red-hot so the dross can be drawn off—even they will corrupt in time. If you have table service of silver which you use only for guests, you know that whenever you bring it out, it is tarnished and looks like pewter. It is corrupting. Silver and gold are perishable. We are not redeemed with corruptible things.
“From your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers.” Life is vain; that is, it is empty without the redemption of Christ. There is nothing quite so meaningless as human life apart from the redemption of Christ. Everything else in this world serves a purpose. Every animal and every plant on this earth serves a purpose. The sun, the moon, and every star in the sky serves a purpose. But man without God is meaningless. Someone has said that mankind is just a rash on the epidermis of a minor planet! Well, that’s about all man is apart from God. We have not been redeemed by corruptible things—not anything from this empty life. Man has nothing to offer to God for his own redemption. My friend, what do you have that God needs?
God taught me how unimportant I was one summer when He put me flat on my back. I was scheduled to conduct Bible conferences in the Northwest, and I thought they were important. God said to me something like this, “Listen, I got along without you before you got here, and I’m going to get along without you after you leave. You think that speaking at those conferences is important, but I want you to learn what is important. I want you to lie here flat on your back and look up to Me to find out that your relationship with Me is the most important thing there is. I have some things to teach you. Sometimes when you teach My Word, you teach way out ahead of where you are living. I want you to find out that what I say in My Word is true, and a little suffering isn’t going to hurt you at all. It is going to mold you and shape you the way I want you to be.” My friend, I learned that I have nothing that God needs.
What can you or I do today to redeem ourselves? Nothing! Then how can we be redeemed?
“With the precious blood of Christ.” Here again Simon Peter, that rugged fisherman, says that the blood of Christ is precious. As I have said before the blood of Christ is not mentioned in some religious circles. The words are omitted from the hymnals of many liberal churches. Their reasoning is that the blood is crude. Well, I don’t think it is crude, and certainly Simon Peter didn’t think it was crude. He said it was precious.
“With the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Simon Peter, who lived with Jesus Christ for three years, said that He was without blemish and without spot. He was absolutely sinless. I will take Peter’s word for it—certainly he is in a better position to judge than modern authors who depict Jesus as just another sinful man. The modern authors write for money, but Simon Peter wasn’t in the moneymaking business. All he got for his witness of Christ was suffering and finally crucifixion. He said that we were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, “but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” This is an objective statement of our redemption. This is what God did for you and me." McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. 5:685-686
Also
see:
No Mary Worship
Siblings of Jesus
Mary was not a perpetual virgin as Catholics teach.
