Mere Religion
Mere Religion
God's religion never yet made a man miserable.
Think that one through.
Maybe all that you've had through the years is just religion.
There are thousands of people that all on earth they ever had is religion, and just enough religion to make them miserable.
They are having a terrible time, just an awful time being religious.
Every Sunday morning our churches are filled with religious people, and in many instances even the one who stands behind the pulpit has nothing more or less than his religion.
The Bible has never become alive to him. Jesus Christ has never really become a living personality to him.
God the Father is still one that is very mystical, far off, he knows not where.
You can perceive it in his prayers.
He isn't quite sure to whom he is praying, whether or not he is really praying to a person, or if anyone at all is hearing his prayers.
That is the reason why the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit are never real to him.
The Holy Spirit can never get through to a person who is merely religious.
There is a mighty big difference between religion and the Person of God the Father, the Person of Jesus Christ the Son, and the Person of the Holy Spirit!
May I ask you where you stand?
Are you merely a religious person?
If you are, you are not alone.
There are tens of thousands exactly like you.
But watch. If your life is centered around a person, you have something MORE than religion.
You have a purpose for living.
The Bible and God's Word are real to you.
You have joy, you have peace of mind and God's religion never yet made a man miserable!
Nor does the Lord Jesus Christ delight in misery!
It is amazing how many religious people have a theology all of their own, a doctrine all of their own, and it includes the fact that God delights in misery and in making people miserable.
Did not the Savior Himself say,
'These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full"
(John 15 :11) ?
Cold religion does not give joy.
Now remember, there is a right way of making the most of both worlds.
One way is right. Any other way is wrong.
If your life revolves around the person of Jesus, not simply as an influence, not as a wonderful example, but the person of Jesus as the very Son of the living God who forgives your sin.
One who hears the cry from your heart, then yours is not mere cold religion.
How can you know anything but victory when you are assured that there is a person who ever lives to make intercession for you, a great High Priest, One who is interested in you as an individual?
Mere religion does not give you a great High Priest, an Advocate, One who left you His Name to use before He went away.
Jesus said, ''Here, I give you my name to use, and when you come into the presence of the holy Father, present my name.
Come in my name before the throne of One who is absolute perfection, absolute holiness and you will have a hearing."
(John 14:13-14; John 15:16; John 16:23,26,27)
Religion doesn't do that for you.
Religion is cold.
Religion is something abstract.
There is no warmth or love in religion.
There is no real strength in religion.
It won't stand the test when you come face to face with temptation.
It will not stand the test when you come face to face with disappointment.
It will not stand the test when you come face to face with the open grave or eternity.
Do not rely on mere religion.
If you do, it will never stand the test.
The Heavenly Father is a person, Jesus Christ is a person and the Holy Spirit is a person.
True Christianity is not religion, it is a relationship with the Persons of the Trinity:
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
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