One of the biggest antagonists to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is RELIGION. What do I mean when I say religion? This system of seeking after self-righteousness under the guise of pleasing God. It is keeping ordinances, traditions, and a lot of self effort to stay in the good graces of God. Religion is the veil that hides Jesus from the masses. It is a false sense of security that makes the guilty party feel better about themselves. Religion attempts to ease the discomfort of the deep-seeded guilt, and when it fails it brings the victim to a state of self loathing and hatred for never reaching the desired level of righteousness. It is an itch that when scratched continues to itch more and more without ever reaching the desired satisfaction. Religion never does satisfy fully. Just like sin, it might be pleasurable for a season, but in the end it always leaves the victim life empty, meaningless and his soul condemned. Often the true gospel message is preached, but is made impotent and powerless by the onslaught of "do's and don't's" that reverberate through the hearers mind. Especially among "church goers" that have never come to the knowledge of the truth and found that release. Also there are internal voices that say, "It can't be that easy," or , "That just sounds too good to be true". It is almost too good to be true that God could call us guilty, hell-deserving sinners, completely righteous, and do it as a free gift. How could a just and righteous God do that? Because he called and treated His Son as if He were all the guilty sinners in the world and took out His wrath on Him.
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Believing the gospel of Jesus Christ forces us to acknowledge that we have nothing to offer God, we have nothing we can do, we are completely helpless hell-trodden sinners, who are without hope and have only Jesus who can save us. We are shipwrecked in the middle of the ocean and Jesus is the only one within a million miles, and the only one with the means to save. You believe that and you're saved. There is no self effort in the Gospel. It is His works, His righteousness, His power, His glory, His Blood. Nothing for us to do here. All God's doings. All Jesus and His righteousness. No room for self effort here. Makes a person feel a completely helpless in himself. But when that release comes when a person lets go of his own righteousness as a means to save himself, and clings only to Christ, it is a wonderful thing. What a relief when one finally lets go and just believes! This is why religion is so pointless. It continues on from here and says, "Just continue on with your self effort to please God and go to heaven". And God is saying that He is sick of all our religion and self effort. The whole point to the salvation is so that we could once again be rightly related to God (not by something we do, but something He did) and fellowship with Him in a walk of faith, believing God moment to moment. Just imagine a man who is continuously running around buying things and dressing himself up to show his wife that he loves her. Imagine a man who is always working to make a better living, striving to make more money so his wife will see that he adores her. Wouldn't she soon tell him to stop and just look at her? Perhaps go for a walk together and enjoy each others company? You see, all God wants is us. All God wants is to walk with us in the cool of the day again, like He did with Adam in the garden. God is lonely for our company. Jesus is lonely for our company. Cast off your empty religion. Jesus is all you need.
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