KEY SCRIPTURE: John 5:12 KJV “Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?”

In our previous study we looked at some of the contrasts between conventional religion and true Christianity. Religion is basically an expression of one’s efforts without any special reliance on the grace of God, to please God. Love for God and man is very much lacking in the heart of a religious person. He is very strict with observing the law, yet breaks the law at the blind side of all. In our key scripture these religious people were insisting on why the Lord will ask him to carry the mat on a sabbath day. They were not in any way concerned about who he was, or why he should be carrying his mat in the first place. Religion from our topic is a legalistic catastrophy. This man was carrying his mat because the Lord Jesus asked him to do so. How on earth could Jesus have gone wrong with the observation of the sabbath. He is the Lord of the sabbath, yet these legalistic zealots were questioning his wisdom in asking the impotent man to carry his mat.

Religious people are self-driven individuals, whiles true Christians are spirit driven. These religious ones attribute a lot of things to themselves. Religious people have difficulty in believing the miraculous. John 9:18 KJV” But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.” In this verse the Lord Jesus healed a blind man, but the religious Jews argued with him whether he had been healed. Another sign of a religious person is that they speak more of their denomination, than the larger body of Christ. They are denominationalists, rather than looking at the church as a bigger body of believers coming from so many denominations.

Any person who does not believe in Jesus as his Lord and Saviour, but believes in some deity is a religious person. Dear one I wish to humbly submit to you, that, you must bow to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Acts 4:12 KJV” Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Jesus is the only Saviour. There are many who profess to be Christians, yet they see the above traits of a religious person in them. Dear one do not argue with the truth. Just humble yourself in your heart, and repent from the deception of the devil. Thank God for exposing the truth to you and surrender your life to Jesus

THOUGHT: RELIGIOUSITY IS THE GREATEST DECEPTION OF ALL TIME, BREAK AWAY FROM IT.

FURTHER STUDIES

Galatians 5:4 KJV “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”

1Corinth 15:56 KJV “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”