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NORTH CHRISTIAN CHURCH PREP SCHOOL LESSON
Christianity vs. Religion Part 3
As we continue our study on the differences between Christianity and religion, I want
you to remember that religion is one of Satan’s most powerful weapons. Christianity
applies the “words” from the Bible to real life situations. What does God want to give
us: a LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY or a life of rules and instructions on how to look holy to
others? Getting to know Jesus Christ through the Bible requires being taught its
mysteries. This can only be done with the power of the Holy Spirit as our teacher. By
learning these mysteries, we learn how to live the spiritual life. We also learn that we
have two choices when it comes to how we get to live with God forever. We can try
to be perfect and live up to God’s standards with our own power or we can accept
the free gift of Jesus and become righteous by His power. He always gives us the right
to CHOOSE! If He did not do this, we would be robots that He programmed to say, “I
LOVE YOU GOD” whenever He wanted us to. Think about it for a minute. If your
parents had a button that they could push that would make you say, “I love you
Mom and Dad”, would it make them all warm and fuzzy when you said it? Of course
not, THEY chose to make you say “I love you”, YOU did not. When God lets us choose
for or against Him and we choose for Him, that makes Him all warm and fuzzy! Well,
not really but I think you get my point. Living your life trying to be perfect, without the
filing of the Holy Spirit, to EARN your way to into Heaven is not what God wants for us.
Religion believes that not working to earn a place with God in Heaven is just “too
easy”. It argues that the “really bad sinners”, like murderers, cannot receive grace
and be saved, but they must WORK for salvation. What it sounds like they are saying is
“If that is true, then who will notice how good I am?!” Religion promotes credit for
people instead of all credit being given to the one who REALLY did all the work, Jesus
Christ. Well, what does the Bible have to say?
Galatians 2:16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the
Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we
may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works
of the Law no flesh will be justified.
Here is something we learned in our last lesson: Any attempt in our own human power
to become perfect to enter Heaven says that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross was
for NOTHING! May it never be!
Galatians 2:21b …for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died
needlessly.
This is so important for you to truly understand. Religion says,
“You can’t, you sinner, just accept Jesus as your Savior, you
must earn your way to Heaven”. Let me ask you this. Even
BEFORE the Law was given, Abraham “believed” and was
saved. How does religion explain that? God is immutable (He
never changes). What was good enough for Him then is good
enough for anyone at any point in human history, right?!! You
will face religion throughout your life. Don’t ever think you
have so much truth that no one will ever be able to trick you.
Satan is a genius and, no offense; you are not (neither am I).
We must study God’s Word to give the truth in our soul
“muscles”.
Once you are saved you are saved FOREVER!! You did nothing to deserve it. God did
the work for our salvation and God cannot make a mistake!
1 Corinthians 4:7 For who regards you as superior? And what do you have that you
did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received
it?
Since Satan is smarter than us, he has an endless supply of
stumbling blocks for us. By the year A.D. 70 he had
influenced the Jewish rabbis, via religion, to add 341 rules
for daily life. Imagine the stress! Imagine having to follow
341 rules! How long would it take for you to remember
them all???
Acts 15:10 Now therefore why do you put God to the test
by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which
neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
This is telling us that nobody has ever been able to live up to the Law. The religious
people were suggesting that they WERE! What is the result of such arrogant thinking?
Well, when you insist on completing an impossible task, you are a slave to that task
forever. That is what legalism does. It makes you a slave to rules. Eventually, you
become so weary that you either give up completely or you continue in misery your
whole life…that stinks! So what’s the key to freedom in this situation?
Do NOT accept what legalism proposes!!! Reject the false teaching of legalism and
religion! There is absolutely, positively no rest or peace of mind in that system of
thinking. Jesus Christ offers us the opposite:
Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you
rest.”
You are never “safe” from this type of thinking trying to sneak into your life and only
the Truth can protect you. We are not supposed to just collect a bunch of knowledge
but, rather, the Holy Spirit is to use those words to change our thinking. Remember the
Word of God is like a two edged sword and cuts away at our bad thoughts and
replaces them with Christ’s perfect thoughts. So, we are not to memorize the Bible
and follow rules, but we are to consider Jesus our Lord and Savior and learn to love
Him. Once we do that, we follow rules because we want to! Then we become
confident and are able to give a defense for what we believe.
1 Peter 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a
defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet
with gentleness and reverence;
Have you ever been talking to someone and been so confident in what you were
saying and then, all of a sudden, they say one thing and you get all rattled in the
brain? This can really freak you out, especially if it comes to the Word of God.
Legalistic thinking can rattle us if it can find a weak spot in our own system of thinking.
This shows us how powerful legalism is and how it takes a genius like Satan to design
it. Legalistic thinking is a real source of power to those who allow it to be. It is a close
relative of fear. Fear only has power over us if we allow a problem in our life to turn
into stress. Problems are OUTSIDE, but stress is INSIDE. When we let the “outside”
problem control our thinking or be the center of our thoughts, it causes “INSIDE” stress.
What is legalism and religion’s greatest power source? FEAR! Fear of what, you ask?
Fear of messing up, of course! This isn’t very hard when you have 341 rules to live by,
right?! The opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is fear! If legalism and
religion cause fear (and they do), and we are commanded to love one another,
how can we do both? We can’t! Only one of these can control our thoughts at a
time, either fear of love! There is no fear in love because perfect love casts out fear (I
John 4:18). God is perfect love so there is no fear in God. Then, how can religion
claim belief in the same God that Christianity does? Well, Satan, the master trickster
has convinced those who follow religion that it does! They bought the lie and now
they are in bondage to have to follow all those rules! God says, “I love you. Repentadmit you are a sinner and that you need a savior, accept my Son as your Lord and
Savior, and you will have “Love” living in you. You then can love others the same way
I love you: unconditionally, with no strings attached. I love you because of the love
within Me, not because of what you do or do not do!” Shouldn’t it be easier to love
than to fear?
In religion, success or failure is based on YOUR performance. That’s called creature
credit. Instead of giving God the glory, we take it for ourselves. Satan loves creature
credit because he always ends up at the top of the heap! He was the most beautiful,
intelligent creature created by the hand of God. So, if you want to live in the
“creature credit” world, you are constantly living in fear of NOT getting the credit.
Once you get caught up in this type of thinking, Satan and his goonies have all kinds
of ways to keep you in bondage; money, fame, beauty, even doing good deeds in
your own human power. After all, that’s where the rewards are, right? You want
rewards don’t you? Don’t ever be impressed by those who are fooled by Satan’s
tricks. They look so happy and they have so much money and everyone thinks they
are amazing. Well, what will you give in exchange for your SOUL? Freedom in your
soul is what you give up when you live for those things. When you live for God He
promises blessings. REAL blessings!
Matthew 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all of these things
shall be given to you.
He gives you blessings when you can handle them. He doesn’t give you blessings that
will make you turn and worship the blessing instead of Him. Satan wants to give you
“things” so that you never look to God for anything. He doesn’t want you to realize
that everything in this life stays here when you die! He doesn’t want you thinking
about eternity and how long it is! He wants you only thinking about the “rules” of his
game! You have a choice, kids, who will be your master? It takes LEARNING to stay
focused on God’s plan for your life. Our faith is founded on what we learn.
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Don’t trade in your ticket to contentment, freedom, and love for a life of slavery.
Recognize legalism and religion for what they are, a counterfeit of the truth that sets
you free.
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Pastor Edward J. Collins
© 2015 North Christian Church