When Jesus is lifted up in his Church, his presence is the Church’s power—the shout of a king is in the midst of her. “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” Let us go out this morning on our work of soul fishing, looking up in faith, and around us in solemn anxiety. Let us toil till night comes, and we shall not labour in vain, for he who bids us let down the net, will fill it with fishes.
Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening.
Here is a fact.
Every religion on earth has a limit. Every man, whom the people have elevated, is still nothing more than a man. Every rite, every ordinance, every prescribed ritual, and every perception of holy in these religions, are limited to the mind of man. They are established by man. They cannot help but be faulty and full of limit.
But the majesty of Christ spawns its own personal religion in the ones he chooses to embrace. Over the centuries man has tried to bridal that faith in Christ. But God has chosen his High Priest, Jesus. And the response of his people is a direct result of his interaction with them. He teaches them to listen. He teaches them to obey. And as every man is his own nation, customs and language, the language Christ speaks to his people is that people’s language.
There is no limit in Christ.
Another proof that the religions of this world are not from God is the platitude of them. While Christ is one, man cannot help but be many (with endless vagaries, I might add).
If you would prove that this is true, believe in Christ alone. The religions of this world mimic opinion. While Christ is the exact representation of the living God himself.
Man can only speak about God. Christ speaks from God.
People struggle all over the world, all day long, from birth to death. They all desire peace. I am put in mind of all the useless trinkets of religion this world offers as a pacifier. Are the people satisfied? Can a baby survive on a piece of rubber stuck in his mouth? Isn’t it the obligation of adults to feed the children?
God brought you to His Holy Son that you may have peace. He delivers you everlasting confidence before Him all your days.
Gods people eat from an overflowing banquet table filled with all the beautiful things the impoverished nations need.
Shall we sit on the front steps of His exquisite house and eat the good things in full sight of all the people who are starving? Or should we spend our lives here trying to convince the starving that what we eat is LIFE?
Let each of God’s people wrestle with the answer.
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” (copied from biblehub.com)
Photo of lithograph from wikipedia
Close your eyes. Imagine that your house is perfectly clean. Keep them closed long enough, imagine hard enough, and when you open them you will believe it is clean. Imagination is powerful enough to destroy reality.
Imagine that you are a Christian. Keep your eyes closed to the reality of the things you do. And when you open your eyes, before The living God's Christ, you will believe that you have been a Christlike one all your life.
How many live their religion in the realm of imagination? The sunrise is not imaginary. Neither is the Son, nor He in us.
This is what I am learning from God.
No religion of man will produce the key to the front door of God’s house. At best it can only bring us to within sight of His Holy Mountain (perhaps even a rise in the ground at the foothills). This is also true of altered Christianity.
We should not be deceived by our own mind; NOTHING inhabits the things of God’s land but the things of God. Utter truth and perfect sobriety are the consuming joy of Christ’s kingdom.
Anything other than Christ is nothing more than a passing dot of a shadow in a darkened place. Life is Life. Everything else is death.
Even those who make a religion out of telling others about these things will find their religion has an end. Evangelism and prophecy will not save us. It can only lead others to such as this post. For the day will come when no one will say to his neighbor “Know ye the Lord”. All things will be revealed to all God’s creatures.
Let’s stop drinking our own fermented opinions. May we sober up.
Learn with me. On what are you placing all your hope? Have you examined your religion; those things you are doing because you think they please God?
We: Live, Die, Face Judgment. Jesus or die twice.
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