Do you have Religion or Jesus

Religion

Religion is defined in the american dictionary as “the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods”

Religion is based on a set of Laws or traditions that you have to follow

we have very religious people in our churches today. many of you will say Pastor that is a great thing. but lets look this morning at what Jesus says to the religious people of His day?

Matthew 23:23–28 ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

English Standard Version Chapter 23

33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

We see here Jesus did not like Religious people. Why ?

Religious people cast all their faith on themselves.

I will tell you something this morning, one of the hardest things that I have to say from this pulpit. they are people inside this church that are dying and going to Hell believing they are saved but they are just religious.

if you asked yourself in your mind is it me i will have to say probably so

So know some of you are asking what do i do then how am i all for Christ.

Lets see Paul Show us how to be saved and where religion will get us.

(1). He Reminds Them They Are Free in Christ (vs 7-12).

Paul here in Vs 8 says when you was in the world you did not know God and you were enslaved to your religion.

they were of pagan religions before they came to Christ

that is a very important to understand to see what Paul is trying to say to the Galatians

The gospel is not ‘Jesus + keeping rules & regulations.

The gospel is not ‘Jesus + trying my best to top up what he has done’

The gospel is a ‘gospel + nothing’. ‘Grace plus nothing’.

The gospel is being saved by grace through faith;

It is ‘Jesus + nothing’.

b. Vs 10 he talks about religion again

i.You observe days and months and seasons and years: The false teachers among the Galatians demanded the observance of days and months and seasons and years and other such legalistic matters and acted as if this would lead them into a higher plane of spirituality. Yet all these weak and beggarly elements of legalism did was to bring them into bondage.