I have chosen the Gospel of John as the subject. These articles will not run contiguously on this blog but peppered throughout and in the midst of other articles (though some might be posted consecutively). I pray that these will be a blessing and an edification for the saints.
JOHN 5:8-16
8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. 11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. 12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? 13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. 15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. 16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
Religion and the religious versus true biblical spiritual life and saints of God will always be opposed to each other. The greatest force of persecution against the saints of God will be and always has been the religious. Cain killed Abel because his religious persuasion was rejected, while Abel obeyed God's directive for true worship and was accepted.
Needless to say the greatest human persecutors of the LORD Jesus was the religious establishment known as the Sanhedrin.
And we see here in our text that this is certainly the case regarding the LORD's miraculous work on this poor man who was crippled for thirty-eight years. The LORD speaks His Word, miraculous power is released, and this man who didn't take a single step in nearly four decades found that he could walk! As he carried his bed (a stretcher really) that Levitically constituted 'a burden' (which was unlawful to carry on the Sabbath; vs. 10), the religious leaders rebuked him for his violation.
What's astounding is that this man informed these leaders that a certain man healed him and told him to take up his bed and walk. And when they learned that it was Jesus Who did this, they persecuted Him and even determined to kill Him because He healed on the Sabbath! How blind religion can make us, so that when we see a genuine work of God, we don't even acknowledge it!
A similar event happened where a man with a withered (paralyzed) hand was involved (MATT 12:9-14) and on that occasion the LORD said:
MATTHEW 12:11-12
11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
12 How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
Absolutely it's lawful to do well on the Sabbath, because man was not created for the purpose of keeping the Sabbath, but rather the Sabbath was created for the rest, blessing of man, and most of all, to sanctify a day in which his focus would be towards the LORD (MARK 2:27).
Religion will insist on rules, regulations, restrictions, abstaining and disallowing things all in a vain attempt to create a self-generated form of righteousness. I often refer to 'religion' in it's general meaning as "artificial righteousness" - and this sort of erection is built on a foundation of pride and false beliefs/doctrines - what the Bible calls "leaven". Something we should be adamant about getting rid of in our lives!
Religion and legalism goes hand in hand and both are the product of human effort to prove and justify one's own inherent goodness. So, quite naturally, religion will squawk and scream, object to and oppress the truth of God's Word which testifies to the truth regarding the human heart and nature (JER 17:9; ROM 3:10,20-23).
We can be sure that where the LORD is doing a work, religion will be there to oppose it, and in this sense, religion serves the enemy of the church quite well. In fact, we know what the religion of the last days will be like - it will be globally unified into what we see in REVELATION Ch. 17 & 18: "The Whore of Babylon" and in the worshipful employ of the anti-Christ!
But how does the Bible describe "true religion"?
JAMES 1:27
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
It's about ministering to the needy and humble, not about self-serving aggrandizement via religious pride. It's about keeping oneself separate and clean from the foulness of this world's religious and philosophical ideologies (One of the seven churches of REVELATION failed miserably at this: Pergamos).
It's about being sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit for a love relationship with our Father, based upon the atoning work of grace accomplished by Christ's sacrifice on the cross of Calvary!
Just as this cripple was healed so that he could walk, we who were sinners by nature were spiritually crippled, unable to walk with the LORD in truth and righteousness. Yet the LORD touched us, raised us up and by the spiritual rebirth enabled us by the Life-giving Spirit to walk in the Spirit (GAL 5:25).
And what the LORD told this man, He tells us as well (vs. 14): to refrain from the awful power of sin and resist all temptation ("lest a worse thing happen"). Sanctification will always strengthen our walk with the LORD, while sin will always weaken it. Sin is the most destructive force in all creation - it took no one less than God Incarnate to ruin its power!
Let us as children of God strip away any veneer of religious show and hypocrisy; let us leave off any self-efforts to prove our own worthiness and lay before our LORD in complete submission and gratitude for the salvation that He alone afforded us!
HEBREWS 9:12
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. AMEN!
THERE ARE JUST TWO RELIGIONS IN THE WORLD
JOHN MacARTHUR
JOHN MacARTHUR
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