I have chosen the Gospel of John as the subject. I pray that these will be a blessing and an edification for the saints.
JOHN 5:40-43
40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. 41 I receive not honour from men. 42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. 43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
Relying upon religion to obtain life is like trying to make a corpse look better by dressing it up in the finest of clothing. No matter how good it may look, eventually it's still going to stink. Spray cologne on it - that may help for a while, but corruption will have its way. And absolutely none of those efforts will do a thing to bring life to the dead.
The LORD Jesus Christ, referring to the religious leadership on His day put it in similar terms:
MATTHEW 23:27-28
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Those enthralled with religion will have no perceived need for Jesus (JOHN 9:41), at least the biblical Jesus - they will not come to Him for life, because they believe they already have it! Those who do come to the LORD honor Him by doing so, but the religious dishonor the LORD by preferring their rituals, rites, dogmas more than the living LORD Whose mission was to bring us eternal life by the knowledge of the Father and Himself (JOHN 17:3), but this isn't head knowledge, but knowledge of the heart: I can know a lot about George Washington if I study his life from various books, but I can't know the man himself because he's dead.
People may know a lot about Jesus historically, or even from reading the Bible, but the sort of knowledge they need to obtain life is to know Him personally, which is entirely possible because HE LIVES! He is our RISEN LORD Who has risen indeed!
REVELATION 1:18
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
The religious of this world don't know the LORD because they are not born of GOD, they have not the Spirit of Christ indwelling them, therefore are not GOD's children because they only have the natural physical life that is prone to sin nature in motive and action (what the BIble refers to as "the flesh"):
ROMANS 8:8-10
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (See also JOHN 1:11-13)
However, the LORD knows all about them:
Vs. 42 "But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you".
No one has GOD's love abiding in them naturally - it must dwell there by the SUPER-natural act of GOD imparting His Spirit to them, so that the very Spirit of GOD takes up residence in that person, who as a born again believer, becomes a child of GOD (JOHN 1:12) and a living temple of the Holy Spirit and a new creation (1 COR 3:16; 2 COR 5:17)!
To know Jesus personally is to love Him, and if any knows the love of the LORD and returns that love in worshipful adoration shows the spiritual life that only the LORD can and will give!
JOHN 7:37-38
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Religion is all about externals: ritual and formula that may involve prescribed prayers, candles, incense and other forms of liturgical practice. It may make an impression on one's personal morality, but this is something enforced from without, not born from within.
When we come to Jesus, admitting our need, our thirst, and our inability to find satisfaction for ourselves we may come to Him Who alone brings satisfaction to the weary and parched soul, we find that by believing in Him by faith, we will find "living water" welling up in our hearts; spiritual reality in Christ is internal but flows outward to affect the entire life.
Vs. 43 "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive."
The LORD came in the Father's name - but because the religious really don't know the Father, because they don't know GOD as Father, they neither know the Son, and they receive neither (see JOHN 8:54-56).
What is tragic is that while they reject the LORD that the Father sent, the religious will accept the one who comes in his own name - and religion at heart is very much the same, no matter if it wears the Islamic label, Hindu label, Roman Catholic label, Mormon or Seventh Day Adventist label - no matter what label, religion has the same ingredients: a salvation by works, of performance, or rules and regulations - and at the center of it all is pride: the ambition and motivation that we ourselves are 'god' and are able to save ourselves.
This same pride and sense of 'godhood' is what will draw all religion to worship the Beast under a one world religion.
JOHN 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Believing leads to knowing and knowing Christ is where of all who are born of the Spirit find everlasting life.
GALATIANS 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
The religious are still in charge of their lives, for they have no other power other than self-will by which to govern their lives. However, those who belong to Christ, have His Spirit indwelling them and by faith, able to walk after Him, having surrendered their lives to the LORD Who saved them from their sins, justifying them freely by His grace (the singular means of justification before GOD!). Just as Christ gave Himself for us, we may give ourselves to Him in sweet surrender! This surrender starts at the cross where we cease in the labors of self-justification and find rest in the finished work of Christ's cross where He paid for our sins and delivers eternal life, ratified by heaven and proven by that empty tomb! The LORD Jesus becomes our sabbath rest, where we stop trying to justify ourselves by religion and rather rest in the finished work of the Cross!
JAMES 1:12
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
The life we find in Christ is powerful enough to arrest the process of sin and spiritual decay in our lives; it is powerful enough in us so that we may endure temptation and resist sin to the uttermost, all from the motivation of love for Him - and this holds the promise of the crown of life!
1 JOHN 3:16
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
This life-giving love that we receive from the LORD as well as the love we receive as a result of Christ's life in us, are to be shared with the brethren. We follow the LORD's example as no religious person possibly could, and exhibit the same quality of love for our fellow saints as that demonstrated by the LORD!
JUDE 1:21
Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Beloved of the LORD, let us keep ourselves in the love of GOD, for it is the House that love built: we may leave that house, and not experience GOD's love for us, but it doesn't at all mean that GOD loves us no longer, but that we are in a place, away from the LORD, where we can't experience it. Let us remain in the house of GOD's love and keep our residence there; for we are the heirs of His mercy and eternal life!
Next time, we'll look at JOHN 5:44-47 with the message entitled, "Unbelief".
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