Religion Without Christ

The word religion is used two different ways in the New Testament. In the book of James, for instance, it's used in a positive fashion. James says pure religion and undefiled is this, the minister to the widows and the orphans and to live a life that's unspotted from the world. And so James uses the word as a positive demonstration of our relationship with God in the good works that we do. So the word religion is used that way, but only in that instance in the New Testament is used in a positive way. All the other times it's used in a negative way. For instance, Paul in Acts 26 and twice in Galatians 1 speaks of the Jewish religion and by that he means the efforts of first century Jews to please God through their own efforts and their own works. And so religion most often in the New Testament refers to people's efforts to please God and find their own way to God through their own works, through their good deeds, through their good life. And so most often the word religion is used in a negative fashion in the New Testament. And that's the way I'm using the term today in this message religion without Christ. We have a wonderful illustration of that, a gripping sad illustration of that in John chapter 7. As we journey through the gospel of John, we come to chapter 7 today and we find an illustration of religion without Christ. The chapter begins this way in verse 1 after this. Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. With the two words after this, John summarizes six months of activity of Jesus in Galilee chapter 6 starts with the feast of Passover in the spring. Chapter 7 starts with the feast of unleavened or feast of tabernacles in the fall. Six months have passed and we know nothing in John's gospel of what he has done. Actually John only has one event in an 18 month period of Jesus ministering in Galilee. And that event is what we saw last time in the weeks before that in chapter 6. So John summarizes here the fact that Jesus has been ministering in Galilee. But it's now time to go to Jerusalem for the feast of tabernacles. Verse 2 tells us when the Jewish feast festival of tabernacles was near. And it's important to understand what that feast and festival was all about because it will color everything Jesus will do and say in the next two or three chapters. And so it's important to spend just a moment to understand the feast of tabernacles was not only a fall festival celebrating the harvest of Israel. The date and fig harvest but it was also a time to commemorate God's provision and leading in the nation of Israel through their journeys in the wilderness in the Old Testament. And so it was a religious festival to look back and remember all the way God had led them in the wilderness. The commemoration of God's provision and goodness to them. And so there would be many sacrifices offered in this week-long festival in Jerusalem. There would be trumpets blown in the temple every day as a reminder of the trumpets on Mount Sinai that blew to call the people to God. There would be a ceremony every day of the pouring out of water reminding the people of the water coming from the rock. The inner sanctuary of the temple would be illuminated at night reminding the people of the pillar of fire by night that led the children of Israel. There would be torch light processions during the day all week long to remind the people of the pillar of cloud by day that would lead them through the wilderness. And they would live in these shelters similar to what you see on the screen. These lean to shelters and booths made of olive branches to remind them of the people of Israel intense and camping out under the open sky in the wilderness. And so it was a religious festival. It was highly highly involved with symbolism and religious ceremonies that were designed to remind people of God's provision for them in the Old Testament. There would be over two million Jews in and around Jerusalem for this great week-long festival. But John mentions three groups that will be there in Jerusalem. He mentions the leaders of the Jews in verse one and also in verse 11. He mentions Jesus' brothers in verse three and then he mentions the crowds in verse 12. Those three groups demonstrate four marks of religion without Christ because none of them believe in Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. All three of those groups come to Jerusalem to observe religious festivals but they leave Christ behind. They leave Christ out of their religious festivals. And so this story becomes a dramatic and gripping illustration of what it means to have religion but not have Christ to have religion without Christ. Four marks. This is what it looks like. This is how it operates. The first mark is hatred for Christ. Look at it in verse one. After this Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea which is the province where Jerusalem, the capital is, the religious center, didn't want to go about there because the Jewish leaders were looking for a way to kill him. This is a direct hatred of Christ. No question here. The religious leaders want to kill him and they've made their their desire known ever since chapter five months ago when Jesus healed a man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath day and then claimed to be equal with God. Chapter five verse 18 says from that time on they sought to kill him. Jesus knowing that and knowing it's not his time to die yet stays in Galilee away from the area where the religious leaders are. They want to kill him. Satan has always hated Jesus and wants to do away with Christ. Even religion is okay if it is without Christ but Satan's program has always been to rub Christ's name out to move him to the marginalized edges of culture and society and to have a culture without Christ that is so obvious in our culture today. Satan still hates Jesus. Satan hates Christ and there are direct attacks against him today in our very country and our culture today where Jesus is not wanted. Not only has he been pushed out of the government out of anything that has to do with government because of the fear of government supportive religion not only as Christ not welcome there but he's not welcome in the public sector at all. Try praying in any public meeting and you can pray as long as it's a generic prayer to some generic God but you try to pray in Jesus name and you'll be written out of town for that in many places in our country today. There are those who want a secular society, the humanists who want not only government or anything to do with government sponsorship but also the society as a whole to be without Christ. Just look at the newspapers, watch the news and the growing intolerance of Christianity today in our culture. You can speak ill of no one in our tolerant society except Christians and you can say whatever you want against Christians and that's okay but don't speak ill of any other religious group or of any other religious leader. It's always been Satan's way to hate Christ to want Christ out of anything to do with culture and society. Even Christ out of Christmas, Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth but the secularists, the humanists don't want Christ. Even in Christmas let's celebrate a secular holiday and leave Christ out of it. All of that is just a reflection of subtle satanic pressure, a direct hatred against Christ. We do not want Jesus, we do not want Christ in our culture. It is the same kind of hatred of Christ that was evident in the first century but not only is there a direct hatred of Christ, there is a more subtle hatred of Christ and this is on the part of those who are religious. There are a lot of religious people who will talk about Christ, speak of Christ, involve Christ in their religious ceremonies but it is a deluded Christ, it is not the Christ of the Bible, it is certainly not the Son of God, they will not admit that Christ is God. They will talk about Jesus as a good man, a good example and a good teacher but not the Son of God who came to die for our sins. That kind of Christ is out of vogue in many religious circles. So there is a more subtle hatred of Christ, represented in churches like Riverside Church in New York City and I don't mind mentioning them because they are very proud of what I'm going to say about them. You'll see a picture of them on the screen, this is a picture of the building in New York City, the tallest religious structure in the world built with Rockefeller money for the express purpose of promoting a liberal theology and a liberal social agenda. It is one of the most, if not the most, religiously liberal churches in America, the founding pastor of that church. Harry Emerson Faustick in the 1920s was an outspoken critic of the Bible, wrote books against the deity of Christ, denied everything in the word of God. The man who followed him and pastored there from 1947 to 1967 was a man by the name of Robert J. McCracken. I want to read a portion of a sermon of his, very brief portion, but enough for you to see what kind of churches talk about Jesus but not the Jesus we know from the Bible. Listen carefully what he said in a sermon on a text from scripture, John 12 where Jesus said, and if I be lifted up I will draw all men to me. This is what Robert McCracken had to say about that text. See what the word draw signifies and I'm quoting from his message, Christ makes no use of force. The only compulsion Christ knows is the compulsion of love. If the cross on which he died does not constrain you to become his follower, no other compulsion will be brought to bear upon you. Now listen to this statement very carefully. In the final case, he depended upon one thing, a supreme gesture, the sacrifice of himself at Calvary and he thought highly enough of man to believe that something in him would respond to that. Now that is what theologians call the moral influence view of the atonement. It has nothing to do with the Christ of the Bible or the death of Christ as presented in the Bible. What McCracken is saying and to many ears it sounds good but what McCracken is saying is the typical liberal view of the death of Christ. That it was just a moral example to us of how we ought to follow Jesus and do good to other people. Jesus believed in his message so much that he was willing to die for it. If that ultimate sacrifice doesn't motivate you to be a good person and to follow him and by followers of him, McCracken means to live like he lived, to be good to other people, to love other people. If it doesn't mean that to you then Jesus' sacrifice and death was in vain. There is nothing there about the substitutionary atonement of Christ that Christ died as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. There's no mention of sin at all in his message. It's all Jesus setting a good example with the extreme sacrifice of his own life. He believed so much in what he believed in. He was willing to give his life for it. Are you willing to give your life to love other people? That is a social gospel. That is not the gospel of the Bible and it is promoted in liberal churches all across our country. It is religion without Christ because Christ is left out except only as an example for us. He is not the son of God who came to die for our sins. And so if that's all you've got to offer what you end up doing and check their website, Riverside Church in New York City, check their website and this will be born out. If that's all you've got to offer then all you are is a social agency and that's exactly what Riverside Church is and many other liberal churches like it in America. Riverside Church has become a social agency promoting every left wing radical political and social agenda that our culture has today. I mean you mark it down there in it as far as every left wing radical liberal calls in society today that's what this church is all about. The church on the screen. This church and many other churches like us who still believe the Bible are about Christ and Christ's death on the cross is the only way for our salvation. Now there is a reason for the hatred of Christ it's in verse 7. Jesus speaking to his brother says the world cannot hate you but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. Jesus was very clear about sin. He was very clear about the works of his culture and the sin of his culture and because he called sin sin and identified what was evil in the culture of the day the culture the world system hated him. So the reason for the hatred of Christ today is because of those who stand squarely against sin and there is a rising tide a rising crescendo of hatred of Christ and what he stands for in his word today. I have here I'm not going to give all the examples because I don't have time but there are in recent news reports I've compiled 13 just in recent weeks of attacks against Christianity in our country because of people who are standing against sin standing for a traditional view a biblical view of marriage standing against evolution standing against abortion and because of those three stances and calling what the Bible calls evil evil people are losing their jobs today. Public employee high in the governmental system of Sacramento was fired because he's also a lay preacher in his African American church in Sacramento and he preached a message that was online calling homosexuality a sin and speaking against abortion and the city of Sacramento fired him for that reason. City of San Antonio has passed an ordinance that if you speak against homosexuality you will be fined a class C misdemeanor $500 a day. If you refuse to cater a same sex wedding you will be fined $500 a day. Similar ordinance passed in Houston May the 28th. It's beginning to sweep our country that what the Bible calls sin is no longer just accepted it is promoted and if you speak against it you can be fired you can be fined you can be thrown in prison. One of these is about a man who was thrown in prison overnight arrested and imprisoned overnight because he wanted advanced notice and appealed to the school system for advanced notice before his first grade student was taught about homosexuality in health class and because he wanted advanced notice so he could keep his kid home that day he was arrested and kept in prison overnight that's in the United States of America why because there is a hatred for Christ and because Christ calls the culture sins evil and so if we are going to take our stand with Christ we can expect an increasing marginalization to the fringes of society and opposition to everything the Bible stands for because even religion without Christ has a hatred for Christ but there's a second mark and that is selfish ambition. Religion without Christ is marked by selfish ambition look at verse 3 the challenge to Christ by his brothers Jesus brothers said to him leave Galilee and go to Judea so that your disciples there may see the works you do no one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret since you're doing these things show yourself to the world now again at first glance that sounds pretty good they want him to to go to Jerusalem and present himself as the Messiah really no look at verse 5 for even his own brothers did not believe in him so what are they saying what they're saying is if you really think you're a Messiah if you really want to lay some claim to being a public figure and they can't deny the fact that he's done miracles over the last 18 months in Galilee they don't deny that they say since you're doing these things but basically they're saying if you really want to lay claim to being a public figure get out a Galilee get down to Jerusalem that's where the action is that's where their political machines are and so get down there in fact there'll be two million people down there this week great opportunity for you to state your claim make a name for yourself show yourself to the world they had no more of a view of Christ than any of the religious leaders did they saw him as a possible political figure the religious leaders are threatened to buy that I think his brothers felt like something might come to them you know if he gets king we're in a good position maybe to get some special treatment we might get exempt from Roman taxes so their whole motivation was basically promote yourself get your name out there Jesus if you really want to be a political figure stop preaching away the crowds like you did in chapter six do something spectacular in Jerusalem to win when their popularity back so it's all about selfish ambition and notice the answer from Christ in verse six therefore Jesus told them my time is not yet here for you anytime we'll do my time is not yet here Jesus uses a particular word for time which does not have to do with the chronological progression of time it's not days and weeks and months and years passing it is a particular word for time which means an opportune time a special moment where you seize an opportunity the suitable time the right time the opportune time Jesus is saying it is not yet that time for me to die I'm operating on God's timetable and Jesus talks a lot about that in John's gospel everything Christ did was was geared toward God's timetable he was on God's clock and so there was a particular time when he would go to Jerusalem and deliver his life up for the salvation of the world there would be a time for that but now was not the time this was not the time for him to spend a whole week in Jerusalem among the religious leaders who wanted to kill him six months from now it will happen he'll go to Passover he'll be arrested he'll be crucified but now's not the time Jesus will go up but for only half the feast Jesus is operating on God's timetable and he says to his disciples that doesn't make any difference to you anytime is okay with you because you don't know him you don't know me and so your ignorant of God's purpose that's all packed into that statement anytime we'll do for you because you know nothing of God's purpose you know nothing of God's plan all you want is for me to go promote myself make a name for myself prove myself it's all about self-ambition and need I say that much that happens in religion today is about selfish ambition it is about making a name it is about gaining popularity it is about ambition and pushing yourself forward there is much of that in religion today and I will say this I'll go a step further and say that anyone anyone who ministers anyone who serves the church anyone who stands up front and preaches must be aware of that sinful selfish tendency to desire the glory for yourself to desire to get a name for yourself to desire that people follow you and you're the center of attraction you're the center of attention that is a danger of any center even centers redeemed by the grace of God and so we need to be careful that not nothing that we do is geared towards selfish ambition geared toward making a name for ourselves but it all is about Christ he is the one to be honored he is the one to be exalted he is the one to be talked about not ourselves like Paul said we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus and him crucified that is the essence of ministry and message not selfish ambition a third mark of religion without Christ is empty ritual empty ritual by that I mean going through religious ceremonies but no focus upon Christ it's all empty notice what Jesus says to his brothers in verse 8 you go to the festival I am not going up to this festival because my time has not yet fully come after he said this he stayed in Galilee however after his brothers had left for the festival he went also not publicly but in secret now was Jesus lying when he said in verse 8 I'm not going to go and then later he goes no obviously not most of you will have some kind of marginal note in your Bible that says many of the early copies of the New Testament had this this expression in verse 8 you go to the festival I am not yet going and even if that was not the original text certainly it's the idea what Jesus is saying is I'm not going with you I'm not going for the purposes that you want me to go I'm not even going to go now with the great caravans of people going to the feast from from Galilee I'm not going now he waits and he goes later verse 14 will tell us it was halfway through the festival that Jesus appeared in Jerusalem so he waited halfway through the week before he went but here's the picture I want you to see and that has that he sends his brothers off to a religious festival and denies them his presence they go willingly without him they go to a religious scene but without Christ they go to worship but without Christ they go to a place where there will be all kinds of religious ceremonies performances forms zealous religious music but Christ is not there he is not in their hearts and he is not there with them because there is no recognition of who Christ really is religion without Christ is full of empty ritual and I ask again ourselves this question don't think of other churches don't think of other people let's think of ourselves are we any better when we come to church with our minds full of everything but Christ and while we may go through the ritual and through the ceremonies we may sing the songs and give our gifts and even listen apparently attentively to the word of God there is very little thought of Christ if that is the case with you then you are no better off than those who went to the Jerusalem temple and left Christ behind we must make sure that our focus is on Christ when we come to this place that our focus is not on what I hear so often what can I get out of this please give me something to take home with me no no this service is about bringing something for the glory of Christ so that we can offer him our worship our love our adoration our submission to his word it's not at all what I get out of it it's what we give him it's all about Jesus it's all about Christ and that must be our focus if it is not we're no better than the religionists who go through the forms and the ceremonies without Christ we're no better off than his brothers religion without Christ is marked by empty ritual but finally religion without Christ is marked by slavery to popular opinion notice it in verse 11 now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking where is he the Jewish leaders the Jewish religious leaders they expect Jesus to be there fix because what because they see him as nothing more than a political figure who's trying to gain a following and what better place and time than when two million people are in Jerusalem to try to generate some enthusiasm among the troops so they expect him to be there they're looking for him they can't find him but notice if you will the popular opinions of Jesus expressed in verse 12 among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him some said he is a good man others replied no he deceives the people popular opinions about Christ this is a gripping scene among the crowds there was widespread whispering whispering the word literally means grumbling it's a word which is used throughout the New Testament for murmuring and grumbling at a feast that was designed to commemorate God's blessing and provision and leading of the children of Israel through the wilderness the people are still doing what the Jews did in the wilderness they're still grumbling they're still complaining they're still whispering from their hearts grumbling about who about Christ and the popular opinions are on the part of some he's a good man that's a very popular opinion of Jesus today but it's not enough my friend Jesus is a good man but he is so much more if you stop there you've missed who Jesus really is he's not just a good man he is the eternal son of God who came to die for our sins and be our sacrificial savior that's who he is he's much more than a good man others would not even give him that others said no he deceives the people he's just a religious charlatan trying to gain a crowd so he's deceiving them with these tricks he's doing so that he can get a following popular opinions why these popular opinions and why the whispering about him behind closed doors verse 13 it's because of the public fear but no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders nobody wants to be heard supporting Jesus we're saying anything that might be interpreted as supportive of Jesus why because that can get you thrown out of the synagogue it will later on the part of the blind man healed by Jesus in John chapter 9 when he starts speaking publicly about Jesus he gets thrown out of the synagogue it will in the book of Acts and so because there is a fear of what may happen a fear of being thrown out of the religion of the day people are afraid to publicly take the side of Christ and there are many people today who because of the fear of public opinion because of the fear of religion are afraid to take a clear public stand for Jesus Christ why because this was the religion my parents brought me up in this is where I always went this is what I always believed I'm afraid I'll offend my parents I'm afraid I would be offending my family if I came out and said Jesus Christ is truly the son of God the Savior and I want to stake my claim with him and not the all the religious ceremonies that I've been brought up in some people are enslaved in bondage to popular opinion on the part of family or churches or religions and unwilling to come out clearly as followers of Christ and Jesus says if you're ashamed of me Matthew 10 read it if you're ashamed of me then there will come a day when I will be ashamed of you I will not own up you either so my friend don't let popular opinion or the fear of religious persecution or pressure if you will stop you from coming to Jesus Christ this is a gripping picture of religion without Christ pushing Christ out but maintaining a semblance of religion trying to work your way into God's good graces I want to ask you this morning do you truly know Christ or are you just religious do you really know Christ or are you just religious have you ever placed your faith in him recognizing that you are a sinner who cannot do enough good to gain entrance into God's good graces or into his heaven have you ever realized that and that because you realize that have you ever trusted Christ and his death for you on the cross as your only hope of salvation in heaven are you truly a believer do you truly know Christ or are you just religious only you can answer that question for yourself only I can answer that question for myself but it's a question we all need to answer today let's pray together Father we thank you for life in Christ we thank you Father for Jesus Christ the Savior the Son of God not just a good man and a good example who died to give us an example of believing in something but the Son of God who is our Savior we confess boldly and unashamedly Christ today help us to do that when we're in the marketplace and in the workplace not be cowed because of the criticism and the hatred of Christ in our culture today may we speak truth lovingly but may we speak truth may we be known as genuine Christ followers we ask in his name amen