From the ministry archive
Just exactly what is this modern religion of Christianity
Just exactly what is this modern religion of Christianity? Is it the faith of Christ, or is it a heavily mixed imitation? All we need do to find the answer is to look at the condition of Israel and Judah when Jesus came to them. You see, Judaism was the Christianity of its day. Among all the nations of the earth, Israel alone was in covenant with God. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto HIS OWN, and his own received him not" (Jn. 1:10,11). Jesus came to God's people of Israel, and they rejected him. Now there has to be a reason for God's own people refusing to receive God's own Son whom he sent for their redemption and hope; so what was the reason? It's simple. They did not keep the covenant that God had made with them. That covenant was that they obey the law that God delivered to them from heaven, and they did not do that (Exd. 24:7; Jer. 9:12,13). By the time Jesus came, God's people had evolved into a hyper-religious people who condemned the idol worship of their ancestors, and had an over much zeal for the ceremonial law, and an equal degree of despite for the more integral moral laws. They also added a whole lot more ceremonial traditions of their own making into the mix so that they would APPEAR all the more righteous. Jesus exposed their hypocrisy and addressed them straightly on this issue: "But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? ... Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Mat. 15:3,7-9). And he didn't do this just once either: "But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments... Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone... Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 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. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity" (Mat. 23:5,23,25-28).
The truth of the matter is that they did not love the righteousness of God, which is to say that they did not love the simplicity of just loving and caring for their neighbor as they would want to be loved and cared for themselves. Jesus made it clear that this was the totality of the law that God had given them (Mat. 7:12). The more they added their own traditions, and the more they emphasized the lesser parts of the law above the "weightier matters of the law," the further away from God they went. So when Jesus came as "the faithful and true witness" of God, he was "a stranger unto [his] brethren, and an alien" to God's own people" (Rev. 3:14; Psm. 69:8). But actually that was nothing new, because they had done the same to the prophets that God had sent with his word throughout the years. So let's update this to Christianity and look at the evident parallel. There is in reality only one body of Christ, and that one body of believers had its beginning on the day of Pentecost when approximately one hundred and twenty souls were baptized by Jesus with his Spirit INTO that one body (Eph. 4:4; Acts 1:4,5; Acts 2:4; I Cor. 12:13). And that was the establishment of the new covenant even as Jeremiah had prophesied of, and as the apostle Paul confirmed to be the truth (Jer. 31:31-33; Heb. 10:14-16; II Cor. 3:3). Like the old covenant, new covenant believers agree to keep God's law and commandments as their part of the covenant. That is in reality the only way that Jesus will baptize anyone with his Spirit (Acts 5:32). Unlike the old covenant, the laws and commandments of God are not external, but are of an empowering spiritual nature, even as Jeremiah and Paul said; and even as Jesus said it would be (Jn. 4:23,24; Acts 1:8; Rom. 1:16; I Cor. 4:20). But like old covenant Israel, God's people of the new covenant have inclined themselves to an external show of righteousness, and have added a smorgasbord of traditions of men; and have thereby long departed from the spiritual law that has been delivered from heaven to every soul that has ever been baptized with the holy Ghost. Not coincidentally that spiritual law is the exact same law that was delivered to Israel in a natural format, as Jeremiah and Paul clarified as well. And like old testament Israel, new covenant 'believers' have not been satisfied with the simplicity of following hard after God's love, which love the law is; "because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts BY the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Rom. 5:5).
The Spirit of God IS the love of God, because it is the very divine life of God and his Son, which life Jesus died and rose to provide for us (Jn. 5:26; Jn. 10:10; Rom. 8:2,10). And why did we need that life? Well, for starters, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:11). And how will we attain unto this resurrection of the dead that Paul speaks of? "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (Jn. 13:34). "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous" (I Jn. 5:2,3). So just how do we do this? "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself... This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:14:16). "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are LED by the Spirit of God, THEY are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:13,14). The baptism of the Spirit is our covenant with God, and following after the Spirit and putting the nature of sin to death is the way we fulfill the law of God, and so love our neighbor as ourselves. There are no ceremonies under the new covenant, like water baptism, so called "communion," foot washing, or the like (Eph. 4:5; II Cor. 13:14; Lk. 22:16-18; Rom. 14:17; Jn. 13:6,7). And there are no commandments of dress codes, hair codes, or the like. Neither are there commandments about food, or holy days to observe, as every day is holy unto the Lord (Gal. 4:10,11; Col. 2:16,17). If we do not keep God's love dwelling at the core of our being, motivating all that we do and say; no amount of complex religious additives is going to save us in the day when we are judged according to our works (I Cor. 13:1-3; II Cor. 5:10,11). And if we are not satisfied with the beautiful and glorious law of love that God has sent from heaven, we would not recognize Jesus if he were here, and we will not recognize those who are truly speaking for him in pureness of truth. Amen.
