Religion Or Christianity, Which do you Have? Part 2

Our text is John 5:1-16. From the teaching of part one, We have seen that Jesus consistently confronted the Jewish religious leaders, even though they claimed to be following the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They wrongly thought that by keeping the Law of Moses, they could gain access to God. But, religion can never provide access to God, only faith in Jesus Christ! For the Christ follower, Jesus is mighty to save! Praise God forevermore! So Jesus deliberately did things on the Sabbath to confront the religion of the Jewish leaders. After all, the Lord could've waited 24 hours to heal the lame man by the Pool of Bethesda. He had been paralyzed for 38 years ( John 5:5). What difference would 24 more hours make? Also, the Lord could've told the man to leave his pallet there at Bethesda and come back for it the following day, so as not to provoke the religious leaders. As a matter of fact, Jesus could have told this healed man not to do anything that would cause him to violate these Jewish traditions, but He did not ( John 5:8)! This miracle of Jesus gives us the contrast of the inability of religion to save versus the awesome power of Jesus who is mighty to save! Religion is powerless to save because it does not focus on inward conformity to the Word of God! The Jewish leaders were the religious police of the day. When they saw this man toting his pallet on the Sabbath, they didn't celebrate with him because he was no longer crippled! They pounced on him saying, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet" ( John 5:10). When the man tells them that he has been healed and that it was the one who healed him who told him to carry his pallet, ( V 11) religion didn't allow them to rejoice with this man, or to give praise to God for the healing! Rather, because of religion, they wanted to know who had healed him, so that they could go after him! Religion emphasizes outward conformity to its rules, but it can not change hearts! Religion can't deal with our sin on the heart level! That's the need of every person born into this world! Only a relationship with God through Jesus Christ can change the heart and make us born again! If religion is what you have, get rid of it! Cry out to Jesus to save you for Jesus is mighty to save! Jesus makes this clear in John 5:21, "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes." Your move. Be encouraged!