The spirit of Religion is Full of Self-Righteousness expects Rewards for its own False 'Righteousness'
The spirit of religion is an extremely pernicious and dangerous spirit, far more dangerous than the spirit of Jezebel who everyone loves to target. Let me be clear, the spirit of Jezebel is evil, but she only arises because the spirit of Abab exists. One would be wise to remember that it was not the spirit of Jezebel, but the spirit of religion who murdered Jesus. For every one person under the spirit of Jezebel, there are thousands under the spirit of religion.
The spirit of religion is a vile spirit that not only claims holiness and righteousness, and appears to be holy and righteous to others. It is a spirit that attempts to justifies its own wickedness and unrighteousness by trying to legitimise its false holiness and righteousness on others. This explains why religious people love the moral Law. It is because in trying to legitimise their own holiness and righteousness, they must find that by which they can justify themselves. The Law, not Grace, is the avenue that allows them to do so, in justifying their own false righteousness and holiness. It gives them a means to show how 'righteous' they are, as shown by their ability to keep the Law.
Grace is the antithesis of self-justification and self-righteousness, because it is for our unrighteousness that we need the grace of God to cover our sins. As Scriptures says:
Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20-21)
It is precisely because we cannot be righteous at all that we need grace. God gives grace to cover sin, which is what Romans 5:20-21 means. Grace, not Law, is needed to that we can become righteous before God. Religious people despise grace because it exposes the sinfulness and carnal, telling them they cannot seek to justify themselves. That is why religious people hate to talk about grace. It is purely because of their own self-righteousness. They are like the older brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son who despised the grace the father showed to his younger brother. The Prodigal Son sinned greatly, and so needed grace all the more. It was this grace and his acceptance of it, leading to repentance, that justified him. The Scriptures record the Parable of the Prodigal Son as follows:
Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’
“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
“But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
“And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”
(Luke 15:11-32)
Religious people do not seek the Law to repent of their sins. They seek to use the Law to justify themselves, and expect a reward for their works in keeping the Law, like the older brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which led to him to despise the feast held for his younger brother returning home: ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.' (Luke 15:29-30)
Their hearts are not at all repentant, but defiant against God, all while trying to use His Law to justify themselves.That is why John the Baptist said to such people:
Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
(Luke 3:7-9)
He commanded the multitudes to "bear fruits worthy of repentance" precisely because their hearts were not repentant (Luke 3:8).
Since the Law is holy and righteous, but they are not, they must twist and pervert it to justify themselves. The result of attempting to do so makes them all the more unrighteous in perverting the Law of God. For the Law is righteous, and it is they who try to keep the Law of God who are not.
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
(Romans 7:7-12)
The problem is not the Law, and it is never the Law. The problem is with our own unrighteousness and wickedness which is exactly why we need Grace to be saved through Jesus Christ, who is Grace. Grace is a person, not an abstract concept or idea. Grace is Jesus Himself who died for the sins of the world, so that whoever shall believe in Him shall not perish, but have Everlasting Life (John 3:16).
The Law is perverted by them to justify the wickedness of their hearts. The mentality of religious people is that the Moral Law exists to serve them and their own carnal desires, not to reflect the Holiness and Perfect Righteousness of God. This arrogant and proud heart is exactly what characterises religious people, who are often argumentative, especially when in relation to theological matters, defiant, insubordinate, yet constantly demanding obedience to them whenever they are given legitimate authority, stubborn, and proud of it.
The spirit of religion is extremely pernicious because it perverts what it means to love God and the entire reason for why we are to serve God. This attempt to pervert the meaning of loving God and serving God is itself blasphemous. The spirit of religion teaches people that we are to love God, so that we can gain a heavenly reward. It attempts to invent all kinds of reasons as to why it should love God, because of its double-mindedness that is faithless and unstable in all its ways (James 1:8).
In contrast, Jesus simply taught us that “If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15). Jesus did not demand that we love us, but simply declared that if we love Him, we will keep His Commandments. He was implying that true love for Jesus simply just loves Jesus, irrespective of the consequences of doing so or the rewards gained.
True love for Jesus loves Jesus, no matter what. It does not evaluate why it should or should not love Jesus, and calculate the cost to make a determination as to whether one should love Jesus based on that cost. It will not ask whether it can go and first bury his father, like the disciple who asked “Lord, let me first go and bury my father" to whom Jesus replied, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead" (Matthew 8:21-22). It will simply follow Jesus because it loves Jesus, plain and simple.
Religious people seek Jesus, not because they love Jesus, but because of the consequences of not loving Jesus, which is just Eternal Punishment in Hell for one's sins. They do so out of self-preservation and fear, and not because of a true and pure love for Jesus. They are constantly fearing that they may have lost their Salvation or were never saved in the first place because they rely on their own works, not the finished work of Jesus. They are focused on their own performance, and not Jesus' Finished Work.
Jesus' Work on the Cross has been finished: He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit (John 19:30). It is the finished work of Jesus that saves us. We are to simply rely on it, and obey Him Commandments, knowing that we are not saved by obeying Him, but that "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
We are to obey Jesus' Commands in humility, knowing that it is only by His Grace that we can be saved, not our works. We are to obey Jesus' Commands because we know we should, having received the Grace of God to be saved, and not because it makes us righteous in and of ourselves: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boas (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Knowing that it is only by Grace that we are able to know God and obey Jesus' Commands, we are not to expect any rewards for any of our own so-called 'righteousness'. To do so is pride and arrogance, and an utter lack of the fear of God. God absolutely despises pride and arrogance. Such pride and arrogant in expecting rewards for own 'good works' is utterly despicable. Our own 'righteousness' is not righteousness at all, but filthy rags in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6). Furthermore, God owes us absolutely nothing at all, not even a single breathe, and so to demand God gives one reward for one's works makes it all the more vile. It is to imply that one is not obliged to do good works for God, but has a 'right' to decide whether one wants to do good works, and accordingly receive a reward because of that.
The spirit of religion is full of self-righteousness, pride and arrogance, as manifest in its expectation of rewards for its so-called 'good works'. This is not righteousness at all, but pride and arrogance which God absolutely despises. Such works and such an attitude is an abomination to God, a stench to His nostrils.
“I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I was found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’
To a nation that was not called by My name.
I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
Who walk in a way that is not good,
According to their own thoughts;
A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face;
Who sacrifice in gardens,
And burn incense on altars of brick;
Who sit among the graves,
And spend the night in the tombs;
Who eat swine’s flesh,
And the broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
Who say, ‘Keep to yourself,
Do not come near me,
For I am holier than you!’
These are smoke in My nostrils,
A fire that burns all the day.
(Isaiah 65:1-7)
The spirit of religion is a vile spirit that not only claims holiness and righteousness, and appears to be holy and righteous to others. It is a spirit that attempts to justifies its own wickedness and unrighteousness by trying to legitimise its false holiness and righteousness on others. This explains why religious people love the moral Law. It is because in trying to legitimise their own holiness and righteousness, they must find that by which they can justify themselves. The Law, not Grace, is the avenue that allows them to do so, in justifying their own false righteousness and holiness. It gives them a means to show how 'righteous' they are, as shown by their ability to keep the Law.
Grace is the antithesis of self-justification and self-righteousness, because it is for our unrighteousness that we need the grace of God to cover our sins. As Scriptures says:
Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20-21)
It is precisely because we cannot be righteous at all that we need grace. God gives grace to cover sin, which is what Romans 5:20-21 means. Grace, not Law, is needed to that we can become righteous before God. Religious people despise grace because it exposes the sinfulness and carnal, telling them they cannot seek to justify themselves. That is why religious people hate to talk about grace. It is purely because of their own self-righteousness. They are like the older brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son who despised the grace the father showed to his younger brother. The Prodigal Son sinned greatly, and so needed grace all the more. It was this grace and his acceptance of it, leading to repentance, that justified him. The Scriptures record the Parable of the Prodigal Son as follows:
Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’
“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
“But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
“And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”
(Luke 15:11-32)
Religious people do not seek the Law to repent of their sins. They seek to use the Law to justify themselves, and expect a reward for their works in keeping the Law, like the older brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which led to him to despise the feast held for his younger brother returning home: ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.' (Luke 15:29-30)
Their hearts are not at all repentant, but defiant against God, all while trying to use His Law to justify themselves.That is why John the Baptist said to such people:
Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
(Luke 3:7-9)
He commanded the multitudes to "bear fruits worthy of repentance" precisely because their hearts were not repentant (Luke 3:8).
Since the Law is holy and righteous, but they are not, they must twist and pervert it to justify themselves. The result of attempting to do so makes them all the more unrighteous in perverting the Law of God. For the Law is righteous, and it is they who try to keep the Law of God who are not.
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
(Romans 7:7-12)
The problem is not the Law, and it is never the Law. The problem is with our own unrighteousness and wickedness which is exactly why we need Grace to be saved through Jesus Christ, who is Grace. Grace is a person, not an abstract concept or idea. Grace is Jesus Himself who died for the sins of the world, so that whoever shall believe in Him shall not perish, but have Everlasting Life (John 3:16).
The Law is perverted by them to justify the wickedness of their hearts. The mentality of religious people is that the Moral Law exists to serve them and their own carnal desires, not to reflect the Holiness and Perfect Righteousness of God. This arrogant and proud heart is exactly what characterises religious people, who are often argumentative, especially when in relation to theological matters, defiant, insubordinate, yet constantly demanding obedience to them whenever they are given legitimate authority, stubborn, and proud of it.
The spirit of religion is extremely pernicious because it perverts what it means to love God and the entire reason for why we are to serve God. This attempt to pervert the meaning of loving God and serving God is itself blasphemous. The spirit of religion teaches people that we are to love God, so that we can gain a heavenly reward. It attempts to invent all kinds of reasons as to why it should love God, because of its double-mindedness that is faithless and unstable in all its ways (James 1:8).
In contrast, Jesus simply taught us that “If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15). Jesus did not demand that we love us, but simply declared that if we love Him, we will keep His Commandments. He was implying that true love for Jesus simply just loves Jesus, irrespective of the consequences of doing so or the rewards gained.
True love for Jesus loves Jesus, no matter what. It does not evaluate why it should or should not love Jesus, and calculate the cost to make a determination as to whether one should love Jesus based on that cost. It will not ask whether it can go and first bury his father, like the disciple who asked “Lord, let me first go and bury my father" to whom Jesus replied, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead" (Matthew 8:21-22). It will simply follow Jesus because it loves Jesus, plain and simple.
Religious people seek Jesus, not because they love Jesus, but because of the consequences of not loving Jesus, which is just Eternal Punishment in Hell for one's sins. They do so out of self-preservation and fear, and not because of a true and pure love for Jesus. They are constantly fearing that they may have lost their Salvation or were never saved in the first place because they rely on their own works, not the finished work of Jesus. They are focused on their own performance, and not Jesus' Finished Work.
Jesus' Work on the Cross has been finished: He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit (John 19:30). It is the finished work of Jesus that saves us. We are to simply rely on it, and obey Him Commandments, knowing that we are not saved by obeying Him, but that "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
We are to obey Jesus' Commands in humility, knowing that it is only by His Grace that we can be saved, not our works. We are to obey Jesus' Commands because we know we should, having received the Grace of God to be saved, and not because it makes us righteous in and of ourselves: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boas (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Knowing that it is only by Grace that we are able to know God and obey Jesus' Commands, we are not to expect any rewards for any of our own so-called 'righteousness'. To do so is pride and arrogance, and an utter lack of the fear of God. God absolutely despises pride and arrogance. Such pride and arrogant in expecting rewards for own 'good works' is utterly despicable. Our own 'righteousness' is not righteousness at all, but filthy rags in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6). Furthermore, God owes us absolutely nothing at all, not even a single breathe, and so to demand God gives one reward for one's works makes it all the more vile. It is to imply that one is not obliged to do good works for God, but has a 'right' to decide whether one wants to do good works, and accordingly receive a reward because of that.
The spirit of religion is full of self-righteousness, pride and arrogance, as manifest in its expectation of rewards for its so-called 'good works'. This is not righteousness at all, but pride and arrogance which God absolutely despises. Such works and such an attitude is an abomination to God, a stench to His nostrils.
“I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I was found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’
To a nation that was not called by My name.
I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
Who walk in a way that is not good,
According to their own thoughts;
A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face;
Who sacrifice in gardens,
And burn incense on altars of brick;
Who sit among the graves,
And spend the night in the tombs;
Who eat swine’s flesh,
And the broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
Who say, ‘Keep to yourself,
Do not come near me,
For I am holier than you!’
These are smoke in My nostrils,
A fire that burns all the day.
(Isaiah 65:1-7)
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