© 2013 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)

Will your religion or church membership be able to get you into heaven when you die? If you think so, listen to what Jesus said to the religious leaders of His day in just one of many rebukes.

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23:15).

Man’s religion cannot save anyone. Only Christ can save you. Some have said “there are many roads to God,” but Jesus emphatically denied this when he said,

“…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

Others have said, “If my good works outweigh my bad ones, I’ll make it.” However, God expressed His view of our “good works” through the prophet Isaiah, when he wrote,

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags …” (Isaiah 64:6).

God’s Word, the Bible, describes a time when God allowed Peter and John to invoke the authority of Jesus to heal a man (Acts chapters 3 & 4). The man had been lame since birth. As a result, over 5000 people repented of their sins and called upon Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. This made the religious leaders angry because it weakened their power base. Thus, they arrested Peter and John and commanded them not to preach about Jesus anymore. However, Peter and John rebuked those leaders for rejecting the only possible Savior of sinners. They said,

“Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12).

Are you trusting good works, church membership, or religion, to save you? Don’t! Turn from your sins and ask Jesus, the Lord, to forgive and save you. He’s the only one who can!

Note:  See related article entitled POWERFUL RELIGION

 

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