Religion is a word that covers an enormous number of different beliefs and faiths, some of these teachings being completely opposed to others. The word “Christ” speaks of a faith in a particular person and what He taught. The objective of this leaflet is to challenge people who call themselves followers of Christ as to whether they really have a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, or do they merely have religion. Mere religion, even though it is the “Christian” religion, is no substitute for a living experience of God, which is only possible through Christ.

It is clear from the New Testament that Christ was not very impressed with the religion of His day. He saw it as empty and formal and all too often hypocritical - saying one thing and doing another. The religious leaders He dismissed as the blind leading the blind, and the followers of these men He saw as sheep without a shepherd. Religion, whether taught by hypocrites or genuinely sincere people, is a poor alternative for a living faith in God, and Jesus made it very clear that such a faith is to be found only in Him.

You may dismiss that as intolerant and bigoted, but there is no doubt that Jesus taught that He is the only way to God. The apostles continued this teaching by stating that “salvation is found in no one else” but Jesus.

The Weakness of Religion

A person may be, by birth or persuasion, a Methodist, a Baptist or Roman Catholic or belong to any other group of people who call themselves Christians, and this will probably give him a measure of comfort in the uncertainties of life. But is this comfort only what Karl Marx described when he said that religion was “the opium of the people”? Is this all there is to biblical Christianity? Is it what the false prophets of the Bible were peddling when they preached peace, but there was no peace? Is this comfort only a temporary peace of mind, or it is the result of peace with God? The difference between peace of mind and peace with God is the difference between illusion and reality. One is built on the flimsy foundation of man-made religion whilst the other rests on what God has done for us in Christ.

Are you beginning to see the emptiness of all man-made religion? Are you questioning your so-called faith and asking, “Is this all there is?” Are you longing for a real experience of something more than religion is giving you? Many Baptists, Methodists, etc. have this reality but it comes to them not because of their particular denominational tag but only because of a living experience of the Lord Jesus Christ.

New Birth

Jesus said we must be born again. If we take Christ seriously, there is no alternative to being born again. This teaching of a new birth is not an outlandish doctrine of religious fanatics but the clear pronouncement of Jesus Christ. It is a fact that you can be religious without being born again, but you cannot be a Christian without this spiritual new birth.

The word “again” in John chapter 3 literally means “from above”. Jesus is saying that we must be born from above. In other words, the new birth is the work of God the Holy Spirit and is the initial step in salvation. Jesus is telling us that because of our sin, we don't need patching up with religion or morality. We need a complete new beginning. This is exactly what the Gospel offers us, and only the Gospel can bring it about. Sometimes you hear of a man making a new start in life. He changes his home and his job and says that he is making a thoroughly new start. But he is not. He is changing several important things, but he cannot change the most important, which is his nature. Spiritual new birth gives the sinner a new start with a new nature, a new heart. This can only be done by God.

Man is a sinner and, left to himself, will always remain a sinner. He can no more change his nature than a leopard can change its spots. He may be a kind, religious, respectable sinner or a violent criminal sinner, but he is always a sinner with a sinful nature. The consequence of this is devastating. The Bible says, “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Romans 8:8). This is why we MUST be born again.

God works this new birth in us by bringing us to hear and consider the message of the Gospel. Faith comes by hearing, not seeing. The Gospel shows us our true condition. All have sinned, the good religious folk and the moral outcasts. God's Word convicts us that we are no better than anyone else, and that we need to be born again.

Only in the Bible are we shown what God has done, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, to deal with our sins. Consider carefully the following statements:

“The Lord laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6

“He (Jesus) bore our sins in his body on the tree.” 1 Peter 2:24

“God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us." 2 Corinthians 5:21

Each of these verse tells us that Jesus died in our place. He became our substitute. This was God's plan in order to save guilty sinners. These truths should send us to God in repentance and faith, asking for forgiveness and pleading that He will work this new birth in us to make us new people, to make us Christians.

If you wish to read more on this subject,

please read the book entitled

From Religion to Christ

by Peter Jeffery