Diabolical - Agenda # 4 - Death by Lethal Religion, Part 1

You've probably heard it said, too much of a good thing can be bad for you, right? Well, that actually can be true of religious things. And we're going to see today it's possible to be doing good things, right things, religious things, and yet be fundamentally going in the wrong spiritual direction. Stay with me today as we discover how to avoid death by lethal religion. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission of these daily programs is to intentionally disciple Christians through the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram.

I'm Dave Drew. Thanks for joining us as we continue our series, Diabolical, Satan's Agenda for Planet Earth, including you. Over the next two programs, Chip's going to take time to address what may be Satan's most effective strategy for undermining and sidelining Christians, religion. There's so much helpful content in this program. I'm glad you're with us. And after the teaching, Chip will give us more insight into how we can talk with people who've been hurt by the burdens of religiosity.

So be sure to stick around for that. Okay, here's Chip with his message, Death by Lethal Religion, based in Acts Chapter 9. We've talked about three specific agendas that Satan has. Not sort of the scary type demonic things like on movies, but subtle agendas that are deceitful. The kind of agendas that get us off course and we don't even know it.

Acts Chapter 9 may be the most diabolical and most deceptive of all because it comes packaged in spirituality. We're going to talk about agenda number four. And agenda number four is death by lethal religion.

Religion may be one of the most powerful ways in all the world, in the name of God, that Satan deceives people, steals their life, ruins their relationships, warps their thinking about themselves and God. And as I was doing the research, I came across a little information about lethal injection. Now you know that this is not about capital punishment and your views on that. This is about after the Supreme Court deemed for a season in America that it was cruel and unusual punishment.

Lethal injection became actually the preferable way for capital punishment. And I don't know why, but in my mind as I was praying, I thought I wonder how that works. That's the rationale that it should be done in a way that's kinder if there's a kind way to kill people. And I think about how Satan is working.

It is a very kind way through religion that he destroys people. Lethal injection has a three-step process. Step one, it's done intravenously and it anesthetizes the person. Sodium pentothal is giving and within about 10 to 30 seconds, a person goes into a deep sleep. So the goal is to anesthetize.

In other words, a person's eyes shut and they fall asleep. The second thing that happens is they give the person a paralyzing agent. It's called prancurium bromide or Pavlon. It's a muscle relaxer that's given at a dose that causes the muscles to be paralyzed so the ability to bring in oxygen for life is inhibited. And the third stage then is a toxic agent called potassium chloride. And it's given in a dose to stop the electrical impulses sent to the heart.

And so the way lethal injection occurs is you anesthetize persons, then you paralyze them and then you put a toxin that goes straight to their heart to stop the heart from beating. And I want to tell you if you want a profile of how the enemy works through religion, it's that. First of all, he has all these things about God and he anesthetizes us. We go to sleep. We become unaware. We say God words.

There's God patterns. There's religion without reality. Second, you get paralyzed into patterns and patterns that you feel obligated to do that over time become a way of performing before God or so you think.

And then finally, religion always has this one common denominator. It will close your heart. It will close your heart toward the real God. It will close your heart toward people.

It makes you rigid. In fact, look at the definition of religion in Webster's. It says to acquire a deep conviction of the validity of a religious belief or practice. Now that's sort of the common term but notice the roots. It's an old French word from Latin. Religio means to fear the supernatural. At the heart of religion is a fear-based.

And then notice the French word. Religare, if that's how you pronounce it, is to tie or to bind up. It has the idea of the state of a life bound by a vow. In essence, religion is an external set of rules and practices to either merit God's favor or to avoid his or her wrath depending on the religious system. And so at the end of the day, it's rooted in fear. Religion binds people.

It ties people up. It gets them on some sort of a performance trap to think if I do certain things at certain times and certain ways, somehow I'll be acceptable by God. Jesus interestingly speaks to religious leaders. If you want, open to Matthew chapter 23.

I'm not going to read the whole chapter at all but as you open to Matthew chapter 23, I'm going to skip around but here's what I'm going to do. I want you to hear what the Son of God said to the most religious people on the planet. This is what he said to the people that were the most disciplined, were the most spiritual. They knew the Bible better than anyone else. This is from the very lips of Jesus. This is his view of what religion does, how diabolical it is. Then Jesus said, Matthew 23 verse 1, to the crowds and to his disciples, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, they sit in Moses' seat so you must obey them and do everything they tell you but do not do what they do for they do not practice what they preach.

Now listen to what he says religion does. They tie heavy loads and they put them on men's shoulders. Everything they do is done to be seen by men. They love the place of honor. They want the most important seats in the synagogue. Skipping down verse 13, woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You shut the kingdom of God in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter and you will not let those who are trying to enter to enter. Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You travel over land and sea to win a single convert and then you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourself. These are not calm words. These are not nice words. These are not Jesus meek and mild. This is Jesus attacking what's diabolical and what religion does to the human heart.

He goes on, because this is what really happens. Woe to you blind guides. Later he calls them blind fools.

Then he says you blind men. Woe to you teachers of the law and the Pharisees, you hypocrites. You give a tenth of your spices, of your mint, of your dill, but you have neglected the far more important matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You clean the outside of the cup, but inside you're full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisees, you hypocrites. You look like whitewashed tombs, which are beautiful on the outside, but on the inside you're full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. On the outside you appear to people as though you are righteous, but on the inside you're full of greed and hypocrisy and wickedness. And then it's just like Jesus went off. And he said, you snakes.

You vipers. How will you escape the condemnation of hell? And then he says, I'm sending you prophets. I'm sending you wise men, and I'm sending you teachers. Teachers and wise men of the truth of love and life.

And this is the prediction he makes. Some of them you will kill and crucify. Others you will flog in your synagogues, and you will pursue them from town to town. So upon you will come the judgment of all the righteous men, all the way from Zachariah to Barakiah. All will come upon this generation.

I don't know about you. Those are the strongest words are anywhere in this book. Those are from the lips of Jesus about religion. And no one is immune over time to becoming religious. You can even make up your own religion. Secularism is a religion. Humanism is a religion.

So here's the question I want to ask and answer. What's the difference between dead religion and a living relationship with God? What's the difference between a dead religion and a living relationship with God? And I want to suggest that Acts chapter 9 will give you a very clear picture of it. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to read through Acts chapter 9, but I want you to think more like a movie viewer than someone sitting in a church listening to the Bible being read. Because the structure, the Holy Spirit has instructed Luke, what you're going to see is there's going to be a scene number one and then a scene number two and then an intermission. And then there's going to be a scene number three and a scene number four. And what we're going to find is that there's this contrast.

There's going to be the contrast. He's going to speak about the most religious man in the world at the time, the greatest intellect, the greatest Pharisee of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day, a Pharisee according to the law faultless, Saul of Tarsus. The first half of this chapter will be Saul's story.

The second half will be of a fisherman, a regular guy named Peter who's blown it and struggled. But he's following Christ passionately. And what the author's going to do, he's going to say here is Saul's life. This is what religion does and looks like. And here's Peter's life. And then right in the middle, he's going to say here's the key. Here's the point.

Here's what I want you to get. So open your Bibles to Acts chapter 9, but you need to follow along scene number one. The movie has begun.

We pick up the story. Meanwhile, Saul was breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and he asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus. So if there were any one found there who belonged to the way, the early Christians were called that, they were the way. They said Jesus is the way. Whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

He fell to the ground. He heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? Saul said. I am Jesus who you're persecuting, replied.

Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the sound, but they didn't see anyone. Saul got up from the ground and when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus and for three days he was blind.

He didn't eat or drink anything. We'll learn later he's praying during this time. His world is turned upside down. Damascus by the way is about 140 to 150 miles from Jerusalem. I mean this guy is zealous.

This guy is sincere. He sees these people following Jesus and he thinks it's ruining Judaism and he wants to go get them and so he gets these letters in scene number one, murderous threats. He was there standing as a young man and people put their coats down here and Stephen was killed and he goes yes and I'm going to get Stephen and all the rest of them.

And I mean he's willing to travel. It's probably by day so it's probably a seven to ten day walking trip to find these other quote Christians. Not called that yet. They're just called followers of the way and bam, a light and he realizes that persecuting these Christ followers is actually Jesus and he realizes that he's now been messing with the God of the universe and for three days he doesn't eat, he doesn't drink, he's trying to make sense of it all. Scene number two, the big change in Saul's life.

Picking it up at verse 10. In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias and the Lord called to him in a vision. Ananias. Yes Lord he answered and the Lord told him go to the house of Judas on straight street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul for he is praying. In a vision he's seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him and restore his sight. Lord Ananias answered I've heard many reports about this man and all the harm that he has done to the saints in Jerusalem and he's come here with authority from the chief priest to arrest all who call upon your name but the Lord said to Ananias go.

This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel and I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. Then Ananias went to the house and he entered it and placing his hands on Saul he said brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here he has sent me here to you so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again and he got up and he was baptized and after taking some food he gained his strength and Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. In a word he was converted. In a word he realized that the Yahweh of the Old Testament that the angel of the Lord that the Messiah is Jesus and all that knowledge and all that wisdom he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees he was trained under the top Pharisee of the day secular writer saved the Apostle Paul he was the greatest intellect in all of the culture in the first century and now this man has just had this jarring relationship.

He's gone from a religious person literally without fault to someone that has met the living God personally. Things are going to change. Before scene number three and four comes there's there's an intermission. Imagine you know when you watch a television show and you know the cameras on and maybe there's this couple and they're walking on the beach and they're talking about maybe getting married and this and that and then the camera shifts and there's this couple sitting at a kitchen table talking about their daughter and whether they should be marrying this guy and what this is you know we don't think about it but the cameras are shifting and these things are happening at the same time. Now what Luke is going to do is he's going to say this amazing thing happened in this man's life and in the intermission I want you to see that it had real impact. It had impact short term and long term in fact Luke is going to gloss over a period of time and skips what Paul talks about as three years in Arabia where he went and spent personal time with God and then as though the camera comes back to the main story he comes back and zeroes in and says now this was Saul and religion now here's Peter and relationship.

Let's read the intermission together. Picking it up verse 20. So what happened to him? And all at once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked isn't this the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on his name and hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?

I mean they're just like wiping their eyes going are you kidding me? Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and he baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the long awaited one. He's the one Isaiah 53 foretold. He's the one that would be born of a virgin.

He's the one. All those passages Paul likely had nearly all the Old Testament memorized and all those passages and all that learning and all that religion and all that discipline now he's looking at it through a brand new lens through the lens of Jesus who he's met. Notice what happens next. After many days had gone by the Jews conspired to kill him but Saul learned of their plan and day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him but the followers took him by night and they lowered him in a basket through the opening in a wall. Later when he comes to Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples but they were afraid of him not believing he was really a disciple but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and he told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and how the Lord had spoken to him and how in Damascus he'd preached fearlessly in the name of Christ. See he didn't have just an experience. His experience led to a calling. His experience led to behavior that demonstrated he had a change of mind that led to a change of heart that led to a dramatic change in mission in his life and so Barnabas says guys you can trust this guy.

Believe me I've seen him. I mean I've seen him preach now he's on our team. So Saul stayed with him and moved about freely in Jerusalem speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He talked and he debated with the Grecian Jews but they tried to kill him. When the brothers learned of this they took him to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. Now every now and then Luke does this about three or four times.

He'll not only have an intermission but he'll have a commercial and what he does in the commercial is he stops and gives a progress report. So you know we're now in Acts chapter 9 and so he kind of stops and says oh by the way remember Jesus was ascended in chapter 1? Remember how the church was born in chapter 2? Remember all those miracles the growth of the church then the persecution? By the way let me give you an update on how it's all happened and so he gives this progress report in verse 31. Then notice the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace.

Well their number one enemy just became their number one advocate. It was strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit and it grew in numbers living in the fear of the Lord. And if you're in your own Bible circle the word the church and I just want you to notice it's singular. The church where? Judea, Galilee and Samaria this half reads. See there's a lot of local expressions but the church it's all of us.

They look different than us and they may worship different than us and they may view a few minor things different than us but the church the people that follow Jesus and love him and we're all in this together. Now scene number three. As Peter was traveling about the country he went to visit the saints in Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas a paralytic who'd been bedridden for eight years. Aeneas Peter said to him Jesus Christ healed you get up and take care of your mat. Finally Aeneas gets up and all those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and they turned to the Lord. And so we get this quick snapshot and so we have the Apostle Paul on the one hand a religious man walking ready to kill people and he's blind and when he ends up being blinded by the light of truth he becomes an invalid and they walk him into Damascus. Now the author wants you to know that's what happens with religion.

People who think they can see are actually blind and then here's someone who's in need and is paralyzed physically and notice how carefully the text says. Peter says in the name of Jesus it's the person it's the power it's the living relationship and then he says this little phrase take up your mat. Now it's similar to when Jesus said take up your mat but this phrase is a shade different. When we see that and I read that because it's a paralytic we often think it's about taking up your mat and walking which it could be but the primary use all through the New Testament of this little phrase is that you can now get up you can live you can do something open your mat and eat to get strengthened so that you can begin a new life.

Scene number four. Peter is about 10 miles from another city called Joppa. As we pick up the story in verse 36 in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha which translated means Dorcas who was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died and her body was washed in place in the upstairs room. Lydia was near Joppa so the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydia and they sent two men to him and urged him please come at once. Peter went with them and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room and all the widows were standing around crying and showing him the robes and the other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. Peter sent them all out of the room then he got down on his knees and he prayed. Turning toward the dead woman he said Tabitha get up. She opened her eyes and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to his feet then he called the believers in and the widows and he presented her to to them alive. This became known all over Joppa and many people believed in the Lord and then notice this final line Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon. Now you need to remember that Peter was a really good Jewish boy and Peter's categories he was religious but he was open and he heard Jesus and he knew the passages about the Messiah and he was open rather than his rules and his patterns he wanted to explore and he watched him and he saw and he listened and he saw the authenticating miracles and Peter becomes a follower not a perfect follower he betrays Jesus he struggles and he's restored and he's loved and and he begins to be one of the leaders of the church and pretty soon now he goes to Samaritans he was taught as a little boy you hate Samaritans they're half breeds don't mess with them totally different culture and we learned in the last chapter he's starting to to teach and realize that God loves him even though it breaks through his religious narrow bigoted view of life and now Joppa actually is in an arena that is very highly gentile populated so now Peter's doing stuff that good Jewish boys don't do and here's the kicker Luke lets us know he's staying with a tanner the rabbis in the day would talk about a tanner is an unclean person you you don't go to a tanner you don't stay in a tanner's house you don't get near tanners what tanners are is they would take animal skins and go through the process of what you do from animal skins either to make a leather coat or they would make leather things that you could drink out of but it was a smelly yucky thing they're usually on the edge of town and Luke wants to be sure that we understand that this follower of Jesus is breaking the taboos of Judaism and because of personal relationship and life he's with a tanner an undesirable an unclean person there's scene one scene two scene three and scene four here's what I want you to see this is a picture of dead religion versus living relationship and acts nine is a study of contrast Chip will join us here in studio with his application in just a minute you've been listening to the first part of his message death by a lethal religion from his series diabolical Satan's agenda for planet earth including you Satan's mission for every Christ follower is simple total destruction unlike God's plans for you which are rooted in grace and love Satan wants to wreck your relationships isolate you from God and turn you into an ineffective Christian but with God's help we not only have the power to oppose Satan's tactics we can actually defeat him through this series triple teach us to recognize Satan's diabolical schemes and defend ourselves against his evil intentions this is such an important topic so we hope you'll make the time to be with us for this entire series for complete series information and resources discounts for diabolical just go to Living on the Edge org or call triple 8333 6003 app listeners tap special offers chip regardless of the obstacles we've dealt with over the last year and a half Living on the Edge has been very active serving people around the globe who find themselves in restricted countries without Bibles or Christian resources would you take just a minute and tell us what's been happening well Dave I do want to be careful and these are closed countries but I do want people to catch the magnitude of what God has done I mean for many of us I mean I've got a stack on my on my nightstand of about four or five books another stack up my office and most of us have all kind of books or can go online and literally get anything we need on any topic it's a very different story when I get to go to a rural area or I get to train someone by way of technology who's in the rural mountains or areas where if they're caught with something that's Christian they're in big trouble and what I will tell you is to date we have printed and translated with training for leaders over 1.5 million books and that's just in one part of the world several thousand elsewhere in many many other languages I want you to understand our passion is to help Christians live like Christians yes in America yes in your family yes to provide resources in small group but everywhere in their language where it's so difficult I can't even explain to you what it's like to get in front of a group and teach them and them literally hold a book and see tears flowing down their face because this is the only Christian resource they have other than maybe a portion of the Bible and we give them the book I give them my sermon outlines you know I give them tucked in there sort of how to lead a small group and we spent a couple or three days with them and then they go back and do what we could never do and so thanks so much for making that happen and I want to tell those of you that think I'd like to get in on that you can do it now and it's a great time well what a great story chip it's been humbling to see God work well if you're already partnering with us financially thank you what chip just shared is part of your story too and if you're looking for a way to make a difference let me suggest that partnering with us would be a great way to do that especially right now because thanks to a handful of donors every gift we receive between now and July 6th will be doubled to send a gift just call us at triple eight three three three six zero zero three or if you prefer you can donate online at Living on the Edge dot org app listeners just tap donate and let me thank you in advance for your generosity as we close today's program I can't help but think that some of you are thinking to yourself you know I have a friend I have a mate I have a mom a dad maybe it's a son maybe it's somebody at work or maybe someone in the neighborhood and you just think to yourself you know if I could just if I could just get them to go to church if I could just get them to to read the Bible if I could just get them to do something where they would really begin to see what the Christian life is all about then everything would be okay I mean I'm sure if they could just see it they would get it but the fact the matter is this many many people see religious activity exactly the same way as the Apostle Paul saw religious activity they saw it as a means by which through their performance dedication sincerity and religious activity they could win or earn God's favor the Apostle Paul absolutely thought he was on God's team doing God's work when he was killing Christians and his mindset was this performance orientation and so what I want to say to you maybe this message you got the first half today get the second half on our next broadcast maybe the greatest thing you could do is go to the website download the mp3 or get this series however you want to get it and just put it in the hands of someone to say you know something you know I've thought about it and there's so much of religion that is so distasteful I mean get on their side of it and instead of defending Christianity and trying to explain away all that crazy stuff you see at TV and and all the bad experiences they've had why don't you get on their side and say you know something you know I've really noticed that even among sincere committed even Christians there's a lot of stuff out there that is totally totally opposed to the real Jesus the real Bible and the real love of God and I heard this message and I'd love you to listen to it because it talks about the difference between really lethal religion and living relationship and I'd like to get your thoughts on it and give them the disc or send them the mp3 or download the notes for free and just be their friend and listen to it and let them vent a little bit and it's okay to get on their side and say you know something I would be totally against wackos like the Apostle Paul was but look what happened when he met Jesus and then you get to talk to them about a living loving relationship with the eternal God wouldn't that be an awesome opportunity and maybe God will use you like never before and we would love to be of help just before we close our mission at Living on the Edge is to help Christians live like Christians one of the ways we do that is by giving away free resources so when you hear a message that's especially helpful we hope you'll pass it on to others they're easily shared from the chip Ingram map or by forwarding the free mp3s from our website Living on the Edge org and don't forget to include a note about how it made a difference in your life well be sure to be with us again next time when we continue our current series for chip and the entire team here this is Dave Drewy saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.