The convenience of religion

My religious friends, I want
to talk to you about the convenience of your religion. The only problem is, it
will not take you to heaven.

Let’s talk about religion.

You can choose which church
you belong to, where the church is situated, because it has got to be
convenient to you.

You can choose your pastor.
If he’s too long winded you get yourself another one. If it’s more than 20
minutes you can just tell them to just chat this guy up a bit. If he speaks the
truth you can get them to fire him. You need the right pastor to make you
happy.

Of course you need the right
Bible too, and for that purpose you get yourself the right version or
diversion, to fit you and your doctrine of course, because your version of
Jesus, must fit into your doctrine. And so your pastor must also fit into the
doctrine.

The church seats must be
comfortable, the atmosphere, the music, and the service have to be to your
liking, my friend. And of course only one service on a Sunday more than that
and you can’t watch the game on Sunday night!

Everything has just got to be
to your liking. That is the convenience of religion.

Also, your doctrine fits into
your way that you see the Bible, and the way that you picture the Word of God
to be. Because, “If it ain’t like the way I see it then obviously it ain’t
right because it doesn’t fit my picture.”

That’s religion friends.

What a stark contrast that is
to Jesus Christ.  Jesus just said
“follow me”. He didn’t promise you a bed. He didn’t tell you where you were
going. He didn’t promise to make you rich.

One guy said, “Lord I will
come back. I have got these oxen. I just want to go and try them”. Another guy
said, “I’ve got to go bury my brother”. Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their
own dead”. Jesus said, “Whoever wishes to come after me, he must deny himself,
pick up his cross, follow me”. He said, “If you put your hand to the plow and
you look back you’re not worthy”.

Did he go after anybody? No!

Did He promise anybody
anything? No!

One guy said, “Lord I will
follow you wherever you go”. He said, “Will you?” He said, “The birds of heaven
have nests and the jackals have holes but the Son of Man doesn’t have a stone
to put his head on”. Do you want to follow that Jesus or do you like the one in
your religion?

Jesus does not tell you the
future, where he is going to take you. When you follow Jesus, my friend, you
follow him. He decides your schedule. He decides where you’re going to work and
when and if. You don’t dictate to him. You don’t tell him, “Ok Lord I’m coming,  I’m just watching this TV program.” He is
not going to beg you, my friend.

The God I know tells me where
I go. He decides my life. He is in control. He is Lord God Almighty and I
submit myself to him.

God Almighty doesn’t promise
you anything. He promises you hardship. He said, “If they accept you, you’ve
got to know that they also accepted false prophets. But, if they ridicule you,
you must know that no slave is bigger than his master. If they killed the
master they will kill you too”. That’s what Jesus promised.

My friend, when God tells you
to go somewhere He doesn’t tell you there’s a bed. He doesn’t tell you there’s
a job. There’s no reception waiting for you. You go on your own.

The God I serve doesn’t
promise me anything. He promises me eternal life if I endure. He calls me as
his servant, as his slave. He doesn’t promise me glory.

My friend, if you are a man
of God you will be like God. People will be scared to follow you because you
wouldn’t know yourself where you are going. Jesus said, John 3, He says,
“Everyone who is born of the Spirit of God is like the wind. You don’t know
where he is coming from and where he is going?” Why? Because he is sent and
directed by the Holy Spirit of God. He doesn’t have a parsonage and a big
church and everything laid out for his convenience.

If you follow God, you follow
him into darkness. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. He takes you into the unknown.
He strips you of everything that you have so that you can see His glory. He
tells you to deny yourself, your own wisdom, your own knowledge, so that He can
teach you. He tells you to deny yourself, your own insight, so that he can
guide you. He tells you to become poor of spirit so that He can put His Spirit
into you. He tells you to shut up and listen so that He can speak to you and
that you listen.

He will not beg you. He will
not plead with you. He pleaded with nobody, friends. And in the end He was
alone just like any man and woman of God will be, alone. If you want to walk
with God it is a lonely road. Jesus said, “Few there be”, “Few that find the
narrow gate”. They asked Him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He said, “many
are called but few are chosen.”

My friend, are you ready for
the lonely road with Jesus Christ or are you just religious? You love your conveniences?
You want your life plotted out? You want to plan everything? It’s not for you
my friend, just back off.

If you want to go with Christ
you go on your knees. Say, “Lord, wherever you take me, whatever you give me,
is good. It is all just your wonderful grace. I deserve nothing. You gave
everything Father and I am really giving nothing.”

If you want to heed the
calling, my friend, you’ve got to get on your knees. You’ve got to deny
yourself. Crucify yourself every day. 
Pick up your cross and follow Jesus Christ or else, my friend, will
never know the master.

Do you want to follow Jesus?

Do you really want to follow
Jesus or do you just want to be religious?

If you don’t follow Jesus you will never go
through the narrow, narrow door my friend, because Jesus himself is the narrow
door.