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The Amish Voice 10
of Nazareth. He is the Messiah, the
Christ, the Promised One of Israel. He
took your sin upon himself, so that all
you need to do to spend your infinite
time with Him is to accept His free gift of
salvation. Acknowledge your sin,
personally believe in His death and
resurrection, and confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, and you will be saved
from the eternal punishment of your sin
(the Lake of Fire).
For God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life (John 3:16).
For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
God: Not of works, lest any man should
boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou
art my God. My times are in thy hand:
deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies, and from them that persecute
me (Psalm 31:14-15).
Useless Kinds of Religion
—By J. C. Ryle
Time, Continued
There are two ways by which a man
may lose his own soul.
What are they?
1. He may lose his soul by living and
dying without any religion at all.
He
may live and die like a beast, prayerless,
godless, graceless, faithless. This is a
sure way to hell. Mind that you do not
walk in it.
2. He may lose his soul by taking up
some kind of religion.
He may live and
die contenting himself with a false
Christianity and resting on a baseless
hope. This is the commonest way to hell
there is.
What do I mean by useless kinds of
religion? I will tell you. The first thing I
wish to say is this. A religion is entirely
useless in which Jesus Christ is not the
principal object and does not fill the
principal place.
There are only too many baptized men
and women who practically know
nothing about Christ. Their religion
consists in a few vague notions and
empty expressions. “They trust they are
no worse than others; they keep to their
Church; they try to do their duty; they do
nobody any harm; they hope God will be
merciful to them! They trust the
Almighty will pardon their sins and take
them to heaven when they die.” This is
about the whole of their religion.
But what do these people know
practically about Christ? Nothing:
nothing at all! What experiential
acquaintance have they with His offices
and work, His blood, His righteousness,
His mediation, His
priesthood,
His
intercession?
None:
none at all! Ask them
about a saving faith—
ask them about being
born again of the
Spirit—ask them about
being sanctified in
Christ Jesus. What
answer will you get?
You are a barbarian to
them. You have asked
them simple Bible questions; but they
know no more about them experientially
than a Buddhist or a Muslim.
And yet this is the religion of hundreds
of thousands of people who are called
Christians all over the world.
lf you are a man of this kind, I warn you
plainly that such Christianity will never
take you to heaven. It may do very well
in the eyes of men; it may pass muster
very decently at the [church] meeting, in
the place of business, in the House of
Commons, or in the streets. But it will
never comfort you. It will never satisfy
your conscience. It will never save your
soul.
I warn you plainly that all notions and
theories about God being merciful
without Christ and excepting through
Christ are baseless delusions and empty
fancies. Such theories are purely an idol
of man’s invention. They are all of the
earth, earthy: they never came down
from heaven. The
God of heaven has
sealed
and
appointed Christ as
the one and only
Savior and way of
life; and all who
would be saved
must be content to
be saved by Him, or
they will never be
saved at all. I give
you fair warning. A
religion without Christ will never save
your soul (Joh 14:6)!
But I have another thing yet to say. A
religion is entirely useless in which you
join anything with Christ in the matter of
saving your soul. You must not only
depend on Christ for salvation, but you
must depend on Christ only and Christ
alone (Eph 2:8-9).
There are multitudes of baptized men and
women who profess to honor Christ, but
in reality do Him great dishonor. They
give Christ a certain place in their system
of religion, but not the place which God
intended Him to fill. Christ alone is not
“all in all” to their souls (Eph 1:23). No:
it is either Christ and the Church, or
Christ and the Sacraments, or Christ and
His ordained ministers, or Christ and
their own goodness, or Christ and their
own prayers, or Christ and their own
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