Objections to a Sinning Religion

Back in the 1970s, when Rev. Herbert Norton first began to share the truth of holiness to me, I read several books by “Uncle Bud” Robinson. Bud Robinson was an early evangelist for the Church of the Nazarene. He had a wonderful ability to share the truth of God’s Word in a simple and direct way. He represented the heart and soul of the early Nazarene church. Today’s post is a summary of a sermon he preached entitled: “My Objections to a Sinning Religion.”

Some people announce that they sin every day. That they will always be in the flesh. They say everybody sins like they do, but they never stop to compare that sinning lifestyle with the Word of God. James 1:27 states: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” The fact that there is a pure religion denotes that there is also an impure religion. If you have a genuine dollar, it means that you don’t have a counterfeit dollar. A pure religion denotes that a man has been saved from all sin, and purified, made pure. An impure religion is the opposite: not being saved from all sin, not purified, and not made pure. A sinning religion would not be a pure religion.

Another objection to a sinning religion is that the atonement provided by Jesus Christ provides a salvation from all sin, for all men. Titus 2:11-14 states: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” The Scripture above tells us that we were redeemed from all inequity and purified. Further, that we are to live lives of holiness and righteousness in this world, not to wait until we are in heaven. A sinning religion is inconsistent with someone redeemed, purified and walking in holiness.

The Scripture tells us that the saved are a “peculiar” people. Are we peculiar because of our dress or what we eat? No; we are peculiar because we are saved from all sin, and then good common sense will regulate our eating and our wearing of clothes. We expect to live Holy lives in heaven, but a pure religion, a religion that is not a sinning religion, begins to live that way now while we live in this world.

When I heard these truths many years ago, they convicted me that there was a deeper walk in Christ than I had experienced in the charismatic churches I had attended. Learning the truth of Entire Sanctification changed my Christian faith. God had provided through Jesus Christ, the means to be both saved and sanctified. I learned that a sinning religion was not the religion that followed Jesus Christ. We are to walk as He walked. “Uncle Bud” was right. He had good reasons to object to a sinning religion. We will read some more tomorrow.