James MacDonald - Bigger Than My Religion
Summary:
The preacher passionately proclaims the simple gospel: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day, with salvation coming solely by believing in Him and confessing Him as Lord—nothing more. Drawing from passages like 1 Corinthians 15, Romans 10, and 2 Corinthians 5:21, he warns against false teachers who add requirements like religious duties, moral reforms, or rituals to faith alone. Ultimately, he stresses that neither good behavior nor family heritage can save anyone—only Jesus can, through His substitutionary atonement.
The Clear Gospel Message
Paul said, «I delivered unto you that which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and how he was buried, and on the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures.» See, that’s the gospel plainly and clearly stated. Let me give you this: we say, «Well, how do I get the gospel?» Romans chapter 10, verse 13 says, «Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.»
Say it again! Wait, wait, wait! My part: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved! Saved, saved from what? Say it: from sin! Say it: from sin! Romans 3:23 says that the wages of sin is death. What you get for what you’ve done is death. Every person on your street, every person in your office, every person at your school is facing death for their sin.
And not just physical death; there’s also eternal death—separation from God. That’s where everyone’s going; it’s a broad road. But some people get saved; see, some people get saved from their sin. You’re like, «How’s that? How does that happen?» Second Corinthians 5:21 describes the gospel: Jesus Christ became sin for us, who knew no sin.
Substitutionary Atonement
Jesus wasn’t sinful, but he became sin for us on the cross. He became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And that’s the good news of the gospel—the gospel in two words: substitution. Now, I’ve taught you this before, but I don’t mind reminding you because for you, it’s safe.
So, the gospel in two words: substitutionary atonement. Substitutionary means in your place, in my place. Atonement means making payment. You owed a debt you couldn’t pay; Christ paid a debt you owed. He took your place—substitutionary atonement. The gospel in four words: Christ in my place. All right, that’s the gospel! I could never get tired of that!
You say, «Well, all right! How do you get it? Saved from what? What did Christ do?» Now, Romans 10:9: «If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you’ll be saved.» Do that right now! If you’ve never done that, do it right now!
Don’t wait till the end of the service; don’t wait till tomorrow; don’t wait till next week. Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, and you’ll be saved! Now that’s the gospel!
Beware of Those Who Distort the Gospel
But notice this: he says, «Beware of dogs!» That’s people whose teaching distorts the gospel. Well, who does he have in mind? People who add to the gospel. What do people add to the gospel? Well, some people add religious duty. Okay, the Scripture says that salvation is a free gift, and all you have to do to get a free gift is reach out by faith and take it.
All right? But some people say, «Oh, and you’ve got to go to church, and you’ve got to read your Bible, and you have to sing or something.» They add religious duty to it! Those people are dogs according to Scripture! Don’t be adding things to the gospel, dogs! Some people add religious duty; some people add moral action.
«Hey, you can’t get saved until you stop living with that lady! You have to get married before you get saved!» True or false? False, false! Dog! Stop adding stuff to the gospel! You say, «Well, you’ve got to quit smoking.» Man, if you smoke, I hope you quit smoking! It’s a terrible habit; it’s very addictive, and it’s bad for your health!
But you don’t have to quit smoking to get saved! Anyone that tells you that is a no-no! Say it the way I’m saying it: «You’re a dog, man! Stop adding stuff to the gospel! Don’t add religious duty; don’t add moral responsibility.»
Encouragement to Right Living
Now, I hope if you’re here and you claim to follow Christ, and you’re shacking up with that girl, man, marry her! You love her! Marry her! Put a ring on her finger! Come down to the church; we’ll do it tomorrow if you want to! Just come up afterward! All right? But anybody who says you’ve got to do that or you can’t get saved is wrong, all right?
Now, he has another term for it: he says, «Dogs» or «evil workers.» Beware of dogs! Look out for dogs! Look out for evildoers! Evil workers mean do-gooders. It’s hard to accept that the gospel is a free gift. It’s also hard to accept that we really need it.
A lot of people are like, «You know, I think I’m just going to be good enough.» Actually, Isaiah 64:6 says that our righteousness is as filthy rags in God’s sight—that our attempts to gain God’s favor without the cross of Christ? God hates that more than anything!
That you’re thinking that you can be good enough to be saved is the thing that God gave His Son for you to be saved! You’re like, «I don’t really need that! That’s probably good for my neighbor or something, but I’m actually pretty awesome over here, and God’s going to just accept me!» Dog! Evil doer!
The Mutilators of the Flesh
Now, he goes on: «Look out for the dogs! Look out for the evildoers! Look out for those who mutilate the flesh!» Those who mutilate the flesh; it’s going to be hard for us to relate to. But one of the religious things that they were requiring was that in the Old Testament, in order, if a Gentile wanted to become a Jew, in order to become a Jew, the males who wanted to be proselytes to Judaism had to be circumcised.
Like, dude, you could be Jewish; that’s all good! There’s just this one surgical procedure! I’ve been practicing; I think I can do it! So that’s what they required of people who wanted to become Jewish. Now, when Jesus came, Jesus was Jewish, and it took them a while to figure out that Jesus superseded Judaism. Jesus was bigger than Judaism.
So people were like, «Oh, I want to be a Christian!» «Well, you’re Gentile.» «All right, you can be a Christian, but you’ve got to get circumcised!» And Paul calls these people, do you see it there? «Flesh mutilators! Dogs! Evil workers!»
The circumcision that God does to the children of God is on our hearts. It’s a soul cutting. We’ve all been—how many people know what I’m talking about? God starts doing surgery on your heart. I don’t know about you; I’m still not out of surgery! God’s just working on us all! Don’t leave me up here! Anyone else been in surgery this week?
Religion vs. Relationship
Now, if you promote religion without a relationship, you’re a dog. If you promote externals and not the heart, you’re an evil worker. If you promote physical ways of attaching yourself to God and not the work that God does in our hearts, you’re a flesh mutilator.
Okay, look, I don’t care who you heard about religious ceremony from—Father so-and-so, Sister who cares! I don’t care what pastor told you! Listen up! Some preacher somewhere, some bishop, some apostle? It didn’t matter what they call themselves! Watch out for people that are big into their titles anyway!
But listen now, nobody should be allowed to corrupt your minds! Paul said about the simplicity that’s in Christ! And if you want to be saved, if you want to find the life in Christ that changes you now and for eternity, religious leaders can’t save me, but Jesus can! Amen?
Good Behavior Can’t Save
Go to verse four now and note the second thing: good behavior can’t save me, but Jesus can! He says, starting in verse three, «Then he says, we are the real circumcision. Here’s the mark God put on our hearts: we worship by the Spirit of God; we glory in Christ Jesus.» That’s awesome! And we put no confidence in the flesh! Say more about that, Paul!
All right, verse four: «Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.» I have more! You want to talk confidence? Your Honor! All you want to play the confidence game, you want to get out religious resumes and compare notes? If anybody could get to heaven by being awesome, I could! That’s what he’s saying.
If anybody could get to heaven based on his religious observances, based on his good works, I’m the guy! I’m so confident! Paul was so confident! Are you confident like that? He says, «If anybody had reason for confidence in the flesh, I’m more.» I mean, I totally have this going on!
If self-salvation was possible, I’d be a first-round pick! I’d be a lottery pick! I’d be the number one draft choice if salvation, self-salvation, was possible! That’s what Paul was saying! But here’s the thing: you can’t save yourself!
A Personal Story as Chaplain
A few months back, I made the decision that I wanted to become a police chaplain. Haven’t said very much about it, but part of doing what I do all the time kind of insulates me from what’s going on in the hood, and I found it frustrating. And through a—we have so many great police officers that attend our church, and through one of the men that I’ve gotten to know, I worked it out so that I went through all the things you had to and became a police chaplain.
And so I’ve been waiting patiently. People are like, «Are you crazy? Man, you don’t have enough to do!» No, but I felt like for my own soul, I really needed this! I really needed to get out where people are. I felt it would help me to be more faithful to the Lord and to you if I had a more front-row seat sometimes to what’s really going on out there.
Well, I promised myself and the Lord that the first time that phone rang, no matter what I was doing, I would drop everything and go! It came at the worst possible time! I had like four things flashing on hold, and I couldn’t get done what I was doing. I pushed it all off my desk, ran out the door, jumped in my car, and raced!
I can’t share any details with you, but I went into the most hopeless situation. Without hope, and I asked, «Can I call your pastor for you?» «We don’t have a pastor!» «What church are you?» «Nothing!» «Well, who do you?» «Nothing!» The house was filled with sobbing, and there was just no hope!
The Urgency of the Gospel
Now listen, Harvest, okay? People don’t have the message! They flat-out don’t know! They say all kinds of crazy things like, «Well, I hope he’s in a better place!» You don’t have to hope! You can—no! That’s the power of the gospel! And people don’t know the message!
They don’t know that by grace you can be saved through faith and that it’s not of yourself! They don’t know that it’s a gift of God given to us so that no one could brag about it! They don’t know that salvation is given in no other name under heaven by which we must be saved!
There are teeming masses of people all around us; they just don’t know! They flat-out don’t know! They’ve never had a loving relationship or some arms around them, or a caring person to dig into their life and find out what’s going on!
And I don’t want to waste my time in the months and years that I have left, you know, piddling around with a lot of Christian nonsense while there are people who are dying without Christ and without hope in this world! Now look at this: good behavior can’t save me. Good behavior can’t save you. Hell will be full of self-righteous people. Good behavior can’t save me, but Jesus can!
Family Heritage Can’t Save
Now this—I mean, my family can’t save me, but Jesus can! Look at Paul here. This guy, he goes on, «If anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more!» I mean, he’s so cocky about it! Sometimes when we’re in a restaurant, especially me and my sons, we like to kind of kid around with the server.
And so sometimes I’ll say, «I’ll have a Coke, » and they’ll say, «A diet or regular?» And I’ll say, «The answer is I know you do not, and that’s why I’ll have diet!» But Paul’s like really like that! He’s like, «This is the way I was! All right? If anyone had reason for confidence in the flesh, I had more!» Can you break that down for Paul?
Okay, here come four things. All of these are not Paul’s achievements, but they’re things that he got by birth. First of all, «Circumcised on the eighth day.» Jewish males, as I said, it was a symbol of membership in God’s covenant people, but he was circumcised on the eighth day.
And what he was saying was, «I’m not a proselyte! I was born into a Jewish family! My parents got me over to the temple—not early, not late—right on time! We got to the front of the line! I was their premium, like required on the eighth day!»
Paul’s Impressive Heritage
Now what he’s saying is that I have this by birth! All right? I had what I had by birth! By the way, that’s a huge problem with people and their salvation! Somebody said to me this week, «I said, how long have you known the Lord?» He said, «I was born a Christian!» Incorrect! Incorrect answer!
Now you were born dead in your trespasses and sins! We need to say, «Everyone needs a Savior!» Say it! All right? So my family can’t save me, but Jesus can! Paul says, «Circumcised on the eighth day, then he says, ‘of the people of Israel.’»
Now think about your Old Testament history here. The father of the nation of Israel was somebody—Abraham! It was like, «I’m not of Abraham!» Because if I was of Abraham, I could be an Ishmaelite! «I’m not of Isaac!» Because if I was from Isaac, I might be an Edomite! Because Isaac had two sons—Jacob and Esau!
«I’m not from Abraham, because I’m not an Ishmaelite! I’m not from Isaac, because I’m not an Edomite! I’m from Jacob!» I’m from Jacob; he had twelve sons! Okay? And while we’re on that subject, by the way, I’m from the tribe of Benjamin!
You remember Benjamin! Some were born from Leah, the wife he didn’t want, and how many? Two were born from Rachel, the wife he did want! And Benjamin, Joseph’s younger brother, was the baby in the family! So privileged was Benjamin’s status that when the Promised Land was divided, they got the area, now that is Jerusalem, including the part that is the Temple Mount!
Okay, it’s a little hard for us to relate to this; we’ve got this stuff going on around the city, too! You know, saying, «Well, I’m from my desk.» Yeah, well, I’m sorry, I’m from Chicago, Rogers Park! You know, and people have thoughts about these things, and you just have to understand more than you can maybe appreciate!
When Paul said, «I’m from the nation of Israel! I’m from the tribe of Benjamin! Check me out!» And then he says, «A Hebrew of the Hebrews!» This is a Jewish person who spoke Hebrew! All right? He hadn’t fallen in with the culture! He was one of the Orthodox practitioners! He’s like, «This goes way, way back with my family!»
A Personal Family Reflection
This is a picture that I’ve shown you in church before—this is a picture that’s in my office, and you probably won’t be able to see it very well. That’s okay because it’s—but this is me and my brother! I was probably three or four; my brother’s probably then five or six!
And I’m standing outside of the little church that we were going to with my great-grandfather, and my father was there, that Damon! Now, he said, «James, you mentioned that once in a while.» Yeah, because I’m proud of it, okay? I’m proud of the fact that I’m a fourth-generation follower of Jesus Christ!
And Luke and Landon and Abby are our fifth generation of followers of Jesus Christ! Along with grandsons for them, they have the potential of being a sixth generation! And I’m not proud of it; I’m determined about it! But it doesn’t matter how much my father or grandmother or great-grandfather loved the Lord; that didn’t save me!
I had to come to the place where I realized that I couldn’t be saved because my parents loved the Lord, and I couldn’t be saved because my grandparents loved the Lord! And you can’t be either! And some of you here who think, «Well, you know, I’m not doing that good. My wife loves Jesus, though! I’m not doing that good with this right now, but my grandfather was a pastor.»
That’s hold up! How much that’s worth, right? That’s not helping you at all! It’s fine in a human way to be respectful and appreciative of your background, but those things aren’t helping you!