Religion and grace are enemies
Religion wants nothing to do with grace; it wants to feel like it's right with God because it has somehow earned right standing with God by being good and 'keeping all the rules'. Grace humiliates religion, because grace admits to weakness and failure. Religion justifies it's actions while grace humbly realizes the failure and accepts mercy.
It is a goal of religion to degrade the seriousness of sin, so that it doesn't feel so bad, thus avoiding the need to repent and receive God's mercy. In this passage, Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees for rejecting the mercy of God through John the Baptist's baptism:
For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.
Matthew 21:32
The Pharisees rejected the grace of God, because the concept of grace humiliated their religious stature.
Religion keeps record of wrongdoing
Not only does religion try to get us to overlook God's love for us, it will also try to get us to hold things against others out of spite and unforgiveness, while God's Word tells us that love keeps no record of wrong:
"And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity [love] shall cover the multitude of sins."
1 Peter 4:8
Now don't get me wrong, we are to judge the righteous judgment, which is common sense. If a person has not repented of their wrong, but continues in it, we may not be able to trust them with responsibilities that we could trust somebody else with. If you have been abused or raped, then you may not able to trust that person until they have earned their trust again (which may never happen). While it's important to forgive those who wrong us, it may be foolish to begin trusting them right away. For example, it normally isn't a good idea to leave your children alone with a child molester. Now if I know that person has truly repented, and sought deliverance, then it might be a different story. Trust can be earned, but we must be wise.
It is a goal of religion to degrade the seriousness of sin, so that it doesn't feel so bad, thus avoiding the need to repent and receive God's mercy. In this passage, Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees for rejecting the mercy of God through John the Baptist's baptism:
For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.
Matthew 21:32
The Pharisees rejected the grace of God, because the concept of grace humiliated their religious stature.
Religion keeps record of wrongdoing
Not only does religion try to get us to overlook God's love for us, it will also try to get us to hold things against others out of spite and unforgiveness, while God's Word tells us that love keeps no record of wrong:
"And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity [love] shall cover the multitude of sins."
1 Peter 4:8
Now don't get me wrong, we are to judge the righteous judgment, which is common sense. If a person has not repented of their wrong, but continues in it, we may not be able to trust them with responsibilities that we could trust somebody else with. If you have been abused or raped, then you may not able to trust that person until they have earned their trust again (which may never happen). While it's important to forgive those who wrong us, it may be foolish to begin trusting them right away. For example, it normally isn't a good idea to leave your children alone with a child molester. Now if I know that person has truly repented, and sought deliverance, then it might be a different story. Trust can be earned, but we must be wise.
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