Perhaps many who think themselves high in Christ’s school, have not yet begun with his A, B, C. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
This thought of Adam (just above) does not appear much on a first reading, but after some meditation one can see that it is really quite profound. It has fingers that being to reach into areas upon some reflection that give insight into modern versions of Christianity in our world. Could it be that people have made some profession of Christ years ago and have been following Christ in their own way and in their own minds for years and yet they have never truly started following Christ at all? Could it be that there are many pastors and professors in colleges and seminaries who know great amounts of information about Christ and the history of Christianity and yet they do not know Christ in reality? Could it be that there are many of those who write about Christianity and of the doctrines of Christianity with great learning and skill and yet they don’t know Christ Himself?
The thought which Adam sets out here should move people to much thought and reflection. After all, we live in such a shallow age and time that it certainly appears that it would be very easy in our day to be deceived. The Scriptures speak of how many are deceived by their own hearts, the deceptive nature of sin, and of the devil who is the deceiver. Is it really beyond the realm of possibilities that what is the popular perception of Christianity in our day is simply wrong? Could it be that God has hardened the hearts of many for years and years and the thinking of many has slid off the path a little at a time? Is it so hard to believe that in light of what happened to the nation of Israel?
The nation of Israel was led astray by prophet and priest time after time. The religious leaders deceived the people by saying that what was good was bad and that what was bad was good. This happened throughout the history of Israel and it was in full swing during the time of Jesus as well. The Sadducees and the Pharisees were very religious and committed to the teachings of those who came before them, but the sad thing is that they were no longer following the true God. Sure enough the Pharisees were conservative and followed stringent rules, but they had departed from loving God and truly following God as He had commanded. These men no longer looked to God in utter dependence upon Him for all things, but instead they were given to their history, their academics, and their morality for their religion. This is to say that they had a religion of self that depended on them rather than God. For some reason that began to think that they had to do things for God rather than depend on Him for all.
In many ways the churches have been looking to academics to understand the things of God rather than depending on God. While this can be a nuanced view, it may be better to leave things in plain language. When the academics are truly following God, academics can be a helpful thing. But when it is not following God, scholarship is taken over by worldly methods of study and a non-spiritual way of understanding Scripture. When anything like this happens, the churches start to follow men rather than God. When men are following men, they are not following Christ and as such are perhaps not even starting at the A,B, and C of Christianity despite great knowledge.
The Pharisees were also very moral, at least in terms of the outward parts. They kept the commandments in their own view, but they did not love God and so they did not keep the commandments in reality at all. Instead, they kept the commandments out of love for self rather than a love for God and so all their obedience was for the great I-dol of self rather than for God. Likewise, those who are very moral or religious in an outward sense may think of themselves as very mature Christians, but the reality of it may be that they have not even started following Christ.
It may be the case that there are many people who know their Bibles and read their Bibles often and yet they are not truly following Christ. Instead of following Christ, they are simply trusting in their knowledge of the Bible, reading the Bible, and of an external religion. Still others can trust in their prayers, their preaching, and all forms of external obedience to religious things. But those things cannot be trusted in and so instead of those things being evidence of people following Christ, those things can be things that need to be repented of. How can a preacher repent of his preaching? Instead of preaching to gain honor and the honor of men he must preach Christ crucified. How can a person repent of his praying and his Bible reading? Instead of praying and reading for self and as a way of trusting in self, that person must repent and read the words of Christ out of love for Christ so that the person may truly glorify Christ. That person should repent of religious activity called pray and cry out to God in utter helplessness for God to teach that person to pray from the heart and with true love. It could be that the vast majority of what is thought of as Christianity is that which has not even started being Christian and is not from Christ at all.
God Loves... Himself 
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