As the praise of true religion is not of men but of God, so there certainly is a thing called Religion which will please the world, whose praise is not of God but of men; but the downright libertine and the real Christian will both be disapproved of, though the latter more than the former. Sir Richard Hill
True religion (true Christianity) is all about Christ and Christ alone. The only way to obtain Christ and to drink of the water of life is by grace alone. There is nothing in religion apart from the true Christ that can do anything but draw the wrath of God, yet there is nothing in Christ that does not draw the praise of God. On the other hand, the religion of the world that is apart from the true Christ will draw the praise of men, yet all that is of the true Christ will draw the wrath of man.
When the Lord Jesus, who is the shining forth of the glory of God, came and dwelt among men, that glory that He was full of was a glory that was full of grace and truth. He was in one sense grace incarnate and love incarnate, yet He was hated by men and most particularly hated by the most religious of men. It appears from the New Testament that the more religious a man was (in accordance to the religion of the day) the more that person hated Christ. Not much has changed today. The followers of Christ are hated and the more like Christ they are the more they will be hated and mistreated in some way, and that from religious people.
Christianity is all about the glory of God manifested in the grace of God to His children by and in Christ. All the paths of true Christianity are covered with the pure gold of pure grace which is in Christ alone, though the paths of religion and false Christianity are littered with fool’s gold. Those who love themselves and refuse to bow to the true Christ and true grace will follow the paths of fool’s gold which includes the praise of men. This praise of men comes in the form of praise for how nice and reasonable these people are. This praise will say that these people accept the tenants of science and reason. This praise will say that these are modern people who understand how the Bible cannot be taken literally. Oh how the praise of men is so attractive to those who love themselves.
The religion that pleases men hates true Christianity and will not be reconciled with it, and this shows how the religion that men approve of is really a way to hate God and man retain his own self-righteousness. The concept of self-righteous seems to be reserved (for the most part) for those who are outwardly proud of the way they avoid outward sin. But the Scriptures use the term to refer to those who trust in themselves in any way. The religion that pleases men can be an orthodox version of justification and sanctification which relies upon men to be responsible. This stress on the responsibility most often hides some great truths of Scripture and gives men a way to trust in themselves and their own righteousness. As long as men think (without clear instruction) that there are things they must do to be sanctified, they will do them and rest in them and so have a hidden righteousness that they trust in.
It is certainly true that Scripture puts many obligations upon human beings, but one of those obligations is to realize that they have no strength to keep the least of God’s commands in their own strength. Another of those obligations is that men are to glorify God in all they do and this can only be done by His strength which dwells in men by grace alone. This shows us that the obligations that men are under is to turn from all actions that are done in the strength and motives of flesh and do them in the strength which God provides by grace. Sadly enough, then, in stressing man’s responsibility and doing that without the utter helplessness and inability of man in doing those commands of God, a system of works for righteousness is being set forth. This system of works is said to be sanctification or perhaps man’s duty to God, but underneath it is the inescapable result of self-righteousness.
Men hate grace and love their own power. Men hate the sovereignty of God and love their own choices. Men hate the sovereignty of grace and love their own ability to work as they please. Men hate the sufficiency of God and love their own sufficiency. Men hate the ability of God and love their own ability. In looking at this from this light, one can see that true Christianity operates upon the basis of man’s inability of grace alone from salvation to and through glorification. Any teaching, then, that teaches men to work from their own ability is not true Christianity. It is incredibly rare to find the Gospel of grace sounding forth that will teach men how unable they are to perform the least work for self-righteousness and their utter need for grace to be saved and gragrace to be sanctified. How incredible it is that something that is taught so plainly in Scripture is so plainly ignored.
God Loves... Himself 
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