CTS 101

CALL TO SALVATION

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 Module 1

Religion Without Salvation

Outline

 What is religion
 Religion without salvation explained
 Nature and Activities of religious people
 People in the Bible that exhibited religion without
salvation
 The consequences of religion without salvation

1. WHAT IS RELIGION?

There are different definitions to the meaning of religion.

Religion can be said to be the personal set or
institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and
practices. Religion entails the service and worship of God
or the supernatural. Religion is also a commitment or
devotion to religious faith or observance. Religion is also a
cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to, with ardor
and faith. Religion can also be defined as human being’s
relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred,
absolute, spiritual, divine, or worthy of especial reverence.
In many religions, texts are deemed to have scriptural
status, and people are esteemed to be invested with

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spiritual or moral authority. Believers and worshippers
participate in and are often enjoined to perform devotional
or contemplative practices such as prayer, meditation, or
particular rituals. Worship, moral conduct, right belief, and
participation in religious institutions are among the
constituent elements of the religious life.

1.1 RELIGION WITHOUT SALVATION

 Religion without salvation entails engaging in religious

activities without being born again, without having a
relationship with Christ, without genuinely identifying
with Christ and accepting him as your personal Lord
and Savior.
 Our generation is filled with the spirit of religion where
many claim to worship the true God, but in the real
sense they don’t.
 Nicodemus was a perfect example in the days of Christ
on earth (John 3:1-8).
 These days, most people believe that Christianity is just
belonging to a church or being baptized in a church and
bearing a Christian name, this is wrong.
 Christianity entails identifying with Christ and yielding
your all to him, it entails submitting to the Lordship of
Jesus by being born again.

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 To enjoy good relationship with God goes beyond just
being born in a family or having Abraham as your
father.
 Before Joshua died, he warned the children of Israel and
gave them a piece of advice for continued relationship
with God.
 He told them what to do and what not to do. Bearing a
baptismal name or belonging to a church is not a
yardstick to measuring your relationship with God.
 You can politicize yourself in an office in the church
without having a good relationship with God.
 You can be a church founder or have a close blood
relationship with a true leader or general overseer of
any denomination.
 You may belong to a good Bible-believing church
without having access to the throne of God.
 You may be too close to the people that matter in
every Pentecostal church worldwide without being close
to God.
 You may have your way into every office, throne, and
positions of authority without having access to God and
His throne.
 Occupying an enviable position in any church is
obviously not a guarantee that you have God’s phone
numbers (salvation).

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 If you go to church, occupy a good position in church as
an elder, Christian father, mother, or a ruler among
church leaders, but you are not born again, your
worship is not complete, you are simply being religious.
 You may be a priest, a catechist, bishop, general
overseer or church founder; if you are not born again,
your worship is lighter than nothing and is worse than
empty.
 You can belong to a place of worship, find a place of
worship, be a leader in a place of worship, sponsor
church projects, build a place of worship, be a preacher
in a place of worship, and be without salvation – this is
very possible.
 You may inherit a place of worship without having a
personal relationship or access to God.
 It is possible to go unto a mountain to pray and fast,
and not have a relationship with God.
 It has happened before; it is still happening today.
 As a Pharisee, Nicodemus must have been attending
Jewish worships regularly, doing good works, praying,
paying tithe, fasting and praising God.
 But he was never born again.
 He had a position among the Jews who claim to know
God.

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 As an important person among the Jews, a ruler, a
respected and recognized Jewish worship attendant, he
thought he was a true child of God.
 He was practicing religion, but was never born again
and this was why Jesus spoke to him about being born
again. John.3:1-13.
 I have seen people who learn how to say, “Praise God,
the Lord is good;” sing very well, and preach powerful
messages.
 But they are not born again.
 They learn the language of heaven, claim to be born
again, speak in tongues and claim to be sanctified.
 But they do not have access to God’s numbers
(salvation).
 That is to say that we have many religious people
today, but they do not know Christ.
 They have the form of godliness, but in reality, they do
not have the power of God.

1.2 NATURE AND ACTIVITIES OF RELIGIOUS PEOPLE

 A religious person practices religion without Christ.

 They say much about God; they pretend to draw near
to God with their lips and their hearts are far from God.

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 Religious people are like the Israelites that were
following Joshua; shouting, “Praise God!” But they did
not have God in their hearts.
 They claimed to be Abraham’s children, but they were
wicked.
 They claimed to be Abraham’s seed, but they rejected
the word of God.
 They opposed the word of God they preach with their
character.
 The word of God had no place in them yet they claimed
to be Abraham’s seed.
 They claimed to be the seed of Abraham but would not
do the work of Abraham.
 They were murderers yet they claimed to be Abraham’s
seed.
 Jesus told them that with their mouth they claimed to
be Abraham’s seed, but in character they were the
children of the devil because they lust, murder and lie
like the devil.
 Before Joshua died, he warned and counselled them to
keep on loving God.
 He told them to separate from the worldly system
around them. 2 Timothy 3:5, John 8:37, 41, 44
 The children of Israel came together, fasted and
mourned in the fifth and seventh month for seventy
years.

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 That is two times in a year multiply by seventy.
 It equals one hundred and forty times. But God saw it
as just a religious duty, an ordinary ceremony and an
exercise without God.
 They ate for themselves, drank for themselves, calling
God with fasting and mourning, but they refused to
listen to God’s word.
 They listened to the prophets and teachers of the word
of God of their days, but they refused to practice God’s
word.
 There was a woman like that who attends worship, but
she keeps malice against the Jews and had no dealings
with them.
 She was ready to die and defend Saint Jacob and other
dead saints, but she was not born again.
 She kept malice and committed adultery (John 4:9-12).
 This woman was carried to the mountain, a place of
worship by her parent when she was young.
 When she grew up, she walked herself to the same
mountain, a place of worship.
 At her old age, after marriage, she never stopped going
to the mountain for worship - As a fornicator, an
adulterer; keeping malice against other people who
worshipped in other places.

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 She was earnestly waiting for the coming of Christ with
sins in her life (John 4:19-20, John 4:19-20, John 4:25-
26)
 With all her heart, she believed she was worshiping the
true God in the mountain.
 She must have fought anyone who tried to tell her not
to worship in the mountain.
 She never searched the Scriptures to see if her worship
was right.
 She was born, baptized, and confirmed in her family
church.
 She never saw the need to check if her worship was
correct or wrong.
 A religious person values and holds on to his
denominational doctrines, above the knowledge of God,
above a personal relationship with Jesus and above
going to heaven.
 As a Pharisee, Nicodemus must have been attending
Jewish worships regularly, doing good works, praying,
paying tithe, fasting and praising God.
 But he was never born again. Religious people engage
in activities, occupy religious positions but do not have
a personal relationship with Jesus.
 You may have been giving much alms to people.

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 Do not allow such things to deceive you because I know
a lot of people who are dupers, fraudsters (419), and
drug dealers who have wasted many brains.
 But they give much alms; they sponsor church
buildings, and buy big cars for clergy men.
 They defraud others and render people’s lives and
businesses useless, and turn around to give money to
build churches, buy everything at bazaars, give people
scholarships, and buy bags of rice and clothes for
widows in the village.
 They kill cows to entertain people during Christmas,
but they are wicked.
 They kill, steal, rob, deceive, commit fornication, and
yet give much alms to blind the eyes of the simple-
minded ones.
 In many places of worship today, traditional religion is
exalted above righteousness.
 People are free to practice religion without obeying the
commandment of God.
 They are ready to keep their tradition not minding
whether it contradicts God’s commandments or not.
 They pay fat tithes, bribe people, and close their
mouths with gifts.
 They only fear God when there are problems or lions in
the battle field.

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 But once they are delivered, they go back to their old
vomits - sin of unholy ways of making money.
 They go to church, but they have charms in their
pockets.
 They pray in the church, but they patronize small gods.
 They pay reverend priests and backslidden prophets’
money to buy their prayers, but they have little gods
and fear the devil.
 Many dupers today have bought pastors and many
commercial prayer warriors today with money.
 A lot of ministries today are being sponsored by rich,
wicked, religious, and occult grand masters.
 Those who practice religion without Christ look for
backslidden preachers who will condone their sins.
 They hate the truth and sound doctrine.
 They turn away their ears from the truth, and prefer
preachers who just tell them how God will bless them.
 They relax where prosperity messages are preached
without righteousness.
 They hate any part of God’s word that touches their
sins.
 There are many pastors who see visions today but they
are not born again.
 There are many church goers today who pray very well,
but they are not born again.

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 There are many people who are devoted in worshipping
and practicing religion, but they are not born again.
 They need to send for true preachers who can tell
them the truth.
 No one can earn salvation or a place in heaven by being
devoted to religion without Christ and righteousness.
 No one can earn salvation by ordinarily fearing God
without righteousness.
 No one can earn salvation just by almsgiving to people.
 No one can earn salvation by being a prayer warrior
without true repentance.
 God can give you vision, but that does not mean that
you are a child of God.
 Your alms may reach to God for a memorial, but that
does not mean that you are a child of God.
 The only thing God can do for you is to send a preacher
who can preach the true gospel to you.

1.3 THE PEOPLE IN THE BIBLE THAT EXHIBITED

RELIGION WITHOUT SALVATION

 Cornelius was a centurion of the band called the Italian

band.
 He was a devout man, and one that feared God with his
entire household.

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 He also gave much alms to the people and prayed to
God always.
 He even at times sees vision and angels of God. In fact,
his alms came to God for a memorial.
 Even with these good deeds, he still needed Christ so
that his religion could be accepted.
 Cornelius was a soldier, trained to kill, but thank God
that he recognized the need to look for God. Acts.10:1-
48
 There was a woman in the Bible that was very religious.
 She had heard about Christ, preached about Christ, and
was waiting for Christ.
 She had a place where she goes to hear the word of
God about Christ every Sabbath day, but she had never
had a personal encounter with Christ.
 She loved Christ and was waiting for Him, but there was
no evidence that she was born again.
 She was just excited about Christ. She was ready to
defend Christ anywhere.
 She believed that her place of worship is the best.
 She was just being religious and never questioned
anything or examined all that was being taught about
Christ with the word of God.
 She does not know the way of salvation, yet she was so
religious.

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 She was ready to die, to defend her church and their
doctrines.
 She had an ‘unsaved’ salvation; an ‘unsanctified’
sanctification; an ‘unbroken’ brokenness.
 Even though she claimed to have worshipped Christ,
the day she saw Christ, she was not in the spirit to
recognize Christ.
 Instead of embracing Christ, she started arguing about
church.
 When she was born as a baby, she was carried to the
mountain by her fathers.
 When she started walking, she walked to the mountain
countlessly until the day she meets with the person she
had spent years thinking that she was worshipping.
 When she met Christ, she did not recognize him.

Because she did not recognize him, she started arguing

with him saying: “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain;
and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought
to worship”.

 She was a believer, but before that, she believed in the

wrong Christ, an unknown Christ.
 In response, Jesus accepted that in reality, this woman
was worshipping, but she did not know God.
 She was worshipping, but not in spirit and truth. Jesus
told the woman to believe him.

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 That means she did not believe in Jesus before. She
wanted to keep to her original belief; the old tradition
and the custom of elders; the doctrines of the church
that contradicts God’s word. John.4:5-30.
 The children of Israel were so familiar with God.
 They had Abraham as their father; they were the
people that inherited all that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and
all others left behind.
 Their wives replaced Sarah, the wife of Abraham.
 They were familiar with Joseph, a favored child both at
home and abroad.
 God dealt with Pharaoh and drowned all his armies in
the Red Sea.
 Moses was a great prophet in their midst, and God was
so jealous of them.
 God used him to discipline Pharaoh, the Egyptian
magicians, and all the nations that opposed them on
their way to the Promised Land, but they still didn’t
really give their all to God.
 These were the kind of people that were following
Joshua; shouting, “Praise God!” But they did not have
God in their hearts.
 They claimed to be Abraham’s children, but they were
wicked.
 They claimed to be Abraham’s seed, but they rejected
the word of God.

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 They opposed the word of God they preach with their
character.
 The word of God had no place in them yet they claimed
to be Abraham’s seed.
 They claimed to be the seed of Abraham but would not
do the work of Abraham.
 They were murderers yet they claimed to be Abraham’s
seed.
 Jesus told them that with mouth they claimed to be
Abraham’s seed, but in character they were the
children of the devil because they lust, murder and lie
like the devil.
 Before Joshua died, he warned and counselled them to
keep on loving God.
 He told them to separate from the worldly system
around them.
 Jesus Christ says that no one can serve two masters at
a time.
 The problem and the tragedy of our generation is that
we fail to acknowledge the truth.
 In Jesus’ days the Pharisees were like that. Arguing with
Jesus and the word of God is the greatest offence in life.
 You can disagree with any other person, but do not
ever disagree with Christ and the Scriptures. John 9:40,
41

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1.4 CONSEQUENCES OF RELIGION WITHOUT
SALVATION

 Practicing religion without Christ and righteousness is

dangerous.
 You need righteousness for your religion to be
accepted.
 Religion without Christ is a very big weapon of deceit.
 It can bring its victim into bondage without such a
victim knowing it.
 The children of Israel of Jesus’ days were in a serious
bondage that took them out of the coverage area, but
they were ignorant of their situation.
 They were in need of deliverance, but they never knew
that they were under such condition.
 They were bound and taken away from the true God,
but their belief was that as long as they were
Abraham’s seed they could not be in bondage.
 They were surprised and embarrassed when Christ told
them that they needed freedom that can bring them
back to God into divine coverage.
 Being zealous for God is not even enough. It is a
dangerous thing to be ignorant of your ignorance.
 Not knowing that you do not know is a serious matter
and one of the highest witchcraft of our generation.
 It is a great deceit to serve the God you do not know or
to follow the road you do not know its end.

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 Failure to submit to God’s word, the Scriptures, is the
greatest failure in life.
 Doing any other thing in life without doing what the
word of God says is a great mistake.
 It can bring disaster and death. Knowing what God
wants you to do and not doing it is outright
disobedience. Romans.10:1-3
 It is a great deceit to believe that you can escape God’s
punishment without true repentance.
 It has never happened, and it will not start with you.
 Our generation has deviated from righteousness into a
mere practice of religion, and many ministers have
been bought because of the love of money.
 If God punished the Israelites who sinned, how much
less those who are not the seed of Abraham?
 Let nobody think that he can deceive God or escape
his wrath.
 It is very good to serve God, work for God, sing, pray,
and fast.
 But it is better to be sure of the God you are serving
before serving Him.
 It is better to know if your service is being accepted or
rejected before you continue.
 We need to examine ourselves, service, etc., with the
word of God before we continue.
 This is because religion without Christ is dangerous.

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 It is evident that many worshipers today are not
worshipping the true God.
 Many are worshipping whom they don’t know.
 If the woman in John Chapter four was seventy years
carried to the mountain by her parents, walked herself
to the mountain, and was seventy when she met Christ
- and yet knew not whom she worshipped, you must
check whom you worship.
 She was sincerely wrong when she meet Christ. The
person she fought for and worshipped appeared and
told her, “ye worship what ye know not what.”
 Meaning, you are worshipping an unknown god (John
4:22, Zechariah 7:4-6).
 If the children of Israel in the time of prophet Zachariah
worshipped, fasted, and mourned in vain for seventy
years, you must check your worship, so as to be sure
that you are worshipping the true God (Zechariah 7:1-
7).

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