This is the final day of our journey together. I hope you realize that God is calling you to understand the gospel deeply in your own life and to rid yourself of all the “traditions of men” that “nullify the Word of God” when they walk out traditions that are not from God. Religion is man’s attempt to reach God by good works. Classic Christianity is really not religion at all. What Christ came to build was family. Families give birth to new children. When Jesus told His disciples to “make disciples (learners) of all nations (people groups,” He intended for us to do just that. Making disciples has been relegated to only a hand full of people and has become quite academic in nature. Jesus immersed Himself into a relationship with His disciples and He modeled the life of abiding in His Father’s will by demonstrating a real and vital relationship with His Father.

I am going to challenge you right now to consider asking God how you can participate in the great co-mission. Perhaps He might lead you to take someone else through the story of God you have just experienced? If so, I recommend you go through it with them and be sure to watch the advanced track videos. This material is designed to be read over and over again as we walk people through it. This will help solidify the gospel in our own lives as we are helping others. Jesus said…

Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

(Matthew 28:19 AMPC)

We are called to baptize people. Not just with water, but into “the name” [identity] of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we baptize [immerse] people into the identity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are giving them a new family. Anyone who trusts in Christ receives the inheritance of adoption as well as the riches of Christ and all this entails. Why would we want to keep this story to ourselves? Because people have come to “misunderstand” the real story and legalistic religion has turned the “gospel” into something that many in our culture consider hypocrisy. If you think legalistic religion is hypocritical then you are in good company. Jesus had incredibly harsh words for these type of people. Lest you think that I am over emphasizing the importance of ridding ourselves of legalistic religion, notice how Jesus, as God in human flesh, places such emphases on this in His own life and teaching. He gave grace to the humble willing sinners who saw their need for the gospel. Legalistic religion avoids and looks down on the “sinners” and in their hypocrisy become the greatest sinners of all.

The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat [of authority]. So observe and practice all they tell you; but do not do what they do, for they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy loads, hard to bear, and place them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not lift a finger to help bear them. They do all their works to be seen of men; for they make wide their phylacteries (small cases enclosing certain Scripture passages, worn during prayer on the left arm and forehead) and make long their fringes [worn by all male Israelites, according to the command]. [Exo_13:9; Num_15:38; Deu_6:8] And they take pleasure in and [thus] love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues, And to be greeted with honor in the marketplaces and to have people call them rabbi. But you are not to be called rabbi (teacher), for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone [in the church] on earth father, for you have one Father, Who is in heaven. And you must not be called masters (leaders), for you have one Master (Leader), the Christ. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself [with haughtiness and empty pride] shall be humbled (brought low), and whoever humbles himself [whoever has a modest opinion of himself and behaves accordingly] shall be raised to honor. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)!

For you shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces; for you neither enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are about to go in to do so. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you swallow up widows' houses and for a pretense to cover it up make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation and the heavier sentence. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes one [a proselyte], you make him doubly as much a child of hell (Gehenna) as you are. Woe to you, blind guides, who say, If anyone swears by the sanctuary of the temple, it is nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the sanctuary, he is a debtor [bound by his oath]. You blind fools! For which is greater: the gold, or the sanctuary of the temple that has made the gold sacred? [Exo_30:29] You say too, Whoever swears by the altar is not duty bound; but whoever swears by the offering on the altar, his oath is binding. You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar which makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.

And he who swears by the sanctuary of the temple swears by it and by Him Who dwells in it. [1Ki_8:13; Psa_26:8] And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by Him Who sits upon it. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you give a tenth of your mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected and omitted the weightier (more important) matters of the Law--right and justice and mercy and fidelity. These you ought [particularly] to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, filtering out a gnat and gulping down a camel! [Lev_27:30; Mic_6:8] Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but within they are full of extortion (prey, spoil, plunder) and grasping self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you are like tombs that have been whitewashed, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men's bones and everything impure. Just so, you also outwardly seem to people to be just and upright but inside you are full of pretense and lawlessness and iniquity. [Psa_5:9]

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, Saying, If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have aided them in shedding the blood of the prophets. Thus you are testifying against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' sins to the brim [so that nothing may be wanting to a full measure]. You serpents! You spawn of vipers! How can you escape the penalty to be suffered in hell (Gehenna)? Because of this, take notice: I am sending you prophets and wise men (interpreters and teachers) and scribes (men learned in the Mosaic Law and the Prophets); some of them you will kill, even crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue and persecute from town to town, So that upon your heads may come all the blood of the righteous (those who correspond to the divine standard of right) shed on earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar [of burnt offering]. [Gen_4:8; 2Ch_24:21] Truly I declare to you, all these [evil, calamitous times] will come upon this generation. [2Ch_36:15-16]

(Matthew 23:2-36 AMPC)

If you, like our culture, hate hypocrisy as much as Jesus then don’t become a hypocrite like they did. Your forgiveness and relationship with God should make you feel “gratitude and humility” instead of “pride and arrogance.” Self-righteousness is the enemy of Jesus’ way of life. Jesus is calling us to detox from legalistic religion and instead “come to Him.”

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. [Jer_6:16] For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good--not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.

(Matthew 11:28-30 AMPC)

This is the New Covenant. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ that we are called to live and spread. This is attractive to sinners. Legalistic religion is not attractive to anyone but the proud and arrogance. Jesus is calling us to make disciples who “continue in His Word.” Why? Because there is a special promise given to those who “continue in His Word.” The Word of God will free you from the traditions of men and from the bondage of legalistic religion. Jesus is not against healthy “religion” if that is what you want to call it. He wants us to gather as His family and love one another as He has loved us but he wants us to operate in the freedom He came to bring and does not want us to be like the Pharisees who…

“…tie up heavy loads, hard to bear, and place them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not lift a finger to help bear them.

(Matthew 23:4 AMPC)

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

(John 8:31-32 NASB)

It is your choice really to walk in freedom or not. If you are “in Christ” then you are already free. Helping others become “free” is a response of love where we are called to love one another as Christ loved us. My hope and praying in writing this is that you will become free and help others become free by spreading this “good news” that Christ came to bring. He will return soon and establish a Kingdom with those that respond to His message of hope.

THEN I saw a new sky (heaven) and a new earth, for the former sky and the former earth had passed away (vanished), and there no longer existed any sea. [Isa_65:17; Isa_66:22] And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, all arrayed like a bride beautified and adorned for her husband; Then I heard a mighty voice from the throne and I perceived its distinct words, saying, See! The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent) among them; and they shall be His people, and God shall personally be with them and be their God. [Eze_37:27] God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away. [Isa_25:8; Isa_35:10]

And He Who is seated on the throne said, See! I make all things new. Also He said, Record this, for these sayings are faithful (accurate, incorruptible, and trustworthy) and true (genuine). [Isa_43:19] And He [further] said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I [Myself] will give water without price from the fountain (springs) of the water of Life. [Isa_55:1] He who is victorious shall inherit all these things, and I will be God to him and he shall be My son. But as for the cowards and the ignoble and the contemptible and the cravenly lacking in courage and the cowardly submissive, and as for the unbelieving and faithless, and as for the depraved and defiled with abominations, and as for murderers and the lewd and adulterous and the practicers of magic arts and the idolaters (those who give supreme devotion to anyone or anything other than God) and all liars (those who knowingly convey untruth by word or deed)--[all of these shall have] their part in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone. This is the second death. [Isa_30:33]

(Revelation 21:1-8 AMPC)

And he [of the seven angels further] said to me, These statements are reliable (worthy of confidence) and genuine (true). And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent His messenger (angel) to make known and exhibit to His servants what must soon come to pass. And behold, I am coming speedily. Blessed (happy and to be envied) is he who observes and lays to heart and keeps the truths of the prophecy (the predictions, consolations, and warnings) contained in this [little] book. And I, John, am he who heard and witnessed these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell prostrate before the feet of the messenger (angel) who showed them to me, to worship him. But he said to me, Refrain! [You must not do that!] I am [only] a fellow servant along with yourself and with your brethren the prophets and with those who are mindful of and practice [the truths contained in] the messages of this book. Worship God!

And he [further] told me, Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book and make no secret of them, for the time when things are brought to a crisis and the period of their fulfillment is near. He who is unrighteous (unjust, wicked), let him be unrighteous still; and he who is filthy (vile, impure), let him be filthy still; and he who is righteous (just, upright, in right standing with God), let him do right still; and he who is holy, let him be holy still. [Dan_12:10] Behold, I am coming soon, and I shall bring My wages and rewards with Me, to repay and render to each one just what his own actions and his own work merit. [Isa_40:10; Jer_17:10] I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last (the Before all and the End of all). [Isa_44:6; Isa_48:12] Blessed (happy and to be envied) are those who cleanse their garments, that they may have the authority and right to [approach] the tree of life and to enter through the gates into the city. [Gen_2:9; Gen_3:22, Gen_3:24] [But] without are the dogs and those who practice sorceries (magic arts) and impurity [the lewd, adulterers] and the murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and deals in falsehood (untruth, error, deception, cheating).

I, Jesus, have sent My messenger (angel) to you to witness and to give you assurance of these things for the churches (assemblies). I am the Root (the Source) and the Offspring of David, the radiant and brilliant Morning Star. [Isa_11:1, Isa_11:10] The [Holy] Spirit and the bride (the church, the true Christians) say, Come! And let him who is listening say, Come! And let everyone come who is thirsty [who is painfully conscious of his need of those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported, and strengthened]; and whoever [earnestly] desires to do it, let him come, take, appropriate, and drink the water of Life without cost. [Isa_55:1] I [personally solemnly] warn everyone who listens to the statements of the prophecy [the predictions and the consolations and admonitions pertaining to them] in this book: If anyone shall add anything to them, God will add and lay upon him the plagues (the afflictions and the calamities) that are recorded and described in this book.

And if anyone cancels or takes away from the statements of the book of this prophecy [these predictions relating to Christ's kingdom and its speedy triumph, together with the consolations and admonitions or warnings pertaining to them], God will cancel and take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the city of holiness (purity and hallowedness), which are described and promised in this book. He Who gives this warning and affirms and testifies to these things says, Yes (it is true). [Surely] I am coming quickly (swiftly, speedily). Amen (so let it be)! Yes, come, Lord Jesus! The grace (blessing and favor) of the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) be with all the saints (God's holy people, those set apart for God, to be, as it were, exclusively His). Amen (so let it be)!

(Revelation 22:6-21 AMPC)

For a deeper study of each book of the Bible with high resolution videos and animated posters visit See The Bible: Deep Dive site or TheBibleProject.com. Our website is SeeTheBible.com. You can also download the Read Scripture mobile application for reading through the Bible in a year mapped to Bible Project videos.

If you have enjoyed this devotional or have a story tell about how God has used it to impact your life please let me know at [email protected].