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Introduction: Israel had been
warned over and again. But they continued in their idolatrous
practices. Therefore, God conquered them through Assyria,
deporting them to a foreign land. According to II
Kings 17:24, the Assyrians placed foreigners in Israel.
God punished these men because they did not follow His laws (vs.
25). So the Assyrian king sent an Israelite priest to
teach these new inhabitants the customs of Jehovah. But then these
men did a strange thing. Instead of simply obeying Jehovah, they
tried to mix their previous religions with God’s. As ridiculous
as it sounds, they tried it. Even today people try to mix man’s
religion with God’s. There are some great lessons we can learn
from these men of antiquity regarding mixed religion today. Discussion: I.
God’s
religion and man’s religion are mutually contradictory. A.
God’s
religion is one of monotheism. That is, there are not many and
numerous gods over different things and different regions. Rather,
there is only one God and Father of all (Ephesians
4:6). God had demonstrated through His law to the
Israelites that He wanted to be the sole object of worship. Exodus
20:3 stated, “You shall have no other God’s before
Me.” Deuteronomy
6:13-14 read, “You shall fear only the Lord your God;
and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. You shall not
follow other gods …” B.
The pagan
nations around Israel, however, followed numerous gods. II
Kings 17:30-31 lists some of the foreign gods: Succoth-benoth,
Nergal, Ashima, Nibhaz, Tartak, Adrammelech and Anammelech. These
do not mention others we know about: Molech, Baal, Dagon and
Ashtoreth. The sight of the foreign cities was probably much like
Athens in Paul’s day as recorded in Acts
17:16, “The city full of idols.” These two religions
cannot logically co-exist. They mutually contradict each other. C.
The same is
true of the religions people are trying to mix today. Man’s
religion will not mix with God’s because it is mutually
contradictory. Matthew
15:9 says, “In vain do they worship me, teaching as
doctrine the commandments of men.” When we start trying to mix
our religion with God’s religion, it makes the whole thing vain,
because they contradict. D.
God’s
religion says there is one church (Ephesians
4:4). Man’s religion says there are many churches and
you can go to any of them. God’s religion says we must worship
God in spirit and in truth (John
4:24). Man’s religion says we can worship how we see
fit. God’s religion says a man’s way is not within him and he
should not trust his heart (Jeremiah
10:23; Proverbs 3:5-6; 16:25). Man’s religion says trust
the feeling in your heart. God’s religion says the Bible is a
blueprint for serving God (II
Timothy 3:16-17). Man’s religion says the Bible is not a
guide, just a love letter. God’s religion says we will be judged
by the word of Christ according to our deeds (John
12:48; Romans 2:5-10). Man’s religion says because of
God’s love there will be no judgment. God’s religion says we
must obey God in faith, confession, repentance and baptism if we
desire to have our sins remitted and our souls saved (Romans
10:9-10; Acts 2:38). Man’s religion asks for altar calls
and sinner’s prayers. These doctrines don’t mix, they
contradict. II.
Eventually
one or the other religion will have to win out. A.
Because
man’s religion and God’s religion are mutually contradictory,
they will never be integrated. Eventually, one or the other will
win out. Regrettably, most often men allow their own religious
customs to win out instead of God’s. That is what happened in II
Kings 17:34. Throughout the text of this story the
scripture says they feared the Lord, but they still worshipped
their gods. This verse brings insight to the whole situation. That
is, while these people paid some homage to Jehovah, they had
chosen their customs of religion over God’s religion. Jehovah
was simply “the god of the land” (II
Kings 17:26). He was not the one and only God of all the
universe to these people. B.
Jesus
teaches in Mathew
6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will
hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and
despise the other.” Jesus applies this teaching to money and
God. But the principle is the same for any two masters. When
people today mix religions with God’s religion it won’t work.
Eventually they have to choose. C.
There are
Christians today who are trying to do this very thing, trying to
mix man’s religion with God’s. I once spoke with one Christian
who had been on a radio program with a pastor of a church that
teaches faith only salvation (contradicting James
2:24). On this program these two men, who teach mutually
contradictory salvation doctrines, were claiming to be united.
When questioned about their contradictory positions, both men
claimed they were closer than we might think. I once spoke with a
preacher who says he teaches baptism for the remission of sins is
necessary for salvation (according to Acts
2:38) but also says there are people who haven’t been
baptized for the remission of sins who are saved. What is going to
happen? These fence riders will eventually have to choose what
salvation doctrine they will teach. Either they will teach God’s
doctrine: faithful obedience in repentance, confession of Christ
and baptism for the remission of sins; or they will teach man’s
doctrine: a faith only sinner’s prayer. What side will they come
down on? Who knows? But, if they follow the example of most who
have tried to mix religion, they will not be on God's side. In
fact, already they are not on God’s side. III.
People of
mixed religion have nothing in common with true followers of God. A.
Ezra 4:1-3
gives us great insight into the spiritual state of those who try
to mix man’s religion with God’s religion. At the end of the
captivity, the Israelites were released to go back to Jerusalem in
Judah to rebuild the temple. When those who mixed religion asked
to help, Zerubbabel replied, “You have nothing in common with us
…” The inspired writer calls these people of mixed religion
the enemies of the people of God. B.
This has not
changed. Those who strive to mix religion are the enemies of those
who faithfully hold to the word of God. These do not abide in the
doctrine of Christ. II
John 9-11 demonstrates we are not to receive this kind of
teacher into our home or even give him a greeting, because then we
become a partaker of his evil deeds. The point here is that we
must not do anything that says we give approval to his teaching.
After all, if I were having a study with someone such as this, of
course I would give a greeting and invite him into my home to
study. But, we must not do anything which says we approve of such
false teaching and evil. C.
Our desire
must be for their repentance and forgiveness, but we must
recognize their doctrine and stance for what it is: rebellion
against God. As such, they stand as God’s enemies. Sometimes it
becomes easy in our minds to find excuses for those who only
partially serve the Lord. We see their devotion to their mixed
religion and their commitment to what they believe God is and we
think God must be happy with them in some measure. But the truth
of the matter is God is not happy at all. They are enemies of God.
We should not envy their pseudo-spirituality or their vain
devotion to useless religion. Instead, we must continue to study
our Bibles in order to follow the pattern God has laid out. IV.
We must
examine our teachings and practices to insure we follow God’s
law. A.
We must be
careful not to be so full of ourselves that we are constantly
pointing the finger at others, never noticing where we might be
guilty of mixed religion. The problem that the people in ancient
Samaria had was they wanted to continue to follow their earlier
customs (II
Kings 17:34, 40). They wanted to mix their pagan idolatry
because that is what they were used to. B.
We must be
careful that we do not mix any of our customs or “want to’s”
in with God’s religion. This has always been a problem with
people coming into the church. New Christian’s have often wanted
to bring in some of their old religious baggage. In Galatians,
the Christians were wanting to bring in old baggage from Judaism
like circumcision. In Revelation
2:14, 20-23, we see that some Gentiles tried to bring
paganism into their religion. It is no surprise then that today
people try to bring denominationalism into Christianity. However,
we must be careful not to bring in any of our own customs and
baggage but to do simply that which Christ has taught and
authorized through His word. Conclusion: We need to be willing to study with others and constantly examine our own beliefs and teachings with the word. But, we must also stand firm on whatever the Word says. We must not allow mixed religion to enter this church or our lives. Instead, let us follow the pure and undefiled religion of Christ.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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