on the love of the saints.  Like the Ephesians of old, we leave the warmth and reality of our first love with Christ as we get more and more concerned about our performance, and get our eyes off His perfect performance and love for us.  Religion is so deceptive.  Its purpose is to cover us with fig leaves and convince us that only as we present a lie as to our real selves can God continue to love us.  It would teach us to walk by laws, rules, and regulations, so that we can continually score ourselves in our own eyes and others', rather than walk in openness and nakedness, and in the light with God, resting only on His perfect love at Calvary for us.  Let me contrast the teaching of religion with the truth of God in this matter.

Let us suppose there is a book we shall call the book of your life.  On the cover is your name, and on the first page, the date and place of your birth or earthly beginning.  On the last page is the date of your death, or the coming of the Lord Jesus in the air for you, whichever occurs first.  In between these two pages is a page for every day of your life.  At some point in this book is the day of your salvation, or the day the Holy Spirit convicted you of your need of the Saviour and enabled you to believe God's record of His Son.  On that day you passed from death to life by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross for you.  All the pages of your life preceding your salvation are black with sin.  On the basis of these pages, God revealed your need of a Saviour.

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