10 Bible Verses about Nominal Religion

"A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you are like white-washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead people's bones and everything that is unclean! So you, too, on the outside seem to people to be upright, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied beautifully about you, when he said: "'This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far, far away from me; Their worship of me is an empty show; the things they teach are only men's precepts.'"

But He answered them, "Isaiah beautifully prophesied about you hypocrites; as the Scripture says: "'This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far, far away from me; Their worship of me is but an empty show; the things they teach are but men's precepts.'

They profess to know God, but by their actions they disown Him; they are detestable, disobedient, and useless for anything good.

"Look out for false prophets, who come to you under the guise of sheep, but inside they are devouring wolves. You must recognize them by their fruits. People do not pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles, do they? So any healthy tree bears good fruit and a sickly tree bears poor fruit.read more.
A healthy tree cannot bear poor fruit, and a sickly tree cannot bear good fruit. Any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and burned up. So you must recognize them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will get into the kingdom of heaven, but only those who practice doing the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, was it not in your name that we prophesied, and in your name that we drove out demons, and in your name that we did many wonder-works?' And then I will say to them openly, 'I never knew you at all. Go away from me, you who practiced doing wrong.'

As I begged you to do when I was on my way to Macedonia, I still beg you to stay on in Ephesus to warn certain teachers to stop devoting themselves to myths and never-ending pedigrees, for such things lead to controversies rather than stimulate our trusteeship to God through faith. But the aim of your instruction is to be love that flows out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.read more.
Some people have stepped aside from these things and turned to fruitless talking. They want to be teachers of the law, although they do not understand the words they use or the things about which they make such confident assertions.

Whoever says, "I know Him," but does not practice obedience to His commands is a liar, and there is no truth in his heart;

Go, learn what this means, 'It is mercy and not sacrifice that I want.' It is not upright but sinful people that I have come to invite."

If you only knew what that saying means, 'It is mercy and not sacrifice that I want,' you would not have condemned men who are not guilty.

Now you must know that in the last days there are going to be hard times. For people will be selfish, avaricious, boastful, haughty, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, irreverent, lacking in love for kinsmen, irreconcilable, slanderers, having no self-control, savage, lacking in love for the good,read more.
treacherous, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure more than God, keeping up the forms of religion but not giving expression to its power. Avoid such people.