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An Exposé of Legalism Msg 1012 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Few issues in ministry raise the hairs in the back
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Speaker 1: of my neck like the one to which we turned today. Legalism,
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Speaker 1: that sinister tendency among so called Christians to impose on
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Speaker 1: others a set of rules and expectations that are nonexistent
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Speaker 1: in scripture. And it goes deeper than that. Over the years,
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Speaker 1: I've encountered individuals who have been severely wounded, often spiritually devastated,
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Speaker 1: by the brutality of legalism. Their life altering wounds in
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Speaker 1: some cases were inflicted by well meaning but misguided pastors,
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Speaker 1: or in other scenarios, by entire congregations. You speak kindly
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Speaker 1: to people who've come from such oppressive experiences, they power
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Speaker 1: in distrust. You attempt to approach them in mercy, and
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Speaker 1: they shrink back in shame. Many simply walk away from
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Speaker 1: their faith, disillusioned and defeated. Honestly, it's painful to watch.
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Speaker 1: May such attitudes never exist here among us, among you
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Speaker 1: and this body of believers of which we are all apart. Sadly,
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Speaker 1: the devastating scourge of legalism is nothing new. In fact,
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Speaker 1: it began infecting the hearts and minds of God's people
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Speaker 1: long before Jesus ever came to earth overflowing with an
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Speaker 1: invigorating message of grace and truth. My message is to
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Speaker 1: fully expose this dreadful mentality by looking once again into
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Speaker 1: the grace flooded pages of God's word. John opens chapter
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Speaker 1: five of his Gospel with a wonderful story. It's a
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Speaker 1: penetrating expos contrasting our Lord's gracious response to human desperation
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Speaker 1: with the unforgiving attitudes of the religious rule keepers of
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Speaker 1: that day. So let me begin today in John chapter five.
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Speaker 1: I'll be reading verses one to eighteen for you from
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Speaker 1: the New Living Translation. Please join me now as our reads,
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Speaker 1: starting with verse one of John chapter five. Afterward, Jesus
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Speaker 1: returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days.
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Speaker 1: Inside the city, near the sheep Gate, was the pool
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Speaker 1: of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people, blind, lame,
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Speaker 1: or paralyzed lay on the porches. One of the men
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Speaker 1: lying there had been sick for thirty eight years. When
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Speaker 1: Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for
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Speaker 1: a long time, he asked him, would you like to
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Speaker 1: get well? I can't, sir, the sick man said, for
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Speaker 1: I have no one to put me into the pool.
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Speaker 1: When the water bubbles up, someone else always gets in
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Speaker 1: there ahead of me. Jesus told him stand up, pick
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Speaker 1: up your mat, and walk. Instantly the man was healed.
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Speaker 1: He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking. But
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Speaker 1: this miracle happened on the sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected.
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Speaker 1: They said to the man who was cured, you can't
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Speaker 1: work on the sabbath. The law doesn't allow you to
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Speaker 1: carry that sleeping mat. But he replied, the man healed
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Speaker 1: me told me pick up your mat and walk. Who
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Speaker 1: said such a thing as that, they demanded. The man
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Speaker 1: didn't know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. But
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Speaker 1: afterward Jesus found him in the temple and told him,
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Speaker 1: now you were well, so stop sinning, or something even
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Speaker 1: worse may happen to you. Then the man went and
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Speaker 1: told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had
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Speaker 1: healed him. So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for
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Speaker 1: breaking the sabbath rules. But Jesus replied, my father is
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Speaker 1: always working, and so am i. So the Jewish leaders
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Speaker 1: tried all the harder to find a way to kill him,
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Speaker 1: for he not only broke the Sabbath. He called God
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Speaker 1: his father, thereby making himself equal with God.
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Speaker 2: Legalism is an enemy. It is an enemy in the
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Speaker 2: Church today. It was an enemy in the days of
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Speaker 2: the Reformation. As Barnhouse put it in one of his
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Speaker 2: great books, it was a dark day in the history
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Speaker 2: of the Church when the Reformers wrote the Ten Commandments
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Speaker 2: into the Creeds and catechisms of the church. Legalism was
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Speaker 2: also an enemy in the days of Paul. In every
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Speaker 2: era it is the same. Legalism is an enemy. I
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Speaker 2: know of nothing that, when it bites, spreads such paralysis
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Speaker 2: in its venom across the body of Jesus Christ. S
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Speaker 2: Lewis Johnson wrote it this way. When legalism invades, nothing
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Speaker 2: is left but cramped, dull, listless, somber profation. The truth
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Speaker 2: is betrayed, and the glorious name of our Lord becomes
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Speaker 2: a synonym for a gloomy killed joy. Legalism is an enemy.
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Speaker 2: I say that not just on the basis of scripture,
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Speaker 2: but I say it out of experience. During my earliest
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Speaker 2: years of walking with the Lord, I became surrounded by
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Speaker 2: a group of legalists, and in the passing of a
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Speaker 2: few months I began to embrace their philosophy. Therefore, I
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Speaker 2: began to gauge my life and the life of others
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Speaker 2: according to a list of dos and don'ts, according to
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Speaker 2: performance and achievement, which I wished more than anything else
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Speaker 2: to maintain. It became a basis of criticism, judging a
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Speaker 2: harsh and negative, rigid spirit. The freedom of worship was gone,
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Speaker 2: the vibrance of service was out the window, because to me,
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Speaker 2: the list, at all costs had to be maintained. Legalism
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Speaker 2: has roots that go far back into the very first century,
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Speaker 2: and even before that time. And so when I speak
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Speaker 2: of it today, I do not speak of a theoretical
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Speaker 2: problem dreamed up in the minds of some modern day preacher.
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Speaker 2: It has its roots that go all the way back
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Speaker 2: to and even before the days of Jesus Christ. It
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Speaker 2: seems to me that if we plan to really understand
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Speaker 2: what John chapter five is saying, we ought to understand
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Speaker 2: first of all legalism. So let me answer four basic
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Speaker 2: questions that relate to the subject itself. Invariably, when someone
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Speaker 2: preaches on or against legalism, there are a few, often
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Speaker 2: the legalists who say, you're condoning license, you believe in
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Speaker 2: loose living, you're promoting race for the purpose of sinning.
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Speaker 2: I am not. I stand with Paul in Chapter six
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Speaker 2: of Romans and saying, we have not been given grace
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Speaker 2: that sin might abound, but we have been given grace
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Speaker 2: that righteousness might come from the spirit of God, not
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Speaker 2: from the lists of man. What is legalism? What does
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Speaker 2: it mean to be a legalist? Legalism is a flacily
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Speaker 2: attitude that conforms to a code for the purpose of
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Speaker 2: exalting self. I want to pause and let that sink
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Speaker 2: and filter into your gray matter for a moment. Let
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Speaker 2: me drive it home by putting it another way. Legalism
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Speaker 2: basically is not an action or a series of actions.
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Speaker 2: It's an attitude prompted by a code or a standard,
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Speaker 2: which is adhered to for the purpose. Though it is
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Speaker 2: not stated or declared for the purpose of exalting oneself.
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Speaker 2: The basis of it is, of course human achievement. It
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Speaker 2: is an open denial of grace. Legalism comes from man. Now,
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Speaker 2: the list does not come from the New Testament. In
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Speaker 2: the mind of the legalist, it comes from tradition, or
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Speaker 2: from personal preference, or from teaching. That he is received
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Speaker 2: not from scripture, but from custom, from geography, from a
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Speaker 2: background of tradition. Legalists love lists. You do this, you
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Speaker 2: don't do that, then you are spiritual. But if you
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Speaker 2: do what you should not do according to that list,
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Speaker 2: you are to be judged. And believe me, they take
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Speaker 2: care of the judging. They don't leave that to God. Second,
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Speaker 2: how does legalism appear. Well, legalism invariably comes in religious garb.
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Speaker 2: Legalists prey on local churches and Christian organizations and Christian missions.
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Speaker 2: You will find legalists of all shapes and sizes, ages
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Speaker 2: and maturity across the Christian world today. You will find
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Speaker 2: them not only in the North continent, but in the South,
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Speaker 2: not only in the East but in the west. You
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Speaker 2: will find them all over. And invariably they come with
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Speaker 2: the terms of religion. Not spirit filled Christianity, but religion.
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Speaker 2: That's the subtlety of it all. Paul mentioned legalists when
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Speaker 2: he wrote to the Galatians in chapter two and verse four,
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Speaker 2: which I would like to paraphrase for you. He says
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Speaker 2: that the legalist is one who sneaks in and spies
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Speaker 2: out our liberty in order to bring us into bondage.
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Speaker 2: There is a spying out that is continually and habitually
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Speaker 2: employed by legalists. Third, why is it wrong if you
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Speaker 2: don't know? By now, let me clarify. Legalism is wrong
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Speaker 2: because it denies sheer grace and it exalts the flesh.
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Speaker 3: I do not know of a legalist that I have
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Speaker 3: ever met in my life who really understands his spiritual
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Speaker 3: bankruptcy and the sheer grace of God.
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Speaker 2: I have not yet met one. As a matter of fact,
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Speaker 2: there is one marked characteristic of legalists, and that is criticism,
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Speaker 2: a critical attitude toward other believers. Jess Moody has written
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Speaker 2: a provocative book entitled A Drink at Joel's Place and
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Speaker 2: has nothing to do with what you're thinking about. You
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Speaker 2: should get that book and see for yourself. I quote
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Speaker 2: from his check after how to Live with a Pharisee
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Speaker 2: by Trying Real Heart. I quote from it because the
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Speaker 2: Pharisee was the first legalist. Personal ego is the legalist's rome,
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Speaker 2: and every utterance is ex cathedra. His only close friend
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Speaker 2: is a mirror before which he prays our Father. His
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Speaker 2: judgmental attitude eliminates understanding love. To divulge your deepest secret
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Speaker 2: to a legalist is the equivalent of having close communion
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Speaker 2: with a hydrogen bomb. He is a president of the
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Speaker 2: Royal Order of Backstabbers. The legalist looks for the appropriate moment,
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Speaker 2: that is when other religious professionals are looking away and
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Speaker 2: he steps on the heads of the helpless. His favorite
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Speaker 2: verse is now abide faith, hope, and charity, and the
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Speaker 2: greatest of these is criticism. What has the feeling that
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Speaker 2: Holy Joe does not really want sinners to repent? Like
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Speaker 2: the elder brother in the story of the Prodigal, while
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Speaker 2: the happy Father was killing the fatted calf, putting the
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Speaker 2: ring of sonship on the returneas finger, and draping the
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Speaker 2: robe of acceptance upon his back, ah, that elder brother
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Speaker 2: pouted and fumed in jealousy. The flip side application of
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Speaker 2: Jesus' point in the story is this, there is rejoicing
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Speaker 2: in heaven over one sinner who repents, and therefore there
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Speaker 2: should be equal rejoicing on earth because one of the
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Speaker 2: Lord's wayward ones has staggered home. This sanctified scab cannot
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Speaker 2: rejoice when an obvious sinner repents, because he has used
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Speaker 2: that person as the backdrop to highlight the contrast of
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Speaker 2: his own self righteousness. Why is it wrong? Because it
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Speaker 2: is so damnably self righteous. That's why it is wrong. Now,
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Speaker 2: there is a fourth question that needs to be answered
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Speaker 2: as we go into chapter five, and that is when
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Speaker 2: did it start? When did this plague first begin? Well,
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Speaker 2: it began in the era we know as the between
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Speaker 2: the Testament period, when there began to be a band
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Speaker 2: of men who were called the Separatists. They were a
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Speaker 2: brotherhood of rigid, narrow minded legalists who never once in
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Speaker 2: their lives understood or appreciated sheer grace. Their lives were
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Speaker 2: marked by spying out the liberty of others and then
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Speaker 2: bringing them hopefully into bondage. Now, in examining it in
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Speaker 2: John chapter five, which I want you to look at
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Speaker 2: right now, you have the feeling as you read this
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Speaker 2: chapter the first eighteen verses that the real issue is
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Speaker 2: keeping the Sabbath. But that's not the issue of John
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Speaker 2: chapter five. The real issue is the healing of a
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Speaker 2: man who had been sick. But you see the legalists
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Speaker 2: launched upon our Lord with such vehemence and overpowering pressure
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Speaker 2: that the one who reads this chapter really wonders how
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Speaker 2: Jesus could have broken the sabbath and gotten away with it.
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Speaker 2: Let me say a couple of three words about the
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Speaker 2: Sabbath by way of background information. First of all, God
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Speaker 2: originated the Sabbath in Genesis one. He had done his
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Speaker 2: work of creation for six days. On the seventh day,
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Speaker 2: the scripture says, he rested, he observed The chavat word
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Speaker 2: means seventh, and the colloquialism in the Hebrew tongue is
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Speaker 2: rest on the chava he chavat. On the seventh he rested.
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Speaker 2: Why did he rest because he was tired? No, omnipotence
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Speaker 2: never gets tired. But because he had provided all that
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Speaker 2: this earth needed, he rested. But does that mean that
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Speaker 2: he did not do any more work on the seventh day? No,
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Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, on the seventh day, he
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Speaker 2: was still holding the universe in place, and may he
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Speaker 2: never stop. He was still doing the work of compassion
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Speaker 2: and love and care. His work of caring went right on,
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Speaker 2: even though his work of creation stopped on that seventh day.
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Speaker 2: You say, well, that's a moot point. Why make an
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Speaker 2: issue out of it? No, it isn't. The whole issue
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Speaker 2: of chapter five one through eighteen rests on verse seventeen,
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Speaker 2: where Jesus said, my father works up until now and
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Speaker 2: I also work, meaning my father never has stopped working
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Speaker 2: in the sense of caring, just as he's did that
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Speaker 2: day when he healed the man. I have broken the
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Speaker 2: law on the Sabbath. I have cared for this man's need.
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Speaker 2: Second fact I want to make is that the Sabbath
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Speaker 2: was put into law in Exodus chapter twenty, and there
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Speaker 2: was a very simple declaration to remember the Sabbath day
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Speaker 2: and keep it holy. That's what appears in Exodus twenty.
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Speaker 2: In other words, on Saturday, the Jew from sun up
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Speaker 2: to sundown was not to be employed. This requirement was
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Speaker 2: given to the Jew, not to the Egyptian, not to
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Speaker 2: the Englishman, not to the American, but to the Jew.
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Speaker 2: And as long as that Jew lived under the law,
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Speaker 2: he was to observe no employment on Saturday. Now, the
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Speaker 2: third factor I want to make clear, after clarifying the
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Speaker 2: origin and the law, is what I would call the
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Speaker 2: amplification of the Sabbath. When the Pharisees came along in
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Speaker 2: the between the Testament period, they added to the law.
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Speaker 2: Did you know that they added thirty nine requirements to
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Speaker 2: that one command. Isn't that just like a Pharisee not
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Speaker 2: satisfied with the simple command. They interpreted it and made
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Speaker 2: it tradition, so that you had to observe if you
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Speaker 2: wanted to be accepted by then all thirty nine requirements.
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Speaker 2: Now they weren't law, they were traditioned, but when the
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Speaker 2: Pharisees put them into writing, they became law. For example,
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Speaker 2: let me give you some things. Under the Phariseic law.
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Speaker 2: If you wanted to keep the Sabbath, you could not
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Speaker 2: carry a needle in your robe. You could not wear
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Speaker 2: a brooch around your neck or on your person. You
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Speaker 2: could not wear artificial teeth. You had to gum your
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Speaker 2: food all day Saturday or eat soup. You couldn't wear
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Speaker 2: an artificial limb. You couldn't carry a burden. And that's
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Speaker 2: where they got him. When that sick man took up
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Speaker 2: his palate and began to walk, that man was carrying
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Speaker 2: a burden. And to the traditional legalists, he broke the law.
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Speaker 2: But I want you to know that not one time
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Speaker 2: in the history of Jesus christ earthly ministry did he
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Speaker 2: ever break the real law. He broke the law of
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Speaker 2: the Pharisees, and they planned an assassination as a result
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Speaker 2: of it. Now we've all been prepared for it, so
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Speaker 2: let's look into the chapter. After these things, there was
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Speaker 2: a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
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Speaker 2: Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep Gate a
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Speaker 2: pool which is called in Hebrew bethesda, having five porticos.
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Speaker 2: The word means porches. We could call it patios in
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Speaker 2: other words. In Jerusalem there's a large pool, and surrounding
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Speaker 2: this pool were five patios, just like your patio may
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Speaker 2: be near your pool. There were five of them, and
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Speaker 2: there were literally thousands of people who huddled together in
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Speaker 2: illness around this pool. It reminds me off I could
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Speaker 2: just pass this in my own mind's review of the
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Speaker 2: time I was in the South Sea Islands and visited
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Speaker 2: a leprosaria. I don't think my eyes will ever observe
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Speaker 2: a more pitiful touching scene than the lepers in northern Okinawa.
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Speaker 2: Our third Division Marine band went up there to do
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Speaker 2: a concert for them, and as a result, I will
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Speaker 2: never forget the sound of the stumps as they banged
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Speaker 2: together to clap forests. Our sections of the face that
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Speaker 2: were removed by that hideous disease, parts of the body,
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Speaker 2: some living death, just stumbling and pushing and pulling from
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Speaker 2: day to day. That's the scene at Bethesda. It was
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Speaker 2: a miserable mass of humanity, all of them sick nigh
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Speaker 2: unto death. Superstitions surrounded this pool. It was believed that
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Speaker 2: when this pool would have a movement in the waters,
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Speaker 2: the Angel of God was visiting and the first one
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Speaker 2: to get into the pool would be healed. So there
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Speaker 2: was a mass movement when the waters began to move.
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Speaker 2: We know since then that it's because of a deep
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Speaker 2: subterranean stream that at times gushes up into the pool
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Speaker 2: and moves the water. But they believed in the superstition then,
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Speaker 2: and so people gathered for miles around Bethesda's pool. And
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Speaker 2: so it was that Jesus came and found a certain
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Speaker 2: man verse five who was there sick unto death. And
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Speaker 2: you will observe that in verse five it says he
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Speaker 2: was sick for thirty eight years. I want you to
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Speaker 2: stop and think. Think about thirty eight years. That's older
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Speaker 2: than most of you that are here today. Thirty eight
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Speaker 2: years he had been ill. Indeed, it could have been
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Speaker 2: called a terminal illness, a lingering death. And the man
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Speaker 2: was not ever able to beat the others to the
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Speaker 2: pool to be healed, as it were, And so he
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Speaker 2: lay there in his misery and pain, year in and
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Speaker 2: year out. Jesus came along verse six and saw him
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Speaker 2: lying there, and he knew that he had already been
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Speaker 2: a long time in that condition. He said to him,
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Speaker 2: do you wish to get well? What kind of a
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Speaker 2: question is that? Honestly? Now, if he had been ill
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Speaker 2: only six months or six weeks, but thirty eight years?
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Speaker 2: And he asked him, do you wish to be well?
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Speaker 2: Literally it could be rendered, Jesus said to him, do
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Speaker 2: you will to get well? I think the reason Jesus
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Speaker 2: asked that question is because in this man's mind there
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Speaker 2: was this blaming, this bitterness that he continued to be
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Speaker 2: sick because nobody else would help him into the pool.
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Speaker 2: And I think Jesus points a finger at him, as
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Speaker 2: it were, ands his, look, your illness is a matter
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Speaker 2: of your own concern and responsibility. Let's don't blame anyone else.
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Speaker 2: Let's realize in your own self there must be that
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Speaker 2: desire and that trust in God to find that healing.
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Speaker 2: At least that seems to be implied from verse seven,
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Speaker 2: as the man responds to him, Sir, I have no
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Speaker 2: man to put me into the pool when the water
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Speaker 2: is stirred up, and while I'm coming, another steps down
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Speaker 2: before me. It's a pitiful situation. The pitiful answer. Jesus
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Speaker 2: nevertheless looks at him and says to him, arise, take
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Speaker 2: up your palate and walk. What does the next verse say?
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Speaker 2: Look at that verse and immediately that's the most important
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Speaker 2: word in the verse. Immediately the man became well, took
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Speaker 2: up his palette, began to walk. Before I point out
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Speaker 2: the miracle and develop it here, I want to say,
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Speaker 2: there's a very practical word that's appropriate for this moment.
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Speaker 2: Some of you have been engaged in certain things year
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Speaker 2: in and year out, year in and year out, and
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Speaker 2: you're saying to the Lord, I'm too far gone. I've
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Speaker 2: had people say to me, Pastor, I've had this problem
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Speaker 2: twelve fifteen years. There's no way I can get rid
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Speaker 2: of it. Well, I want you to see where God
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Speaker 2: came and met a need that had been going on
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Speaker 2: thirty eight years. Instantly he was healed. There is no
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Speaker 2: such thing as an impossible situation with God. If it
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Speaker 2: is his plan to step in his will to bring healing,
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Speaker 2: don't you dare mark it off and say he cannot
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Speaker 2: do it. What hope this gives children of God today
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Speaker 2: and anyone today, even those of you still in unbelief
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Speaker 2: who have walked away from Christ all of your life.
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Speaker 2: The Lord Jesus can invade and change in a moment
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Speaker 2: of time. Well, this man took up his palate and
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Speaker 2: began to walk. Now that's the understatement of the scriptures.
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Speaker 2: You've been sick thirty eight years and some man came
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Speaker 2: to you and says, get up and walk? Would you say,
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Speaker 2: thank you very much? I believe I will roll up
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Speaker 2: your roll up your sleeping bag and throw it on
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Speaker 2: your back, and sort of quietly walk down by the pool.
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Speaker 2: You would be doing cartwheels, yelling, screaming, shouting, praising God.
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Speaker 2: Or if you wouldn't there there's something unusual about you.
30:10
Speaker 2: This man must have been thrilled. And oh, don't you
30:15
Speaker 2: think everybody around was thrilled? Not the legalist. Are you
30:23
Speaker 2: ready for the surprise of the morning. I want you
30:27
Speaker 2: to look look at that verse. It was on the
30:31
Speaker 2: Sabbath day. Therefore the Jews were saying to him who
30:39
Speaker 2: was cured, it is the Sabbath. It is not permissible
30:45
Speaker 2: for you to carry your pallet. Can you believe that, Hey, fellow,
30:53
Speaker 2: put that palete down. What are you doing walking around? Guy?
30:57
Speaker 2: Get back on your back. This is the sab come buck,
31:00
Speaker 2: put that thing down. Boy? Can you believe that? I
31:05
Speaker 2: can't imagine a person responding like that. Man, I'd be hugging,
31:10
Speaker 2: shutting screen, put him up on my shoulders, running around, jumping,
31:14
Speaker 2: you know all that stuff my own quiet way, boy,
31:20
Speaker 2: I'll tell you I can't believe he's legalists. Walk it up, okay, Ella,
31:24
Speaker 2: back on your back. Wait till Sunday. This is Saturday.
31:30
Speaker 2: Don't do that on a sabbath. Let's imagine that you've
31:35
Speaker 2: got a couple of neighbors named Gus and Matilda. Okay,
31:40
Speaker 2: just to keep it honest. So I don't know of
31:42
Speaker 2: anybody married in this church named Gus and Matilda, so
31:46
Speaker 2: I'm safe and using them. Let's say that Gus has
31:50
Speaker 2: had polio for thirty years, lived in your neighborhood, and
31:55
Speaker 2: they've been married thirty seven thirty eight years, and they've
31:58
Speaker 2: raised their family, and Us has been in a wheelchair
32:02
Speaker 2: and flat on his back, paralyzed ever since you've known him.
32:06
Speaker 2: Some time ago, you had the joy of leading us
32:08
Speaker 2: to Jesus Christ and his wife along with him, but
32:13
Speaker 2: a delightful thing. They can never come to church. He's paralyzed,
32:17
Speaker 2: unable to get out. She's always having to take care
32:19
Speaker 2: of him. But nevertheless, there they are. Now they're in
32:23
Speaker 2: the Lord. You come to church this morning, and this
32:27
Speaker 2: day God chooses to heal Gus of polio. Okay, got it? Okay.
32:35
Speaker 2: You drive home, and between the time he's healed him
32:40
Speaker 2: and the time you drive up, he's having a conversation
32:43
Speaker 2: with his wife. Oh, Mattil, this is fantastic. What in
32:47
Speaker 2: the world can I do to experience what I haven't
32:50
Speaker 2: known for thirty years? He says, well, the grass needs mowing.
32:55
Speaker 2: You could go out front and mow the grass. So
32:58
Speaker 2: he's out there mowing the grass and you drive home.
33:04
Speaker 2: What kind of a person would you be say, Hey, Gus,
33:07
Speaker 2: don't do that. Man, this is Sunday. Don't mow your
33:10
Speaker 2: grass on Sunday. What would he think about you about
33:15
Speaker 2: that time? Man, I've been here. No, it doesn't matter.
33:18
Speaker 2: This is Sunday. Don't mow your grass on Sunday. You see,
33:26
Speaker 2: the whole scene could come out many different ways because
33:31
Speaker 2: legalists have their list not based on the new testament,
33:37
Speaker 2: but based on tradition. For example, you go to the
33:44
Speaker 2: beach on Sunday. Oh this is Sunday. Yeah, I know,
33:57
Speaker 2: you don't go to the beach on Sunday. Or you're
34:01
Speaker 2: gonna eat lunch in a place where the sell liquor.
34:06
Speaker 2: Not as big a response on that one, was it
34:12
Speaker 2: susy area. See it's interesting, isn't it. You gonna you're
34:20
Speaker 2: gonna go to a show. It's interesting to me how
34:27
Speaker 2: the individuals who have that conviction won't go to a show,
34:30
Speaker 2: but they'll stay up four years later and watch that
34:34
Speaker 2: tube for two or three hours. Eyes look like road
34:38
Speaker 2: maps the next morning as they watch that show. No consistency,
34:44
Speaker 2: or one that I heard recently, You have an ashtray
34:46
Speaker 2: in your study. Yeah, it's not for me, but it's
34:53
Speaker 2: for people that are anxious and they smoke. I don't
34:58
Speaker 2: want to put it on the rug, so body with
35:00
Speaker 2: an abstract, but an ice tray in a pastor's study
35:05
Speaker 2: or the worst I think I've ever heard with unbelievers
35:09
Speaker 2: in your home. You let unbelievers in your home, man,
35:15
Speaker 2: that's the best place in the world for an unbeliever,
35:18
Speaker 2: it is to be in a home with a Christian,
35:20
Speaker 2: how the world we're going to lead them to Jesus
35:22
Speaker 2: a blim. You gotta be with them. I don't say
35:29
Speaker 2: you've got to live their life, but you've got to
35:31
Speaker 2: be with them. Something's terribly wrong when the Christian is
35:36
Speaker 2: so tunneled that all of its contacts are Christians. Terribly wrong.
35:44
Speaker 2: Often it's because the legalist is trapped him he has
35:48
Speaker 2: no freedom to move. Or as I heard in our
35:54
Speaker 2: own church recently, some dear woman was knitting waiting for
35:59
Speaker 2: the service to start, been here forty five minutes, and
36:02
Speaker 2: some other dear woman said, oh, honey, we don't do
36:06
Speaker 2: that in the house of God. Well, what in the
36:09
Speaker 2: world do you do for an hour if you come
36:11
Speaker 2: waiting for a church service to start. Or someone was
36:15
Speaker 2: boning up for their test as a gal's working on
36:18
Speaker 2: her rin and somebody says, you know, here we read
36:20
Speaker 2: the Bible, says who where's the Where does that say
36:27
Speaker 2: it in the Bible? You see? Or someone you know
36:34
Speaker 2: who has a conviction about not wearing makeup. That's fine,
36:39
Speaker 2: but you know they are those that would prefer to
36:43
Speaker 2: wear makeup, but they're going to the mission field. Boy,
36:48
Speaker 2: I know some missionaries that really ought to wear makeup.
36:54
Speaker 2: Now they have their conviction. That's fine. I'm not going
36:56
Speaker 2: to criticize them, but it's wrong Quen. My list becomes
37:01
Speaker 2: his standard. If my list says I shouldn't wear a megup, great,
37:07
Speaker 2: don't put it on. But if your list says it
37:11
Speaker 2: and I don't have it, leave me alone. You see,
37:16
Speaker 2: that's the whole thrust of grace. Doesn't mean I can
37:21
Speaker 2: live as I please, never, but it means I can
37:27
Speaker 2: live as the spirit of God directs me and my family.
37:35
Speaker 2: But that's hard come by in our day. Easier on
37:42
Speaker 2: the West Coast than on the East coast. But even
37:45
Speaker 2: out here there's still legalism, goes all the way back
37:50
Speaker 2: to the days of Jesus. Now, I want you to
37:52
Speaker 2: look at the legalists. You won't find one moment where
37:55
Speaker 2: they say, man, that's fantastic, you got healed, terrific. No,
38:01
Speaker 2: look at the next step. They said, it's not permissive
38:04
Speaker 2: for you to carry your palette. He answered and said,
38:07
Speaker 2: he who made me will was the one who said
38:10
Speaker 2: to me, take up your palette and walk. In other words,
38:12
Speaker 2: I'm just doing what I said, what he said I
38:15
Speaker 2: should do. They said, who is the man who said
38:17
Speaker 2: do you take up your palette and walk you get it?
38:23
Speaker 2: Where is it? Fellow? We've got this list. We won't
38:28
Speaker 2: know where he is. Look at verse thirteen. You won't
38:31
Speaker 2: believe it. He said, I don't know. Sort of a
38:37
Speaker 2: swind doll paraphrase. He who was healed did not know
38:41
Speaker 2: who it was. He didn't know who it was. Isn't
38:45
Speaker 2: that remarkable? Fellow walked along, says get up and walk.
38:49
Speaker 2: He got up, walked. He didn't know who he was,
38:51
Speaker 2: And they said, who did is? I don't know? I
38:54
Speaker 2: just got him walked. But look what happens verse fourteen.
39:02
Speaker 2: Where is the guy? He's in church? What a great
39:07
Speaker 2: place to be. He's gonna rejoice your thanks and sing.
39:12
Speaker 2: Jesus found him in the temple. He was in there
39:15
Speaker 2: to worship, had been there for thirty eight years, and
39:20
Speaker 2: Jesus said to him, behold, you have become well. Do
39:23
Speaker 2: not sin any longer, so that nothing worse may befall you.
39:30
Speaker 2: Does Jesus produce and promote a loose life? Very first
39:33
Speaker 2: thing he said, okay, fella, you've gotten healed. Now clean
39:37
Speaker 2: up your act, straighten up your life. And he didn't
39:41
Speaker 2: give him his list. He just says, Remember, now there's
39:47
Speaker 2: a godly life to be lived in honor of me.
39:53
Speaker 2: I'm impressed with Jesus magnificent, magnanimous spirit. And so the
40:00
Speaker 2: man verse fifteen went away and told the Jews that
40:03
Speaker 2: it was Jesus who had made him well. And I'm
40:06
Speaker 2: convinced they thought, ah, just as we thought our enemy
40:12
Speaker 2: verse sixteen. For this reason, the Jews were persecuting Jesus,
40:17
Speaker 2: because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. Will
40:20
Speaker 2: you look at their response. It does not say for
40:25
Speaker 2: this reason the Jews rejoiced the man was healed. It
40:28
Speaker 2: says for this reason they persecuted the healer. The most
40:35
Speaker 2: vicious people in the family of God are the legalists,
40:39
Speaker 2: whose lists you do not keep. And I'll guarantee you
40:46
Speaker 2: if you stand up against a legalist, you've got a
40:49
Speaker 2: lot of backbone and a lot of conviction, because they
40:52
Speaker 2: have the ability to make you miserable. I fight for
40:58
Speaker 2: our freedom in this assembly, not because I wished to
41:02
Speaker 2: promote a licentious life. I think this assembly ought to
41:06
Speaker 2: be filled with godly people but have the freedom to
41:11
Speaker 2: be led by the spirit of God in their own way,
41:16
Speaker 2: according to the dictates of Scripture and not Swindall or
41:21
Speaker 2: any other pastoral staff member, or any other officer fight
41:27
Speaker 2: for that till the last day of my life. The
41:31
Speaker 2: Lord Jesus graciously left that man, encouraging him to a
41:35
Speaker 2: life of righteousness. And when he returned to the Pharisees
41:39
Speaker 2: or to these Jews, they were making plans to kill
41:43
Speaker 2: the Savior. They made two indictments against him, and I
41:48
Speaker 2: want you to see those two. First of all, they
41:50
Speaker 2: said he broke the Sabbath verse sixteen. He was doing
41:55
Speaker 2: these things on Saturday. You see, they had read into
42:00
Speaker 2: the law more than it had ever meant. The law
42:05
Speaker 2: did not say you cannot put a needle in your robe.
42:07
Speaker 2: It did not say you cannot wear artificial teeth. It
42:10
Speaker 2: did not say you cannot carry a burden. It said
42:12
Speaker 2: you cannot work. Traditions said you cannot do this, and
42:18
Speaker 2: that that's what he broke. You see his answer verse seventeen,
42:23
Speaker 2: My father is working till now, and I also am working.
42:29
Speaker 2: By the way, he didn't stuff his hands in his robe,
42:31
Speaker 2: walk away mumbling saying, well, I guess I better submit
42:34
Speaker 2: to them. He stood up to them. He reproved them
42:39
Speaker 2: on the basis of fact. Second, they said he's blasphemous
42:45
Speaker 2: verse eighteen. They were seeking to kill him because he
42:49
Speaker 2: not only was breaking the Sabbath, which he wasn't he
42:52
Speaker 2: was breaking their interpretation the Sabbath, but was calling God
42:56
Speaker 2: his own father, making himself equal with God. Well, wasn't
42:59
Speaker 2: he Wasn't he the Father's begotten son? Absolutely? But they
43:09
Speaker 2: never could focus in on the truth of it. I
43:12
Speaker 2: want to drive the truth home of what we have
43:14
Speaker 2: heard this morning in three particular veins, by application, and
43:19
Speaker 2: then we're through, that is, until we give you the
43:24
Speaker 2: other side of this great truth that God is able
43:28
Speaker 2: to step in and take care of his own family
43:30
Speaker 2: and his own people. First of all, I want to
43:34
Speaker 2: share this with you to expose legalism. Truth must emerge.
43:44
Speaker 2: I am impressed with the apostle Paul in exposing legalism.
43:49
Speaker 2: He uses the truth of God. You cannot turn to tradition,
43:55
Speaker 2: nor custom, nor even human ingenuity, nor the teaching of
44:04
Speaker 2: the church that you may have attended. Look at it
44:08
Speaker 2: from the eyes of the truth the scriptures. If the
44:14
Speaker 2: scriptures say do not do it, then that's not legalism
44:19
Speaker 2: that says you better not do it. When the scripture
44:24
Speaker 2: says do not get drunk and it says it in
44:27
Speaker 2: so many different ways that it's wrong to get drunk.
44:33
Speaker 2: That's not legalism, that's the truth. When the scripture says
44:39
Speaker 2: do not gossip, then it means what it says. It's
44:42
Speaker 2: not legalism to decry gossip. So we must expose legalism
44:49
Speaker 2: with the truth. Second, to combat legalism, conviction must be employed.
45:03
Speaker 2: If I may go back to Moody for just a second,
45:05
Speaker 2: not Dwight Ill, but Jess, I want to mention what
45:10
Speaker 2: he says about the matter of conviction. Your feeling is, boy,
45:13
Speaker 2: when I find a legalist, I better be very careful
45:16
Speaker 2: and tender, tolerate and adjust to him. The only way
45:20
Speaker 2: to live with such a person as this is to
45:23
Speaker 2: be intolerant of his intolerance. Now, if you resist him
45:27
Speaker 2: in this fashion, you will expect him to come at
45:29
Speaker 2: you like a mad elephant, a bull elephant, as Paul says,
45:35
Speaker 2: he will spy out your liberty and do everything in
45:38
Speaker 2: his power to enchain you and break your spirit. You
45:42
Speaker 2: simply must not let him overwhelm you. Every time he
45:46
Speaker 2: slaps you, hit him in return with a great big
45:49
Speaker 2: dose of love. If you keep it up, he will
45:53
Speaker 2: either repent or crucify you. Fat fishism of the legalist
46:01
Speaker 2: causes him, like the skunk, to pollute the atmosphere. It
46:06
Speaker 2: is almost impossible to breathe around him. Just hold your
46:10
Speaker 2: nose and plow straight at him. This is exactly what
46:13
Speaker 2: Jesus did. The only people with whom he was harsh
46:19
Speaker 2: were the legalists, who had all the answers. Do you
46:22
Speaker 2: hear that? I do not find another person with whom
46:27
Speaker 2: he was harsh except the legalist. We say, let's pattern
46:33
Speaker 2: our lives after Jesus Christ. Then I say, let's have
46:37
Speaker 2: some conviction when cornered by a legalist. Third. To overcome
46:45
Speaker 2: legalism in one's own life, grace must be embraced. This
46:52
Speaker 2: message might have struck you between the eyes. I don't know,
46:56
Speaker 2: Thank goodness, I don't know who the legalists are. I'm
47:00
Speaker 2: grateful that the spirit of God knows, and he's able
47:02
Speaker 2: to prompt you. If you're a list keeper, more than that,
47:06
Speaker 2: a list giver, then the Spirit of God might have
47:11
Speaker 2: said something to you today. I ask you to square
47:15
Speaker 2: your convictions with scripture. More than that, I ask you
47:19
Speaker 2: to get a good, solid dose of grace that says,
47:25
Speaker 2: in Jesus Christ, we are free for the first time.
47:28
Speaker 2: To obey God and not be enslaved to any man
47:35
Speaker 2: or the enemy himself. The dea what communism is to
47:42
Speaker 2: our world, what materialism is to our nation. Legalism is
47:52
Speaker 2: to the body of Jesus Christ, devastating. Legalism is an
48:02
Speaker 2: enemy that's about together. Shall we let's just quietly rest
48:12
Speaker 2: before our Lord for a moment. I ask you today's
48:20
Speaker 2: God begun to speak to you about this particular matter. Well,
48:26
Speaker 2: don't turn that off. Are we condoning a life that's
48:32
Speaker 2: lived as you please? Never? But neither are we condoning
48:38
Speaker 2: a life that has lived as someone else pleases for you.
48:45
Speaker 2: God may have given you some very rigid and strict
48:48
Speaker 2: standards for your home and your family and your life.
48:52
Speaker 2: That's between you and the Lord. No one should take
48:54
Speaker 2: it away. But that standard does not go any further
48:59
Speaker 2: than your property. If scripture declares it, then it is
49:05
Speaker 2: in legalism its obedience. But if custom or tradition or
49:15
Speaker 2: personal preference declares it, embrace it if you like, but
49:21
Speaker 2: release all other members of the family from embracing it.
49:27
Speaker 2: Maybe God is saying to you, you know, for the
49:29
Speaker 2: first time in my life, I understand what it is
49:33
Speaker 2: to be a child of God. It's not embracing a
49:37
Speaker 2: list of dos and don'ts. It's not a matter of
49:42
Speaker 2: keeping the law, performing, achieving perfection, pleasing the fellow that
49:52
Speaker 2: sits next to me. It's a matter of accepting Jesus Christ,
49:58
Speaker 2: who freely gave himself that he might liberate us. Ah.
50:05
Speaker 2: What a message. God so loved the world that he
50:11
Speaker 2: gave not a list but his only begotten son. I
50:19
Speaker 2: plead with you today that are given to list making,
50:25
Speaker 2: to go before God and ask him to give you
50:27
Speaker 2: deliverance freedom from bondage, just as these who are receiving
50:35
Speaker 2: Christ right now are experiencing. Heavenly Father, it is my
50:45
Speaker 2: deep desire to glorify your name, to magnify the word
50:52
Speaker 2: of God, even when it squares off against my own
50:59
Speaker 2: feelings or background. I thank you for being kind enough
51:07
Speaker 2: in my few years to teach me some of the
51:10
Speaker 2: basic things that I am just beginning to see about grace,
51:18
Speaker 2: and I pray that it might result in some deliverance
51:21
Speaker 2: and freedom from bondage that has captivated some of your
51:27
Speaker 2: people far too long. Now I ask for several things
51:33
Speaker 2: that you would guard us from an extremeism, that you
51:38
Speaker 2: would guard this message from misunderstanding, that you would guard
51:43
Speaker 2: your children from foolish, licentious living, that you would guard
51:50
Speaker 2: this assembly from a misappropriation of a very vital message
51:56
Speaker 2: on freedom and father, that you would guard those who
52:02
Speaker 2: were here keeping a list from thinking that that list
52:08
Speaker 2: makes them a part of your family. Deal first with
52:15
Speaker 2: our attitude, our Father, then with our lives, whether it's
52:21
Speaker 2: for salvation, deliverance from this terrible plague, are simply the
52:30
Speaker 2: freedom of living in Christ. I ask it in the
52:36
Speaker 2: name of that name above all names, Jesus himself. Amen.
52:43
Speaker 4: The preceding message, An expose of Legalism, was copyrighted in
52:47
Speaker 4: the nineteen seventy five, nineteen eighty seven, two thousand, and
52:51
Speaker 4: twenty eighteen, and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
52:55
Speaker 4: eighteen by Charles rswind All.
52:58
Speaker 1: Eight.
52:59
Speaker 4: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
53:04
Speaker 4: commercial use is strictly prohibited.