Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / An Exposé of Legalism │ Msg 1012

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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 on the back
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Speaker 1: of my neck like the one to which we turn today. Legalism.
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Speaker 1: That sinister tendency among so-called Christians to impose on others
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Speaker 1: a set of rules and expectations that are non-existent in Scripture.
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Speaker 1: And it goes deeper than that. Over the years, I've
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Speaker 1: 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 some cases,
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Speaker 1: were inflicted by well-meaning but misguided pastors or, in other scenarios,
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Speaker 1: by entire congregations. You speak kindly to people who've come
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Speaker 1: from such oppressive experiences and and they cower in distrust.
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Speaker 1: You attempt to approach them in mercy, and they shrink
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Speaker 1: back in shame. Many simply walk away from their faith,
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Speaker 1: disillusioned and defeated. Honestly, it's painful to watch. May such
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Speaker 1: attitudes never exist here among us, among you in this
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Speaker 1: body of believers of which we are all a part. Sadly,
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Speaker 1: the devastating scourge of legalism.
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Speaker 2: Is nothing new.
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Speaker 1: In fact, it began infecting the hearts and minds of
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Speaker 1: God's people long before Jesus ever came to earth, overflowing
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Speaker 1: with an invigorating message of grace and truth. My message
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Speaker 1: is to fully expose this dreadful mentality by looking once
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Speaker 1: again at into the grace-flooded pages of God's Word. John
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Speaker 1: opens chapter 5 of his gospel with a wonderful story.
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Speaker 1: It's a penetrating expose contrasting our Lord's gracious response to
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Speaker 1: human desperation with the unforgiving attitudes of the religious rule-keepers
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Speaker 1: of that day. So let me begin today in John
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Speaker 1: chapter 5. I'll be reading verses 1 to 18 for
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Speaker 1: you from the New Living Translation. Please join me now
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Speaker 1: as I read, starting with verse 1 of John chapter 5. Afterward,
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Speaker 1: Jesus 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 38 years. When Jesus
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Speaker 1: saw him and knew he had been ill for a
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Speaker 1: long time, he asked him, Would you like to get well?
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Speaker 1: I can't, sir. The sick man said, For I have
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Speaker 1: no one to put me into the pool when the
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Speaker 1: water bubbles up. Someone else always gets in there ahead
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Speaker 1: of me. Jesus told him, Stand up, pick up your mat,
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Speaker 1: and walk. Instantly the man was healed. He rolled up
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Speaker 1: his sleeping mat and began walking. But this miracle happened
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Speaker 1: on the Sabbath. So the Jewish leaders objected. They said
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Speaker 1: to the man who was cured, You can't work on
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Speaker 1: the Sabbath. The law doesn't allow you to carry that
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Speaker 1: sleeping mat. But he replied, The man who healed me
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Speaker 1: told me, Pick up your mat and walk. Who said
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Speaker 1: such a thing as that? they demanded. The man didn't know,
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Speaker 1: for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. But afterward, Jesus
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Speaker 1: found him in the temple and told him, Now you
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Speaker 1: are well, so stop sinning, or something even worse may
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Speaker 1: happen to you. Then the man went and told the
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Speaker 1: Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.
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Speaker 1: So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the
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Speaker 1: Sabbath rules. But Jesus replied, My father is always working,
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Speaker 1: and so am I. So the Jewish leaders tried all
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Speaker 1: the harder to find a way to kill him, for
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Speaker 1: he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his father,
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Speaker 1: 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 era,
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Speaker 2: it is the same. Legalism is an enemy. I know
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Speaker 2: of nothing that when it bites, spreads such paralysis in
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Speaker 2: its venom across the body of Jesus Christ. S. Lewis
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Speaker 2: Johnson wrote it this way. When legalism invades, nothing is
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Speaker 2: left but cramped, dull, listless, somber profession. The truth is betrayed,
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Speaker 2: and the glorious name of our Lord becomes a synonym
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Speaker 2: for a gloomy killjoy. Legalism is an enemy. I say
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Speaker 2: that not just on the basis of Scripture, but I
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Speaker 2: say it out of experience. During my earliest years of
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Speaker 2: walking with the Lord, I became surrounded by a group
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Speaker 2: of legalists, and in the passing of a few months,
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Speaker 2: I began to embrace their philosophy. Therefore, I began to
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Speaker 2: gauge my life and the life of others according to
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Speaker 2: a list of do's and don'ts According to performance and achievement,
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Speaker 2: which I wished more than anything else to maintain, it
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Speaker 2: became a basis of criticism, judging, a harsh and negative,
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Speaker 2: rigid spirit. The freedom of worship was gone. The vibrance
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Speaker 2: of service was out the window because to me the
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Speaker 2: list was at all costs, had to be maintained. Legalism
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Speaker 2: has roots that go far back into the very first
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Speaker 2: century and even before that time. And so when I
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Speaker 2: speak of it today, I do not speak of a
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Speaker 2: theoretical 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 5 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 grace for the purpose of sinning.
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Speaker 2: I am not. I stand with Paul in chapter 6
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Speaker 2: of Romans in 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 fleshly
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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, of 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 has 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. That's
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Speaker 2: the subtlety of it all. Paul mentioned legalists when he
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Speaker 2: wrote to the Galatians in chapter 2 and verse 4,
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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 and 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? Well, if
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Speaker 2: you don't know by now, let me clarify. Legalism is
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Speaker 2: wrong because it denies sheer grace. and it exalts the flesh.
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Speaker 2: I do not know of a legalist that I have
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Speaker 2: ever met in my life who really understands his spiritual
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Speaker 2: bankruptcy and the sheer grace of God. I have not
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Speaker 2: yet met one. As a matter of fact, there is
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Speaker 2: one marked characteristic of legalists, and that is the 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. Now,
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Speaker 2: that has nothing to do with what you're thinking about.
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Speaker 2: You should get that book and see for yourself. I
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Speaker 2: quote from his chapter, How to Live with a Pharisee
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Speaker 2: by Trying Real Hard. 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 abideth 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 returnee's 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 wrongly as the backdrop to highlight the contrast
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Speaker 2: of 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 5, 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 their
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Speaker 2: lives understood or appreciated sheer truth. Their lives were marked
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Speaker 2: by spying out the liberty of others and then bringing them, hopefully,
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Speaker 2: into bondage. Now, in examining it in John chapter 5,
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Speaker 2: which I want you to look at right now, you
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Speaker 2: have the feeling as you read this chapter, the first
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Speaker 2: 18 verses, that that the real issue is keeping the Sabbath.
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Speaker 2: But that's not the issue of John chapter 5. The
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Speaker 2: real issue is the healing of a man who had
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Speaker 2: been sick. But you see, the legalists launched upon our
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Speaker 2: Lord with such vehemence and overpowering pressure that the one
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Speaker 2: who reads this chapter really wonders how Jesus could have
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Speaker 2: broken the Sabbath and gotten away with it. Let me
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Speaker 2: say a couple of three words about the Sabbath by
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Speaker 2: way of background information. First of all, God originated the Sabbath.
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Speaker 2: In Genesis 1, he had done his work of creation
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Speaker 2: for six days. On the seventh day, the scripture says,
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Speaker 2: he rested. He observed the Shavuot, word means seventh, and
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Speaker 2: the colloquialism in the Hebrew tongue is rest. On the Shavuot,
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Speaker 2: he Shavuot. On the seventh, he rested. Why did he rest?
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Speaker 2: Because he was tired? No, omnipotence never gets tired. But
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Speaker 2: because he had provided all that this earth needed, he rested.
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Speaker 2: But does that mean that he did not do any
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Speaker 2: more work on the seventh day? No. As a matter
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Speaker 2: of fact, on the seventh day, he was still holding
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Speaker 2: the universe in place. And may he never stop. He
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Speaker 2: was still doing the work of compassion and love and care.
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Speaker 2: His work of caring went right on, even though his
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Speaker 2: work of creation stopped on that seventh day. You say, well,
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Speaker 2: that's a moot point. Why make an issue out of it? No,
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Speaker 2: it isn't. The whole issue of chapter 5, 1 through 18,
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Speaker 2: rests on verse 17. For Jesus said, My Father works
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Speaker 2: up until now, and I also work. Meaning, My Father
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Speaker 2: works up until now. never has stopped working in the
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Speaker 2: sense of caring, just as he did that day when
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Speaker 2: he healed a man. I haven't broken the law on
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Speaker 2: the Sabbath. I have cared for this man's need. Second
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Speaker 2: fact I want to make is that the Sabbath was
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Speaker 2: put into law in Exodus chapter 20. And there was
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Speaker 2: a very simple declaration to remember the Sabbath day and
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Speaker 2: keep it holy. That's what appears in Exodus 20. In
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Speaker 2: other words, on Saturday, the Jew from sunup to sundown
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Speaker 2: was not to be employed in This requirement was given
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Speaker 2: to the Jew, not to the Egyptian, not to the Englishman,
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Speaker 2: not to the American, but to the Jew. And as
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Speaker 2: long as that Jew lived under the law, he was
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Speaker 2: to observe no employment on Saturday. Now the third factor
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Speaker 2: I want to make clear after clarifying the origin and
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Speaker 2: the law is what I would call the amplification of
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Speaker 2: the Sabbath. When the Pharisees came along in the between
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Speaker 2: the Testament period, they added to the law. Did you
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Speaker 2: know that they added 39 requirements to that one command?
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Speaker 2: Isn't that just like a Pharisee? Not satisfied with the
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Speaker 2: simple command, they interpreted it and made it tradition so
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Speaker 2: that you had to observe, if you wanted to be
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Speaker 2: accepted by them, all 39 requirements. Now, they weren't law,
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Speaker 2: they were tradition. But when the Pharisees put them into writing,
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Speaker 2: they became law. For example, let me give you some things.
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Speaker 2: Under the Pharisaic law, If you wanted to keep the Sabbath,
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Speaker 2: you could not carry a needle in your robe. You
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Speaker 2: could not wear a brooch around your neck or on
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Speaker 2: your person. You could not wear artificial teeth. You had
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Speaker 2: to gum your food all day Saturday or eat soup.
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Speaker 2: You couldn't wear an artificial limb. You couldn't carry a burden.
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Speaker 2: And that's where they got him. When that sick man
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Speaker 2: took up his pallet and began to walk, that man
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Speaker 2: was carrying a burden. And to the traditional legalists, he
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Speaker 2: broke the law. But I want you to know that
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Speaker 2: not one time in the history of Jesus Christ's earthly
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Speaker 2: ministry did he ever break The real law. He broke
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Speaker 2: the law of the Pharisees and they planned an assassination
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Speaker 2: as a result of it. Now we've all been prepared
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Speaker 2: for it so let's look into the chapter. After these
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Speaker 2: things there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus
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Speaker 2: went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by
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Speaker 2: the sheep gate a pool which is called in Hebrew Bethesda.
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Speaker 2: having five porticos. The word means porches. We could call
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Speaker 2: it patios. In other words, in Jerusalem, there's a large pool.
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Speaker 2: And surrounding this pool were five patios. Just like your
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Speaker 2: patio may be near your pool, there were five of them,
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Speaker 2: and there were literally thousands of people who huddled together
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Speaker 2: in illness around this pool. It reminds me, if I
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Speaker 2: could just pass this in my own mind's review, of
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Speaker 2: the time I was in the South Sea Islands and
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Speaker 2: visited a leper's area. I don't think my eyes will
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Speaker 2: ever observe a more pitiful, touching scene than the lepers
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Speaker 2: in northern Okinawa. Our 3rd Division Marine Band went up
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Speaker 2: there to do a concert for them, and as a result,
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Speaker 2: I will never forget the sound of the stumps as
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Speaker 2: they banged together to clap for us. Our sections of
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Speaker 2: the face that were removed by that hideous disease. Parts
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Speaker 2: of the body, some living death, just stumbling and pushing
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Speaker 2: and pulling from day to day. That's the scene at Bethesda.
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Speaker 2: It was a miserable mass of humanity, all of them sick,
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Speaker 2: nigh unto death. Superstitions surrounded this pool. It was believed
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Speaker 2: that 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 man,
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Speaker 2: verse 5, who was there sick unto death. And you
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Speaker 2: will observe that in verse 5 it says he was
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Speaker 2: sick for 38 years. I want you to stop and think.
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Speaker 2: Think about 38 years. That's older than most of you
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Speaker 2: that are here today. 38 years he had been ill. Indeed,
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Speaker 2: it could have been called a terminal illness, a lingering death.
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Speaker 2: And the man was not ever able to beat the
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Speaker 2: others to the pool to be healed as it were.
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Speaker 2: And so he lay there in his misery and pain
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Speaker 2: year in and year out. Jesus came along, verse 6,
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Speaker 2: and saw him lying there, and he knew that he
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Speaker 2: had already been a long time in that condition. He
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Speaker 2: said to him, do you wish to get well? What
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Speaker 2: kind of a question is that? Honestly now, if he
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Speaker 2: had been ill only six months, or six weeks, but
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Speaker 2: 38 years, and he asked him, do you wish to
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Speaker 2: be well? Literally, it could be rendered, Jesus said to him,
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Speaker 2: do you will to get well? I think the reason
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Speaker 2: Jesus asked that question is because in this man's mind,
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Speaker 2: there was this blaming, this This bitterness that he continued
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Speaker 2: to be sick because nobody else would help him into
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Speaker 2: the pool. And I think Jesus points a finger at
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Speaker 2: him as it were and says, look, your illness is
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Speaker 2: a matter of your own concern and responsibility. Let's don't
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Speaker 2: blame anyone else. Let's realize in your own self there
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Speaker 2: must be that desire and that trust in God to
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Speaker 2: find that healing. At least that seems to be implied
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Speaker 2: from verse 7 as the man responds to him, Sir,
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Speaker 2: I have no man to put me into the pool
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Speaker 2: when the water is stirred up. But while I'm coming,
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Speaker 2: another steps down before me. It's a pitiful situation, a
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Speaker 2: pitiful answer. Jesus nevertheless looks at him and says to him, Arise,
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Speaker 2: take up your pallet and walk. What does the next
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Speaker 2: verse say? Look at that verse. And immediately, that's the
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Speaker 2: most important word in the verse, immediately the man became well,
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Speaker 2: took up his pallet, began to walk. Before I point
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Speaker 2: out the miracle and develop it here, I want to
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Speaker 2: say 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 12,
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Speaker 2: 15 years. No way I can get rid of it. Well,
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Speaker 2: I want you to see where God came and met
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Speaker 2: a need that had been going on 38 years. Instantly
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Speaker 2: he was healed. There is no such thing as an
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Speaker 2: impossible situation with God. If it is his plan to
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Speaker 2: step in, his will to bring healing, don't you dare
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Speaker 2: mark it off and say he cannot do it. What
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Speaker 2: hope this gives children of God today. And anyone today,
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Speaker 2: even those of you still in unbelief who've walked away
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Speaker 2: from Christ all of your life, The Lord Jesus can
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Speaker 2: invade and change in a moment of time. Well, this
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Speaker 2: man took up his pallet and began to walk. Now,
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Speaker 2: that's the understatement. of the scriptures. You'd been sick 38
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Speaker 2: years and some man came to you and says, get
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Speaker 2: up and walk. Would you say, thank you very much,
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Speaker 2: I believe I will. Roll up your sleeping bag and
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Speaker 2: throw it on your back and sort of quietly walk
29:56
Speaker 2: down by the pool. you would be doing cartwheels, yelling, screaming, shouting,
30:03
Speaker 2: praising God. Or if you wouldn't, there's something unusual about you.
30:10
Speaker 2: This man must have been thrilled. Don't you think everybody
30:16
Speaker 2: around was thrilled? Not the legalist. Are you ready for
30:23
Speaker 2: the surprise of the morning? I want you to look.
30:29
Speaker 2: Look at that verse. It was on the Sabbath day. Therefore,
30:36
Speaker 2: the Jews were saying to him who was cured, it
30:41
Speaker 2: is the Sabbath. It is not permissible for you to
30:45
Speaker 2: carry your pallet. Can you believe that? Hey, fellow, put
30:53
Speaker 2: that pallet down. What are you doing walking around, guy?
30:57
Speaker 2: Get back on your back. This is a Sabbath. Put
31:00
Speaker 2: that thing down, boy. Can you believe that? I can't
31:06
Speaker 2: imagine a person responding like that. Man, I'd be hugging, shouting, screaming,
31:11
Speaker 2: putting him up on my shoulders, running around, jumping, you know,
31:14
Speaker 2: all that stuff. My own quiet way. Boy, I'll tell you,
31:20
Speaker 2: I can't believe these legalists walking up. Okay, fella, back
31:24
Speaker 2: on your back. Wait till Sunday. This is Saturday. Don't
31:30
Speaker 2: do that on a Sabbath. Let's imagine that you've got
31:35
Speaker 2: a couple of neighbors named Gus and Matilda, okay? Just
31:40
Speaker 2: to keep it honest. So I don't know of anybody
31:43
Speaker 2: married in this church named Gus and Matilda, so I'm
31:46
Speaker 2: safe in using that one. Let's say that Gus has
31:50
Speaker 2: had polio for 30 years, lived in your neighborhood, and
31:55
Speaker 2: they've been married 37, 38 years, and they've raised their family,
31:59
Speaker 2: and Gus has been in a wheelchair, flat on his back, paralyzed,
32:05
Speaker 2: ever since you've known him. Some time ago, you had
32:07
Speaker 2: the joy of leading Gus to Jesus Christ and his
32:11
Speaker 2: wife along with him. What a delightful thing. He can
32:14
Speaker 2: never come to church. He's paralyzed. He's unable to get out.
32:17
Speaker 2: She's always having to take care of him, but nevertheless,
32:21
Speaker 2: there they are. Now they're in the Lord. You come
32:24
Speaker 2: to church this morning, and this day God chooses to
32:29
Speaker 2: heal Gus Apolio. Okay? Got it? Okay, you drive home,
32:38
Speaker 2: and between the time he's healed him and the time
32:40
Speaker 2: you drive up, he's having a conversation with his wife. Oh, Matilda,
32:46
Speaker 2: this is fantastic. What in the world can I do
32:48
Speaker 2: to experience what I haven't known for 30 years. He says, well,
32:53
Speaker 2: the grass needs mowing. You could go out front and
32:57
Speaker 2: mow the grass. So he's out there mowing the grass.
33:01
Speaker 2: You drive home. What kind of a person would you
33:05
Speaker 2: be saying, hey, Gus, don't do that. Man, this is Sunday.
33:09
Speaker 2: Don't mow your grass on Sunday. What would he think
33:14
Speaker 2: about you about that time? Man, I've been healed. No,
33:17
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter. This is Sunday. Don't mow your grass
33:21
Speaker 2: on Sunday. You see, the whole scene could come out
33:28
Speaker 2: many different ways because legalists have their list, not based
33:34
Speaker 2: on the New Testament, but based on tradition. For example,
33:43
Speaker 2: you go to the beach on Sunday? It's a Sunday. Yeah,
33:56
Speaker 2: I know. Don't go to the beach on Sunday. Or
34:01
Speaker 2: you're going to eat lunch in a place where they
34:03
Speaker 2: sell liquor? Not as big a response on that one,
34:08
Speaker 2: was it? Touchy area, see? It's interesting, isn't it? You're
34:20
Speaker 2: going to go to a show? Wow, it's interesting to
34:25
Speaker 2: me how the individuals who have that conviction won't go
34:30
Speaker 2: to a show, but they'll stay up four years later
34:33
Speaker 2: and watch that tube for two or three hours. Eyes
34:37
Speaker 2: look like roadmaps the next morning as they watch that show.
34:41
Speaker 2: No consistency. Or one that I heard recently, you have
34:46
Speaker 2: an ashtray in your study? Yeah, it's not for me,
34:52
Speaker 2: but It's for people that are anxious, and they smoke.
34:57
Speaker 2: I don't want to put it on the rug, so
34:59
Speaker 2: I provide it with an ashtray. But an ashtray in
35:03
Speaker 2: a pastor's study? Or the worst I think I've ever
35:07
Speaker 2: heard was, unbelievers in your home? You let unbelievers in
35:13
Speaker 2: your home? Man, that's the best place in the world
35:16
Speaker 2: for an unbeliever, is to be in a home with
35:19
Speaker 2: the Christians. How in the world are we going to
35:21
Speaker 2: lead them to Jesus? A blimp? You've got to be
35:28
Speaker 2: with them. I don't say you've got to live their life,
35:31
Speaker 2: but you've got to be with them. Something's terribly wrong
35:35
Speaker 2: when the Christian is so tunneled that all of his
35:38
Speaker 2: contacts are Christians. Terribly wrong. Often it's because the legalist
35:46
Speaker 2: has trapped him. He has no freedom to move. Or
35:53
Speaker 2: as I heard in our own church recently, some dear
35:56
Speaker 2: woman was knitting, waiting for the service to start. Been
36:01
Speaker 2: here 45 minutes, and some other dear woman said, oh, honey,
36:05
Speaker 2: we don't do that in the house of God. Well,
36:09
Speaker 2: what in the world do you do for an hour
36:11
Speaker 2: if you come waiting for a church service to start?
36:15
Speaker 2: Or someone was boning up for their test. This gal's
36:17
Speaker 2: working on her RN, and somebody says, you know, here
36:20
Speaker 2: we read the Bible.
36:23
Speaker 1: Says who?
36:26
Speaker 2: Where does that say it in the Bible? You see?
36:33
Speaker 2: Or someone, you know, has a conviction about not wearing makeup.
36:37
Speaker 2: That's fine. But, you know, there are those that would
36:43
Speaker 2: prefer to 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. Now,
36:54
Speaker 2: if they have their conviction, that's fine. I'm not going
36:56
Speaker 2: to criticize them. But it's wrong when my list becomes
37:01
Speaker 2: his standard. If my list says I shouldn't wear makeup, 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. Does it mean I
37:21
Speaker 2: can live as I please? Never. Never. but it means
37:27
Speaker 2: I can live as the Spirit of God directs me
37:30
Speaker 2: and my family. But that's hard to come by in
37:40
Speaker 2: our day. Easier on the West Coast than on the
37:43
Speaker 2: East Coast, but even out here, there's still legalism. It
37:49
Speaker 2: goes all the way back to the days of Jesus.
37:52
Speaker 2: Now I want you to look at the legalists. You
37:54
Speaker 2: won't find one moment where they say, man, that's fantastic.
37:58
Speaker 2: You got healed? Terrific! No. Look at the next step.
38:03
Speaker 2: They said, it's not permissible for you to carry your pallet.
38:06
Speaker 2: He answered and said, he who made me well was
38:09
Speaker 2: the one who said to me, take up your pallet
38:11
Speaker 2: and walk. In other words, I'm just doing what I said.
38:14
Speaker 2: What he said I should do. They said, who is
38:16
Speaker 2: the man who said to you, take up your pallet
38:18
Speaker 2: and walk? You get it? Where is that fellow? We've
38:26
Speaker 2: got this list. We want to know where he is.
38:30
Speaker 2: Look at verse 13. You won't believe it. He said,
38:34
Speaker 2: I don't know. Sort of a Swindoll paraphrase. He who
38:39
Speaker 2: was healed did not know who it was. He didn't
38:42
Speaker 2: know who it was. Isn't that remarkable? Fellow walked along, says,
38:47
Speaker 2: get up and walk. He got up and walked. He
38:50
Speaker 2: didn't know who he was. And they said, who did?
38:52
Speaker 2: He said, I don't know. I just got them locked.
38:58
Speaker 2: But look what happens. Verse 14. Where is the guy?
39:03
Speaker 2: He's in church. What a great place to be. He's
39:08
Speaker 2: going to rejoice, give thanks, and sing. Jesus found him
39:13
Speaker 2: in the temple. He was in there to worship. He
39:17
Speaker 2: had been there for 38 years. And Jesus said to him, behold,
39:21
Speaker 2: you have become well. Do not sin any longer so
39:25
Speaker 2: that nothing worse may befall you. As Jesus produced and
39:31
Speaker 2: promoted a loose life, the very first thing he said, Okay, fella,
39:35
Speaker 2: you've gotten healed now. Clean up your act. Straighten up
39:39
Speaker 2: your life. And he didn't give him his list. He
39:44
Speaker 2: just says, Remember now, there's a godly life to be
39:48
Speaker 2: lived here. in honor of me. I'm impressed with Jesus' magnificent,
39:56
Speaker 2: magnanimous spirit. And so the man, verse 15, went away
40:02
Speaker 2: and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had
40:04
Speaker 2: made him well. And I am convinced they thought, ah,
40:07
Speaker 2: just as we thought. Our enemy. Verse 16, for this
40:13
Speaker 2: reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus and because he was
40:18
Speaker 2: doing these things on the Sabbath. When you look at
40:21
Speaker 2: their response, it does not say for this reason the
40:26
Speaker 2: Jews rejoiced the man was healed. It says for this
40:28
Speaker 2: reason they persecuted the healer. The most vicious people in
40:36
Speaker 2: the family of God are the legalists whose lists you
40:41
Speaker 2: do not keep. And I'll guarantee you if you stand
40:47
Speaker 2: up against a legalist, you've got a lot of backbone
40:50
Speaker 2: and a lot of conviction because they have the ability
40:53
Speaker 2: to make you miserable. I fight for our freedom in
40:59
Speaker 2: this assembly not because I wish to promote a licentious life.
41:04
Speaker 2: I think this assembly ought to be filled with godly
41:08
Speaker 2: people but have the freedom to be led by the
41:11
Speaker 2: Spirit of God in their own way according to the
41:17
Speaker 2: dictates of Scripture, and not Swindoll or any other pastoral
41:23
Speaker 2: staff member or any other officer. I'd fight for that
41:27
Speaker 2: till the last day of my life. The Lord Jesus
41:32
Speaker 2: graciously left that man, encouraging him to a life of righteousness,
41:37
Speaker 2: and when he returned to the Pharisees or to these Jews,
41:41
Speaker 2: they were making plans to kill the Savior. They made
41:46
Speaker 2: two indictments against him, and I want you to see
41:49
Speaker 2: those two. First of all, they said he broke the Sabbath.
41:54
Speaker 2: Verse 16, he was doing these things on Saturday. You see,
41:59
Speaker 2: they had read into the law more than it had
42:02
Speaker 2: ever meant. The law did not say you cannot put
42:06
Speaker 2: a needle in your robe. It did not say you
42:08
Speaker 2: cannot wear artificial teeth. It did not say you cannot
42:11
Speaker 2: carry a burden. It said you cannot work. Tradition said
42:16
Speaker 2: you cannot do this and that. That's what he broke.
42:20
Speaker 2: You see his answer? Verse 17, my father is working
42:24
Speaker 2: till now, and I also am working. By the way,
42:29
Speaker 2: he didn't stuff his hands in his robe and walk
42:31
Speaker 2: away mumbling, saying, well, I guess I better submit to them.
42:35
Speaker 2: He stood up to them. He reproved them on the
42:39
Speaker 2: basis of fact. Second, they said he's blasphemous. Verse 18,
42:46
Speaker 2: they were seeking to kill him because he not only
42:49
Speaker 2: was breaking the Sabbath, which he wasn't, he was breaking
42:52
Speaker 2: their interpretation of the Sabbath, but was calling God his
42:56
Speaker 2: own father, making himself equal with God. Wasn't he? Wasn't
43:02
Speaker 2: he the father's begotten son? Absolutely. But they never could
43:10
Speaker 2: focus in on the truth of it. I want to
43:13
Speaker 2: drive the truth home of what we have heard this
43:15
Speaker 2: morning in three particular veins by application, and then we're through.
43:22
Speaker 2: That is until we give you the other side of
43:25
Speaker 2: this great truth that God is able to step in
43:28
Speaker 2: and take care of his own family and his own people.
43:33
Speaker 2: First of all, I want to share this with you.
43:36
Speaker 2: To expose legalism, truth must emerge. I am impressed with
43:45
Speaker 2: the Apostle Paul in exposing legalism. He uses the truth
43:51
Speaker 2: of God. You cannot turn to tradition, nor custom, nor
43:57
Speaker 2: even human ingenuity, nor the teaching of the church that
44:06
Speaker 2: you may have attended. Look at it from the eyes
44:09
Speaker 2: of the truth, the Scriptures. If the scriptures say, do
44:16
Speaker 2: not do it, then that's not legalism. That says you
44:20
Speaker 2: better not do it. When the scripture says, do not
44:25
Speaker 2: get drunk, and it says it in so many different ways,
44:29
Speaker 2: then it's wrong to get drunk. That's not legalism. That's
44:35
Speaker 2: the truth. When the scripture says, do not gossip, then
44:41
Speaker 2: it means what it says. It's not legalism to decry gossip.
44:47
Speaker 2: So we must expose legalism with the truth. Second, to
44:52
Speaker 2: combat legalism, conviction must be employed. If I may go
45:03
Speaker 2: back to Moody for just a second. Not Dwight L.,
45:06
Speaker 2: but Jess. Jess. I want to mention what he says
45:10
Speaker 2: about the matter of conviction. Your feeling is, boy, when
45:13
Speaker 2: I find a legalist, I better be very careful and tender,
45:17
Speaker 2: tolerate and adjust to him. The only way to live
45:21
Speaker 2: with such a person as this is to be intolerant
45:24
Speaker 2: of his intolerance. Now, if you resist him in this fashion,
45:28
Speaker 2: you will expect him to come at you like a
45:30
Speaker 2: mad elephant, a bull elephant. As Paul says, he will
45:35
Speaker 2: spy out your liberty. and do everything in his power
45:39
Speaker 2: to enchain you and break your spirit. You simply must
45:43
Speaker 2: not let him overwhelm you. Every time he slaps you,
45:47
Speaker 2: hit him in return with a great big dose of love.
45:51
Speaker 2: If you keep it up, he will either repent or
45:56
Speaker 2: crucify you. The fascism of the legalist causes him like
46:02
Speaker 2: the skunk to pollute the atmosphere. It is almost impossible
46:07
Speaker 2: to breathe around him. Just hold your nose and plow
46:11
Speaker 2: straight at him. This is exactly what Jesus did. The
46:14
Speaker 2: only people with whom he was harsh were the legalists
46:20
Speaker 2: who had all the answers. Do you hear that? I
46:25
Speaker 2: do not find another person with whom he was harsh
46:29
Speaker 2: except the legalist. We say, let's pattern our lives after
46:34
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Then I say, let's have some conviction when
46:38
Speaker 2: cornered by a legalist. Third, to overcome legalism in one's
46:46
Speaker 2: own life, grace must be embraced. This message might have
46:53
Speaker 2: struck you between the eyes. I don't know. Thank goodness.
46:57
Speaker 2: I don't know who the legalists are. I'm grateful that
47:00
Speaker 2: the Spirit of God knows and he's able to prompt you.
47:03
Speaker 2: If you're a list keeper, more than that, a list giver,
47:10
Speaker 2: then the Spirit of God might have said something to
47:12
Speaker 2: you today. I ask you to square your convictions with Scripture.
47:18
Speaker 2: More than that, I ask you to get a good
47:20
Speaker 2: solid dose of grace that says in Jesus Christ we
47:26
Speaker 2: are free for the first time to obey God and
47:32
Speaker 2: not be enslaved to any man or the enemy himself,
47:36
Speaker 2: the devil. What communism is to our world, what materialism
47:46
Speaker 2: is to our nation, legalism is to the body of
47:53
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ devastating. Legalism is an enemy. Let's bow together,
48:06
Speaker 2: shall we? Let's just quietly rest before our Lord for
48:13
Speaker 2: a moment. I ask you today, has God begun to
48:20
Speaker 2: speak to you about this particular matter? Well, don't turn
48:26
Speaker 2: that off. Are we condoning a life that's lived as
48:32
Speaker 2: you please? Never. But neither are we condoning a life
48:39
Speaker 2: that is lived as someone else pleases for you. God
48:45
Speaker 2: may have given you some very rigid and strict standards
48:49
Speaker 2: for your home and your family and your life that's
48:52
Speaker 2: between you and the Lord. No one should take it away.
48:57
Speaker 2: But that standard does not go any further than your property.
49:03
Speaker 2: If scripture declares it, then it isn't legalism. It's obedience.
49:10
Speaker 2: But if custom or tradition or personal preference declares it,
49:18
Speaker 2: embrace it if you like. But release all other members
49:23
Speaker 2: of the family from embracing it. Maybe God is saying
49:28
Speaker 2: to you, you know, for the first time in my life,
49:30
Speaker 2: I understand what it is to be a child of God.
49:36
Speaker 2: It's not embracing a list of do's and don'ts. It's
49:40
Speaker 2: not a matter of keeping the law, performing, achieving perfection,
49:50
Speaker 2: pleasing the fellow that sits next to me. It's a
49:56
Speaker 2: matter of accepting Jesus Christ who freely gave himself that
50:01
Speaker 2: he might liberate us. Oh, what a message. God so
50:09
Speaker 2: loved the world that he gave not a list, but
50:13
Speaker 2: his only begotten Son. I plead with you today that
50:21
Speaker 2: are given to list-making to go before God and ask
50:27
Speaker 2: him to give you deliverance, freedom from bondage, just as
50:34
Speaker 2: these who are receiving Christ right now are experiencing. Heavenly Father,
50:44
Speaker 2: it is my deep desire to glorify your name, to
50:51
Speaker 2: magnify the word of God, even when it squares off
50:57
Speaker 2: against my own feelings or background. I thank you for
51:05
Speaker 2: being kind enough in my few years to teach me
51:09
Speaker 2: some of the basic things that I am just beginning
51:13
Speaker 2: to see about grace. And I pray that it might
51:19
Speaker 2: result in some deliverance and freedom from bondage that has
51:25
Speaker 2: captivated some of your people far too long. Now I
51:31
Speaker 2: ask for several things that you would guard us from
51:34
Speaker 2: an extreme ism. That you would guard this message from misunderstanding.
51:42
Speaker 2: That you would guard your children from foolish, licentious living.
51:49
Speaker 2: That you would guard this assembly from a misappropriation of
51:55
Speaker 2: a very vital message on freedom. And Father, that you
52:01
Speaker 2: would guard those who are here keeping a list from
52:05
Speaker 2: thinking that that list makes them a part of your family.
52:14
Speaker 2: Deal first with our attitude, our Father, then with our lives.
52:20
Speaker 2: Whether it's for salvation, deliverance from this terrible plague, or
52:29
Speaker 2: simply the freedom of living in Christ. I ask it
52:35
Speaker 2: in the name of that name above all names, Jesus himself. Amen.
52:43
Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.