PREACHED:OL,
“WHAT LEGALISM IS NOT”
INTRODUCTION:
I. BALANCE
A. The
late Francis Shaeffer, well-known author and cultural
observer of the l970’s and l980’s, wrote in his book, The Great Evangelical Disaster, an astute and sobering observation that applies to
our discussion of legalism:
1. “If there is not a balance between form and
freedom, then society will move into either of two extremes. Freedom, without a
proper balance of form, will lead to chaos and to the total breakdown of
society. Form, without a proper balance of freedom, will lead to
authoritarianism, and to the destruction of individual and societal freedom.:
B. Shaeffer correctly observed the absolute essentiality of balance
in life, whether it is a matter of social interaction, the operation of civil
authority, or the conduct and practice of religion.
1. His
words especially speak to the problem of legalism at one extreme and total
freedom on the other.
2. Common
sense and observation tells us that either extreme can be at the best
unfortunate, but at the worst catastrophic to either the individual or the
group.
3. Such
is especially true when it comes to the extremes of legalistic demands on the
one hand
and a
cry for total freedom from responsibility and restriction on the other.
I. FIRST LESSON
A.
This morning in
Bible Class, we described what legalism is.
1. To put
the matter simply, legalism is trusting in law and our ability to perfectly
obey a code as our foundational hope of salvation.
III. THIS LESSON
A. In this
lesson, we wish to examine what legalism is not.
1. We
hope to clarify some false concepts that can lead weak souls into spiritual
anarchy instead of true Godliness and genuine freedom from sin.
B.
Understanding
what legalism is not is
closely connected with some false assumptions of what it is.
C.
It really
begins with a basic view of salvation in terms of “who”
and “what” is involved in redemption.
D.
We will deal with
justification, salvation and legalism in our third lesson this evening.
E.
This morning,
our main focus will be the show from scripture what should not be considered
legalism.
1. We can
confidently say, from clear teaching of scripture, that legalism is not any of
the following:
DISCUSSION:
Legalism is not a genuine respect
for and intense study of the scriptures.
A.
Legalism views
the Bible and a code of laws an object of worship.
B.
True discipleship
worships the God of the Bible and realizes that His revealed will is found in
scripture; therefore, to properly know and worship God and to understand His
purpose for our lives, we must intensely study the Bible that contains his will
for us.
C.
Remember! We
don’t worship the Bible, we worship the God who
authored the Bible!
D.
Numerous
scriptures emphasize the importance of searching the scriptures for the will of
the God we worship:
1. Isaiah 34:16-35:8
2. I Peter 1:10-12. “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace
that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or
time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the
suffering s of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that
they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been
announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy
Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”
3. Acts
4. After
Paul had been driven from Thessalonica for preaching the gospel, he went to
a. Acts
5.
While in house
arrest in the city of
a. Acts 28:23. “When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging
in greater numbers. Fro morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying
to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law
of Moses and from the Prophets.”
6. II Timothy 2:15. “Do your best (give diligence, make every effort)…”
7. 2 Timothy 3:15-17. “…from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings,
which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God
may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
E.
Jesus taught
the importance of careful and meticulous study of scriptures:
1. Matthew 22:34-46
Matthew 22:29
Matthew 28:20
Mark
Luke 24:32. “Did not
our hearts burn…”
Luke 24:44, 45. “’These are the words that I spoke to
you wile I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of
Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their
minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that
the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and
repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all
nations, beginning from Jerusalem…”
John 5:39. “You search the Scriptures because you
think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness
about me.”
D. According
to Bullinger’s, Critical Lexicon and Concordance, The
word “disciple” means “…a learner,
pupil…a follower, one who follows both the teacher and his teaching.”
1. One
can be a true disciple of Jesus only if he respects and studies the scriptures
intensely.
a. In
1971, Edward Fudge wrote in a little booklet entitled simply The Grace of God, “It is not legalism to seek to do
God’s will as accurately and exactly as possible. Attempting to serve God as
strictly as one can do does not make a man a legalist. Such a man might be a
legalist, or he might not be. But his desire or attempt to please God precisely
is not the determining factor. Legalism is not ‘law-keeping’ it is
‘law-depending.’”
(1) To be a
carefully disciple, I must study the Master’s teachings carefully!!
k Legalism is not obedient faith.
A. The
book of Romans is often described as the theological foundation of the New
Testament. And yet, in the letter, Paul emphasizes the importance of a responsive
and obedient faith.
1. He
begins the epistle, “…we have
received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the
sake of his name.” (1:5)
2. And
at the end of Romans he summarizes, “…but
now has been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known
to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the
obedience of faith…” (
B.
Jesus told his
disciples:
1. “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them,
he it is who loves me. And who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will
love him and manifest myself to him…If anyone loves me, he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with
him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you
hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” (John 14:21, 23, 24)
C. We’ll
have more to say about this important and vital aspect of responsive faith in
our last lesson, but we’ll summarize this point with the words of EDWARD FUDGE:
1. “Legalism is the idea that man will be saved
because he has a record of obedience that pleases God, just as license ignores
and fails to reckon
with the fact
that man by nature is a sinner. If the
Gentiles were especially prone to the error of license, the Jews seem to have been especially prone to the
other error of legalism.”
l Legalism has nothing to do with a
commitment to truth or the belief that truth is knowable and attainable.
A. Jesus
himself emphasized both the attainability of truth and the complete revelation
of it.
1. He
spoke to believing Jews about true freedom and a knowledge of the truth found
in His Word:
a. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my
disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31, 32)
2. He
also identified the truth in his prayer for the unity of his disciples when he
prayed to his Father to,
a. “Sanctify them in the truth, your word is
truth.” (John 17:17)
3. The
master (teacher) told his apostles that what he taught them while on earth was not
all of the truth, but that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to them as a
counselor and teacher. He would reveal “the rest of the story” after Jesus had
ascended to the Father in heaven. The Spirit’s revelation, however, would not
be his but would be the complete revelation of the word of the Father and the
Son. In John 14:25, 26 he told them:
a. These things I have spoken to you while I am
still with you. But the Helper, the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he
will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to
you.”
4. Two
chapters later, John records the Lord as declaring the following regarding
revealed truth from the Holy Spirit:
a. I still have many things to say to you, but
you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you
into all the truth, for he will not speak of his own authority, but whatever he
hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He
will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that
the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and
declare it to you. (John 16:12-15)
B. Legalism
is NOT a belief in absolute truth, and a desire to find it in scripture and to
follow it, for it is the truth of God the father and Jesus Christ, our Savior
and Teacher.
m Legalism is not the exposure of
false doctrine.
A.
John was the
apostle of love, and yet he said,
1. “Beloved, believe
not every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for
many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (I John 4:1).
B.
Jesus commended
the church in
1. “…you cannot bear those who are evil, but
have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them
false.” (Revelation 2:2)
C.
Paul was the
ultimate exponent of salvation by grace through faith, and yet he told Titus
that each elder he appointed,
1. “…must hold firm to the trustworthy word as
taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also
to rebuke those who contradict it. For there are many who are insubordinate,
empty talkers an deceivers, especially those of the
circumcision party. They must be silenced…” (Titus 1:9-11)
D.
Who would dare
make the accusation that Jesus, John and Paul were legalists!
1. But,
if it is true, as some try to accuse, that those who follow and demand accurate
teaching are legalists, they are bound by the same logic to make the same
accusation of the very founder of Christianity Himself as well as his closest
followers of being legalists! Nonsense!
n Legalism is not the belief that the
New Testament affords us a pattern of teaching that we must follow if we would
please the Lord.
A.
Was Noah a legalist?
1. He
believed God had a pattern for the ark that would save him and his family from
the flood. He followed God’s pattern of instructions in the building the ark of
safety that protected him from God’s wrath against sin.
2. The
Lord gave him specific instructions for the size and composition of the ark,
even to the kind of wood that was to be used.
3. And
what was Noah’s response? “Noah did this;
he did all that God commanded him...” (Genesis 6:22)
4. And
what was God’s response? “And those that
entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And
the Lord shut him in…” (V 16).
a. God
separated him from the destruction of the world because of his faithful
obedience and righteous commitment.
B.
Was Moses a legalist?
1. If he was,
then why did Moses tell the Israelites concerning the Messiah…?
a. “The Lord your God will raise up for you a
prophet like me from among you; from your brothers—it is to him you
shall listen” ? (Deuteronomy 18:15)
b. If he was
a legalist, why did the Hebrew writer draw a parallel between Moses
faithfulness and Christ’s faithfulness when he said,
(1) “Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in
a heavenly calling consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our
confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was
faithful in all God’s house.” (Hebrews 3:1-6)
2. Moses
believed God had a pattern for the tabernacle, the Israelite tent of worship.
a. “Exactly as I show you concerning the
pattern of the tabernacle, and all of its furniture, so shall you make it.” (Exodus 25:9)
(1) Then,
as if to make sure that Moses understood the seriousness of following God’s
pattern, he repeated his command,
(a) “And see that you make them after the
pattern shown you on the mountain.” (V 40)
b. He
believed in a pattern for the house of God and the followed it exactly.
3. The
Hebrew writer makes aludes to Exodus 25:40 in
reference to the “true tabernacle that
the Lord set up, not man,” (Hebrews 8:5)—the church!
a. He
declared that the old tabernacle and the ministry within it was
“a copy and a shadow of the heavenly
things.” (Hebrews 8:5)
(1) “Heavenly things” refers to the place of
our spiritual blessings, “in Christ”. (Eph 1:3).
C.
Are we legalists,
therefore, when we insist that there is a pattern for the church?
1. There
is no legalism in believing God has a pattern for the church in terms of
entrance, organization, worship and practice!
CONCLUSION:
I. Certainly, we have not exhausted the
subject of what legalism is not.
A. But
possibly we have given you cause to be skeptical and wary when someone accuses
us of legalism when we, because of our faith in God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
desire to fulfill the Master’s stated desire,
1. “…observe
all that I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:20)