Morning. Good to see you guys. If you’ve got a Bible, go ahead and go with me to Romans chapter Seven. Yes, you made it to Romans chapter seven. Congratulations. Look, as you’re turning there, getting the Bible out, getting ready to read the Word. I want to take care of a little bit of housekeeping here.
Alright, let’s go! Romans chapter seven, we’re going to start in verse one. And basically what we’ve been doing, if you’re new to the series, I can’t catch you up that much, but the Bible condemns all people under sin early in the book of Romans, then the Bible shows that the only way to be justified is by grace through faith in the finished work and the person of Jesus Christ, there’s no works that you can do that can save you. It’s all about what Jesus has done. It’s by putting your trust fully in Him, and that even that is a work of the Holy Spirit. And so, we saw where there was condemnation, we saw where there was justification. And in the last chapter six, we’ve been looking at sanctification. That’s the process, a lifelong process whereby a Christian grows to be more and more and more like Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God through the Word of God around the people of God and the church of God work in that heart, inside that heart, to produce fruit that comes outward. Now when we talk about sanctification, there are two major ditches that people tend to fall into. One is called license. That means they hear the gospel, they believe on it, and they say this, “Well, if Jesus has done it all, then I can go sin all I want to.” Now that’s actually a very rare heart attitude, because typically believers, real believers, they don’t feel that way. Romans, chapter six deals with license. It deals with it, doesn’t it? What do we say? Then we continue to sin that grace may abound? May it never be! God forbid. How can we who died to sin, He died to sin, nature, still live in it? We went through that past several months. Six handles license. But there’s another ditch that chapter seven handles, and that’s the ditch of legalism. Legalism, it addresses it. And when you’ve dealt with the ditch of license, and you’ve dealt with the ditch of legalism in chapter six and chapter seven, when you come and we will, when you come, to chapter eight, it changes the way it reads, changes the way it elucidates, changes the way it impacts you. And so, we begin today a study through chapter seven with a multi part message. And here’s the title. Title of the message is this, “Am I A Legalist? Part one”. Now, breathe, breathe. The answer is yes. Okay? Does that mean that you believe you got saved by works still? No. I’m talking about legalism related to sanctification, I believe that most Christians in America wrongly discipled early on were at least passively taught something like this. “You come to Christ, He forgives your sin, and then you get under the law and get to work so that He’s pleased with you and that He loves you more.” That is not the gospel. That’s a partial gospel that takes you in grace and then puts you back under law. And I’m gonna prove to you, actually the Bible is going to in this multi part, that legalism is not the way by which you will grow in holiness. It’s not the way by which you will become more and more like Jesus. It actually doesn’t work.
So I want to give you Wiersbe’s definition of legalism, and it’s in two parts, because the first part, the first sentence, has to do with salvation. The second with sanctification. Here it is,
Legalism: “The belief that I can become holy and please God by obeying laws. It is measuring spirituality by a list of dos and don’ts.” – W
Legalism, the belief that I can become holy and please God by obeying laws. Now this would be salvation right here. This first part, the first sentence, but here’s the second, and that’s really what chapter seven is pertaining to. It is measuring spirituality by a list of do’s and don’ts. I want you to ask that question in your own heart, better yet, ask it of the Holy Spirit, “Am I a legalist? Do I measure my spirituality, my standing before God, whether or not He’s pleased with me based upon my do’s and my don’ts?” Now we’ll cover this, and in terms of confession of sin and repentance, got it? But we’re talking about whether or not you’re loved, whether or not you’re accepted, whether or not you’re pleasing to God, and how is that accomplished. So. this is the first part of multi part message. We’re going to leave a cliffhanger a bit at the end. There’s no way we can finish it but we’ll lay the groundwork today, and it’s very helpful. The main text is going to be Romans 7:1-6 chapter seven one through six. I’m going to read going to read this to you and get a little bit of understanding. Then we’ll start to unpack it here this morning. Now Romans chapter seven start verse one. Let me just say to you that this is the Legacy Standard Bible. This is LSB, not LSV, but LSB. I use the LSB for this particular set of verses because there’s a critical statement here in a verb that you’ll see and I’ll explain it to you. So, I just wanted you to know that’s the version. So, he says this, Paul writes under the inspiration the Holy Spirit, “Or do you not know brothers?” He’s talking to Christians. Some people think he’s speaking to Jews now, but he’s actually speaking to everybody. “Do you not know brothers? For I am speaking to those who know the law.” Now, let me just point something out. This definite article “the” is not in the Greek. It is missing from this sentence in both places. What he actually says in the original autographs, or as close as we can get to them, is this, “Or do you not know brothers? For I am speaking to those who know law.” What is he referring to? What law is he referring to? Civil law. He’s referring to any law. It could be Jewish law, it could be Greek law, it could be Roman law. He’s talking about a principle of civil law. That’s an illustration here. He’s going to use an illustration related to the law related to marriage, law related to marriage. But this is not a teaching on marriage. He’s just illustrating something. Okay? Very important that we get that so we get the illustration. It’s proper understanding. Here’s what they know, that law, by the way, there it is again, without “the”. Without the definite article, “That law is master over a person (how long?) as long as he lives?” Okay, so let’s just say that this way, let’s say law only has mastery over you as long as you’re alive. Let’s just think about traffic laws, shall we? Let’s say you leave here and you speed home at 80 miles an hour, and a police officer pulls you over, and you get a citation, and you’re so mad about that citation, because it’s going to cost several $100 that you decide to drive faster, and you lose control, and you knucklehead, you kill yourself. Now that’s really sad, isn’t it? We’ll mourn and we’ll weep. You’ll go to heaven but we’ll miss you. Guess who has to pay that ticket? Nobody, nobody. Why? Because there is no body because you would be dead. Let me say it this way, a dead person owes nothing more to the law. It only has jurisdiction as long as you are alive. This is the illustration he’s talking about here. Look at verse two. He’s going to use the marriage laws of any culture. He’s talking about law in general to illustrate this. Here’s the illustration, “For the married woman has been bound by law (this is any law, this is right? Texas law, American law), the married woman has been bound by law to her husband while he is living. But if her husband dies, (ladies don’t get any ideas) but if her husband dies, she is (what?) she is released from law concerning the husband.” Why? Because that law bounds two people together. Yes, it’s spiritual. Marriage is spiritual. It does transcend this. But he’s using it as an illustration if one of them dies, the other is released from the law concerning that marriage. Why? Because law only has jurisdiction over you while you live. The worst the law could ever do to you is kill you. Can’t do any more, and once you’ve died from the law, you can’t be charged again. He goes on, verse three, “So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, (so she decides to become a polygamist), she shall be called an adulteress.” Now that’s in the biblical law, that’s in the Greek law, that was in Roman law. You couldn’t do it. Yeah, the Mormons tried to pull it off, but they’re not Christians, so anyway, but watch this. “But if her husband dies, she is (what?) she is free from the law.” Why? Because the death took place. It’s the whole point here. “If her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that, she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.” So now she can go get married and she’s not an adulteress because she’s not breaking the law. Why? Because someone died. You’re with it, right? There we go. So now that’s the illustration. Now here’s the application of that illustration. “So, my brothers, (verse four), you also (now some versions say “died” but the verb here is) were made to die.” That’s the literal. It’s passive in the Greek, meaning that you did not accomplish it. It happened to you. If you’re a believer, he’s speaking to you as brothers and sisters in Christ. “So my brothers, you also were made to die (made to die to who? to the one you were married to, which was the law) the Law. Now that’s talking about what law? The Mosaic law. That’s speaking of the law because this has the definite article right there in the original you “were made to die to the Law”. How? You say, “Wait a minute, you mean the law already executed me?” Yes, if you are in Christ, the law has already killed you and has no jurisdiction over you anymore. You say, “Wait a minute. But I’m alive.” Right. You died in Christ. “You were made to die to the Law through the body of Jesus Christ, so that you might be (what?) joined to another.” Who’s that to? Jesus. You can join to Christ, why? Because the law already killed you. You say, “Wait a minute. But I thought Jesus died for me.” He did, and He also died as you. And what we saw in Romans chapter six is that when Christ died, if you are in Christ, you died with Him, the law already judged you. Why? Because the law was poured out with its consequence upon the Lamb upon the cross, who takes away the sin. The law has been fulfilled. In what sense? In every sense, active and passive in Jesus’ obedience as he bore the wrath of God, He was incurring the debt that had to be paid to God because of the law. So the law has been satisfied. Someone has died, and now there’s a release, and not just in salvation friends, but in sanctification, and that’s what he’s actually talking about in context here in Romans chapter seven. “So that you might be joined to another (to who?) to him who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God.” So, here’s how it works. When Jesus died, all who are in Christ died with Him. Why? Because their sin went on the lamb. So, the debt’s been fully paid by the Son, the God man, has paid the debt. “And He was also buried.” That means the guilt was put away, never to be brought up again. Your guilt has been put as far as the east is from the west, buried into the sea of God’s forgetfulness. We covered that weeks and weeks ago. But He didn’t stay there because death could not hold Him. The grave could not keep Him. Because He was innocent, He died for the other sins, and once He’d made the atonement, He raised from the dead. God raised Him from the dead, and we were raised with Him. That’s how when you’re born again, you are a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all new things have come. Now that doesn’t mean you don’t still have sin in your members that you struggle with but you’ve been made. You’ve been made a new creation. You have a new spirit. You have been, as Jesus says in John three, born again by the Spirit of God. Free, listen, free from the law. Why? Because there’s been a death. And who was it? It was you. It was you. It was you, if you are in Christ, the law already killed you. I’m going to prove that to you here. We’ll get into the details of it. You were set free, right? Through Him who was raised from the dead to be joined to Him so that we might bear fruit for God. And he goes on two more verses. He says, “For while we were in the flesh (that means unregenerate before you’re saved) the sinful passions which were aroused by the law.” Right? You tell a sinner, “You can’t do that. The law says, no.” They want to do it. Tell a two year old, “Don’t touch that”. What do they do? They touch it. What’s that called? Vipers in diapers. “The sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in your members to bear fruit for death.” That’s before you’re in Christ. “But now (that’s in Christ) but now we have been released from the law, having (what?) died to that by which we were constrained.” What were we constrained by? Thou shalt. Thou shalt not. The wages of sin is death, right The soul that sins will surely die. God will not hold him guiltless. Who has blood on his hands? And Jesus comes later and says, What? Matthew 5:6-7, five, six and seven, if you even think it, if you even have it in your mind, you’re guilty of it. Oh, you break one piece. You broke it all. We were bound by that, so a death had to take place. And in Christ, that’s exactly what happens, “Having died to that by which we were constrained so that we would serve (watch, we’re going to cover these two things) in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.” Let me say it to you this way, when we say “Newness of the Spirit”, you’ll see this by the end of the of these messages. Look, this is we would call it grace, because the Bible calls it grace. “Oldness of the letter.” What would that be called? Law. Now we know from chapter six we’re not under the law, but under grace. But he’s not dealing with license here. He’s dealing with legalism. He’s dealing with people who are legalistic, who itemize whether or not they’re doing good enough to be in God’s good graces, instead of looking to Jesus, who did it for them. It’s a place of pride, actually, and the Bible is here to tear that apart.
So, let’s start it in reverse. Let’s see “the oldness of the letter”. What did the oldness of the letter look like? Well, let me give you there’s so many instances, I’ll just give you a couple. Here’s Exodus 19:7-8, seven through eight. This is the oldness of the letter. This is being under the law, kind of a summation start verse seven and eight here. “So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded.” And by the way, he wasn’t done yet. What would we call that? He’s giving them the law. They’re going to get the Then Commandments, they’re going to get the ordinances, they’re going to get the ceremonial laws, they’re going to get the do’s and the don’ts, you get it right? So, he sets all these things before the people, before the elders. And then look at verse eight. The weirdest thing happens. This is such a weird verse, “All the people (how many of the people?) All the people answered together and said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken, we will do.’” No, you won’t. Have you read it? If you’re reading through the Bible, you’re only about 10 minutes away from the golden calf, right? We’ll do it and you say, “Oh, how does that pertain to Christians?” Oh, my gosh, does it pertain to Christians. “I’m a youth camp and I’m rededicating my life. I used to do that, and I used to do this, but I’ll never do it again. I vow God, I will stop doing this. I will start doing that.” Some of you, that’s your prayer life. I just showed you your prayer life. And if you’re sitting here going, “How does he know?” I’m a prophet. No, I’m kidding, because you’re human, because there’s a little legaist in the back of your brain going, “Measure up, measure up,” and it keeps pointing you to your works, instead of grace, pointing you into humility, to His works. And you say, “I’ll do it this time. I’m turning over a new leaf.” And some of you, you’re gonna face this temptation, you’re gonna hear this sermon. You’re gonna go, “That’s it. That sermon was it. Now I got it. I’m done with that. I’m onto this.” You know what that is? That’s pride, that says this, “Let him who thinks he stands, let take heed lest he fall.” And you will. Humility says this, “You are the vine and I am the branch. And apart from You, Jesus, I can do nothing, and all my righteousness is everything You’ve provided for me. It’s all alien to me. You gave it freely. You’ve clothed me in a royal robe that I did not earn, but You did, and the only way I’m sustained is because You keep me. And I’m gonna humble myself before Your throne of grace. And when I’m tempted, I’m gonna run to You because You understand what it’s like. You were tempted, just like I am, except without sin, and I’m going to come boldly before the throne of grace to find mercy and help and grace to help in time of need. Jesus, I need You.” That’s the person growing in grace. This is the person under law. That’s the person who’s walking in discipleship. This is a person who’s yielding to legalism. We want to get rid of that and have more than this. That’s it. You say, “That’s Romans seven?” Yeah, that’s Romans seven. And if you really understand Romans seven, you’ll say the same thing that Paul says at the end of Romans seven. “Oh, wretched man that I am who will deliver me from the body of this death?” You say, “Wait, by the end of Romans seven, I’m not going to feel better about myself?” No, you’re going to gonna feel way better about Jesus though. You don’t need to feel good about you. He gets the glory. You get the joy. That’s the way Bible set it up. That’s the way God actually does it. We’ll do all this. And it didn’t work out.
Look at Deuteronomy 27:26, it says this “Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by (what?) By doing them”. How many of them? All of them, “And the people will say, ‘Amen’.” Amen means “so be it”. You come under the law and you realize, if I break it in one place, I broke the whole thing. You say, “I can’t do that.” Exactly. And the law is there like a tutor, like a school master, to show you your guilt, show you your inability, your absolute inability, and then lead you to the Savior who did do it and now offers you righteousness for free. Don’t call Him a liar. It’s accepted by faith. That’s a grace of God. Spirit does that. He raises you from the dead. You’re born again by the Spirit. You’re seated with Him in heavenly places because you died, buried, rose again and ascended in Christ, and now you are a new creation. And to walk that out will require the same humility as the way it began. That’s the life of a disciple. Legalism gets in the way of that.
So, we want to take a look at how that’s handled. And you say, “Well, wait a minute, what? There’s two covenants, Steve, you’re getting ahead of yourself, because see, in the Old Testament, they were made righteous by the law, and in the New Testament, they were made righteous by grace.” That’s not true. No one was ever made righteous by the law. In fact, God’s plan was always for the law to prove that you couldn’t keep it, and thus He had a better plan for the future. I want to prove it to you in the Old Testament. Here’s just a couple of places. This is where He’s pointing toward the “newness of the Spirit.” Remember, we covered “oldness of the letter”? Here’s the newness of the Spirit even prophesied in the Old Testament, Jeremiah 31:33, “For this is the covenant (God says) this that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord (watch carefully): I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Let me ask you this, where was the law previous to this comment? The law was outside of people, and it was written on stone. It was something that worked as a demand from the outside, but God says, I’m not going to do it by the demand from the outside. I’m going to change them with a desire on the inside that’s going to work its way out. Yeah, legalists don’t like that. They don’t like that. They don’t like people to do the things they want them to do. That’s my inner legalist right there. Glad you could experience that. We’ll edit that for TV. Here’s another reference, Ezekiel 11:19-20 chapter 11, look at 19 through 20. He says, “And I will give them one heart and (a what?) and a new spirit. I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, (in other words, tender) that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” Ezekiel 36:26-27, “And I will give you a new heart and also a new spirit within you.” This is talking about regeneration. “And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” I’m going to give you a tender heart, “And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you (look at this) cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” You say, “Wait a minute. Cause me? I don’t want to be a robot.” This is not a robot. He causes us because He changes our heart. And now we’re motivated, not low now we’re motivated by love. Did you know love fulfills the law? Do you know love goes beyond what the law would allow? That’s right. Love is the motivation of being coming more and more like Jesus. I want to illustrate this to you a very simple way. When I drive to one of my daughters and my son in law’s house to see my grandkids. There’s a back street that I go down. It’s right by Wilson N Jones, which is the only reason to go near Wilson N Jones. And if you’re not from here, it’s funny. And I’ve driven it several times, I never see a speed limit. There’s no speed, speed limit sign on this street, and so in my mind, well, there’s no speed limit, but let me tell you what there is. There’s lots of houses with little kids, and every time, I drive down the street, I at least see one child, I swear. And they come out. And sometimes the families are out there, and there are little kids, they’ll put up some of those little signs warning you, or whatever. I’m gonna ask you a question, how fast do you think I drive down that street? I go about 10. I go about 10. Now I don’t care what the law says. They could put a speed limit sign that said 75, I’m not going to go more than 10. Why? Because the law is not what’s constraining me. Love is constraining me. I don’t want to hurt a child. I love those families. I love them. I want them to come to Christ. I wouldn’t want them to lose their child, because I had to get somewhere early, right? So, love is the better motivator, and when love is the motivator, the law is kept automatically. The spirit of it is kept from the inside out, not the outside in. You can understand this. Anybody can get that. That’s true discipleship. It’s the freedom to walk in the way you actually want to no longer an outward demand but now an inward desire, so that was fulfilled in Christ, then given to the church, and yet it was pushed against.
I don’t know if you know this, there was a lot of disagreement early in the church because there were people that were legalists, that were there, not just for how someone would be saved, but also for how someone would be sanctified. I’m going to give you the first instance of this. This is in Acts 15:1 chapter 15. Let me show you a few places here. Start verse one. So, talking about a Gentile church, he’s they’re actually in a place called it’s in Syria, actually, but it’s Antioch in Syria. It says, “But some men came down from Judea.” So here comes some of the Jews, and they “Were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you were circumcised (that’s the law) according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’” Now, yes, this is speaking about salvation, but they always carry it into sanctification as well when they finally are overruled. So, there’s this big disagreement, and they decided to send Paul and Barnabas and a couple of others to Jerusalem to see what the apostles would say about this. Skip down to Acts 15:5 verse five. They’re having the discussion, it says. “But some believers who belong to the party of the Pharisees, they rose up and said, (Watch, okay, ‘we’ll give you that they’re believers,’ ‘we’ll give you that’), ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and order them to do (what?) to keep the Law of Moses.’” Uh oh, that’s controversy. In other words, “Okay, they’re in the family, but now they better get on the stick.” Guys, this is churches all over America. This today. This was taught, law, law, law. You should, you should, you should, you should, you should. And you know what the things that men will say, “Yeah, they may be right”, but without the indicative of the gospel and the fact of what Jesus has already done, that you lack the fuel of love to ever walk in those things. It’s kind of like the beatings will continue until morale improves. Go down to Acts 15:7-11 verse seven, it says. “And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up, (praise the Lord) and said to them, ‘Brothers, you know that in the early days (that would be Acts chapter 10, because he was the man that first saw Gentiles come to Christ and received the Spirit) you know that in the early days, God made a choice among you that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. (Watch) And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them (that’s to the Gentiles, who were not called to keep the law any more than the Jews who’d come to Christ were) he bore witness to them (by doing what?) By giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. and He made no distinction between us and them having cleansed their hearts by faith.’” Sounds like Ezekiel and Jeremiah, doesn’t it? It does. And then he concludes with these two verses. Now therefore, watch the question, “‘Why are you putting God to the test (why are you putting God to the test) by placing a yoke (that’s something that puts somebody in bondage for work) on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?’” In other words, why are you giving them these demands that you know no one can keep? Jesus is the only one that could, Jesus is the only one that did, and Jesus is the only way where we’ll walk it out. But you’re trying to give them something that’s been killing people, and yet it’s good. Nothing wrong with the law. We’ll see that later in chapter seven, he says, “Why are you doing that?” And that’s the question, is implied in the answer is right there, embedded in it, isn’t it? Why are you doing that? Because you’re being legalists to them. You’re telling them something about the gospel, but then you’re saying, “Now you got to add something to it.” Jesus plus anything equals nothing. And in sanctification, the way in is the way on.
Paul responds to this kind of attitude. He sees it on repeat. Look at Galatians 5:1-3 chapter five. Look at one through three. He’s taking issue with legalists. He says, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” Free from what? Free from the law, not the law is bad, it’s good. But it no longer is something pointing at us, condemning us. It’s now something that shows us a standard by which we desire to please God by walking in love. But he tells them this, “For freedom, Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” What’s the yoke of slavery? Measuring your spirituality, or the way God loves you or is pleased with you based upon your do’s and your don’ts. That’s all this is, don’t submit to that. And then he ends it this way. “Look: I Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, (it’s indicative of keeping the law) Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify to every man who accepts circumcision, that he is obligated to keep (what?) the whole law.” You gotta do the whole thing.
But the gospel is the good news that Jesus fulfilled it on our behalf. That doesn’t mean we ran out and do whatever we want. That means we have a change of heart. That means love becomes the internal motivator to a life that’s pleasing to the Lord.
Again, let’s go backwards in time, Romans 7:4 again, right? Chapter seven, verse four, just a reminder. Look, “So, my brothers, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ so that you might be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.” You were made to die. This is what Paul means. The same apostle used to write this. Look at Galatians 2:19-21 chapter 2 19 through 21 he says this, “For through the law I died to the law that I might live to God.” What does that mean? That means the law already judged him. That means the law already judged him, and the law sentenced him and the law executed him. How? In Christ Jesus, that’s why. After Galatians 2:19 we get, we see what? Galatian 2:20. This helps you understand this verse, “I (he says) have been (what?) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live. (Wait what Paul?) but Christ lives in me.” Wait a minute., you’ve been crucified and now yet you live. How does that work out? But see now you’re seeing it. He died spiritually. The law was already executed him in Christ. “I have been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by (what?) by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.” Then he wraps it up with verse 21 he says, “I do not nullify the grace (I’m not going to nullify) the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” So, here’s the question, what do we do when we see the inadequacy, the sin, the struggle, the temptation, and we’re facing these things, we have two choices? That’s four choices. Two choices. Are we going to turn to the law and turn over another leaf and say, “I’m going to try harder, I’m going to be better, I’m going to get my life together, I’m going to rededicate, I’m going to consecrate harder, I’m going to strain”? No, we say this, “I can only bear fruit through You, Jesus. I can’t keep the law. I can’t even clean myself up. And the way I came to You is the way I’ll grow in You. And so, I humble myself before Your throne of grace. I need help. I need mercy and grace to help in my time of need, and I need You to sustain me when I’m tempted. And so, Lord, I’m coming to You. You are the vine, and I’m the branch.” That’s walking free from the legalism. And you realize, “Oh my gosh, I still have all sin in me.” See the difference between someone who’s doing that and the legalist is related to sin. The legalist always thinks in terms of sins, like plural, where the person who’s humble at the feet of Jesus understands the real issue is sin, singular, sin in its entirety, sin which still dwells in your members, because your body will one day need to die because it’s been corrupted. We’ll get to that in chapter seven as well. And when you recognize that then having struggles and having trials and having temptations is no longer a surprise to you, and you no longer say to yourself, “I should be beyond this by now”, what you realize is “I’m always going to be dependent upon my Savior. I need Him.” I got saved at 19, and now I’m pushing 60. I know hard to believe. Look like I’m 80, feel like I’m 180. I thought by the time I’m 60, I will float. I’ll be so godly that when I walk in the room, people will go, “Oh!” Didn’t work out that way. What I can tell you is every bit of growth has happened, not from doing this, but from doing this, boasting in my weakness, confessing my sin, being accountable to people who love me and who know the gospel, and trusting the Word of God to sanctify me because His Word is truth. That’s how we really grow. It’s not been through self-improvement. It’s not because I’ve taken steps to turn over a new leaf, and there’s no such thing as Christian self-help. It’s all been by his grace. I don’t want to nullify the grace.
And finally, let’s end here. We’ll stop here. Romans 7:6, chapter seven, one more time the last verse there, we reread verse six, “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that (right? in Christ) having died to that by which we were constrained so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” I’d love for you to just ask the Holy Spirit this question. Ask it in your heart. You don’t have to ask it out loud. “But do I measure spirituality by do’s and don’ts? Or do I measure it by the vital union of the one who loved me and gave Himself up for me? And do I recognize that Christ in me is the only hope of glory that I have, and that no good thing dwells in me that’s in my flesh, and then I can’t stand and I am taking heed. And he’s the one that’s able to make me stand and to keep me against that day. That’s vital union. That’s a heart that says, “I need You, Jesus.” That’s humility. The other heart is a heart of pride that says, “I got this. I can fix this. This time, it’s all gonna change.” Repent of that inner Pharisee, repent of being a legalist, and, by the way, don’t be condemned by it. If you find yourself going, “I think that’s me”, lean into that. Go, “Yeah, that’s me.” Right, that’s your flesh still trying to hold on to something it can boast about, so that to someone, they might look at you one name be like, “Whoa, she’s pretty godly.” Now, who got the glory in there? You did. You forsake that, what you find is you turn away from that yoke that our fathers and you cannot bear, and you turn to the one whose yoke is easy and His burden is light. He says, “Come to me”, Matthew 11, right? “And you’ll find rest for your soul.” That’s the journey and the joy as we go through chapter seven.
KEYWORDS
License, Legalist, Legalism, Sanctification, Romans 7, Grace, Law, Spirituality, Sin, Justification, Faith, Holy Spirit, Newness Of Spirit, Oldness Of The Letter, Discipleship, Prayer, Death, Law, Sin, Grace, Church, Online Sermon, Gospel, Texas, Bible Church, Grayson County
SPEAKER
Steve LeBlanc