Oh...Those legalists

Oh those legalists — if it wasn’t for the books of John, Paul and Peter and then much of the Old Testament prophets — they could impose their religious Utopia where everybody had a certain way to live, much like Geneva under the generalship of John Calvin.

In the gospel of John, the sixth chapter, something I’ve written on before, Jesus had just finished performing some great miracles, the feeding of the 5,000 and his walking on water over the Sea of Galilee.

To be sure, his followers saw these miracles and were astonished, but they still didn’t know what all Jesus was telling them.

At the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in the book of Matthew, Jesus tells everybody he was there to fulfill the Law, every jot and tittle. He told them they were to be held to a higher standard of the Law, where every thought is judged — it was a standard beyond even what the Pharisees held.

So it was natural for some of Jesus’ followers to ask in John 6:28, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Ask this in many churches and the people will tell you to keep all the commandments given by God. That’s a simple answer and it would be correct, but that doesn’t save us. Even if we were sinless from now on, it doesn’t cover over the sins of the past, it doesn’t square our account with God. Then, even if it did, if a believer sins again what then will be the penalty for that sin.

Nope, Jesus gave the answer to his inquisitors that day. Jesus answered in John 6:29, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

That’s it, that’s the answer? Surely the batteries on John’s tape recorder went out that day, or maybe his stenographer took the day off — surely that can’t be it.

The thing is — it is.

When Jesus died on the cross it was an account settling sacrifice. For the people to be able to take part in this miracle, then they must first, believe in what Jesus did for them and then turn away from their life of sin. Our works gain us nothing, it is only through faith that we come to the Father through Jesus Christ.

Step back and look at this for a moment. Imagine spending all of your time worrying about it if you are living right or Hell might be waiting. You would become like the Pharisees who worked diligently day in and day out to make sure they did everything just so, even straining their soup to make sure they didn’t accidentally swallow and unclean gnat. The Pharisees falsely believed if they followed a strict formula then they could earn their salvation.

Jesus freed us from that burden — and sin is a burden, and it seems there are many who try to keep saddling us with that burden.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” — Matthew 23:13-15

God wants us free from those burdens of sin. He wants us to worship him out of love, so, he created a way in which we could do that.
“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” — John 6:40

That’s reassuring, that’s a freeing of the spirit. Jesus, if we repent, takes that sin nature from us; he paid the penalty for those sins on the cross. Yes, we will commit sins even after our salvation, but if we confess them to our loving Savior they will be removed from us as far as the east is from the west.

There are many who will hold you to a standard no one can uphold. Out of the love of Christ and through the strengthening of the Holy Spirit we strive to live sinless lives, but we are still under the curse of the flesh and that is why we have a mediator between us and God the Father — our Savior Jesus Christ.

So yes, flee from sin, but don’t let the thought and fear of sin keep us from the work set before us, which is to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord above all and it is to him, and him only we owe our allegiance, not a flag, not a country — nothing but our Lord Jesus.

So, take from the words of Paul and flee from the legalism that binds you to this corrupted flesh, “The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, ‘The person who does these things will live by them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” — Galatians 3:12-14

Live as free people, no longer under the heavy yoke of sin. As we enter another election cycle many will talk about freedom, and setting you free, but know this — there is no freedom under man as we all are under the burden of tyranny. No man, no matter how smoothly he speaks can offer us freedom — freedom only comes through Jesus Christ.

Read and let the words of the Savior pierce your heart, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

On this day, resolve to let Jesus take up your heavy load, nothing you can do will lift the burden, only the nail-scarred hands of Jesus.