Legalism is a pervasive danger that arises when individuals or groups create their own standards or misuse God's word to define Christian spirituality, often leading to pride and a loss of joy. The sermon illustrates this through the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), showing how a legalistic mindset, focused on self-justification and in-groups, fails to reflect true love for God and neighbor. Instead of relying on human-made rules or strict adherence to the law for spiritual growth, believers are called to live by grace, mirroring the selfless compassion of the Samaritan. True Christian living, rooted in the gospel, is characterized by grace-empowered love and service, not by external regulations or self-imposed disciplines.
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Here we are singing about someone whom we have never seen with our physical eyes. And yet we sing these things, these truths. We really believe them. And many of us sitting in this room, we can look back to the difficult decisions we've made, life-changing decisions, and perhaps prices that we've paid. And all because of someone that we've never met with our physical eyes. You know, this is the reality of this relationship that we have by faith with the Son of God. real. And I really feel it's a great privilege to be here with you. I know that I speak with the other brothers as well, what a joy it is to speak about and to represent the Lord Jesus Christ.
I wanted very much to talk with you about the difficulty that I feel is very real right at this present time, a danger which I think that we're probably not too aware of, but is very real, of legalism. And I hesitate to even mention it because I know that some people get very sensitive about this. Whenever you talk about the issue of legalism, they always think, well, those people who complain about legalism are always just trying to make an excuse for sin. You know, you hear a brother stand up and speak about the duties of the Christian life. and responsibilities in the Christian life, and it'll always be somebody in the crowd, and they'll say, well, that fellow, he's very legal.
Well, we know that legalism is not simply being strict. You know, the Pharisees were legal, weren't they? They were strict about some things and not very strict about other things. And Brother Elliot was talking about that. What did they hold about the issue of divorce and remarriage? Very casual. And so I don't think that when we talk about legalism, that we're really talking about whether or not we're strict or whether we're easy going exactly, it's something else. When we set up standards, either by abusing the plain teaching of the Word of God or of inventing our own standards, we raise up standards for what it means to be a Christian or what it means to be a spiritual person and set these up over God's people.
I remember years ago, when I was living in North Dakota, And I was visiting one night in the home of one of the Christians, Keith Yates was there. Some of you know Brother Keith. I won't ask for hands, but a lot of you know Brother Keith. And he was from the balmy south. He lived in Minneapolis. And we were going to go to Hurt's Field, which was about two hours away. And he wasn't very well dressed for it. And the folks who were staying with said, don't go tonight, John, because it's one of the coldest nights of the entire world. winner and they're expecting a blizzard to kick up. And so Keith bailed out and I got in my car against their warnings and I drove halfway there. I found myself crawling behind another car at about twenty-five miles per hour and visibility, almost no visibility.
And then that other car turned off and I was alone out on the highway and I was coming to the spot that I thought went over to the Merck's home. And I turned down a gravel road. Now, if you've been out there, you know that you can go a long ways and not see a farmhouse or a yard light or anything. And as I was driving down this gravel road, I saw a shelter belt on one side and a large drift in front of me. I could just barely see it. And I thought, if I slow down now, I'm going to get hung up in that snow drift and I'll be in big trouble. So I kept my momentum and I hit that drift and all the snow came coming up right in front of the windshield. And I couldn't see a thing.
And as I was there, I was thinking, John, whatever you do, don't go over into that ditch. Be real careful. So I was in my anxiety not to drive over into one ditch. I couldn't see where I was going. My car was just edging right over this way. And sure enough, I got past the drift. I cleared the drift. But I ended up in the ditch. And, you know, there are really two ditches down this highway that we're traveling on, right? On one side we see the danger of falling into worldliness, what we call worldliness. And that is a real danger. Is that a danger today? I think so. In fact, you talk often to a group of young people, and there may be talk about the videos that they watch or the activities that they're engaged in, and you would say to them, well, don't you think that that might be worldly?
And they'd talk their head at you and say, worldly. What's that mean? That's a word that has lost its definition in the minds of a lot of people. They don't even know what you're talking about. And so is there a danger of worldliness? I certainly think so. And we hear about it all the time. But in our anxiety to not go into that ditch, there is this danger in overcompensating that we're going to end up in the other. And so I see this all throughout the Word of God that there's concerned that we would have balance in our Christian life. That night in North Dakota, I'm almost close to death.
In fact, that was the closest I've ever come to freezing today. I think about three people every winter freeze to death in North Dakota. And I was almost one of them. I want to read with you then from Luke chapter, Luke chapter ten, a story that the Lord Jesus told in beginning in verse twenty five. And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.
And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right, this Jew, and thou shalt live. But he willing to justify himself said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side.
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him and went to him and bound up his wounds. pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?
And he said, He that showed mercy on him, then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. Now I'm familiar with the passages you are that he's talking about a lot of different issues, talking about the issue of prejudice. When I was a kid growing up in a mainline denominational church, We often heard this preached on in the mid-sixties because of the civil rights era. And so this passage deals with a problem of prejudice. And I believe that the Lord Jesus uses that to point out to this fellow that he has a prejudice, really against the Lord himself.
He has a problem with the Lord. You know, he's talking also about the issue of service and fellowship. Who is my neighbor? Who is it that I can consider part of my group? And he's talking about how we view the law and the issue of salvation. So there's a lot of ingredients that go into this parable as you read it. But I want to fasten our attention just for a little bit on this issue of the law. As I said, we often hear warnings about worldliness. And sometimes whenever legalism is mentioned, it's always as a, oh, you know, I'll hear remarks such as, well, you know, whenever you preach about the truth of God, people are going to call you a legalist.
As if that's not really a current concern, a problem. Well, you start going through the New Testament and you see the amount of time that is given to this topic. For instance, when you get into the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord Jesus, in his first major sermon, he talks about how people interpret the law of Moses. And in Matthew five, six, and seven, the sermon I'm around, he talks about this. And you've heard that it was said by them of old times. He talks about legalism. But I say unto you. And he contrasts his own teaching to what the rabbis had been teaching, in contrast to what they've said, but I say unto you. And really there sets himself before them as a new authority, an authority, by the way, greater than most in the Sermon on the Mount.
When you get into Matthew chapter eleven, and he warns there, and you remember how he pronounced woes on those cities, and at the end he says, come unto me, all use of labor and are heavy laden. Laden with what? Burdened with what? Burdened with a false religious system. Read Matthew eleven. Then you get over into Matthew twenty-three, and I think that you could say that the most fierce, energetic, strong denunciations the Lord Jesus ever uttered was probably found there in Matthew twenty-three, again, this abuse of the law of Moses, the false teachings of the Pharisees. Now when you get into the Acts of the Apostles, You notice that the very ones who gave the early apostles the most difficulty were the Judaizers.
They were the ones who were dodging the steps of the apostles. And one of the great conflicts in the whole book of Acts is in Acts chapter fifteen, and this whole issue of how we as Christians are now going to view our relationship to the law of Moses. That's brought up. What about? our obligations and so on and they deal with it there when you get into romans that's the great theme in the in the book of the first half of the book of romans dealing with this well i don't know if you said a great theme but it's he's preaching christ but he's talking about the problem of the law right up through chapter seven when you get into chapter first corinthians chapter eight he talks about the weaker brother people who have scruples all kinds of difficulties, just as he had in Romans fourteen.
When you're in second Corinthians chapter three, Paul contrasts his teaching as a minister of the new covenant to the ministry of the old covenant. And he talks about that message which was graven and stone, you know, in second Corinthians three. So Paul deals with that. So in most every one of the epistles of the New Testament, he has at some point he deals with the issue of legalism as it's coming among God's people. And of course in Galatians that's almost the entire topic. And it's important when you read Galatians you realize it's not the proper use of the law that Paul is warning against but the abuse of the law of Moses.
They're taking the law of Moses and using it for purposes for which it was never intended. In Ephesians You read those words about the Lord. He is our peace, who has made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandment, contending ordinances, for to make it himself of twain one new man. So, making peace. In Philippians, there's a strong warning in chapter three, Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of. The concession.
Who are they? Well, they're the Judaizers. For we are the circumcision, Paul says about the true Christians. They're the true circumcision. We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. When you get into Colossians, you notice how Paul deals there? Not with the abuse of the law so much, at least this is how I'd understand it. But man-made rule imposed on God's people. Wherefore, if you be dead with Christ, from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship and humility in neglecting of the body, and not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.
and he feels constrained to deal with that. And in First Thessalonians, there's also a passage where he talks about the Judaizers there. He says to both them, he says, ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews, who have killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophet, and have persecuted us, and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always, for the wrath is come unto them to the uttermost. And in Timothy, you have this strong statement in chapter one, now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of good conscience, and of faith unfamed, from which some have swerved and have turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm.
But we know that the law is good if a man views it lawfully. And then he goes on to talk about the proper use of it, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for thems. that defile themselves with mankind, for men stealers, for liars, for cursed persons. And if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust." And I think there's another reference to the law in Timothy in chapter four, and then also, well, I guess the legalism, where he talks about those who forbid to marry and command to abstain from certain needs.
Setting up rules, over God's people which are not biblical, not of God. And then finally over in Titus, I'd rather mention that Brother David, when he was talking about these who go in and they travel whole houses and they are of the circumcision. And I think that's an inference why they're legalists, who evidently had gotten there before Titus. I think that there were people from Crete who were there in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. So they had been there for a while and had a chance to... Is that how you read it, brother? Okay. So they'd had a chance to get their foot in the door.
And then, of course, the whole epistle of Hebrews dealing with this problem. Now, beloved, if you've been reading your New Testament the way I have, would you get the impression, would you just happen to get, not by even a close reading of the Scripture, but just cursory reading of the New Testament, that there is a problem that... No doubt is something we need to be really cautious about, that we don't fall into a legal spirit. Now, I don't want to quibble about words. Somebody says, well, that word legalism, that's not a New Testament word. Well, you know, it talks about those who are zealous for the law. I suppose they're legalists, right? They're advocating the law. And I know it's a broad term and probably used in a lot of ways, but by way of definition, when we take God's word, and use it for purposes for which it was not intended, the law of Moses, using it for purposes for which it was not intended to impose a standard for what constitutes a real Christian or what makes a person spiritual, we can be falling into legalism.
It is a problem. And this is something you don't have to be raised in a Saturday Adventist church in order to imbibe. You don't have to be raised in a kind of a ritualistic, legalistic background. This comes natural to us. is something which at Mount Sinai, the people of Israel, asked for. They wanted to be put under a law. You see, this is kind of a natural thing where if you think of the Galatians, well, what relationship does they have to the law of Moses? You read about these Galatians, what kind of people they were. Real, rough-hewn, vast woods, the geography of the area. Why, these were not like the Jews way down south.
But after you've gotten your leathers off and you've gotten converted and distanced yourself from all those bad things you used to do, then there is this danger that we might pride ourselves, that we've made a little headway. And if we begin to wither and become a little dried up spiritually, somebody comes along and says, you know, that message which you first believed, that was all good, and that was fine. And what you heard when you were first saved. But now, if you would somehow catapult yourself into this higher level of spirituality by adopting this program, these disciplines, maybe this experience, somehow that you can, by adopting this new principle, this new method, that you can become spiritual.
Legalism is not simply dealing with the issue of justification, but also of sanctification. You know, in Galatians, he says, having begun with purity and now made perfect in the flesh. Some of my friends don't like that. They like to so define this idea of legalism that we're only talking about an abuse of the law of Moses in order to be saved. Hey, I don't read that in the New Testament. This is a much bigger problem. It's not simply talking about the abuse of the law of Moses. We're talking about introducing man-made commandments, which were never given by the law of Moses, and not just for salvation, but more than that.
in order to become spiritual. So we don't want to define the problem in such a way that it kind of doesn't exist. It is something which you have dealt with there in great detail really throughout the New Testament not only for salvation but also for sanctification. The point is that we were saved by grace and we grow by grace. Having begun in the Spirit We are not made perfect by the flesh. Paul says in Colossians, where unto you have already attained? No, excuse me, that's in Philippians. Well, say that. In Philippians, he says, where unto you have already attained?
Walk by the same rule, mind the same thing. How did you get where you are right now spiritually? How did God save you? She saved you by grace, didn't she? Well, that's how you're going to make headway spiritually. It's the same grace that you discovered in salvation. There's the same grace that is going to bring you to maturity. And we sing that song, and when it seems of glory, I sing the new, new song. It'll be the old, old story that I have loved so long. And how does that line go in amazing grace? I have already come to grace.
has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Now, Eliot quoted that verse. We are justified, the just shall live by faith. That's how we're justified. Well, it's not only that that's how we receive life, but that's how we continue to live. And the Lord Jesus emphasized this in John six. We take the bread of life to receive life. We take the bread of life to maintain our life. It's the same principle. And so we often are hearing Bible teachers, coming to us saying, yes, the simple gospel, that's all fine and good.
And we appreciate the Apostle Paul and just like in Galatians, I'm sure that they came to those dear Galatians and they said, you know, we like Paul, he's a fine fellow and everything, but we have something more. And they may give lip service to the gospel, but when they get into how we are matured spiritually, they want to introduce a new principle. There is no new principle. The simplicity of the gospel becomes the, just the basis, the core to all spiritual growth. Can I emphasize this? I'm sorry. I don't want to get carried away.
But here in this passage, the Lord Jesus meets this man and he talks to him about his relationship to the law. The man is a lawyer and I assume that the Lord Jesus and all those who are listening are also aware of this fact. As Luke records it, he says, a certain man, he is a lawyer. What is a lawyer? He's a student of the law. And he's the one who defines what the law means so that the Pharisees and the scribes and all the Levites and the priests can carry out that law. He's the one who tells them what it really means. And he enters into this discussion. He asks a question about eternal life. And when he asks the question how he may inherit eternal life, is he asking the question as somebody who is saying, you know, I'm really worried about my spiritual state.
And I really need an answer here. Is that the attitude in which this man comes to the Lord? I'm back here over in Luke. We ran through the New Testament now. We're back here in Luke ten. What is the attitude of that fellow? He comes tempting him. In other words, he's saying, I'm just interested in what he has to say. Maybe you've asked a lot of people this question. You don't get the impression as if this man is coming really hungry for an answer. He comes tempting the Lord to test him. And the Lord Jesus asked him, well, what is written in the law?
How do you read it? This is, what is your interpretation? And the man gives a very good answer. He says, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and my neighbor as thyself. And the Lord Jesus answered here when he says, you've rightly answered, this do and thou shalt live. I take it here that in effect the Lord Jesus is saying, oh, I see. So if you would... If you would do these things, that means you'll have eternal life, you'll inherit eternal life, you'll love the Lord. Well, how are you doing at it? Are you loving the Lord? Why don't you do this then? He challenges him, this do and thou shalt live.
And that's really, by the way, an excellent way to deal with a lot of people. They come to us with their theories about how they can be right with God or get their life together, and it's never a bad idea to ask them, well, how are you doing? Is it working for you? Is it working? Well, this fellow isn't quite comfortable with that challenge, is he? He knows that he's in trouble. He knows that he hasn't been loving God. Now, people can't see his inside. The Lord can. The Lord knows his heart. But no one else can observe really, well, how is he doing? But they can see whether he's loving his neighbor. That's an obvious outward thing that is evident.
And so he begins to fidget. And it says in verse twenty nine, willing to justify himself, he said, and who is my neighbor? You know, if he knew his Bible, he would know the answer to that question, wouldn't he? The law, the law gives in, I think it's in Deuteronomy, it talks about your responsibilities. A neighbor says to somebody who's near to you. somebody that you happen to come in contact with. But he is playing around with the Scriptures, and in effect he's saying, you know, I assume that I'm on the right side of the issue, that I'm right with God.
And the only question is, well, really, who are those other people that are also in the in-group? And if they are also in the in-group, then I have a responsibility and a duty to them to love them. and to be concerned about their needs and their problems in life. But if they're not in my accepted group, then I'm really not obligated. I'm sorry, I'm not obligated. That's really pretty popular thinking. I ran across a quote by Emerson. He is the one who wrote Walden Pond, and you probably read him when you were in high school. And he says this. Do not tell me, this is a quotation, by a man of the world. And ask yourself, is this similar to the way this lawyer's reasoning?
Do not tell me, as a good man did today, of my obligation to put all poor men into good situations. Are they my poor? I tell thee thou foolish philanthropist that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent. I give to such men as do not belong to me. And to whom I do not belong, there is a class of persons to whom, by spiritual affinity, I am bought and sold. And for them, I'll go to prison if need be. This is Emerson. He's a man of the world. And when the Lord Jesus tells this man this story, he really puts this man's theory to the test, doesn't he?
Here's a man who's saying, well, how I'm going to inherit eternal life is by keeping the law and I'm going to love the Lord with all my heart and soul and strength and my neighbor is myself. And he himself is really himself personally. He's not doing it. But he's thinking, well, this maybe is how I can have eternal life. And the Lord Jesus says, well, let's take that theory of yours. I know you're a little uncomfortable with it. You're kind of, you're really hedging on the fine points here, aren't you? But let's take this theory of yours and let's put it to the test. Now a lot of people can have their arguments that sound good on paper. And when you talk to them, they can argue something persuasively.
But if you apply that same idea in actual life, does it hold up? And so the Lord Jesus takes this man's way of thinking and he puts it to the ultimate test. And he tells him a story. Now there's this fellow, he goes down, he's on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Now this fellow probably lived near Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus had just been up in Samaria. He's on his way over to Bethany. So I assume that he's probably in the vicinity of Jerusalem as he's saying these words. And when this man hears the story, he's probably thinking, you know, I think that something like that probably happened maybe a few months ago or a year, didn't I hear about it? You know, that kind of thing, a person getting mugged on the way down to Jericho, just twenty miles from here, you know, on that road down there.
Well, that could happen to a friend of mine, to a relative. You know, that kind of thing could happen to me. I could be in that situation. And when this man is listening to the Lord Jesus tell the story, he doesn't raise his hand and says, wait a second, time out, foul, foul. Hey, I know that... All the Levites and the priests that I know, they wouldn't walk by on the other side. Oh, no. He doesn't say that, doesn't he? He doesn't object to the way the Lord Jesus tells the story. I get the impression, listening to this, that that man knew that the priest and the Levite probably would walk by on the other side.
They would say, you know, I've got to hurry off to this Bible study. I'm going to go off and I'm on my way up to work there in the temple, and I've got responsibilities. That priest or that Levite, they might have been thinking, Look, the guy is laying there. Anything I do probably wouldn't help anyway. Besides that, look at him. He doesn't have any clothes. He's been stripped. And I can't tell whether he's a Jew or not. I can't tell whether he's one of mine. I can't tell whether he's one of my neighbors. And so, if I start helping this guy, I'm going to get my hands dirty. And after all, You know, we reap what we sow.
And this man is simply reaping the consequences of his own actions, who's in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if I go up down here and help him, then I'm going to interfere with God's dealing in his life. And I wouldn't want to do that. You ever heard that kind of reasoning? So he probably had a lot of reasons. These fellows. And the lawyer listening to it, he would have thought, well, yeah. You know, if I was the fellow who had been mudged, and my own neighbor came by and saw me here. The one that I've been teaching the interpretation of the law too. The one that I've told, listen, if he's not your neighbor, don't help him. If that guy took my teaching very seriously, he wouldn't help me at all.
And I'd be in a real pickle. The Lord Jesus takes this man's own theory and pushes it to the ultimate. Yes, What you're saying about helping only people who are in your accepted group, that all works fine. When we're in this nice, yucky neighborhood where everyone is from a nice, clean-up brain, and they've got all their peas and queues together, and each one making a comfortable living, that all works fine when you're over there. But when you start getting away from your nice, comfortable neighborhood, you go walking down the way down to Jericho, and then you meet this kind of situation. Does it work there? In other words, does this work on Skidwell? Does this kind of theory, does it work down in, will it work that?
Well, no, it doesn't work. It starts to fall apart. And the man himself, he realizes that he has chosen a course. I chose to leave Jerusalem and go down there to Jericho. Now, I choose the path I walk on. I don't necessarily choose the consequences, do I? God chooses the consequences. And God is the one who sets our destiny. But we are making real choices about the path we choose. And this man took a path. And he went down this way. And now a calamity has overtaken him. And there is no help in sight.
You know, this lawyer had strong prejudices against the Lord Jesus. I assume. I assume that was the case. And he may have felt Well, you know, this teacher from up there in Galilee, can he be trusted? Is he really teaching the Word of God truly? Is he truly a man of God? Is he God's man? And he has strong prejudices against him. After all, he is not accepted. He's not, by his definition, a neighbor. And then the Lord Jesus tells about how along came a Samaritan. And you know that fellow. Even though he was half dead, if you was able to open his eyes, You could ask them the question, Mr.
If you had been mugged and you were the one laying by that roadside, would you accept help, even if it were from a Samaritan? Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. I don't care who it is now. I'm dying. And nobody else is going to help me. So, yeah, I take this help. I would receive it. That Samaritan... And I really appreciate this so much about the parables of the Lord Jesus. In each one, he would speak about an individual as he tells a story. And, you know, whenever I listen to a story, I find myself involved in it. I'm part of it. And he will speak of an individual in the story who invariably will represent God.
We're beyond theory here, aren't we? Beyond just a dogma or a list of things that I don't do and another list of things I do do. Now we're being introduced to a living person. A living person. A relationship with the living God. And that's what the Lord Jesus does in this story. And he did that in so many others, like the parable of the prodigal son. You have the father, father's two sons. You have the bridegroom. You have the story about the wedding feast. A certain king made a marriage for a son. Well, who does that represent? The Lord Jesus Christ in a very, well, would that be third person?
In an inconspicuous way, in a very gentle way, he preaches himself. He introduces to people his own person. He tells them about a living Savior who introduces to them the grace of God. Not only is this man saved, from perishing on that roadside by grace. Because that Samaritan has no obligation to help that fellow. Right? There's no obligation there. But that fellow in pure grace rescues that man. But more than that, salvation is by grace and so is service. Because then he ends the story and he says, now, which of those three, the Levites?
the priest and the Samaritan. Richard was the neighbor to him that fell among thieves. And he says, well, and you know, I kind of smile when I hear the response of this lawyer because he is so prejudiced against the Samaritan because they hate the Samaritans. Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans and vice versa. And if you read the history, you're not surprised. There was a lot of bad blood there. He is so prejudiced against that man. that he can't even defile his lips by using the word Samaritan. Instead, he says, well, he that showed mercy on him, then said Jesus unto him, go and do thou likewise.
if we would submit ourselves to be rescued by someone, even though all, we may be prejudiced against the Lord. You know, every lost person you ever talked to, why aren't they, why aren't they trusting the Lord? Well, they don't trust the Lord. They don't trust the Lord because they don't trust them. They have prejudices against them. They've gotten misconceptions about the Lord. But you say to them, look, according to your own theories of what, how you can get right and get your right back together, does it work? Well, no, it doesn't work. Legalism doesn't work. And that was the point that Paul makes in Galatians. It doesn't work. He says to these very people, he says, you did run well who did hinder you. He said, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them unto me.
He says, where now is the joy that you think of? Those Galatians, when they were first converted, they were a happy church. They were a sacrificial church. They were a zealous church. But once they got this legal mindset, They were puffed up with pride. They became so arrogant, arrogant like this lawyer is here, so arrogant that when Paul writes to them, he has to prove again to them his own apostleship. They had gotten such an exalted opinion of themselves that they didn't feel like they had anything to learn from Paul anymore. They had lost their joy. They had lost their zeal. They had lost that sacrificial giving attitude.
And it was, you know, this was the result of legalism coming among them. And beloved, I ask you, the many you've been saved for a few years, how is it? The songwriter asked the question, where is the joy which once I knew, when first I met the Lord? Are you happy in the Lord? Are you zealous for the Lord? Are you sacrificial? in your service for God? Or have we all become little experts that really don't have much use for our fellow Christians? Just as those Galatians, they didn't even appreciate their own father in the faith.
And so that we're critiquing everyone and ourselves, we know in our own quiet moments, our barren and empty. Is it possible that instead of going on in a living relationship by the grace of God, with a living person that Christianity for us has become one list of things that we don't do and another list of things that we do do and that we're missing out on the real joy. Now I think this is a danger. Am I wrong? I mean am I mistaken in this? Because this is an area where we say, hey if the Bible has so much to say about this topic, oh God speak to me. Look I don't want to fall in that ditch but oh God deliver me from this thing.
over here. Because, you know, you read about in the Corinthians. Corinthians had bad problems. That was worldliness there. But I think that the problems that you've got the most ferocious, the most fierce denunciations in all the New Testament, in the epistles of Paul, you'll find in Galatians when he's dealing with this problem. Because once somebody gets ensnared in this kind of thinking, it's very, very hard to ever rescue them. A legal mindset. I know this is serious stuff. And I just feel like every one of us at our own hearts we need to say, Lord, if I'm missing out on the joys of Christians of what it means to know the Lord Jesus.
And beloved, I say this because I've experienced it. I've gone through this thing where I can remember it wasn't very long ago. I walked into a building and I was at the place I was going to preach now. I looked up at the text on the back wall. And it was at birth, by grace are ye saved through faith in that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. And you know, the thought that immediately came to my heart, was it to rejoice in the truth of the grace of God? The opposite. I said, you know, I have to tie one more of those churches, which is just all I want to do is ever talk about grace, grace, grace. And they're like grace. And we've got to go on according to that same grace. Beloved, I...
I think here too of the fountain of love that the Lord Jesus spoke about. When he spoke to this man about loving the Lord your God with all your heart, it is the grace of God understood which becomes the true guardian of morality, not legalism. I think here too of the fountain of love that the Lord Jesus spoke about when he spoke spoke to this man about loving the Lord your God with all your heart. It is the grace of God understood which becomes the true guardian of morality. It's not legalism. So we are inundated nowadays with all this talk about morality and people critiquing the movies.
You see, in this pluralistic environment which we're in, now, you have people who are joining hands with all kinds of other religious people and they're afraid to mention the gospel of the grace of God. And so they want to simply talk about the Judeo-Christian ethic and other polite terms which won't offend anyone and we're not going to introduce the Lord. Listen, you can't have real morality without the gospel of Jesus Christ. To quote Paul's letter to Titus, the grace of God which brings salvation has appeared unto all men, he she not, that denying ungodliness and will belie. We should live soberly right to stay ungodly in this present world. Amen? Amen.
We're not going to have any morality outside of the grace of God as it's revealed in Jesus Christ. what Paul told the Galatians was that when they got into a legal spirit, which is just moralizing, endless moralizing, it undermines true holiness. You see? You did run well. You used to run well. Who did hinder you? You would have given up, plucked out your own eyes, not anymore. Where is that joy that you used to speak about? You see? It undermines real godliness. So, uh, Whenever you see moral teaching throughout the Word of God, and I'm sure our brethren will be bringing this out, and I hope we're listening, you'll always, you never see the gospel very far off, do you?
Never see the gospel. It's not just when he's talking about how you can get into heaven, but how you go on for God. He brings in the truth of Christ in his own work, his own death for us. He's talking about giving, you know, financially. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Speaking about moral issues? This is a great mystery that I speak concerning Christ in the church. You never get far, all through the word of God, from the basics of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, his death, his burial, his resurrection. I pray. And then I'm going to give it over to... Are we all right?
Are we on time now? Okay. Father, I do pray that we as believers in the Lord Jesus would never be ashamed of this gospel. And Father, if we don't know how the work of Christ applies, teach it. Oh God, in every doctrine, every truth that we hold, that we would again and again return to this place that we call Calvary. Oh God, if We just thank them for the mercy that ever the Lord Jesus told about that here was the Samaritan and he came where he was.
Oh, God, even as we sit here today in the promise of the Word of God in John is that the Lord Jesus said he would come and manifest himself. Oh, God, come where we are today and put your hand up.