Podcasts about legalists

While Islam has often been characterized as unitary and unchanging, by both Muslims and Westerners for their own particular reasons, that has never been the case–and today's world is no exception. Legalists and mystics debate, and radical groups exist at the same time as Muslim feminists who advocate new interpretations of the Koran.  This is the core argument of my guest John Tolan's new book Islam: A New History, from Muhammad to the Present. Ranging from new historical research on the first decades of the origins of the Muslim faith, he moves across centuries and millennia capturing the diversity and debate which characterized the history of the youngest of the three great monotheistic religions. Its diversity was fueled not just by religious debate, but by the great cultures which it assimilated, engaged, or had continual contact over the vast territory across which it spread.  John Tolan is professor emeritus of history at the University of Nantes. His books include England's Jews, Faces of Muhammad, Saint Francis and the Sultan, and Saracens.  

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Mark 2:13-2:22The Gospel of Mark Series

Mark 2:23-3:6The Gospel of Mark Series

Today, Pastor Dion will challenge you to continue in God's grace and not allow legalism to creep into your walk with the Lord. Legalists believe in and demand strict literal adherence to rules and regulations in order to earn salvation. Doctrinally, it's a position that's opposed to grace. Those who hold a legalistic position often fail to see the real purpose of the law, especially the purpose of the Old Testament law of Moses, which is to be our “schoolmaster” or “tutor” to bring us to Christ.

Because man-centered "show" religion is hypocritical and powerless to save, our only hope and our only boast must be in the finished work of Jesus on the crossI. Paul's Passionate Warning to his friends in Galatia v 11II. Paul warns them to Watch Out for the Empty, "Show Religion" of the Legalists vv 12-13 (1) This kind of religion is all for show (2) This kind of "show religion" is motivated by a desire to avoid persecution (3) This kind of "show religion" leads to boasting in self, and yet brings no change of heart III. The Christian's Only Boast and Only Hope is in the Finished Work of Christ on the Cross! v 14 (1) The cross is the only thing worth boasting about for the Christian! (2) The Cross has changed everything, bringing new life in union with Christ!

Legalism is a systematic process of defending self, explaining self, exalting self, and justifying self. Legalists are obsessed with self,...

If anything, the religious rulers of Jesus' day were Antinomians, not Legalists. They did not “stretch” the Law of God, they “shrunk” it.

A new MP3 sermon from Covenant Presbyterian Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: 670: Sneaky Legalists: Beware! Subtitle: Logan's Devotions Speaker: Logan Hagoort Broadcaster: Covenant Presbyterian Church Event: Devotional Date: 8/27/2024 Bible: Galatians 2:3-5 Length: 9 min.

Everyone knows that Shang Yang reformed the laws and institutions of the State of Qin, setting it up for superpower status and paving the way to the Qin Dynasty. But a number of earlier reformers prefigured Shang Yang. Here are two of them.Support the Show.

Early Chinese philosophers were deeply aware of a world that is constantly changing: we look at how Confucians, Legalists, and Daoists responded to this challenge.

Hey there! Welcome to another super awesome episode of the Unrefined Podcast! Today, your hosts Brandon with guest Tim Holloway are diving deep into the wild world of legalism in Christianity. Get ready for some personal stories, mind-blowing insights, and a whole lot of fun! So, legalism, huh? It's like this crazy mindset where people think they're all high and mighty because they follow every single rule in the book. But guess what? Legalism can actually hinder our understanding of what it means to be holy and have a real relationship with God. Brandon and Tim share their own experiences with legalism, and let me tell you, it's a rollercoaster ride. They talk about how legalism can make us feel superior to others, like we're the holiest of holies. But here's the thing - that's not what it's all about. It's about embracing God's grace, which sets us free from this performance-oriented mindset. Oh, and let's not forget about religiosity! Legalism and pursuing good works are totally different things. Legalism is all about following rules for the sake of following rules, while pursuing good works is about genuinely wanting to make a positive impact in the world. It's like the difference between eating broccoli because you have to and eating ice cream because it's delicious. You feel me? But wait, there's more! Brandon and Tim also talk about the importance of getting up close and personal with God. It's not just about following a bunch of religious rituals - it's about building a deep, meaningful relationship with our Father. It's like having a best friend who's always got your back, except this friend is the creator of the universe. Pretty cool, right? To wrap things up, our hosts discuss the importance of putting our faith into action and breaking free from the chains of legalism. It's all about living out our beliefs and making a real difference in the world. So, let's ditch legalism and embrace a faith that's all about love, grace, and being the best versions of ourselves. Thanks for tuning in to this totally rad episode! Stay awesome, my friends! Tim FB- https://www.facebook.com/tim.theimpactchallengesBand of Brothers Group- https://bit.ly/BofBgrouphttps://unrefinedpodcast.comTimestamps:The roller coaster of legalism (00:00:07) Discussion about personal experiences with legalism and the constant struggle of trying to meet the standards set by legalistic beliefs.Introduction to the topic of legalism (00:01:17) Brandon introduces the topic of legalism, its prevalence in the body of Christ, and its reaction to grace teaching.Different perspectives on sin and holiness (00:04:38) Exploration of the different views on sin and holiness, including the redefinition of sin in order to maintain a standard of holiness and the concept of sin consciousness in legalistic beliefs.Legalism and its Detrimental Effects (00:11:26) The speakers discuss the meaning of legalism and how it can be detrimental, leading to captivity and being bound to something other than God. They also touch on the subtle manipulation that can occur in religiosity.The Pharisees and the Performance Orientation of Legalism (00:13:31) The conversation focuses on the religious people that Jesus encountered, who created rules that emphasized outward appearance rather than the ones that truly mattered. They highlight the hypocrisy of focusing on minor rules while neglecting important aspects of faith.Differentiating Legalism from Good Works (00:20:25) The speakers differentiate legalism from the pursuit of good works through discipline. They explain the importance of grace and faith as the foundation for producing good fruit in one's life, rather than relying on works to earn God's favor.The image of pushing the cart with the horse behind (00:22:17) Brandon discusses the expectation he had of living a merit-based life and the need to divorce ourselves from that mindset.The importance of spiritual disciplines (00:23:13) Brandon explains how spiritual disciplines are essential for allowing Jesus to live the Christian life through us.The difference between standing in power and legalism (00:24:07) Tim discusses the mindset of legalism and how it leads to a sense of not measuring up and deserving punishment. He contrasts this with the truth of who we are in Christ.The Intimacy with God (00:32:45) Discussion on the importance of pursuing intimacy with God and how it naturally leads to holiness and transformation in our lives.Prescription for Getting Out of Legalism (00:34:59) Brandon asks Tim for advice on how to transition from legalism to relational grace, and Tim shares steps such as relying on God's grace instead of trying to earn salvation.Faith Righteousness vs. Works Righteousness (00:38:44) Exploration of the difference between walking in faith righteousness and works righteousness, and the importance of understanding God's righteousness apart from merit.The legalists claim (00:43:13) Legalists claim to follow the book, but they don't model Jesus Christ's ministry and mentorship.The cycle of trying (00:44:17) The cycle of trying to earn what God wants leads to a rat race and an expectation of meeting certain standards.False humility as pride (00:50:14) Disregarding what God says about our identity and calling it humility is actually pride.The power of allegiance (00:54:14) Discussion on the importance of allegiance in faith and the willingness to die for one's beliefs.Faith in action (00:55:08) Exploration of how allegiance leads to obedience and the active expression of faith.Reigning in life (00:55:22) Encouragement to receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness to experience a royal identity and all that God has available.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4656375/advertisement

There is coming a day of judgment against those with false doctrine.

A new MP3 sermon from Redeemer Bible Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Why Legalists Hate Jesus Speaker: Pastor Jon Benzinger Broadcaster: Redeemer Bible Church Event: Sunday Service Date: 11/12/2023 Bible: John 7:19-24 Length: 41 min.

Thirst | John 7:19-24 | Jon Benzinger

On Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded Podcast. An Ironside Expository Commentary on the Gospel of John , by H A Ironside I am changing the name of the Scripture Reading Meeting, to Learning from God. This is another video in the study of the Gospel of John. I put it in reverse and backed up to chapter 1 again. I am going to go throught H A Ironsides commentary on John gospel at the same time as I go throught the book. I will be reading his notes as I go throught each chapter. Originally published in 1920. Reprinted in 2006 by Kregel Publications, a division of Kregel, Inc., P.O. Box 2607, Grand Rapids, MI 49501. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Scripture quotations marked RV are from the Revised Version of the Holy Bible (Church of England, 1885). Preface Like many of my other books of recent years, this volume consists of addresses, stenographically reported, which were delivered in the Moody Memorial Church of Chicago. While somewhat carefully edited, occasional repetitions will be found and a colloquial style will be apparent, which are almost unavoidable in a series given on Lord's Days for a period of over a year's duration and intended for the instruction, not of theologians or scholars, but the masses who attended the meetings in large numbers or listened by many thousands over the radio. They were broadcast over WMBI, the station of the Moody Bible Institute, which is wholly dedicated to the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. In spite of their many imperfections, I trust they may be useful and blessed to many readers as now sent forth in this more permanent form. The gospel of John has been well called “The greatest book in the world.” Its presentation of the Eternal Word who became flesh for our redemption has brought life and assurance to millions. H. A. Ironside Links Study on the Seven Signs in the Gospel of John by Jime Flemming. These are audio file. ⁠https://www.hiawathabible.org/jim-flemmings-messages⁠ All My Playlist on our chapel's website. ⁠https://www.hiawathabible.org/youtube-playlist-index-page⁠ Study on the Seven Signs in the Gospel of John by Jime Flemming. These are audio file. ⁠⁠https://www.hiawathabible.org/jim-flemmings-messages⁠⁠

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Christ's righteousness is the sole ground of our acceptance into God's favor, but our new life of holiness is necessary to demonstrate that we are truly in him.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3279340/advertisement

Christ's righteousness is the sole ground of our acceptance into God's favor, but our new life of holiness is necessary to demonstrate that we are truly in him.

Christ's righteousness is the sole ground of our acceptance into God's favor, but our new life of holiness is necessary to demonstrate that we are truly in him.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4231678/advertisement

Cigar lovers will LOVE this podcast. Legalists, on the other hand, will hate it. Enjoy and share with your cigar-loving friends.  What do you think about the episode?  Comment below or email us: http://waw.fm/hello

One of the dangers of legalism is that a person is spiritually dead, but they don't know it, perhaps the church around them doesn't know it, and it wreaks havoc on everyone. Why wouldn't they know it? Because the headstone has been removed (Legalists don't hold to the truth of scripture about the life that is from above). Join us for a sermon from Luke 11:44.

In this episode Piper continues to share a few questions that often arise for Christians and provides some help with answers. Questions like, are Christian always legalists, are they all just Pharisees, and more. Ready to join The Rebellion? Become a patreon member and enjoy some great extras while supporting our efforts to speak the Truth into our culture. Learn more at patreon.com/dreverettpiper. Find more resources and info at dreverettpiper.com

Some critics accuse Apostolic Pentecostals of being "legalistic" because of our insistence on water baptism in Jesus' name and our pursuit of personal holiness. Is this accusation warranted? UPCI General Superintendent Dr. David K. Bernard responds to this charge with a defense of Apostolic Pentecostal teachings on both salvation and holiness.For further study, see Dr. Bernard's book Practical Holiness: A Second Look, available at PentecostalPublishing.com.If you enjoy this podcast, leave a five-star rating and a review on iTunes or your preferred podcast platform. We also appreciate it when you share Apostolic Life in the 21st Century with family and friends.

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Antifa is back, with their determination to burn the world away and replace it with their Millennium, their utopia. Their Anarchism, as the Legalism of other Leftists, has and can never produce anything other than pain. These ideas of eliminating the rule of law or of legislating away our human frailties is their justification for killing, burning, and destroying. They can be stopped. Each of us should take part in doing so.Would you like to share your thoughts with Ralph?  Please email your comments to hello@idahospeaks.com or post your comments on @IdahoSpeaks on Twitter.Idaho Speaks is a listener supported production.  Please visit idahospeaks.com/support to learn more.Do you have something so say?  Interested in learning more about publishing on the Idaho Speaks Network?  Our nation was built on ideas and your idea could be the next political advancement for Idaho.  Call Ed at (208) 209-7170 or email hello@idahospeaks.com to start the conversation.

Creekside Bible Church Podcast

Pastor Andy Davis preached on Mark 7:1-13 exploring the genuine purpose of worship and its three enemies: legalism, traditionalism, and hypocrisy. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Turn in your Bibles this morning as we continue our study in the gospel of Mark. We're in chapter 7 now looking at verses 1-13, exposing vain worship and espousing heart worship. One of the greatest issues of the human soul stands in front of us this morning in this text, and that is of genuine worship. Worship from a pure heart, worship that engulfs your soul, worship that is a fragrant offering to your Creator, your God, the lover of your soul—true heartfelt worship. That's what's in front of us here. It's not difficult to make the case that establishing that worship in human hearts is the entire purpose of scripture, of the gospel, of the work of God, and in the original creation and the work of Christ in redemption, the work of the Holy Spirit and regeneration that we human beings created in the image of God, would genuinely worship God from our hearts for all eternity. That's it. And against this precious thing, are three of its greatest enemies, legalism, traditionalism and hypocrisy. Legalism, the belief that God accepts our worship based on how well we keep a set of rules and regulations. In that case, our focus is on ourself and our own performance. Traditionalism, the belief that true worship of God consists in manmade patterns, crafted by human beings generations ago and handed down unchanged from generation to generation. Keeping that tradition, that's the essence of worship. Then there's hypocrisy, putting on a show, a show for God and others when our hearts are actually far from God. The whole thing is false. It's a lie. Hypocrisy. These are the issues in front of us in Mark 7:1-13. "It's not difficult to make the case that establishing that worship in human hearts is the entire purpose of scripture, of the gospel, of the work of God, … And against this precious thing, are three of its greatest enemies, legalism, traditionalism and hypocrisy." Now the setting in Mark's gospel - Jesus has just fed the 5,000 plus women in children. He's walked on water, and then we get a quick summary at the end of chapter 6 of a healing ministry that's comprehensive and mind boggling. But it's just a summary of perhaps as many as thousands of miracles that were done. Miracles mostly of healings, even of people that just touched the hem of his garment who were instantly healed by his power. Jesus, at this moment, it could be argued is at the pinnacle of his temporary popularity. The crowds are swelling with anticipation. In John 6, after the feeding of the 5,000 some of them want to take Him by force and make Him king. They don't really understand who He is or what His kingdom is, but they want to do that. Jesus is a threat to the religious establishment, and a delegation of religious police is sent. Self-appointed investigators, scribes and Pharisees come to observe Jesus and not friendly at all, but to try to find fault with him and shut him down if they can. We see right away in this outline, the legalist charge against Jesus, ceremonial defilement. Look at verses 1-5. The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were unclean, that is "unwashed!" Mark gives his Gentile audience, probably Romans who didn't understand these things, this explanation. The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash and they observe many other traditions such as the washing of "cups, pitchers, kettles”. So the Pharisees and Scribes ask Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with unclean hands"? They're making a charge against Jesus by means of his disciples breaking tradition through this ceremonial defilement. Who are these Scribes and Pharisees? These were professional legalists. This is a great escalation of conflict with the Jewish authorities. As I said, a delegation is sent from Jerusalem to check Jesus's rising influence and find fault with him if they can to try and find a way to put a stop to Jesus. The Pharisees were a religious party, a group of religious leaders, who had maneuvered their way in Jewish society to the top pinnacle of esteem in terms of their spirituality in their religion. They made the meticulous study of the Law of Moses their top priority and then dispensing rulings and judgements based on that. The Scribes were priests from the temple area whose day-to-day work was that of copying the Law of Moses letter by letter. There weren't printing presses back then, it was all done by hand, and these Scribes were entrusted with the task. But beyond that, they were teachers of the laws that they read and they taught their interpretation of scripture to the people. So Scribes and Pharisees are the religious leaders of the Jewish nation. Both of them are legalists who think that their right standing with God is based on how well they keep the laws of God. They generally thought they kept them just fine. “All these commands I have kept from my youth.” They would say something like that. Furthermore, they accepted the trappings of honor in Jewish society, whether at banquets or in the marketplace or other places. They love that kind of thing. They love to be honored and to have the most important seats of the banquets. That's who they were. What is the origin of their religious legalism? Where did all that come from? We could start with the exile to Babylon. In the exile, the remnant that was exiled was made aware, very plainly, by the ministry of Ezekiel and Jeremiah that it is because they have violated the laws of God for generations that this exile has come. They have broken God's laws and have gone over into idolatry and wickedness. And for this reason, most of them were killed by sword, famine, and plague. A small remnant was exiled to Babylon. Daniel, a godly man, is very aware of this and prays in Daniel 9:11, this prayer, "All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away refusing to obey you. Therefore, the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you". Well, they got it. They got the message. At least Daniel did. And godly exiled Jews like him, understood. When in the course of time under the rule of Cyrus the Great of Persia, a small remnant, 42,000 was allowed to come back and repopulate the Promised Land, Jerusalem. They were committed to the law of God. Even if within a short amount of time there were some of them that intermarried. Ezra and Nehemiah pulled out their hair and were zealous that they would not fall into the same patterns of wickedness that their ancestors had fallen into. Ezra 7:10, it says, "Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord and to teaching its decrees in laws in Israel". That all sounds good, right? Ezra was a godly man studying God's Word. But in the course of time, patterns of legalism and traditionalism emerged that were very corrupt based on this initial zeal. Schools of religious lawyers developed who spent their full time debating this or that law, trying to nail down exactly what they're supposed to do in every case in life. Scribes and Pharisees were in that heritage. They arose and studied the law more carefully than anyone else and appointed themselves ethical police over to the daily life actions of others. That's a simple answer to the origin of their legalism. Let's go broader and deeper. There's a deeper answer to the origin of legalism. It's just in the wicked, sinful heart of man. We, sinners, want to fix our problems ourselves. We want to save ourselves. Most of us aren't denying there's a problem. Vertically with God, horizontally with others, but we want to solve it. We want to make up our own religion that'll solve it. We want to follow our own rules. We want to be the master of our own fate and the captain of our own souls. Spiritually, we want to save ourselves, and this is true all over the world. Every religion except Christianity is codified self -salvation. Self -salvation, that's what we want to do. Look at Mark 7:7, "They worship me in vain. Their teachings are but rules taught by men". It's a manmade religion. That's the origin of legalism. That's where it's coming from. For Scribes and Pharisees, their highest value is conformity to legal tradition. By the time of Jesus there are well developed schools of rabbis who spent their full time discussing and teaching minutia of the law. A key issue here is that the law of God itself was deemed too complicated for average ordinary people to understand. There's clear evidence of this that these elitists considered the common group of people to be an untrained rebel who could not just read and hear God's law, and get it right. So they needed the Scribes and Pharisees to interpret it. They began to give additional insights, rules and regulations that were beyond the scripture. And so it went, rabbi so and so commenting on rabbi such and such who made observations saying this and that and therefore the other. And it was all written down, this heritage of rabbi this and rabbi that and all this kind of thing. These verbal traditions were erected like a safety fence around the law of God, keeping a safe zone around God's law with the idea being if you keep the tradition of the elders, you're certain to be acceptable to God because we're going beyond what God requires and therefore He must accept you if you just follow our traditions. In the second century AD, the second century after Christ, a Rabbi Yehuda organized the rabbinic teachings that have been passed on into a book called the Mishnah. In time there arose more and more traditions and disputations and statements based on the Mishnah itself, course. Those additional disputations and wranglings over the Mishnah were organized into another book called the Gemara. The Mishnah plus the Gemara together is called the Talmud. Twelve centuries of Jewish rabbis wrangling over originally the Word of God, but mostly over their own traditions. That's the Talmud and it's the authority for most Jews in the world that are religious. They are Talmudic scholars. Now, do you not see behind all of this an astonishingly disparaging attitude toward the Word of God? I. Legalists’ Charge Against Jesus: Ceremonial Defilement What we see in Mark 7 in Jesus' accusation against them came true concerning the Talmud. The Talmud came to be put above the Word of God, far above it. The traditions of men totally supplanted the laws of God. Listen to these statements from the Talmud itself. "The sacred scriptures is like water. The Mishnah is like wine, but the Gemara is aromatic wine". That's a clear hierarchy. The lowest level is the Word of God. What you want to get up is to that beautiful level of the Gemara, or again, "My son give heed to the words of the Scribes rather than to the words of the law". And again, this one, "He who transgresses the words of the Scribes sins more gravely than the transgressors of the words of the law". That's from the Talmud. It's astonishing that the opinions of human beings can take the place of the perfect Word of God. The accusation by the Pharisees and Scribes of Christ is ceremonial defilement. They stood around Jesus and watched him and his disciples eating their meal and they accused him. That’s creepy. They're just standing watching them eat. Verse 5, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with unclean hands"? Mark, as we said, gives us this detailed backstory about these comprehensive traditions. Let's read again, verse 3-4, “The Pharisees and all the Jews. . .”, see that? Everybody's doing this stuff. The Pharisees have won the day. Everybody's following this. The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash, and they observe many other traditions such as the wash and cups, pitchers, kettles, et cetera. This is an elaborate, carefully developed system of ritual washings that covered almost every area of life mandated by the elders in their traditions. Notice clearly their accusation is not that Jesus and his disciples are violating the law of God. They're not even thinking about that because it's not stated anywhere in the Law of Moses. You're not going to find it. There are not these washings laid out in the Law of Moses. This is all human tradition. Now don't misunderstand. This has nothing to do with germs. It's not like if only they had that hand cleanser stuff that kills 99.99% of all the germs. If they had that, we wouldn't have this problem. It has nothing to do with germ theory, which didn't come until Louis Pasteur and all that. That's not what we're dealing with here. Not at all. This is about religion. If you don't wash like this, you're not acceptable vertically to God. That's their charge. II. Jesus’ Charge Against Legalists: Arrogance over God’s Word What's Jesus' charge against the legalists? Now it goes back. Arrogance over God's Word. Let's reverse the order that Jesus takes. Let's not walk through it in the order in the text. Let's go later and then work back. Let's address their arrogance over God's Word and then get to the deeper issue of worship. First, their arrogance concerning God's Word. Verse 7, "Their teachings are but rules taught by men, manmade rules concocted from the imaginations and morals and thoughts of men without the Holy Spirit”. Verse 9, "And he said to them, you have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions". In other words, you make a regular habit of doing this. You are continually doing this. You're setting aside God's Word to observe your own manmade traditions. This is a habit you have. I believe Jesus is being sarcastic here. The Greek word kalos is, "Well, you're really good at this. You're fine at this. You have developed this skill to a high level. There's a level of sarcasm here you're really good at. You do this well. You're experts at this evil thing of setting aside God's Word to favor your traditions.” Then Jesus gives a case study, a clear example. Look at verses 10-13, "For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother and anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death’. But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is corban,’ that is a gift devoted to God, then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus, you nullify the Word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.” Then He expands it in verse 13, the very end of the phrase of today's reading, "And you do many things like that". In other words, this is just one case. You do this all the time. This is a serious attack on the Word of God. Notice how Jesus clearly contrasts tradition with God's Word. Matthew's account makes it even sharper. Matthew 15:5, "For God said, honor your father and mother and anyone who curses his father and mother must be put to death". But you say . . ..” I mean, that's about as clear as it gets, “ for God said, but you say.”That's the whole system that we're dealing with here. The whole system of legalism and traditionalism was a serious attack in the Word of God. Legalism is fundamentally adding to and subtracting from the Word of God because you think there's something wrong with it. They added requirements that God did not give and thereby they overturned the requirements that God did give. What is this case study about the practice of corban? It has to do with the habit or the practice of corban, a gift devoted to God. Sometime before Jesus, generation before, the rabbis decided that if any Jewish man, let's say had a sum of money or a possession or even all of his money or all of his possessions, and he put somewhat of a fence around it and called it corban, he still owns it, it’s still his, but he designates it a gift devoted to God. Then it's off limits for anything else, including using it to help aging parents in their old age, caring for them financially. This concept became a nasty loophole through which people drove huge ox carts.It is nowhere found in scripture, but just something they made up. The fundamental issue here when it comes to the Word of God is the sufficiency and the clarity of scripture. The legalist is adding new laws because he feels God's laws are insufficient to get the job done for a good life on earth. “We need some additional help here. God missed some things and furthermore , it’s not clear. So you need us, the expert teachers, to explain stuff to you. You'll never get it because you're an unwashed rebel. You need us.” It's impugning the clarity of God's Word. Either way, do you not see the breathtaking arrogance towards scripture, toward the Word of God? This is exactly why God condemned this very practice before it ever came. Many times in Deuteronomy 4:2, "Do not add to what I command to you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God, that I give you". That couldn't be clearer. Don't do this thing. Don't add to, don't subtract from. By the way, what does that imply God saying about his Word? It's perfect. You can't make it better by adding or subtracting. Again, Proverbs 35 and 36, it says, "Every word of God is flawless. Do not add to his words or he will rebuke you as a liar". That couldn't be clearer. The whole Bible ends with a warning to not add to or take away from anything in the Book of Revelation, and by extension the whole 66 books of the Bible. Don't add to it. Don't take away from it. Christ in this case study perfectly upholds the law of God as it is written. The example Christ cites is the fifth command of the 10 commandments. 10 commandments came down from on high, came down from the mouth of God, written by the finger of God when God descended in fire on Mount Sinai, and he gave the 10 commandments to the Jewish nation. They come in two tables, a vertical table, the first four commandments, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength sums it up vertically. Then you got horizontally. Love your neighbors as yourself. The first of the horizontal table, other people, is honor your father and mother. The concept here is a child born into a family must learn to submit gladly to parental authority. Honoring is something you do in your heart. And out of that heart flow is a pattern of obedience, a pattern of delighted obedience from child to parent that is foundational to all the other horizontal relationships they'll live in the rest of their lives. They've got to learn this from the start. The two commandments specifically to children are honor and obey. Honor your father and mother, treat them with respect in your heart, and then obey [Ephesian 6:4]. That's it. Now honoring, it goes far beyond lip service and all that. It's just a state of heart. It's giving esteem a high place in your mind and heart to your parents. Christ upholds the authority of parents over their children, and He even goes so far as to cite the death penalty concerning parents. He said, "Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death”[ Exodus 21:17]. When new parents bring home a little child, an infant from the hospital, being instruments of God that they will at the right time, understand this commandment and live it out, that's central to parenting. It's not because you're so great, I'm a parent, you're not so great. But it's because they need to understand God is behind this and saying it to them and they must. There's so much disrespect from child to parent and God doesn't coddle it at all. Jesus says it's worthy of death. Thanks be to God that Jesus died on the cross to take away the death penalty for us sinners.This is a serious matter. So Christ is extremely distressed with the Scribes and Pharisees, their arrogant handling of the perfect Word of God. III. Jesus’ Deeper Charge: Hypocrisy in Worship But let's get to the deeper charge. The deeper charge is hypocrisy in worship. You have to go back in the text for that. Look at verse 6-7, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites, as it is written, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain. Their teachings are but rules taught by men” [ Isaiah 29:13]. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Isaiah in his day, exposed a problem among his own countrymen that's still with us today, hypocrisy in worship. Seven centuries before Jesus was born, Isaiah begins his prophecy with an expose on the Jewish hypocrisy and formalism in their religious machinery. It was running like a machine, talking about the animal sacrificial system and the temple and the cycle of three festivals and daily animal sacrifice. It was a big machine going on in Isaiah's day and in Isaiah 1:11-14, this is what God says about it, "The multitude of your sacrifices, what are they me, says the Lord. I have more than enough of burn offerings of rams and of the fat of fated animals. I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts. Stop bringing meaningless offerings. Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations, I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feast my soul hates. They become a burden to me. I'm weary of bearing them”. And yet they're all commanded in the Law of Moses to be done. What's the problem? Hypocrisy. They don't feel it in their hearts. It's just a machine that's running week after week, year after year, as in Isaiah's day, so in Christ's day with the Scribes and Pharisees and may I say, as in Christ's day, so in our day. We're a very religious country. We drive by so many churches to get to this church. Many of them are filled with people, very religious. But here's the question, is it possible that the scathing critique Jesus gave, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain" is true of us today. So what is this issue of hypocrisy? What is hypocrisy? A hypocrite is a person who acts righteous when they're not, let's say, or a person who says one thing and does another. They don't practice what they preach. Claiming to have moral standards to which they don't actually conform. The word “hypocrite” is literally a Greek word brought straight over pretty much letter for letter into the English. It means “an actor”. The Greek word meant an actor. You remember the symbol of dramatic arts? You have the two masks, the smiley mask and the sad mask. That symbol, those masks were things that those Greek actors would hold in front of their faces, happy or sad, that kind of thing. They're actors in a drama. They play this role, but they don't feel any of it. It's just a show which they do for the audience. Now in our culture, we give a very high place to actors and actresses. We ask their opinions on the economy. It's incredible, these people, we can well applaud their talents and skills at acting. It's really quite remarkable. You can watch the same individual in multiple movies and the same person is playing a, I don't know, a homeless street person in one movie and a Nobel Prize winning physicist in another and a president in another, and then a captain of a sailing vessel in another. You may say,”Wow, how do they do it"? Their range as actors is incredible. I've often wondered what it would be like to be married to a really skillful actor. I mean, in real life. You see all their movies and all the same faces that they're giving you when they're expressing love or whatever they've given to other people in a movie. Would you ever be secure in that relationship? I mean, do you really love me or is this just like that scene in that movie back then? I don't know what you're doing. Maybe that's why so many of those marriages don't last very long. Is any of it real? The Scribes and Pharisees played at being righteous. They played at it, but their hearts were far from God. God was never their audience. Jesus said it plainly. Matthew 23, "Everything they do is done for others to see". He said in Matthew 23, "You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but inside they're full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous, but inside you're full of hypocrisy and wickedness”. What is hypocrisy in worship? It's acting reverent when you're not. So what is it? What is true worship? What are we talking about? Is it not a heart aflame with the glory of God? A mind captivated by God's nature, captivated by God's great actions and history? God's nature, his power, his compassion, his tenderness, his mercies, his holiness, his righteousness? And all of his great achievements in creation and in the Exodus and the history of Israel and then especially in Jesus, his life, his death, his resurrection? Is this not true worship? But a hypocrite doesn't feel any of this. It's not genuine. None of that moves the needle really. "What is true worship? … Is it not a heart aflame with the glory of God? A mind captivated by God's nature, captivated by God's great actions and history?" Now along with this issue of hypocrisy comes the problem of traditionalism. Look at verse 3, "The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands the ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders". Again, verse 5, "The Pharisees and teachers of the law ask Jesus, ‘Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with unclean hands?’” And then again, verse 7, "They worship me in vain, their teaching are but rules taught by men". Three different times it's tradition, tradition, tradition. Traditionalism. What is traditionalism? How is it different than traditions? Are they related? Traditionalism I believe, is elevating a past pattern to a level of religious permanence equal to or even superior to the Word of God. That's traditionalism. It's belief in the traditions, and that they can never be changed. I think somewhat, it's like trying to recapture a beautiful spiritual moment for all time by the outward trappings that were around it at the time, like some things happened and that was awesome. And from then on, we'll do those some things like it's a scientific experiment and then you'll get the spiritual moment that way. I remember hearing a story of a one local church that decades and decades ago had an amazing Sunday. The word of God was preached powerfully.The spirit of God is poured out in power and a revival broke out in that church. Many people were weeping, falling down, crying out and genuine work happened in their lives. The closing hymn that day was “Spirit of God Descend upon my Heart.” It’s a great hymn. So for the next 50 years, they played that song at the end of every worship service in that church. One day a courageous worship leader changed it and played a different song. It took incredible courage. That's traditionalism. It's like there's this beautiful butterfly and then you capture it in acrylic like a paperweight and just put it down there heavily and it's not going to move. It's not alive. That's traditionalism, imposing that moment as a rule for future generations to follow. Now, there is an essential place for tradition. Tradition means just that which is handed on. We need a respect for church history. We need a respect for the past. We need to know we are not the first generation of Christians. Lots of stuff was worked out before us and has been passed on and we're not reinventing the wheel every time. We Americans, we love what's hot and cutting edge and trending and all that sort of stuff. Often that's poured over into our worship over the last 25 years. What's hot and trendy is what we’re looking for, and there isn't a respect for a tradition. IV. True Worship versus Traditionalism But there's a difference between tradition and traditionalism. Doctrines have been handed down to us from the apostolic era. Paul says very plainly in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, "What I received, I passed onto you as a first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures". The word “I passed on” in the Latin is “traditio”. That's where we get the English for “tradition.” It's handed down. There’s nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with a lot of things being handed down, but there are manmade rituals and patterns that get encrusted and then are given equal if not greater authority to the Word of God. Now that's traditionalism and that's what's going on here. What then is true worship? Three key observations. Number one, it's not manmade, but it's initiated by God. It's revelation and response. God reveals, we respond. Remember Peter's confession of Jesus. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God". And Jesus said, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my father in heaven". Do you hear that? Revealed by God, Peter responds. That's all. Worship is that way. It starts with God, He reveals and then we respond. Secondly, it's not based on human rules and regulations, but based on the Word of God. Where is the record of God's revelation? Only one place, here in the Bible. Our job is to study the scriptures and then worship flows from our understanding of God is revealed in the scripture. That's where it comes from. So it's based on the Word of God. Thirdly, it's not hypocritical, but it's a reflection of a heart that's truly drawn after God. Drawn close to God. Verse 6, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me". True worship is a heart drawn close to God based on the Word of God, and it involves awe, reverence, fear, wonder, amazement, tears, shouts of joy, exaltation, surprise, astonishment. It's a rich array of feelings. But before any of them is truth. Truth first, then the feelings and then the outward actions. That's what true worship is. That's not hypocrisy. IV. Application Now, as we close today, I want to just focus on this one statement, this one key issue. Look at verse 6, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me". I want to ask you, is that true of you today or not? "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me". Let me turn it around and let's say I hope for a large percentage of you it's not true today. If it’s not true as you sat here, as you stood here for worship, then you ought to thank God for your salvation. You ought to thank God for the work done in you by the Holy Spirit of God. He worked in you to take out your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh that is sensitive and responsive to God. No, not perfectly, but you do love him and you do yearn to please him. You can't wait to go to heaven and you're hungry to know more about him. That's who you are. If that's all true of you, praise God. God has saved you through the work of Christ and the cross and by the Holy Spirit. But let's turn it back. What if it is true? What if it's true that you're honoring God with your lips, with your outward behavior, but your heart is actually far from God? One of two things is true. One is that you may not be a Christian, you’re not born again. Could be that you could say to me, "I'm actually not claiming to be a Christian. I came here today because a friend invited me". The point is your heart, is far from God. That's why Jesus came. He came to seek and to save lost people like you and like I was. He came to go get us and bring us to God. To bring us to God. He came to shed his blood on the cross for all of the many transgressions you've committed while your heart was far from God, to pay for it all in his own blood. And God raised him from the dead to show that that payment was accepted. I'm just crying out to you, and I'm saying don't let it be the case even later today or next week, that your heart is far from God. Suppose that this is a true statement of you, but you actually are a Christian. It happens to all of us. What's gone on is you become distracted by earthly circumstances. Could be physical pain on your part or a loved one. It could be a financial difficulty. It could be that the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things is alluring and distracting you and your heart are from God, and maybe even you've been in a habit of playing at your Christianity. The text is standing over you today to plead with you to repent, to acknowledge that you're not loving Jesus with the same love you used to have, that your heart's been drifting from him, and the Lord is standing in front of you now, pleading with you to repent and to come back to God and to live openly and honestly and passionately for him. Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the time we've had to listen to these words. Thank you for Jesus courage and boldness in telling the truth. Lord, as the psalmist said very plainly in Psalm 1:39, "Search me oh God, and know my heart. Try me and show me if there's any offensive way in me, show it to me and lead me in the way of everlasting". God, we don't want to be hypocrites. We want to be genuine followers of Christ. So please work in us by your redeeming grace. We love you. We praise you. We thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Jesus Is The Coming King!

“The law… can never… make perfect,” (Hebrew 10.1). I can never achieve perfection by sincere dedication or strict obedience to a set of moral standards. It cannot be done. That's bad news for the legalist.

WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God's principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God's manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today's blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/2022_10_24_Are_You_in_Bondage_to_Legalism.mp3 ___________________________________________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, October 24, 2022, and this is Episode #31 of Series 2022. This episode is titled "Are You in Bondage to Legalism?" _________________________________________ I grew up in a very legalistic denomination where the concept of salvation by works was given equal importance as the concept of salvation by grace. This false teaching caused me great spiritual distress over the years and placed unnecessary burdens on me, resulting in bondage that took me a long time to get rid of.   So what are some of the signs of a legalistic spirit? 1. Perfectionism. People under bondage to legalism tend to be perfectionists who are hard on others and even harder on themselves. This is also called "performance syndrome." Such people think that if they just do a bit more—for example, read the Bible more, pray more, do more good works—they will earn God's approval and His love.  They have trouble accepting a free gift, any gift for which they did not work, at least in part. 2. Lack of assurance of salvation. Those in bondage to legalism often doubt their salvation because they feel they have to do good works in order to be saved. They do not understand that their good works profit them nothing as far as getting into heaven is concerned. Good works determine our rewards only after we get into Heaven. But legalists have difficulty accepting that truth. 3. Difficulty overcoming sin. A person in bondage to legalism has trouble accepting God's grace. The legalistic person has the attitude that there's no free lunch, even when it comes to salvation. Well, he's right that there's no free lunch, but he fails to understand that Jesus paid for our salvation by dying on the Cross and rising from the dead. 4. A critical spirit. Legalists often criticize those with whom they don't agree. This critical spirit stems out of a failure to receive God's unconditional love.  5. Bondage to religious tradition. Legalists believe that repeated practices and protocols win them favor with God and, hence, entrance into Heaven. They resist change because, as they say, "This is the way we've always done it."  While God is unchangeable in His essence, He is not opposed to doing new things.  There is a certain degree of pride in the person bound to legalism. That person believes that the Lord's sacrifice was incomplete—not enough to save him—and that the person himself has to earn at least part of his salvation. This is heresy.  Also, the legalistic person has not yet grasped that God loves him unconditionally, probably because his earthly father or mother did not love him unconditionally. The legalistic person, therefore, feels that he must continually strive to earn the grade. If you are in bondage to legalism, the first thing you need to do is to experience God's unconditional love for you. If you have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, I urge you to do so now. Pray this simple prayer with me: Lord Jesus,

Romans 14:1-4 — What really is legalism? In this sermon on Romans 14:1–4 titled “God Has Received Him,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones tackles this important subject by asking what it is, how it can be fought, and the consequences that it carries within the church. Legalism is what happens when people take principles in Scripture, interpret them wrongly, and make them absolute rules that everyone is required to follow. Legalists tend to make indifferent things central. Mainly it means that issues not core to Christianity are elevated to make-or-break issues that are used as standards for measuring the depth of someone's relationship with Christ. As Dr. Lloyd-Jones reminds, what matters is that people have been received by God— it is not up to others to determine this. People frequently set up their own standards for determining if people are Christians, but from where do they derive their authority? Dr. Lloyd-Jones also addresses if Paul was contradicting his stance against legalism when he said that he acts certain ways around certain people. Ultimately, this was to keep them from stumbling and as Dr. Lloyd-Jones reminds, Paul did not see these issues as central doctrines of Christianity. He closes with a charge— Christians are not to reject someone whom God has received, and ultimately, only God can make the call on whether or not this is the case. They are to trust Him with this and simply be obedient.

Legalists make rules to try to get people to act righteously, thinking that it is good to create more and more rules that restrict human behavior. This session shows Jesus angry response to the leaders who make religious rules that make people's lives more difficult. Jesus has little patience for fundamentalists who “tie up heavy loads and lay them on men's shoulders.” This session also has Jesus angrily forcing the Pharisees to deal with Him, thereby choosing the time that He will die. Support the show

In the last episode we saw that the Apostle Paul had introduced the believers in Galatia to the concept of freedom in Christ. Paul knew once he had introduced this idea the legalists would show up in force, and they did!  Legalists came to Galatia to challenge this concept, and when Paul journeyed to Jerusalem they showed up again.Anytime freedom in Christ is championed, whether it be now or then, legalists will always voice an abjection. However, the Apostle Paul was ready for the legalists. When Paul left Antioch for Jerusalem he brought with them what Pastor Harris calls a secret weapon. And he brought the secret weapon to the private meeting with the Jerusalem church. The apostle would need this secret weapon because the word of the meeting had leaked out to the Pharisee Christians in Jerusalem and they immediately crashed the meeting.The secret weapon that Paul had brought was actually a young believer named Titus, and this man Titus had never been circumcised. In other words he was a full blown gentile, meaning that his body bore no external sign of righteous standing with God.  This young man was special.  He enjoyed such a deep intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that everyone at this meeting could see Christ in him. Especially when he was compared to those narrow minded legalists who suddenly burst into the meeting room.Oddly enough, there is no record that Titus ever spoke a word in that meeting.  Apparently he just sat there dead to himself and alive in Christ and preached a silent sermon of Grace.Those in the room could see that this Christian faith is based on a relationship with the living Christ, not rules, it always had, and it always will, and Titus was living evidence of that relationship.  And he did this without him ever having obeyed a single rule, Jesus had come to dwell in his heart and every apostle there could see it. He was living proof that salvation is based upon faith, and faith alone. In fact salvation has always involved Jesus plus nothing, and is not Jesus plus the law.It had better not ever be Jesus plus the law because none of us can keep that law.  We have fallen to a sinful nature and that nature will not allow us to keep that law.  The only human being that had ever been able to keep that law was Jesus Christ and he kept it perfectly.In this message Pastor Harris will examine the concept of the law and will examine why we cannot keep it and why struggling to keep the law will never save us.

1. Gospel Freedom is Hindered by Legalism. 2. Gospel Freedom is hindered by Legalists. 3. Gospel Freedom is Hindered by Self-centeredness.

The High Cost of Legalism: Many Christians insist on putting themselves under the Law. Bob shows us the devastating consequences that often follow when they don't choose to live in God's grace. Today's Resource: Gospel of Mark Bible Study DVD set or HD Video Download. We Christians might assume that the Lord's favorite title for Himself, being God the Son, would be, the Son of God. Indeed, the Gospel of Mark begins by identifying Jesus in that way. However, five times more frequently, Mark uses Jesus own favorite title for Himself, the Son of Man. Throughout all of eternity past, He had always been the Son of God. However, to become the Son of Man, He would need to lower Himself. Indeed, the Lord lowered Himself in so many ways, as He would need to do even to have the evangelist Mark write this amazing account of His life, death and resurrection. * Lying and Legalism: This seems like as good a place as any to list the places in the Bible where, with God's approval, the righteous lied to the wicked. In the process, they received God's blessing. This is a legalism issue. Legalists tend to struggle with the Lord's teaching that man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man. Thus, even though God prohibited Israel from doing work on the Sabbath, because of the nature of the Sabbath law, of course there would be exceptions. For example, even though the prohibition extended even to the gathering of sticks, if an Israelite came upon a child freezing in the wilderness, if lighting a fire to save the boy required the man to pick up sticks, of course he should do so even if it were the Sabbath. The actual sin against God would be in letting the child die to avoid working on Saturday. Using actual historical examples, legalistic Christians get confused about the morality of lying to a German Gestapo agent who asked whether or not you were hiding Jews. Lying to the wicked to save the innocent does not violate God's prohibition against bearing false witness against your neighbor. As a general rule, of course, it is a sin to tell countless kinds of lies. But there are plenty of examples in the Bible of God's servants, and even of God Himself, deceiving the wicked by lying to them. For example, when the Syrian army came to arrest Elisha, by the power of God the prophet blinded them and told them that they had arrived at the wrong house, and that he would lead them to the man they were searching for, yet instead, he led them into a trap, at which time at the request of Elisha God restored their sight, and then they saw that they had been deceived. The Hebrew midwives not only disobeyed the government's command that they kill the male infants, but they also lied to the king, and God blessed them by giving them children of their own. Rahab lied to the government to protect the Jews who were hiding nearby, and God then included her in the geneaology of Jesus Christ. God deceives the wicked in the Scriptures, and instructs His people on how to decieve them, for example, by laying a trap in the ambush of Ai. In World War II the allies created a fake cardboard army to deceive the Germans regarding the location of the invasion at Normandy. Praise God! * Biblical Civil Disobedience: Half of those listed in Hebrews Hall of Faith were arrested for disobeying the government, and the New Testament tells us that, "We must obey God rather than men." For a discussion of the scriptural material on this, and how it justifies those who lied to and even disobeyed the governing authorities, like Rahab, Corrie Ten Boom, the Hebrew midwives, etc., listen to Bob's God's Criminal Justice System seminar! * Brady Campaign Marching in the Memorial Day Parade: Come on out and march in the Memorial Day Parade with Bob & the Brady Campaign! If you are in Colorado, then Bob invites you to march with us on Monday, and it's only about a mile. So come on out! See more at ColoradoRTL.org... UPDATE: Brady's mom Heather and grandmother Terri carried the a huge banner to lead the way! We had about 50 people marching in campaign t-shirts, and we handed out thousands of Brady post cards to introduce the Brady Amendment 67 to the crowds lining the parade route!  Post-show note: If you stay alert, you'll notice that Christians who have bad theology will tend to put Old Testament Israel under grace, and New Testament believers under law. Ironic!

Here's this week's message!

On this episode of the podcast Chris and Jesse discuss Legalism Legalism in the Christian Theology is best said by American Scholar Thomas R. Schreiner who says “Legalism exists when people attempt to secure righteousness in God's sight by good works. Legalists believe that they can earn or merit God's approval by performing the requirements of the law,” From Chrisitanity.com - A legalist believes that their good works and obedience to God affects their salvation. Legalism focuses on God's laws more than relationship with God. It keeps external laws without a truly submitted heart. And legalism adds human rules to divine laws and treats them as divine. Find out more on this episode

Pastor Ryan and Pastor Waldron respond point by point to a sermon featured on YouTube attacking holiness Pentecostals. Next, Ryan and Steve react to the allegations that holiness Pentecostals are legalists who place people in bondage. The ensuing conversation delves into topics relating to predestination, universalism, eternal security, unconditional eternal security, the nature of God, biblical salvation, and the relationship between the old and new covenants. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apostolicvoice/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/apostolicvoice/support

Sunday, February 14, 2021 at Hillcrest, Pensacola, FL

Bibliography Boesche, Roger. 2008. “Kautilya's ‘Arthashastra' and the Legalism of Lord Shang.” Journal of Asian History 42, no. 1: 64-90. www.jstor.org/stable/41933478. Fields, Lanny B. 1983. “The Legalists and the Fall of Ch'in: Humanism and Tyranny.” Journal of Asian History 17: 1-39. www.jstor.org/stable/41930504. Goldin, Paul R. 2011. “Persistent Misconceptions About Chinese ‘Legalism.'” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 38, no. 1: 88–104. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6253.2010.01629.x. Hsiao, Kung-chuan. 1979. “Lord Shang and Han Fei Tzu.” In History of Chinese Political Thought, Volume 1: From the Beginnings to the Sixth Century, A.D.: 368–424. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Lewis, Mark Edward. 2010. The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Man, John. 2007. The Terracotta Army: China's First Emperor and the Birth of a Nation. London, UK: Bantam Press. Qian, Sima. 1993. Records of the Grand Historian: Qin Dynasty. Translated by Burton Watson. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. Qian, Sima, and Raymond Dawson. 2007. The First Emperor: Selections From the Historical Records. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Yang, Shang. 2017. The Book of Lord Shang: Apologetics of State Power in Early China. Edited by Yuri Pines. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

Audio Transcript: You're listening to audio for Mosaic Boston church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Holy God, heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a noble God, a personal God in the sense that you want our person to relate to your person, to know who you are and you want us to know whose we are, that we are yours and we're bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. Lord, we confess even now that often we live as if we are our own. We live as if we are at the center of the universe. It's so tempting to feel like we are the center of our lives and we are not. Remind us that Lord you are the center. You are the point. You are the essence and the total of reality. And we thank you for sending your son, Jesus Christ to show us that, to show us what it means to live in obedience to you, to show us what it means to live a life of love toward you, love towards people.And Jesus, you proved your love through sacrificial offering on the cross as the propitiation for our sins. And because of your sacrifice, your death, your burial, your resurrection, you now are an advocate before the father on our account and we thank you for that. Holy spirit come down and speak to every one of us wherever we are in our spiritual journey. If there's anyone here who is not yet a Christian, not yet a child of God, I pray today convert them, shine your light into their heart and transfer them from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of your beloved son. For those who are baby Christians, I pray today Lord that you show that we are to grow in maturity. That in the beginning it feels like the father carries us in his arms, but then after a while, Lord, you want us to not just trust in our feelings of you but the trust in the truth of you and stop thinking that you exist for us, but that we are called to serve, serve you and serve others.For those who are young men and women in the faith, I pray show us that there is a battle before us and that we are strong and strengthened when we abide in the word of God and when he abides in us. And for those who are more mature in the faith, I pray show us that you call us to be fathers and mothers to those who are younger in the faith, to care for their needs, to provide guidance in wisdom and discernment and encouragement and correction. I pray Holy spirit, bless our time, the Holy word, and we pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.Wilbur Reese wrote a poem not too long ago about how often we come to God just to get something from him and then we leave. It goes like this. I would like to buy $3 worth of God please. Not enough to explode soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant worker, I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy three pounds of God please. And I start with that because often in our culture, when people think of the divine, they think of something that leads to excitement, that leads to some kind of spiritual experience, leads to some kind of enhancement. And when people hear that you go to church or that you're a Christian, they say, "Oh, that's nice." You get your spiritual fix at church. You get your enhancement for life there.I get my spiritual fix at yoga or soul cycle or hiking or smoking weed or et cetera. You get your ecstasy there, I get my ecstasy here. And the assumption behind that that our culture has accepted wholesale is that the divine exists for us. Therefore, the divine does not obligate anything from us. And often people approach Christianity with that cultural lens and they think, yes, I'm going to come to Jesus, receive everything that he can offer me and he doesn't obligate anything of me. I can go and live as I want. But 1 John writes and he says, no, if you met Jesus, you can't but grow in him. You can't but become Christ like. You can't but submit to the father's will and serve others because that's exactly what Jesus did. We're in a series that we're calling meno. The word meno is the Greek word that's used over and over and over in 1 John, it means to abide, to remain in, to be connected to, rooted in.And as we're rooted in Christ, dear Christian, what happens is that changes our lives, it can't not. That our profession of faith begins to shape our practice, that our beliefs begin to shape our behavior, that our saying needs to impact our doing. And what 1 John, the apostle John is, he has this question before us and he says, "Look, obviously there's a chasm between your belief and your behavior when you come to the Lord." But is that chasm getting shorter? Is that chasm being bridged? If not, if there is no growth, that's probably a sign that there was no life, that there was no regeneration. So we need to ask ourselves, are we truly in the faith? Why does he do this? Because globally and historically, most of confessing Christians were nominal only, in name only. Today if you look at the stats, over 2 billion people are Christians and saint John writes to us to make sure that we truly are, that we test our faith.And Jesus talked about this often. In the greatest sermon ever preached a sermon on the mount, Jesus concludes that sermon with a warning and he said, "In the last day at the judgment, many will come to me stand before me." Jesus says, "And they will say, Lord, Lord, did we not do incredible things in your name?" And Jesus says, "Depart from me for I never knew you." He tells us parables of the 10 virgins, half of them are outside of the feast. The door shut in their face. They thought they were in the faith, they were not. Saint Paul writes and says, examine yourselves to ensure that you are in the faith. So perhaps you're a Christian. You're struggling with the assurance of your salvation. Am I a Christian? Well, this book is for you. Or perhaps you've always thought of yourself a Christian because that's your heritage, that's your family because the part of the country that you're from believes that or the country you're from.And he says, "You need to test your faith to see that it's genuine because this is the most important question before us. Are you a Christian? Are you a child of God? Have you been reconciled with God?" This is the big idea of the text. One of the things I will say about this book is that saint John, the apostle John style is radically different than saint Paul's style of writing. Saint Paul is a philosopher. He thinks very linearly. You can write three point sermons from saint Paul's writings and it's all very clear cut. Yes, and a lot of us, that's how we think. So that's why we're drawn to saint Paul's writing. John does not write like a philosopher. John writes like a musician. He writes like a songwriter, like a lyricist. Therefore, so he gives you an idea and then he gives you another idea and it goes back to the first idea and then gives you a third idea.And until you understand his style of writing, you're going to have a hard time understanding what it means. You understand the words, you don't understand what he's talking about. And like when you listen to a song and it's repetitive, you're not like, "Oh, we got to cut that out." Songs aren't AP English essays. Songs are meant to be sticky, to inspire the imagination center. That's how John writes. His style is called amplification, where he gives you a point and then he hits it louder and louder. And in order to make it more and more emphatic. And the big idea is, I want you to know that you are gods, that you belong to God. You do that by growing in Christ's likeness. And he gives us a triad of Christ's likeness. How do I know that I'm growing in Christ?Do you know him doctrinally? Do you know the trues about him? About the death, burial, resurrection of Christ, what he taught, what he's about. Do you know him? Doctrinal? Do you obey him? That's the moral test. And then do you love him? That's the relational test. Do you know? Do you obey? Do you love doctrinal moral and relational and they're all interconnected. They're all tightly wound together. What does it mean to know Jesus? You obey Jesus. What does it mean to obey Jesus? You love Jesus. What does it mean to love Jesus? You know Jesus, et cetera, et cetera. So that's a word about his style. Today we are in 1 John 2:1-17. Here in the beginning, I'm going to read the first six verses and we'll get to the rest in the sermon. "My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Whoever says, 'I know him,' but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked." This is the reading of God's Holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. The question before is how do you know that you know God? And the four points are you obey, you love, you grow and you deny.First you obey. We'll start with verse two and verse two saint John says that, "Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." He doesn't start with our obedience because that's not how we are made righteous before God. That's not how we are accepted with God. We don't earn our salvation. It's not. We follow the rules, we obey and therefore we accept that it's Jesus has obeyed, followed the rules, and because of his sacrifice, we can be accepted. That's where he starts. It's not about our obedience, it's about Christ. He uses the word propitiation in the Greek. It's hilasmos. It's a multidimensional word. The first dimension is a claim against you has been satisfied. A claim against you has been satisfied. That's propitiation. And what he's talking about is that there's a claim against us before God, that when God looks at us, he looks at us as sinners and there's evil in our hearts and God being a just God cannot but have a claim against our sin.He says, "A claim has been satisfied." And you can understand this from a legal ... You get an accident, someone's got a claim against you. Recently this past August, I was in Philadelphia doing some doctoral studies. I went to visit a pastor at 10th Presbyterian church in downtown Philadelphia. And if you think the parking laws in Boston are terrible, so much worse than Philadelphia. You need, honestly, it's one of these signs where it's like 12 signs on one post and you need a law degree in contract law to exegete what's going on. So I parked my car. I went to a seminary, I studied exegesis, I exegeted that okay, I understand. Okay, I go to the station, I pay for two hours, $8 and I'd take the ticket and I bring it back to my car and then I go meet with the pastor. I come back to the car, orange ticket on my windshield. It's like, what is going on? No, not fair, injustice and I appealed.So I sent them, I went online, I send them a picture of my little parking ticket and a picture of my car and I thought I was set. It's $51 right? If it was less than, maybe I wouldn't go. Finally like end of November, I get a letter from them. Your appeal has been denied. Legalists. And then they're like, "You got to go online. Here's your number, you type it in and we'll tell you why you got denied." And I go online and they have a picture of my card, not the picture that I sent in. They have a picture of my car that the person, the parking attendant took. And the picture showed that my bumper was in the loading zone. Six inches my bumper is in the loading zone. It was $51, $4 for the credit card fee, $55. And at that moment I'm like, "My goodness, I got 2007 Toyota Highlander. My bumper's not worth $55. Can I just send that in? Can we just trade it out?" And as I'm going through this, I'm fuming. My wife walks in and she's like, "What's that? And I was like, "It's the ticket."And she's like, "Why don't you tell me about it?" I was like, "It wasn't going to bless your soul. I didn't want to get into ..." So I paid that. Why claim against me and the claim would only grow. That's the word. The propitiation was I paid for this ticket. Now what he's saying is he's not talking about we can pay God, that we can supplicate God, mollify God, appease God, we can't do anything in and of ourselves because what is the penalty? What do we owe God? What's the claim that we have against God? Well, we sinned against an infinite God, an infinitely glorious God, an infinitely honorable God, and the penalty for that sin for dishonoring an infinite being is an infinite penalty. We can't pay that in and of ourselves. Now, a lot of people have a problem with God's wrath in that they say, "Well, is this making God out to be capricious or arbitrary? Does he lose his temper? No, this is anthropomorphic language.From our perspective, we're using human language to talk about God. Obviously it doesn't communicate everything when you communicate. So when God has wrath toward our sin, it's not a sinful anger. It's a just anger. He's not irate, irritable or irascible. God's wrath is his holiness and his justice in action. He is righteously set against evil. Cruelty is immoral, justice is not. So when God has wrath against our sin it's because of his justice. And to get rid of God's wrath is to get rid of justice. And just a thought, just imagine this world without justice. We long for justice when we see the terrible injustices on a weekly basis that happen in the world, that happen in our world. What's shocking is not that God is a God who has wrath. He's angry about our sin. You've got to keep going to get the full view, to understand the full reality of the person of God. It's not shocking that he's angry at sin.What's shocking is that God takes the initiative to placate that that wrath. God's not demanding that we somehow pay that price. He knows we can't, so God volunteers to satisfy God's wrath. God the son volunteers to satisfy the wrath of God, to absorb the wrath of God, to pay for the wrath of God with his sacrifice on the ... that's the most shocking part of Christianity. And why did he do it? What was he motivated by? He was motivated by his love for us. 1 John 4:10, "And this is love. Not that we have sinned, but that he loved us ... And this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins." So he doesn't look down on us and see how loving we are. It's he's motivated by our love when we wanted nothing to do with him. When we were living as if we were our own, when we're living as if God didn't exist, living lives of cosmic plagiarism thinking that everything we have is ours.Nothing remotely like this exists in any other religion or any other philosophy. Yes, it's propitiation to be sure, but nothing like the world has ever seen before. Augustus Toplady he wrote this couplet to encapsulate this idea. He says be mindful of Jesus and me. My pardon he suffered to buy and what he procured on the tree, on the cross. For me he demands in the sky. He demands it and he procures it. He's just, and the justifier. This is the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The claim against you has been satisfied if you just ask for it. If you just ask for forgiveness and you repent of your sins and on that cross, every ounce of the penalty that we deserve for our sin was poured out in the wrath of God on Jesus Christ.This is why the cross was so gruesome, so gross and so gory because that's our sin in the sight of God. The gospel requires that we believe two really difficult things at the same time. The first is that you are so bad that Jesus had to die for you, and that Jesus is so good that he was glad to do it because of his love. 1 John 2:2 he says, "Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." And just one comment here, because this verse has been misinterpreted to justify a lot of false theology including Unitarian theology. This does not mean that everyone's sin has been expunged at the cross. That's not what he's saying because in the same letter, the apostle John actually says that there are those who are still in their sin and they need to be saved from those sins.What's he talking about? He says that anybody, anybody, no matter what you've done, no matter where you're from, no matter who you are, anybody, the moment you repent of your sins and you believe that you accept Jesus' propitiation for your sins, that you can be saved. His sacrifice is sufficient for all but efficient for those who believe and repent. Sufficient for all, efficient for some. 1 John 2:1, "My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous." And he uses the word advocate here. And in the Greek it's parakletos power clay toss. It's used of Jesus only in this text. It's a word that Jesus often uses.John 14, 15 and 16 he describes the Holy spirit with this word. He said, "I will send you another parakletos, another advocate, the great comforter, the great helper, that's the Holy spirit. By another he means that he is the first advocate. In this context it means a helper, especially if you're guilty in court. So the image that John is giving us is God the father is a judge and we are guilty before him. Jesus comes in and he begins to advocate for he is our just lawyer. And what is the plea? It's not not guilty. That's not the plea that he offers, he enters a guilty plea. We are guilty. But then he says, "But father, you can't hold yon sin against him because I've already paid for it." This is how he's advocating. I've already paid for your sin. He's standing before the father and he's advocating, and how do we get Jesus to be our advocate?First John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." That we are his because of the sacrifice of Christ and because of his advocacy for us we're with him. I was at a conference with pastor Shane and pastor Andy we went to this preachers conference, gospel coalition, held this conference in Indianapolis last year. And whenever you have these conferences, they give you a lanyard. In the beginning they're like, "Here's your lanyard, you register, you paid, now you have to wear this lanyard everywhere." And the lanyard is a little badge with your name on it. And I don't like legalism and I don't like manmade rules. And I was like, "That's dumb. I'm not wearing this."So I intentionally forgot it in the hotel room. The next day we come in and it was the best session, the keynote speaker, I forgot already, it wasn't that memorable. So we go there and I forget the lanyard. So I'm with pastor Shane and pastor Andy, and we walk in and the security guard lets them through and says, "You can't go in." I was like, "What? This is a Christian conference. You don't believe in grace?" He was like, "No." And then he's like, "No, this is really important. We can't let you in." And I was like, "What do I do?""You need a lanyard." So I go to the front desk and the front desk I tell him the whole ... I explained the whole thing. They pull up my name. Yeah, you paid okay. I was like, "Can you help me?" They're like, "No." I'm like, "Why not? Do you need a lanyard?"They said, "You need to buy a new lanyard." And I was like, "How much?" They said, "$5.""No, I'm not doing it." Why? Because I'd be a bad steward of God's money. Not doing it. Nickel, you Pharisees. Then I go back and I'm like, "I'm just going to sit by the door and livestream listen on my phone." And I'm sitting there and Andy Davis, Andrew Davis walks by. Andrew Davis is a great friend of the church. He's a pastor at FVC Durham. Incredible, incredible guy. Over 30 books of the Bible memorized, written a lot of books. He comes and he's like, "Young, what are you doing?" I was like, "They won't let me in.""How come?""No lanyard." Okay. He's like, "Don't worry about it. Come with me." Walks right up to the same security guard, the same person. And he just, "Hey, how are you?" And just keeps walking. And then the guy's like, "No, no, no. He can't come in."And pastor Andy says, "Don't worry about it. He's with me." And I was like, "I told you, Ferris." It's all to say that's kind of like what it means to have Jesus Christ as your advocate. He's done everything. All you have to do is be with him. That's what meno means. And that's how we're reconciled with God. And he writes, why is John writing about propitiation? Why is he writing about advocacy? So that our sins are forgiven and that Jesus advocates for us, and then we can live any way that we want? No. If you truly understood grace, you won't pervert grace. It's not a cheap grace. You don't use the grace as a justification to continue sinning. So he says in 1 John 2:1, "My little children, why am I writing this? I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin." What's he saying? Obedience leads to grace. No, it's grace that leads to obedience.If you've understood what Jesus Christ has done for you on the cross, what it cost him, how much it cost him, how much he loves you, you can't but want to delight him, live for him. That's why he says verse three, "And by this we know that we have come to know him. This is the test. If we keep his commandments, whoever says, 'I know him,' but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him." It doesn't matter what you say by your confession. What does your life say about your confession? That's what he's saying, "But whoever keeps his word in him, truly the love of God is perfected, and by this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."As you grow in the faith, you walk with Christ, the chasm between belief and behavior is to be bridged, it can't but be bridged. You have a new heart, new desires, new affection, which leads to new fruit. One objection that arises here is, but if I sin, does that mean that I'm not a christian? And this is something that I wrestle with, this is something most likely you've wrestled with, every serious christian has. And I just want to point out the context says, "Yes, I'm writing so that you don't sin if you do sin, Jesus is a our propitiation. He is our advocate." Don't forget that one of the commandments that we are to keep is repent of your sins. On a daily basis the christian is to repent. And as we grow in the faith, we realize that we have more and more to repent of. It's a daily practice, confess and repent. And also obedience doesn't mean perfect obedience.Saint Paul writes in Romans 7, "As a believer, the things I want to do, I can't do, the things I don't want to do, I do. It's always this battle between the true self and the shadow self. Scripture divides all of humanity into two categories. The righteous and the unrighteous. David was righteous and he was an adulterer and a murder. Moses was righteous. He was a murder and also disobeyed God and wasn't allowed in the promised land. Peter was righteous but betrayed the Lord at the worst possible moment. Paul was righteous but despaired of his continuing sinfulness. So righteousness biblically is position. We are in Christ by grace through faith. He robes us in his sanctified robes of purity, the clothing of holiness. And then what happens is the fundamental commitment of your life, the root direction of your life, the truest characteristic of your life is to grow in obedience.Do we do it perfectly? No. When a Christian sins, you have remember the Holy spirit convicts so much so you beg God, please take this sinful desire away from me. Any true Christian, if you're awakened in the middle of the night by Jesus Christ and he says, "Do you want me to take away your ability to sin?" The true Christian says, "Yes Lord, please." That's how you know you want to obey, you long to obey. However, scripture teaches us we're still in a fallen world, in a fallen flesh. And our true self, our true identity is battling with our shadow identity. It's the fight between the spirit and the flesh. And when we sin, you're not just being untrue to God. You're being untrue to your real self dear Christian. Saint Paul says, "It wasn't I that sinned, it was the sin in me." And that's not just a cop out or an excuse, it's simply the truth that we have a new identity, new heart, new affections, and we are to grow in that.And how do you do that? Particularly by growing in love. And this is point two, how do you know that you know that you're a Christian? You obey, you seek to grow in obedience, and you seek to grow in love. And he says in verse seven, "Beloved, I'm writing, you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have heard from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I'm writing you, which is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he's in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness and whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But wherever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes."What does he mean by new commandment old commandment? He's not talking about chronological. It's not time thing, old and new. It's a quality thing. It's the same commandment on old and new Testament that the essence of the law is to love God and to love our neighbor as ourself. He's saying it's new in the sense it's new to us. When you hear the gospel, which is a timeless gospel, it's an old gospel but it's a timeless gospel and you hear it for the first time, it's brand new. Everything is brand new. That's what he's saying, new heart, new affections, new desires. And he says, "The way that you know that you have true love for God is you have true love for your brothers and sisters in the faith." If God is your father, you can't love your Christian siblings, your brothers and sisters. And the reason why, why are you telling us this?He's telling us this because it's hard. It's not natural. And particularly, he focuses on loving the brothers and like Christians close to you who know you best. He focuses on that because some of the hardest people in the world to love are your siblings. The people that know you, they know how to push all the buttons, they know exactly what to say, how to say in order to set you off. And he says, "Loving those people who are hard to love," particular people, not just Christians in general. Like Linus from peanuts, his famous line was, "I love mankind, but it's people I can't stand." And that's a lot of Christians are like, "I love the church. I love Christians worldwide." Okay, show me your community. Show me the Christians that you are walking with. Show me the Christians that are hard to love. That's what he's saying.And by the way, this isn't like a temptation for us that like it's easy to love God. It's people that are hard to love. That's been the temptation all throughout church history. Like in the modern excuses, I'm an introvert. I can't stand people. No, get away from me. I just want go. This has always been an issue. Like the monastic movement started because people are like, "I can't stand people. I'm just going to go and live in a cloister with an Abbe and just pray to God all day." And one of the famous examples of this is Thomas à Kempis in the 15th century. He was a Dutch monk who wrote The Imitation Of Christ. And if you don't know The Imitation Of Christ, it's a phenomenal book that teaches you how to grow in your relationship with Christ. And it's second only to the Bible in its influence on Christian, on the church throughout history. It's been printed in 6,000 separate editions.Love the book. Here's my only knock against it. Not one word about loving Christians or people in general. Actually, this is what he says, "Desire the fellowship of God alone and his Holy angels and shun the acquaintance of men." I'm going to force my daughters to memorize that and just that's our new motto. But he's saying, "All you need is a relationship with God. People, get away from me." He missed the whole point of 1 John. He missed the whole point of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He missed the point of love. The other thing I'll say here, not much on this point because this is a theme that John's going to get back to more. We got to define love biblically and not culturally. In our culture, to say that you love and that we are to be loving is to say that you are nice, that you never say anything that upsets anyone. You never do anything to confront someone. You don't talk about sin. Just be a nice person. That's what it means to love.And if that's our definition of love, then we have no idea how to explain some of the things that Jesus did. Going to the Pharisees he says, "Woe to you Pharisees for you are like whitewashed tombs," calls them serpents, all kinds of names. Yeah. Talking to a crowd, he says, "You unbelieving and perverted generation. How long shall I put up with you?" Peter, when he was being selfish, Jesus says, "Get behind me, Satan." Seemingly unloving, but actually he's telling them exactly what they need to get them awakened from the spiritual stupor. He's sacrificing comfort to do a very difficult thing because that's the best thing for that person. There's other examples of this in scriptures.Paul in the book of acts talking to this guy named Elymas, he says, "You are full of deceit. You fraud the son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness." And then he strikes him with blindness. It seems unloving, but it's probably the most loving thing that he could do to awaken him from a spiritual blindness. So what I'm saying is we need to expand our definition of love. Our love is not just niceness, our love is sacrificing self and comfort to do the thing that's best for the beloved. And the great example of that is the cross. Point three is that we grow. So we are to obey, love and grow. Grow in what? Obedience and love and following Christ. And 1 John 2:12-14 he gives us three groups that he addresses twice. Each group for emphasis and this is the lyricism of John.He says, "I'm writing to you little children because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I'm writing to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. I'm writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you children because you know the father. I write to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one." First thing that he starts with is that we are children of God because of Christ name's sake, in his name's sake. So we're not forgiven of our sins because of our repentance or our faith or our actions, our good works. So repentance and faith in and of themselves have no power. Repentance and faith are like a key to a car. The key has no power in of itself, but the key accesses the power that's not within. It accesses doesn't create.So the way that we access God's power, the way that we gain access to is through faith and repentance, but not for our namesakes, it for his. The other thing I want to point out here is he's talking about levels of spiritual growth in health and maturity. He's not talking to little children particularly, like physical little children. He's talking about to people who are new in the faith. So you can be 60 and if you have a just met Jesus, you are an infant in the faith. Or you could be 25 or 20 and if you've been walking with the Lord since you were a child, you can be a father or mother in the faith. So he's saying that the idea behind is that there needs to be growth and health and maturity. So dear Christian, are you stuck in a season with a lack of growth?If so, you need to ask why. Children he's saying, "Children, you need to grow out of the state of thinking that everything exists for you. If you've been around kids, kids just have no idea that they're not at the center of the universe. They just assume this, mom and dad exist for me. My daughter's favorite, my youngest daughter, her favorite word is mine. She comes to me, papa is mine. She fights with my five-year-olds over, no, mine. But she thinks that literally we exist for her. And a lot of Christians assume that all the other Christians exist for you and then you come to a church with that mindset. It's fine for a season, but at some point you've got to trade your bib for an apron. And he says, "Another stage is young men and young women and that you fight the evil. You've overcome the evil one." Why? Because the word of God abides in you. This is when you realize the spiritual walk is a fight on a daily basis. You've got to fight.You take responsibility for your own walk and you fight the good fight. And then as you do that, as you progress to get to a stage where you understand your spiritual father and mother, that it's our responsibility to care for those who are younger or those who are less mature, unhealthy. And so we serve and we guide and we care. And also that shows us that we got to be patient with people in different levels of the faith. And how does growth come? Growth comes through grace. That's all. That's what he focused on, propitiation and advocacy. We focus on Jesus. We focus on the grace that we received. We eat from the word of God on a daily basis and we get strengthened as we apply that word, and particularly through the rhythms of the spiritual life.How did Jesus practice the spiritual life? Like if John's telling us we're going to walk with Jesus, become like Jesus, well, how did Jesus and walk on a daily basis? What were the rhythms of his life? And I'll give you a few. Silence, he would go and spend time with God in silence and solitude, sacrificial and simple living in the Holy scriptures. He would immerse himself in the scriptures, meditate on the scriptures so he truly knew who God was. He truly knew what mercy and justice and grace were. So all he did flowed from those practices of silence, solitude, sacrificial living and scripture. So we are to obey, love, grow in obedience and love. And we can't just focus on the positive things we've got to focus on there are some negative things that we got to cut out from our life.So if you want to get healthy, it's not just about eating the right things and adding more supplements into your life. You've got to cut out the junk. And this is point four that we got to deny desires that pull us away from God. And this is point verse 15, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever by world." It's the Greek word cosmos. He's talking about humanity that is united in rebellion against God. Humanity that is United against God and Jesus talking about the world.It's not the physical world that God created, it's the sinful structures in the world. And Jesus said, "The world hates me." He said, "The devil is the prince of this world. The whole world is under the power of the evil one." Jesus said, "I pray for my disciples not in particular for the world." This is why Jesus came to save the world. So John 3:16, "For God so loved the world ..." A lot of people translate that to mean the world was so great that God loved us and the onus is put on us. It's not endorsement of the world. It's a testimony to the character of God. He didn't love us because we were lovely. He loved us because he was loving. What was shocking about that verse isn't that God's love is to be admired because the world is so big, that God's love is to be admired because we were so bad. That's the world that he saves us from.So scripture says that, "When we repent and believe in Jesus Christ, we are transferred from the world, the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God's light." So in a sense, Christians are in the world, but not of it. In a sense no Christian actually lives in the world. No, the world contains no Christians because Jesus has chosen us out of the world. Everything that's antagonistic toward God. So if we've been taken out of the sinful structures, why in the world would we be pulled back in? And he's saying this because the allure is so powerful. This is the world, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes and the pride of life. Desire of the flesh, this is sensuality, the desires of the eyes, this is materialism and the pride of life, this is self glorification.And once you have these three categories, you begin to see this everywhere. You see in marketing, you see this in social media. You see this all like half the economy is built up on the pride of life, desire of the flesh, desire of the eyes, and it's the same temptation over and over. This is the same pattern that Satan used attempt Eve. Eve looked at the fruit, that it was good for food, that it was pleasing to the eyes, and that it would make wise. Desire of the flesh, desire of the eyes, pride of life. Satan comes to Jesus when Jesus was fasting and he tempts him. Turn the stone into bread. Desire the flesh. Hey, I'm going to give you all these kingdoms. Desire of the eyes. Hey, jump off the top of the temple. Self-glorification. The allure is there. So dear Christian, where are your affections pulling you away from God and toward the world?And the fight for faith is the fight for desire. And that desire, Jonathan Andover said, "True religion, consistent holy affections." We are to vivify our affections for God, give life to our affection and then kill our sinful desires. This is the mortification of the flesh. C. S. Lewis talked about the sweet poison of the false infinite, the sweet poison of the false infinite. It looks so sweet, but it's poisonous. It looks infinite. It looks like it'll last forever. This feeling, this relation, whatever this ends up pulling you, it looks infinite, but it's temporal. G. K. Chesterton said, "The acid test of any religion is what do you deny?" So dear Christian, as you follow Jesus, we can't but deny. He says, "Follow me and take up your cross daily." Where are you growing in self-denial? Where do you need to grow in self-denial?So how do you know that you know God? You obey, love, grow and deny. I'll conclude with this. Robert Robinson lived in the 18th century in London. He lived a life of debauchery in his youth as part of a gang. Did all kinds of horrible things. At age 17 went to hear George Whitfield preach the gospel. He gets saved, radically goes into the ministry, becomes a pastor and an age 23 he writes, one of our most beloved hymns that we ever sing is come thou fount. Writes his incredible hymn, it's inspired like we still sing, it's so powerful. Then after a while, his love for the Lord began to cool off and he walks away from the faith, goes through a season of severe depression and sin. He was traveling and as he's traveling he meets a Christian young lady and they start conversing and she realizes that he is educated in the terminology of the faith and she says, "Okay, have you read this hymn? I just recently came across this hymn. It touched my soul powerfully. Maybe it'll bless you.And at that moment he started weeping. She takes out come thou fount. And he says, "I am the poor wretch that wrote that hymn many years ago and I'd do anything to experience again that joy that I knew." And she all she did, she pointed him to the lyrics and she said, "Look, the streams of God's mercy are still here. Just come and stand under his streams of mercy and he will cleanse you of sin." Robinson wrote in that third verse owed to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee. We need that. We need God's grace to bind our hearts to him, to terraform us into the image of Christ. And Robinson's own hymn was used to turn his wandering heart back to the Lord.If you're not a Christian, accept God's grace. He is your propitiation, he is your advocate, accept it, repent it, listen and believe. If you're a Christian, you need to grow in obedience and love and growth and denial. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this time that you've given us in the Holy scriptures. What a powerful word you've left us. And we thank you for the Holy spirit. Holy spirit we thank you for continuing minister to us, continue to grow us and continue to grow us in maturity and health so that we can help others grow in maturity and help bring people to you to be introduced to you and be transformed by you. We pray this in Jesus name, amen.

Christ's righteousness is the sole ground of our acceptance into God's favor, but our new life of holiness is necessary to demonstrate that we are truly in him.