Justification and Liberty

Tonight we're looking at justification and liberty. Last week we looked at justification by faith and what that means. We said that a man stands right before God only because of what Christ did for him. And it's faith in Christ alone that a man is justified before God. And when we say a man is justified before God, it simply means that man's sins are removed. His guilt is taken away because Christ, the perfect Son of God, died on the cross. In taking up humanity and never sinning, He could be our substitute. So He took away our sin, and not only is our sin removed, but our favor with God is restored. The favor that mankind lost in the garden all the way back in Adam and Eve is now restored in Christ, because not only is our guilt removed and our sins are paid for by what Jesus did for us on the cross, but now we get the full love and favor of God just as if — you can hear justification there — just as if we had perfectly obeyed, right? Because Christ's merits, His righteousness, are accrued to us. So He is punished on our behalf as if He was a sinner, right? And our sins are taken away as if we are really innocent. And in return, we also get Christ's righteousness as if we had perfectly obeyed, because Christ perfectly obeyed.

So we're going to be taking justification and covering it tonight and then the following two weeks, and we're going to be expanding it, because justification means everything to the Christian. Martin Luther said that justification is the article by which the church stands or falls. And it's really important that we get it right. We know that because of Christ's perfect obedience, we are justified apart from the law. But does that mean that we are free from the law? And if we're free from the law, in what ways are we free from the law? So we'll be looking at tonight as far as how the Christian relates to the law, what it means to be free from the law and all of its many facets. Then we're going to be looking at what it means to fall from that, in the sense that if you reject Christ's justification, if you forget about the liberty that you have in Christ, you're going to fall into one of two pits, and it's going to be either what we call lawlessness or legalism. And then we're going to end up looking at how we should view the law in the light of Christ.

So let's begin with Bible point number one. Now, salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ brings freedom to the believer. The first blank is freedom.

Brings freedom to the believer. Salvation in Christ is described as liberation all throughout the New Testament and the Old Testament. Now, when I say that, do not confuse that with what's called liberation theology. Liberation theology is a different animal altogether. We're not talking about our liberty from the law — it's Marxism dressed up in a Sunday suit, right? It brings nothing but discord and division and covetousness and engenders bitterness and hate. We have nothing to do with that. That snake ever slithers in, give it the Genesis 3:15 treatment — crush it, right? But we're not talking about liberation theology. What we're talking about is our liberty that we have in Christ, because Christ has paid our price and He has kept the law for us. The life of the Christian is marked by liberty. That's the second blank. Every Christian should be a free man and a free woman in Jesus Christ. United to Christ, believers are justified and free from the bondage — bondage is the third blank — the bondage of the law. We're no longer subject to the curses of the law. We're not subject to the penalty of the law because Christ has paid our price. He died in our place. Look at Galatians 5:1.

"It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." For us to go back to the law as if we have to keep the law to earn God's favor or to maintain God's favor is submitting ourselves to slavery again, right? We've been set free in justification by faith alone in Christ alone. John 8:32 — our Lord Jesus says, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you" what? "Free." And Jesus is the truth. He's the way, the truth, and the life. Look at John 8:36. Jesus continues. He says, "Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." Free altogether from bondage to the law. No more to return to that. Flip over on the back.

In John's gospel, John chapter 1, verse 16 and 17, it describes Christ. It says, "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Moses was the mediator of the old covenant, right? The mediator of the law. And they had to obey the law, or all the curses of the law would fall upon them, right? But we have a new lawgiver, Christ. We have a greater mediator, Christ. We're going to be reading about this over the next several weeks as we begin the book of Hebrews, right? Hebrews tells us that Christ is a greater priest, a greater prophet. He is a greater king.

"For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." We see Jesus actually speaking of this freedom for which He came into this world — the status of freedom as the very mission of the Messiah coming into the world. In His very first sermon, Jesus in Nazareth, in Luke chapter 4, it says, "So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and as His custom was, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when He opened the book, He found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.

Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor'" — that's good news to the poor — "'He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.'" "Then He closed the book, and He gave it back to the attendant, sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him, and He began to say to them, 'Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.'" Christ came to set you free.

James chapter 1, verse 25: "But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, for this one will be blessed in what he does." This is kind of a prelude to what we'll be talking about tonight. When you gaze into the perfect law of liberty, when you gaze into Christ, you're not just a hearer, but you're a doer. Even though Christ has perfectly obeyed for you and merited all favor, and you cannot do anything to fall out of God's favor once you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, we still want to do good works. We still want to obey the law because we want to be like Christ, right? Our hearts are changed and they're filled with gratitude. Flip over on the front.

The application for number one: Is your life characterized by freedom or bondage?

Freedom is the blank. I know many Christians who don't live as free men and free women.

They're bound by legalism.

They're bound by a false sense that they have to continue to try to earn the merit or favor of God.

It's a confusion of justification by faith and salvation by our works. They're trying to continue as if they earned their favor with God to begin with. They're now continuing to try to earn God's favor.

David, I noticed too, as you say that, there's no joy in that. When you're striving — "Oh, am I ever good enough?" No, you'll never be good enough. There's no joy in that. But free in Christ, we have joy that's overflowing. That's what makes the difference. Exactly right. Those who are in bondage, they carry chains around them, right? And they drag them through life. They have no freedom. They can't go where they want to go and do what they want to do. And as Christians, we have been saved for liberty, right?

For freedom, we have been set free by Christ. Bible point number two: United to Christ, believers are freed from the law as a system of curse — curse is the first blank — and penalty. The old covenant was a law covenant. If you keep these commandments, you'll be blessed; it'll be well with you in the land. But if you don't, you'll be chased out of the land, right? Everything will be bad, and the curses are far worse and more voluminous than the blessings, as is actually stated when you read, say, the book of Deuteronomy.

Christ bore our curse and penalty on the cross. Thank God. Because none of us could obey the law, right? None of us could ever keep all the commandments of God. God says, "You shall not lie" — we all lie. "You shall not covet" — and we all covet. "You shall not bear false witness. You shall not steal. You shall not murder," which is the same as hate, right? All these things we do. We put other things before God. We are always lawbreakers. But praise God, Christ paid our curse and our penalty on the cross. Just as a law can no longer punish the man that it has executed — can a dead man be punished anymore? No. The law can do nothing to us because its death penalty was executed on Christ. In the cross, the law as a system of penalty and curse exhausted itself — exhausted is the second blank. It exhausted itself. The full wrath of God was poured out on Jesus Christ for every single believer.

That's something that Christians must grasp, because we believe inside of us sometimes — falsely — that yes, Christ paid the price, but God's got a little bit more wrath for me because I'm extra bad, right? God's full wrath, His infinite wrath, was poured out on the infinitely pure Savior on our behalf. God no longer relates to us in cursing or penalty, because all penal satisfaction was made on the cross.

So in the cross, the law as a system of penalty and curse exhausted itself, so that we are forever free. Forever is the third blank. We're forever free. We cannot lose God's favor. You cannot lose God's love. Next week, Hal's going to talk about justification and sonship. God's never going to disown you, right?

The following week, we're going to be learning about justification and assurance. God's never going to say, "Oops, you've messed up one too many times. I'm removing My favor from you." Never.

Galatians 3:13 says, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, as it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.'" It's a scandal of the universe that the perfect Son of God would become a curse for us, right? But it's also the greatest example of the substitutionary love of God, is it not? That He would die for me. Flip over on the back.

Colossians 2:13–15 says, "And you, believers, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses." Do you believe that every trespass you have committed, every time that you've crossed the line, has been forgiven? This is a promise right here. We sometimes think back to some of the things we've done, and we confess them again and again. They were forgiven the very first time that we confessed them, right? "Forgiving you all your trespasses," in verse 14, "having wiped out the handwriting of the requirements that was against us." The law was against us, and it's been wiped out. It's been removed, because its price has been paid by Christ. "It was contrary to us. He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." He takes the law, and He nails it to the cross. "Paid in full" is what He says by doing that. Christ paid our price for us, so we are free from the penalty and the curse of the law. "Having disarmed principalities and powers" — which is another way of speaking of the angelic world, demons and the devil — "having disarmed them, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it." What does the devil's name mean but the adversary, the accuser, the slanderer? And what is his only power over you? He accuses you, right?

Christ says, "Look here. Anything that can be used as an accusation against you, I have nailed to the cross. I have paid your price." That's the glory of our Savior.

Application for number two: Give thanks to God for freeing you from all penalty.

That's the blank — penalty. Give thanks to God. Live your life in gratitude that Christ would pay the price for you.

How many of you have gotten a traffic or parking ticket over the last year?

A few of us have.

How cool would it be if, when you got that, not only was it wiped off your record, but someone else paid the fine for you? Wouldn't you be grateful for that, right? No points on your insurance or anything like that? Well, that's just a tiny picture of what Christ has done for us, right? He has wiped it away and nailed that accusation to the cross, and you bear it no more.

Bible point number three: United to Christ, believers are freed from the law as a method of salvation. Salvation is the blank.

No one is justified by the works of the law. Galatians 3:11 says that. Who could keep the law? Could any one of us obey the law perfectly? No. Christ did, but not us. He was the perfect Son of God.

No one is justified by the works of the law. We are freed from trusting our salvation to an impossible obedience — impossible is the blank. We can't keep the Ten Commandments, nor can we keep the 613 commands that go with them, right? There'd be no way we could keep those or even remember them all. Just as the suffering of Christ apart from ours delivers us from eternal death, so the merits of Christ — merits is the third blank — the merits of Christ apart from ours, give us eternal life through faith in what Christ has done for us. So just as Christ suffered for us and took away the penalty and the curse that was against us, so Christ's merits, apart from our merits, apart from our works, give us the full favor and restoration of the love of God.

Standing in this grace, we freely and gladly obey God because — because is the third blank — because of His love, not in a vain attempt to earn it.

Because we have been restored to the full favor and satisfaction of our Father — and we can call Him Father — we obey out of love. Not out of trying to curry favor with God, or out of servile fear, as if He's going to strike us down if we fall short. We do it out of love, because He first loved us.

Look at Galatians 3:14. This is a continuation of what we just read in Galatians 3:13, how Christ became a curse for us. "This is that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

God had promised all the way back in the beginning to bless the entire world — which means the Gentiles — through Abraham, right? And that seed is Christ, and it is through Christ that we receive the blessings of God. Through faith in Christ, we are blessed to receive a down payment of glory, the Spirit to come live within us, right? Making us one with God. Flip over on the back.

Top right-hand corner, Romans 5:1–2. "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." We used to be at war with God. We were shaking our fists in rebellion against Him in our sin. But because of what Christ did, we have peace with God, right? That's what the angels told the shepherds, right? "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men." Christ came to make us one with God again, to give us peace with God.

"Through whom" — Jesus Christ — "through whom we also have access by faith into this grace," which is His unmerited favor, His love, His approval, "in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." The one who's been restored to favor in Christ rejoices, because he stands in God's favor. Not favor that he merited or favor that he earned himself, but that Christ earned on his behalf. The application for number three: "Rejoice in the love, pleasure, and acceptance of God."

God's love for you should lead you to rejoice. Christians should be the happiest people on the planet. Doesn't mean you're always going to be happy. You're going to have times of grief and sorrow, right? But we have an abiding joy knowing that we are loved by the Father. Many of us will have a bad day. When you have a bad day, isn't it nice to go to a loved one? Maybe you go to your mother, maybe you go to your father, maybe you go to a brother or a friend, and you go for comfort, right? You go for succor. You go to receive love and blessing.

That's the same with Christians, right? We rejoice because we have God's love. We have His favor. We have His approval forevermore, His divine acceptance. He will never turn you away.

Bible point number four: "United to Christ, believers are freed from the law as an outward" — outward is the first blank — "rather than an inward" — as an outward and foreign — foreign as in a foreign country — compulsion. You see, before the believer meets Christ, the law is external to him, right? It's the handwriting of ordinances that are against him, right? It shows us our sin. It shows us how far we are from God. It shows us our depravity. It's outside of us. There's no way that we can obey it because it's not written upon our hearts, right? And even though we know we're required to obey the holy character of God, we don't have the power within us to be able to do that. But united to Christ, that changes.

Christ frees us from the burden and the compulsion of the law by realizing the law within us by His Spirit. Within is the third blank.

What does Ezekiel say about the new covenant? That He would put His Spirit within us and that He would write His law upon our hearts.

What God does in regeneration is He changes our heart. When He saves us, He takes that heart of stone and He makes it a heart of flesh. He turns our affections to love the things that He loves and to hate the things that He hates. He takes His law, His holy character, and He imprints it upon us. We are sealed with His Spirit. We talked about that in pneumatology — how a seal is an impression, right? And His character is placed now within us. And we continually in this life are conformed to the image of His Son.

He gives us the Spirit of love and sonship. He puts His Spirit within us and writes His law on our hearts. He puts love in the place of fear. He empowers us to love and obey Him. The believer's freedom is not from the law, but is freedom in the law.

Hannah played beautifully for us tonight, and we're so blessed, between Hannah and Alyssa and our young ones contributing their talents. And when I had piano lessons, when I was a boy, I hated it. I wanted to play soccer and football — and I did those too — but my mom made me do piano. It was a chore for me, to be honest with you, practicing scales and notes. I wish now I wasn't such an idiot, right? Because when you play, you gain freedom, right? The more you do it, and when you love something, all of a sudden you're not working on that piano, but you're playing the piano. You have a freedom to play that piano because it's in your heart, right? And you hear a song — you want to play that song because you're excited about it. That's what Christ does by His Holy Spirit in changing our hearts. He changes our affections to love His ways. So now His ways are not grievous to us. Now His ways are not impossible to us, because He empowers us. Now His ways are not foreign, nor are His ways external, but His ways are internal and natural, because we have been born again, born again by the Spirit of God. Romans 8:4 says that "the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled" — which means realized — "in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

The fulfillment of the law takes place inside of us because Christ's character is being fashioned within us, right? The law is just a transcript of His holy character. And so we begin to love holiness. We begin to love Christ. And what you love, you want to be like, right? And you want to conform yourself to. Flip over the back.

Romans 7:4–6: "Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ." In other words, we're no longer obligated to the law. No longer is it foreign to us. We're dead to the law because of what Christ did for us on the cross, "that you may be married to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God." Choosing the figure of union with Christ — the church is wedded to Christ now. We love Christ because we love Him. We now bear forth fruit for Him, right?

"For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death." We were against God, and so when the law would provoke us to sin — because it would provoke us to rebellion, right, because we wanted nothing to do with God — verse 6: "But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." Right? We serve God by His Spirit. And it's a new thing that we now love, rather than the drudgery of, "Oh no, I've got to remember these commandments. I've got to do them again, or God's going to smite me down." Flip back over on the front.

Application for number four: "Serve God in newness of the Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter." If you try to serve God in the flesh, if you try to serve God as if the law is external to you, you'll fail every time. But when you walk in the Spirit, all of a sudden what was a chore, what was insurmountable, becomes easy, right? Because it's His power, the resurrection power of Christ, at work in you.

Bible point number five: United to Christ, believers are freed from superstitions, rites, ceremonies, and all inventions — inventions is the first blank — of men.

Not only are we free to serve God because the Spirit is within us, but we're free now from all the inventions of men, all the contraptions that man would try to use to build a tower of Babel to reach God. Believers are free in mind and conscience to see all created things as God's good gifts. Everything God has created for us is good. We can enjoy these and take pleasure in God with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the third blank.

Look at what Titus says, chapter 1, verse 15: "To the pure, all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But even their mind and their conscience are defiled."

Unbelievers, because of their antipathy and their hatred towards God,

they don't view His gifts at all as good. And they can't receive satisfaction from them, because the gift is to receive satisfaction from the Giver who gave and made those gifts. So they reject all things wholesale. There's a reason why the world wants to tear down marriage. Marriage is a great gift given to us by God. There's a reason why the world wants to destroy it. There's a reason why they want to erase the genderhood of male and female, because we're made in the image of God.

That's a good thing for us to enjoy. And to those who are defiled, those whose conscience is seared, nothing is good.

Look at 1 Timothy 4:4–5. Paul writes to Timothy, and he's telling them to be careful because in the last days — which have been upon us since the days of Christ — people are going to come who will forbid you from marrying, and tell you to abstain from eating certain foods at certain times. And he says here, "For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." There's nothing unclean, right, when it comes to the creation of God. All of God's animals are fine to eat, right? I love the vision that Peter had, you know, the blanket coming down. "Rise, kill, and eat." He told him three times — like He told Peter everything three times for it to sink into that thick skull of his — but He was using it as a parable, as an analogy, to let him know that the Gentiles are not unclean, right? There is no person, there is no ethnicity, there is no people group that is despised by God, right? The Gospel is for everybody. All of God's gifts are good if received with thanksgiving. Flip over on the back.

James 1:17 says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, from whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." All good things come from the Lord. When we reject those good things, we're rejecting the Lord.

Application: "O taste and see that the Lord is good" — sounds like what Colton read for us tonight, right? "Blessed is the man who trusts in Him." We are going to enjoy the good things. We have the liberty and the freedom as Christians to enjoy the good things that God has given us.

A misunderstanding of the liberty of the Christian can lead one to two errors. The first error we're going to look at is what we call lawlessness. Bible point number six: Christian liberty is not lawlessness. Antinomianism — that's your one-dollar word for today, right? That's a big theological word. It means anti-law. Nomos means law. So antinomianism means no law, right? And the idea is this: if Christ has set me free from the penalty of the law, and He's obeyed the law, restoring my right favor with God, then why do I have to obey, right? He's paid the price. I have God's favor. So I don't have any obligation to obey the law anymore. That's what lawlessness or antinomianism means. And it's been present in every age. Paul the apostle dealt with it, right? Martin Luther, who rediscovered — so to speak — justification by faith alone and launched the Reformation, he dealt with it. In fact, one of his prized pupils began to preach it. And so they had to have an actual council. They called it the Formula of Concord in 1577, where they basically anathematized that, saying it's heresy. And thankfully, that young man repented and changed his tune, right?

This heresy teaches that since Christ's obedience and sufferings have satisfied the demands of the law, the believer is free from obligation to obey it. We don't have to observe it, because Christ has paid our price and He has restored our favor. So the anti-law person, the lawless one, says it has no relation to you. You don't have to obey it.

The problem is they're confusing justification with sanctification. And in three weeks we'll be looking at sanctification, which is that process by which the Holy Spirit continues to conform us to the image of Christ from the moment of our conversion all the way to our glorification, right? And how are we conformed? Through the word of God and through the Spirit of God, right?

So we need God's law for many reasons, but we need it to become Christlike, and that's its most basic reason. And those who are lawless reject that.

This heresy is rejected, as the law is but a transcript of the holiness of God, and thus its moral standards are unchanging.

God does not change in His character. He does not change in His promises. The same God yesterday who said, "You shall not lie" is a God of truth today, right? And so if we were to engage in lying, to engage in falsehood, we'd be rebelling against God, right? We'd be acting contrary to His holy character. United to Christ, the believer receives the remission of sins because of Christ's sufferings. United to Christ, he's restored to favor because of Christ's obedience. The believer receives Christ's Spirit, which not only brings him into communion with Christ's work — His death, burial, and resurrection — but also renews his heart and leads him to ratify — ratify is the fourth blank — ratify Christ's work in his own experience. When we say ratify, we mean agree to, make our own, to take and say, "I submit to it," right? When a president makes a treaty, normally those treaties have to be ratified by Congress, right?

If not, then it's worthless, right? It has no weight to it. To ratify means that we are taking Christ's character and making it our own. His death, burial, and resurrection is deemed as ours. He hated sin so much that the full wrath of God was poured out on Jesus Christ. So why should we do what He hates, right? Flip over on the back.

Paul wrote in Romans 3:31, "Do we make void the law through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we establish the law." To establish the law means to reflect the character of Christ. Matthew 5:19:

"Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:48, still in the Sermon on the Mount: "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Look at what Peter says, 1 Peter 1:

"Therefore gird up the loins of your minds." In other words, get ready to work. Put your mind to work. "Be sober, rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children" — we are to rest on His grace because His grace is what saves us, but we're to live as obedient children — "not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance before we became Christians, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, as I am holy.'" "For if you call upon the Lord who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear" — or reverence — "knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold." Gold hit — what was it? — almost $4,100 an ounce. Most of us wouldn't call that corruptible. We would say, "Wow, that's a lot." But compared to the blood of Christ, gold is garbage, right? "You were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." Because Christ laid down His life for you, you live your life for Him, in conformity to Him, and obey Him out of love and out of gratitude — that is what Peter is writing.

Flip back over on the front. Paul writes to the Romans in Romans 6, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" We can sing "grace, grace, God's grace," and just sin and do whatever we want and not worry about obeying God? "Certainly not," he says emphatically. "How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" If our life is dead, if we have hidden ourselves in Jesus Christ, if we died with Him and rose with Him, we are no longer walking according to the flesh, no longer walking according to our old man, but now we're living the resurrected life of Christ.

"Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus, we were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

The application for number six: Jesus says in John 14:15, "If you love Me," what? "Keep My commandments. Obey Me" — this is what He's saying — "keep My commandments." So if we love Christ, we keep His commandments. And that's all we need to refute lawlessness right there, right? Jesus said it.

The opposite heresy of lawlessness is legalism.

And within churches like our own, for example, we're far less likely to see lawlessness, but it's far easier to see legalism. Legalism creeps up on you. It often is an overreaction against lawlessness. "Well, we don't want to be like those guys who don't love Christ and don't obey Him and don't walk in His commands." So we go to the other extreme. Okay?

Bible point number seven: Christian liberty is not legalism. Legalism is the opposite of antinomianism. This heresy attempts to use the law to gain — that's the first blank — and maintain — maintain is the second blank — God's favor.

In other words, it crawls back to the law and says, "I'm going to use the law to gain God's favor and to maintain God's favor."

Legalism exalts law above grace. It exalts our works over the perfect work of Christ. Isn't that insane? As if we think that we can best what Christ has done. The Pharisees were legalists in three different ways. They were legalists in that they focused on the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law — that's the first way that the Pharisees were legalists.

Flip over on the back, actually. Look at Matthew 19:20–22. Do you remember the rich young ruler? The young rich man came to Christ and says, "How can I get into the kingdom of heaven?" And what does Christ say? He starts repeating many of the Ten Commandments, saying, "You know the law." And the young man's excited. And this is what he says: "The young man said to Him, 'All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?'"

"Jesus said to him, 'If you want to be perfect, go and sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me.' But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions." He said, "All these things I've kept from my youth," referring to the Ten Commandments. What's the very first commandment? "You shall have no other gods before Me." You see, he was obeying the letter of the law. He probably did not have an idol to mammon, right? The god of wealth. But yet, was not wealth his God?

Because wealth kept him from obeying Christ. He was sorrowful because — there's nothing wrong with wealth — but if wealth has you, if it owns you, if you worship it, then you have displaced God, right? And that's what this rich young ruler had done. He thought, "Hey, I've externally kept all the Ten Commandments. I don't have another God or an idol that I worship in God's place." But yet he did, right? And it's right there in front of him. So the Pharisees are an example of legalists, first of all, in that they focused on the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law. And they were masters at this. I think I've mentioned before, they knew they weren't supposed to work on the Sabbath day. So they formed all these rules and traditions so they would not be accused of work. For example, if they wanted to travel on the Sabbath day — which you're not supposed to travel past a certain distance according to their traditions — they'd go and plant food along the way, because they had an exception in their tradition that you could travel for food, a certain number of steps. They would travel the maximum number of steps and pick up a pile of food. Then they'd travel the next steps, and of course that would lead to the sports coliseum or wherever they wanted to go.

They were also — not only did they focus on the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law — they exalted man's tradition to equality with God's law.

They said that man's traditions were elevated to the same status as God's law. Flip over on the back, look at Mark 7:5–9. "Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, 'Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?'" They had certain ceremonial hand washing, a certain proper way to wash your hands. And if you didn't do it the right way, they considered you unclean. Now that was not in the Mosaic law. You will not find that there. That was man's tradition that they added to it. Because they were so afraid of breaking the law, they said, "Well, we'll add some extra barriers around it, so we don't even get close to breaking the law." And they would exalt man's traditions to the same level as the law of God. Jesus answered in verse 6: "But He answered and said to them, 'Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: "This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, and in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."' And He said to them, 'All too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition.'"

So they would take man's tradition, elevate it up to the same level and prominence as God's law. And oftentimes they would break God's law, as long as they looked good to their fellow Pharisees and they were keeping their traditions — they were fine.

Legalism is also exemplified by the Pharisees in that they excluded the weightier matters of the law while attending to the minor points. They would focus so much on little things that they would neglect the big things. Flip over on the back for an example of this, Matthew 23:

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin" — those were garden herbs, so they were paying an actual tithe on their produce from their little herb garden — "and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel." He's using some hyperbole there, you know? You're straining out this tiniest little creature on the planet that you can see with your eye, and yet you're swallowing this giant camel, right? You've got things out of balance, out of priority.

Not only were the Pharisees examples of legalism, but so were the Judaizers that Paul dealt with. When oftentimes Paul planted a church, in his wake would come Judaizers, who would tell the Christians that

salvation by faith alone in Christ alone isn't enough. You have to have Christ plus the law. Christ plus our Jewish traditions. Christ plus circumcision. Christ plus the tithe. Christ plus keeping all the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament. Christ plus keeping the Jubilee and all the observances. No, they talked Christ plus works, not Christ alone. Legalism in all its forms stops us from exalting and gazing on Christ. That's the third blank. That's the biggest sin of legalism,

in that it takes our eyes off of the completed work of Jesus Christ. Christ's work satisfying God. Christ's work being enough for us to approach God and to be justified in His sight. It takes our eyes off of Christ.

And look what it does instead — it draws attention to self and feeds our pride.

It's on what we do. It's on our works, on our righteousness, right?

Charles Spurgeon was of course called the Prince of Preachers. And he had a large congregation. And he would often preach several times on a Sunday — as many as 14 times in one week he would preach. He seemed to have boundless energy. But when he finished preaching, he didn't go hide in his office. He stood out front and greeted as many people as he could and had Christ-centered conversations with them. And one Sunday, he had preached about sin. And a lady comes up to him enthusiastically and she says, "Oh, Mr. Spurgeon, I loved your sermon. I haven't sinned in so long, I can't even remember when I last sinned." So Spurgeon played along with her. He says, "Wow, you should be so proud of yourself." And she says, "Indeed, I am" — without realizing the significance of what she just said, right? Because legalism leads to self-righteousness, which leads to pride.

The most holy of men, the most holy of women, will never be trumpeting themselves. Instead, they'll be crying tears at the foot of the cross, mourning over their sin, because it's a failure to love Christ with their whole heart and soul and mind.

The application for number seven: Look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Look to Jesus. Don't take your eyes off of Him. His work is complete. His work is final. His work is sufficient.

Bible point number eight: How then should we understand the law? Because we're free from the law.

So does that mean... but we want to obey the law because we want to be Christlike. But the law is varied when you look at the Old Testament. For example, there are laws regarding not mixing milk with your meat, right?

Not mixing certain fabrics, right? There are governmental rules that dealt with Israel as a nation and are no longer applicable to us.

There are the sacrificial laws of how you're supposed to bring sacrifices. Those aren't applicable to us, because Christ is our one true and better sacrifice, right? Never needing to be repeated again. So how do we understand the law?

The key to understanding Christian liberty is to understand the person and work of Christ.

Christ embodied the law and is its giver.

Christ is the ultimate expression of the law, right? Because the law is just a transcript of His character. He lived in this world for 33 years, showing us the very character of God, and He never sinned in doing so, and He fulfilled all righteousness. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, "Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill." In your Bibles, I encourage you to underline that word there in Matthew 5:17 — "fulfill." It's one of the most important words in the book of Matthew. It's used about 14 times.

"Fulfill" does not mean simply to bring to pass. We often think that's what it means, but it means more than that.

Jesus brought the law to its climax. "Fulfill" does not mean simply to bring to pass, but it means bringing to completion. In other words, the end of the law is Christ. Christ not just fulfilled the law by perfectly obeying it, but He was the climax of the law. He was its goal. The purpose the law was given is to lead you to Christ, right?

"Fulfill" does not mean simply bringing to pass, but it means bringing to completion. Jesus brought the law to its climax — that's the first blank. Jesus is the law's intended goal — goal is the second blank. The law must be understood in light of Christ and His finished work. The law testified, pointed to, and led us to Christ. Christ is the divine yes and amen to all the promises of God. We find that in 2 Corinthians 1:20. God's promise to Abraham to bless the world is fulfilled only in Christ, Galatians 3:16.

Christ is the substance to which all the shadows and types pointed. Casey just preached a sermon a few weeks ago on the mystery of Christ. In the Old Testament, all those shadows are pointing to Christ to find their fulfillment in Him.

The New Covenant in Christ's blood has made the Old Covenant obsolete. Hebrews 8:6–13. We read that a couple of communion services ago. That was our text — how Christ says, "This is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for you." And when He established the New Covenant, the Old Covenant was rendered obsolete.

While the Old Covenant is abolished — that's the exact word used in Ephesians 2:15 —

it is still inspired Scripture. So abolished is the third blank, and inspired is the fourth blank. It's abolished as a law covenant. It's abolished in the sense that we're no longer under its curses and penalties, right? But it finds its completion in Christ. And to that end, the laws which still speak of Christ's moral character are still applicable to us today. The same law where Jesus thundered from the mountaintop at Sinai — and He said, "You shall not kill" — that's still enforced today. Ken.

(Inaudible)

We're talking about the law, the Old Covenant law as what we'd see typified in the Mosaic law, the entire 600-some-odd ordinances. That's abolished as a law covenant. In other words, we're no longer under that covenant of cursing and penalty. No more. But you could say that the moral aspect of that is still apropos, because that moral aspect is simply the law of Christ, the transcript of His holy character, right?

While the Old Covenant is abolished — and thank God it is; we don't have to be subject to those curses and penalties any longer — it is still inspired Scripture. It is always profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

There are some theologians that talk about the law in three different ways. They will say there is the ceremonial law, which is no longer in effect — Christ's sacrifice has abrogated that. There is no longer any need for us to bring turtledoves and lambs and that type of thing. It's no longer necessary for us to observe feasts such as Passover and whatnot. That's gone. They also speak of what's called the civil or governmental law that was given to Moses — we have the 70 elders.

We're not part of the nation of Israel. That's gone.

But we still are under what's called the moral law, and that's simply God's law that is a reflection of His character. And that's never abrogated. That's never set aside. In the New Covenant, it's actually established by Christ, right?

Flip over on the back. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Do you want to fulfill the law? Follow Christ.

Live like Christ.

Trust in Christ. Christ fulfilled the law. He's the only one who could. And if we want to conform to the law, conform yourself to Christ. He's the end of the law "for righteousness to everyone who believes." 1 Corinthians 9:21 — Paul says, "To those outside the law" — speaking of the Gentiles, who never were under the Mosaic law, so to speak — "for to those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law." Right? Gentiles never had to be circumcised. They were never part of that law covenant. But we're never outside of the law of God, outside of the law of Christ, right? Because the law simply, again, at its most essential, is a transcript of the holy character of God. That's what moral law is. And moral law never changes. It's the same yesterday, today, and forever, because Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The application for number eight: "If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples," right?

That's our verse, so to speak, for our church. And that's how we apply the law. We continue in His word. Study to show yourself approved. Know God's word, because in knowing the law of God, we see the character of God. And that's how we conform ourselves to Christ.