This is what Jesus said to the religious folks of his day who were more concerned about their own reputation and power than about God’s plan for life.

This is also what Jesus would say to religious folks today who are more concerned about Christian traditions than Christ. They are called legalists, and you should be on the lookout for them.

It’s been said that often traditions are designed to keep living faith of the dead (the saints and Apostles). Yet what legalists do is take those traditions and make them the dead faith of the living.

I could say a lot about how legalism has split churches and driven people away from Jesus, but all you have to do is ask a few non-Christians why they don’t accept Christianity. Most of the time their response has something to do with the way they were treated by Christians, or the way they observed how we lived our faith.

Bottom line is this: you are saved by grace and sanctified by grace...period. The idea that you please God through behavior is a lie designed to get believers thinking that they can earn God’s approval or something. It’s the same old pride game, so if you’re playing it- maybe it’s time to start reading the Bible.

Isaiah 64:6 – All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

Galatians 2:21 – I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!

Galatians 3:10 – All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

I know what legalists are afraid of…if people don’t have a list of rules, they might go out and do anything they want- and they are right. That’s just how the Pharisees kept their followers toe tapping to their tricky tune. Yet they missed the whole point of grace: if someone hands me a million dollars, will I turn around and slap him in the face? Heavens no! Jesus has given me infinitely more than a million dollars, obviously I will live for Him…

The sad part is that legalists lose out on the greatest truth in the universe: Jesus loves me, this I know

What “list” has been laid down on you that will supposedly keep God loving you? Is it regular devotions, not going to movies, avoiding secular music, etc. etc?

This week, try erasing the list and making a new list filled with truths like these:

If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?

Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? (Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39)

Questions:

1) Why does God despise legalism so much?

2) How has legalism impacted you?

3) How can you ‘tune in’ more to the matchless grace of God?

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