The Enemy of Righteousness

And The Enemy of Our Joy

8/24/03

 

Gal. 4:15 “What has happened to all your joy...?”

The Galatians were unhappy people. They weren’t always like that--what happened/

Many Christians today are the same way.

We can gradually move away from grace and mercy and not even realize it.

The Galatians started off so good. They came to Jesus through grace and mercy but then over time became entangled with legalism.

Do a self test. If you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are loved by God and fully accepted by Him and you are persuaded that His hand is upon your life--and that is not determined by how well you did today--then you are living by grace and mercy.

On the other hand, if you do not have this confidence, you either do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or you have allowed yourself to regress to a legalistic mentality.

Legalism is not as obvious as we think.

In a very subtle way we can move away from grace and begin to live on the basis of merit and performance. The great danger is that we don’t know it’s happening!

When you live under a law mentality, you never fully feel accepted and truly loved by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Religion beats a person down, Jesus lifts us up.

Religion tells you how bad you are, Jesus says you are forgiven.

Religion makes you feel unclean, Jesus makes you feel pure.

The example of using the Bible for merit and not for fellowship.

Deut. 6:24 The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. ²⁵And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”

Rom. 5:15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! ¹⁶ Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. ¹⁷ For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

Legalism is very hard to break!

Acts 15:1 Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” ² This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. ³ The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad. ⁴ When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

⁵ Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”

⁶ The apostles and elders met to consider this question. ⁷ After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. ⁸ God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. ⁹ He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? ¹¹ No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

Read Gal.1:6-10, 2:11-21, 3:1-25, 4:8-31, 5:1-18