This week, Pastor Chris continued in our Romans series teaching about freedom from legalism. A life of legalism focuses on our behavior instead of our heart, leaving us hollow and lifeless inside. However, the Lord desires for us to be free from the failure and defeat of legalism, and invites us into His grace. Not only does this bring joy and fullness of life, but also freedom from the desires of the flesh as we walk with the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 2:8 (ESV)
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Galatians 1:6 (ESV)
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
| Different Gospel • If I obey, I’m accepted. • If I’m good, God will love me. • All people are good and bad. • The focus is on what I do or don’t do. • Produces pride and despair. • Motivated by fear. | Grace of Christ • I’m accepted so I obey. • I’m bad and Jesus loves bad people. • All people are repentant or not. • The focus is on what Jesus did. • Produces humility and confidence. • Motivated by love. |
Legalistic Cycle
Effort >> Failure >> Guilt
“It is faith—without good works and prior to good works—that takes us to heaven. We come to God through faith alone,” Martin Luther
Legalism…
- Lacks love, joy, life, or passion.
- Obeys the externals while the heart is far removed from any desire to honor God.
- Adds our own rules to God’s law and treats them as divine.
Romans 7:1 (ESV)
1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?
The 10 Commandments
Exodus 20:3 (ESV)
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:4 (ESV)
4 “You shall not make for yourself idols…
Exodus 20:7 (ESV)
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain…
Exodus 20:8 (ESV)
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exodus 20:12 (ESV)
12 “Honor your father and your mother…
Exodus 20:13 (ESV)
13 “You shall not murder.
Exodus 20:14 (ESV)
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
Exodus 20:15 (ESV)
15 “You shall not steal.
Exodus 20:16 (ESV)
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Exodus 20:17 (ESV)
17 “You shall not covet…
Romans 7:2–4 (ESV)
2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. 4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
Romans 8:1 (ESV)
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
John 15:1–2 (ESV)
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Romans 7:5 (ESV)
5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
1. The Law Reveals Sin
Romans 7:6 (ESV)
6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
Galatians 5:16–18 (ESV)
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Romans 7:7 (ESV)
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
2. The Law Aggravates Sin
Romans 7:8–11 (ESV)
8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
Sin promises…
• To satisfy our desires even more than the last time.
• That our actions can be kept hidden, so no one will know.
• That we won’t have to worry about consequences.
• Special benefits such as wisdom, knowledge, and sophistication.
• Power and prestige in exchange for cooperation.
3. The Law Reflects the Sinfulness of Sin
Romans 7:12–13 (ESV)
12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
Good News…
• Christians died to the law and now live by the Spirit.
• Your old self is dead.
• You are no longer married to the law.
• Your new self is in a new relationship with God through Christ.
Discussion Questions:
- In the “Different Gospel vs. Grace of Christ” section, do you recognize any of these symptoms in your own life, either currently or in the past? Have you ever struggled with the legalistic cycle in your life?
- Often people think of Christianity as a list of rules to follow. Have you or someone you know ever had similar thoughts? How has this sermon confirmed, challenged or changed that view?
- Why is the law described as “holy, righteous, and good” if it stirs up sin?
- Pastor Chris challenged us with the question, are you dead to sin and alive to Christ? Or are you alive to sin and dead to Christ?
Application Questions:
- Sit with the Lord this week and ask if there are ways you are living in legalism. Pastor Chris gave many signs and symptoms of legalism to help with some self-evaluation. Spend time repenting and accepting God’s invitation into His grace!
- Reread Galatians 5:26-18. Pastor Chris invited us to become friends with the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit how you can walk in step with Him so that you do not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Join us for an in-person service at City Central Church in Tacoma, WA
Sundays at 9am + 11am