LEGALISM: It is not what you have been told.
"They are legalists!" "We don't want anything to do with legalists!!"
That charge is a sentence of death in today's religious environment. The legalist is a heretic. The legalist must be shunned. The legalist must be banned. The legalist is anathema; cursed! All of heaven and earth must pounce on the legalist and beat him to a pulp. The legalist must go to the guillotine. When he is dead, his body must be burned to ashes, and spread over Judas' Iscariot's field of blood.
"CURSE THE LEGALIST!!!" That is one of the strongest condemnations you can ever dread to suffer, and most of the time, the accusation comes from the Calvinist camp. If you are a legalist, you are a leper, an outcast, a wretched, noxious soul. A legalist is a social reject; a pathetic, warped, demented freak.
There is only one problem. Nobody really knows what a legalist is.
"Legalism" is perceived to be as deadly as HIV/Aids. Once you have been called a legalist, nobody wants to touch you. People stop calling you. They don't visit you anymore. You have become a dreaded, highly contagious pathogen that must be quarantined - exiled from society - until you die.
SO WHAT IS LEGALISM, and WHO IS A LEGALIST??
The first thing that usually comes to mind is the Pharisee. The Pharisee and the legalist are considered to be synonymous. Not that the Bible ever called the Pharisee a legalist. Somebody, somewhere, at some time decided that the Pharisee was a legalist. But whoever that phantom accuser was, he forgot to tell us exactly what a legalist is. Just a Pharisee.
And in the minds of most professing Christians, the Pharisee is a total enigma. What exactly is a Pharisee??
1. What did the Pharisees actually BELIEVE that made them legalists?
2. What did the Pharisees actually DO that made them legalists?
Of course, those questions uncertainly presume that the Pharisees were in fact legalists.
That presumption is that CHRISTIANS MUST NOT DO ANYTHING THAT IS LEGAL, or they become a Pharisee.
The false belief prevailing in modern Christianity is that...
"CHRISTIANS MUST NOT DO ANYTHING REQUIRED BY LAW."
If you do, you are a legalist.
Stop right there for a moment.
The historical Antinomians would have a frenzied, ecstatic seizure over that statement. Antinomians were the lawless ones. The word antinomian means "against the law." Antinomians defiantly insisted that Christians are not under the law. They are not obliged to keep any of God's commandments.
Antinomianism is Calvinism on steroids. Antinomianism is the inevitable outgrowth of Calvinism and its total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints - every one of which is a heresy.
If, as a Calvinist, you believe that you are chosen unconditionally and saved irresistibly, then the LAW has no possible effect on your destiny, whether you keep the law, or break every law in the book. The Calvinist believes that whether you are spotlessly clean or as vile as excrement, on Judgment Day you will be saved.
That
cannot possibly be true. Calvinists teach you that once you "accept the
Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior" you cannot be lost. They
damn the law. No rules apply any more. You are home free as soon as you
say a 10-word prayer.
Calvinism is the pounding heartbeat behind the incessantly "Trust
Jesus!" mantra. "Trust Jesus!" that you will be saved no matter how bad
you are. "Trust Jesus!" that your sins will not keep you out of Heaven.
"Trust Jesus!" that you are eternally secure; once-saved, always-saved.
"Trust!" Sorry, Calvin, I don't trust you or your "trust Jesus" ruse.
Calvinism is a screaming lie born in the belly of Hell. Of course you can sin! Of course you can go to Hell! No confession on earth can exempt you from your godly responsibility to walk in TRUTH, RIGHTEOUSNESS, and HOLINESS. NO RELATIONSHIP with God is unconditional. God LOVED Jacob, but he HATED Esau! That is NOT unconditional love. Did God hate Esau because Esau was divinely predestinated to be hated, or did God hate Esau because Esau made a deadly choice to despise the blessing of God? I say, the later is the cause. God hated Esau because Esau dissed God.
God says, "...be thou FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH, and I will give thee a crown of life," Revelation 2:10. What happens if you are NOT faithful?
"And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God," Luke 9:62 KJV. What happens if you look back? Remember Lot's wife.
NO SIN is going to enter in to the Kingdom of God. Therefore, if you commit sin, and fail to repent of it and quit doing it, you are going to go to Hell.
Calvinists, like the Devil, want you to believe that you can eat the forbidden fruit and you will not die. CALVINISTS were the first to level the false charge of "LEGALISM!!" against God-fearing, Commandment-keeping Christians. In the mind of the Calvinist, it is against the law to be observe the law. They tell us that we need no longer keep the Old Testament Laws, and IF WE DO, WE ARE LEGALISTS!!!! They "turn the GRACE of God into lasciviousness," Jude 1:4, and that is nothing less than a license to fulfill the lusts of the flesh without penalty. Again and again we are told, "the Old Testament is no longer relevant. We do not have to keep the law in the New Testament." It is literally a License to Sin.
Against the law? What laws are we talking about? Which LAWS are we no longer beholden to? Please tell me.
1. Thou shalt have no other gods?
2. Thou shalt make no graven images?
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain?
5. Honor thy Father and thy Mother?
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery?
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness?
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's things?
So must we BREAK the law to be a Christian?
Am I a legalist because I have no other gods?
Am I a legalist because I do not have any idols, graven or molten?
Am I a legalist because I honor my parents, don't kill, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, and don't covet other people's stuff?
Am I a legalist - an extremist, a Pharisee, a damned rule-keeper, because I don't commit incest, homosexuality, bestiality, or pedophilia? Those are Old Testament laws, too.
So what laws make me a legalist?
The keeping of WHAT LAWS make me a legalist?
OK, let's look at the "MAN-MADE" laws that instantly bring a diagnosis of terminal illness.
Holiness laws are considered to be the first symptoms of legalism.
At your very first hint of observing a holiness lifestyle, you become a legalist. You must wear an emblazoned "L" on your forehead.
Let's consider modesty. Modesty is considered legalistic. If you are too modest, you are a legalist. They say. They think.
If holiness people refuse to wear bikinis, speedos, g-strings, or any skimpy apparel that exposes buttocks, thighs, midriffs, bare shoulders, cleavage, or crotches, we are damned legalists.
We are damned legalists because we won't go out in public exposing ourselves. We are the scourge of modern Christianity. We are shunned like we have the bubonic plague.
We must not be legal. If we actually keep God's laws in these days of the "Grace Revolution," we are malodorous transgressors who must be exiled from the church, and banned from its pulpits.
Sexual correctness is legalistic nowadays. It is anathema, cursed. If a man is too manly, or a woman too feminine, it is anathema. In this open-minded, liberated day, men are congratulated and lauded for expressing femininity, and women are praised, celebrated and ENCOURAGED to show masculinity. It is a sign of their self-expression, their sovereignty, their freedom from religion. If a person is rigidly heterosexual and monogamous, that is being too rigid. That is legalistic. If we make too much of gender identity, we are legalists. If a man condemns effeminacy, or if he ever (God-forbid) asserts authority over a woman, he is a macho, male chauvinist pig. But even worse, he is a legalist. If a woman is a stay-at-home mom, or a poor, mere housekeeping wife, she is deemed oppressed and subservient. If he or she actually believes what God told Eve in the Garden of Eden, "Unto the woman he said, ...and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and HE SHALL RULE OVER THEE," Genesis 3:16 KJV - he or she is a legalist.
Answer me. Am I a legalist for keeping the laws of God?
No. I am NOT a legalist for keeping the law.
Am I a legalist for preaching and teaching the law?
No. I am NOT a legalist for preaching and teaching the law.
Jesus said, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven," Matthew 5:18-19 KJV
"And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord," Mark 12:29 KJV.
This gets DEEP really fast. JESUS said the first commandment is to HEAR: "The Lord our God is ONE LORD." If you don't obey this commandment, you are in big trouble already. If you believe that God is THREE LORDS, you are already out of order. Jesus Christ is the fullness of God bodily. Jesus is the IMAGE of the INVISIBLE God. If you see Jesus, you see the Father. "I and my Father are ONE." A Trinitarian cannot pass this law. A Trinitarian is already in disobedience to this law.(If the FATHER is the Lord, and the SON is the Lord, and the SPIRIT is the Lord, and they are three co-equal, co-eternal persons, then NECESSARILY, by the Trinitarian definition, there are three Lords. And that is HERESY.)
But there is so much more.
Jesus also said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments," John 14:15 KJV.
LEGALISM???? Not on your life. KEEPING COMMANDMENTS? Absolutely!!
"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him," John 14:21 KJV. JESUS measures your LOVE by your KEEPING COMMANDMENTS!!
Legalism??? No!!! Keeping Commandments??? You'd better believe it.
"If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love," John 15:10 KJV.
Jesus revealed to us that the REASON the FATHER loves the SON OF MAN is BECAUSE HE KEPT THE FATHER'S COMMANDMENTS.
Legalism??? No. Keeping Commandments?? Yes.
"Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen," Acts 1:2 KJV.
Jesus continued to make commandments until the day He was taken up into Heaven. Don't kid yourself. Jesus has LOTS and LOTS of commandments to keep, and OUR KEEPING them is the proof of our LOVE for Him.
"Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God," 1 Corinthians 7:19 KJV.
All teachings in the Bible are to be obeyed, both Old Testament and New Testament, unless a particular teaching is SPECIFICALLY revoked in writing in the New Testament. There are indeed a few things that were revoked and changed in the New Testament. Old Testament dietary laws were changed in the New Testament, so that Paul specifically told us that we need not keep those old laws pertaining to the eating of meats. The need for circumcision ended in Jesus Christ, since the purpose of circumcision was to prove a man was the physical descendant of Abraham. Jesus' own circumcision was bodily proof that He descended from Abraham. But since Christ, physical circumcision is needless, but "the circumcision of the heart," (crucifying the flesh, and the lusts thereof) is a New Testament commandment. With a few explicitly defined exceptions, the Old Testament AND New Testament laws continue to stand today.
"If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord," 1 Corinthians 14:37 KJV.
The LAW was not abolished in the New Testament. ONLY the particular ORDINANCES of the Old Testament. We no longer conduct the ordinances and ceremonies of the Old Testament Tabernacle in the wilderness, nor of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. No brazen laver, no altar of incense, no menorah, no veil, no ark of the covenant. No ordinances. No ceremonies.
"Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances," Ephesians 2:15 KJV.
All the MORAL and SPIRITUAL LAWS are just as effective and required today as they ever were. Adultery is still a sin. Homosexuality is still a sin. Incest is still a sin. Murder is still a sin. All the moral laws of God are still sinful to disobey.
The ONLY LAWS that we need NOT observe are laws that are made by men.
"...the commandments and doctrines of men," Colossians 2:22 KJV.
"Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth," Titus 1:14 KJV.
Back to the Pharisees. The Pharisees in fact, were NOT legalists. They DISREGARDED God's laws and made up their own laws.
Under the surface, the Pharisees subscribed to many of the ancient Babylonian mysteries that had been introduced to them through the teachings of King Solomon and Hiram of Lebanon. Over the centuries, they adopted Babylonian mysteries, that included such in-depth teachings as came to be known in the Gematria, the Talmud, and in modern times, Cabbalism. These MYSTICAL, MAN-MADE teachings were EXACTLY what Jesus was condemning when he accused them of "making the COMMANDMENT OF GOD of none effect BY YOUR TRADITION," Matthew 15:6. They regarded the TALMUD as authoritative, but the TORAH (God's Word) was NOT authoritative.
And their reliance on man-made commandments showed up in the silliest, most impertinent ways.
GOD'S LAW said "Honor thy Father and thy Mother." The Pharisees said that whatever kindness they did for their parents was a "gift." The Pharisees' law flew in the face of God's law.
GOD'S LAW said nothing about washing hands before eating. But the Pharisees made it a great sin to fail to wash your hands. They made up crazy things like this. They "strained at gnats, and swallowed camels."
THAT IS NOT THE SAME AS teaching true Biblical commandments.
When a holiness preacher teaches that it is a SIN for a woman to cut her hair, he is NOT teaching the commandments of MEN. He is teaching the WORD OF GOD from 1 Corinthians 11. I don't have time to deal with the subject here, but you can read all about it at this link. HAIR LENGTH ON MEN AND WOMEN That subject is NOT LEGALISM as erroneously defined by the Calvinists. It is the COMMANDMENT OF GOD.
The same thing is true about modest and gender-specific clothes. MALE AND FEMALE: GOD'S GENDER-SPECIFIC COMMANDMENTS
And it is also true about the wearing of JEWELRY. See ORNAMENTS OF JEWELRY.
These subjects are NOT MAN-MADE!!! They are GOD-MADE! They are commandments of God, and every Bible-believing person is obliged to KEEP those Commandments, regardless of how counter-cultural they are, or how offensive they are to the carnal, worldly professing "Christian."
It is NOT LEGALISM to preach these things. I am NOT A LEGALIST when I preach about HAIR, MODEST GENDER-SPECIFIC CLOTHING, JEWELRY, and other subjects. I am being FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH to the Gospel message as CLEARLY DELINEATED in the NEW TESTAMENT.
It is NOT LEGALISM to say that the wearing of jewelry is wrong, if the entire Bible supports that premise. It is NOT LEGALISM to say that the cutting of a woman's hair is wrong if the Bible clearly supports that premise. It is NOT LEGALISM to say that the wearing of immodest clothes is wrong when the Bible clearly supports that claim.
In the most accurate sense of the word, a LEGALIST is one who carefully keeps God's laws. And THAT IS GOOD!!
But a Pharisee is NOT a legalist in the purist definition of the word, because he does not keep God's laws. He keeps HIS OWN LAWS, and makes his OWN COMMANDMENTS that are CONTRARY to the commandments of God.
Man made laws are evil. But God's laws are good. If it's in the Bible, it's good. If it is CONSISTENT with the Bible, and if it AGREES with the Bible, it is good. If it is contrary to the Bible, or if it contradicts the Bible, it is bad.
IF IT IS NOT IN THE BIBLE, IT IS NOT A COMMANDMENT.
IF IT IS IN THE BIBLE, IT IS A COMMANDMENT.
And no matter how you slice it, God's commandments are for keeping.
In the most accurate sense of the word, a LEGALIST is one who carefully keeps God's laws. But a Pharisee is NOT a legalist, because he does not keep God's laws. He keeps HIS OWN LAWS.
Therefore, in a large majority of all cases, when Calvinists lower their guns and fire off charges of "LEGALISM!! LEGALISM!! LEGALISM!!" they really are making war against keeping the Commandments of GOD, and that is abominable.
And unfortunately, the very same Calvinists who purport to hate "man-made" laws, are as guilty as sin for making their OWN man-made laws!
In that regard, most of modern "liberal" Christianity is Pharisaic, because they do NOT keep GOD'S LAWS, but instead practice and preach MAN MADE LAWS such as social services, good works such as digging wells in Africa, running soup kitchens, supporting orphanages, or running medical missions or disaster relief projects. THOSE ARE MAN-MADE ways to Heaven. They are NOT God's ways to Heaven. Calvinists, despite all their rhetoric, are among the world's best at performing good works to justify themselves. And they are among the worlds WORST at actually preaching the everlasting Gospel that Jesus and the Apostles preached:
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of WATER and of the SPIRIT, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit," John 3:3-8 KJV.
Peter preached the NEW BIRTH in Acts 2:38, providing the EXACT FORMULA for the New Birth:
"Then Peter said unto them,
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation," Acts 2:38-40 KJV.
You can't even PAY a Calvinist to preach Acts 2:38. Why? Because they say that is SALVATION BY WORKS! Well that is NOT salvation by WORKS. That is salvation by OBEDIENCE, and they don't like laws. Nevertheless, they love to show their good works. They would rather build a thousand water wells in Africa than to obey the Holy Ghost and speak in other tongues. They would rather support a thousand orphanages in India, than to dress holy, stop cutting their hair, and quit wearing jewelry ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD.
Jesus Christ did not come to build a social service organization. He came to preach the eternal Kingdom, and turn men from sin to righteousness, to be baptized with His baptism, and to be filled with His Spirit. He came to turn us from worldly, terrestrial things to heavenly, celestial things.
And the only way to get there is to follow His teachings from A-Z, including believing and teaching the Oneness of the Godhead, the New Birth, and the holy, consecrated life.
"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments," 1 John 2:3 KJV.
"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him," 1 John 2:4 KJV.
"And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight," 1 John 3:22 KJV.
"And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him," 1 John 3:24 KJV.
"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments," 1 John 5:2 KJV.
"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous," 1 John 5:3 KJV.
"And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it," 2 John 1:6 KJV.
Just before Jesus Christ returns to this earth, SATAN will make war with all the saints of God on earth.
"And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ," Revelation 12:17 KJV.
Make note of the fact that they both 1. Have the TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST, and 2. KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS of God.
Stop screaming "Legalist! Legalist! Legalist!" and start obeying the laws of God - if you want to be saved.
"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus," Revelation 14:12 KJV.
"Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city," Revelation 22:14 KJV.
Jesus said, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it," Matthew 7: 21-27).
Keeping the LAW by itself will not save me. I must be born again according to John 3:3-7 and Acts 2:38. But after I have been born again, I must "walk in the Spirit." The Spirit and the Word are one. It is impossible to walk in the Spirit of God without walking in the WORD of God. And it is impossible to walk in the WORD of God without keeping God's commandments.
I am going to preach, teach and practice keeping the Commandments of God until Jesus comes. They alone won't save me, but they will definitely help keep me saved. And if I break them without repenting, I won't be saved.
"Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments. My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly," Psalms 119:165-167 KJV.
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If you are living with an evil spouse, you must not be destroyed spiritually by him or her. If your spouse does not want to do the will of God, you must not allow his/her influence to keep you from doing the will of God. There is not one husband or wife in the world who is worth going to Hell for. Far more important that your vow to your spouse is your vow to God. You must never give your spouse more priority than God. Your relationship with God is infinitely more important than your relationship with your spouse. 
