This morning we're returning to the topic that has taken our attention for the last several times we've been together. Last Lord's Day I was not with you. I trust that your memories will be somewhat resurrected, and we're going to review a little bit this morning. But we've been looking over these last weeks at the great area, the very needy area, I believe, for the Church today to consider, the gospel. in contrast to legalism and antinomianism. And in our opening study, we looked at the rejection of grace by those that don't believe and how we saw that so vividly demonstrated in the lives and character of the Pharisees. The last two times we met together, we looked at the gospel of grace as the answer to legalism and then the gospel of grace as the answer to antinomianism. I want this morning, Lord willing, to draw our thoughts and our studies to a conclusion and bring them together in what I think is equally a danger today, the adulteration of grace by believers. So let us give attention this morning again to the reading of God's word. I'm going to break into the chapter and begin reading in Galatians 5 and verse 13. Ye have been called unto liberty. Use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Let me just break into a reading before we finish the chapter. You may have the occasion come to your mind when you see such bold statements as the Apostle has just made about the law. To think, well, when he says all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love, well, so far so good. We know, as the Scripture says, love is the fulfilling of the law. But then he says, all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And if we've thought at all about the whole situation, we look at the moral law as it's summarized in those ten words, those ten commandments, and we recognize that the opening table of that law has to do with love to God. So how can we say, well, if we just keep the second table and we love our neighbor, then we've done the whole thing? But what does John tell us in his epistle? If a man doesn't love his neighbor whom he has seen, how can he claim to love God whom he's not seen? See, even how we deal with our neighbor is an indication of what's really in our hearts. And so to have genuine love to our neighbor is going to presuppose genuine spiritual love to our God who created us and our neighbor. And so it is no falsehood for Paul, the Spirit of God here through Paul, to say that even if we look at it under this subheading, as it were, true love here is going to show that the whole matter, the real guts of the thing is already there. And so all the law, he can say, is fulfilled in this. Well, let's continue on reading. And let's read again verse 16. This I say then, walk in the Spirit. And ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. That if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Amen. We'll end our reading there, and we trust and ask the Lord's blessing again to be upon the public reading of His inspired words. Let's bow our heads and our hearts again together. Our Heavenly Father, as we bow before Thy throne of grace again today, would I pray that Thou wilt make and keep us mindful of our need of the presence of the Spirit of God, Lord, even in the reading of the Word, that it would be written upon our hearts. And I pray that Thou wilt give help of Thy Spirit in unction as we gather now as a body under the preaching of the Word. Lord, that you will hide preacher and listener alike behind the cross. Lord, that the truth of a gospel of grace and not of works would be proclaimed and understood. And also, Lord, that it would be lived in this place. And I pray that thou wilt then give us grace, even to pursue what at times are some difficult things, even as the word says, some things hard to be understood. And yet, Lord, thou hast given us of thy Spirit, and I pray that thou wilt give us understanding. And Lord, thou wilt also give, not only in the reading of the word, but the answer in the heart, that the truth of the gospel might go forth and that we might be lights to that truth. to that gospel to all we meet. And so, Lord, we ask thee, minister graciously to us in this hour. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Over these last weeks, we have been looking, considering the gospel of grace in contrast to what I call the twin errors of legalism and antinomianism. I suggest you again to think upon them as twin errors rather than opposites. Because each of these errors is a rejection of the gospel. Each of these errors is the missing of the teaching of grace. And each of these errors is common to the heart of a natural man. And I think we need to be careful and recognize that each of these errors as well is common to the heart of the Lord's people when we're not pursuing what we so often call in this place, gospel thinking. I've tried to put before you that we need, with great care, to look at this topic, not only with care to understand the particular doctrines that are involved, the theology that's underneath, but also in our application of it. That we be very careful not to accuse brethren of things they're not guilty of. of recognizing that there are different degrees of falling into these errors. And it is very possible for someone who is a genuine believer, a genuine Christian, to be tripped up at times going into ways in which these errors are manifested. An example of that very clearly is in this very epistle that we have just read from this morning, the book of Galatians. The Apostle Paul, eagerly and zealously crying out in defense of the gospel of grace, had on occasion to withstand Peter to the face, it is said. They didn't challenge Peter with reference to his apostolic teaching, to his apostolic office. It's important to recognize that. But there was something in Peter's practice that could be misunderstood and could be misinterpreted by those who would take it and seek to use that example in teaching something false. And so here, if we can see a Paul and a Peter having to wrestle out a small issue in their lives and in their Christian walk, then let us as well graciously and yet pointedly and with purpose engage others who we can and must recognize at times are believers and seeking after the things of God. And I want this morning as we come to consider this last study, what I call the adulteration of grace by those that are saved. Remember our opening study, we talked about the rejection of grace by those that are lost. They've tried in intervening studies to grapple with the very definitions, the very ways in which these two extremes, these two other errors, legalism and antinomianism, are manifested, how they're shown. But also now to see how they can show up at times, even in our own hearts, and at times in the teaching ministry of the New Testament Church. How the gospel of grace can so easily at times be adulterated and other things to be mixed in with it. You see, friends, it's possible at times to have evangelical hearts, hearts that are at one with Christ, that are indeed born again, but yet struggling, struggling with our understanding, struggling with our pursuits. You can look at it even from the other side. As another has said, it's possible at times to have an evangelical head. They have our doctrine straight and to be of the Lord's people, but yet a legal spirit or an antinomian spirit to come into our hearts and to trip us up. And that's why we have to with humility and with fervency, and dare we say constancy, to ask the Lord for grace that we can have an understanding of the gospel, not merely in our heads. And it's not even that we all become expert theologians. But to have that gospel understanding and that gospel walk to permeate our lives in all the particular areas of our lives, how we live before God and how we live before one another. I want for us to review this morning before we come to two things I would suggest to you today. I want us to review again the definitions, what we're really talking about when we look at legalism and antinomianism. You remember, a legalist is not someone whose life is conformed to the law of God. We do not define legalism as looking at someone who is striving to keep the Ten Commandments and what he does in his living. No, the definition of a legalist is someone who seeks to obtain merit by following the commandments. Someone who believes it's possible to get credit with God, to be justified by his pursuit of the Law. And then on the other hand, when you look at an antinomian, a man that is against the Law, here's a man that refuses to look at the Law of God, refuses to take even that summary of the Law and the Ten Commandments and say, this is binding for me. This is the definition of what's right and wrong. This is how I must live before God. You see, we could look at it in this way, and I've put before you these doctrinal phrases, and it's important for us to understand them, so I use them again. A legalist is someone who insists upon using the law as a covenant of work. A legalist is someone who insists upon using the law as a covenant of works. He is taking that law as something he can use to manipulate God. He is taking the law as something that he believes he has the power to use to earn favor with God. And so I say he is insisting upon using the law as a covenant of works. An antinomian is someone who refuses to use that same law as a rule of life. An antinomian is someone who says, these commandments, this law, whatever God has said in His word about right and wrong, I'm not bound by that. I'm not going to follow that. I don't have to obey. That's antinomianism. And you see, this is where, as we said in our opening study, things become slippery. Because there are ways in which the law is done away for us. And there are ways in which the law remains for us. That we have to keep it. And the terminology that has now been honored by time and centuries, particularly in the reform camp, of these phrases of a covenant of works and a rule of life. These, I believe, are phrases that help us in our understanding of the law. How much can we grapple with it when we go to the New Testament and on one page it says, do away with the law, and on the other page it says, cherish the law, reverence it, follow it, do it. Where as we compare Scripture with Scripture, we come to recognize that as a means of obtaining righteousness, a means of justifying ourselves, the law is useless for us now because I'm sinful. I'm depraved. I have a heart in me that's antagonistic to God. I'm already condemned before I ever start trying to keep the law. You can look at it in this way, even if I could come to a point in time in my life which from that day forward, I perfectly fulfilled the law. and understand again that its demands are not merely your outward actions but your thoughts, the inclinations and the very desires of your heart. But if it were even possible to come to a point in time and from that point in time onward to perfectly fulfill the law in all of those ways, I still have this debt of being condemned under it already when I was first born to a fallen parent. And none of my efforts And again, remember, even that we're suggesting is an impossibility. But none of those law works can ever overcome that debt. Because he that offends in one point is guilty of all. Which sin can God ignore and let me in heaven, if I can overcome it by these other things? None of them. And so, as a covenant of works, as a means of obtaining my own righteousness, the law is useless for me. And it is an insult to God for me to suggest that I can merit salvation by keeping that law. And that is why the New Testament repeatedly tells us, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified. And then we come to understand Christ as our covenant Head, as our Mediator, that He has come and He is in our place, entered into that covenant of works for us. That He has come, born of a virgin, sinless, holy, harmless, undefiled, as our substitute to enter into that law. You think of that, and I think there are a few Christians in our last couple generations that have really thought of that text enough. When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law. all the truth of the incarnation, all the truth of His being our vicarious substitute, of Him taking the obligations, the responsibilities that the law demanded of us and condemned us. Here, one, that the law couldn't condemn. Here, one, that in every detail, even as a covenant of works, looked at that law, magnified it, made it honorable. Obeyed in every detail, in every action, in every thought, in every inclination of will. He said, I do always the things that please Thee. Here is gospel understanding. The covenant of works. I'm condemned already. But Christ as the second Adam has taken His place under that law as that covenant of works and He has merited life for me. I say, friends, as a covenant of works, for me, the law is useless. And any attempt to reinstate the law, whether it's the Ten Commandments or any other form of moral law, any other new covenant of works, There is the legal spirit saying, I can do this and earn the favor of God. I can do this and earn glory. Friends, that is the heresy of legalism. As a law, as a covenant of works rather, the law is forever done away. Because as sinners, we cannot be justified by it. If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But I'm carnal, sold under sin, and there's no possibility of obtaining merit with God by my efforts of keeping the law. I say when we come to understand those gospel truths, That is when we look at that law and we look at the gospel and its relation to the law in that way. It is easy for the natural mind to think then, well, then there's nothing you can do to save yourself if your pursuits of the law are useless anyway. And if this glorious thing is true, that Christ has come, that Christ has entered into that covenant for you, that Christ has taken the weight of that law upon Himself, He's merited righteousness. He's paid the penalty of the law as well. All of this grace, all of this freely given, Then what shall we say? We shall continue in sin. That grace may abound and God will give all the more glory for all the more sins we commit that he forgives us for. Friends, I say it's a startling thing. But for us to be accused of teaching antinomianism is an indication that some truth of the gospel has gotten through. Salvation is free. It's by grace alone. It is based in no way upon the works of the sinner receiving the salvation. That is gospel truth. But that truth doesn't lead to antinomianism. But while we reject the law as a covenant of works, we push it away as a covenant of works. In Christ Jesus as a believer, we embrace the very same law as a rule of life. We come very humbly and very honestly to say, yes, this is God's definition of what's right and wrong. And I am poor and depraved and unable to perfectly keep it. There's no way that my efforts to fulfill it can ever be the ground of my acceptance, can ever be the ground of my entrance into heaven, can ever be the ground of my justification. But my Savior has freely given me the grounds of that righteousness because He kept it. He has obeyed. His righteousness is given to me. It's imputed and counted as mine. But now, by His gracious Spirit, He's given me a new heart. And He's also given me, as it says in that new covenant, to write His law upon my heart. And I might stumble and stutter and fall, but yet this now is the direction and the pursuit of my life. Because this is what God is like. And His great task, His gracious work in sanctifying us into Himself and bringing us to glory is to conform us more and more and more to the image of Jesus Christ. And so as a rule of life, I happily embrace the law. I happily pursue the law. But you see, there's that gospel heart in me recognizing that I'm not getting credit for this, because even on my best day, I have come short of the glory of God, but my Savior hasn't. I was listening to some tapes recently on the subject of heaven, and I'm sure I'll be greatly plagiarizing from them, Lord willing, in the days ahead as we come to look at this topic. It's come my lot again to teach in our theological seminary on the subject of eschatology. And a lot of times we think, well, that's just fighting over the millennium. That's fighting over the time of the rapture. That's looking at all this stuff. Well, that's part of studying prophecy. But a great part, and often a neglected part in the study of last things, is the study of the doctrine of our own death, our own mortality, then our own immortality, and the doctrine of heaven and hell. And it's an amazing thing if you ever look at theology textbooks at how little there is in them on the subject of heaven. Sadly, how little there is in many of them on the subject of hell as well. Anyway, that's for a later day. But there was an illustration that was given that warmed my heart, and I think it fits in so well with the gospel answer to legalism and antinomianism. particularly against that antinomian spirit that says, well, if we're saved by grace, then we don't have to worry about the law. No, a man that is saved by grace has been now changed. As Paul says in Corinthians, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. A man that's regenerated by the Spirit of God doesn't think the way he used to think. He certainly doesn't act the way he used to act because he has now a new way of thinking, a new way of understanding. And even when he stumbles and falls into sin, he recognizes it as sin. He counts it as sin. And there's that within him that abhors his sin and doesn't want it. And that's one of the great conflicts of the Christian life in this realm of sanctification. We still have the flesh. We still have a tendency within that would lead us to sin. Thank God the new man also has a tendency within, and this tendency within is the real new man that is against sin. And the spirit, as we read this morning, lusts against the flesh. But there was a tremendous illustration of this truth, of the answer of grace in the heart that this preacher gave. He gave, and he was just stealing yet from another preacher, a story of a man that was a missionary to Japan, and that there was a man that was converted in the midst of the week. And this man had been a habitual thief all his life. You could say that he had made a career of stealing. And as he came to Christ, as those that knew the Lord had witnessed to him and spoken to him, and he was converted, In the days between his conversion and the first Lord's Day where he went to the house of God, he was struggling in his soul. Lord, how am I going to do this? How am I going to get victory over stealing? It's been such a habit for me. It's been all I've ever done. I don't know if I can do this. It's said when he went to the church, as he walked in, He saw posted on the wall there in the lobby a copy of the Ten Commandments. And he read there the words, You shall not steal. And it said it broke through to the man's heart and he cried out in his soul and said, Thank you, Lord, for that promise. Now, we might be taken back. Oh, no, wait a minute. You missed it. That's a command. You shall not steal. Don't do this. But you see what the man felt in his heart was exactly right. For a child of God with the law written upon his hearts, yes, there's that condemnation. Yes, there's that prohibition put upon us not to do these things. But there's also in them a gracious promise. Because what will it be, friends, in the day of glory? You'll not steal. You'll not commit adultery. You'll not bear false witness. You're not covet. You don't take God's name in vain. You're not be guilty of idolatry. God's going to rid us of all these things and He's promised to do it. And I say there is a little bit of the gospel answer in the heart. And the antinomian spirit is a spirit that is contrary to that. The antinomian spirit is, oh, God can't tell me what to do. The new heart says, God has every right to tell me what to do, and what an awful thing when I fail in any bit of it. So I say, friends, just again to review for us some of these many and varied definitions as we've looked at these things from so many different angles. A legalist is a man that insists upon using the law as a covenant of works. An antinomian is a man that refuses to use the law as a rule of life. The believer in Jesus Christ is freed from, I say, both of these errors and ultimately their twin errors. But I want this morning to focus upon how sometimes believers can stumble back into these. I want to suggest to you this morning, firstly, that the grace of the gospel produces humility, and secondly, the grace of the gospel produces holiness. The grace of the gospel produces humility, and the grace of the gospel produces holiness. You see, when you look at legalism and antinomianism, ultimately each of these alternatives focus upon what men do to which God responds. Whereas in reality, the gospel is what God has done, is doing, and will do in the lives of his blood-bought people. Now, again, these things can become subtle for us, but both of these errors, legalism and antinomianism, I say focus upon what man has done. A legalist, of course, he's focusing upon what he's doing all the time. And he's inviting other men and inviting God to look at it. Look and see. Look at me. I'm doing a good job. Can you give me credit for this? You see, that's not humility. That's pride. And the gospel of grace doesn't produce pride. It produces humility. And then you have the antinomian. He's focusing upon what he's done too. He's saying, well, this gospel is all of grace. I've made my decision. So, all of that's settled. And now I can just live like the devil and God will just get all the more glory for it. And don't you try and tell me what to do either. Why would you rob God of His glory or me of my fun? What's he doing? He's again focusing on what he's done. And he's content. He's satisfied again with the work that he's done. He looks at the legals and says, what are you doing all that for when all you've got to do is this one thing? You see how the same spirit can be in both of these men? They're focusing on man instead of focusing upon God. But I say, friends, the grace of the gospel produces humility. I want you to look with me here in Galatians, and I look at our time, and I'm frankly stunned at where we are. But I'm keeping this a four-part series, so we'll finish today. And maybe it's just as good, because the things I want to touch on today are very delicate things. And I want us to have a good and a sober heart as we deal with them. The grace of the gospel produces humility. In Galatians chapter 6, if you read with me the twelfth and the thirteenth verses, as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, They constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh." That last phrase gives you the spirit of the Judaizers in Galatia. They wanted to glory in the flesh of these Galatians. Time of notice is already a factor today, so we can't go into the whole theme of Galatians. But if you just remember with me the basic thrust here, the churches of Galatia, Paul has gone to established churches, he's preached the gospel, he's seen converts in Asia Minor. There were Judaizers from Jerusalem that came up, and these were men that were seeking to corrupt these churches to gather disciples to themselves, and there was a particular agenda that they had. They didn't want to overthrow Christianity. They were using Christianity and its growth as a means of their own ends and their own good. They desired to be recognized in the Roman world. They didn't want to come under the persecution of the Romans. The Jews as a religion had recognition as a legitimate religion in the Roman Empire. There were periods of trouble here and there. There was an occasion, you remember, when the Jews were thrust out of Rome. But nonetheless here, these men are seeking some happy middle ground so that they don't get any friction from anywhere. They didn't want the friction that the Christians were receiving from the Jews because of the offense of the cross. They didn't want to ruffle the pride of those Judaizers or those Pharisaic-type leaders and feathers, as it were, to say, well, Gentiles being accepted with God on an equal footing, on the same plane with us Jews? Well, that can never be. And that's where you see the legalism of those Jewish Christ rejecters. It offended them sorely that they thought that a Gentile, a wicked person, You see, there's where the whole thing becomes displayed. They weren't seeing themselves as wicked people in need of justification, in need of salvation. The whole thought that a wicked person could be accepted with God on the same plane, the same footing as us Jews, it could never be. So the Judaizers took opportunity and they said, well, now we can come in and we'll not seek to overthrow Christianity. But what we'll do is we'll have Gentile converts submit to circumcision. We'll have Gentile converts admit the bad condition they were in, and then by ritual, come up to the same plane as us. So while they didn't want to outwardly overthrow Christ, they just wanted to add something to Christ. And so they went to these people and said, well, you know, you've heard Paul preach the gospel, but you need this too. The Spirit of God gave us, through the Apostle Paul, one of the most fiery documents that this world has ever seen in the book of Galatians to fight against that heresy. Christ is everything. And Paul comes to these Galatians and the point that he makes, which is so telling, he says, if you look back in chapter 4, if you look in chapter 5, you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? He's telling these legalists, look, if you want to genuinely take a look at this law you're glorying in, then be honest about it. It's either the whole law or the whole Christ. You can't have part of one and part of the other and be saved. Now, legalists are happy to look at the law as long as you give them the liberty to define the law. Christ came to the Pharisees that gloryed in the law and said, well, you have heard it said, you shall not kill. But I say, you're angry at your brother without cause. You're guilty. What did Christ do? He wrenched from the Pharisees, He wrenched from the legalists, the right to define the law. He said, no, God defines the law. And the definition is not only the action, but the thought and inclination of the heart. And you see, the Pharisees didn't like that, because they came under condemnation then. And the legalist doesn't want to be under the law to be condemned. He wants to be under the law to be made to look good. And the only way he can do it is to change the law, because he can't change himself. So here, the Judaizers came, and they said, add, circumcise yourself. And Paul says, what is this but the glory in your flesh? The gospel doesn't produce glory in the flesh. The gospel produces glory in one thing only, the cross. God forbid, Paul says here, and I love the way it's reflected in the hymn we sang beneath the cross. My sinful self, my only shame, my glory, all the cross. God forbid, Paul says, that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He shows that there is no way men can glory in themselves. Legalists want to glory in themselves. They want to glory in the flesh. The grace of the gospel produces humility. I said I wanted to speak this morning about some things that can become very sensitive But the spirit of this Judaizing influence comes in so many ways. There's no way in a sermon or a series of sermons or even a lifetime that we could list all the ways the spirit comes in. The different ways it's manifested. I believe that there is a way in which it's been manifested in our generation that's very subtle. A lot of times we say, well, we'll admit, we'll have those evangelical minds, we'll admit justifications by faith alone, period. There's nothing we can do to save ourselves. We just make this decision. We trust in Christ, and then that is done by faith. But now that that's over with, friend, I want to talk to you about sanctification, and then out comes the rule book. And we get into sanctification by works. I say, friends, this is where it's slippery and subtle for us because sanctification involves good works. Ephesians tells us plainly we were created in Christ Jesus unto good works. That's the point. We're never saved by good works. Salvation is never the result of our works. But our works are the result of salvation. We're changed. We're new creatures. We begin to use that law properly now as a rule of life, instead of using it as a covenant of works. But the legalist never comes out from under the covenant of works mentality. And he begins to bring that bondage out now. He's not going to hold the bondage over you as far as justification, but he's going to hold the bondage over you as far as sanctification. And he begins what others have called sanctification by vinegar. Friends, sanctification, while at times it is painful, while at times it is difficult and it involves the humiliation of the flesh, yet it is a joyful humbling when by the Spirit of God we are shown more of our Savior, more of ourselves. We flee from self and sin unto Him. I believe this legal spirit comes in at times in evangelical quarters. Paul said to these Galatians in chapter 3, having begun in the Spirit, Are you made perfect by the flesh? Are you missing something that you now have to perfect here? Is there something you've got to add to Christ that you didn't get when you got Christ? And that spirit comes in so often. When I was in seminary, came into the doctrines of grace, there was a phrase that Those of us that were there, there were four other brethren that I was in the class with. Each of us had come out of what had been called and is still called in many circles today a fundamentalist background. We were independent churches, churches for each of us that did not embrace Calvinism, often were opponents of Calvinism, but yet very zealous for holiness. But there was something missing. The joy of the Lord was missing. And there was in these camps that we had been familiar with, the pursuit of holiness, the thrusting out of the world. I mean, there was never any shortage of sermons on Romans 12, 1 and 2. Be not conformed to this world. And brethren, that's a great text. We did a whole series on it here a few years ago. Maybe we need to do it again. But the system seemed to produce something different than joy. And we came to recognize it as we sat under the preaching of the gospel. And we gave it a title. We called it bondage theology. Where you're told, yes, you're saved by faith, but now you've got to really get serious about this thing. And constantly preaching against sin and preaching of our failures and the shortcomings of the Lord's people. And it produced almost a conveyor belt in the aisles at times of coming forward and making rededications and confessing sin. And then the bondage again. Well, I failed in what I confessed and I had gotten right before, but yet I'm still broken. I fell again. What's the problem? And then at times, deeper and deeper levels of this bondage. Friends, there is never a shortage in the church of the legal spirit for men to come along and say, I can help you with this. I'll give you my list. And when you do these things, then you'll feel better about yourself. But then we pursue these things and suddenly the bondage becomes deeper. If you turn with me quickly over to the book of 1 John, I want to suggest you a title for what I think is the fullest fruit of this bondage theology that the church has produced. I call it Seminarism. There are all kinds of parachurch organizations and different directions God's people have gone looking for teaching. And I'm not trying with blanket words to condemn every parachurch group or every man that's ever given his thoughts or suggestions about dealing with the problems of child rearing or personal holiness or education or whatever, finance. I mean, you name it, there's a seminar for any issue in our lives. But the problem is, at times, is that the focus comes upon the teacher. And I want to read you a verse which, in some ways, is a difficult verse. But in 1 John chapter 2, we read these words in verse 27. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." A little phrase there, you need not let any man teach you. Well, how can it be? I mean, you read our New Testament and the Scripture talks about it in Ephesians. He gave some apostles and prophets and pastors and teachers for the building up of the saints, for the work of the ministry. You look at the pastoral epistles and all the descriptions about the teachers of the church and the office bearers. Isn't John himself teaching these men? When he writes them, you have no need that a man teach you. This would be a great text to rip out of its context. John isn't saying there's no place for teachers in the church. The context here is that of false teachers and of heresy that's come in. And John gives an answer to these false teachers, these heresies. And it's interesting because there's a spirit, I think, so often in our hearts as the Athenians. You know, when Paul was preaching in Athens, it said that they were glad to hear him because the Athenians, they took delight in always hearing some new thing. But I think sometimes in the church, that's where we are in the mind of our flesh, even with good motives at times. I've got to hear some new thing because I've been struggling with sin ever since I got saved. And I've got to hear some new thing to get me out of this struggle. What we don't realize at times is what gets us out of the struggle is the return of Christ. Glorification. Until then, we're in struggle. And a lot of times we're thinking, I shouldn't be in this struggle because I'm a Christian now. No, you should be in the struggle. And the only reason you are struggling is because you are a Christian. You've got a new heart within you living in a foreign world and with a fleshly nature that still has to die. And so the very fact that we're in the struggle should be encouraging to us that there's a new principle within us that's fighting against the old. But instead, at times, the flesh in its weakness, and at times when our understanding of Christ is weak, we think, well, why am I struggling? This shouldn't be. And that's where extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit, that'll prove it that you're really God's child. That'll convince you you belong to Him. That'll finally give you peace. You've got to get something extra instead of just Jesus. Or whether it comes in an evangelical or fundamentalist garb saying, well, you got Jesus as Savior, but you know, you never had Him as Lord, so you need that now too. Second blessing teaching comes in everywhere. So often we're seeking after that new thing. John here in dealing with these dear children, as he calls them, he gives them two things that are the things they need. One of them is found in verse 24. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning." That which you have heard from the beginning. The Word. Apostolic teaching. The Word. Then you come to verse 27 and you get the second thing. The anointing which you received of Him. I believe it's the same thing as you find back in verse 20. You have an unction from the Holy One. and know all things. It's the ministry of the Spirit of God in the heart. And these two things are never at odds with each other. The Spirit never works in our lives subjectively in those nitty-gritty details in contrast to the Word. The Spirit, rather, ministers to us, illuminating our hearts and minds, giving us understanding of the Word. As we go to the Word, as we seek the Lord in it, we pray over it, the Spirit of God gives answer in our hearts and guides us in these things. And that's why it says you have no need that any man teach you. There's an anointing in you. The Holy Spirit of God will teach you these things. The Holy Spirit of God will take you on. And again, remember, in the context here, John's dealing with two things that we have to battle against false teaching and heresy. He's not saying in this statement, blanketly, you have no need that any man teach you, that we throw off the office-bearers of the church. That you throw away this epistle I'm writing you right now, too, and just go around flirting, as it were. That you deny objective truth. That's not the point. The point is, at times, our flesh wants a man to teach us. Beyond that, at times, our flesh wants a man to come alongside of us and just put that list in front of me. Just tell me what to do now. Okay, now this happened, now you tell me what to do next. Now this happened, now you tell me what to do next. And that's when the preacher's phone starts ringing. Now, I don't say that in rebuke of any of you here, but the point is that we're looking for that answer. This person to come alongside and do this for me. And what I need is a deeper understanding of the Word. More understanding of the gospel. Greater help by the Spirit of God. And what does the Spirit of God even use other men in these things by? How is it done? In the means of grace. It's in the church. It's in the preaching of Christ. It's seeing more of His work. It's seeing more of the gospel. And applying that gospel to my life. Here's where these things unfold. And the gospel of grace produces humility. Because even in the things he finds for me to do, that I go on in my life, I'm not now presenting them as some, oh, I've got merit now, and I can even tell you how to do it now. That's the legal spirit. I say, friends, I've come to some things very sensitive. I've mentioned seminarism. One of the great words in what I call seminarism is the word principle. But can I submit to you, And I'm deliberately avoiding names here, but there's not one or two, but many examples of this in the church today. What many of these seminars offer you is a list. But it's not so much the principles that they're giving. You see, a principle is a truth. It is a guiding truth that will help me in different particular situations. Well, if I understand the gospel, Then I meet with this situation, how does the gospel help me to deal with that? But then a completely different situation comes up. Well, that's not on my list, but yet I've got the gospel. I have the principle of the thing, and then I take the gospel to that particular situation. You look at it with child rearing. How do you deal with it? Well, you look at the gospel. These kids are sinners. If it wasn't obvious before, it's becoming obvious now. How's God dealt with me? Well, it's in grace. It's in the gospel. But what has that got to do with throwing food off your high chair? Well, is it sin? How do I deal with sin? I beat people until they're bloodied. Well, discipline comes in, but yet understanding. I better stop here. I'll start getting into particulars. What I want to suggest to you is, Is there a lot of times where the particular in my life is going to be different than in yours? The principle is going to be the same. The particular is going to be different. Now, these particulars are never going to be different than the moral law. I never have liberty to throw God's law away. But so often, a man is going to come to you, and instead of giving you a principle, he is going to give you a particular. I remember listening years ago, when our children were little, Man, we were looking for some help, looking for some answers. And we were listening to these tapes in one of our many adventures in the car, and this fellow gave a list of how fathers could deal with his daughters. Some of the things he said were very good, but then he started really getting to a list here, and one of the things he said, you've got to write a little note and put it in your daughter's lunchbox. My kids don't have lunchboxes. What do I do now? And I'll never forget, even as a teenager and as studying to be a camp counselor, we were dealing with issues in youth work and conflicts there. And I remember you'd turn the page here and you'd deal with this new one. As always, there's seven steps to this. There's eight steps to this. And I always used to come back and thinking, even as a teenager, couldn't there be nine? Or maybe there's only four. There's always a man that's going to give me his list of particulars. Instead of, can we even borrow the word back? The principles of the gospel, that these will guide me. You see friends, the bonded spirit comes in. We wrestle with things day by day. How am I going to educate my kids? Am I going to send them to public school? Well, I've got to be aware of what's going on out there. I went to public school my last four years of high school. You see how I turned out. So don't send your kids to public school. But wait a minute, there's Christian schools now. That's the answer. We can send our kids to Christian school. We can surrender our conscience to the church. It's all done. And then all of a sudden we have problems. All Christian schools are down tubes. They can't trust them. We've got to homeschool. That's the answer. The gospel is the answer. And we're always ready to forget about the gospel. That's too hard. No, no, no. That's too easy. It's too something. Just give me this thing and I can check it off and it's done. And then once I get it done, and maybe, by the grace of God, I have a kid that turns out. Or I get rid of this sin in my life. Oh boy, this is really pretty good. I can start telling other people how to do it. And then all of a sudden, your particular is the law. And if somebody doesn't come by your list, well then he doesn't have it. And then the bonded spirit comes in, and then the self-righteous temper comes in, And the gospel doesn't produce self-righteousness. The gospel produces humility. Friends, that's where with humility. And friends, what's more humbling than recognizing, I need grace every day. What's more humbling than going to the Scripture, or even sitting under a preacher, and seeing gospel truth, and seeing even what the Scripture says about holiness and walking with God, and having written even a few notes down and thinking, this is truth. And with that truth right before your face, you fall flat on your face. Do you say then, well, this doesn't work. If you've got a legal spirit, when you fall enough times, Then you'll say this doesn't work, and you'll throw it away. Because you've been looking at the law as a covenant of works, instead of looking at the law as a rule of life. If you've been looking at it as a covenant of works, and you keep following your face, you think, well, God's never going to be pleased with me now, I've blown it so many times. I might as well just quit. You're looking at the law wrong. You've reduced the law to a keepable standard, and then you don't keep your keepable standard, You've got more bondage than you know what to do with. As I look at the clock, and this is embarrassingly long, but I want to finish today and this series be done, I want to quickly suggest to you as well that the grace of the gospel also produces holiness. The situation I just described, I believe, is a dangerous situation that many genuine believers are found in today. They have sat under preaching that has sought to manipulate their outward lives. And friends, I'm preaching to you as a free Presbyterian, and one of the things we get criticized for the most is standards. So, you don't tell me I'm preaching antinomianism, alright? A lot of these people are sitting under this type of preaching and teaching. And the bondage gets greater and greater. It's the gospel of self-discipline rather than the gospel of grace. And ultimately, if they sit under this and they have no peace to their soul, if the bondage spirit has overwhelmed them and they never have assurance, and a lot of times, friends, this legal spirit, even among believers, begins to rob of assurance. You can only go so long in being robbed of assurance. You have no peace in the gospel. And then very many times, When people say, I've looked at these lists and it doesn't work, I keep failing by it. You never hear of Christ. You never hear of the smile of God upon His believing people. You never hear of your position in Christ. You never hear of imputed righteousness. The joy that wells up within you to know you're seated just now in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You're at the right hand of God in Christ. You'll never be in hell. His smile is upon you. His love is set upon you. He cherishes you as His children. You never hear and rejoice in this. And you've been spinning your wheels in this bondage. The fleshly reaction to that, even at times among the Lord's people, is to say, forget you and your rules. And you flee to the mantinomian spirit and say, God's going to take me no matter what I am. Friends, again, I'm speaking in generalities here. But I believe there are many people today that have gone from a legal spirit and evangelical and fundamentalist churches, these words are fluid, they're changing in time. But there are many people that with their eyes wide open have walked away from that bondage theology into new evangelical and compromising churches because at least there they don't have to deal with their sin anymore. Nobody's ever going to bring it up. And sadly, some of these churches at times are teaching better things from the Word than some of the staunch separatist churches are. And I preach and say that as a staunch separatist. You see, what we need is we don't need to say, I don't need to hear any of Mount Sinai. That's just bondage. It makes you be in a bad mood. You don't feel good about yourself and all of these problems. So I'm going to get rid of Mount Sinai. No. What I need is I need to hear all of Mount Sinai. I need to hear the Sermon on the Mount to explain the depths of Mount Sinai. To make, if it were possible, the thunder and lightning to be all the more loud. To be all the more forceful and powerful and convincing and convicting. I don't need to have any sin present in my life that I can feel comfortable with. If I'm ever in that place, I'm wrong. I need to hear all of Mount Sinai. But then, I must hear all of Mount Calvary. I must know sin abounds, but grace super abounds. And knowing this, and with a new heart in mind, I'm like that man that walks in, and I see the law of God, and I don't say anymore, oh, I'm not doing that anymore. I say, Lord, praise Your name. That's a promise that's going to be true for me. You're going to get rid of this sin for my life. Can you see the difference? Seeing the law as a rule of life instead of as a covenant of works. Friends, I said I was getting into sensitive things and I have to quit here, but I've touched on the seminarism of the Arminians. Friends, the gospel of grace also produces holiness. I did not grow up in Reformed circles. I came into Reformed theology through the free church. But in reading and attending various conferences and different points of literature and all, I've had some interaction with various Reformed groups. And friends, it's a fearful thing under the guise of Christian liberty. Remember, Christian liberty is not the freedom to throw the law away. It's the freedom from the bondage of having to obtain my own righteousness by the works of the law. Antinomians do throw the law away as a rule of life. And it is a sad thing when a man can say, I'm going to live any way I want, and I can win an argument with any Arminian in the world, and that comforts me in my sin. The gospel produces holiness. Paul even talked about genuine liberties that he had, that he surrendered for the cause of Christ, for the edification of the church. I heard an interesting remark by Sinclair Ferguson at this conference. And here's a man that would minister in a denomination that would not only have some of the standards our church has, but would also wrestle with unbelief and liberalism in its ranks. And I believe scripturally you must come out of that. But he said, you know, Christians at times differ on various things. And he took the illustration of alcohol, which is always such a vital thing in the free church standards. And I'm sure he would differ than the standard we have, which again, remember, it's a standard that we ask of our people of voluntary abstinence. It's not a commentary that is always sin. He said there are people under the guise of Christian liberty that are compelled to drink in order to show their liberty. And I thought it very fitting, he said, this, friends, is not an illustration of liberty, it is an illustration of bondage. You feel the only way you can genuinely possess this liberty is to exercise it. And scripturally, Paul said, I'm going to get rid of anything, even things that I have liberty to do, if there's any occasion of stumbling in my brethren. That's not even bringing in the debate about Bible's wines versus modern alcoholic beverages. That's saying, here's a man, here's somebody talking about bondage. under the guise of Christian liberty. And I think, friends, this is true. The gospel always produces holiness. We can comfort ourselves and we can badmouth the fundamentalists and say, oh, well, it's just standardism, seminarism, and all that garbage anyway. And then we allow into our lives and into our homes things that are exactly contrary to the law of God. You think of the The field of entertainment today. How many things are let into our homes, into our minds? They're contrary to the law. I have liberty. You never have liberty to be unholy. The gospel of grace produces humility. The gospel of grace produces holiness. Our understanding of the law The issue of legalism and antinomianism, friends, it goes everywhere. It's not just a point of debate in a few pages of our theology textbooks. It is part of the warp and woof of our daily lives. I challenge you. You think of something you face tomorrow or Tuesday or Wednesday that doesn't come under this umbrella of legalism and antinomianism for the gospel of grace. You can't. It's everywhere. And that's why we need gospel thinking to guide us through. We need to immerse ourselves in this book with humility to say, Lord, here I am. I need to know more of you. The things that you've heard, seek them in the Word. And also ask God by the anointing of that Spirit which is given to you to give you wisdom in the application of the Word. Really, friends, at the end of the day, it's not very hard. A particular thing you do, you constantly wind up in sin. Well, maybe this little thing that you might think you have liberty to is a doorway for sin. Alright. Lord, give me a deal with this. This isn't rocket science, friends. This is Christian living. I know and I apologize for the length of our time together today, but friends, these are truths we must live with. As a covenant of works, we thrust the law from us. It's just pride. But as a rule of life, we bring the law in as close as we can. Lord, give me grace, even in the smallest details of my daily life, to be more and more and more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Give me more of Yourself. More of a love for your Lord. More of a heart that looks even at those ten words and says, thank you Lord for every one of those promises. That's a gospel heart. Friends, we need gospel hearts. I pray that the Lord will increase our understanding and increase our enjoyment of these truths. Let's bow our heads together. Our Heavenly Father, we ask Thee today, guide us by Your Spirit in our understanding, even of these deep waters. I pray that we will know wisdom from on high, that by the Word and by the indwelling Spirit, we will be found in Christ and that we will grow in Him. growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Even as Paul said to these Galatians, you're not made perfect by the flesh, you're not going to be sanctified and purified in fleshly ways. The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Lord, increase our faith. Take you at your word. Rejoice that you are doing a work in your people. You have given of your spirit, and I pray that we will be found loving thee, saying with the psalmist, saying with the New Testament apostles, how I love thy law. I delight in the law of God after the inward man. O Lord, let it be. Give us understanding in these cardinal things. There are many here today that are outside of Christ. It isn't religion you need. It isn't mere standards that you need. It isn't church membership you need. It isn't the recognition of others you need. You need Christ. If you're outside of Him, no matter what your profession, or even what others think, I invite you today to embrace Him. who is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Lord let it be, we ask thee in Jesus' name. Amen.