I've continued to listen to sermons in the car as I commute to and from school. Let me tell you, hearing God's Word preached really affects my day. It affects how I view myself, how I view others, and reminds me how dependent I need to be on God throughout the day. Recently, I listened to a sermon from C.J. Mahaney dating back to a conference I attended January 1999. The sermon was on the topic of legalism, and I had forgotten so much from the message in the last 8 years.

What is legalism? C.J. says, "Legalism is seeking to achieve forgiveness from God, justification before God, and acceptance by God through obedience to God". In other words, a legalist is anyone who behaves as if they can earn God's approval and forgiveness through personal performance. C.J. reminded the listener that in our depravity there is nothing that we can do to earn God's favor, as if God would be impressed by any obedience on our part that he would decide to bless us solely on our own merit. Rather, it is by the Cross alone that God's favor rests on us. Furthermore, it is also wrong to assume that God withholds his favor from us when we sin, even if we repent and are forgiven of that sin. That is, that we would be "on probation" with God until we have done something to prove ourselves. And from listening to this sermon multiple times in the last week, what I realize is:

I am a legalist.

There have been times, even recently, where I have condemned myself for things that I have done in the past. These are things that God has clearly forgiven me for, and rather than look towards Christ's work in forgiving me, I have beat myself up about these things and looked to myself and my performance. For example, sometimes I have felt that I need to "make up" for the past by praying more, or reading the Bible more, or fasting more, or any other number of things. And while these things are excellent, they are only a means of grace, not a basis for grace.

By being more aware of past failures than we are of God's forgiveness, we minimize the work of the Cross and put God's acceptance of us on the basis of our actions. When in reality, Scripture says that "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6) and there is nothing we do that adds or subtracts to the work of grace that is already finished. Because of this finished work, there is freedom.

There's just too much in the message to blog about. If you're interested in listening to this message, let me know.