In this insightful episode of Connect with Skip Heitzig, we delve into the pervasive issue of legalism within the Christian community. Beginning with an intriguing look at Mark Twain’s critical view of organized religion and the perceptions of non-Christians towards Christians, Skip challenges us to reconsider what it means to truly live by grace. We explore how legalism can often lead Christians to live a life that appears hypocritical and judgmental to outsiders.
00:00:01 Introduction to Connect with Skip Heitzig
00:00:45 Mark Twain’s Views and Perceptions of Christians
This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. Here at Connect with Skip, we love to help you know God’s Word better and apply it to your life through clear, practical Bible teaching and real encouragement. And if you’d like to keep growing in your walk with Jesus, sign up for Pastor Skip’s free weekly devotional. You’ll receive biblical insight, teaching highlights, and exclusive resource offers designed to help you stay strong in your faith, all delivered right to your inbox. Signing up is quick and easy, and you’ll be glad you did. Go to connectwithskip.com and join the list today. That’s connectwithskip.com. Now let’s dive into today’s teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig.
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So one of the most famous authors in American history is a guy by the name of Mark Twain. It’s no secret that Mark Twain had a real problem with organized religion and had his run-ins with religious people. Mark Twain once said, having spent considerable time with good people, I can understand why Jesus liked to be with tax collectors and sinners. He’s not alone. If you were to ask the average unbeliever what they think about a Christian, you would hear words like legalistic, judgmental, hypocritical. Now understand that They may see life through a lens where everything you do, no matter what you do or say, is bad because anybody who calls out their sin is a legalist. But I came across a study where a researcher interviewed thousands of unchurched non-Christians over several years. and just sort of got their intake and input of what they are thinking about, what they regard Christians to be like. And there’s two things, I’m not going to give you the whole study, but two things that stood out to me. Number one, they said Christians are against more things than they are for. With statements like, it seems to me that Christians are mad at the world and mad at each other. They’re just so negative. They seem so unhappy. I have no desire to be like them or stay upset all the time. The second thing that stood up is they would say some Christians try to act like they have no problems. They put on an act. They put on a show. Oh, this one gal was quoted because she had this Christian gal that worked, said she works in my department. She’s one of those Christians who seems to have a mask on. I would respect her more if she didn’t put on such an act. Now, it goes without saying that Christians shouldn’t put on an act. It should be real. It should be authentic, a real relationship with God. And We should be known for what we are for. We are for God. We are for Christ. We are for getting people to heaven. We are for seeing people live an abundant life in Christ. And we should be known for that. Now, the title of this message is called, I’m Saved, But I Feel Like I’m Never Doing Enough. I know that’s a long title. But that is how some of… You perhaps think, I’m saved, but I feel like I’m never doing enough. And I want to talk about the tyranny of legalism. Why? Because I think legalism is what makes people negative. And legalism is what makes people put on an act. And so I want to talk about legalism. Now, why do some Christians become legalistic? First of all, perfectionism. Maybe they were raised in a home where mom and dad set a standard of perfection. You got to have straight A’s on your report card. You’re going to be my son. You’re going to be playing these sports and doing that. And so they grow up leaving the house with, though the parents’ voices are long gone, they now have this inner voice that tells them they’re not good enough. They don’t match up. Another reason people become legalistic is they have a misunderstanding of grace. Grace, unmerited favor, undeserved favor, unconditional love. They don’t get that. Another reason is they’re just rule-driven people. Got to keep the rules. Everything has a rule. Everything has a place. And they just put everything in boxes and leave. That’s how they treat everyone and everything. Isn’t it interesting that the greatest person who ever lived, I’m talking, of course, about Jesus Christ, summed up the entire Old Testament law by how many commands? Two. Two commands. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. You do that, you’ve done it all. Whereas, in contrast… The legalistic Pharisees developed a system of 613 laws. 613, how precise is that? Of those 613 laws, 365 were negative laws. Thou shalt not, thou shalt not. Only 248 were positive. Now, I’ve had you turn to the book of Galatians, Galatians chapter 3. We’re going to be looking at a few verses here. because it’s a very special letter. You know, sometimes you get a letter and you just start reading the letter and you know right off the bat, oh man, this is gonna be a different letter. This person’s gonna lay something heavy on me, right? There’s a tone about the letter. Well, there’s a tone about this letter. Normally, when Paul writes a letter, he begins by giving greetings to the people. None of that is here in Galatians. He begins by praising God and saying some words of praise and appreciation for the people he’s writing to. That is absent in this letter. Now, Paul just sort of hits the ground running in Galatians. And here’s why. He started the church at Galatia, but some time has passed and a group of people have infiltrated the congregation. They were known as Judaizers. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that term, Judaizers. That describes Jewish Christians. So they’re Christians. They believe that Jesus is the Messiah, but they also believe that the Old Testament law, the Levitical law, is binding upon Christians. Christians have to keep the law or they can’t be saved. They first show up in Acts chapter 15, and they come to the council in Jerusalem, and they say, unless you are circumcised and keep the law of Moses, you cannot be saved. And so that created a real division and a snafu. So they were adding law to grace. They didn’t want to win people to Christ. They wanted to wean people away from the grace of Christ. And so Paul writes the book of Galatians to counteract that. It’s a warning to them. The book of Galatians and the book of Romans are probably the two, if I can say this, greatest works of Paul the Apostle. Without these two books, Christianity would have ended up as just a subset of Judaism. Because the theme of Galatians is justification by faith. And it’s more in this letter than ever. Now I happen to bring a book with me today besides my Bible. Remember show and tell when you were in school? So this is sort of like show and tell. I’m gonna show it to you. I don’t know if I’m gonna let you touch it, but I want you to see it. So I am holding in my hand my copy of Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians. And I’m holding it because this is a very old book. So this was printed, this volume was printed 27 years before the United States of America was founded. So this great nation of freedom, the book on spiritual freedom penned by Martin Luther, this copy was printed 27 years before. Now, of course, when this was printed in 1749, Martin Luther wrote that 200 years before that. But Martin Luther so loved the book of Galatians that he said, the letter to the Galatians is my letter. I betrothed it to myself. It is my wife. I don’t know what his wife thought about those words. Her name was Katie, and he loved her, but he loved the book of Galatians because he was up against the same ideology in the Roman Catholic Church, and so he fell in love with the book of Galatians, and he wrote this commentary. The book of Galatians is like the charter of the Protestant Reformation, justification by faith alone. Well, we’re going to look at a few verses, but let’s just read these verses, a section of Scripture, and then we’ll go back. Verse 1, Galatians 3. Look how nice Paul is. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now made perfect by the flesh? You have suffered so many things in vain or have you suffered so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain? I want to show you that legalism contradicts Three important things. First of all, legalism contradicts the gospel. The most important thing. Verse 1 says, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? It’s the truth of the gospel, as we see.
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You’re listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Every day, the generosity of friends like you helps make clear, practical Bible teaching available to families who are searching for hope, healing, and God’s truth. And this month, we want to thank you with a powerful resource focused on restoring God’s design for family. When you give, you’ll receive Reconnecting with Family, Pastor Skip’s new book drawn from more than 30 years of biblical teaching and pastoral wisdom. It speaks honestly to the real challenges families face—financial stress, emotional distance, discouragement, and temptation—while pointing you back to God’s timeless plan for healthy, God-honoring relationships. We’ll send Reconnecting with Family as our thanks when you give $50 or more to support the ministry of Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer. Now let’s return to today’s teaching.
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Now you’ll notice that he uses a term called a derogatory term, foolish. Oh, foolish Galatians. He does it twice. Also in verse three, are you so foolish? I know what some of you are thinking. You’re thinking, yeah, but Jesus said, don’t do that. Any of you thinking that? Didn’t Jesus say, if you’re angry with your brother, you’ll be guilty of the judgment. If you call your brother a fool, you’ll be in danger of hellfire. Remember, he said that. Yeah, he did say that, but the word he used for fool is very different than the word Paul uses for fool. Oh, and by the way, Jesus himself called his disciples foolish. When he rose from the dead, two disciples on the road to Emmaus, he said, Oh, foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. So when Paul says you are foolish, he is speaking of being spiritually dull. Let me read that to you in the Phillips translation. It’s a little more street level. Oh, you dear idiots of Galatia. Notice that dear idiots of Galatia. Surely you can’t be so idiotic. Now, when he says that, he doesn’t mean you have a mental issue. It means you have a spiritual issue. And the spiritual issue is you do not understand. You have a failure to understand the gospel. You know what the gospel is? The gospel, what does gospel mean? Good news. It means good news. What’s the good news? It means you are broke before God, spiritually bankrupt. There’s no amount of good works you could ever do to earn his love, let alone earn heaven. So he sent his son to take your place, to die for you, to get you into heaven and to be his child forever. That’s the good news. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried and raised again on the third day according to the scriptures. So Paul is saying, look, you know the gospel. Why would you choose bondage of legalism over the liberty of the gospel? Why would anybody do that? For one reason, they’ve been bewitched. Oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Who cast a spell over you? Who charmed you? Who came and tickled your fancies? some Judaistic teacher came in and wowed you guys. So yeah, you started out believing in grace through Jesus Christ, but now you’re ending up needing to keep the law of Moses. Now this tendency toward legalism I have seen over and over and over again. I, for example, sometimes see it in mission organizations, not all of them, but sometimes you’ll get mission organizations that tend toward legalism. We’re on the mission field. We are called. We left our home. We gave up everything. We’re more spiritual than everybody else. Yeah, you guys stay home and send us money, but we’re really the spiritual one. I see this tendency in many mission organizations. I also have seen this tendency in the Messianic Jewish movement. You know, here’s an example. One guy goes to Israel one time and comes back saying, I got to wear a kippah now. I need to keep kosher. I need to keep Sabbath. I need to celebrate the Passover. Nothing wrong in doing those things to get back to your roots. But when you make them meritorious and think that you’re a cut above everybody else, that’s a problem. I’ve also seen this tendency among young evangelicals. They were raised in a kind of a free, worshiping Protestant church, and then the pendulum swings for them from contemporary to more liturgical high church, and they start looking down on everybody else who doesn’t practice the same. Legalism, however, contradicts the gospel. Would you notice that When he says, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? Watch this. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. What does he mean by that? Galatians never saw Jesus crucified. The word he uses for portrayed means to post something publicly or to put it on a poster, to announce it on a poster. It spoke of official notices that were placed in the marketplace or public locations for citizens to read. In other words, Paul is saying, when I came to Galatia, I presented the gospel to you guys so clearly that It was as if you could see Jesus hanging on the cross. It was as if you heard the nails being hit by the hammer, driving them into his hands. It was as if you could visualize the blood pouring down. It was so understandable and so clear to you, but legalists have infiltrated your ranks, and you seem to have forgotten that very clear presentation. Now, I’ve been tossing a term around. What does it mean, legalism? What do I mean by that? Simply put, here’s the definition. It means adding anything man-made to the gospel. Anything man-made to the gospel. Anytime you add anything man-made to the God-given gospel, it tends to end up in legalism. So, for example, Jesus plus fill in the blank. Jesus plus baptism. Well, I’m glad you’re saved and you received Jesus in your heart. But now you must be baptized to be saved. It’s legalism. Or Jesus plus clothing styles. If you’re a real Christian, you’re going to dress like it. And women will not wear pantsuits, only long dresses. There’s churches that believe that. It’s legalism. Or Jesus plus a special diet. Or Jesus plus you got to give up some things. Now, if you smoke, you are not a Christian. You will not go to heaven. Smoke, all the smokes down there. Whenever you add anything to the gospel, guess what? It ceases being the gospel. Gospel means good news. You’ve just made it bad news. You’ve made it a burden. You are adding man-made regulations, and man-made regulations become a burden. Jesus was speaking of the Pharisees, and he said they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men’s shoulders. Peter used the same language. in that Acts 15 Council of Jerusalem thing I just brought up, when they said, you got to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved. Peter stood up and he said, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? You hear what he’s saying? Why are you telling people to keep something we never kept? Our forefathers never kept. Nobody has kept the laws that you are laying on people. So religion is man seeking God. The gospel is God seeking man. Religion is the story of what sinful man tries to do for a holy God. The gospel is the story of what God has done for sinful man. Has done. Religion is good views. The gospel is good news. There are many religions. There is one gospel. So legalism contradicts the gospel, the truth that Paul clearly gave to them. Second thing legalism contradicts, legalism contradicts experience. Verse two, this only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit of by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. Galatians, think back to your conversion experience, the time you changed. You clearly saw the meaning of the cross I presented to you. You believed in it. And when you believed, you were changed. At that time, the Holy Spirit came in, took residence within you and produced. What does the Holy Spirit produce when he comes inside of you? Anybody know? Fruit, fruit, fruit happens. That’s in Galatians chapter five. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, gentleness, goodness. Against such, there is no law. So what Paul is saying in this verse is, don’t you remember what the Holy Spirit accomplished in your lives when you trusted Christ? Did that life change happen as a result of you being circumcised or baptized or keeping the Passover or eating kosher food? And the question is a rhetorical question. There’s an obvious answer to it. They would have to say, actually, we didn’t do anything. All we did is believe. Now, I want you to think back to your salvation, your conversion experience. Think back to the time you experienced when you heard or what he calls the hearing of faith. When you heard the gospel, and it could have been in a conversation with a friend, could have been at a church service, could have been at a Christian concert, but at some moment it dawned on you, it’s like, yeah, I believe that’s right. Think back to that. I’ve told you before, mine, many, many times, 1973, my mind’s eye goes back to, that’s the year I got saved. Some of you didn’t exist at the time. I was living in my brother’s apartment right off Branham Lane in San Jose, California. I was running from all the Jesus freaks who were trying to convert me. And though I was running from Jesus freaks, I found out I couldn’t run from Jesus. So I’m hiding in my brother’s apartment, turn on television, Billy Graham shows up preaching. And I hear a message that God loves me, that God will forgive me and take me as I am. And that God wants me. God wants me. God loves me. God wants me. Give your life to Christ. And I immediately thought this. Why would God want me? Why would God give his son in exchange for me? He’s getting a bad deal. I, however, am getting a great deal. I’ll take the deal. And I discovered for the first time that all of my religious upbringing was not enough. but that he would take me as I am. And I prayed to receive Christ.
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Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember your generosity helps share God’s word with families around the world, offering truth, hope, and encouragement where it’s needed most. And this month, we’d love to thank you for your gift of $50 or more by sending you Reconnecting with Family, Pastor Skip’s new book focused on restoring God’s design for family and relationships. It’s filled with biblical insight and practical encouragement to help families grow stronger, even in challenging seasons. Give today at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time on Connect with Skip. Make a connection.
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Make a connection at the foot of the crossing.
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