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“Legalist!”

This is the cry you hear when pointing out that the Lord Jesus has commands for which He requires obedience. The modern, mainstream Christian despises the words “commandments” and “obedience”, and they shriek loudly at the sound of the Word of God as it exposes their lawlessness.

In John chapter 14, verses 15, 21 and 23 specifically, Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments”. And in 1 John 5:3, we read, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” Hmm. So, what does this reveal about us if we say we love the Lord, and yet refuse to walk in obedience to His commandments, choosing instead to believe that there is no rule or requirement other than to “love”?

Biblical Christianity is not a religion of individual customization according to personal preferences. Which is, sadly, exactly the core of the “Christianity” that’s swept today’s church like wildfire.

There’s a great analogy I came across some time ago:

A woman gets pulled over for speeding by a police officer. He says, “Do you know why I pulled you over?”

The woman says, “I have no idea, officer.”

“You were doing 50 in a 35 zone,” said the policeman.

The woman replies, “I know that.”

“Dont you know you were breaking the law?”, the officer asks.

The woman responds with, “Well, I was keeping the law in my heart, officer. the whole DMV handbook can be summed up in ‘drive safely’.”

The policeman says, “So, even though you were doing 50 in a 35 zone, you believe you were keeping the law in your heart by driving safely?”

The woman exclaims, “Exactly!”

The officer asks, “Do you know what the DMV handbook says?”

She answers, “Well, I don’t have to, because it can be summed up as ‘drive safely’.”

“The handbook tells us what driving safely looks like. It states in order to drive safely, you need to obey the law,” the policeman explains.

The woman, still unclear on the matter, says, “But, I was driving safely.”

The officer says, “Not according to the DMV handbook.”

Our “handbook” is the Word of God, which explains to us what a child of God should look like. We don’t have the freedom to decide for ourselves what a follower of Jesus is, according to our own ideal or interpretation. We must obtain our understanding from the bible.

Many Christians will tell you that the only commandment to be obeyed in the entire bible is to “love” people. However, the majority have no idea what biblical love looks like, and instead they practice their own version of love, all the while believing they’re fulfilling the whole requirement of the law of Christ.

“It’s not my job to judge anyone, it’s only my job to love everyone,” is the mantra of the average Christian. They fail to realize how unbiblical this statement actually is, because they haven’t bothered to read the bible and understand what it says. I’ll use a recent example of a conversation with a professing Christian whom is a supporter of homosexual marriage. In providing the scriptures which explain God’s position on the matter, and how we must preach the gospel and repentance to them, this young woman exclaimed, “That’s only your interpretation of the bible! The bible only says to love everyone, and I choose to love people and accept them no matter how they choose to live their lives. It’s not my place to tell them they’re wrong or that God won’t accept them because they happen to love another man.” Her idea of “loving” people is to withhold the truth of the gospel from them so as not to upset them or hurt their feelings, and to ensure that she isn’t perceived as a judgmental person. That is not biblical love. However, since she failed to understand the “handbook” (bible) and find out what love actually is, she’s gone and made up her own version of “love”, fully believing that she’s doing the will of God. Unfortunately, she’s taken the words of Jesus in Matthew 22: 36-40 and made up her own meaning.

Matthew 22:36-40 – Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

HOW do we love God with all our heart, soul and mind? HOW do we love our neighbor? It’s not a free-for-all where every man gets to determine for himself what loving God and loving our neighbor looks like.

There are more than 1,000 commandments in the New Testament. They are not suggestions from the Lord to help us decide how best to carry out His commission to love Him and love each other. The Lord does not suggest things – He commands and declares things. And it is we who must align ourselves with His declarations and obey His commandments. It’s impossible to walk within His will if we take it upon ourselves to interpret what His will looks like. No, He’s made it quite easy for us – He’s left us a written record, the scriptures, which details exactly how He requires His children to walk, taking away the need for any guesswork.

Here is a small handful of the Lord’s commandments for the born-again believer, as examples:

Mark 8:34 – And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Romans 12:2 – And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

1 Corinthians 5:9-11 – I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat.

1 Corinthians 6:18 – Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

2 Corinthians 6:14 – Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Galatians 5:16 – This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Ephesians 4:22-24 – That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Colossians 3:8-9 – But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 – For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.

1 Peter 1:13-16 – Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

It is NOT legalistic to acknowledge that the Lord has commandments to be followed, and to desire to obey Him. If that’s legalistic, then Jesus Himself is a legalist for requiring our obedience in the first place. Who wants to volunteer to make that charge against Him? Anyone?

Will we obey perfectly every time? Of course not…not as long as we live in these flesh tents and its natural propensity to sin. However, if we are walking according to the Spirit, He will empower us to overcome our flesh and obey Him, carrying out His will for us. The very first step is for us to have the desire and willingness to surrender to the Lord’s will and to obey Him. If we walk with the preconceived mindset that we have no law to follow, we deny 2/3 of the New Testament scriptures and exalt our own understanding above the wisdom of God.

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