According to the dictionary a legalist is someone who "adheres strictly and literally to the law." Legality is "the state or quality of being legal; being lawful." Illegal is defined as "prohibited by law." None of these terms are found in the Bible. But today we hear many people refer to legalism as if it was something to stay away from, something to be shunned. Listening to various commentators on this subject matter it becomes obvious that most using the term `legalist' or `legalistic' generally do not define or explain their understanding of it. An illustration may help us see a potential paradox when people talk about a legalist or legalism.

Without going into specifics we can say that traffic laws save lives. Without traffic laws many people would perish every day in our society given the traffic density we experience today. In general then, we can say that we appreciate those, who obey traffic laws since they help us getting home safely every day. We probably also appreciate people who honor their father and mother. We appreciate those, who may get very angry about something someone did to them unintentionally and yet do not swear vengeance or even murder for that mistake. We also appreciate people, who don't steal from us, who do not bear false witness against us and who do not commit adultery with our marriage partner.

Can we safely say then, these kinds of legalists we appreciate? In fact sometimes they are even given awards for their safety record. We are very thankful they adhere to the law strictly and literally. Now all these possible transgressions these legalists we just talked about did not commit, refer to the second half of the Ten Commandment law, isn't that right? Next we shall examine how this might work with regard to the first half of the decalogue.

Can we say then that we really appreciate those, who do not worship any other gods except the God, who delivered Israel of old out of captivity in Egypt? Do we hear people really put this law up on a pedestal? How about appreciating those, who do not make graven images, or carve statues of anything that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath, or in the water, to bow down before them? ... that is, worshipping these self made statues or carvings in place of the God who led Israel out of Egypt? Thirdly, do we appreciate those, who do not take the name of the Lord our God in vain? That means do not swear by saying such things as:

darn
damn
`O my God'
`Jesus Christ' (if spoken derisively)
gosh
dog gone

Do we agree that all of these are terms prohibited in the 3rd commandment?

After talking about appreciating those who obey the 2nd half of the decalogue, can we also say we appreciate those obeying the first half of the decalogue just the same? Do we receive the right impression, if we state that it seems sometimes that people don't show enough appreciation for those obeying the 1st half of the law, compared to those who keep the 2nd half? Is that an observation which comes through fairly strong?

Now, we all know that the second half of the decalogue has to do with loving our fellow man or neighbor, while the 1st half is about loving God. So if people are not quite as appreciative for keepers of the 1st part of the law should that give us reason to pause and draw a conclusion based on that? Would a conclusion state that the reason people are more concerned about keeping the 2nd half is because it effects us more while keeping the 1st half effects God more and he can look out for himself? Is that saying it too strong? Do we worship the `god' of television more than the God of heaven? Do we hang pictures or carvings of saints on our walls? Do we curse sometimes and use the words mentioned above?

So, can we say that we like some legalists but not others, and that the defining line seems to be how much and in what manner our thinking or way of life is affected by them? Are we then legalists ourselves just as often as those, we thought of as legalists? Or did the grace of Jesus free us from having to concern us with any of these laws?

Yes, grace. We must now talk about grace. The dictionary says grace is "divine love and protection bestowed freely upon mankind", or "undeserved favor."

Here comes a story to mind. On a certain date I have to appear before the judge to answer for a traffic ticket. As I stand before the judge and he calls my name I cringe in anticipation. But how surprised am I as I hear the judge say, `You are free to go, not guilty.' A sigh of relief echoes from the walls as I raise up my eyes in thankfulness to the judge before I turn to leave the courtroom. The door swings shut behind me and my walk turns into a run as I dash to my car, start the engine, floor the pedal and leave a 40 foot skid of rubber on the asphalt. I dodge other cars as I head out on the freeway weaving in and out of traffic rejoicing that I am now under grace and the law cannot condemn me.

Is that how it works? Isn't it rather that we leave the courthouse and carefully drive home not wanting to do anything that could get us in trouble with the traffic laws ever again?

Grace therefore does not make the law of no effect! Even though we experienced a gracious judge, the law is still ready and waiting out there to enforce again the laws of the land if needed. So when Paul speaks of the law and grace in the Book of Romans, chapter 7, that is the kind of relationship between law and grace he talks about. Are not those Christians who think that being under grace frees them from having to obey the Ten Commandment law of God deluding themselves and they are not under grace but under the condemnation of the law?

As we pointed out most of us keep the 2nd half of the law as best we can. Even though we might have experienced hateful thoughts about others around us and realize that hating our fellow man is just as bad as murder, we think we are doing pretty good with most of those laws. We may even obey the 1st part of the law as best we can. But many still have this idea that the law was done away with; that it was nailed to the cross and we are not any more under the law. What such people are apparently saying is, that we keep whatever laws we want to keep anyhow and, dear God, just accept us with whatever laws we comply with.

Hmm. Something does not sound right. How could it be that God required of all the saints from Old Testament times to obey all of the law, and then all of a sudden, as some seem to claim, decides well, that didn't work too well, may be I don't require that anymore. If you are a saint from Old Testament times in heaven and find out about that, how would that make you feel?

Hmm. Is God so wishy-washy that he would treat people so differently? Is God arbitrary in what he required of his faithful people throughout the ages? Does God save people living today under different rules than Adam was, or Abraham, or Daniel?

`Well. But brother, are you saying legalism is needed?'

`No, I am not.'

`Are you saying that we are legalists?'

`Well, are you?'

May be we have more to worry about `illegalism' than `legalism'? More about unlawfulness than lawfulness? We may hear these same people agree to that. Those, who first seemed to think that it was bad to be thought of as a legalist. And there are plenty of confused preachers who preach against legalism who have no clue of its meaning but please the crowd by assuring them that disobeying a part of the Ten Commandments is ok.

To find an answer on how the Bible describes sticklers for obedience to laws we should study the Pharisees. Aren't the Pharisees the prime example of what a legalist is? Among the observances most carefully paid attention to by the Jews were the laws of ceremonial purification. These were said to have been given to guard the keeping of the law of God. But in time they came to be regarded more sacred than the law itself. Neglecting to obey the forms of cleansing before eating a meal was considered to be an awful crime, and said to be punished in this world as well as the next. This `crime' was so heinous that it was regarded a virtue to destroy the transgressor. And yet these ceremonial laws were rabbinical laws. They were not given by God. We do good to remember that it is the evil deed, the evil word, the evil thought, the transgression of the Ten Commandment law of God, not the neglect of external, man-made traditions and ceremonies, which make us to be sinners.

At this time we must mention one other law which we have not brought into consideration up to this time, that commandment is the fourth or Sabbath commandment. We just saw how the Jews had introduced man-made traditions and laws which they expected every Jew to keep. Many Christians of course know this was done and we often smugly think, well, that was them, we don't do that today. But we shall soon see that this type of substituting man-made laws for God's laws has not stopped even today. Many Christians are not any better than the Jews were on that point.

`Now, hold it, hold it,' you might say.

`Do you mean to say we are no better than the Jews?'

`Yeap.'

`On what account?'

`You keep a man-made Sabbath as if it was commanded by God to be kept despite that we know very well that Sunday keeping started for historical reasons rather than any command by God. Any decent Encyclopedia will tell you that. The Catholic church prides itself that all the world is following its precepts in keeping Sunday holy.'

`Yes. The Protestants have perhaps been too steeped in traditions and a strange unwillingness to admit their error. The hatred of this one commandment of which God said that we are to "Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy" sometimes seems to be of demonic origin, and it probably is. The Bible tells us if we brake even one of the Ten Commandments we are guilty of it all.

Here is what a well known speaker recently said:

"Considering the deep, sometimes overwhelming wickedness in the world we must confront this subject matter and try to find out what went wrong that we find us in such a situation all around the world today. And so our opening text is the prayer of Pharaoh:

`Remove this deadly thing from us.' Exodus 10:17 (paraphrased)

Today, here in the United States and all the rest of the world actually we are under a deadly scourge, a deadly cancer that is doing violence to the moral soul of all the nations. God redeem us from this immoral violence and the violence of immorality. God save the world is our plea for it is all around us. The leaders of the great religions in this world and the leaders of the nations are now coming to the realization that we have a great moral cancer eating away the last vestiges of a safe and decent world. Remove this deadly thing from us, Lord, we should pray daily. This same condition exists on all continents around the world and in all nations. Everywhere where there are human beings, the scourge is also present. That is why we need to return to the truth of the holy scriptures. We must not abandon the moral high road. We must cease the initiative."

Sad to say many politicians do not realize and many Christian leaders have forgotten the moral high road can only be discovered through a very pertinent piece of evidence which we shall examine now. It is the truth of the commandment.

To illustrate this compelling truth let us pretend that all the religious leaders of the world are sitting here in a jury box. We take a moment in order to address the jury. There is Billy Graham, James Dobson, Pope John Paul II, Archbishop John Carey, the Dalai Lhama, the Imams of Arabia, the rabbis of Jerusalem, the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, ... We just fill that jury box with well known religious leaders.

We address them as follows:

"I want you to know that our hearts are moved by the passion you have for a moral revival in this land and around the world. You are right. What the nations need today, more than anything else is a return to God and his moral laws."

And I see you nodding, many of us here have come to fight the good fight with you. In doing so we need to share with you, however (at least the Christians here in America, since we can hardly speak for the whole world), neither we nor you are succeeding to bring revival in our moral agenda for this nation. Now ladies and gentleman of the jury, does it not follow, that before the Christian church can call any nation to the high standards of divine law, that the church itself must set the example? Does that logically follow?

Yes, of course, your heads are nodding, and we agree to that too.

And I know, as the spiritual leaders that you are, you also agree that Christians need to practice first what we preach to our communities. Isn't that right?

Yes, I can agree on that with you too.

Furthermore, we also agree as Christians, that the words we find written in James 2:10-12 may be speaking to us with particular power to your moral agenda. Therefore we wish to enter Exhibit A of the evidence to the august members of the jury from the book of James:

"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that saith, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law."

So we know that you have thundered from your pulpits across this great land and around the world regarding these great moral principles. So we too want to join you in that effort. We wish to join you in our homeland and in our own neighborhoods to live up to those high moral standards of God's great law.

But, members of the jury, James is very clear, that if we neglect to disobey just one of God's commandments we end up breaking them all. So if we break just one point of the Ten Commandments, we break them all.

I wish now to enter Exhibit B which is a quotation from a well known Christian commentator:

"The law is not a set of ten pins (he is taking us now into the bowling alley) one of which may be knocked down while the others are left standing, oh no, the law is a unit. This unity is love."

To violate it at one point is to violate the whole law. If you violate it, it is like a strike, all ten are gone."

And it is there that I must appeal to you, our Christian leaders and all Christian friends the world over, it is not sufficient for the Christian church to call the nations back to nine tenths of God's law. We must embrace all ten of his moral precepts. And before we can call on our nations, we must summon ourselves, which is why, ladies and gentleman of the jury, I feel compelled to remind you, that there is one of God's moral decalogue that the Christian church has forgotten. And it is the commandment which begins with the word:

"Remember".

It is the fourth commandment:

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy for the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.."

And by the way, lest you object, that it is not logical to isolate only one of the Ten Commandments for scrutiny, and of all the commandments to pick the one that is the least popular in contemporary Christianity, I want to remind the members of the jury and the spiritual leaders, that the fourth commandment is the only one of the ten which fully identifies the Law Giver.

In fact let us read from the Fourth Commandment:

"... for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day, therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

Please, members of the jury, please notice how this verse identifies the Law Giver. It gives us his name:

He is the `Lord'.

It gives us his office:

He is the one who `made'. He is the `Creator'.

And it also gives us his jurisdiction:

`the heavens, the earth and the sea and all' its the whole universe.

From this we can say, when a president or a prime minister stamps his seal on an official document, you will find these three ingredients:

name, office, and jurisdiction.

Name: William Jefferson Clinton, president, United States of America.

Name: Nelson Mandela, president, Republic of South Africa.

It is, my friends, as if there is a presidential seal right in the heart of the Decalogue. Right here, in the heart of the fourth commandment:

name, office, jurisdiction - Lord, Creator, the whole universe.

Now, members of the jury, the fourth commandment declares God to be the sovereign Creator of all peoples and of all nations throughout the whole jurisdiction of his entire cosmos. Which means that this commandment is the only one which provides the legal and judicial justification for his claim of our obedience in the other nine commandments. Remove this commandment from the ten and you have removed the historical and legal validation for God's claim to allegiance and devotion, and to love and obedience.

Be my guest and look at the other nine, you will find nowhere else this seal. You only find it here in the fourth commandment.

As our Creator and sovereign Lord, he alone has the authority not only as our life giver, but he alone has the authority to be our law giver.

He alone has the right to ask for our moral obedience.

Yes, members of the jury, I know that Jesus said that the greatest commandment is this, `You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'

Yes! But you know what? If it wasn't for the fourth commandment, we wouldn't know which God it is we are supposed to love with all our heart and soul and mind. So I ask you, Could it be that this is why the leaders in our Christian America are having such a difficult time calling our nation to observe God's high moral standards? Could it be that we as Christians; we the leaders of the people, are effectively neutralizing all of this by our own disregard and disobedience of the very law we are seeking to call the people of our nation to?

For how does James 2:10 read?

What good is it for us to wring our hands about the tragedy of the broken 6th and 7th commandments, when all the while we are ignoring the fourth commandment?

Could it be that we as Christians, if we had been faithful to uphold all ten of God's decalogue, all nations, and now may be I just should speak of the Christian nations on earth; that they would not find themselves in the moral trouble they are in today?

Now, I must say to you, who are the dear Christian leaders - moral leaders of many nations on earth - I know, and perhaps you do to, the reasons people give and what they say about the fourth commandment. Many seem to think that it is simply no longer necessary to keep it. I have heard some Christians say, that to obey the fourth commandment is legalism. How are we to figure that out? How can it be legalism? Is it then not also legalism to keep the 6th commandment and protest abortion? Is it legalism to obey the seventh commandment? Is protesting against child pornography legalism? And in our time it is one man, who is an outstanding leader for family values in America today. You know, Dr. Dobson, you are a powerful advocate on earth for both of these commandments (6th & 7th), how then could it be legalism to obey the fourth commandment and worship God on his seventh day Sabbath? Isn't it illegalism if one willfully chooses to diregard a known law?

But ultimately the issue is not legalism at all, the issue is love.

How could anyone of us miss the point Jesus made on the evening before his own death on the cross.

"If you love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15.

You know what? How could it be anymore plainer than that?

When a man falls in love with a woman, and at last they come to that day when he gets up his courage and he is down on his hands and knees and he is sobing as he cries out:

"Pleeeaaase marry me."

After she says, `Yes' and after they get married, let me ask, is it legalism for the young wife now to expect her young knight in shining armor to remain true to her till his dying breath?

Is that legalism for her to ask him to be faithful?

Are you kidding? Marrital fidelity is not about legalism, it is about love.

`If you love me keep my commandments,' and `Remember to keep the seventh day holy.'

It is amazing how ministers of the gospel put marriage, now that this institution is in jeopardy, on a pedestal with penetrating logic. But when it comes to the Sabbath the logic seems to have vanished. That is really sad. God calls us to re-establish both in your private walk of faith - the Edenic Sabbath and Marriage - then His blessings shall become `Showers of Blessings'.

Now, members of the jury, I have heard the reasons some give to why the seventh day Sabbath is no longer applicable. The reason I have heard is that some suggest that we just cannot know which day of the week is the seventh day Sabbath anymore. That may be a fair observation but let us read in the gospel of Luke as he identifies the three most critical, successive days in all of human history. He will identify them for us.

"That day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew near ... then they returned with spices and fragrant oils and they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment."

So we know that the Preparation Day is followed by the Sabbath.

"Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they and certain other women with them came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in but they found not the body of Jesus."

What day of the week was this? The whole world knows that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. There is no dispute among Christians on that. We also know that Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and that he rested in the grave on Sabbath.

So, members of the jury, it can only be one day which is the Sabbath since the days of Jesus here on earth, it is our Saturday of the week. The day which comes before Sunday and which follows each Friday. That weekly cycle has never changed since Christ ascended to heaven.

I have also heard as some say, that, oh, the ancient church changed the day of worship. You are absolutely right, but, what if the same church had changed the 6th commandment, would we then have license to go around and kill? Of course not. There is no church or individual on earth which has the moral authority to change God's law.

Then there are others who claim that since we are now living after the cross,

`Grace supercedes law'.

How would you like telling that to those sitting on death row right now? There isn't a judge in the land, there isn't a jury, who would buy that. Because all the judicial grace in the world cannot set aside the claims of moral law.

But some say, come on, doesn't the Bible teach that now we are not under the law but under grace?

The answer is, Yes and No.

"For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under law, but under grace." Romans 6:14.

But before you yell out, `See, I told you ...' lets read what Paul says about the law,

"Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Romans 7:12.

"For we know that the law is spiritual: I am the one who is carnal, sold under sin." Romans 7:14.

So what does that all mean? Members of the jury, Paul is hardly calling us to ignore God's great Ten Commandments. What he is saying here we are not under the law as an avenue of salvation. We cannot be saved into God's kingdom on our own strength to keep the law.

The law cannot save anybody, only grace can save.

But when an earthly judge would give us undeserved grace, freeing us from having to pay for our ticket do we then go out and break all known traffic laws because now we think we are under grace? Of course not. We drive even more carefully in appreciation for the grace shown to us.

When we are under grace, do we then break the law? Do we then steal? Or murder? Do we bear false witness? Break the seventh day Sabbath?

Of course not.

Then why is it that we are very comfortable in thinking that all the commandments are binding, except one -

the `Remember the Sabbath day' fourth commandment?

Why can some people conclude that if you keep nine out of the ten commandments you are under grace, but if you keep the fourth commandment you have suddenly come under law? What stretch of logic can possibly produce that kind of reasoning?

But when this is all said and done, may be the only other reason left that people do not keep the Sabbath is because they are saying that,

`Come on, its just one little commandment? God won't mind?'

Do we need to read James 2:10 again? If it didn't matter to God he shouldn't have given any commandments at all we may conclude.

Now I know, members of the jury, I am a bit blunt perhaps, a bit forceful. But among you are clergy friends of mine who are the spiritual leaders of congregations, churches, and organizations and I must appeal to my colleagues in the ministry, your personal and pastoral example in obeying God is one of the most powerful forces many of your parishioners will ever have in their life outside of the Holy Spirit himself speaking through the holy scriptures. There is a moral war raging, ladies and gentleman, members of the clergy. How can we call our people to high moral standards of God's law if we ourselves are unwilling to embrace all of God's commandments? Of course we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But the Lord of our salvation is also the Lord of the Sabbath. How can we call people to accept him as one, and not accept him as the other?

So I say to James Dobson, I say to Robert Schuler, I say to Billy Graham, I say to Desmond Tutu, I say to Pope John Paul II, I say to Archbishop George Carey, I say to all the moral religious leaders of this world, hundreds of thousands of millions of your faithful followers look to you. I want you to know, I thank God for your leadership. I thank God that you have trumpeted loudly, to call on the nations on earth to return to God. You have effectively used your pulpit, your international pulpits, to address the spiritual needs of the people, I applaud you for your moral courage.

I want to appeal to you to model before your people in all nations obedience to all of God's moral commandments. Think of the impact your example could have across this planet. I am praying that God will grant you the grace and the courage to stand in faithful obedience to His moral law, no matter what your society may say. I remind you, you hold the destiny of hundreds of thousand millions of human beings in your clerical hands. So as you daily re-examine, restudy, reflect, on what it means to model God's call to moral leadership on this planet, I ask for you, as I ask for myself, that we might be faithful to all of God's law.

And I am convinced therein is the secret for lasting leadership in any nation in our world.

And by the way I want to appeal to one moral leader who gathered the largest audience ever assembled upon the face of this earth in Manila, the Philippines, in the history of the human race, to hear one man, Pope John Paul II preach that day to 5 million people in one gathering.

And so for Pope John Paul tonight, whose moral leadership circumnavigates this planet, I pray for you, Sir, for divine grace and moral courage. Because if there were anyone on earth who could lead his people to a commitment to obey all of God's moral precepts, it is surely you.

What God wants most of all before He returns the second time to this earth is that people know who He is, the Creator of this earth and the whole cosmos. If we believe in God as the creator of everything how can we not worship Him on the day He has ordained for that purpose? Would we come to an audience with an important ruler a day too late? Worshipping with God on his day indicates we are loyal to Him. And therefore we find it written:
"You shall love your father and mother and you shall keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 19:3.

Still another speaker wrote:

"Do you recall the story in the Bible of Amnon and Tamar (2 Sam 13:15)? The story begins with two of King David's children, brother and sister. One of them, Amnon, thought he had fallen in love with his sister, and he violated her. The story ends this way: The hate with which he hated her was now greater than the love with which he had formerly loved her. Here are strong emotions at work, like the emotions we read about in our papers and hear about on television. How then do we understand the word love when we use it to describe our knowledge of God?

First of all, just as God's judgment is not motivated by hatred or strong dislike on God's part, so God's love is not motivated by emotions or passions. His love is a principle. That is what we need to know about Him, and once we do we feel safe in His presence and seek His company—that is, we love God back. Some Christians develop merely an emotional, passionate love relationship to God. Perhaps they have been encouraged to respond that way by preachers, week of prayer speakers, and teachers who speak of God's love in an almost seductive way, as though He were our "lover." Even some of the praise songs projected on our church walls, instead of printed in the hymn book, use seductive language and music to communicate our relationship with God. Our young members, even children, sometimes get caught up in believing that Christianity is merely an affair of the heart. "Give your heart to Jesus" we instruct them when they are small. But how do they deal with that "love language" when the hormones kick in and these young believers begin to give their hearts to each other as well? Will there continue to be room in their hearts for Jesus during the passion of dating, falling in and out of love, and getting married?

One of the saddest experiences I have had is to see young and not so young Christians replace their passionate love of God with a strong dislike of anything religious and Christian—as in the story of Amnon and Tamor. (The hatred with which he now hated her was greater than the love with which he had formerly loved her.) So we read, "I have written to Ephraim the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. ... For Israel has forgotten his Maker." The prophet Hosea also speaks of that experience when he, on God's behalf, complains that Israel's love is like the morning dew. It evaporates with the first rays of the morning sun (Hos 6:4). So to clarify God's kind of love, the prophet introduced a special word for love, Hesed/Chesed, which means love based on principle (Hosea 6:6 ".. I desire steadfast chesed...'). This is often translated as steadfast love, or covenant-keeping love, or lasting love. That is God's way of loving."

So, who is the real legalist? It is the one who hangs on to man-made traditions and laws not ordained by God. The early Christian church had no problem with a Sabbath or Sunday question because in the early days every believer knew which day was the Sabbath. Therefore those Christians who search the Bible to try and proof that Sunday is now to be kept holy will soon have to answer to God himself for their disobedience. But you, who want to be true to all of the Bible, you will also be true on this question of worshipping God on the day He hallowed and sanctified. In doing so you are not a legalist but obedient to God. A legalist is always someone who insists on obedience to man-made laws. Religious legislation is legalism; it is national salvation by works.