Free from Legalism: Forgiveness and Humility

Bible Passage: Luke 15:25–32, Romans 9:30–32

Welcome

Tonight, we are going to be wrapping up our study of Luke 15.

I have had such an enjoyable time working through this passage with you and seeing us grow through this.

The first week we talked about the Parable of the Good Shepherd and how God seeks out those who are lost - giving us endless chances to return to him.

Last week we talked about the Parable of the Prodigal son. Specifically the younger son, and how God upon sinning is always welcoming us to return to him, confess our sins and live in hope, not fear or guilt.

Now, before we get into this passage tonight. I have a QR code I’d like to put up on the screen.

Now, once you scan this QR code it will take you to a google form, where I’d like you to think about something you would like to learn about in the coming months.

Passage or a topic.

Give 2-3 minutes.

Put your phones up.

I am going to start us off with a big word this evening.

Can anyone tell me the definition of legalism.

Excessive adherence to law or formula.

That will lead us into our Big Idea tonight.

Big Idea: Embracing Christ leads us away from legalism and pride, fostering true forgiveness and grace in our lives.

When we learn that walking with the Lord is not merely about avoiding sin, but about cultivating an overwhelming love for Him, obedience naturally flows from that love. From there, we are able to truly embrace the forgiveness and grace present in our lives.

Let’s look at our passage for tonight.

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

We talked last week about how wonderful the last six words are, “He was lost, and is found.”

He was lost, and is found - This is our story.

But, on the other side, the older son was out, working in the field, when he likely heard the loud songs of celebration.

The older son had likely spent his life carrying for his parents. It was common for these men to think that if they prioritize the comfort of their parents, then they should receive all the favor from them. So, when the younger son was recieved with gladness and rejoicing, this was very clearly upsetting to the older son, and he said, in verse 29

“Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.”

If you remember, last week we talked about the younger brother asking for something prematurely. He asked and begged for the inheritance before it was time for him to receive it.

Yet, the older brother has the same issue.

He was unappreciative of what he did have.

He may have blessed his parents and been obedient to them, but it is important to understand that motive behind action matters a lot.

One commentator said it this way: “The proud and the self-righteous always feel that they are not treated as well as they deserve.” (Morris)

Again, in the same way the younger brother was not happy with what the Lord had provided to him - neither was the older one.

Instead of joining in rejoicing for the younger son had been brought near -

Verse 28 says, “But he was angry and refused to go in”

That will lead us into our first point tonight.

1. Obedience without love still misses the Father

When we have obedience, but we do not have love - we are nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1–2 “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

When the older son heard the sounds of celebration, instead of joining in, the resentment that had been stored up in his heart finally came out.

If you remember we looked at the definition of legalism a little bit ago.

I wanted to also share that definition in the context of the Bible

One author put it this way “Legalists believe in and demand a strict literal adherence to rules and regulations. Doctrinally, it is a position essentially opposed to grace. Those who hold a legalistic position often fail to see the real purpose for law, especially the purpose of the Old Testament law of Moses, which is to be our “schoolmaster” or “tutor” to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24).”

Legalism is obedience, not because we know and trust God with our life, but rather than we know a set of rules and believe it should be followed.

We will see the older brother’s legalism in verse 29 as he says, “‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.”  

Hear me when I saw this, the most important thing in our life is not our actions. It is not how many times we deny sin, it is not how many times we do good deeds.

No.

A.W Tozier put it this way, “"the most important thing about us is what we think of God"

What comes into our head when we think of God is the most important thing!

We need a shift to occur

Obedience to Christ is not obeying rules.

Obedience to Christ is loving Christ and following him!

Thomas Chalmers explains that trying to remove sin from the heart by effort alone is like using the finest machinery to pump air out of a sealed chamber—it’s exhausting and never lasts.

The easier and more effective way is simply to pour water into the chamber, which naturally forces the air out.

In the same way, sin is not truly defeated by rules, discipline, or moral pressure, but by filling the heart with something greater.

When Christ fills the heart, sinful desires are displaced without strain. Holiness flows not from emptying the soul, but from being occupied by a new and stronger affection—Christ Himself.

Students, let us pray that Christ would be the main thing in our hearts, not our endless pursuits, not our constant denial of sin - but Christ.

Jesus was a man who embodied what true humility and grace is.

Though the older son had pride and entitlement, the call to him is the same as the call to us.

That will lead us into our second point this evening.

2. Rather then living in entitlement, we can embrace Jesus.

The older son rich in his pride was so focused on himself, that he didnt even know who Christ was.

Much like the Pharisees in the beginning of this chapter, they were so focused on themselves that they did not even begin to look at Christ and attempt to gain an understanding of who he was.

Because of this, his response was anger, “ never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat”

The older son, let his pride, get in the way of him seeing the true healing joy and restoration that occurs in Christ Jesus.

While everyone else was rejoicing, he was over there crying for what he did not have.

Imagine a school talent show where one performer dazzles the audience with a magic trick, and while everyone applauds, one classmate sits with crossed arms, upset because he feels overlooked for his act not receiving a loud enough applause.

What pride is there in that young boy- that he can not even celebrate his classmates wonderful act!

This is what we see in this story, and I am sure, we have never seen it play out in our lives.

When we choose to live in joy of who Christ is, then are we able to be faithful and love him wholly.

The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. —William James

William James (American Pragmatist Philosopher)

Students, rather than viewing God as unequal or unfair - let us view each thing God has given us as a blessing.

Pray that he will remove pride.

Pray that he will plant gratitude in us.

We can embrace Jesus knowing that our life is not a fairness scale balanced with others.

But our life, the main, simplest goal is to glorify Christ with what he has given to us.

Hebrews 13:20-21 speaks on this saying, “20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us[a] that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

I want us to focus for just a couple minutes on the father’s response to the older son in the following verses.

Remembering that we have been the older son

We have been unhappy with the blessings of other’s, truly believing I deserve something that they got.

Maybe its a new phone a friend got

Maybe its an extra allowance a sibling got

Maybe its the family vacation

Students, Jesus’s death on the cross is an invitation into a life filled with joyful freedoms

Instead of responding in pride, his death has allowed us to put away sin and follow him faithfully.

That will lead us into our third point this evening.

3. In Christ, we have joyful freedoms to live faithfully

Let us look at the Father’s response to his oldest sons prideful words

He said, “Son you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours”

Even in the midst of what is an ugly response from his son, the Father has met him with welcoming open arms - and so does our Father

He reminds his son, all that is mine is yours

Christ has given us all we need.

We have seen this play out several times throughout the course of Luke 15, it is present here yet again.

The older son, begging in angry and frustation for more, saying,’Father this is not fair!’

and the father reminds him saying, “all that is mine is yours” you have all you need

Students Christ has given us all we need.

Let us turn our complaining into rejoicing for Christ has given us all we need.

When we accept this truth, we can live in freedom in Christ.

There is a wise quote that says, “Comparison is the thief of all joy” and while that may/ or may not be biblical. It is true.

The moment we spend a second focusing on what others have been given, that is when we have taken our eyes off of Jesus and began to fall into pride, just as we saw in both of the sons.

When we accept these truths, we can choose to live faithfully in joy in Christ, not because thats what is right (though it is) but because realized Christ has given us all we need and he is where true rejoicing is!

When we do this true freedom and joy can be our identity in Christ.

If you have your bibles, turn with me to Romans 9:30-32.

Someone who has their Bible can you read it, loud and clear.

English Standard Version Chapter 9

30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.

As we close out our time this evening, I want us to take a minute to look at our pursuit of righteousness verses faith.

Let me remind, based off this passage Paul is encouraging readers with truth about their salvation.

He is trying to help them understand that righteousness is not earned but rather a gift in faith.

So the gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it

But the Israelites who pursued righteousness did not obtain.

How does this make any sense?

The gentiles pursused faith in Christ, while the Israelites pursused righteousness under the law.

Hear my encouragement to you all, let is pray that we can shift our perspective away from - Being a Christian is obeying these rules to Being a follower of Christ is loving Christ for he is the way, the truth and the light.

This is something that even I struggle with - God is not after our perfection, he is after our hearts! Man, that should ache our soul to just want to run to God!

That is our practice for this week, an action step, something we can walk away with.

Our practice is that we should come to the Lord in prayer, asking him to make our deepest desire him.

This looks like surrending actions that sataisify ourselves, for the sake of honoring God.

This looks like settting intentional time asifde to spend with our God.

This looks like worshipping our God.

Not actions for they make us better, but overflows of love, because they draw us closer to him.

Deuteronomy 6:5 says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

But we must be careful

It is so easy to fall into a life that is legalistic and focused on obedience rather than God.

This life removes all joy that we may find in Christ.

Removes the ability for us to live in freedom.

The Bible says we have been set free from slavery - This life puts us right back into slavery, binding us to certain actions because they are “right”

Obedience to God, without heart change just brings us further and further from Christ.

When we focus on what other’s have rather then what we have been given, we quickly lose sight of who Christ is in our life.

That is what we see here with the older son.

God’s heart for us is that we draw close to him, confess our sins, and love him deeper and deeper everyday.

1 John 1:7–9 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Let us walk in the light.

Knowing it brings fellowship with one another, for the blood of Jesus has washed us clean.

Students, let us deny the lies of being a routine Christian.

Let us be believers who hold fast to what we believe and walk with Christ because he has saved us from our sins.

I mentioned it a couple weeks ago but Ill mention it again and probably again later on.

We have people hear who want to talk to you.

I want to talk to you.

I want to pray with you.

We are all burdened- and the Bible encourages us to not carry those alone- we have been given community.

I encourage you to walk in community.

Let us pray.

What is the definition of legalism as discussed in the sermon?

How can we shift our perspective from being legalistic to being more loving in our relationship with Christ?

What actions can we take to ensure that our obedience to God comes from a place of love?

Where have you fallen short in loving the Lord, choosing what was self-gratifying rather than what honored Him?