Jesus confronted Legalism & so should we

The Pharisaic Spirit

Perhaps I should have called this ‘Legalism’ as that is what this passage is all about. Matthew 23:27 (NKJV) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “

The Message Bible puts it very bluntly - Matthew 23:27 (MSG) "You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You're like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it's all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin you're total frauds.”

Legalism robbed the people of Jesus’ day of nearly everything He came to bring to them. Through the centuries, legalism has consistently robbed Christianity of almost everything the Lord wanted us to have. So today, legalism still robs us. It has been, and still is one of Satan’s most efficient and successful weapons.

Whenever there is the slightest move of the Holy Spirit, there are many churches who will say sternly, “We don’t do things this way in this church.” In saying that, they are throwing away what might have been God’s most precious gift to them for centuries. They still and stifle the Spirit. They grieve Him and reject Him – mainly because they do not know Him, nor do they recognise or acknowledge His gifts.

This is that to which Jesus referred when asked for a sign by the Pharisees. Matthew 12:38-40 “ Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ” They did not recognise the signs Jesus was already showing them but wanted another one. I suspect they would have been asking for signs every day if Jesus had accommodated their requests.  It is the same in our generation today. We see the signs of God all around us, particularly in our churches, yet, like the Pharisees of old, we continue to ask for more proof.

I saw Bill Johnson, of Redding California, speaking to a meeting. The clip is on You Tube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=96gsFuSfhuA#at=213)  “By not celebrating what God has given you, you have shown yourself unworthy of increase. So the very people who are crying out for revival have cancelled their opportunity for it because they didn’t celebrate what God had done or what He’d given them. It’s a huge deal.”

Unworthy of increase. Is that what we are? What an indictment that would be were it from the Lord Himself. And all because we didn’t acknowledge and celebrate what the Lord has given us. We already have revival in our grasp and we don’t recognise it and celebrate it giving Glory to God. Why do I say we have revival already? As surely as an acorn is an oak tree waiting to take root and grow, so any visitation of the Holy Spirit is an embryo revival. Yet we look at it and say, “This isn’t revival.” That statement is only true because of our attitude and our voice which articulated the condemnation. Just as David celebrated the return of the ark, so we need to celebrate Holy Spirit in our meetings with our praise and worship – with great joy and thanksgiving.

What will it take, I wonder, for us to acknowledge what we have in order for the Lord to release more. For he who has much, to him much more will be given. Yet for he who has little, even the little that he has will be taken away.