Legalism

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The ancient church father Tertullian is reputed to have said, “Just as Jesus was crucified between two thieves, so the gospel is ever crucified between these two errors.”

What are these errors to which Tertullian was referring? The theological terms are legalism and antinomianism. Another way to describe them could be moralism and relativism (or pragmatism).

• Legalism says that we have to live a holy, good life if we want God to love us.
• Antinomianism says that because we are saved, we don’t have to live a holy, good life.

The Gospel is simply the good news that God has accomplished our salvation for us through Christ, in order to bring us into a right relationship with him and eventually to destroy all the results of sin in the world.

“Moralism/legalism” stresses truth without grace, for it claims we must obey the truth to be saved. On the other hand, “relativism/antinomianism” stresses grace without truth, for it claims we are all accepted by God, and we each have to decide what is right for us. We must never forget that Jesus was full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Gospel freedom is freedom that both takes away the guilt of sin and eats away at the motivation to sin.

The gospel neither leads us to live a guilty life (since God has lovingly accepted us), nor an unholy life (since the God who has accepted us is perfectly holy). To forget the first is to fall into legalism, and lose our freedom; to forget the second is to abuse our freedom. Both mean we lose grasp of the gospel.

Legalism

• Legalism kills love for God (Revelation 3:14–22).
• Legalism places human tradition above God’s Word (Mark 7:5–9).
• Legalism hinders our vision of God (Matthew 23:13–15).
• Legalism overlooks the needs of others (Luke 10:25–37).
• Legalism is a source of selfish pride (Matthew 18:1–4).
• Legalism produces rivalry and deception (Luke 20:9–20).
• Legalism causes us to view others with contempt (Luke 18:9–14).
• Legalism denies our freedom of conscience (Mark 2:23–28).
• Legalism emphasizes externals (Mark 12:38–40).
• Legalism makes us Pharisees and hypocrites (Mark 10:1–12).

The impact of William Branham's legalism

The legalistic teachings of William Branham have a decidedly negative impact on believer’s spiritual development. So while there are those in the message that have experienced Christ’s redemptive work, they are weighed down by a theology that is inconsistent with Paul’s teachings regarding the grace of Christ. Paul states that such beliefs can alienate a person from the grace of God – “Those of you who try to be put right with God by obeying the Law have cut yourselves off from Christ. You are outside God’s grace.” (Gal 5:4 GNT)

A man named Simon thought that he could buy the Holy Spirit with money. Some message believers are trying to buy the Holy Spirit by public demonstrations of their own righteousness.

But if the ministry that produced death—carved in letters on stone tablets—came with glory, so that the Israelites11 could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face12 (a glory which was made ineffective), how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be?

Paul clearly states that the ten commandments, written in tablets of stone, represented the ministry of death. Paul also was clear that Jesus did not redeem us from the curse of sin but from the curse of the law:

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The problems of legalism

If you see Jesus as king who rules and prophet who speaks, but not as priest who serves, you will see Jesus as mean, as distant, as cruel, as a taskmaster. And sadly, this is the Jesus of the hardhearted, fundamentalist message. It’s the Jesus of legalism. It’s the Jesus of moralism.

It’s the Jesus who sits on a throne and yells at you, telling you what to do, but never gets off that throne to help you do it. The result of that view of Jesus is either despair or pride, but never worship because, let me explain this to you, if you see him as king who rules and prophet who speaks, telling you exactly what to do, you will try to live as he commands.

You will either fail and become devastated, sad, grieved, or you will think you’ve accomplished, and you’ll become very arrogant and say, “I’m a good person. I obey God.” Neither of which leads to the worship of Jesus. Neither of which leads to humility. Neither of which leads to Godliness. Neither of which leads to joy.

That’s the trap of the message. That’s the trap of legalism. The distant God yells at you and so you try. You try hard.

If you think you did a good job, you become arrogant and spiritually proud. You look down on denominational people as foolish virgin.

If you can't live up to the message standard, you become depressed.

Great options. The end game is depression or arrogance. You kill yourself or in self-righteousness, you kill someone else, if you don’t understand Jesus as priest. He doesn’t just tell you what to do, he comes down and he enables you to do it, he empowers you to do it, he walks with you, he gives you grace that empowers and mercy that forgives and patience that endures, and by Jesus’ strength you’re able to be obedient, which means that leads to humility. Jesus enabled me. That leads to victory. My life is changing by Jesus’ enablement. And that leads to joy. “Jesus really does love me, and he really is with me, and he really does care, and he really is helping me, and I really am glad.”

Those of you who were raised in the message, here is our fear for you: When you need him most, you’ll run from him, not to him. You’ll say, “I’m struggling, I’m tempted, I’ve sinned. Jesus will be very disappointed and he will yell at me. I must run.”

No.You must understand him as not only the king but as your high priest, and you must run to him.

Why did Jesus come? As prophet to speak to us. As priest to serve us. As king to rule over us. That’s why he came. And he’s alive and well today, and he continues these ministries. Speaking, serving, ruling.

Those in the message should ask themselves - "Where am I deficient in my understanding of the ministry of Jesus and why he came?"

And then ask him, “Jesus, I’m gonna start reading scripture. Reveal yourself to me as priest. I don’t get that. I get the king part but not the priest part.”

Pray before you read scripture, asking that Jesus would reveal himself to you through his word. And seek to grow in your understanding of all three of his offices and ministries. I assure you it will change everything. You’ll love him like you’ve never loved him, you’ll enjoy him like you’ve enjoyed him. And the times when you need him most, you’ll run to him, not from him because you will understand that he alone is able to help in your time of need, and he sympathizes. He sympathizes. And so he will receive you in love.

Quotes of William Branham

I can only speak the Word. It's up to you to decide. But remember, this same message will judge you. It's on magnetic tape in heaven, and it'll be played over again at the day of the judgment.

"Oh, I swear that I never trespassed the vows of my husband." Your husband will judge you for it if you did. But God will judge you by what kind of a spirit you got in you; not judge you by your body, but by your spirit, that inner man.

That's what's the matter with our country today. The reason we got so many loose-leaf things in the earth today, the penalties are not strong enough. If a man was caught running out with another man's wife, they should both be taken out in public and castrated, right, public, and turned loose. That's right. If a man is caught doing anything wrong, down the road, speeding, he oughtn't to be given less than ten years; he's pre-... premeditated murder. See? You put penalties like that on it, you'll slow them down.

A man told me not long ago, said, "I don't preach a clothes-line religion."

I said, "Then you're not preaching the Gospel." Yeah.

God laid it out there, He said what to do. And you either do it... That's your natural, reasonable thing. What little thing... what... the little insignificant. Jesus said, "Blessed are they that would take all the little thing, do the little things." And a woman to let her hair grow, that's just a... why, it's just something she can do, and she won't even do that. She won't even do that.

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