The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: The very thing you may be doing to make yourself free may be the very thing keeping you behind bars. Freedom in Christ isn't about the religious things we do. And nothing will destroy your spiritual progress like a self-sufficient, flesh-based approach to life.

Guest (Male): This is the Alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

The Lord didn't set us free from sin just to become slaves to a set of religious rules, but today Dr. Evans examines why so many Christians do exactly that, thinking they're doing it for God. Let's join him as he explains.

Dr. Tony Evans: A man from a foreign country living under an oppressive regime was able to get away and come to the United States of America to live. When he arrived, his first day in America, and as he looked around and saw all of the things that were part of this new environment, he looked at his watch and noticed that it was almost 7:00.

He panicked. He found a stranger on the street and he said, "Please, sir, help me." The man said, "Well, what's wrong?" He says, "It's almost 7:00." The man said, "Well, so?" "I've got to get back. I've got to get back to my room. It's almost 7:00." He says, "Well, why do you have to get back to your room because it's almost 7:00?" He says, "Because curfew is at seven."

The gentleman was really confused now. He says, "Well, what do you mean curfew is at seven?" He says, "Well, where I'm from, you have to be in by seven or you might get arrested. Curfew is at seven." The gentleman smiled and said, "That was the old place where you used to live. But you're in America now. This is a different location. And that rule in that place doesn't apply here in this place."

In other words, he was in the place of freedom living under the law of slavery. So he could not enjoy freedom even though he was located in freedom because he was tied to the law of another land. The Bible says in Colossians chapter one, verse 13, that when you come to Christ, you are transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. There has been a relocation that has occurred.

But if you don't know the rules of the relocation, then you might be living your life under an old regime, thus canceling out your ability to experience fully the freedom that the new location offers. And from a spiritual perspective as a Christian, nothing will impede your freedom, even though you're now living as a Christian in the land of the free, the Kingdom of God, nothing will limit your freedom any more than legalism.

Legalism. I want you to follow me today because this could be for many of us in light of where we are, perhaps the most important sermon in the series in terms of being set free to be what you were created and redeemed to be. What is legalism? Legalism is seeking to relate to God by performance rather than by relationship.

Legalism says, "I am what I am, and I'm going to be what I'm supposed to be because of the rules that I keep." Legalism is a performance-based relationship with God. The legalist says, "I'm a perform good so God likes me." Legalism is trying to please God through the energy of the flesh by adhering to a list of regulations in order to earn God's favor. The legalist says, "I am what I do."

If you are serving Christ, coming to church, reading your Bible, praying, serving, and all the other good religious stuff that you hear good Christians ought to do, if you are doing those things as a duty rather than a delight, your problem could be legalism. And nothing will destroy your spiritual progress like a self-sufficient, flesh-based approach to life.

Paul says in Galatians 3, "You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?" he says. "You whom before whose eyes Jesus was publicly crucified. This is the only thing I want to find out from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"

"Did you suffer so many things in vain, indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?" He says, "You're foolish." Legalists cause you to be guilty and afraid illegitimately. Because if you don't do what I said do, God gonna get you. Now who wants God to get them?

So if they can hit you with this, they can hold you hostage with this. And so you live in fear of God in their name. This whole book of Galatians was written because false brethren had come into the church of Galatia in the name of God to spy out their liberty and place them under bondage.

The most effective way to be held spiritually hostage is to be held spiritually hostage in the name of God through the use of religion. And so we wind up being like the man in the circus. You've seen him. He has a pole and he spins a plate on it. Then he gets another pole and he spins a plate over here. Then he spins a plate over here. Then he spins a plate over here. Then he spins a plate over here.

Now this one's wobbling, so he runs back over here to keep this one going. And he keeps this one going, and he keeps this one going, and he keeps this one going, and he keeps this one going. Oh, this is wobbling again, so he gotta keep this one going. And he keeps this one going, and he keeps this one going, and he keeps this going. I love you, Lord. I keep this one going. And he tore up from the floor up in the name of spinning his plates in the name of the Lord.

Legalism holds you hostage through performance-based rule-keeping in order to get God to be on your side. He says that is bondage. He says, "Do you think in chapter three that you were saved by the power of God and now you're going to be changed by your power?" Do you think that that's what's going to happen? And so you get a list after list after list, and then you go to one church and hear this list.

You can't wear makeup. You can't wear pants. You can't wear jewelry. You can't dance. You can't listen to secular music. You can't. What can I do? He says they come to spy out your liberty, and they keep you in bondage. What I'm saying to you is that the very thing you may be doing to get free may be keeping you locked up.

The very thing you may be doing to make yourself free may be the very thing keeping you behind bars because he says legalism keeps you in bondage.

Guest (Male): Dr. Evans will talk about the misconception that makes legalism so appealing to some believers when he returns in a moment to continue this lesson from his series, "Free at Last." This powerful 12-part collection unpacks the new identity and freedom that grace has secured for you and shows you how to live in it.

You'll learn how to break free from the habits and strongholds that may have felt permanent and how to release the guilt, fear, and regret tied to your past. When you make a contribution to support the ministry of the Urban Alternative, we'll say thanks by sending you the complete "Free at Last" series available on CD, USB flash drive, or as a digital download so you can listen anytime, anywhere.

And along with the messages, we'll also include Tony's popular companion book, "Free at Last," which goes hand in hand with this series. Visit tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222 to make the arrangements. I'll repeat that information later on. In the meantime, stay with us. Dr. Evans will return with more of today's message right after this.

Healthy churches are built by equipped leaders, and the Kingdom Leaders Summit was created to invest in the people who guide and serve the local church every day. Join Dr. Tony Evans, April 30th through May 1st at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, for an intimate gathering designed for pastors, pastors' wives, and church leaders.

Over two days, you'll hear practical teaching, participate in breakout sessions and panel discussions, and connect with ministry leaders from across the country. It's time to reset, refresh, and recharge your life, your church, and your ministry while gaining insights you can put into practice right away. Save your place today by registering at kap2026.com. That's kap2026.com.

Dr. Tony Evans: The premise that people, legalists, operate on is a misunderstanding of the law. They misunderstand or they refuse to accept the purpose of the law. What do I mean by the law? I'm talking about the guidelines of God. They're summarized in the Ten Commandments. When the Bible talks about the law, it talks about the summary of them in the Ten Commandments.

And the Ten Commandments, the rules of God, they misunderstand. Because the legalist believes, "Keep these rules so you can be right with God." Now to the person who does not understand where I'm going, you're probably saying, "What's wrong with that?" When you come to understand the purpose of the law, you will then be on the road to a freedom like you have never experienced before if you are indeed already a Christian.

Let me clarify to you the purpose of the law. He says it in our passage, chapter five. It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. Free, free two times in one verse. It was, you were set free to be free. You weren't just set free to talk about freedom. You're supposed to be free, he says. It was for freedom Christ has set us free.

So guess what? He says two things here. Christ, if you're a Christian, Christ has set us free, right? But he has set us free for freedom. Point. It's possible to be set free and not be free. It's possible to have become a Christian and not be a free Christian. But be a bound Christian, an enslaved Christian, a defeated Christian, an unhappy Christian, a joyless Christian, a peaceless Christian. But you'll sing with the choir, "I'm free."

He didn't set you free for a song. He didn't set you free for a sermon. It says he set you free for freedom. That is for the experience of freedom. He says this thing is so important, stand firm. Don't be duped back into spiritual slavery. What dupes you back into spiritual slavery? He says it. If you receive circumcision, that is go back under the law.

Circumcision was under the law. You're going back to external ritual to make you free. If I do this stuff enough, if I go to church enough, read my Bible enough, pray enough. Here's what we don't understand. He says Christ will be of no benefit to you. You're saved, but He is of no benefit. That cuts you off from Christ.

So some of the most religious people we know and some of us who are more religious than everybody else have been cut off from Jesus. He said in chapter three, he says, "Have you forgotten that Jesus was publicly displayed on the cross?" Here's our problem. We do not understand what Jesus did on the cross. His final words were, "It is finished."

Now you have to understand what that means. The word finished means paid in full. Everything you owed God was paid for by Jesus Christ. Every debt that you owe God was paid for by Jesus Christ. But that didn't happen till He was 33 years old. Jesus died about 33 years of age. Now the question is, what was He doing for 33 years? I mean, why didn't He die at 40 or 45 or 39? What was 33? What was magic about that age?

Well, we're actually told in the Bible. When Jesus went to get baptized, he was 30 years old. That launched His public ministry. It said as He was being put down in the water by John the Baptist, that Jesus Christ fulfilled all righteousness. Now what does that mean? He met the full standard of the law. Everything the law demanded, Jesus Christ satisfied.

He was the perfect Savior. He met every commandment. There were 10 general commandments, there were 613 statutes and ordinances. He met every single one of them over those 33 years. He perfectly satisfied all the demands of the Old Testament law. He dies on the cross three years later after His public ministry.

He says, "It is finished," paid in full. Now what you hear when you hear that, which is true, he died for my sins. That's only half of what he did. Now that's the key half, that's the public half, that's the half we know about, but it's only half. He not only paid for sins, but he also fulfilled all righteousness. That is, maintained all the righteous standard of God.

So when a person gets saved, what happens? Second Corinthians 5:21, "He who knew no sin became sin for us," watch this, "that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." So what am I trying to say? What I'm saying is sin has been paid for, watch this now, but the law has already been kept. But not by you. The law has already been kept by Jesus.

But where is Jesus? If you've accepted Him into your life, Jesus Christ has taken up residence in your soul. What that means is that the satisfaction of the demands of God are already in you. That's why when God prophesied the New Covenant, he says that, "I am going to write my law on your heart." So God's law is not only in the Bible, God's law has been written in your heart.

In other words, God has already obeyed the Ten Commandments for you. He's already obeyed the expectations for you. He's already obeyed the demands for you. But you say, "Wait a minute. That's Jesus. What about me?" Here it is, here it is. The way you and I find freedom is not by seeking to keep the law in and of our own fleshly determination, New Year's Eve promising self.

The way we keep the law is through our connection to the one who's already kept the law. What I'm trying to say is freedom comes by freeing up Jesus to do in you what He's already done for you, which is kept the law. He's already done that. He's already achieved that. He is already accomplished that. And that only happens when you are pursuing a relationship, not adhering to a religion.

Listen, if you came to church today because it's Sunday and you're supposed to, if that's why you came today, Christ is of no value to you. If you get up and read your Bible in the morning because all good Christians read their Bible and I'm supposed to, Christ is of no value to you. That's religion. God wants you to come to church not because you're supposed to.

He wants you to come to church because you are so grateful for what He has done for you, you can't help but worship Him. He wants you to read your Bible not because you're supposed to. He wants you to read your Bible because you want to get to know Him better. He doesn't want you to pray because you're supposed to. He wants you to pray because you like talking to the one who loved you and gave His life for you.

He doesn't want you to tithe not because you're supposed to, but because you know every good and perfect gift cometh from above and you're just grateful for how good God has been to you. In other words, you're after relationship. And as you pursue the relationship, guess what? You get the power. He shares the power out of the relationship, not out of the religion.

Freedom is where you're serving God because you love Him. Freedom is where you're serving God because you care about Him. Freedom is where you're serving God, worshiping God on Sunday because you want to be with Him. Freedom is when you're giving because you're grateful to Him. That's freedom. Freedom is a delight.

My challenge to you today is throw legalism away, throw it away. You have my permission to be free. He says in Galatians 3:24 and 25, he says the law was to lead you to Christ. It wasn't to replace Christ. It was to lead you to Christ to set you free. It's the difference between a rowboat and a speedboat. Rowboat, you got to do it. Speedboat is power.

Some of us are row, row, row your boat gently down the stream. And I'm trying to get there. I'm doing the best. I'm trying to make heaven my home. I'm trying to be a better Christian. I'm trying to be more spiritual. I'm trying to be more like Christ. I'm trying. Somebody passing you with a speedboat. They just doing this. "Hey!" Because they got power. They got power.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans with important insights today on breaking free from legalism. Now, if you'd like to review the full-length copy of this lesson, including material we didn't have time to present on the air, check with us for details on the message titled "Freedom from Legalism."

Better yet, check into getting a copy of this entire two-volume series by Dr. Evans called "Free at Last." It includes 12 messages that show how God's grace can set you free from fear, guilt, discouragement, and so much more, and help you live out the identity He's already given you in Christ.

As I mentioned earlier, when you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station, we'll send you the complete series along with his companion book, "Free at Last," which reinforces these truths and helps you apply them in a practical, personal way. So don't wait. Visit tonyevans.org to get all the details and make your request.

Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members assist you. That's 1-800-800-3222. It's perfectly fine for Christians to be looking out for number one, as long as we realize that the real number one isn't us. On Monday, Dr. Evans explores how to find freedom from selfishness. Be sure to join us.