Do you know legalism when you see it? (Part 2)

The reason I did this post in two parts from the out set is that there are two aspects to legalism. The one we touched on yesterday is the hypocrisy of self-righteousness. This form of legalism can creep into a Christian's life through the pride of the flesh. The second form of legalism has to do with salvation and can literally corrupt it and keep one from truly knowing Jesus. Because this second form can condemn people to an eternity under the wrath of God it is important to be able to distinguish it.
What is it? This form of legalism is like the legalistic righteousness of the Pharisees. It is external in its form and lacks any internal structure. A passage that comes to mind is Luke 11:42. Here Jesus affirms that tithing their spices was right but out of balance. Jesus is addressing their legalism He is pointing out that their physical actions are not sufficient to earn them salvation. It comes back to the focus of the heart. In the case of the Pharisee their heart was looking for the adoration of men. They did their deeds for the people but clearly thought that jumping through external hoops was their ticket to paradise. This is no different than any of the man-focused works-based divisions of Christianity today. The people caught up in these sects do things in order to be right with God. They might say a certain number of hail Marys or go to confession. They might be found knocking on your door putting in time as part of their required good works. You will find these people doing lots of good things. Often they do more good things than the people who are truly following Christ (which is tragic). But the problem they have is found in their dependence upon their actions to be part of their justification before God. We are justified before God because of the work of Christ on the cross alone. When we add any work to that dependence on Christ alone it no longer remains a dependence on Christ alone. By making a frail human work part of the requirement of salvation we make salvation ultimately dependent upon the work of man. If salvation depends on man in any way there is no longer any assurance of salvation available. You can never be sure in this case because what you are depending on may change because it is rooted in man and man is ultimately mutable (changeable). The other problem with this is it places a love for man's ability alongside of a love for God's ability. This is placing a love for man's ability on par with God, which is pure idolatry. It is idolatry to divide a hearts affection. No man can serve to masters (Matthew 6:24). We must realize that the appeal to include a dependence on something within man is spoken of in the Bible. Repeatedly the Biblical authors point out that the heart of man is corrupt (Genesis 6:5, Psalm 14:1, Hebrews 3:12). We must realize that what we view about salvation must be shaped by scripture alone. When God and a desire for Him grips your heart you will see only Him as being the author and finisher of your faith. This heart for God would want to do all that it can to embrace with all energy the relationship with God. At the same time this heart will realize that the only reason it does these things is because of the work of God in it. Even John Wesley acknowledged this truth. In an interview with Charles Simeon when asked if he depended on an works in addition to Christ he said, "No, I must be saved by Christ from first to last." (Entire interview can be found here). It is with full confidence in the reforming power of the Holy Spirit to shape our hearts that I say the God focused heart will see Christ as the only means by which we are saved. Don't allow legalistic righteousness to fool you. Press on with friends depending on legalistic righteousness (Matthew 23:15). They need desperately to come to depend on Christ alone.