In this engaging episode of The Flatline, Rick Hughes passionately addresses the importance of recognizing and overcoming legalism. He shares his experiences of societal pressures regarding morality and spirituality, emphasizing the significance of personal growth and understanding in one’s spiritual journey. With biblical references, Rick illustrates how believers can foster a relaxed mental attitude, allowing them to enjoy a more profound connection with God and their community.
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now your host, Rick Hughes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, stick around. It’ll just be a short time of motivation, inspiration, education, but no solicitation. That’s right. We’re not going to ask you for any money. We’re not going to beg you for any money or try to sell any books. We just want to give you information, information that’ll help you verify and identify the plan of God for your life. And if you want to orient and adjust to that plan, then by all means, I certainly pray that you’ll do that. Because what we have to tell you today is very critical information. By the way, we’ve gotten our new book out now. The book on God’s grace in aging. God’s grace in aging. And if you’re over 50 years old, like me, you’re getting on up there. You probably need to read this book to see what God expects out of you as you get older. And certainly what God provides for you as you get older. It’s not a time to turn around and get weak. It’s a time to keep pressing forward. So this book covers all of it, and it’s a free book. We’ve had hundreds of orders already, so if you’d like to get one, give us a call at 800-831-0718, or you can go to the website at rickhughesministries.org, rickhughesministries.org, and order the book there, or any other material we’ve got available, all free of charge. You notice we don’t have commercials. We don’t sell ads. You notice that if this radio show And that’s why we just trust the Lord to provide our finances and by people just like you that contribute to the ministry, we thank God for his provisions that keep us going every week through the Flatline Radio Show. Okay, now here’s what I’d like to talk to you about today. I think it’s very critical information. I became a Christian when I was a young man. I was only 22 years old. I did not go searching for God. I promise you that. That was the last thing from my mind the day I became a Christian. But I did at 22. Prior to that, my life was different. But prior to that life-changing day, I had no religious background at all. I never went to church, maybe like some of you have done. I didn’t go to church. Nobody in my family went to church, and so I didn’t know very much about the Bible, very much about God. when I became a Christian. In some ways that was probably a good thing because I did not need to unlearn, I say unlearn, legalistic tendencies that other people already observed. Some were just blind devotion without even understanding what they meant. So the two great days for me aside from my family was my salvation, the day that I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and received him as my savior. And secondly, meeting my friend and my pastor, Colonel R.B. Thiem, Jr., pastor of Baraka Church in Houston, Texas. My Lord Jesus Christ gave me a new life, and my pastor taught me by word and example how to live that new life. So it’s very easy to be misled by dynamic personalities in the Christian world. It really is. They may use humor, they may use politics to gain your trust, but eventually, it’s usually always about manipulating you into some course of action. And there was a time in my life I tried to live up to older Christians’ expectations. Maybe you’ve done the same thing. I mean, they had good intentions, but they were trying to make me into something that I was not. So as a new believer in Christ, I really didn’t have any church background, so to understand what was expected out of me now that I was a Christian, That was quite a bit to handle. And several older believers that I associated with, couple of people in the ministry, pastors and evangelists, they all suggested that, not just suggested, insisted that I refrain from certain things now that I was a saved person. And many of those things were not really sins that the Bible spoke about. But in their minds, a good Christian should not do them and should not enjoy them. That was strange to me because it was my new entertainment needed to be bowling maybe or singing in the choir. I didn’t do either one of them very well. So what was really strange is that what was considered to be a sin in some states might not be considered a sin in another state. And obviously different denominations had different sins that one must avoid. For example, what the Baptist considered to be a sin might not be considered a sin in the Methodist church or the Episcopalian church. So it did take me a couple of years struggling with living up to these unrealistic expectations before the Holy Spirit graciously led me to my pastor who cleared all this up and cleared up the confusion with clear, concise, solid, sound Bible teaching. However, however, most of my religious friends were not happy about that. because I broke away from their expectations and what they expected me to do and how they expected me to live. And I didn’t do anything weird, I just didn’t fit into their mold. And I would like to discuss this issue with you today, if you don’t mind, with a simple prayer that this message will free you, break you free from the chains of subtle legalism, so that you can relax and enjoy your relationship with God without feeling like you’re failing every day. The idea of doubtful things, doubtful things, things you shouldn’t do, doubtful things was taught to me years ago by my pastor, and it described Christian behavior that’s not directly addressed in the Bible. Now, the Bible does clearly present a list of known sins in passages like Galatians 5, 19. The works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambition, dissension, heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, reveries, and the like. Paul laid them out right there. And he said, of which I tell you before, just as I’ve also told you in times past, that those who practice these things will not be inheriting the kingdom of God. But there still remains certain activities not stated in the Bible as sinful or allowed. So these are usually things that involve personal pleasure. Biblically speaking, believers have the right to do what is not prohibited by the scriptures. One area of caution that I advise you to be careful about is not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. In 2 Corinthians 6, 14 and 15, the Bible clearly says don’t be unequally yoked together with unbelievers because what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness and what communion has light with darkness and what accord has Christ with Belial or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And that is certainly a mandate for marriage, but it can also be applied in other areas such as business partnerships and things like that. Don’t hook up with an unbeliever. That’s God’s word to you. That’s God’s advice to you. Now there’s apparently certainly a difference between human opinion and divine standards. And you can understand this. One time I had a preacher friend of mine who would not fish in the bass tournament with me. I invited him. How would you like to fish in the bass tournament? He said, oh, brother, I can’t do that, brother. I was like, why not? What’s wrong? He said, well, my church would consider it gambling. Well, the Bible does not specifically condemn gambling. It does warn about the love of money, that’s for sure, in 1 Timothy 6.10. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil from which some have strayed from their faith and their greed and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. So what would be considered a sin for him would not be considered a sin for me because he thought if he went fishing in the tournament that he would be gambling and his deacons and his parishioners would not approve of him gambling. It’s just a bass tournament. I’ve fished in hundreds of them. So you may find believers like this who offer you, they’ll even offer you some constructive criticism. I’ve had people call me on the phone and offer me constructive criticism. I find it best to let the Holy Spirit convict me of sin based on the scriptures, not some acquaintance who thinks he’s supposed to guide me in life through the areas of those doubtful things we’re talking about, things that aren’t really mentioned in the Bible. And because they’ll lay a guilt trip on you. And this type of unwarranted guilt is designed to manipulate you into living a holy lifestyle, holy lifestyle, whatever that is. They think they’re holy because they don’t do certain things for the believer in Jesus Christ. There is a mandate for you and I to stay filled with the Holy spirit in Ephesians five 18. And if we fail to obey that mandate, we will find ourself under divine discipline for sure. In Hebrews 12, five through six, and have you forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons? My son, do not despise the chasing, that’s the discipline, the whipping of the Lord, and don’t be discouraged when you’re rebuked by him. For those whom the Lord loves, he chastens and he scourges every son that he receives. So as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, when you and I get out of fellowship with God, we can come under discipline. So there are many divine mandates for us to become spiritually mature individuals also. One of them is in 2 Peter 3.18. This is a divine mandate. I mean, this is a commandment from God. This is not a request. It’s God telling you this. 2 Peter 3.18, grow, grow. That’s a verb, grow, and it’s a mandate in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Okay, I want to grow. So how do I grow? What do I have to do? And again, the Bible tells you another mandate in 2 Timothy 2.15. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So you got to be consistent in learning the word of God, applying the word of God, and obeying the word of God. And you’re not going to get it by just doing the 10-minute devotion every day, I promise you. That’s why you hear me constantly encourage you to get into the ministry of a well-qualified pastor. And if you don’t know where one is, contact me and I’ll point you in the right direction, I promise you. So be diligent, be consistent to present yourself approved to God. That’s the worst thing you can do is get disapproved. If you can get it right, you can get it wrong. And I have seen many, many people get it wrong. A worker who does not need to be ashamed, that verse went on to say, but rightly dividing the word of truth, not wrongly dividing the word of truth. And some people will wrongly divide the word of truth and tell you, now, my dear brother, now that you’re saved, you know, you can’t do that anymore. You know, that’s definitely a sin to go to that movie theater and watch that movie, brother. Is it a Disney movie, brother? No. Well, then, brother, don’t you know that’s a sin? And that’s wrong. That’s somebody trying to manipulate you. Living the Christian life requires that we understand mechanics of the Christian life, and that’s why we have those 10 problem-solving devices that we base our show on called The Flotline of Your Soul. The Flotline is a summary of the Christian life in 10 unique situations. It’s the mechanics of the Christian life. First and foremost, you and I must understand what is sin and what is not sin. Because if we don’t, then we are going to be running around trying to live up to some unrealistic expectation that we can’t live up to. So I had to learn that sin comes in three different categories. One of them is called the sin of the tongue. Lying, slander, maligning, gossiping, criticizing, In James 3.8, but no man can tame the tongue. It’s an unruly evil full of deadly poison. And you have never been bitten or stung until somebody bites you with these lying words. You know, if you tell a lie long enough, loud enough, and often enough, people will believe it. You can see that in politics, how politicians lie and keep repeating the same lie over and over and over again until gullible people believe it. And they use their tongue to manipulate people and to gain power. And you can do the same thing by maligning. If somebody ever asks you, what do you think about John Doe? Don’t answer that question. You don’t have to give your opinion of what you think about John Doe or what John Doe is or is not. Let God handle John Doe. You stay out of his business. That’s called the privacy of the priesthood. You probably have had that done to you and you need to maybe learn how to forgive the person that did it. But people are bad about judging other people with their tongue, with talking about them, running them down, maligning them. It’s a sin of the tongue. Another sin that is often done is the mental attitude sins that are committed in your head. See, this is the great thing about God. He’s not concerned about your image and your style. He’s concerned about what you’re thinking. He’s not looking at you this morning to see what kind of clothes you got on. He’s looking at you this morning to see what you’re thinking. And sins are committed in the mind. You can do it right in the mind without ever getting out of bed, without ever getting out of your chair. And the major, major area of mental attitude sins is called arrogance. Arrogance. And this is a sin seldom taught in churches today. I’d like for you to think back in your own pastor’s teaching. Has he ever taught you about arrogance, what it means to be an arrogant individual? Because that’s a horrible sin. It involves three things specifically, self-justification, self-deception, and self-absorption. All three of those put together will take you to self-destruction. You have the ability to destroy yourself with your decisions, your own bad decisions. That’s why bad decisions limit future options. We have a bumper sticker that says that. Bad decisions limit future options. You need to put that sticker somewhere and remember that. So mental attitude sins, especially arrogance, worry, fear, things like this, they’re all sins. and they quench the Holy Spirit, they grieve the Holy Spirit. They’re known sins, not doubtful things, known things. And another known sin is overt sins. These include outward immoral behavior, including criminal behavior and moral and immoral degeneracy. So overt sins, mental attitude sins, sins of the tongue, these are definitely in the Bible, definitely taught to stay away from them. And we are definitely told to grow up. We’re definitely told to be filled with the Holy Spirit. There’s nothing doubtful about that. But I also learned something else. I learned there are seven worst sins according to the scriptures. Thank goodness my pastor taught me this years ago. In Proverbs 6, 16 through 18, these six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to him. Here we go, listen carefully. A proud look, arrogance, a lying tongue, sins of the tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, overt sin, a murderer, a heart that devises wicked plans, middle attitude sins, feet that are swept and running to evil, sins of the tongue, It’s all right there. These are the biggies. And some of you think, you never heard that before. You think, you know, there’s a different list for you what the biggies are. The big 10, so to say. But this is it. Proverbs 6, 16, and 18. Read it for yourself. Look it up. Proverbs 6, 16 through 18. The seven sins that God hates. These seven sins include three mental attitude sins, three sins of the tongue, and one overt sin. But what is definitely not sin, not mentioned as sin, not even brought up as sin, are many of the local taboos observed in the religious community, those doubtful things. You may say, what’s a taboo? It’s a doubtful thing. A taboo is described as an adherence to a prohibition imposed by the local culture and local tradition. It can include spirituality by works, in other words, Spirituality by works means how you dress and how you act and how you talk and how you carry yourself. Do you carry yourself like a Christian? Do you act like a Christian? Do you talk like a Christian? It can include morality as a substitute for spirituality. In other words, a person thinks I’m spiritual because I don’t cuss and I don’t drink and I don’t chew and I don’t hang out with any of those that do. So I’m a very moral person, but that’s not spirituality. This sort of stuff often happens when you believers are manipulated by religion, organized religion, or even big spiritual bullies in the church. But the issue in spirituality, let’s get that word straight, the issue in spirituality is always simply the filling of the Holy Spirit. Not how you talk, not how you walk, not what you wear, it’s the filling of the Holy Spirit. And pseudo-spirituality, the fake stuff, is always based on observing some taboo, some doubtful thing, while the true spirituality is based on God’s grace provisions. So here’s something you need to learn. Spirituality does not have degrees. You are either spiritual or you are carnal. There’s no in between. You’re either spiritual or you’re carnal. This very moment as you listen to me, you are either in fellowship or out of fellowship. If you’re out of fellowship, you’re carnal. You’re under control of your sin nature. If you’re in fellowship, you’re spiritual. You’re under control of the Holy Spirit. Well, if you’re carnal, how did you get there? You committed a sin, something you thought, something you said, or something you did, or something you didn’t do, like you didn’t study, you didn’t grow, you didn’t learn, you didn’t apply. You were told to do that in the Bible, and you have not been doing that. You haven’t even had time to study the Bible. You’re too busy chasing life, too busy enjoying the details of life. So spirituality doesn’t have degrees. Spirituality is based on the filling of the Holy Spirit. But now here’s something that does have degrees. Maturity. Oh, then that’s different. Maturity is based on the content of the word of God in your soul that governs your life. So spirituality is never an event-based emotion. It’s never that. It’s never an event-based emotion, but it is rather based on precisely correct procedure. For example, Billy Graham, the famous evangelist, cannot be any more spiritual than you. Your very own pastor cannot be any more spiritual than you. He may have more content of the Word of God in his soul, and he may be more mature than you, but he’s not more spiritual than you. And he’s definitely not living a holy lifestyle. Now that’s another misnomer. What does that mean to live a holy lifestyle? That’s where people get you confused too. You got to act holy, walk around holy. Acting, living a holy lifestyle means you stay in fellowship and don’t give in to the lust of the flesh. You don’t give in to the lure of the world. You don’t give in to the devices of Satan. It has nothing to do with how you look and how you talk and how you walk. So subtle spirituality, this is where you have to really be careful, is what I call a weaker believer acting in all holy around you. You know, someone that hadn’t been saved very long, and they’ve been lured into thinking now, since I’ve given up this certain thing here, I don’t drink anymore, I don’t smoke anymore, I don’t gamble anymore, I don’t play cards anymore, I don’t go to movies anymore, so I’m really holy. I don’t think so. That sort of person considers himself closer to God because he gave up something, and it was never said to be sinful to start with. Something they questioned, and they may come to you and say, why do you still do that, brother? Aren’t you a Christian? That’s when people invade your privacy and stick their nose where it doesn’t belong. There’s a great passage of Scripture in Matthew 7 that says, judge yourself lest you be judged, because of what measure you measure to be measured back to you again, and it’s called the long proboscis. The long proboscis, you know what that is? That’s a monkey with a long nose. And when you stick your nose in someone else’s business, that’s a good way to get discipline from God, especially if you try to tell them that they’re not living right. Stay out of their business. Spirituality by obeying taboos. Spirituality by giving up cards. Spirituality by giving up drinking. by giving up movies giving up dancing giving up smoking giving up whatever has no basis at all in the bible can you be a christian and play cards certainly you can can you be a christian and take a drink of wine or beer certainly you can can you be a christian and go dancing certainly you can can you be a christian and smoke a cigarette or a cigar certainly you can now the bible warns you not to abuse your body and there’s limits to anything you do So, I mean, if your pastor is preaching about these things as being sin and comes to your house and has three helpings of chicken on Sunday afternoon, maybe we forgot what gluttony is a sin. We can’t be running around telling people what sins are and what sins are not, as these taboos are, because a taboo is something forbidden by tradition, something that’s forbidden by social usage or some form of authority, some religious authority. But a taboo is a prohibition set up by a religious group or religious person, but it is not something that’s forbidden by the Word of God. It’s different. Hence, a taboo is a superimposition of legalism onto the Word of God, saying you cannot be a Christian and do that, brother. Yes, you may be a Christian and do that. That’s the great thing about my pastor. When I learned this, I spent one week with him face-to-face, and he changed my life because I had learned the Word of God, but I didn’t really know how to apply it. Once I learned how to apply it and relax and get away from the guilt concept, then I began to have a wonderful, productive spiritual life. So it’s never our objective to superimpose our ideas of what’s right and what’s wrong on other people. I mean, we have our own personal likes and dislikes and others have their own. And we are to live our life as under the Lord without imposing our standards or our beliefs on other people. So simply put, you just need to let people live and let people live. But there’s another thing called spirituality by relativity. Spirituality by relativity. What is that? Well, that says that a person is spiritual because his sins are more respectable than someone else’s. No, you’re spiritual if you’re filled with the Holy Spirit. You’re carnal if you’re not filled with the Holy Spirit. Has nothing to do with how respectable you are. So in some sort of typical comparison, a subtle type of sinfulness would be compared to a shocking type of sinfulness. resulting in some side of false rationalization, including this rationalization is a delusion that there are degrees of spirituality, and there’s not, as I keep telling you. You’re either spiritual or you’re carnal. You’re not growing holy because you gave up some particular thing. There are degrees of maturity, yes, but no degrees of spirituality. Either you’re in fellowship or you’re out of fellowship right now, this moment. But you may not be mature. You may not be the mature believer God demands you to. You might not have grown up yet. That’s why you have this study of the Word of God. Grow in the grace and knowledge of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as the Word of God says. When you don’t grow, then legalism creeps in. And it’s terrible because they’ll make you think you’re spiritual than someone else because you don’t do what they do and you’re better than them. Then there’s spirituality by statics. What is that? It’s emotions. It’s based on the fact that emotions are not under the authority of the mentality of the soul. What does the Bible say? Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. It doesn’t say let these emotions be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. Emotions and stimulation have no meaning, no foundation, no relationship to reality, no relationship to spirituality, and they’re just emotions, and they’re fine, and they’re wonderful in the right place, but they’re not designed to dictate how your spiritual life is to be lived. And programmed spirituality is really dangerous, and that’s where people say, well, if you get involved in our church and you become a good deacon and you become a good tither and you You don’t miss Sunday school, and you come to prayer meetings, and you bring visitors when you’re spiritual. Spirituality is the believer under the filling of the Holy Spirit. Again, as I’ve said, maturity is the believer under the filling of the Holy Spirit with maximum amount of the Word of God in his soul. So your key and my key to having a wonderful, joyful Christian life is to possess what I call a relaxed mental attitude, and that comes from reaching spiritual maturity building a flat line in your soul with those 10 problem-solving devices and enjoying what God gives you on this earth. One great blessing in life that I know about is to be around other believers who also have a relaxed mental attitude because they don’t judge you, they don’t try to impress you with their great spiritual life. When you find a friend like this, it’s genuine friendship and it’s really based on trust and appreciation and you’ll find very few true friends in your life. but you gotta have a relaxed mental attitude towards all believers, that’s for sure. But really, these doctrinal friends that have relaxed mental attitude, they can be closer than your family. This type of incredible friendship is built on mutual understanding of the word of God, which says, do you think alike? I have believers, friends of mine, we don’t think alike. What is a sin to them is not a sin to me, so we just don’t think alike. We’re not comfortable around each other. So you have to learn how to live with people and let people live the life they want to live. Don’t judge them. Don’t stick your nose in their business. Do your own business. Take care of your own job, and you’ll be fine. Remember, emotions are great in the right place, but they’re not designed to control your spiritual life. I hope this is making sense. I hope I’ve encouraged you to let go and relax and enjoy life and don’t live under this legalistic concerns. Did I? I hope so. Next week, I’ll be back. Same time, same place. Until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Floodline.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
