What does First B Jackson teach about legalism?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on legalism returns again and again to the same diagnosis: the moment anything is added to faith in Christ as a requirement for standing before God, the gospel itself has been replaced. The warnings come from Paul's letters to the Galatians, the Philippians, and the Colossians, but they all point the same direction. Legalism is not simply rule-following. As Pastor Deborah put it, drawing on Warren Wiersbe, it is an attitude that measures right standing with God by outward performance rather than by trust in Christ, and what it produces in practice is a joyless, critical spirit that judges others and pushes people away from Jesus rather than drawing them in.
The teaching works through Paul's own religious resume to show why credentials and effort cannot carry the weight legalism places on them. Paul had more to boast about than almost anyone, and he called it all scubula compared to knowing Christ. Pastor Ray has made the same point about his own upbringing, placing his list of religious accomplishments beside Paul's and drawing the same conclusion: none of it saved him. The cross is where that burden is finally dealt with. As the preaching on Colossians 2 put it, the certificate of debt that the law brought against us was canceled there and nailed to the cross, and what looked like a defeat was in fact the center point of all history. The finished work of Christ is enough, and nothing added to it, whether religious philosophy, human tradition, or self-made spiritual codes, adds anything real.
The image that comes back across multiple messages is a path with two ditches. Legalism is one ditch; license is the other. Christ, and the life of the Spirit, runs along the center. First B's preaching is consistent that neither ditch is where God intends his people to walk, and that the way back to the center is not trying harder but returning to the same faith that began everything. As the message on Colossians put it, just as the Colossians received Christ by faith, they were to go on walking in him by that same faith.
Taught from Galatians 3:1 · Philippians 3:7-8 · Colossians 2:6 · Colossians 2:14 · Galatians 5:1
“If you get to know Christ, you get to know everything that you need to know about God, life, and godliness.”
From Christ Is Good Enough
The passage taught · Colossians 2:1
1 For I desire to have you know how greatly I struggle for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- October 4, 2026 Christ Is Good Enough A sermon through Colossians 2-3 on what it means to walk in Christ, free from legalism, empty tradition, and self-made religion, with Christ as fully sufficient.
- August 23, 2026 Scubula: Counting It All Loss for Christ A sermon from Philippians 3 on trading religious pride and moral license for the one thing that actually matters: being found in Christ.
- January 7, 2018 Knowing Christ, Not Just Knowing About Him Philippians 3:1-11 opens a question worth sitting with: is there a difference between knowing Jesus and knowing about him? The pastor explores what Paul counted as loss.
- February 26, 2017 The Substance Belongs to Christ Colossians 2-3 sermon on why rules and rituals can't change us, and why Christ alone is the center that holds our faith together.
- September 30, 2015 WWW Be Right (17) Romans 7 opens up questions about law, sin, and grace. Pastor Deborah walks through what the law is for, why legalism fails, and how Jesus changes everything.
- June 21, 2015 It Is for Freedom That Christ Has Set Us Free Paul walks through Galatians 5:1-15, calling believers to stand firm in gospel freedom, neither sliding into legalism nor using grace as a license to sin.
- April 26, 2015 Union With Christ Through Faith Pastor Ray walks Galatians 3 through a pop quiz on faith versus law, showing why union with Christ, not rule-keeping, is the heart of the gospel.
- August 26, 2012 Crucified With Christ and Yet I Live A verse-by-verse look at Galatians 2:20-21 showing how union with Christ's death and resurrection is the foundation for living a genuine life of faith.
Mentioned along the way
- April 3, 2022 Sunday, April 3rd, 2022 - 11am Traditional Service - Guest Speaker Florin Ion on Knowing Christ Florin shares from Philippians 3 on what it truly means to know Christ personally, not just know about Him, drawing on his Romanian upbringing and faith journey.
- February 26, 2017 Christ Hits the Center of the Target Paul's letter to the Colossians warns against rules, rituals and angel worship as substitutes for Christ, who alone hits the center of every target.
- February 26, 2017 The Substance Belongs to Christ Paul's letter to the Colossians cuts through religious rules and rituals to show why Christ alone, not law-keeping or self-denial, is the center of the Christian life.
- August 30, 2015 Written on Human Hearts The pastor walks through 2 Corinthians 3, contrasting the law written on stone with God's new covenant written by His Spirit on human hearts.
- July 12, 2015 Far Be It From Me to Boast Pastor Ray closes out Galatians, covering stewardship, the authenticated gospel, and why Paul boasts only in the cross of Christ, not in law or human effort.
- June 14, 2015 Children of the Free Woman Paul shows the Galatians, and us, that we are children of promise, not slaves to the law, and that freedom in Christ is the only inheritance worth having.