Nine Biblical Principles for Judging ProphecySample

In verse 17, the words “meat and drink” are Paul’s attack on legalism. Legalism is the keeping of man-made rules to gain righteousness with God. The Jews were very concerned about the keeping of man-made rules concerning “meat and drink.”

How well they kept these rules determined their righteousness with God. That’s legalism! God hates legalism! Why? Because if you can be made righteous by the man-made rules you keep, Christ died in vain. Legalism makes righteousness possible through what I do and not what Christ did for me at Calvary.

Most denominations practice some form of legalism. Most have a complete set of man-made rules that have no basis in Scripture. Paul states in Romans chapter four that all that is required to be righteous is to believe that Christ died for our sins, that He rose again, and that He sits at the right hand of the Father.

If you believe that statement, you are righteous, and all your efforts to keep religious, man-made rules are an absolute waste of time. Most denominations have a set of legalistic rules that conflict with the rules of other denominations. The truth is, we spend millions of dollars trying to convince other people that we are the only ones walking in the true light.

A Pentecostal will openly criticize a Presbyterian for drinking an alcoholic beverage and then go home and eat like a cultured hog. The Pentecostal is so fat you can’t see his eyes or his shoes, while the Presbyterian is drunk. The point is this: gluttony is as sinful as being drunk.

What is righteousness? Righteousness is living by God’s standards of right and wrong, and humanists don’t want to answer to God or anyone else about their godless conduct.

That’s why they relentlessly attack the Word of God because it plainly says adultery is wrong, fornication is wrong, homosexuality is wrong, witchcraft is wrong, and they don’t want anyone to have the basic truth or enjoy right living, which is righteousness.