Pastor, here’s how to answer “I need to do these things to be right with God.”

You’ve heard it from the faithful volunteer who never misses a Sunday and still can’t sleep at night. You’ve heard it from the new believer who thinks one more good week will finally make God like them. “I need to do these things to be right with God.” It sounds devoted. It’s a sermon of the serpent, preached from the other ditch. Here’s what’s underneath it, and how I walk people out of it.

What legalism is

Legalism, also called works-righteousness, is the belief that I earn or keep my standing with God by my performance. If I act this way, live this way, do enough of the right things, then God will love me, like me, save me.

The root error is a mix-up. Legalism confuses sanctification, the fruit, with justification, the root. Theologians would say it confuses soteriology with sanctification. Mix those two up and you’re in trouble.

The serpent’s question

The serpent’s first move in the garden was “Did God really say?” Here he aims it at the cross: “Did God really say it is finished?” Jesus said exactly that (John 19:30). Legalism quietly answers, “Not quite. There’s still a balance due, and you’d better pay it.”

In the last lesson we talked about licentiousness, people who don’t understand the cross because they live any way they want. This is the other side. You also don’t understand the cross if you don’t understand that we come to Him with nothing, and He gives us everything.

Step 1 — Start with what we can’t do

The Bible says our righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). We can make sacrifices and do all kinds of things, but there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

We are so broken and sinful, and He is so gracious and loving and kind. We didn’t choose Him. Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16), and He laid His life down for us as a sacrifice. Our justification is in Christ alone, by faith. Preach that until the performers in your church can finally exhale.

Step 2 — Then put works where they belong

None of that means how we live doesn’t matter. Once we’re saved and forgiven, we live a brand-new way: taking off the old self and putting on the new (Ephesians 4:22–24). But that new life isn’t earning the salvation He already gave us as a free gift. It’s the overflow and outworking of what He’s done.

That’s how I read “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). Faith is the justification; works are its outworking. And it’s why Paul can say, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). We still fear God and honor God. We do these things not to gain what He’s already given, but so we can honor Him with our lives and be useful.

Here’s a practical test: audit your own discipleship pathway. Does any step read like a requirement for salvation? If a newcomer could walk away thinking baptism class or serving on a team is what makes them right with God, you’ve built a legalist’s staircase by accident.

Step 3 — Teach conviction versus condemnation

“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). You’ve been forgiven. You’ve been saved. You should no longer live under condemnation.

But you should feel the conviction of God. Conviction is a grace. It’s God saying, “Don’t do that anymore. Let’s live a new way.” And conviction after regeneration feels different from what it felt like before.

I’ll push back a little on how some people say “there’s no shame in Christ Jesus.” People should feel shame and guilt when they do wrong. Feeling none is closer to psychopathy than to freedom. The difference is whether shame is a passing conviction that leads you to repentance, or a permanent state you live in. The first is healthy. The second is gone at the cross.

Step 4 — Lead people in the prayer of the empty-handed

Legalists don’t need another list. They need to say out loud that they can’t save themselves. I end this lesson by praying it, and I’d encourage you to lead your people in it too: “Thank You, God, that in my best effort I could not save myself, but You saved me. Thank You for giving me a new life. Give me the grace to walk this out every day, in Jesus’ name.”

Don’t mesh the two together. We don’t obey to be made right. We’ve been made right, so now we live a new way, with a humble heart, following Jesus every day, grace upon grace.