We Are All legalists

Graeme Goldsworthy on the kind of preaching that rejects the gospel, from “Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture”, says “. . . we are all legalists at heart. We all love to be able to say that we have fulfilled all kinds of conditions, be they tarrying, surrendering fully, or getting rid of every known sin, so that God might truly bless us. It is a constant temptation to want to take our spiritual pulse and to apply the sanctification barometer . . . The preacher can aid and abet this legalistic tendency that is at the heart of the sin within us all. All we have to do is emphasize our humanity: our obedience, our faithfulness, our surrender to God, and so on. The trouble is that these things are all valid biblical truths, but if we get them out of perspective and ignore their relationship to the gospel of grace, they replace grace with law.”
I can only pray that the revelation of this will break into the heart and mind of everyone who reads this.