The Dangers of Legalism in the Christian Life

The Sermon on the Mount is meant to drive us back to a position of dependence upon Jesus. He establishes an ethic that only he can keep and he puts forth that ethic. This is the ethic of my kingdom on which I am king. And therefore when Jesus says, therefore be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect, it inevitably leads us to this. That's actually impossible because who's perfect?