1 00:00:00,760 --> 00:00:02,560 Amen. My name is Eric, one of the 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:07,440 pastors here and it is Reformation Sunday today and if 3 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:10,880 you don't know what that is, John opened up our service 4 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:16,440 explaining that a man named Martin Luther on October 31st 5 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:24,320 fifteen, 17508 years ago, he was a Roman Catholic monk and Bible 6 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:30,520 professor. He nailed 95 theses statements 7 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,240 to the church in Wittenberg, Germany's door. 8 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:38,800 And it was it was contesting, it was opening up a debate about 9 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:43,800 some of the bad teachings in the church, things like indulgences. 10 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,520 These were things that were going on at the time. 11 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:52,600 Pope Leo the 10th was building Saint Peter's Basilica, among 12 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,440 many other buildings that they've built over in in Europe. 13 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:59,240 And, and this was costing a lot of money. 14 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:05,560 And so a man named Johan Tutzel, a good salesman, became kind of 15 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:09,920 a speaker for the Pope, went around and, and was selling 16 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:13,400 these things called indulgences to make money for the building 17 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:18,360 of this building, the church. And what he was saying is, is if 18 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:22,800 you gave money, it would buy you and your family members out of 19 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:27,520 so many years in punishment in the afterlife, in a, in a thing 20 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,200 that they called purgatory, which is kind of this in between 21 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:32,760 state. Christians don't believe in 22 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:37,400 purgatory, but they did. They got these things from 23 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:40,560 outside of Scripture, not inside of Scripture. 24 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,680 And that was what was going on. In fact, a quote from Tetzel was 25 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,120 as soon as the penny jingles into the Money Box, the soul 26 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:52,800 flies out of purgatory. This was the sales statement as 27 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:56,040 they were going around trying to raise money and in fact, 28 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:59,760 preachers in the churches were saying the same thing. 29 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:02,720 The more money you give, the more money you can earn your way 30 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,320 out of out of the punishment that you're going to have to go 31 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:08,880 through in purgatory. You see, they believed that that 32 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,760 no matter if you had faith in Jesus or not, that didn't 33 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:17,280 automatically get you to heaven. Every person was going to have 34 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:23,520 to pay penance or partially atone for their own sins or work 35 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,080 off their own sins in a place called purgatory before they 36 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:32,840 would get to heaven. Martin Luther at a point was 37 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:37,040 realizing that this just didn't line up with scripture. 38 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,760 So he writes his 95 theses, nails them to the door. 39 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:46,400 October 31st, 1517. And so that puts us today, it's 40 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:49,640 Reformation Sunday. It's not actually till Halloween 41 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:55,120 that that is Reformation Day. And so you want to dress up like 42 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,280 Martin Luther. You wear a robe, you know, put a 43 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,560 coffee filter on your head or shave your head and, and, and go 44 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,240 around with the Bible. And that would be a great way to 45 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:10,400 celebrate Reformation day. Things that were going on in the 46 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:14,440 church was not only not only the sales of indulgences, but the 47 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,120 word of God had been very deeply darkened and shadowed. 48 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:24,480 You see, the Bible was written in Greek and Hebrew. 49 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:27,400 And then in the first couple, 100 years, many of the people 50 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:33,040 were speaking Latin because Rome was kind of the, the, the world 51 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:37,160 power and they became Christian. Rome did and they all spoke in 52 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:39,640 Latin. And so the Bible was first 53 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:44,000 translated in the Latin Vulgate into Latin. 54 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:48,120 And they, this is how they were practicing their faith in the 55 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:52,320 early, early days of the church. But eventually Rome was 56 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:57,520 conquered and that no longer was the language of the people. 57 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:01,240 And it started to the the Latin language started to die off. 58 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,760 And yet they believed that they were supposed to keep the 59 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:07,920 language in Latin during their worship services and during 60 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:10,040 teaching. And So what happened was, is 61 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,520 people weren't understanding what was being read or taught. 62 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:20,640 And, and so then what really ends up happening is man's own 63 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,560 opinions, man's own spiritual ideas and feelings and 64 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:29,800 persuasions, leanings started taking on more authority and 65 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:31,760 more precedence than Scripture did. 66 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:35,880 And that is what happened which took the church into what we 67 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:40,280 call the spiritual dark ages from 500 to 1500. 68 00:04:40,280 --> 00:04:43,440 We believe that it was a the dark ages of the Christian 69 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,400 Church where very few, there were still some. 70 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:49,120 God always has a remnant of believers, but there were very 71 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:54,000 few believers in these times because the Word of God was 72 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:58,240 darkened. I believe that history is 73 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:02,360 important. History is important because if 74 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:06,760 we don't study it and if we forget all about it, what 75 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:11,400 humanity ends up doing is repeating the same mistakes over 76 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,640 and over again. We don't. 77 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,640 We can look into the Old Testament and see when, when 78 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:21,840 God's law was hidden or not used anymore or uplifted by certain 79 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:26,760 kings, they fell into all kinds of sin, worshipping in wrong 80 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,920 ways, worshipping false idols and false gods. 81 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,520 And then God brings about a a reformation. 82 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:39,080 And, and So what happened in the 1500s is something that we need 83 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:43,560 to keep in mind. And so here at this church, we 84 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:47,200 often quote reformers in Puritans and go back to old 85 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:51,600 confessions, not because we believe that they were inspired 86 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,280 by by God in the sense that what they say is the highest 87 00:05:55,280 --> 00:06:00,440 authority, but it's because that they fought against what happens 88 00:06:00,840 --> 00:06:05,440 to God's people when they get outside of worshipping him God's 89 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:07,800 way. Instead make up their own ways 90 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:09,800 to do it the way that they see fit. 91 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:15,120 And we look back and we see that these these men and women fought 92 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:21,080 for the truth and one out and and by the way, because of the 93 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:23,960 Protestant Reformation, by the way, it's called the Protestant 94 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:28,440 Reformation means that they were protesting and the Protestant 95 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:33,000 Reformation is the longest protest, public protest that has 96 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:38,640 ever taken place in history. 508 years of protesting that the 97 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:43,120 word of God is the highest authority, that justification by 98 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:47,120 faith alone is the only way to be saved by grace, the grace of 99 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:52,000 God alone through Jesus Christ alone, to the glory of God 100 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:54,960 alone. We look back and we find these 101 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:58,360 principles and, and it was because of the Protestant 102 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:03,320 Reformation that you and I even can come to a Christian Church 103 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,520 here in America. If it wasn't for the Protestant 104 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:11,520 Reformation, we would either be Catholics or Orthodox or 105 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:16,760 Anglican and, and still be darkened, not having the light 106 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:18,800 of the truth fully expounded to us. 107 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:21,400 But now because of the printing press and everything that 108 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:23,640 happened back then, we can all have our own Bible. 109 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,280 Now. We don't have to read it or hear 110 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:28,680 it in Latin, but we can discern it in our own language. 111 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:32,040 And I believe that God did do God was behind this as he is 112 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:36,680 behind every faithful movement that uplifts God's glory. 113 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:42,000 And so with all that to be said, today we're talking about the 114 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:46,160 five solos of the Reformation. I, I mentioned those, these are 115 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:51,320 principles that we can gather that make up the Protestant 116 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:55,760 faith or the faith of that came out of the Reformation. 117 00:07:55,760 --> 00:08:00,120 Really the Christian faith, Christians should believe in 118 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:04,440 these five solas and, and, and most of them, if not all of 119 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:08,000 them, if they are not believed, I, I would say don't go to that 120 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,760 church. And it's probably an unhealthy 121 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:15,960 theology that the person or a church has if they do not hold 122 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:20,400 to these five truths that came out of the Reformation and 123 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:24,560 they're called the solas. Sola is in Latin and sola means 124 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,480 alone. And so the first one I want to 125 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:33,120 bring up as we walk through these is scripture alone. 126 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:37,799 They believed in scripture alone being the highest authority. 127 00:08:37,799 --> 00:08:41,880 See what was going on was with popes and and and different 128 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:44,400 Saints and things going through history. 129 00:08:44,560 --> 00:08:46,720 They would write their own writings. 130 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:51,480 They would have what they called personal revelations almost like 131 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:56,120 prophets, did they? They, they, they were believed 132 00:08:56,120 --> 00:09:01,040 to carry on the, the Apostolic authority to have personal 133 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:04,440 revelations from God. And they have rooms and 134 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:10,280 buildings of popes and other people's writings, basically 135 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:13,800 adding on to or their own interpretations of Scripture. 136 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:16,680 And that's where they got into trouble in the 1st place. 137 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:21,480 And they were elevating whatever this Pope or this prophet said 138 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:26,080 up to or even above the Word of God, the word of God's 139 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:30,160 authority. Christians, though, believe that 140 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:34,800 nobody or nothing can usurp the authority, authority of the Word 141 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:36,960 of God. We get that right from the 142 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:38,680 Bible. By the way, if we look at Second 143 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:42,960 Timothy 316, it says all Scripture is breathed out by God 144 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:47,120 and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for 145 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:50,400 training and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, 146 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:53,640 equipped for every good work. What is this saying here? 147 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:57,280 This is saying that all of Scripture, all of the finished 148 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:01,080 Canon of the Bible, the 66 books of the Bible, Old and New 149 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:08,160 Testament, all of it in its completed state is the Word of 150 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:11,880 God, the very word of God that was breathed out of his mouth. 151 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:19,560 And it is profitable for teaching, for proving truth, for 152 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:23,800 correcting error, for training and righteousness and holiness. 153 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:29,120 What this means is, is that Scripture is sufficient. 154 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:35,080 It means that if we had no other books, the word alone would 155 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:40,760 would would be enough for us to have a relationship with God and 156 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:43,320 to live out this godly life pleasing God. 157 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:45,600 We don't need any other writings. 158 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:49,520 Any other ideas, Any other opinions other than the word of 159 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:54,320 God and anything that that then contradicts the word of God must 160 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:58,800 be thrown out, must be considered as as false because 161 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:02,680 the word of God is sufficient it's inherent meaning in its 162 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:08,640 original manuscripts. When it was being written is 163 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:14,520 without any errors, you see, because the Bible says that. 164 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:21,000 The Bible says that the Holy Spirit inspired men to write 165 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,840 down the words of God. Actually, it says it in second 166 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,160 Peter 20. It says, knowing this first of 167 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:29,560 all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's 168 00:11:29,560 --> 00:11:33,000 own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by 169 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,720 the will of man. But men spoke from God as they 170 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:40,680 were carried along by the Holy Spirit as they were writing this 171 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:48,640 being imperfect, fallible men, God in His sovereign power was 172 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:52,960 still be it was able to make his perfect word come out of their 173 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:57,120 mouths and threw their pens onto the original manuscripts, 174 00:11:57,120 --> 00:11:59,160 meaning that there are no errors in it. 175 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:04,880 It cannot be wrong. And when I say inspired it, it's 176 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:08,000 not like the same kind of inspiration you get from a a 177 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:10,720 cool quote on Facebook. Man that really inspired me. 178 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:15,080 No, this is controlled by the Holy Spirit to write the words 179 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:19,240 of God down. That's how amazing this book is. 180 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:25,280 It cannot be disproved. People have tried to critique 181 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,560 the Bible over millennia and they will never win the 182 00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:31,320 argument. The Bible will stand for all 183 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:34,760 time. The Word of God will always 184 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:38,760 remain, and it is powerful. And so really, it wasn't Martin 185 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:42,400 Luther who started the Reformation, although God used 186 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:44,960 him. It was the word of God once it 187 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:49,680 got released into other languages where other people 188 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:53,480 could now start reading it and went once God unlocked the mind 189 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:55,680 and heart of Martin Luther himself to understand some 190 00:12:55,680 --> 00:12:58,480 things that caused some people to now stand up and say, wait a 191 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:01,920 minute, if this is God's word, I'm willing to go against all 192 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:04,800 opinions of man if they contradict. 193 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,640 And so it was really the word of God that started the 194 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:13,080 Reformation. I love what Psalm 14715 says. 195 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:15,840 It says he sends out his command to the earth and his word runs 196 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:20,320 swiftly. His word was running swiftly 197 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:25,240 through this time to make it so that we could have the light of 198 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:31,760 the knowledge of the truth of the Scriptures, Charles Spurgeon 199 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:33,760 said. The word is like a caged lion. 200 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:37,400 You don't really have to do anything other than just let the 201 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:39,960 lion out and then it will go do its job. 202 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:46,080 It will go run and conquer. That's the word of God. 203 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:52,040 So Martin Luther four years later, after he after the the 204 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:59,520 the nailing of the 95 theses was called in to an imperial council 205 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:05,160 called the Diet of Worms, where they asked him, will you recant 206 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:09,400 of all of this stuff that you've been preaching and, and, and 207 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:11,960 saying because he had built quite a following. 208 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:15,400 Now people had mass produced his writings now through the 209 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:17,160 printing press along with Scripture. 210 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:20,680 And here's what he said in the Diet of verms. 211 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,840 He says, unless I am convinced by the testimony of the 212 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,360 scriptures or by clear reason for I do not trust either in the 213 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:31,320 Pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have 214 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:33,880 often erred and contradicted themselves. 215 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:37,760 I am bound by the scriptures I have quoted and my conscious 216 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:40,840 conscience is captive to the word of God. 217 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:45,280 I cannot and will not recant anything since it is neither 218 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:47,160 safe nor right to go against conscience. 219 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:49,360 May God help me. Amen. 220 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:52,720 And at the end of it he says, here I stand and I can do no 221 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:53,840 other. He said, whatever you're going 222 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:57,880 to do to me, do, do it. But I, I will not go against the 223 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:04,680 the authority of Scripture. This is something that we need 224 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:08,400 to understand as Christians. One of the main, you know, 225 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,480 foundations of our faith is that scripture alone is the highest 226 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:13,440 authority. But but that scripture is 227 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:17,440 sufficient, inerrant, inspired, infallible, and it hasn't been 228 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:22,080 changed or mistranslated. You know, I know you know this, 229 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:25,720 that all the false religions out there, that's the number one 230 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:28,400 thing they attack first is the word of God. 231 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:32,200 If they and who did that first? Satan in the Garden of Eden, he 232 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:35,480 said God did not say you shall not die if you eat that fruit. 233 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:39,960 Lying to humans, right? Satan's behind every false 234 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:45,960 religion, even if even if the religion is based on Christ or 235 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:49,080 has Jesus Christ in the name of their church. 236 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:53,080 If they do not believe that scripture is the breathworth of 237 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:57,640 word of God without error, then it's very very likely that 238 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:00,880 they've been LED astray and believe false doctrines and 239 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:04,160 false teaching. We must uphold Scripture. 240 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,920 In fact, I was thinking, man, I want to, I should go put a Bible 241 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:13,040 up on that scaffolding there because the, the word of God 242 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:15,840 should be elevated above all of us here today as the highest 243 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,040 authority. And it's not that it's, it's, 244 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:21,080 it's because it's the word of God, not because the book is 245 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:23,640 God. It's his words. 246 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:29,240 In fact, in the, you know, Reformed days and Puritan days, 247 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:32,800 actually the pulpit, this is a sad thing, by the way, for me 248 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:36,000 that churches nowadays don't like using pulpits. 249 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,400 They're like, it puts, puts a barrier between between me and 250 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:44,080 the people or it makes me stand over them. 251 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:48,400 Well, that was the point. The point was not to lift up the 252 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,400 man behind the pulpit. The point was to keep the word 253 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:53,520 of God elevated above the people. 254 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:56,400 And in some of these pulpits, man, you had to climb up a 255 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,280 spiral staircase to get there because they thought that highly 256 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:02,480 of the Word of God. We've got to move on to the next 257 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:04,640 one, though. Through Scripture alone, we're 258 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:07,720 able to find out, and Martin Luther was able to find out that 259 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:13,640 we are saved by faith alone. That means not works plus faith 260 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:21,280 not not faith after all we can do, but faith alone and 261 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:24,359 justified by faith alone. That was a huge term that came 262 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:25,880 out of the Reformation. What does it mean to be 263 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:29,960 justified? That's a legal term to be made 264 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,880 right with God. You see, we are sinners and we 265 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:35,880 are not right with God. We are born not right with God. 266 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:38,120 All humanity is separated from God. 267 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:41,080 We we've born in sin and we continue to sin. 268 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:44,920 And so the biggest question is how does a man or a woman become 269 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:49,280 right with God? It is through faith alone we are 270 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:55,400 justified. Martin Luther, his mind was 271 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:56,440 open. I'm going to read you a little 272 00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:00,560 story here of some history about how it happened and what verses 273 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:02,560 was he in. He was reading in Romans and 274 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:06,680 Galatians, but we read this today as our assurance of 275 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:08,880 pardon. And it was actually verse 17. 276 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:16,640 But I got 16 up there for some, some, some context says for I'm 277 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:20,760 not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for 278 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:22,680 salvation to everyone who believes. 279 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:25,560 You got to emphasize some words sometimes when you're reading 280 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:27,680 Scripture because sometimes you just breeze over it. 281 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:31,440 What does that say? It says the gospel is the power 282 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:36,200 of God for salvation. For to everyone who believes, to 283 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:37,720 the Jew 1st and also to the Greek. 284 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:42,000 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith, for 285 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:45,600 faith as it is written. The rest shall live by faith. 286 00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:53,560 Martin Luther in 1519 after two years after he nailed the 95 287 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:56,280 theses. He was in an Augustinian 288 00:18:56,280 --> 00:19:01,840 monastery that had a tower called the Black Cloister Tower 289 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:05,800 of Wittenberg. He was studying in it and he had 290 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:10,640 this life changing experience where he admits that he was 291 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:16,200 angry with God because he thought God was a, a judgmental 292 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:22,880 God that nobody could please. And he kept reading these verses 293 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:28,640 and and here's what he says. I had conceived this desire to 294 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:32,120 understand what Paul meant in his letter to the Romans, but 295 00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:35,280 thus far there had stood in my way, not the cold blood around 296 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:37,960 my heart, but that one word which in this chapter, in 297 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:43,000 chapter 1, the justice of of of God revealed in it, or justice 298 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:44,600 and righteousness can be interchanged. 299 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:51,040 Here I hated that word, justice of God or righteousness of God, 300 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:54,520 which by the use and custom of all my teachers been taught done 301 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:59,320 philosophically as referring to formal or act of justice, as 302 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:02,520 they call it, that just by which God is just and by which he 303 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:07,200 punishes sinners. But I blameless monk that I was, 304 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,480 felt that before God I was a Sinner with an extremely 305 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:14,160 troubled conscience. So in other words, he's saying 306 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:20,680 if IA monk, who, who, who, who? Deprives myself of all kinds of 307 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:23,880 worldly things and have studied your Bible probably more than 308 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,120 most. I'm still a Sinner before God 309 00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:29,600 and I'm have to face your wrath because of your justice. 310 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,320 Then how is it possible that anybody could be saved? 311 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:38,760 He said in silence, If I did not blasphemy, then certainly I 312 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,000 grumbled vehemently and got angry at God. 313 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:44,360 I said, Isn't it enough that we miserable sinners, lost for all 314 00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:47,480 eternity because of our original sin, are oppressed by every kind 315 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:49,160 of calamity through the 10 commandments? 316 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:53,440 Why does God heap sorrow upon sorrow through the gospel and 317 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:56,320 through the gospel threaten us with His justice and His wrath? 318 00:20:57,360 --> 00:21:00,280 This was how I was raging with wild and disturbed conscience. 319 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:04,720 I constantly badgered St. Paul about that spot in Romans 1 320 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:06,640 and anxiously wanted to know what he meant. 321 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:12,040 By the way, this is how people feel. 322 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,600 I don't know if you've been in a works based righteousness 323 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:18,720 religion before, if you grew up in that. 324 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:23,720 You never know when, if you're doing good enough, when you're 325 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:27,120 gonna be right with God, if you ever can be right with God. 326 00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:31,280 The burden. He was a depressed man because 327 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:32,560 of this, and here's what he says. 328 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:36,240 I meditate, meditated night and day on the words until at last, 329 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:39,000 by the mercy of God, I have paid attention to their context. 330 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:42,000 The justice of God is revealed in it as it is written. 331 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:45,960 The just person lives by faith. I began to understand that in 332 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:49,600 this verse, the justice of God is that by which the just person 333 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:53,520 lives, by a gift of God, that is, by faith. 334 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:57,120 I began to understand that this verse means that the justice of 335 00:21:57,120 --> 00:22:00,400 God is revealed through the gospel, but it is the passive 336 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:04,600 justice that by which the merciful God justifies us by 337 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,320 faith. As it is written, the just 338 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:10,960 person lives by faith alone. All at once I felt that I had 339 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:15,680 been born again, entered into paradise itself through open its 340 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:18,160 gates for me. Immediately I saw the whole of 341 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,920 Scripture in a different light. I ran through the Scriptures 342 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:24,720 from memory and found that other terms had analogous meanings. 343 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:27,040 And he goes on to talk about that. 344 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:30,480 All these statements that how God works in us, it's God doing 345 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:33,560 the work in us. The work that is that is 346 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:40,640 required was done by Jesus Christ and he was reading things 347 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:44,680 like we've read today. We hold that one is justified by 348 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:46,600 faith apart from works of the law. 349 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:50,080 It makes you think, how did they get to this point when they had 350 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:51,720 the scriptures right before them? 351 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:54,200 Well, again, the Word of God was darkened. 352 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:56,480 It wasn't being taught. Everybody else's opinions were 353 00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:59,240 being elevated to the same level of Scripture. 354 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:01,760 That's why all these are connected. 355 00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:10,560 Faith alone in Christ alone is what makes a person right before 356 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:15,840 God. Jesus Christ is the exchange 357 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,000 with us. He's the perfect righteous man, 358 00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:21,920 the only one whoever lived who is God. 359 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:26,560 And when he died on the cross, he exchanges all of our 360 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:28,840 sinfulness and our unrighteousness. 361 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,160 He exchanges his righteousness and trades it. 362 00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:36,720 And he took all of our sin and all of our shame, all of our 363 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:41,320 guilt, and nailed it to the cross with himself, absorbing 364 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:44,160 all of our sins, past, present, and future. 365 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:48,560 And now we stand before God, justified as if we were in a 366 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:52,240 court and all of our charges were brought up against us. 367 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:56,560 And yet Jesus Christ comes out and says, I will bear their 368 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,840 punishment for them. I will take their sentence for 369 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:03,360 them, declare them righteous and me guilty. 370 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,960 That is the gospel. That is the gospel. 371 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:14,280 But here's the thing, the Roman Catholic Church did not teach 372 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:18,200 this, did not agree with this because of how far they had 373 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:22,880 fallen away from grace. And actually in response to the 374 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:25,720 Reformation, they did. They had a council called the 375 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:30,720 Council of Trent where they released these things called 376 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:35,400 Anathema's statements of curse of of condemnation. 377 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:40,160 Anathema means to be cursed or condemned to hell. 378 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:44,720 And they said if you believe any of these things, you are 379 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:47,920 anathema. Here's what it says. 380 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:51,200 Session 6, Canon 9. If anyone says that by faith 381 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:55,760 alone the Sinner is justified and and so as to mean that 382 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,960 nothing else is required to cooperate in order to the 383 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:03,760 obtaining of the grace of justification, that it is not in 384 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:08,280 any way necessary, then let him be anathema. 385 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,360 You see, that's a different gospel. 386 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:17,120 And they've anathematized themselves by preaching a 387 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:20,000 different gospel. You see, that word anathema was 388 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:24,080 written way before they used it in Galatians chapter 1, where it 389 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,360 says, But if we or even an Angel from heaven should preach to you 390 00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:31,400 a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be 391 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:35,480 anathema accursed, as we have said before. 392 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,960 So now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel 393 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:42,200 contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 394 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:46,120 Canon 11. They said this. 395 00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:48,840 If anyone saith that men are justified either by the sole 396 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:52,800 imputation of the justice of Christ, or the sole remission of 397 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:56,400 sins to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which was 398 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:58,960 poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and is and is 399 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:04,800 inherent in them, or even that grace whereby we are justified 400 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,240 is only the favor of God, let him be anathema. 401 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:11,280 Another one, Canon 30. If anyone saith that after the 402 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:14,400 grace of justification has been received to every penitent 403 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:17,120 Sinner, the guilt is remitted, and the debt of eternal 404 00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:20,760 punishment is blotted out, and so much that it remains not any 405 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:24,600 debt for temporal punishment to be discharged either in this 406 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:28,400 world or in the next, in purgatory, before the entrance 407 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:32,000 of the Kingdom of heaven can be opened to him, let him be 408 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:34,440 anathema. This is a different Gospel. 409 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:36,360 This is a gospel that cannot save. 410 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:41,920 Why is this such a big deal? You know, sometimes people will 411 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:47,640 say that men or women, people who stand in and preach against 412 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:53,440 false teaching, especially when the religion could be so close. 413 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:55,200 Or maybe we believe the same thing. 414 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:59,600 And, and, and I, I read this quote, I think it was by a 415 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:03,240 Spurgeon. He said cowards will call 416 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:08,600 courageous men mean. It is not a mean thing. 417 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,600 It is the most loving thing to do, especially when so many 418 00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:16,760 people gave up their live and risk persecution to correct the 419 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,240 error. This is not just some error, 420 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:24,640 this is damning error. Again, that's why the 421 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:29,960 Reformation was so important. You see, here's this thing, you 422 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:36,640 can have justification without wait. 423 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:43,960 You can have faith but not justification, or you can have 424 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:50,760 justification with faith alone. If you add anything to it, it 425 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,560 now becomes your works alongside Christ works. 426 00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:58,480 And now what you've done is you've minimized Christ on the 427 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:02,760 cross and you've said it was it was good enough, but I've got to 428 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:05,440 do more. Almost making yourself equal to 429 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:10,080 Christ, that somehow your works could help you. 430 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:15,360 In fact, they do the opposite. So who do we have faith in 431 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:20,840 getting to the next one? Christ alone, Solas Christus, 432 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:25,560 what does this mean? Our faith is in Christ alone and 433 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:32,520 no one, no work, no no person at all other than Jesus Christ. 434 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:35,760 First Timothy 25 says, For there is one God and there is one 435 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:40,440 mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. 436 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:47,560 Here's what the 1689 London Baptist Confession says about 437 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:50,000 Christ the Mediator. In paragraph 9 it says this 438 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:53,640 office of mediator between God and man is proper only to 439 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:56,560 Christ, who is the prophet, priest, and king of the Church 440 00:28:56,560 --> 00:29:00,720 of God, and may not either be in either in whole or any part 441 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:04,080 thereof transferred from him to any other. 442 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:12,840 So there's this thing called sacramentalism in the Roman 443 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:18,680 Catholic Church where there are the seven sacraments that play a 444 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:24,160 role in even imparting some kind of grace or earning your way out 445 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:30,000 of time in purgatory, which Christ alone is the one who took 446 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,680 our punishment. But the if there's a belief that 447 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:37,320 we have to also pay some part of our punishment through and, and 448 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,800 work off some of the debt through works, they do it 449 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:45,520 through these the seven things. Baptism, baptism does it. 450 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:47,680 We don't believe that baptism saves you at all. 451 00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:53,680 We believe it's a, a symbolic act, but they believe more than 452 00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:59,440 that, that it's required for salvation as salvific properties 453 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,720 and then to be confirmed by them and then confession. 454 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:07,560 You must confess your sins and some someone in leadership would 455 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:12,560 say, OK, say so many Hail Marys or you know, so many our fathers 456 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,160 and your sins are absolved again. 457 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:20,920 Their sins are being forgiven again by a man on earth instead 458 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:24,920 of God who already took care of our sins. 459 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:29,520 And it goes on. You know, the anointing of the 460 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:32,680 sick, the holy orders of the, the leadership and the clergy of 461 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:34,520 the church and even marriage is one of them. 462 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:38,400 But listen to this Hebrews 927 And just as as as it is 463 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:41,440 appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the 464 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:45,400 judgement that gets rid of the idea of purgatory all already. 465 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:50,160 You are judged immediately when you die, whether you had your 466 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:52,920 sins forgiven or you didn't have your sins forgiven. 467 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:55,440 And your spirit goes to two places. 468 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:58,600 There's not a third place. And there aren't three places in 469 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,120 the one place, there's two places. 470 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:04,400 And it goes on. So Christ having been offered 471 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:08,320 once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time. 472 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:14,400 And then and in Romans or in Hebrews 10/12, it says, But when 473 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:19,960 Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he 474 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:25,720 sat down at the right hand of God all time. 475 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:29,640 When Jesus died on the cross. You must know, Christian, that 476 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:32,160 every sin that you ever committed, that you're 477 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:35,960 committing now and that you will commit in the future was known 478 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:40,480 in the mind, in the heart of God the Father and the Son as is 479 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:44,760 hanging on the cross. And he was dying for those sins, 480 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:49,280 all of your sins. He is it's, that's how powerful 481 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:53,480 the cross is, is that it doesn't just take care of the sins for 482 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:58,840 one time, but for all time extending back all the way to 483 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:01,680 the first human beings and all the way to the last. 484 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:07,360 Faith in Christ alone takes care of your sins. 485 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:10,880 In the Catholic Church, they believe in this thing called 486 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:13,680 transubstantiation, that in their mass when they take 487 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:18,440 communion, the bread and the wine, it actually a priest says 488 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:22,080 a prayer over it and they believe that it turns into the 489 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:28,960 literal body and blood of Jesus. Therefore basically crucifying 490 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:33,720 him and again or breaking his, his body again in in current 491 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:37,480 state so that when you take it, your sins will be forgiven. 492 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:39,680 That's why you have to keep back over and over and doing it 493 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:42,240 again. We believe it's a symbolic 494 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:47,240 thing. It's a memorial to do with joy. 495 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:51,680 It has no salvific properties whatsoever, but they've added 496 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:55,480 this is what Christ alone means. It's by Christ. 497 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:59,080 It's not by a sacrifice and offering a priest's prayer, a 498 00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:03,120 confession to someone, take a communion, baptism, all of these 499 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:04,640 things. It's by Christ alone. 500 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:11,160 Actually Ulrich's Lee, a contemporary Martin Luther, he 501 00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:18,120 says Christ has borne all our pain and travail. 502 00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:21,240 Hence whoever attributes to works of penance what is 503 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:24,640 Christ's alone heirs and blasphemes God. 504 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:32,880 It is a blasphemy against God to equate anything to the level of 505 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:40,240 Christ on the cross. Even even to say that somehow in 506 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:43,960 the garden before the cross that that somehow atone for our sins. 507 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:47,040 That's not where the atonement came from. 508 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:50,160 The atonement was Christ on the cross. 509 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:56,680 But there's this belief, you know, the Reformation, by the 510 00:33:56,680 --> 00:34:01,080 way, we're not trying to go back to the 1500s and say that they 511 00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:05,280 had everything right there. There were just, you know, 512 00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:07,800 fallible people. What we are trying to do though, 513 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:09,840 and what I believe the Reformation is about, there's a 514 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:14,199 word called semper reformanda, which means always reforming. 515 00:34:14,679 --> 00:34:17,840 We're trying to reform back all the way to the 1st century faith 516 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:22,320 of what the Bible had to say in the early church. 517 00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,760 We can go back to its history. They had, they started to get 518 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:29,840 off track as soon as the apostles left. 519 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:33,199 But that's because humans mess things up. 520 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:34,800 That's why we have the word of God. 521 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:40,800 We got to go back to it, right? But they the Catholic Church 522 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:44,040 will claim, well, we have the the most history out of any 523 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:45,840 church. We are the early church, right? 524 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:50,320 That's not true because the papacy infallibility, your 525 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:54,520 universal jurisdiction, Mary, by the way, the Marian dogmas like 526 00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:59,320 the Immaculate Conception, like Mary, became completely sinless 527 00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:03,640 as soon as Jesus Christ was in her womb and then lived a 528 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:05,160 sinless life all the way to the death. 529 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:08,520 That's what they believe. And not only that they believe 530 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:13,320 they call her a Co Mediatrix, a Co Redemptrix or even spouse of 531 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:18,920 the Holy Spirit. Some have taught these and other 532 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:23,480 things like it are make it not the early church. 533 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:28,960 So how do we come to this understanding? 534 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:32,560 It is through scripture alone, by faith alone and Christ alone. 535 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:37,840 But what about that moment where Martin Luther says he was it was 536 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:40,120 like he was born again? Is, is it, was it because of his 537 00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:43,440 work of just studying as hard as he could and and depriving 538 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,360 himself as as much as he could like? 539 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,760 And then he finally reached this point of humility. 540 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:50,680 No, that is not what he believed. 541 00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:54,520 He believed that God saved him by grace alone. 542 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:56,280 And that is what Christians believe. 543 00:35:56,600 --> 00:36:00,600 Grace is merited favor. It's a gift of God. 544 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:07,880 Now in the early church, there was a man named Augustine. 545 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:11,520 And Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk in the in the 546 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:18,480 5th century Augustine, he wrote this form of a prayer and it 547 00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:22,960 says give what thou commandest and command what thou will. 548 00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:26,760 What does he mean here? Augustine was so caught up with 549 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:32,400 this idea of of being a Sinner, being totally depraved as a 550 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:35,720 Sinner to the point where man cannot please God. 551 00:36:35,720 --> 00:36:37,720 That's, that's the doctrine of original sin. 552 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:40,600 If we get away from that, we get away from everything. 553 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:44,760 By the way, we're all sinful to the core and we cannot please 554 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:47,840 God in our natural and current state. 555 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:52,760 And he said, OK, then, well, God, if you give us commands, 556 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:56,440 then you've got to give me the ability to do it then, because 557 00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:58,800 in my natural person, I cannot do it. 558 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:03,000 And that's what grace is. Grace gives us the ability to 559 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:07,400 even be able to come to the humble conclusion that I'm a a 560 00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:12,080 Sinner that needs to turn to Christ for faith alone, 561 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:17,320 understanding the word of God. Well in Augustine's time there 562 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:22,320 was a man named Pelagius and he believed something different 563 00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:23,960 about depravity and original sin. 564 00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:29,680 He said no, we did not fall with our our ancestors Adam and Eve. 565 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:33,680 In fact, we have the same free will, uninhibited or untainted 566 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:38,440 by sin that they did before the fall, meaning that there's 567 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:44,200 nothing that that keeps us from taking the first steps toward 568 00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:47,840 God. Well, he was condemned as a 569 00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:50,840 heretic actually, in the Council of Ephesus and Carthage and 570 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:54,400 Orange. And because all of the Church 571 00:37:54,400 --> 00:38:00,200 believed and confirmed that the Scriptures were clear, we are 572 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:03,600 sinful to the core and we cannot reach out to God. 573 00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:07,880 Luther himself said that no achievement of man, no faith is 574 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:10,200 no achievement of man, but it is a gift from God. 575 00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:15,880 You know, modern Christianity is starting to take up this again. 576 00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:18,200 Why? Because we forget faith or 577 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:20,120 forget history. Why do I want to go back to 578 00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:23,160 history and talk about, you know, the Protestant 579 00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:26,240 Reformation? Because we want to keep kind of 580 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:34,760 grounded in great truths that were fought over and won in 581 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,440 great debates with, with men and women who had a lot more time 582 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,160 than we do because we're distracted with all this 583 00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:46,480 technology and busyness. I mean, sometimes I wish I was 584 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:50,720 back in, you know, the Wild West or I was back in the olden days 585 00:38:50,720 --> 00:38:55,000 where I wasn't so distracted and could study more and more and 586 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:56,880 give God more and more of my time. 587 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:02,040 But thank God we have people who did do that. 588 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:04,720 Not saying we put all our trust in them, but here's what I would 589 00:39:04,720 --> 00:39:07,200 say. I'd say their word isn't 590 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:10,200 elevated to the scripture. And so scripture alone doesn't 591 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:13,560 mean you can't trust in confessions or creeds or 592 00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:16,200 commentaries. It just means that they are not 593 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:19,440 inspired by God like the scriptures are. 594 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:23,280 But I'll tell you this, these people together have more 595 00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:25,800 authority than you and I alone interpreting Scripture. 596 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:33,840 So going back to this grace alone idea, Jesus said this. 597 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:37,040 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, 598 00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:39,400 and I will raise him up on the last day. 599 00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:44,200 No one can come to me unless the Father. 600 00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:47,800 It does not say that, oh, if I take the first step, then he'll 601 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:50,440 come towards me. And that is what modern 602 00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:52,880 Christianity is actually teaching nowadays. 603 00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:56,400 If God does 99%, you just do the 1%. 604 00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:58,760 Doesn't that sound so good, right. 605 00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:03,680 But it still involves you actually doing something, taking 606 00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:06,400 the step toward God. And sometimes people get 607 00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:08,360 confused and say that's what faith is. 608 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:14,600 But faith, even faith itself, is. 609 00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:18,200 A gift from God. Again, the ability we are, we 610 00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:20,480 are dead in our trespasses and sins. 611 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,400 The Bible says our hearts are stone. 612 00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:29,640 Actually one of the Puritans, John Owen, he said this before 613 00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:31,960 the work of grace. The heart is Stony. 614 00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:35,520 It can do no more than a stone can to please God. 615 00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:40,240 He gets that from Ezekiel 3626 where God in the Old Testament 616 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:44,360 says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in 617 00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:47,000 you. I will remove the heart of stone 618 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:49,720 from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my 619 00:40:49,720 --> 00:40:53,200 spirit in within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and 620 00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:58,320 be careful to obey my rules. You see, God by his grace, his 621 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:04,160 gift to us comes and regenerates our soul by the Holy Spirit and 622 00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:09,000 then we come to faith in Jesus Christ Jesus again. 623 00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:14,480 You know, you know John chapter 3 where he says you must be born 624 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:17,080 again to enter the Kingdom of God. 625 00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:20,840 No one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they're born again. 626 00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:24,600 What does that mean? Well, think about your physical 627 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:29,520 birth. How much effort or decision 628 00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:35,960 making or studying did you do? How much choice did you have to 629 00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:38,720 be born into this world? Zero. 630 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:42,040 That was left up to your parents, right? 631 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:47,000 The same is true then to be born again spiritually. 632 00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:50,960 You have no part of the decision making process until God 633 00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:53,960 actually gives you the ability to decide. 634 00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:57,880 And yes, we are accountable for repenting and believing and we 635 00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:02,120 do make a choice, but that's only after the grace of God. 636 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:05,480 And I will tell you our minions and Calvinists both believe the 637 00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:10,920 same thing even though they disagree on the predestination 638 00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:13,400 and and all the other stuff and how that happens. 639 00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:17,360 They all agree that a work of God has to happen first in order 640 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:25,560 for a person to believe. Ephesians 2, One through 9 We 641 00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:31,680 were dead in our trespasses and sins, but God, being rich in 642 00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:34,680 mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even 643 00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:37,320 when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us 644 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:41,240 alive together with Christ. By grace you've been saved, for 645 00:42:41,240 --> 00:42:43,640 by grace you've been saved through faith, and this is not 646 00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:47,320 of your own doing. It is a gift of God, not a 647 00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:51,040 result of works so that no man can boast. 648 00:42:55,360 --> 00:43:03,320 The grace of God alone saves sinners and we need to come to 649 00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:07,240 that conclusion more and more as Christians because what it does 650 00:43:07,240 --> 00:43:10,640 it it helps us give God all the glory. 651 00:43:10,720 --> 00:43:14,200 And that's the last part. God's glory alone, Soli deo 652 00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:20,040 Gloria. What is God's glory alone mean 653 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:21,760 it. And not only is talking about 654 00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:25,480 how God is the one who performs all of this stuff on us 655 00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:28,240 undeserving people and we're just standing as grace 656 00:43:28,240 --> 00:43:32,640 recipients, we did not contribute to our salvation. 657 00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:36,040 He did it, which by the way, should make us the most humble 658 00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:40,360 people on earth. And sometimes we're not and we 659 00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:44,160 should be because really we are undeserving. 660 00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:49,720 Undeserving. But also the to the glory of God 661 00:43:49,720 --> 00:43:55,000 alone means that God will not share his glory with anyone. 662 00:43:56,240 --> 00:43:59,880 Isaiah 42, eight, I am the Lord, that is my name, My glory I give 663 00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:05,120 to no other. That means in all of this, when 664 00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:08,600 it comes to religion, means that no Pope. 665 00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:12,720 By the way, the Pope is called the vicar of Christ here on 666 00:44:12,720 --> 00:44:15,040 earth. Vicar comes from the word 667 00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:19,800 vicarious. The Pope vicariously holds the 668 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:22,520 position of Christ here on earth while Jesus is in heaven. 669 00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:27,720 That's what they believe, that he has the same authority and 670 00:44:27,720 --> 00:44:30,840 that he even imparts a special grace to people. 671 00:44:30,840 --> 00:44:33,520 And priest can forgive sins and he can as well. 672 00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:40,720 And the Bible says no, nobody is equal to Christ who is God. 673 00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:45,760 There's no Pope or prophet or president or priest or pastor 674 00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:49,320 who gets the glory, only God himself. 675 00:44:49,320 --> 00:44:53,360 We are but humble servants that are undeserving. 676 00:44:55,160 --> 00:44:59,040 You know, without His grace, I wouldn't be able to speak these 677 00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:02,720 truths to you. I There's no nothing special 678 00:45:02,720 --> 00:45:07,120 about leaders in the church. In fact, if you knew my life 679 00:45:07,120 --> 00:45:09,240 history, you might not even like me. 680 00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:17,800 If you knew all my sins, I was a Wretch to the core, chief of 681 00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:25,520 sinners, prideful, selfish, drug addict, loser. 682 00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:30,600 And the God came and saved me. And why? 683 00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:34,240 Why does he choose messed up people 'cause that's all that 684 00:45:34,240 --> 00:45:35,960 there is. But when he chooses someone 685 00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:39,880 that's messed up and then he can turn them around, who gets the 686 00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:42,240 glory? God can do that. 687 00:45:42,240 --> 00:45:45,960 He's in the business of glorifying himself through being 688 00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:49,640 gracious to you and me. And we're just servants. 689 00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:53,800 We're servants of God. This is why I say we should be 690 00:45:53,800 --> 00:46:02,280 the most humble people on earth, because we don't deserve it. 691 00:46:02,280 --> 00:46:05,080 But we're in a culture in the world where we think that we 692 00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:07,680 should. And that's not only Satan, but 693 00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:11,040 we ourselves want to divise up ways of believing where we can 694 00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:14,480 be a part of it somehow and we can contribute to it and get 695 00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:18,000 some of the glory. We should not do that. 696 00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:27,400 So I say all this to #1 say that these five souls are the basis 697 00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:29,680 of our faith and they're all connected. 698 00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:35,320 We must know these to some extent so that we can go about 699 00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:39,800 our Bible study and living out our Christian life with proper 700 00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:42,920 boundaries and guidelines to our faith. 701 00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:45,280 There's so there's a lot more to the Christian faith and we're 702 00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:48,720 going to spend the rest of our lives week in and week out 703 00:46:48,720 --> 00:46:54,080 studying God's Word. But we can take history and all 704 00:46:54,080 --> 00:47:01,040 of God's Word into account to worship God in the way that he 705 00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:03,800 said to do it, not in some ways that we've made-up. 706 00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:11,000 And I'm not trying to be mean. I am not trying to, you know, 707 00:47:11,000 --> 00:47:16,240 bad mouth or other religions. You know, I love people that are 708 00:47:16,240 --> 00:47:20,280 not believers. I love all people in the world. 709 00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:23,000 God loves all people in the world, and I love all people. 710 00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:27,000 I love sinners. I love people in the Catholic 711 00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:29,600 religion. I love people in the LDS church. 712 00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:34,880 I love people in every type of faith. 713 00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:41,760 But I love them enough to stand here and to go out there and 714 00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:44,520 when given the opportunity, share the truth. 715 00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:48,000 And we must do it in a gentle way. 716 00:47:48,440 --> 00:47:52,960 I'm passionate today because you, if you are a Christian, I 717 00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:54,880 want you to not just know this in your head. 718 00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:56,400 I want you to feel it in your heart. 719 00:47:56,800 --> 00:48:01,280 I want you to know the grace of God and how it can change you 720 00:48:01,280 --> 00:48:06,520 and it can humble you. And it's a free gift. 721 00:48:07,240 --> 00:48:12,440 You come here unworthy today, but God still wants to change 722 00:48:12,440 --> 00:48:15,200 you 'cause it has nothing to do with you. 723 00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:18,440 If you're a Sinner here today and you're living in shame and 724 00:48:18,440 --> 00:48:21,240 guilt, in the burden of wondering if you measure up, 725 00:48:21,240 --> 00:48:24,600 just admit that you don't and repent and believe in Jesus 726 00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:27,480 Christ alone and accept the free gift. 727 00:48:32,900 --> 00:48:36,500 This is why things like these have to be preached and taught 728 00:48:36,500 --> 00:48:39,340 and need to continue to be taught to our people in the 729 00:48:39,340 --> 00:48:42,800 church. I'm so sick of it all being kind 730 00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:46,080 of muddied and watered down and people won't say what they 731 00:48:46,080 --> 00:48:48,320 actually believe. And they don't want to be too 732 00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:50,960 offensive or they don't want to, you know, they want to try to 733 00:48:50,960 --> 00:48:54,240 get as many people as they can in into the room and then maybe 734 00:48:54,240 --> 00:48:56,800 give a gospel presentation. They think that that's how it 735 00:48:56,800 --> 00:48:58,640 works. But that's where we've gotten 736 00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:00,520 wrong. We didn't believe in the, the, 737 00:49:00,640 --> 00:49:03,560 the grace alone by Scripture alone, not by some, some 738 00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:07,800 business method either, you know, some kind of worldly 739 00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:11,480 ideas, some marketing scheme to get people in and, and we can 740 00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:14,840 just do it all in one Big Bang and hopefully God will sort it 741 00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:16,600 out later. And we won't teach them any of 742 00:49:16,600 --> 00:49:19,160 the deeper truths of, of Scripture. 743 00:49:20,480 --> 00:49:25,000 We've got to get people back in the pulpits preaching the truth. 744 00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:26,960 I'll end with this quote from Spurgeon. 745 00:49:28,800 --> 00:49:33,840 It says we want again Luther's and Calvin's and bunions and 746 00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:37,320 Whitfield's men fit to mark arrows whose names breathe 747 00:49:37,320 --> 00:49:41,240 terror in our foes ears. We have dire need of such. 748 00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:45,560 Whence will they come to us? They are gifts of Jesus Christ 749 00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:49,240 to the church and will come in due time. 750 00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:52,040 And I don't say that just to say for the preachers, but all of 751 00:49:52,040 --> 00:49:56,040 us. All of us need to go claiming 752 00:49:56,040 --> 00:50:00,040 these truths, sharing them when we can in the most loving way 753 00:50:00,040 --> 00:50:03,640 that we can, but in the most truthful way that we can. 754 00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:07,200 And just remember, the Reformation is about God's 755 00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:11,120 glory. Takes the focus off of you and I 756 00:50:11,120 --> 00:50:14,360 having to work for the acceptance of God and helps us 757 00:50:14,360 --> 00:50:16,880 to understand that He's done all that's required. 758 00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:20,520 So you and I can rest in God's love and give Him the glory. 759 00:50:20,520 --> 00:50:33,240 Would you pray with me, Father Triune God, we come today 760 00:50:33,240 --> 00:50:37,760 hopefully offering you up a sacrifice of praise and worship. 761 00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:41,800 And hopefully, Father, we've handled your word correctly 762 00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:46,200 today. But we, we also know that you're 763 00:50:46,200 --> 00:50:51,240 a forgiving godfather. And any time we've erred, Lord, 764 00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:53,960 bring it to our attention. Help us to repent of those 765 00:50:53,960 --> 00:50:56,080 things. Father, where, where we, where 766 00:50:56,080 --> 00:50:58,680 our beliefs don't line up with your truth. 767 00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:02,720 Father, we pray for insight. We pray for illumination. 768 00:51:02,720 --> 00:51:06,520 We pray for those who aren't saved yet to have regeneration. 769 00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:08,000 The Spirit would come into them today. 770 00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:12,760 But God, we, we love you and we thank you and we pray that you 771 00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:18,840 are glorified in these truths and I pray you'd give us the 772 00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:21,160 courage to continue standing in them. 773 00:51:21,160 --> 00:51:22,720 I pray in Jesus name, Amen.