Reformation 500: The Five Solas - Solus Christus
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Christ Alone
Christ Alone
Pentecost had come. Jesus had been raised from the dead and ascended into heaven just as he said he would. The Holy Spirit had come upon the disciples just as Jesus had promised. And now Peter and John and the others were going forward and proclaiming the Gospel. The Pharisees and Sadducees and temple guard were kept careful watch of the disciples of Jesus as they went here and there teaching and preaching. And in we’re told that their message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ got our brothers in Christ in trouble. Not because they were doing evil, not because they were preaching, not because they were teaching, bu because their message is the same one that has always and will always get Christians into trouble - salvation is found in nothing, no work, no feat, no obedience to the law and salvation is found in no one - except in Jesus Christ alone. And despite seeing miracles and hearing testimony those persons clinging most dearly to their sacred traditions did not receive the message well and did not respond in repentance. Dead men were alive again, the blind had been made to see, the mute to talk, and the lame to walk yet they would not believe.
Let’s pray and we’ll dive into our text.
PRAYER
Peter and John have just by the power of God and the spreading of the Gospel healed a man lame from birth. And while most would see this as a sign from God, the Jewish leaders saw this as an evil act which undermined their power. We pick up the story just after the miraculous healing.
Acts 4:1
And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
There is salvation in Jesus Christ, no one else. Nothing and no one but Jesus can save. This is the message that got Peter and John in trouble. And it’s the same message that got our brothers in Christ, the Reformers in trouble with the Roman Catholic Church. Only Jesus saves. It seems to us not at all controversial to make such a statement, but for the Reformers, just as for the early Christians it was a statement that could very well mean death. This month we are talking about the Reformation and the Reformers, about the Five Solas, the beliefs that truly separate the Christian from the non-Christian and historically what caused the great divide of Protestant Christians from the Roman Catholic Church. The five solas are: Sola Scriptura: Scripture Alone, Sola Gratia: Grace Alone, Sola Fide: Faith Alone, Solus Christus: Christ Alone, and Soli Deo Gloria: To the Glory of God Alone. Today we examine sola 4, Solus Christus: Christ Alone.
According to God’s word given through Paul in it is by grace we are saved through faith. But not just any faith. Or perhaps a better way to word it is, not just faith in anyone or anything. It is faith in Christ alone which brings salvation because it is Christ alone who can save. So many religions advocate faith in a prophet, a priest, an idea, an object… the list goes on and on. But perhaps more dangerous than these other religions which teach faith in someone or something other than Christ is Roman Catholicism which teaches faith in Jesus AND something. While scripture teaches that no one and nothing else can save - it is Jesus and Jesus alone, Roman Catholicism teaches that only Jesus AND participation in the Sacraments can save you. According to the Roman Catholic Catechism the sacraments are mandatory and efficacious for achieving and meriting salvation, that they literally and in their own words: “dispense life” to the believer. You must in order to achieve salvation according to Roman Catholicism: be baptized, undergo confirmation, participate in the Eucharist, pay penance and participate in confession, and received last rites as you die, just to name a few. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that through Jesus AND these sacred means can you attain salvation, life, blessing, peace, and forgiveness. And this is where we as our brothers the Reformers did make our stand - we confess that in no action, no matter how religious or obedient can we attain for ourselves any measure of grace from God. We confess that there is one name under heaven by which men must be saved - Jesus Christ. Thus during the reformation was proclaimed the Biblical distinction of Solus Christus - Christ alone.
But what does Christ do? Why is it that adding anything to Christ or having anyone other than Christ does not work?
Two weeks ago we talked about Sola Gratia - Grace alone and we said that humanity has a major problem, there is terrifying truth that causes us great fear and trepidation when understood and that is that God is good. We said this is terrifying because we are not good and the only appropriate response from God who is good and holy and just is to punish and destroy we who are not good. This is the problem we face, that we deserve judgment and wrath from God. But we said God chooses to act, that’s grace, and in order to receive that grace we must have faith, that means to trust God and even this we must recognize is a gift from God. But what are we trusting God to do? What do we trust that he did?
We trust that God showed grace in this: that the Father sent the Son, empowered by the Holy Spirit to come into human flesh that he could go to a cross where he would die as sacrifice for all who believe, who have faith in Him. We trust, not in our own works, not in our own deeds, not in our own thoughts, philosophies, ideologies, and solutions, but rather we trust in the work of Christ alone. But what work did Jesus do on behalf of every believer?
Jesus, who lived a sinless life in the flesh, came to be a sacrifice to save us. You remember I said God is good - He is holy and rightly in His holiness punishes evil. Hear me and hear me well on this friends: Jesus comes to save us from God. We don’t like to word it this way. We’re much more comfortable saying that Jesus came to save us from sin and while it is true that Jesus cleanses us from all our sin and takes away the eternal consequence of sin, we must recognize that the reason we need saving is because by our sin we were guilty in the eyes of God, worthy of His wrath, and rightly under His condemnation and damnation. Speaking of God David says this:
For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
Psalm 5
We see similar teachings from David in
God is a righteous judge,
and a God who feels indignation every day.
If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;
he has bent and readied his bow;
he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.
And again in
The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord’s throne is in heaven;
his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
The Lord tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
Let him rain coals on the wicked;
fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
For the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.
Jonathan Edwards one of the greatest preachers of all time, who lived during the 1700’s spoke of our sorry state before this good and just and holy God in his most well known sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” He says, “There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning, that would presently kindle and flame out into hell fire, if it were not for God's restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men a foundation for the torments of hell: there are those corrupt principles, in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them, that are seeds of hell fire.”
When we say Jesus saves, we must rightly understand that we are saying that God, saves us from God who punishes evil. And while the thought may bake your noodle, it should be very plain that only God could ever save you from Himself. And we must also rightly understand that in saving or in damning God does no injustice. When God saves a sinner it is an act of His good grace. If God does not save a sinner it is not “unfair” or “unjust” but rather it is perfectly just and fair and right that He do so. And lest we become self-righteous thinking ourselves more kind than God, remember that every moment of life God granted to sinner on this earth was a grace that was undeserved. As Jonathan Edwards again said, “There is nothing that keeps wicked men, at any one moment, out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God....” and it is this God “that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times so abominable in his eyes as the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince: and yet 'tis nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment; 'tis to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep: and there is no other reason to be given why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up; there is no other reason to be given why you haven't gone to hell since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship: yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you don't this very moment drop down into hell.”
You and I deserve to go to Hell every moment of every day, but it is God who holds us, it is God who saves His sheep from Himself and for Himself. And the way God has chosen to act is by Jesus, the son coming and dying. That in His death satisfaction for the Father’s justice is made, sin is punished, and we forgiven. His blood spilt is like the cool cleansing water of a mountain stream washing us of our uncleanness and refreshing our souls. His blood covers us and keeps us from wrath. Jesus obedience and sinlessness is credited to us as righteousness and we are looked upon as the Father looks upon the Son. Jesus sacrifice not only cleanses from sin and credits to us righteousness, but also gives to us life eternal and the promise of resurrection which He shows and prefigures in His own resurrection from the grave. It is Jesus work and Jesus work alone that saves us. No work you ever did or ever will do can compare to these works of Christ and to compare anything you have to offer alongside Christ’s work as something worthy or meritorious of salvation is a blasphemy.
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him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince: and yet 'tis nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment; 'tis to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep: and there is no other reason to be given why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up; there is no other reason to be given why you han't gone to hell since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship: yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you don't this very moment drop down into hell.
My charge to you is this: do not trust your own works or thoughts or goodness to save you - you will never make it. Trust in Jesus alone to save you, because it is only by His work that you are saved. Paul has this to say in
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And
Romans 5:
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:
Justified by Jesus blood, reconciled by His death, saved by His life. We owe all to Jesus because there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. My friends now is the time to trust in Him. Do not delay, do not wait. Come, believe, trust, have faith in Jesus alone. We’re going to have a time for you to do that right now, to confess that belief and in accordance with scripture be baptized. If you need to do that now, come forward as we stand and sing.