The Five Solas—Sola Fide-2

Text: Romans 3:21-26; Hebrews 11:8-13

Theme: Lost sinners are saved by faith alone, and not by their own merits and/or good deeds. Sola Fide was the truth that set Luther free.

Date: 11/10/2019 File name: SolaFide-2.wpd ID Number:

There are lots of important questions we need to ask of ourselves as we mature ... questions that will affect the course of our lives.

What vocation will I choose, and what kind of education or training will I need to do that job?

What kind of person do I want to share my life with, and how do I meet such a person?

What are my values, and am I living them?

These are some of the most important questions you’ll every ask of yourself, but THE most important question any person will ever ask, is the one Martin Luther wrestled with in his early twenties: “How does a person get right with God?” That question has eternal implications. For Martin, this question became all-consuming. It was so consuming that in 1505, at the age of twenty-two, Luther abandoned law school, and a very promising career as a lawyer, and joined the most austere monastic group in Europe—the Augustinians. Obedience, poverty, and chastity were the foundation of the order and strictly adhered to.

Luther plunged himself into monastic life, assuming that it would help him find peace with God. It didn’t. For many years Luther was afflicted with what the Germans call Anfechtugen —afflicting trials. But for Luther, these were more than trials, but spiritual attacks of the devil, that nearly paralyzed him with anxiety and fear. Luther wrote of these attacks, “Then I was the most miserable person on earth, day and night was pure howling, and despair, ... In this moment, it is strange to say, the soul cannot believe that it can every be redeemed.” During those attacks, he would sweat so profusely that he referred to it as an anxiety bath. These attacks sent him into deep depressions, and made him doubt God’s love and goodness.

What caused such spiritual terrors in Luther’s life? He perceived God as a righteous judge who stood ready to execute His wrath on all those who didn’t measure up, and Luther was convinced he could never measure up. He feared that he could never, ever be good enough to merit God’s salvation. But he tried hard. Luther would later write, that "If ever a monk could get to heaven by his monkery, it would have been I." Yet, Luther still did not feel right with God. His despair deepened.

1. One of his fellow monks told Luther that a man becomes right with God through confession. Doesn’t the Bible say that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins? So confess your sins and all will be made well. So Martin did just that. He would go into the confessional, and ransack his mind attempting to think of every sin no matter how trifling. So scrupulous was he in confessing every known sin in his life, he would keep his superiors in the confessional for hours on end dredging up every idol word he had said, or foolish thought that had entered his mind. But confession and absolution still left him troubled. How could he be sure that he had confessed every sin? His spiritual gloom was not eased by confession.

2. Another well-meaning monk told him, “Martin, you can find peace with God through self-denial. Doesn’t Jesus say, ‘If any man will be my disciple, he must deny himself?’” And so Luther sought to deny himself with vigorous asceticism. He would fast for days on end, taking nothing but water—and sometimes not even that. One fast was so serious that when he didn’t show up for vespers, fellow monks went looking for him and found him in his room passed out. He cast aside his blankets, shivering in the cold of his cell. During the winter he would sometime sleep in the snow. He would flog himself bloody. Asceticism, however, did not make him feel accepted by God.

3. A third friend told Martin that he needed to go on a pilgrimage to Rome to visit the Vatican, and venerate all the relics that could be found in the city’s various churches. So Luther went to Rome. Listen to what Martin writes: “When I got to Rome, I ran around like a madman visiting all the churches, and places of note. I said a dozen masses, and I almost regretted that my mother and father were not dead that I might had availed myself of the opportunity to draw their souls out of purgatory by offering masses and good works on their behalf.” But his trip to Rome left Luther even more frustrated then ever. His sense of guilt before God grew worse and worse.

It was not until Luther began to teach the Book of Romans at the University of Wittenburg that he came to understand how a man is made right with God. He came to a passage of Scripture that would change his life. It was Romans 1:16-17. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it [that is, in the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”" (Romans 1:16-17, ESV). That verse delivered him. Luther came to understand that God’s righteousness is a free gift that He imputes to the sinner when he simply believes, and has faith in God’s redemptive work in Christ. Luther would later testify: “It seemed to me as if I had been born again and as if I had entered paradise through newly opened doors.”

There is only one way that a person can be right with God. In Hebrew 11:6 we learn that, “without faith it is impossible to please Him.”

In last week’s sermon I shared with you Sola Gratia—We are saved by Grace Alone. This morning, I want you to understand that the way we receive that grace is through Sola Fide—Faith Alone! This morning I want you to understand three important facets of saved by faith alone.

The Source of our justification

The Ground of our justification

The Means of our justification

I. THE SOURCE OF OUR JUSTIFICATION IS THE GRACE OF GOD

“and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:24, NIV84)

1. God is righteous, and this is what brought terror into Luther’s life, because how does a mere mortal fulfill the demand, Be ye holy as I am holy?

a. this is what Luther tried so hard to do and couldn’t

b. but through his study of the Book of Romans, Luther discovered the God is a gracious God who gives the free gift of righteousness through His grace

2. Luther discovered three life-changing characteristics of God’s grace

A. 1ST, GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS IS A FREE GIFT

1. you cannot earn, you cannot merit God’s grace

a. in fact, the Apostle Paul tells us that if you could merit grace, it would cease to be grace

2. our unrighteousness so deeply saturates every part of our character that if God is going to save sinners He is the one who is going to have to do it

a. and He has to do it by giving us a gift that we do not have

b. God credits righteousness to our account when we believe upon his only begotten Son

ILLUS. J. I. Packer, in explaining grace, writes, "the grace of God is love freely shown toward guilty sinners, contrary to their merit and indeed in defiance of their demerit. It is God showing goodness to persons who deserve only severity and had no reason to expect anything but severity."

B. 2ND, GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS IS A PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS

1. nothing can be added to God’s grace to make it more effective, and noting can be subtracted from God’s grace that will diminish it in any way

2. Luther calls the righteousness that comes from God through sheer grace an alien righteousness — a righteousness from outside ourselves

a. the theological word for this is imputation—God imputes righteousness to us by faith, and it is ours always and forever

b. and even the faith required to believe on Christ, and receive God’s grace is a free gift

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9, NIV84)

1) God leaves nothing to chance in the sinner’s salvation!

3. the righteousness that God imputes to sinners belongs to Christ, and when I come to him by faith, God credits to me our Lord’s righteousness

a. and on the basis of that imputed righteousness, God declares you justified at that very moment, so that if you died you would go heaven right then because you’ve received all the righteousness you’ll ever need to get there

“It is because of him [i.e. God the Father] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30, NIV84)

b. please, please, PLEASE understand that our justification—that comes by faith alone—is more than simply pardon for sin

1) most people—even Christians—hear the word justified and think, “Oh, that means God has forgiven me.”

a) yes, it does mean that, but it means infinitely more than that

b) forgiveness is essentially a negative spiritual experience ... it means there was something seriously wrong with you—we call it sin

c in forgiveness you are now free from the penalty of sin, its condemnation and punishment

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins ... .” (1 John 1:9, ESV)

2) but in justifying the sinner God does so much more than merely forgive sin

a) justification is a positive spiritual experience

b) those of you who know 1 John 1:9 know I left part of the verse off ... “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, ESV)

c) God cleanses us ... because of the imputed righteousness of Christ in us, God purifies us and gives us all the rights and privileges of a son

3) forgiveness says, “You may go. Your sins are forgiven” but justification says, “You may come into your Father’s presence and love with full assurance”

c. do you see the difference?

4. because the righteousness we receive is Christ’s righteousness—a perfect righteousness—it doesn't matter if we don't measure up to God's perfect holy standard in ourselves—we can’t, and that’s the point

a. Christ “measures up” on our behalf, and if we are in him we measure up

“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,” (Romans 3:22, NIV84)

C. 3rd, GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS IS A PERMANENT RIGHTEOUSNESS

1. God’s righteousness is something we can never lose

ILLUS. Luther thought, "If the righteousness of Christ is credited to me by faith then Christ's righteousness belongs to me and it will carry me all the way from here to heaven”

a. this is why one of the first Catholic doctrines Luther abandoned was Purgatory

1) Purgatory is based on the idea that Christ’s righteousness is not sufficient to immediately bring us to heaven

2) nobody dies righteous enough to go into heaven, and so you need an intermediate spiritual realm where you are purged of your remaining sin

b. Luther said, Nein! Nein! Nein! Christ’s atonement alone is sufficient

2. if Christ’s righteousness is a perfect righteousness, (and it is) then the believer needs no further cleansing then that which they have received in Christ

ILLUS. As the hymnist writes, "When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found; Dressed in his righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne."

II. THE GROUND OF OUR JUSTIFICATION IS THE WORK OF CHRIST

“God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—” (Romans 3:25, NIV84)

1. God is righteously angry with us because of our sin

a. we deserve his wrath ... we deserve condemnation ... we deserve to be sentenced to hell

2. but God, in his grace, sent Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sin

a. Paul writes that God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement

A. CHRIST DIED FOR SINNERS

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23–24, NIV84)

1. Christ’s death on the cross was a vicarious death

a. that means that it’s as if the Christian was there on the cross with Jesus experiencing death for sin and God’s wrath on sin

ILLUS. Beginning in 1953 and running for twenty years CBS produced a series, first on radio, and then on television, called You Are There. It blended history with modern technology, taking an entire network newsroom on a figurative time warp each week reporting the great events of the past. It put the viewer right in the middle of the action, as if you were experiencing the event yourself. At the end of the program, after Cronkite summarized what happened in the preceding event, he reminded viewers, "What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times... all things are as they were then, and you were there."

b. when the Apostle Paul writes to the Galatian churches, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NIV84), he’s reminding them that when they received Christ—when they put their faith in him—and you were there, on the cross with Jesus suffering the wrath of God on sin

2. God is a just God

a. His justice demands that our sins be paid for, forgiven, so that we may be justified in His sight

b. His justice was totally satisfied through His Son’s death on the cross—the perfect, unblemished Lamb of God slain for us

3. accepting, by faith, Christ's atoning death on the cross for your sins redeems you from sin and its penalty

a. your sin is imputed to Christ, and his righteousness is imputed to you

ILLUS. Martin Luther called it ‘The Great Exchange’ ... Christ’s righteousness for his sin.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV84)

4. when God imputes to us His righteousness a miracle takes place in the human soul

a. we become the Children of God, forgiven, cleansed, and adopted

III. THE MEANS OF OUR JUSTIFICATION IS FAITH

“God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:25–26, NIV84)

1. faith is the means by which justification becomes ours

ILLUS No other religion in the world offers people what God offers us in Christ. Christianity is totally unique in this.

a. faith is the instrument by which we receive the work of Christ, but the question is What does saving faith look like?

b. let me give you some characteristics of saving faith

A. FIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF SAVING FAITH

1. Saving Faith Involves an Acknowledgment of Personal Sin

a. you need to understand that you are a sinner, unclean, and condemned and have need of divine intervention and salvation

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:18, NIV84)

b. saving faith always deals seriously with our sin

1) let me give a word of instruction here ... the Evangelical Christians needs to be careful in our language

2) in our preaching and our witnessing people often hear us say, "God loves you unconditionally,” which is absolutely true

a) there is absolutely nothing you can do to merit God’s love

3) but when people hear us say, "God loves you unconditionally,” they frequently interpret that as “God accepts me unconditionally"

a) nothing could be further from the truth

b) if the Father accepted sinners unconditionally, there would have been no need for the death of Christ or his resurrection

c. true saving faith is always characterized by an acknowledgment of and repentance from our sin

2. Saving Faith Has An Understanding That Jesus Died to Take Our Penalty

a. Jesus died in our place

1) we call this substitutionary atonement—Jesus was our proxy, our substitute on the cross dying a death that we should have died so that we might obtain a righteousness that we do not deserve

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3, NIV84)

3. There Is a Transfer of Trust to Jesus Christ Alone

ILLUS. Between 1505 and 1519 Luther sought to satisfy God through, as he wrote—his monkery. It brought him no peace. Luther writes, “But I, blameless monk that I was, felt that before God I was a sinner with an extremely troubled conscience. I couldn't be sure that God was appeased by my satisfaction. I did not love, no, rather I hated the just God who punishes sinners. In silence, if I did not blaspheme, then certainly I grumbled vehemently and got angry at God. I said, "Isn't it enough that we miserable sinners, lost for all eternity because of original sin, are oppressed by every kind of calamity through the Ten Commandments? Why does God heap sorrow upon sorrow through the Gospel and through the Gospel threaten us with his justice and his wrath?"

a. but sometime in 1519, Martin Luther had we he calls his Tower experience

b. the Holy Spirit opened his eyes to the marvelous truth of salvation by faith alone

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”” (Romans 1:16–17, NIV84)

c. he had been meditating on those verses when he saw it ... a righteousness that is by faith ... the righteous will live by faith

d. salvation is not hard—we simply confess that Christ is Savior and Lord, and put all our hope in him

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9–10, NIV84)

4. Saving Faith Is a Growing Faith

a. a heart transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ will seek to imitate Christ because of our love for his sacrifice on our behalf and the grace of God poured out on us

1) true saving faith is never static

2) this is why the Apostle James, in his epistle reminds us that faith without works is a dead faith

b. our growth in faith results in good works ... today, we might translate James as

faith without worship is not a true saving faith

faith without prayer, and bible reading is not a true saving faith

faith without witness and involvement in ministry is not a true saving faith

faith without love for fellow believers, and fellowship with them is not a true saving faith

c. grace never gives us license to live how we please, or do what we want, as if grace were a "get out of jail free" card

1) the person who believes that does not understand grace or faith, and probably never had it

5. Saving Faith Has Christ Alone As Your Object of Faith

a. it’s not faith-in-Christ-plus-your-own-effort ... but faith in Christ alone

Are you like Martin Luther? Are you working hard to appease God so that you might be accepted by him on judgement day? If you are, then, like Luther, you’ll know nothing but Anfechtugen—paralyzing anxiety and fear that you’ll never measure up. You can’t measure up ... that’s the point of the Gospel. However, if you’ll come to Christ through a simple act of faith, confessing the Jesus is Lord, and believing in your heart (meaning with all your heart, and soul, and mind) that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It happens through faith alone.