The Pastor's Heart is for the Church to be Reformed pt. 1

Opening:

Good morning Connection Church. I am so glad that you are here. It is a beautiful thing to be able to gather on the Lord’s Day to worship. We must do this. We must come before God and worship Him. He is worthy of our worship. We live in a volatile time. The doctrines of the church are attacked on all sides. We have enemies within and without. We surrounded by foes who wish to see us fundamentally destroyed or changed into some vile image. Last week we addressed that we handle being surrounded by feasting at the table the Lord sets. But we are surrounded none the less. And the cry to the church is conform or die, change or die.

But perhaps the question is raised, “Why should we not be changed?” Indeed I agree that the church must be changed in ways, but how? What must the church do? How must the church be changed? In essence this is what I wish to address this morning.

Introduction of the Text:

We have taken a few weeks off from our walk through of the gospel of Matthew. Why have we done this? We have done this because there are several things that have weighed heavy on my heart. I wanted to take a few weeks away from the book of Matthew to just express my heart for you. I fear that often you can just passively sit in the seats and walk away having heard simply words from me. I wish to every week express my heart to you. I wish to stand here before God and before you and express the weight that the Scriptures have placed on my heart. I pray that is what you hear each week. However, these past few weeks I have simply endeavored to pour out my heart for this church.

Two weeks ago I expressed that my heart for this church is that you would serve the one true God. We walked through Joshua’s final address to Israel in Joshua 24. Last week I expressed that my heart for this church is that you would have peace in the Good Shepherd. We walked through the passionate thanksgiving and peace found in Psalm 23. This week and next I wish to express perhaps one of my deepest desires for this church. We will be in Ephesians 2:1-10. I would encourage you to turn there with me.

What is my desire for this church? It is one that has endeavored much controversy. Many men have been put to death over this issue. The greatest saints in history have fought to search out its depths. It is not an easy topic, nor is it one I approach lightly. Many feel great anger or passion at the mere mention of it’s name. I ask that you would bear with me. Hear out the definition and intent behind this. Hear the heart of a pastor who loves you. But more than this, Hear the heart of a pastor who loves the Lord our God. My deepest desire is for the church to be reformed.

What Does it Mean To Be Reformed?

But what does this mean? What does it even mean to be reformed? I opened by expressing that the church has many enemies. Many of the enemies within the church seek to see the church changed. They want the church to be more progressive. We see this in the woke church movement. We see this in the social justice movement infiltrating the church. They wish to see the church fundamentally changed. I also expressed that I wish to see the church changed. All the godly wish to see the church changed. But there are fundamental differences in what we mean by changed and how we wish to see it changed.

The social justice warriors, the backers of critical race theory, the woke church are revolutionaries. They wish to see the church changed into a new shape. They fundamentally wish to see the church changed into something new. They wish to do away with troubling passages, doctrines, and teachings. If we were to oversimplify, they wish to see the church be made more like the sinful world. This is revolution. It is a fundamental change into something else.

What the faithful and orthodox Christians wish is to see the church reformed. That word reformed means simply that, re formed. It is like the idea of a clay structure. Over time it has lost some of it’s shape and needs to be reformed into the image it is to have. Faithful Christians of all time have attempted to reform the church according to Scripture. That is our standard. The church has lost some of it’s shape and must have the mold of Scripture applied to it again.

500 years ago a great reforming of the church happened. It was so drastic that it is referred to as “THE Reformation,” or “The Protestant Reformation.” There, many things were brought back to what they ought. Scripture was recaptured and set fire to the hearts of men. The understanding of the doctrine of salvation was brought back from near complete ruin. This time was one of the greatest examples of what it means to be reformed. This example was so great that the reclaimed biblical theology is referred to often as reformed theology. What was the heart of this theology? It is the heart of the church from the pages Scripture.

We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, According to Scripture alone, for the glory of God alone.

We Are Saved By Grace Alone, Through Faith Alone, In Christ Alone, According to Scripture Alone, For the Glory of God Alone.

This is the heart of the true church. But there was and yet still is much debate over these Five Solas of the reformation. Much of the debate is over that word “alone.” Are we really saved by grace “alone?” Through faith “Alone?” in Christ “Alone?” Because of those words, we are called heretics by many. Are they right? This is what we will see. Let us do as we ought when asking a question. Let us go Ad Fontes. Let us go back to the source. Our passage today is one of the most clear passages on salvation. It is so clear that it is seen as one of the chief texts used to explain what actually happens in salvation. Let us look at Ephesians 2:1-10.

Reading of the Text:

Stand with me for the reading of God’s Word.

Ephesians 2:1-10 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The Word of God, Let’s Pray.

Prayer:

Our great God and Savior, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for giving us the grace to come before you today and worship you. We do not deserve this, but you allow us this privilege.

Lord, we humbly ask you for understanding. May we see the truth from your word. Lord, we also ask you to form us into the image of your Son. God, form us into the church we are to be. Form us according to your Word. Make us into the beautiful bride we are to be. Grind away the rough edges. Smooth us and shape us.

We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Transition:

As we open this blessed text of Scripture we may notice that Paul seems to include a veritable outline. He is comparing our inability with God’s ability and then ends with a beautiful treatise on the gospel. We will follow the argument of Paul. Paul begins first with our inability.

1. Our Inability.

Verses one through three paint the horrific picture of our great inability. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

This is a dark and sad state of affairs. Paul is writing to Christians and he is reminding them of the dire nature of their past state. There is contained within this first section three subsections. Paul gives three dark and sad descriptions of our lost state.

The first image we see within Paul’s explanation of our lost state is that we were dead in our trespasses and sins.

A. Dead in our Trespasses and Sins.

This is such a vivid picture. In his commentary on this passage, R.C. Sproul gives an analogy he has heard used many times. He says, “Sometimes we hear the following analogy: fallen man is so overcome by the power of sin, that he is like a person on his deathbed, who has no physical power left to save himself. If he is going to be healed he can’t possibly do it through his own strength. The only way he can be made well would be if the physician gave him the medicine that is necessary to restore him. But the man is so desperately ill that he doesn’t even have the power to reach out and take the medicine for himself. So the nurse approaches his bed, opens the bottle of medicine, pours it into a spoon, and then moves it over to the dying man’s lips. But he must, by his own power, his own will and his own initiative, open his mouth to receive the medicine.”

I have heard this used many many times as well. This illustration is an example of what is known as “Semi-Pelagianism.” Semi Pelagianism holds that there is still some good left in man. Full Pelagianism holds that man is truly neutral and able to achieve salvation on his own merit. Semi Pelagianism is a watered down version of this.

Sproul continues, “This analogy is often used to support a semi-Pelagian understanding of salvation. The idea is not that man is still good enough to work his way into the kingdom of God through his own merits, he can’t possibly get there without grace. The grace of God is as necessary, according to semi-Pelagianism, for salvation, as medicine is to heal this dying man. But a type of co-operation must take place between the patient and the physician for the healing medicine to have its effect. What happens is that God provides the medicine and he brings it to the dying man, but the dying man must co-operate by opening his mouth to receive it.

Here we see the difference between semi-Pelagianism and Reformed theology. The Reformed view would be that man is not only critically ill, he is dead. The man doesn’t even have the power to open his mouth to receive the healing medicine. Rather, the medicine has to be injected into him by the physician.”

The problem is not merely that we are sick. We are dead. Paul’s first description of our lost state is one of utter hopelessness. We are dead. But this is not just death. This is a type of walking death. We are dead in our sins, but we are actively dead. This is not a passive death. This is an active death. We are following the course of the world.

I. Following the Course of the World .

We were not just dead remaining idle. No, we were dead and moving into further death. We were becoming more rebellious, more sinful. In essence, we were a spiritually dead rotting corpse. Just as a physical corpse will continue to rot, we will continue following the course of this World. We were not actively moving closing to God. We were pictured as following the world away from God. We were becoming more and more disgusting and rotted.

And this is not unguided either. Not only were we following the course of the world, we were also following Satan.

II. Following Satan.

Paul says that we were following the prince of the power of the air. We were walking right in Satan’s evil. This is not a good picture. We were dead and rotting. Our sin that we were dead in was decaying us further and further. Our corpse was growing worse and worse.

But this is not all. The second example of our former sinful state is giving by Paul. We were sons of disobedience.

B. Sons of Disobedience.

Satan, the spirit of the power of the air is at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we walked. We were not children of God. We were children of disobedience. We were wicked and evil children. This is not a good picture! Paul continues. We, as dead rotting sons of disobedience lived in the passions of our flesh.

I. Lived in the Passions of Our Flesh.

We were ruled by the passions of our flesh. This is almost a picture of animalistic nature. We were so lost that we merely followed our passions, thoughtless and wicked.

We were carrying out the desires of our body and mind.

II. Carrying Out the Desires of Body and Mind.

This is a dirty image. It is a wicked and gross picture. It is as if we were merely wicked, evil dead things who were pulled about by our sinful passions and lusts. The evil things that came into our mind are what drove us.

And yet, Paul is still not done. Not only were we dead rotting sons of disobedience who were guided by their passions and lusts, but we were also by nature children of wrath.

C. By Nature Children of Wrath.

This one to me is the topping on the entire cake of disgust. All of these things are not flukes. It is not that we merely fed the bad things of our nature and brought about that result. No, we were these evil things by nature. Our nature is utterly vile and evil. It is not some random happenstance that we were these things. No, we were these things by nature. Our fundamental nature was wicked, vile, and dead. But it was not just us. No, we were not separate. Everyone is like this. All mankind. We were by nature children of wrath, just like everybody else.

I. Just Like Everyone Else.

This nature is not limited to us. It is the default setting for all mankind. What is mankind like? Mankind by their very nature is dead in trespasses and sins, rotting and getting worse, children of disobedience who follow their sinful lusts and passions, children of wrath. Or to put it simply, totally depraved.

This is not a good picture. This is a picture of wickedness and evil. This is a picture of radical corruption. This a picture of total inability. How can anyone as wicked and vile as Paul is describing come to a holy God? How can anyone as putrid as this hope to stand before God? Who among us could ever be worthy of redemption? Or worse, who among us would ever want to come to God? Paul is describing humanity as not only unable to come to God, but as actively going in the opposite way. We would never seek God. That sounds familiar.

Quoting several Psalms to the Romans, Paul also says in Romans 3:10-18 “10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.””

Man is fundamentally unable and unwilling to come to God. So what hope is there? Not only is man unable to come to God, but man is unwilling to come to God. The natural disposition of man is set against God. So what ability is there for salvation? This is the question. Here is where Paul transitions.

Transition:

Paul moves into our second section. God’s Ability.

2. God’s Ability.

With the words of hopelessness still ringing in our ears, there comes another sound. A sound like the songs of heaven. It is brought to us on the wings of angels. No two words have ever been so beautiful as the two words of this next section. The greatest words in all of human history are written in this passage.

Who are we? Vile, dead, rotting, disobedient, wicked, hopeless sinners running from God. Woe to us! Woe to us!

But God.

Paul directly contrasts our woeful state of total inability with God’s vast ability. He contrasts our total unwillingness with the willingness of God. We cannot be saved outside of God’s direct intervention. Truly we would not even choose God if He did not act on our nature to change it. “But God” is the chorus that brings tears to the Christian eye. Paul contrasts our sinful state with God’s beauty by showing us God’s character.

A. God’s Character.

Paul endeavored to show us the nature and character of sinful man and now is showing us God’s character. We have seen who we are, but who is God? Verses four and five tell us. “4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses,”

First, Paul says God is rich in mercy.

I. Rich in Mercy.

If we even understand a fraction of the vile nature we as sinful man have, we will understand the beauty of the gospel in this first fact. We are wretched and vile. But God is rich in mercy. Justly, we deserve hell. No innocent has ever been damned to hell. So with the crushing weight of our sins upon our heads, we are given the first ray of hope. There is a God, and He is merciful. Still we must wonder, “Who would dare to show mercy on a dead rotting corpse like me?” But perhaps, just maybe there may be hope.

But why is this great judge merciful? Here is our second hope, Because of love.

II. Because of Love.

Not only is God rich in mercy, but He is merciful because He is loving! Joy of joys! God is merciful and loving. Here the sinner ought to begin to weep. Still refraining from hope the tears ought to come to our eyes. Our God is not just merciful, He is loving!

But here our inability comes back to us. We are unable to come to Him. He may be merciful and loving but yet, we are turned away from Him. Our sinful hearts hate the love of God. We despise His mercy. Our natural state is still dead and rotting. Horror of horrors! God is merciful, but unless He act first, we are still hopeless.

Here is the beauty of the third part of God’s character. Even when we are dead.

III. Even When We Are Dead.

Praise God all you saints! Not only is God merciful and loving, He acts! We would be in our lost state with no hope of salvation, but He loves us while we are dead! He is merciful while we are yet dead!

Were it up to us, we would remain dead! We would stay in our fitful state of depravity! But God is merciful and loving even while we are dead!

And notice that phrase is not the end of the statement. The statement, “Even when we were dead in our trespasses...” is a transition phrase! It is transitioning us from God’s character into God’s Actions.

B. God’s Actions.

First Paul made clear our inability, now He is making known God’s ability. He started by describing God’s character and is now showing God’s actions! And these are God’s actions! They are not ours, for we are dead. What can a dead man do? Simply this, go on being dead and stink. God is the one taking the actions and notice when He takes the action; He acts while we are still dead! Glory to God! He does not wait for us to come! He does not wait for us to bring ourselves to life, for we cannot! No! God, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

What glory of glories! This is the good news! First, while we were still dead He made us alive!

I. Made Us Alive.

He takes action to bring us to life! The same one who breathed into Adam the breath of life, now must breath life into our dead souls. We previous to this breath were as Adam, a lump of dead clay. We could not do anything. We cannot merit anything. We cannot breathe. We cannot think. We cannot even consent. God steps in and breathes life into this lump of clay, praise God! Even when we were dead, God made us alive! This is the grace we enjoy now!

But Paul’s words are filled with beauty and grace. Not only are we alive now, but He raised us up.

II. Raised Us Up.

Paul envisions us raised to life with Christ. This has yet to happen. We have not yet experienced the final resurrection but Paul is saying it is so certain that it is as if it has already happened. So sure is this resurrection in Christ, that we can even now claim it to be ours. We must not fear death nor torment, for we will rise on the last day. We will be made whole at the appearing of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Continuing this “already and not yet” theme Paul says God has seated us with Christ.

III. Seated Us With Christ.

We are not now in the New Jerusalem that will be seated on this earth, but again it is so sure that Paul says it is ours. The coming consummate Kingdom is so real and so sure that we have already laid hold of this prize through Christ. We are now alive because of the action of God! We are raised up! And we are seated with Christ!

If this does not excite you, check your pulse, you may still be dead! We are alive in Christ! We are raised up! We are seated! We are blessed beyond our possible understanding! Burn me at the stake, I do not care! For I am alive in Christ! I am raised up in Christ! I am seated with Christ! Let the pain and misery of the world rain down upon me like hail stones, I do not care! I am alive! What can I say? I once was dead, but now I live! He has raised me from the dead! Amazing Grace, how can it be! That I should live in Christ my King!

And here the beauty is magnified! Paul expresses God’s purpose.

C. God’s Purpose.

What is God’s purpose in all of this? Why? How can it be that a vile, dead, rotting, sinner like I should be blessed? 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

It is to show His immeasurable Grace.

I. To Show His Immeasurable Grace.

Who could possibly disagree? This is truly immeasurable grace! What dead man, brought to life could but kiss and glorify the one who brought them to life! This is not the saving of a life, it is the bringing to life! There is but one way to describe this, immeasurable grace!

And this is not directionless grace. No, it is pointed at us! Who can but glorify God! It is to show His immeasurable grace in kindness to us.

II. In Kindness to Us.

Who are we? Who are we to receive such grace? We who were once dead and rotting, running away from God. We who were the enemies of God! We who cursed His great name have now been brought to life! This is amazing grace! This is beauty. This is beyond our minds capacity to understand!

Oh God, give us minds to grasp more fully the grace you have given us! Give us minds to understand the truth that we were once dead but now have been made alive! Help these people to get it! Help these people to understand that they were incapable of turning to you, but you in mercy came to them and made them alive! God help us to worship you!

And who could not worship at this? Who could hold back cries of worship at this? We have been brought to life! We ought to cry out amen and hallelujah with every breath God has given us! I honestly do not understand those who find it hard to praise God for salvation. I am baffled by those who take offense at the idea that God did this to glorify Himself. Who else could be glorified? He has saved us! We ought to throw ourselves into service of Christ and His church. If we are alive, we ought to live like it! Stop living as dead men! Live like you have been brought to life!

And yet, if you are unconvinced, if you are still unmoved by this, Paul continues. The third movement of this text is Paul explaining the gospel.

3. The Gospel.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the gospel. Be in awe of these words. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We are saved by grace through faith.

A. By Grace Through Faith.

By grace, through faith. Here are those amazing words. It is by grace. What else could we call it? It is not our merit. We were dead. We were rotting. Yet, in unmerited favor, God has made us alive. This is grace. It is by grace. And it is through faith. What must one do to be saved? Faith.

It is not your own doing.

I. Not Your Own Doing.

It is nothing you do. You cannot earn it. You were running away from God. Your own doing was earning you hell, it was not earning you heaven. You are not saved by anything of your own doing. Even the faith is not your own doing.

Likewise, it is not of works.

II. Not of Works.

Your works were evil. They were as dead as you were. What works would merit salvation? All your works were evil before a holy God. No work could ever earn you salvation. You did nothing. My favorite Jonathan Edwards quote you have heard me say many many times is about this. “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.”

You were not saved even in part by yourself. It is the gift of God.

III. Gift of God.

Many have questioned what part of salvation is the gift of God? Is it just the grace while the faith is our own work? Is it the faith that is the gift of God? No. It is the entire process that is the gift of God. God did all the work. Many attempt to claim that God did 99.999% of the work, while we did a mere 0.001%. This is a lie. God did 100%. You are saved by grace though faith, not of your own doing, it is the gift of God.

Because of this, no one may boast.

IV. No One May Boast.

What separates you from the lost? Seriously, what is it about you that separates you from the lost? Is it that they haven’t done something that you did? That is a works based gospel and it is not the true gospel.

Think about it. If you did anything that made you better than them, you could boast. If you say “The reason I am saved and they are not is because I had the faith to believe and they do not.” Then you can boast. You can hold it out as a prize. You can arrogantly say, “I did my part while you have not.” We love this idea. We love the idea that we have done something, no matter how small. We love that there is something that separates us. “There is a reason that God brought me to life. It is because I did...” Stop right there. Repent of your pride and arrogance. God, in His infinite wisdom and according to the divine counsel among the godhead brought you to life. He brought me to life. I do not know why, but I know this: there is nothing about me that made me better than anyone else. There is nothing within my being nor my action that made me the one to be saved.

The cry of the Christian is, “But for the grace of God, there go I.” I am no different than the most vile sinner on earth. I was no less dead that any other dead man out there. I was just as dead. And so were you. So stop boasting. Quit attempting to still your pride by claiming to have been partly alive. You were dead until the Spirit of God quickened you and brought you to life. But for the grace of God, there go I. Any time pride creeps in, we must remind ourselves of this.

Illustration:

That great English preacher Charles Spurgeon, preached part of this passage. He preached a moving sermon on verse one of this text. We are dead in our trespasses and sins. He compared the idea of Spiritual death with the three examples of Christ raising someone from the dead. Jesus raised a little girl who was freshly dead. He raised a young boy who was dead and on his way to the tomb. He also raised Lazarus who had been dead for days and was entombed.

Spurgeon, in typical Spurgeon fashion saw direct application in these three accounts of death and resurrection. The little girl was freshly dead, still in her room. She was likened to those who are young in sin. They do not yet bear the outward marks of sin. They are seen as nearly righteous. The young man’s death was open in the streets. He was likened to those whose sin is open and evident. He is the one who lives and openly loves his sin. Lazarus was dead and entombed. He was sealed away in death and the rot was clear through the stench. He was likened to those to whom all hope seems lost. They are sealed away in their sin. They are the worst of the worst.

But the prince of preachers hit the point square on in his illustration. The outward manifestation of death looks different, but the inward state is the same. All three are dead! The girl who looks just like a living body is dead. The boy dead in the street is dead. Lazarus, entombed and stinking is dead. No matter what you look like, if you are unsaved, you are dead. This was the state of all Christians until God brought us to life. This is the current state of all who are not saved.

In this way, we are His workmanship.

B. We are His Workmanship.

We are His workmanship. We are in no way built by ourselves. We are created in Christ.

I. Created in Christ.

We are His. His workmanship. We deserve no credit for our salvation. Christ gets all the glory. It is His. But we are not to be idle. We were created in Christ for good works.

a. For Good Works.

God has prepared good works for us that we should walk in them. This is the clear outpouring. We have been made alive. We ought to live like we are alive. And we know that because these were prepared before hand, He gets all the glory even for this. He did it all. He deserves all glory. This is why on the last day, when we receive our crowns for the good works we did here, we remove them from our heads and cast them at the feet of Jesus. We will be saying through our actions, “No, it is not I who deserve glory for this. Only Jesus.” This is our life’s mission. Only Jesus deserves glory.

Transition:

So why did I open this message by saying that my heart is for the church to be reformed? What does this passage have to do with any of that? There is a cry from church history that I hope will explain it. Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda.

4. Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda.

That is a Latin statement saying, the church reformed, always reforming. You see, we are reformed. The fact is that if I had preached this message prior to 1517, I would have been burned at the stake for heresy. The Roman Catholic church condemned any who said that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as heretics. In fact, that anathema is still in place. They would still call me a heretic for saying that. But the protestant reformation, that is celebrated every October 31 by some, separated us from that.

The cry of the reformation is that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone according to Scripture alone for the glory of God alone. I preached this morning three of those five solas. This message is summed up as salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And I was able to do that because this church is reformed. We are able to meet because of that one great reformation. But this is not enough. We must not be content with merely a past reformation. That is not enough. We must be the church reformed, always reforming. We must heed that cry and always reform what we believe according to the Word of God. We must always be growing closer to God. We must take everything we think or do back to the Word. And we must pass this on. We must continue to be reformed.

This is my challenge to you. Live as those who are alive. Do not live like dead men. Praise God that you are alive! Live like the living in Christ. Reject all glory for your salvation. You did not do it. You did not contribute to it. You owe all to Christ. You are saved by grace alone. It is only the grace of God that saved you, not your merit. You did not deserve it. It is grace alone. You were saved by faith alone. There was no work you did to earn it. You did not contribute to it. It was merely faith in what Christ did for you. Faith is trust in someone else’s actions. You were saved by Christ’s actions, not your own. You were saved by Christ alone. It was not Christ plus anything. It was Christ alone that saved you. He is the only mediator. He saved you. You are not saved by the work of any other than Christ. He alone is our savior.

There is a move in the church today to deny this. We think we must do this or that to be saved. No, never that be said here. Let all glory be given to God for salvation. He is the one who saved us. We are no co workers in salvation. Let those who stand against this stand firm, for it is not us they stand against but God. We must stand firm on these truths. We must not move. We must be unbreakable, unmovable on this. Let the world cry for the church to be revolutionized into something new. It will not. Let the woke church cry for the church to be revolutionized. It will not. Let all who seek to tear down the wonderful doctrine of salvation do their worst. God builds His church. We will submit only to the hand of God as it forms us into the image of the beautiful bride we are to be. We will bow only to Him. Let the nations rage, He who sits in the heavens laughs. We will serve the Lord.

We do not stand against this. We stand on the shoulders of those who have come before. We stand on the foundation of the church. Christ is it’s cornerstone. The apostles and prophets laid the rest of the foundation. Since then, great men and women have been laid on top of that foundation. Generation after generation have laid their lives upon that foundation. It have been built into the image of the church. We are not alone. We stand on the sure foundation of all true Christians who have gone before. We are merely another flour on the temple of the church. But the question is, will God prune us off of the tree? As God forms the church, are we in line with what God is building? There are many who will be trimmed off as false. They will be rejected as not part of the church. God builds His church and we are to submit to Him.

Though this generation be faithless to God, we will stand. Though around us, we see churches falling away, we will stand. Though countless abandon the truth that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, we will stand. We will conform everything we believe to what God has said. We will stand. We will serve the Lord. We will be faithful to the one true God. We will have peace in the Good Shepherd. And we will be reformed.

Take heart beloved. We will follow our Lord. Take heart dear ones. Our God has not abandoned us. He brought us to life. He will carry us through. No trial, tribulation, attack, or hatred can stop us. We will worship God. We will gather and worship our King. Nothing will stop the songs we sing to Christ. Nothing will stop the gospel we preach. Nothing will stop the church. We may go through pain, but He is with us. We may go through hard times, but goodness and mercy follow us. We may be outlawed, cast out, beaten, or killed, yet we will stand.

We are those who are alive in Christ. Here we stand, God help us. Amen.