Reformation Day
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History
My family has never celebrated Halloween. We didn’t really have anything against it specifically, it just was never really our jam. If it wasn’t Christmas or a birthday we didn’t really do much for it. But I do have a memory of a year when I was in elementary school and we had a costume parade. I was dressed as the Blue Power Ranger. We had that parade and later that evening we went out to do some Trick-or-treating at my grandmas house. Me and all the cousins. It was truly a great time, simple and joyful. There are two sides to this coin. On one side is the innocent walk for candy, on the other the cultic side. Though as believers we should not be celebrating Halloween, we do have a reason to celebrate,
On October 31, 1517, after years of personal study, turmoil and conviction, Martin Luther posted the 95 thesis on the door of his Wittenberg church. The 95 Thesis were 95 challenges to Roman Catholic doctrine pertaining to the nature of penance, the authority of the Pope and the usefulness of indulgences.
The 95 Theses were quickly translated into German, widely copied and printed. Within two weeks they had spread throughout Germany, and within two months throughout Europe. This was one of the first events in history that was profoundly affected by the printing press, which made the distribution of documents and ideas easier and more wide-spread.
This set a fire in the hearts of men who were taken advantage of by the monarchy, classism and the Church. While Luther initially only wanted to reform the teaching in the Church to reflect scripture, he understood that taking a stand, protesting, and subsequently splitting from the Roman Catholic Church was the going to be the final part of this battle. Hence why we are considered Protestants.
To reform something is to make changes to something in order to improve it. The beauty was that the reformers idea of reform was to turn the hearts of men back to the Word of God, where we would find the depth and beauty of the Gospel.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
This is not our text for today, but this was part of the foundation of recovering truth. From this stemmed the retrieval of core doctrines that shape us and point us to God vs. pointing us to ourselves.
Right With God
Right With God
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Something recovered through the Reformation was the biblical version of the doctrine of Justification. I say it that way because the Roman Catholic Church then and now believe in the doctrine of Justification, but it is Justification+ and is often mixed with sanctification for a final product. Justification is basically being in right standing with God. Sanctification is the process by which we are transformed into the likeness of Christ, His character. What was and is taught is that Jesus death was sufficient to pay for our sins, but that we need to maintain our salvation. Another way to look at it is, Jesus death was the teacher that said “everyone has an ‘A’, but it’s up to you to keep it.” Justification is the “A” and sanctification is the “keep it”.
“Luther was convinced that the real issue of the Reformation was the concept of Justification by grace alone.” R.C. Sproul
Our Justification, or rightness before God needs to come from outside of us, the Latin phrase is extra nos, but why? Good question.
Theological Covenants
Theological Covenants
I’m about to geek out for a few minutes in order to set this up just right. There are three overarching theological covenants in the Bible, The covenant of Redemption, The covenant of Works, and the Covenant of Grace.
The covenant of Redemption:
the covenant within the Trinity which established the plan of salvation, i.e. the agreement within the Godhead that the Father would appoint the Son to give up his life for mankind and that Jesus would do so (cf. Titus 1:1-3).
The Covenant of Works:
It is that pre-Fall agreement between God and Adam in which Adam was promised blessing and life upon obedience to the terms of the covenant and cursing and death should he disobey the terms of the covenant.
You can eat whatever you want, just do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, if you do, you will die.
The Covenant of Grace:
the Covenant of Grace, promised eternal blessing for belief in Christ
designed to bring humanity into a restored covenant relationship with him, through the death of Christ.
But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant;
There they have dealt treacherously against Me.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
Adam failed to fulfill the Covenant of Works and by extension his descendants, us, also live under that failure. Talk about Generational Trauma.
Let’s think about the Fathers of the Faith. Noah was a drunk. Abraham was named the Father of Faith, yet he sold his wife out twice. Moses murdered someone. David was named a Man after God’s own Heart, yet he committed adultery and had someone killed. None of these men would be justified by works of the Law, but they were considered great, not for their faithfulness to God, but their faith in Him.
God, by His grace, chose them and carried them to the finish line. The Covenant of Grace is the underpinning, or foundation, for the covenants that we read about explicitly in the OT with Noah, Abraham, Moses and David. God set out His purposes and He used broken people to accomplish them.
If I’m honest, this gives me such hope in my own life and it should give you hope in two things, no one is beyond grace and no one is beyond use. When you feel like you’re too broken for God to use, just remember the people in Hebrews 11 Hall of Fatih, all broken in some way or another, yet God Chose them and poured His grace on them.
All this to say, Since Adam’s failure we are innately, or naturally, incapable of working to keep our salvation and much less to earn it.
By Grace Through Faith in Christ Alone
By Grace Through Faith in Christ Alone
Now that we have a pretty solid understanding of why we cannot be justified by our works Let’s look at grace.
How many of us get bogus calls or text messages from telemarketing, or do any of you remember landlines and the good ol’ days of getting a call telling you that you’ve won a sweepstakes trip to Maui, all expenses paid plus $20,000 dollars? Anywho, imagine if those were real. You receive a call and are a winner. You might think to yourself, “I didn’t sign up to anything and I def don’t deserve this.” That is what grace is like, Not just the immensity of the sweepstakes prize, but that you were given what you don’t deserve. That is grace, receiving what you do not deserve, salvation, righteousness, holiness, God’s Lovingkindness, justification and faith.
Everyone has faith, everyone lives out their faith daily, EVERYONE. A great illustration I heard once was that if you drive, you have faith that when you put your key in the ignition and turn (or push the button) that the car will turn on. Or if you ever sit, you have faith that the chair or pew you aim for will hold you up. Faith is assurance that what you have before you is true and will function as intended.
Biblically, faith as described in
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Saving faith is having trust in the finished work of Christ.
The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition Chapter XIV. Of Saving Faith
But the principal acts of saving faith are, accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.
This saving faith is a free gift of grace, Meaning that if God doesn’t not give us faith, none of us would ever place our faith in Christ.
“For by Grace through faith you have been saved.”
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
Not only is grace freely received by faith, faith also is a gift itself, given from God so that we cannot take credit for anything. Faith is a product of God's workmanship.
God’s Glory is His
God’s Glory is His
The Bible is abundantly clear, the Glory belongs to God alone. Glory is praise and honor ascribed to someone. To Glorify God is to give Him worship, praise, honor, thanksgiving to elevate God to the place He deserves.
I’ve never personally seen this, but have seen in movies where a war hero comes home and they throw a huge ticker-tape parade in gratitude and praise for their service. This is what happens internally or externally and over all spiritually when we glorify God. The question is, do you think that you deserve the same reverence? If you answered “no” you are correct and God agrees with you as we see in the verses before us, “ that no one may boast.”
Your faith is given to you by God, grace, justification and you’re even sanctified entirely by God. As you grow in faith, faithfulness, love, and the image of Christ, this is all work done by the Holy Spirit for your good and God’s glory.
Sanctification strengthens our faith and grows us in the areas we are weakest in. How many of you have seen glass on a car? Every door glass, windshield and rear glass is tempered. Glass is cut and molded then superheated and cooled extremely rapidly. This process hardens the glass and strengthens it. Likewise the trials we have in life, that God uses, strengthens us as James 1:2-4
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Glorify God and Enjoy Him
Glorify God and Enjoy Him
If you with us this past Wednesday as we wrapped up our series on the five Solas, you would’ve heard me say that the Baptist Catechism is a question and answer guide of basic theology. The first question is “who is the first and best of beings? God.” The second question is “ What is man’s chief end(purpose)? To Glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” The first question points to why He’s deserving of glory and the second directs us to do so.
We’ve talked about Glorifying Him, but how do we enjoy Him?
not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We Spent the last few months being instructed by Jesus in the Upper Room Discourse on how to love each other.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
Later we read to bear each other’s burdens.
Sempre Reformanda
Sempre Reformanda
Martin Luther and other reformers sought to restore biblical centrality, the fact that we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone in christ alone for the glory of God alone. The reformation wasn’t about elevating the church but bringing it back to its roots, with the doctrine of justification at its core. We Must keep reforming and stick to the core.
We are of course not justified by believing the doctrine of justification—we are justified through faith alone—but if we do not understand the doctrine rightly, we remain hard pressed to fulfill the covenant that God has made with us for our salvation. Further, we know that we are justified by faith alone and that our faith does not remain alone but bears fruit—our good works demonstrate that our faith is indeed genuine, but they never serve as the basis for our acceptance by God. Indeed, our justification isn’t theoretical—our sanctification proves it. -BurkParsons
A Mighty Fortress is Our God.
Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth is his name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
