"The Solas, the Reformation...and You" - Romans 3:21-28

In light of the reading of the Word of God, and this is again because of what it is.

This is no mere, you know, book that's the New York Times bestseller that just came out and all of that kind of stuff.

This is God's very word to us.

And so we stand in reverence for the preaching of it.

And this is the means by which He has chosen to save and grow a people for Himself.

So we're going to be reading from Romans chapter 3, starting in verse 21, and we'll go through verse 28.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

This is God's word.

But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.

For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Being justified is a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith.

This was to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed.

For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just in the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Where then is boasting?

Is it excluded?

By what kind of law?

Of works?

No.

But by a law of faith.

For we maintain that man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

This is God's word.

Please be seated.

Brother Joe.

In light of answering questions, all of your hardballs.

Well, uh, King asked me what the uh secret of life is, and for four easy payments of$49.99, you can know too.

But maybe that's a bad start to all of this.

So uh let's have a better start.

Would you please join me in a word of prayer?

Lord, we thank you so much for this morning.

We thank you for your word.

We thank you so much for showing us yourself.

You have never kept yourself from us.

And Lord, I pray that we would seek you with all of our hearts, and that our greatest desire would be to know you and to glorify you.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

We've had in the announcements and have been making known in general that at the end of this month, you heard it this morning, on the 31st, there will be a Reformation Day celebration.

We had one last year, and hopefully many of you will be able to attend, and and uh it should be a grand old time.

But very very recently I saw the question posed on social media, uh, that bastion of truth, you know, uh I saw this question posed, should we celebrate the Reformation?

Fantastic question.

Uh their answer, however, was no.

Uh reasoning that um because Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestants, etc., basically just need to put aside the differences and get along.

Well, if it's not clear, that's not a solid argument.

Uh I wouldn't I wouldn't make that argument for for a lot of things.

So I would like to pose the same question for us.

Uh should we celebrate the Reformation?

We don't have to.

It's certainly not required, but the answer is simply but profoundly yes.

But let's be very clear what we mean by this.

It is not the celebration of men and women who were the primary characters of the Reformation, but it is the celebration of the continued story of God's redemption.

It is the celebration of the work of the gospel.

Looking back on this time should encourage believers in their faith.

Encourage us in the Lord that He has never ceased to do mighty works for our good and for his glory.

During the Reformation, it was a time when Europe was encased in spiritual darkness.

Access to God was bound up by the Church of Rome, by her traditions, superstitions, and man-made rules.

Hope of forgiveness and salvation were not based upon what God had revealed in his word.

Grace and faith were gained by works, penance, or literally payment.

In order to find the way to God, you had to go through a priest and or a litany of so-called saints as mediators, and ultimately the glory that is due to God and Him alone was diverted to a man who usurps the name of Holy Father.

No one had their own Bible.

It was actually illegal to have the scriptures in the common tongue of the people.

The Mass, which was the church service, was said completely in Latin, which was not known by the vast majority of people.

Can you imagine every time that you came to church, you literally could not understand a word that was being said.

Can you fathom never hearing what is probably one of the most commonly known verses in Scripture?

John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

You would have never heard those words in a language you would have understood.

These were very dark times.

But the Lord, the one who is sovereign, who knows all, who sees all, our God who never sleeps, he is never taken off guard or on vacation somewhere.

Our God, in his infinite wisdom and according to his perfect will, he chose these spiritually dark times to shine his light so brightly that we still feel the effect over 500 years later.

So here's our question again.

Should we celebrate the Reformation today?

Do the workings of God half a millennia ago have any relevance for us?

Absolutely.

And I hope by our time together that our hearts would be encouraged and emboldened by the example of those who came before us, and that we all will be eager and ready to praise God for all of his works any chance that we get.

As we examine our scripture for today, this is one of many examples all throughout the scriptures of five essential truths that were not just relevant for the 1500s, but essential for us today.

And since God's truth, like him, is eternal, is relevant for all eternity.

The reformers simply went to the scriptures and compared them to what was being taught by Rome as essential truths or dogmas.

And you can probably guess these two things were not lining up.

There certainly are things that Christians, as Christians, we can disagree on.

There definitely are.

But there are essentials that provide the dividing line between the truth of biblical Christianity and then everything else.

All false religions.

Five of these essentials became known as the five solas.

Sola is Latin for alone.

The first one, sola scriptura, scripture alone, sola fide, faith alone, sola gratia, grace alone, solus Christus, Christ alone, and solid deo gloria, for the glory of God alone.

It is essential for every believer to have Scripture as their sole authority for life and godliness.

For them to know that salvation is by the free, unearned, unmerited grace of God, and the lifeblood of faith needed to believe, live, and abide in their Savior, these grace and faith, are gifts from God.

Every believer needs to know that Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man.

He is the only way that anyone will ever get to the Father.

He bore the wrath of the Father that we deserve for our sins, and his death and resurrection was and is sufficient for our forgiveness.

And there is nothing anyone can add to or take away or has ever contributed to what he accomplished.

And it is essential for the believer to know and believe that all things exist for the glory of the Most High God, including the believer themselves.

They need to know that this is the purpose of every man and woman and the purpose of every inch of creation.

They exist for the glory of God and for his glory alone.

These truths of God are essential and applicable for every part of the believer's life.

So let's now dive into our text today.

Let's follow the example of the reformers by going to the Word of God and receiving the command of God.

So you're probably already there, but go ahead and look at Romans 3.

In light of these five essential truths, we're going to read through verses 21 through 28 again.

And just to be clear, when we are reading this, if you never ever remember the term five solas or the Latin terms that go with them, but if you have hidden these truths in your heart, these truths of Scripture that we will see today, then you are on the right track.

As we read through this again, listen for these five essential truths and see if you can spot them.

Let's read through it again.

Romans 3, 21 through 28.

But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.

There is no distinction, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith.

This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed.

For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Where then is boasting it is excluded.

By what kind of law?

Of works?

No, but by a law of faith.

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith, apart from the works of the law.

The first sola to highlight is Scripture alone.

Again, meaning that Scripture is the sole earthly authority for life and godliness for the believer, and that all things must be filtered through Scripture and not the reverse.

If we reverse that and filter Scripture through everything else, well, you can probably guess what will happen.

Man and his tradition do not exceed the authority of Scripture.

Look at verse 21 again.

But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, has been revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

Paul is making the argument that salvation is not through the law, not by works or the keeping of the law.

The law is separate, and it is not the source of salvation, but all the law and the prophets, all the Old Testament are witnesses, think as in a court case, they are testifying to how God sovereignly brings about his will in the salvation of his people.

They are witnesses to God bringing about his righteousness.

It's not the traditions of the Israelites, not the extra or historical writings of his chosen people, but God's revelation, his word.

We see and understand the work of salvation, the manifestation of his righteousness is testified by his word.

Jump down to verse 28.

For we maintain that a man is justified apart, justified by faith, apart from works of the law.

Again, justification by faith is separate from the works of the law.

And where is the law?

Where is the Old Testament pointing to?

The revelation of Christ in the New Testament.

What we are reading right now.

When you take Scripture, both Old and New Testament, and you filter it through man, his traditions, personal revelations, etc., you get the mess that the reformers were in and the foolish nonsense that we see today.

Those who lead up and promote the prosperity gospel give any pope a run for their money when it comes to filtering God's word through the meat grinder of their own personal interpretation.

But this is also where we get Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the insane wackiness of extreme charismatic groups.

We can name all sorts of people and groups, but that's not really the point.

If you were building a train track meant to go straight from point A to point B, but at the start, you were off just by an inch.

Just a little bit.

By the time you got to the end, you would be so far off, you would be out of sight.

And the same it is for our theology.

And this is why we must live with Scripture as our sole authority.

Think way back towards the beginning.

What did Satan ask Eve?

Did God really say?

It was one of Jesus' sharpest insults to the teachers of his day.

Have you not read what the scriptures say?

The law and the prophets give testimony.

The New Testament echoes it over and over, and if the Son of God himself holds the people of God to this standard, I'd say it is more than enough reason to hold the Word of God alone as our authority in life and godliness.

Let's go back and look at verses 20 through 22 through 28.

Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus, in faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Sorry, I lost my place there.

Through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.

For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith.

This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed.

For the demonstration I say of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just in the justifier, the one who has faith in Jesus.

Where then is boasting?

It is excluded.

By what kind of law?

Of works?

No, but by a law of faith.

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

We are saved by grace through faith.

Sola fide and sola gratia.

Faith and grace alone.

Faith and grace are like a holy three-legged race.

You don't get one without the other.

They are bound together.

There's just not as much falling down all over the place.

When it comes to salvation, these two are inseparable.

Yes, God pours out his grace on everyone every day.

The fact that he doesn't wipe sinful humans off the face of the earth is certainly his merciful grace.

But it is not saving grace.

People claim all the time that they believe in God.

They are confide, they are confident with faith, that there is a deity, but this is not saving faith.

Even the demons know that there is one God, that salvation is only by Jesus, that he is the only way to the Father.

They believe, they know, they don't believe, excuse me, they know the gospel.

But that clearly is not saving faith.

It's just general belief or mental assent.

You can agree with the Bible on everything it has to say about Jesus and not have saving faith.

The reformers showed that saving faith is not belief in all the sacraments, the requirements, and dogmas of the Catholic Church.

But guess what?

Belief in the 1689 London Baptist Confession will not save you either.

So, what is this faith that we must have to be saved?

The faith that God requires for salvation is belief in what the Bible says about who Jesus is and what he accomplished, and fully trusting in Jesus for that salvation.

True faith will compel you to look to God in his word, to compel you to believe in all that he has revealed to us, and then ask, Lord, how must I live?

What do you command of me?

Let's make this clear.

Faith is not obedience.

Faith is not works.

Scripture makes it clear.

Apples are not the apple orchard.

Okay?

They are a resulting product of the orchard, literally the fruit.

Works are the fruit of faith.

That's what James means when he writes, faith without works is dead.

If you had an apple orchard that never produced any apples, what point is that orchard?

It might as well be mowed down.

And what is one of the first fruits of true saving faith?

Repentance.

True belief in God will not first lead you to give all your money away for charity.

It will not compel you to go on a holy pilgrimage or tell God that you'll go and be a monk and never do anything bad ever again.

Martin Luther was traveling down a road, and apparently a lightning storm had come upon him, and he felt very scared.

The lightning was striking all around him, and he cried out, and he's like, If you save me, I'll become a monk.

That's not saving faith.

True faith in God will lead you to say, God, you are right.

And I am so wrong.

You are holy, and I am full of sin.

Please forgive me.

And true faith is lifelong, not just a moment of conviction.

Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Hebrews 11:6

According to John 3.16, if we are going to be saved, we must have faith.

So where does this faith come from?

Well, we go back to Romans 3.

Romans 3.27.

Fantastic questions.

These are so clear.

Where then is boasting?

It is excluded.

By what kind of law?

Of works?

No.

By law of faith.

So here is the Christian with his faith.

Did I bring this about?

Did I come up with this faith?

By this faith I am justified by God.

Did I make this happen?

Romans 3 says no.

Or else you would be able to boast.

So where did it come from?

Ephesians 2 is pretty clear, but let's be honest, the whole of Scripture is clear on this.

Faith is a gift of God.

If somehow we were able to just believe hard enough or increase faith on our own, it would not be of God.

And thinking that we can produce the faith that justifies us in the eyes of the eternally holy God puts us on the same level with God.

And if it wasn't clear enough, if you didn't know already, you should never try to put yourself on the same level of God.

It is not a good idea.

Faith is a gift with no takebacks.

Faith is a gift from God so that praise or boasting goes one direction.

And by seeing with great clarity that faith is an absolute necessity for salvation and that it is a gift given by God, the believer will then see that it is all by the grace of God.

God is not required to save anyone.

He would be perfectly just to punish and wipe out any and all of his image bearers that have rebelled against him.

And again, we want to be clear: all of his image bearers have rebelled against him.

God is not required to save anyone in this room.

Not a one.

He would be just in not saving.

And if we were somehow able to see with perfect clarity, see the extent of our sin compared to the holiness that is the essence of the Lord our God, then nothing would be clearer to us than we don't deserve to be saved.

But this is not what the Almighty has chosen to do.

Look at Romans 3, 23 through 26, and let's see his reasoning for saving.

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God publicly displayed as a propitiation in his blood through faith.

This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed.

For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Who is doing all the work here?

Who is making everything happen?

Not us.

Not the ones who felt short of the glory of God, which is the understatement of the day.

And this puts us, as you've probably guessed, right in the middle of our next sola.

Sola gratia.

Grace alone.

As Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

During the Reformation and today, the tradition of the Church of Rome on the surface agrees.

Salvation is by grace.

But words matter, definitions matter.

Because Rome says, yes, salvation is by grace, but grace is obtained by the sacraments, penances, indulgences, intercession by Mary and the saints, and the list goes on.

Grace is not simply a free gift of God, as the scriptures say.

As a practical, real life example, there are doors, beautiful, ornate, huge doors at the Vatican known as holy doors.

They are opened every 25 years on the year of Jubilee.

And according to tradition, that when a person passes through one of those doors during a holy year, then they are granted a plenary, which is absolute or complete, indulgence, granting the passer-through forgiveness of their sins.

You cannot receive forgiveness of your sins by passing through a door.

Unless that door is Christ.

These doors at the Vatican are actually open this year.

2025 is a year of Jubilee, according to Rome.

Indulgences are not a thing of the past.

But this is not what we read in Scripture.

And it is this type of so-called grace that deceives so many.

If grace can be earned by sinful, rebellious man, then it is a cheap, fool's gold grace.

And this isn't something just found in Roman Catholicism.

I know we hammer on that a lot, but they don't have ownership of that.

Plenty of so-called evangelicals or Protestants peddle this cheap grace.

And that is why we must hold so fervently to the scriptures and never let go.

From the beginning, there was nothing man could do, nothing he could bring or do for God that would earn his grace, his undeserved mercy.

Help me remember what were the reasons why God chose Abraham?

Why did he never destroy the Israelites time and time again in the desert?

Because they were better than all the peoples around them?

Because they were great and mighty?

Oh, that's right.

Because they sinned less and were general a holy people.

No, no, and definitely no.

According to God's holy, perfect will, he chooses to pour out his grace.

And this will always be a mystery to us.

And remember, do not fall into the trap of thinking that it is unfair that God gives grace to some and not to others.

No, the unfair thing, have this set in your minds, the unfair thing is for him to give grace to anyone.

When we allow something else to be our authority other than Scripture, it is easy to add on to or tweak God's relationship with man however we want.

Salvation begins to look like a buffet where you can just choose anything you want and it will get you there.

But what God has given his people from the beginning, what was the fuel and the fire that burned in the hearts of the reformers, and what every believer must cling to in order not to be fooled by the charlatans and false teachers of our day, is that our authority in life is the Word of God, that salvation is by faith through grace, as gifts, not works.

If we are able to earn it, earn eternal life, we would boast about it, wouldn't we?

And every believer must cling to that salvation can be found in Christ and Christ alone.

Solus Christus.

Let's go back to Romans 3.

The righteousness of God has been manifested, has been made evident, revealed in a way to be understood.

Look at verses 21 through 24.

But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested.

Again, has been revealed, has been shown, being witnessed, testified by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.

For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in whom?

Christ Jesus.

You literally have to leave the scriptures behind if you are going to find redemption outside of Christ.

You may have noticed that the souls all build upon one another.

They are all interlocking.

You do not find the true Christ outside of Scripture, and grace and faith go hand in hand and cannot be found apart from Christ.

The reason why the sacramental system of the Catholic Church was and is so vile, the reason why we must reject anyone or anything that says, anything that says, if you don't do these works, or if you are not spiritual in this way, then you are not saved.

The reason is because they are saying there is a way of salvation, a way for your sins to be forgiven, a way to get to the Father an eternal life that is not found through the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ.

And do not be mistaken, no matter how good the intentions are, no matter how good the intentions are, this is wicked.

No matter how sincere a person may be, how sacrificial, if they promote a way to be saved that is not Jesus, then that way will take them and anyone who follows them straight to eternal damnation.

That is how serious it is.

Jesus Christ is the watershed.

1 Timothy 2, 5, for there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

If you were to ask a practicing, somewhat knowledgeable Catholic about saying prayers to Mary or the saints, they would probably, very quickly, inform you that they are not praying to them.

They are asking them to intercede on their behalf.

They are being asked to pray to God for them.

Again, seems like good intentions.

I'm sure they are.

But there is no other way to God other than Jesus, and attempting to add on another mediator, another method, is idolatry.

I heard a charismatic preacher once say that you, if in order for you to be saved, you must speak in tongues.

Eastern Orthodox theology demands that you venerate and kiss icons, or you are not saved.

Rainbow-stoled priestesses promoting a feminist god are not hard to find these days, and I'm not sure if they will say that you need to be saved from anything at all.

I will give you one specific example, and this may sting a little, but hopefully it is a good sting.

If there was a woman who gave everything away that she had, went and served the most despised and diseased among humanity today, and it was clear it was done with as purest of hearts as could be seen, and laid down her life for the good of others, done all in the name of God, we would look at that woman, we would be humbled and inspired, and say, there needs to be more like her.

But then this woman told you, her proclaiming to be a follower of Jesus, that there were actually many ways to God.

That it doesn't matter who you call God, it's up to you how you worship him.

I really hope that bells and red flags are going off.

But this is not a fictional woman.

Here are a couple of quotes from her.

Some call him Ishwar.

She said, Who is the Hindu god?

Some call him Allah.

Some simply God.

But we have to acknowledge that it is he who made us for greater things.

To love and to evil, and to love and be loved.

After this person's longtime friend died, someone asks her, Do you convert?

She said, Of course I convert.

I convert you to be a better Hindu, or a better Muslim, or a better Protestant.

Once you found God, it's up to you to decide how to worship him.

These are quotes.

And I could give you more.

And I can give you the sources of Mother Teresa.

A woman who ministered to the lowest of peoples for longer than I've been alive.

Lepers, AIDS victims, people who others would never touch, literally putting herself in great danger.

She cared and loved for people in incredible ways, but when it came to the most caring, most loving way that anyone could ever show another person, that is proclaiming Christ as the one true Savior, all of her works amounted to nothing.

And if people took her words and followed her example and never repented and turned to Christ for forgiveness in life, then they are paying for their own sins eternally in hell.

When I say Christ is the watershed, he is we can list many examples of people claiming to have and be the one true church, the true followers of God.

But if Christ and His eternally sufficient work on the cross are not the absolute source of your salvation, if you think that somehow you earn or can gain the grace of God outside of his free gift to you, if you think that faith is something you have you are responsible for whipping up on your own, or comes from just believing harder instead of it being bestowed upon you as a gift?

If the scriptures are just a good source of morality, but are outdated and not sufficient, if these are true of you, we need to have a serious conversation of what the gospel is.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through him.

No one.

The most devoted Protestant, the most dedicated Catholic, the most genuine loving humanitarian, if you think you have a way to God outside of Christ, you have found a way to hell, and there are many.

Salvation is by Jesus Christ and Him alone.

If you are not saved, if you have never turned to Christ and repented, do it today.

If you need help, please ask.

I know for certain the elders, many others, and myself would love to share the good news of Jesus with you.

And this now brings us to our final sola.

Again, the solas, these biblical truths are interlocking.

You cannot have one without the other.

It truly does not matter if you remember a single reformer's name.

It does not matter if you have the solas memorized in Latin.

If there was a person who could tell you every detail about Luther, Calvin, Bollinger, and every reformer, but did not take to heart the truth that many of them died for, then they are completely, utterly, amazingly missing the point.

But if a person were to hear these truths, taking them to heart and mind, boldly proclaiming them and live them out from a love of their maker, then they will be more like the reformers than the first guy will ever be.

The greatest gain that any of the reformers or you and I could ever receive would be that the Lord, the one true eternal God, would receive the glory that He deserves.

There is no other God.

He is the one who made everything that we see, and everything we will never see.

He is the one who is sovereign over all.

The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

Our great Redeemer, our greatest gain would be lifting high His name and giving Him the glory that He and He alone deserves.

The sole purpose that everything exists is for the glory of God alone.

Read through Romans 3 and then just keep going.

The resounding theme of Scripture and the chorus that will echo for all eternity will be holy, holy, holy as the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.

All of God's people will proclaim, worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power.

For you created all things, and because of you they existed and were created.

The one who spoke and all things came into existence and obeyed his word, the one who is eternally good and righteous and reigns over all, this is the Lord our God.

He is the one who made man in his image to reign over all creation according to his will.

But man, in the most heinous of actions, said no to God Almighty, willfully rebelling against the King of kings, and committed sin so worthy of eternal death that every person who will ever be born will be stained with this sin and deserving of that death.

But God, who is eternally just and righteous, having every right to punish sinful man that instant, showed the extent of his mercy.

And instead of death, Adam and Eve received a covering and a promise.

They would never escape the consequences that sin and death would bring upon the earth.

But they were given a promise that though man brought the curse of death upon themselves, God would provide the way to be redeemed from that curse, and that his image bearers would once again one day have the way to perfect unity with their Father, with God forever.

From there, God showed his people over and over and over who he is, showing them mercy and grace, reminding them that one day he would redeem his people, that he would provide the way, and all those who were faithful looked forward to the fulfillment of that promise and hope.

And then in God's perfect will, in His righteous timing.

God came to earth as a man, as one who is created to show the way to everlasting life, and shed his blood as the true, perfect, spotless sacrifice, bearing the wrath that our sins deserve, a wrath that is eternal for all those who do not turn from their sins and follow Christ, who continue in their rebellion and rejection of God's saving grace and fulfilled promise.

And after suffering and dying on the cross, Jesus was buried in a tomb.

But as he told his followers, he would rise again from the dead, taking up the life he was able to lay down, and he showed the way to eternal life for all who would believe in him.

He ascended into heaven and with the promise that he would return, but until then he would give his followers his spirit to fill them and guide them.

And by the working of the Holy Spirit we were given the word of God.

Everything the believer needs to know how to live faithfully all their days.

By his word he revealed all things to us, including who he is.

We see the overwhelming amounts of grace that he gives to his people.

We see the believer is not on their own, bid good luck, hope you do all right in the world, but they are filled with the faith needed to turn from sin in repentance, and truly wholeheartedly follow his maker and shine his light in the dark world.

We see that there is no other way for anyone to be redeemed, for the stain of sin to be removed, to be brought to life, and made a new man other than through the God man Jesus Christ.

That when he washes you clean, when he washes you with his blood, then you are clean.

There is no need for further justification.

When God the Father looks at the one who has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, the Father doesn't see the rebellious image-bearer, deserving of eternal death.

But he sees his son, righteous, spotless, pure, and there's no other way this can be done than through Jesus Christ.

And all of this, if you could encapsulate every working of God, every part of creation, every sinner saved, every heart turned from death to life, take it all, try to grasp it with your finite mind, try to grasp the infinite.

It is all for the glory of God and God alone.

That is the summation.

And this is why there is no other authority here on earth that we have other than the scriptures.

No tradition, no command of God, no personal revelation that can direct the sinner in the way of righteousness in order to glorify the Lord.

If man's word is placed on the same level as God's, then we are elevating man and bringing God down to our level.

For the glory of God, he saves sinners, no matter who they are or what they have done, unmeasurable grace poured out without any contribution from the receiver of that grace.

If we think we can earn his grace or somehow be valuable enough to deserve it, then we certainly would boast about how I worked with God to bring me from death to life.

If it wasn't for my part, God wouldn't have been able to get me to everlasting life.

You know, I was dead in my sins, but God and I were able to work it out together.

We got it done.

I know it sounds silly, but this is blasphemy.

But this is truly what is happening when we don't stick to the command of God.

For the glory of God, faith is given to us to believe that God is exactly who he says he is, to believe that he has done everything he has said he has done and will do, and for the strength and perseverance to live according to his command our entire lives.

True faith is not for the purpose of naming and claiming or pointing out how great we are.

With true faith, we are able to see that we have no hand in our salvation.

The only thing we contribute to salvation is the sin that made it necessary.

But by true faith we are able to have the living hope that the God who saves will sanctify and glorify his people.

A dead man cannot reach out, grab the defibrillator, and shock himself back to life.

True eternal faith in a holy God cannot be produced by finite dead in sin man.

It is a gift.

And all this done by the completed sufficient work of Christ, and only by him.

Our Lord stepped down from glory, humbling himself to servanthood unto death.

He is the fulfillment of the promise from the very beginning.

One with the Father, he is our perfect mediator, the one who was publicly displayed as our propitiation, the one who stood in our place when judgment fell on our sin.

He was beaten, tortured, crucified, but all that pales when compared to the wrath of God that was brought down on him.

But when he cried, it is finished, it was.

The curtain was torn, the barrier broken, the price paid in full.

A path made for man to be reunified with their God.

And this is why there can be, there can never be a different or another mediator.

This is why no work, no penance or sacrifice can gain you an inch closer to heaven.

This is why that praying to Mary or saints for intercession is actually idolatry.

Because he said it is done.

The one who did it says it is done.

Nothing else is needed.

No one else is needed, saying that salvation is by the perfect sacrifice of the Lamb and my efforts, or the intercession of another, brings down Christ's death and resurrection to the level of the everyday man, taking glory away from God, bestowing it on man, demeaning the death of Jesus to a point I cannot put words to.

But it is a view of salvation that is empty and worthless.

William Tyndale, known for telling a stubborn scholar, if God spare my life ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough, shall more know more of the scripture than thou dost.

This is the beautiful thing about all of this.

The truth of God is ready and available for all those who seek it.

The righteousness of God has been manifested, made clear through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

It is God who made the plowboy.

It is the Lord who enables him to know and understand his Maker.

The purpose of the five solas is to help turn the eyes of man off of themselves and on to God and his truth that he has revealed.

The ultimate purpose of the Reformation was the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ, shining the bright light of God's redemption and salvation of his people in a dark world.

Brothers and sisters, may we be a people who live according to the Word of God, who rebel and flourish in the gifts of faith and grace that we have been given, who know and make known to others that Jesus is the only way for us to be forgiven of our sins, and is the only way to eternal life.

And by all of this may we be a people who truly, joyfully, and fully live for the glory of God and God alone.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you so much for who you are.

Thank you that you have shown us yourself in the scriptures.

That you have revealed to us your righteousness.

And that you make it possible for men to know you.

We thank you for this time that we have together.

Lord, may all of my words fade away and your truth take root in our hearts.

May it grow and produce fruit.

Lord, may we be like the reformers, not because they were great, but because they served you.

And you are the great God.

Thank you so much again for your word.

Thank you for revealing yourself to us.

May it always be the purpose of our life to say glory be to God and God alone.

Amen.