1 SOLA FIDE FAITH ALONE Sermon preached by Pastor C. John Steer Autumn Ridge Church October 14-15, 2017 No. 3: Sola Power Scripture: Romans 5:1-11 Solar power is one of the great hopes for meeting our nation s energy needs. It has been predicted that within 20 years all new houses will have roofs made of solar panels which will provide all the electricity needed for that home. This month we are thinking of a different sort of sola power. But this too gives both light and life. 500 years ago the Reformation began. The starting point was Martin Luther nailing up his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on the 31 st of October, 1517. We all need Christian heroes and Martin Luther is one of mine. I have a bust of him in my study at home. I see it every day. He wasn t a perfect man but he encourages me to live by faith. We have our own copy of the Wittenberg Door out in the lobby. If you haven t nailed up your own thesis of faith, please do so after the service. We have paper, hammers and nails available. As you do so remember that our faith is rooted in history. Out of the Reformation came five great solas. People spoke Latin in those days and the Latin word sola means alone. So these five solas are five Latin phrases that are the pillars of Martin Luther s teaching and the summary of Reformation beliefs. Here they are: Sola Scriptura Scripture Alone The Bible alone is our highest authority. Sola Gratia Grace Alone We are saved by the grace of God alone. Sola Fide Faith Alone We are saved through faith alone in Jesus Christ. Solus Christus Christ Alone Jesus Christ alone is our Lord and Savior. Soli Deo Gloria Glory to God Alone We live for the glory of God alone.
2 Now all these great truths are closely connected. It is hard to say where one ends and the other begins. They are rather like five gold interconnected rings that chain us to Christ. Today we come to SOLA FIDE FAITH ALONE. This is right at the heart of what it means to be a Christian for we refer to what we believe as the Christian faith. Martin Luther was a Catholic priest. He was an Augustinian monk and professor of theology. He desperately wanted to know how his sins could be forgiven and he could be made right with God. He longed to have assurance of his salvation so he did all the things that people did back in those days. He lived a good life. He was a model monk. He volunteered for the worst jobs in the monastery like cleaning the latrines. He would lie all night on the cold floor of the chapel trying to win favor with God. On top of that he went on a pilgrimage to Rome. He climbed up St. Peter s Steps on his knees. But none of this made him feel better because he knew just how sinful he was. He understood his own heart. Part of Luther s responsibility was teaching through the book of Romans in the seminary and he poured over the text hoping it would provide help for his own situation. When he got to Romans chapter 1 verse 17 he read these amazing words: For in the gospel the righteousness of 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 1:17) Luther meditated on this passage day and night. Suddenly the light dawned on him. He realized the answer to his problem lay in the gospel. He could be justified by faith alone. He wrote, I felt that I was all together born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. I wonder if like Luther you have come across a verse of scripture that has been transformative at a certain time in your life? I recall getting the invitation to come to Autumn Ridge. At that time I had never been to Minnesota. To be honest I wasn t sure where Minnesota was. I just knew it was cold. I was sitting in my backyard in the beautiful sunshine of Los Angeles surrounded by orange trees when I came across the verse in Acts where Jesus says You are to be my witnesses to the uttermost ends of the earth. I thought that sounds like Rochester. So I came. How glad I am that I did. The verse arrived at the right moment. Luther s discovery of this text was so exciting he wanted to share it with others. He never intended to start a new denomination. He wanted to bring his own church back to what it had historically believed. Luther was protesting some of the errors
3 that had crept into the church. That s why those who embrace his teaching are called protest-ants or Protestants. Luther s search for spiritual significance is also ours. We too long to be saved. We desire to know peace with God. We want to have hope for heaven. Like Luther we try and live a good life and keep the Golden Rule. We do things which seem spiritually profitable and yet we have a sneaking suspicion this isn t enough and if we were to stand before God today we might be in trouble. So we are going to reflect on this grand subject of SOLA FIDE. To set the scene let s listen to what Paul has to say about faith alone in Romans chapter 5. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God s wrath through him! For if, while we were God s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:1-11) My prayer is that at the end of this service we will all know what faith is. And like Luther we will rejoice that we are justified by faith alone. So we are going to ask three practical questions about faith. The first practical question is: WHAT IS FAITH? The Bible gives us a definition of faith in Hebrews where it tells us Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)
4 At its root the term faith means trust. To trust God is reasonable because God gives ample reasons for us to trust him. So faith is a willingness to bet our life on the promises and character of God. Faith is essential for every human being. Hebrews explains why when it tells us that Without faith it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6) While Paul informs us that we are saved through faith. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Princeton theologian B.B. Warfield helpfully writes, It is not faith that saves, but faith in Jesus Christ It is not strictly speaking even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith. The saving power resides exclusively not in the act of faith or the attitude of faith or in the nature of faith but in the object of faith. Faith is so profound it impacts every part of us. So faith impacts our minds. There is an intellectual dimension to faith for faith is based on a knowledge of the truth. Faith is not a blind leap in the dark or a mindless assent to a list of doctrines. Faith is no enemy of reason. Faith is resting on the sufficiency of the evidence. Biblical faith is rational. It acts upon a reasonable Christ presented in a reasonable gospel. But also faith impacts our hearts. Our emotions are involved. When we have saving faith we begin to love God and hate evil. John Calvin s emblem of the Christian life is a flaming heart offered to God. And then faith impacts our will. We now choose to obey God. Faith gives us the desire to walk in his ways. That is why good works will always follow genuine faith. We are justified by faith alone, but true faith is never alone for faith always lead to action. So all three elements of mind, heart and will must be present for us to have saving faith. Having just one or two of these aspects of faith are not enough. James illustrates this fact in a rather graphic way when he writes, Even the demons believe in God and shudder. (James 2:19) Notice the demons intellect is involved for they believe in God. Their hearts are also involved. They shudder at who God is. But their will is not involved. They have no desire to worship Christ as God and that s why demons don t have real faith. Dating and marriage is an illustration of these three stages of faith. When a couple first meet this corresponds to the intellectual element of faith. In their initial date they are asking Does this person share my interests? Do we have the same outlook on life? Are we both committed to Jesus Christ? Is this the kind of person I can spend my life with?
5 Next comes what we call falling in love. It corresponds to the heart element. We do not marry someone merely because we think we might be able to live with them for the next 50 years. We marry because we are in love with that person. But even that s not marriage. So the time comes when the couple stands before a pastor in church and exchange their vows. They make a commitment to each other to be faithful until they die. This last step corresponds to the commitment we make when we promise to serve Jesus Christ, who has already made his commitment to us. Here is the second practical question: HOW ARE WE JUSTIFIED? Martin Luther said that justification by faith alone is the truth upon which the church stands or falls. He wrote Justification alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and defends the church of God; and without it the church of God cannot exist for one hour." Luther called justification a sweet exchange between Christ and the sinner. While John Calvin called justification The main hinge on which religion turns. Justification is the great theme of Paul s letter to the Romans. But what does the apostle and Luther and Calvin mean when they talk about justification? Well being justified means to be brought into a right relationship with a person. So justification is the act by which unjust sinners are made right in the sight of a just and holy God. The book of Job poses the question How can a mortal be righteous before God?" (Job 25:4) Justification provides the answer for justification gives us the righteousness we need. That righteousness is supplied by Christ when we believe in him. Now in our natural condition we are not right with God. We can t be because we are lawbreakers and we have rebelled against God. David rightly observed, No one living is righteous before you. (Psalm 143:2) But the doctrine of justification says that we can be right with God because of the work of Christ received by faith. Justification includes not only the forgiveness of our sins but also the imputation of Christ s righteousness to the person who believes in Jesus. So justification is not only acquittal but approval. It is not only a pardon but a promotion. So how does justification work? Paul explains it in his letter to the Romans. He tells us that we are justified by faith. Listen to the apostle: We have been justified through faith. (Romans 5:1) Believing on the Lord Jesus is the one human condition for being saved.
6 Paul tells the Galatians: We know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ." (Galatians 2:16) This was Luther s great discovery when he read those amazing words in Romans that The righteous will live by faith. (Romans 1:17) In a flash of Holy Spirit clarity Luther realized his salvation did not depend upon what he did but upon what Jesus had done for him. That discovery changed his thinking and it changed the world. Our church would not exist today without it. In his preface to his commentary on Romans written in 1522 Luther wrote: Faith is a living and unshakeable confidence, a belief in the grace of God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for its sake. This kind of confidence in God s grace makes us joyful, high-spirited, and eager in our relationships with God and all mankind. That is what the Holy Spirit effects through faith. Hence, the man of faith willingly and gladly seeks to do good to everyone, serve everyone, all for the sake of the love and glory of the God who has shown him so much grace. So we are justified by faith. But there is more. We are also justified by the Father. God is the author of our justification. Paul tells us succinctly that It is God who justifies. (Romans 8:33) He explains God justifies the ungodly. (Romans 4:5) Justification is the act of God by which he declares righteous those who believe in his Son. Justification is not an emotional experience. Rather, justification is the decree of God declaring the believing sinner to be righteous. It is a reversal of God s attitude towards the sinner because of the sinner s new relationship with Jesus Christ. It is a change from guilt and condemnation to acquittal and acceptance. So we are justified by faith and by the Father. But wait. There is still more. For we are also justified by the cross. We learn that the blood that Jesus shed for us is the grounds for our justification. So Paul explains: Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God s wrath through him! (Romans 5:9) Last Monday John and Jan Pascoe were enjoying their hillside home in Santa Rosa, California. At midnight a fire came roaring over the mountain stoked by hurricane strength winds. They tried to escape in their Mercedes car but were met by a wall of fire. So they returned to their home and prepared to die. Suddenly they remembered their neighbor s pool and took off their clothes and jumped in. They spent six hours in the pool. When they emerged in the early morning everything around them was destroyed. The cell phone they had left by the pool s edge had melted in the heat. It was being immersed in the water that had kept them alive.
7 In a similar way we are saved by the cross of Christ. His blood protects us from the wrath of God. As the hymn puts it Sinners plunged beneath its flood lose all their guilty stains. Paul s expression of this was Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. (Romans 10:4) God s justice demands a penalty for us breaking God s law. Jesus Christ, the perfect substitute, paid that penalty. Paul tells us Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6) Peter announced Jesus himself bore our sins in his body on the cross. (1 Peter 2:24) John said Jesus laid down his life for us. (1 John 3:16) Justification is amazing because it cost Jesus everything and it costs us nothing. When Jesus shed his blood he died for all our sins, past, present and future. Here is our third and last practical question. WHY IS JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH IMPORTANT? It is important because as Martyn Lloyd-Jones observes, Faith always shows itself in the whole personality. In Romans chapter 5, Paul describes two great changes in our personality that come about as a result of being justified. The first is that justification provides peace. Sometimes people urge us to make our peace with God. But that is impossible. We can t do it. Yet God has made peace for us. Paul writes Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1) There is nothing more wonderful than being at peace with our creator. It is an incredible source of comfort. This peace of God is a glorious gift. Paul tells the Philippians that The peace of God will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7) The peace of God acts as a regulator of our decisions. Sometimes we are not sure what course of action to take. We consider various alternatives and examine them in the light of scripture but we also listen to the Holy Spirit and when he gives us peace about a course of action we know we are on the right track. The second reason justification by faith is important is that justification gives hope. Paul writes We boast in the hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:2) What a contrast. Once we were people without hope. We had no prospects. We had every right to despair. But God who began a good work in us will complete it. We can trust him for he always keeps his word.
8 Notice Paul says We boast in hope. Our boasting is understandable when we look at what God has done for us. This fifth chapter of Romans describes our wretched condition without Christ using three strong expressions. We learn that without Jesus we are powerless. (v.6) We are sinners. (v.8) We are God s enemies. (v.10) But we have been justified by faith so everything changes. We now enjoy the power of the Holy Spirit. We are forgiven. We are now God s friends. I urge you to accept the one who died in your place and rose again. Enter into that peace which God has made through his Son. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy the eternal hope he gives. When we do so we are able to say with Luther, I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God s hands that I still possess. Praise God for Sola Fide Faith Alone.