Sola Series - Sola Gratia 8 October 2017 Ross Lester Bryanston Bible Church Proposition Statement: Salvation is a gift of God s grace which cannot be earned, but when received it should result in a humble certainty and sacrificial service. Intro: Sanibonani, Dumelang, Howzit, Good Morning. And it is a good morning. Baptism Sundays are my best days. We are week 2 of our Sola series. Looking at the five Sola s of the Protestant Reformation. 500 years since Luther challenged the established church to bring about reform that put Christianity back into the hands and homes and hearts of ordinary Christians. o Essentially, Rome had dominated Christianity and had taken it from this organically spread, scandalously good news - that God saves sinners - news that had gripped ordinary men and women and turned their lives upside down at the thought of God s grace towards them, to a state run, control mechanism that forced people to be ignorant of God s mercy towards them and kept them obedient through continual threats that being good and towing the line was what could earn them a space in heaven. Now don t scoff at that. We still actually prefer this. In our hearts we don t want handouts, we want to in some way earn the good standing we enjoy with God. I fight it every day. We preach grace but we often function as if the universe is governed by a cosmic Karma. 1
o But by God s grace, there were a number of faithful scholars who began to rise against this. It wasn t just Luther. It was a couple of hundred years of groundswell. It cost most of them their lives. They read the Scriptures and saw that salvation was not on the basis of human work, but was a gift of God s grace. o So, 500 years ago, this October, Luther slammed 95 theses onto a Wittenburg door, and the first one stated, "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance." o He went on to explain that if repentance was necessary then grace was essential. It wasn t through a continual payment that we could be assured of forgiveness, but through the certainty of the sufficient payment of Jesus Christ that right standing with God was attained. o Grace was what we needed. God s grace. To believe in salvation in grace alone is to believe that salvation is because of something good in God and not something good in us. This is tremendously good news, because I am not always all that good. Here is a definition of how the reformers stated this doctrine. Sola Gratia means grace at the start, grace to the end, grace in the middle, grace without fail, grace without mixture, grace without addition, grace that allows no boasting, grace that precludes all glorying but in the Lord. Where did they get this? I mean, that sounds very nice, but do we have biblical warrant for that. Well, let me just take you a couple of places this morning, and then we will sink our teeth into a passage that will shape our time together. Turn with me to Acts 15. The context here is the Jerusalem council. Jesus had told his disciples that the gospel was going to advance beyond their immediate context. Then it happened, and Gentiles began responding to this 2
marvelous message of grace. The instinct of the Jewish believers was that Gentiles then needed to obey the law. Here Peter responds Acts 15:7 Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will. 1 (emphasis added) We are told that the meeting fell silent at that point. Grace does that. It silences us. You guys keeping the law, grace gets you in. You, lawless bunch, grace gets you in. Jesus warned them about this in a parable in Matthew 20 when he speaks of a landowner getting workers to work his land at different times in the day and yet paying them all the same amount. We are fine with it when we are the one who get paid a full day s wage for an hour s work. He also warned them in the parable of The Prodigal Son. o The younger brother is a rebel and a rule breaker, so he is going to need grace. o The older brother is a rule keeper and pretty self-righteous, so he too is going to need grace from the father. 1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), Ac 15:7b 11. 3
Go quickly with me to Titus 3:3-7. Paul is busy instructing them how to behave with one another don t speak evil of anyone, be gentle, be courteous. Why? 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 2 But wait, justification is a legal term. To justify is to support a person or an idea in order to display their innocence or right standing. But how can I, a sinner, be shown to have reasonable right standing before a Holy God? How? Surely, I must earn that in some way. Surely!! Romans 5:6-9 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 3 2 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), Tt 3:3 7. 3 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), Ro 5:6 9. 4
From this, Luther identifies an essential idea. God in his wisdom justifies sinners. He justifies those who cannot be justified, the guilty, and pronounces them not guilty. Luther calls it SIMUL JUSTUS ET PECCATOR Simultaneously justified and a sinner. Have you felt the opposite of this? I have. When I fail - which is still way too often - I feel as if I cannot be justified and I flee from grace. When I am doing well, then I feel as if I might be justified by how well I am doing and I run away from grace. Gosh okay. Let s jump into a text then quickly. We looked at it a couple of weeks ago, and it was fitting to do so as we spoke about God s creative genius in the diversity of his people. What I want to look at is why Paul says that diversity is even possible in the first place. Because grace is the great leveler. Just want to walk you through three implications of believing that your salvation is by God s grace alone. Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV) 2 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. 1. To Believe in Salvation as a Gift of God s Grace is to Humbly Admit Our Condition Without It i. We are saved from sin and death (v1) ii. iii. We are saved from the pattern of this world (v2a) We are saved from Satan (v2b) 5
iv. We are saved from ourselves (v3a) v. That s a lot, but if we don t know what we are without grace, then grace won t be a powerful thing to us. vi. Luther s last words before he died were We are beggars all, this is true. We don t like this because we don t want to be beggars - we want to be earners. vii. There is a great song by a band called Thrice called Beggars. Don t search for it unless you like proper rock. But their songwriter is a guy called Dustin Kensrue and I think he is one of the best lyricists of our generation. He wrote about this understanding of grace and how it must not puff us up, but humble us. All you great men of power, you who boast of your feats - Politicians and entrepreneurs. Can you safeguard your breath in the night while you sleep? Keep your heart beating steady and sure? As you lie in your bed, does the thought haunt your head That you re really, rather small? If there s one thing I know in this life: we are beggars all. All you champions of science and rulers of men, Can you summon the sun from its sleep? Does the earth seek your counsel on how fast to spin? Can you shut up the gates of the deep? Don t you know that all things hang, as if by a string, O er the darkness - poised to fall? If there s one thing I know in this life: we are beggars all. All you big shots that swagger and stride with conceit, Did you devise how your frame would be formed? If you d be raised in a palace, or live out in the streets, Did you choose the place or the hour you d be born? Tell me what can you claim? Not a thing - not your name! Tell me if you can recall just one thing, That s not a gift in this life? Can you hear what s been said? Can you see now that everything s grace after all? If there s one thing I know in this life: we are beggars all. 6
viii. It breaks us down, but it doesn t leave us there. Look. 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. 2. To Believe in Salvation as a Gift of God s Grace is to Humbly Receive Our Condition Because of It a. It is amazing what is said if us in this text. Raised with Christ and seated with him He is going to go on to call us God s workmanship. b. But, look at who is the agent of all of this. Just look. Give us eyes God. 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. i. God s mercy ii. God s love iii. Makes us alive with Christ even though we are dead iv. It is by grace you have been saved v. Raises us up and seats us with Christ vi. Shows us off to the world as trophies of grace c. This surely results in rejoicing, but in great humility. None of us can boast! But we must rejoice!! I can t help but rejoice! 7
d. And then we dare not add to it. We dare not for a second think that any of our goodness adds to God s grace, and we dare not think that any of our lack of goodness takes away from God s grace. e. Look at what Paul says to us in Romans 11:6 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 4 f. This is incredible! We no longer have to earn God s favor. Because he is gracious and loving and merciful and kind, we don t have to do things to make him gracious and merciful and loving and kind. g. How then should we live? Surely this kind of thinking creates unrestrained rebels? Well, actually no, it doesn t. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 3. To Believe in Salvation as a Gift of God s Grace is to Humbly Surrender Our Lives to God s Gracious Purposes a. God didn t just save us by grace (as if that wouldn t be enough), he also purposed us by grace. b. He holds us up as his workmanship and says to the principalities and powers Look at my workmanship. My masterpiece. Justified sinners, living differently from the world. By grace. Not trying to earn anything from me. Just living as saved children. Look at my workmanship. 4 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), Ro 11:5 6. 8
Conclusion: You know how the Bible ends? Let me show you. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. 5 Let s baptize some justified sinners. Let s live lives that display God s grace to the world. 5 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), Re 22:21. 9