The Relevance of These Issues Today

Introduction: Why Study the Reformation and Its Core Issues

0:01 The whole matter of the Protestant Reformation is ignored by many, misunderstood by others, and by a great majority just completely overlooked and maligned as something that never should have occurred in the first place. And this is simply not the case. And so in order that we might have, as we said this morning, a greater appreciation for what God has done in the past, we are considering that great movement of God and its biblical principles, what they are and were, and then tonight what they say to us. So having introduced the subject this morning, by asking and seeking to answer the question,

0:41 why study the Reformation, not to deify the human instruments, not to vilify Roman Catholics or Roman Catholicism, and certainly not simply to fill our minds with historical facts, our purpose is rather fourfold. That we might appreciate what God has done in the past, that there might be a confirmation of our own understanding of God's truth, that there might be formed within us holy aspirations for God to bear his arm in our generation, and that we might receive some direction as we grapple with the biblical principles which came to light in the Protestant Reformation. So having set that direction of purpose within the framework,

1:26 in the framework of a psalm like Psalm 44, and having enunciated it, we then addressed ourselves to the question, what were the great spiritual issues which were the lifeblood of the Reformation? The Protestant Reformation was not wholly a spiritual movement. There were political factors. There were factors that were mainly intellectual.

1:48 There were other factors that were just downright sinful. But in spite of the smoke in the flame, for the most part, it was a flame of the mighty movement of the Spirit of God at that point in history. And there were three great principles which are the focal point of the Protestant Reformation. Those spiritual issues which were the very lifeblood of the Reformation.

2:15 And they have come down to us in those well-known Latin words, sola scriptura, sola gratia, or gratia, and sola fide. . . .

2:26 All of Scripture, and only the Scriptures, are the source of final authority concerning the individual problem of how a man may be right with God, or the corporate problem, how may the Church please God. How is a man to be accepted before God? What is the basis of God's dealing with sinful men? It's by grace alone.

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3:25 were to the Reformation and spouted three Latin terms. No, as we look back upon what God did and try to see the structure of that movement of God, we see these three principles emerging. They, in turn, gave birth to the great exegetical work of John Calvin and the sixteenth and seventeenth century Puritans. And then, as they came over to this country, the great structure of our own national life is found rooted in the word of the living God. Why? Because of these great principles of the Protestant Reformation. The whole scientific

4:02 world was upset, and the beginning of what we would call true modern scientific method has its roots in the Protestant Reformation. And so, this morning, we simply tried to bring into focus those three great principles. Now, tonight, as we look back upon what God did and try to see the structure of that movement as I announced this morning, we want to see what those issues of the Reformation say to us in this present hour. The issues of the Reformation and their present relevance. And

The Relevance of Sola Scriptura in Facing Rome, Apostate Protestantism, and the World

4:33 I want to state unequivocally that these issues are just as relevant as Moratorium Wednesday, the amazing Mets, and a fall frost. Now, I don't think you can get much more relevant than those three things, especially those amazing Mets. It'll be a long while before we get over that. That's pretty relevant business, isn't it?

4:55 Well, let me say that these three dusty, musty Latin phrases and what they speak of, just as relevant as those things. Sola scriptura, sola gratia, and sola fide.

5:10 Now, in what sense are they relevant? How are we going to break this down? This is a broad subject. How can we organize our thinking? Well, let me suggest how I'm going to attempt

5:18 to organize the thinking of this. I want to demonstrate. The relevance of these principles as the Church of Christ faces Rome, as we as an individual church face the imposing structure of Romanism, as we face apostate Protestantism, and the great segment of Protestantism is just that, and other great segments are teetering on the brink of apostasy and another rejection of biblical truth, and then as we face the world. So what is our stance to be with regard to Rome?

5:52 What is our stance to be with regard to Rome? What is our stance to be with regard to great segments of professing Protestantism? What is our stance to be with regard to the world? May I suggest that our cry and our watchword should be these three principles, not just mouthing them with our lips, but having our very thinking and all of our activities suffused with these principles until they mold us and we embody them in our own experience.

6:20 Sola scriptura. Sola scriptura. This must be our stance as we face the issue of Rome. This is the great divide between evangelicalism and Romanism.

6:32 What authority shall bind the conscience of the professing people of God? By what shall I as a pastor seek to bind your conscience? When I tell you young people this is what you ought to do, this is what you ought not to do. When I say to you wives, you mothers, you fathers, this is your duty, by what authority shall I seek to bind your conscience?

6:52 By what authority shall I seek to bind your conscience? There is no question of greater importance than this. And this is the great dividing line between true evangelical Christianity and Romanism today. It was the issue in Luther's day.

7:07 My conscience is held captive to the word. And Eck, the great scholastic theologian, would quote the fathers, and Luther would say, in essence, be still with your fathers. If you want to say what they said, fine. But don't you try to bind my conscience.

7:23 Bind my conscience by the fathers. Bind it by the word. Bind it by the word. That's still the issue with Rome today.

7:32 In an article on Martin Luther called, The Last Angry Man, Stuart Garver says, quote, The battle was joined where it is still joined. Shall the Church, through its infallible teaching office and endless traditions, exercise sovereign control over men's souls and consciences? Or shall the Bible? Hear the Bible.

7:52 Here is the great divide, the wall of separation between Catholicism and historic Protestantism. End of quote. Ah, but someone says, isn't Rome different? Isn't Rome changing?

8:08 Isn't there a new emphasis upon the Bible? Now granted, I'm willing to acknowledge that the Spirit of God may be working in strange ways and in strange places, and that in certain areas there may be little pockets of Roman Catholics who are gathered in the Holy Spirit. They are gathering together to genuinely study the Scriptures and bow to its authority. That I would not question, and God may be doing that in hundreds of places which you and I know nothing of.

8:33 But speaking of the official position of the Church of Rome as expressed by her own acknowledged authorities, yes, Rome has changed since Luther's day. Surely she has changed. Since then she has decreed the infallibility of the Pope. Since then she has declared the perpetual virginity of Mary.

8:53 Since Luther's day she has declared the assumption of Mary into heaven. Since then she has declared the equal authority of tradition with Scripture. Since then she has declared anathemas upon every cardinal doctrine of salvation, justification by faith alone, assurance of salvation, and all the rest. Any apparent changes in Rome in the present day are merely surface changes, and a harlot becomes more dangerous when she is more attractive.

9:23 End of quote. When she does away with some of her grosser forms of speech and dress and becomes a cultured lady, a harlot is more seductive than ever. And much of the changes in Rome are simply the external changes which make that great religious harlot more seductive in her attempts to bring within her fold the separated and divided brethren and incorporate them into the true Church. In July of 1968, that's pretty recent.

9:56 Pope John Paul II, who was the Pope of the United States at that time, was the Pope of the United States. Pope Paul VI issued his Credo of the People of God, a 3,000-word article in which he clearly stated the Church's position on basic issues. Listen as I quote from that Credo. First of all, there's a summary of it, and then I'll give an actual quote.

10:16 The Pontiff cited the importance of baptism, the Roman Catholic Church as the only true Church, the need for a Church hierarchy, infallibility of the Pope and of bishops as a body under the Pontiff. The Mass as a real enactment of Christ's death. The Eucharist as the true Body and Blood of Jesus and the existence of Paradise, Purgatory and Hell. He extolled the papal infallibility as a cornerstone of the Church.

10:45 Now I quote, We believe in the infallibility enjoyed by the successor of Peter when he teaches ex cathedra as pastor and teacher of all the faithful, and which is assured also to the Episcopal body when it exercises its authority. The Mass as a real enactment of Christ's death. The Mass as a real enactment of Christ's death. The Mass as a real enactment of Christ's death.

11:02 The Mass as a real enactment of Christ's death. The Mass as a real enactment of Christ's death. The Mass as a real enactment of Christ's death. We believe in the infallibility of the pronouncements of a man and his cohorts.

11:10 We have the right to bind the consciences of the faithful. This is a very relevant issue. Coming to the whole matter of the Mass. You say, Ah, but they changed the Mass.

11:21 It's no longer Latin, now it's English. Is blasphemy any different in English or in Latin? Does God suddenly turn off his abhorrence? abhorrence to the blasphemous doctrine of the Mass because it's now in English and not in Latin?

11:36 Listen from this same credo what the Mass is in the eyes of the official teaching of Rome. Quote, We believe that the Mass celebrated by the priest representing the person of Christ by virtue of the power received through the sacrament of orders and offered by him in the name of Christ and the members of his mystical body is the sacrifice of Calvary rendered sacramentally present on our altars. Christ is sacrificed on our altars. 1968, July.

12:12 I'm not talking about Luther's day. I'm talking of something contemporary. He goes on to say, the credo does, The bread and wine have ceased to exist after the consecration, after the priest says his hocus-pocus over them, so that it is the adorable, body and blood of the Lord Jesus that from then on are really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine as the Lord willed it in order to give himself to us as food and to associate us with the unity of his mystical body. Then he goes on to elaborate, There has been no basic change in any of the basic doctrines that caused Luther to stand against that imposing system

12:56 and so forth. So the issue as we face Rome is Sola Scriptura. Shall we follow the dictates of popes and councils and bishops or shall our consciences be bound by the word and by the word alone? Now let me say to balance this that we should be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves as we see the new openness amongst Roman Catholics to the Bible.

13:27 Let's take every opportunity to get them into the word. And I believe in this. There's someone sitting here who will bear witness to this. Hours spent with him as a Roman Catholic to help get his conscience reoriented to Scripture.

13:41 I'm not speaking of this un-Christ-like attitude that says let Catholics be damned with their heresy. No, we're to love them. We're to do all to identify with them to gain the opportunity of a hearing to communicate in love the truth of God. But never forget, you're dealing with a system that is blasphemous at its core and is anti-scriptural.

14:04 This is what I'm talking about. That recognizing that they need evangelizing. They are not our separated brethren with whom we have dialogue.

14:16 They are men who need evangelizing with the truth of Holy Scripture. Well, what about our stance as we face great segments of Protestantism in our daily life? Let's take a look at that. Let's take a look at that in our day.

14:30 What should be our cry? Well, in great segments of the Christian Church, and it's true right here in this area of West Essex and North Essex, there's a terrible rationalism where men are standing in pulpits and framing pronouncements of great church councils based solely upon their own poor, impoverished thinking. All the so-called religionless Christianity, the God is dead movement, the new morality situation, all this stuff you hear. What is it?

15:04 But poor, ignorant men molding their ignorance in high-sounding language. For the Scripture says to the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them. When I speak in any way that is not true to this book, I simply express the darkness of my own mind. If they speak not according to this word, there is no light in them.

15:32 Well, that intelligent, charming, young biology professor in your high school pooh-paws the account of creation, you young people, and he does it in such a way that seems so imposing and so authoritative and so convincing. Sit there and tell yourself he does that because there's no light in him. There's no light in him. There's no light in him.

15:51 I know more than he does because I believe in the beginning God.

15:58 That doesn't mean you disrespect him. Honor to whom honors do. You call him sir. You address him properly.

16:05 You raise your hand if you want to talk to him. You make an appointment. When you look him in the eye, you say, Sir, you say what you say because there's no light in you.

16:15 Sweetly, humbly, but firmly. You know more than he does when you take the word of the God who made it all and who told us how he did it.

16:27 Sola Scriptura. And we face this whole area of Protestantism that claims to have the heritage of the Reformation but has no light in him. That's the problem. That's the problem.

16:36 That's the problem. That's the problem. That's the problem. That's the problem.

16:37 That's the problem. That's the problem. He has rejected the word of God as the final court of appeal and is governing its thinking by rationalism, man's thoughts, by mere subjectivism, what men feel. No, we need to stand in this hour and bear the reproach of Christ and say as a disciple of Jesus Christ, I have the same view of Scripture that he did.

16:59 Even he, the incarnate Son of God, constantly hooked men into the authority of Scripture. It is written. Have ye not read? It is said.

17:09 David said in the Spirit. Moses said, the Son of God, constantly affirming his stance with respect to the word of the living God. It's not enough for us to point at the Bible and confess it to be the word. We must obey its precepts.

17:27 We must search it. And we must always bring every aspect of the life and practice and our creed under the judgment of the word of God. That's what makes the Bible. True biblical Christianity a thrilling thing.

17:41 When can we exhaust all that's here? And if we are continually operating on the principle of sola scriptura, the Scriptures alone can bind my conscience, then you've got to ask that in every area. To what should my conscience be bound in the life of the Church, in the worship, in the service of the Church, as a mother, as a father, as a husband, as a wife, as a citizen? What shall bind my conscience and direct my duty?

18:05 Sola scriptura, the word of God alone. That makes an exciting thing. It's never static, never stagnant. Constantly going on in our understanding and then in our obedience.

18:16 So we dare to face men and say that. We say to you who are visiting with us, what's the justification of another church when we've got dozens of them? This is the justification that a group of people became weary of places within the pale of Protestantism that profess to believe the Bible. And the Bible is the only place in the Bible that we're following a tradition both in creed and in practice that was just as high bound as the traditions of Rome.

18:44 And God in his sovereignty brought them together with a mutual desire to bring everything under the judgment of the word of God, both in doctrine and in practice. And he's forged and fused us into a body of people who long with much imperfection, I know, but with a genuine desire to operate on that principle. And if it means we've got to be out of joint not only with Rome and with all the overtures to flirt with her, but with contemporary Protestantism, so be it. We stand under the judgment and directives of the word of God.

19:23 So as we face Rome, as we face much of organized apostate religion, and as we face the world, this is our confession. What do we say to the world when it faces its problems? If you've never done this, if you have the opportunity, some afternoon, tune in that station, is it WNYC? I forgot.

19:44 I just know it's my third button on my radio where they have a continual playing of the activities at the United Nations. If you want something that'll break your heart, just tune that in and listen for a couple of hours while you're doing the ironing or scrubbing the floor or something else, you ladies. And listen to the world's great statesmen grappling with problems sincerely. These people aren't playing games.

20:06 Most of them are brilliant enough that they could be in other enterprises making far more money than they are as UN representatives. But to hear this great avalanche of words that for the most part is just an effusion of accumulated ignorance. Why? Because they've said there's nothing in the revelation of the word of God to help us with these problems, and God says, all right, you're so smart to reject my wisdom, then go ahead and solve your problems.

20:35 And the mess and the confusion, what is our stance to the world? Then we dare to say, sola scriptura. In the word of God alone is everything necessary for life and godliness. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for all of these things, correction, doctrine, instruction, that the man of God may be what?

The Relevance of Sola Gratia in Facing Rome and Protestantism

21:00 Mature, thoroughly furnished unto every good work. The entirety of the revelation to make us complete. Well, what about the second great principle then and its present relevance? Sola gratia or gratia.

21:14 What does this say to us in our day? Well, we face Rome. She says grace is stored up in us. In this credo of the people, the Pope affirmed that there, that the Roman Catholic Church is the one true church.

21:31 Now granted, they've done a little double talk here in that they no longer say if you're outside that church, you're not saved. You see, that makes the harlot ugly and people might run from her. Gotta make her attractive. But when you dig down underneath it, it's still saying the same thing.

21:49 It's just saying it a little different way. It's saying in essence, you don't know it, but if you're really one of God's people, you're a part of us in principle and in heart, it may take a while for you to become that in fact. You see? You follow?

22:01 You're really one of us in heart, but you're separated. Certain circumstances come, but when you really get the light, you'll come and acknowledge Papa Paul. Yes, you will. You acknowledge him as Christ representative on earth and as head over the true body of the faithful.

22:21 I have seen nothing to indicate that that's been repudiated. Why? Because their view of the church is that grace is stored up in that church and it's funneled down through the sacraments. And so if you're gonna have grace, you've gotta get into the circle of grace and then get under the spigots of grace and there are the different sacraments.

22:43 No, we dare to say that the reservoir of God's grace is not in the church, but it's in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1.3 says, According as God hath, I'm sorry, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He's the reservoir of all grace.

23:12 1 Corinthians 1.30 says, But of him are you in Christ, Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Where's God's reservoir of grace? It's not here.

23:26 It's not in St. Al's on the corner. No, no. It's in Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father.

23:35 There's God's reservoir of grace. All is stored up in him. And as God is pleased to confer that grace, he does so not by opening up a spigot here and a spigot there, but by grasping men into the reservoir, to mix my metaphors. He puts them into the reservoir.

23:56 He joins them to his dear Son. And then all that he is and has is theirs by virtue of union with him. So as we face Rome with its sacramentalism, with its salvation bound up in the water and in the sacraments and in its other trappings, we dare to proclaim that grace and truth have come by Jesus Christ. But now, here we face much of Protestantism and even some of our dear friends in whom we have reason to believe are the children of God, evangelicalism.

24:34 And we assert not only that is grace stored up in Jesus Christ, but we dare to move from verse 3 to verse 4. What's the first expression of that grace according to the apostle? Here it is. According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world.

24:53 That the fountainhead of all the blessings that are stored up in Christ and the way sinners get into those blessings are traced back to the elective purpose of God. So that when a sinner down here in 1969 believes, it's not because God treasured up grace in his Son and made a display of it in the cross and now says it's up to you to make good use of your faculties to get into that reservoir. No, no. No, Paul says in Ephesians 1 that when that sinner down there in 1969 in Essex County lays hold of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, and enters into the blessings of salvation,

25:38 it's because God in grace from eternity purposed to bring him and he owes his faith to his election, not his election. Not his election to his faith. See it? That's all right there in Ephesians chapter 1.

25:55 Remember as I quoted from Luther this morning, he said that's the pivotal issue. The pivotal issue. That's the pivotal issue. Is it all of grace?

26:04 For it says in the book of Acts that they believed through grace. Acts 18, 27. They came and helped them much who believed through grace. Now you say, oh, isn't that just hair splitting?

26:19 I want to quote from a paper delivered by Harold Ockengay, one of the great leaders in evangelicalism in our day. A paper delivered at the Berlin Congress, which now is about two years ago. This is a direct quote from Mr. Ockengay's paper.

26:37 Faith is erroneously ascribed to God as a gift. Erroneously described as a gift. He's speaking of those of us who believe this truth. Man is commanded to repent and to believe and to convert.

26:54 The Bible places these acts within the ability of man. Notice, not the responsibility of man, but he says these acts are within the ability of man. For my part, I approve of a practical synergism. The word synergism means man cooperates with God in his salvation.

27:11 I approve a practical synergism of affirming prevenient grace, the responsibility of each individual and the election of Christ of all who believe. Thus I can say, salvation is all of God, reprobation is all of man. I cannot throw the responsibility of man's reprobation or his lostness upon God, which no one that I know does. And, quote, further reading, some reformed theologians, I don't know why he said some, all that I know, teach that regeneration by the Holy Spirit precedes conversion.

27:44 The evangelical position is that regeneration is conditioned upon repentance, confession and faith. This alone stimulates evangelism. End of quote. Is this a live issue?

27:59 Here's one of the greatest leaders in evangelicalism today saying that the only thing that will stimulate evangelism is the denial of the second principle of the Reformation, sola gratia. I wonder what stimulated Whitefield. And drove this man as though consumed with an inner fire to cross the Atlantic, what, eleven times? It would take as much as eight weeks.

28:27 Sometimes you read his journals and you feel ashamed of yourself when you see what this man did, preaching some 18,000 times, literally burning himself out with compassion and with zeal for the cause of Christ. I wonder what drove him. He believed and gladly confessed that men owed their faith to their election and not their election to their faith. What drove McShane?

28:53 What drove Brainerd out into the woods of many sections? Even here in Jersey and out especially in the Susquehanna area. What drove him? He believed that only God could give faith.

29:07 He believed that only God could give repentance. That's why he prayed sometimes melting the winter snows with the heat of his body and fasted sometimes days on end and for three years saw no converts. He refused to lose little tricks to get them to use their ability to repent and to believe. He didn't believe they had it.

29:27 He believed they were dead. They were blind. They were bound by the devil. He believed that only God could loose them.

29:34 He believed he must preach to them. He believed he must instruct them. So he prayed, he instructed, he preached. And after three years, one day preaching through a semi-drunken interpreter, the Holy Ghost came like a mighty rushing wind and 50 Indians, men who would never flinch in the most painful initiatory rites as they were being recognized formally as braves, men who would never twitch, let alone shed a tear, began to uncontrollably sob under a sense of their sin and their wretchedness and they began to call upon God for mercy.

30:10 And Brainerd could write a year later of the 50 who professed conversion at that time, not one has gone back to his drunkenness or to his immorality, but to my knowledge, everyone is going on with God. Why is it that the best of modern evangelists admit that they only have about 5% of their converts that stick? Because convinced that men have the ability to repent and to believe, they use every psychological pressure to get them to make a decision that is not the fruit of God's working but the fruit of their own manipulation. And then they peter out.

30:50 And then they say, well, if they had better follow-up, they'd have lasted. Whitefield had no follow-up courses. The Holy Ghost indwelt people and he followed them up real good. All this emphasis upon a systematic follow-up is one of the attendants of a theology of evangelism that rules out the necessity of the work of the Holy Ghost to produce true conversion.

31:18 The Church is God's follow-up. Modern evangelism has no place for the Church. Because if you have the Church, you've got to have a clearly defined theology. If you've got a clearly defined theology, you can't get together with everybody.

31:28 You see? And in being wiser than God, we find it catching up with us point after point after point. Now, why do I say all of this? Just to stir up trouble?

31:38 Just to stir up provocation? No, no, dear ones. To show you that the issues for which Martin Luther stood in his day are as relevant as the amazing Mets and the fall frost in our day. Not only as we face Rome, sola gratia, it's all of grace, but as we dare to face Protestantism, that where it has not gone into liberalism for the most part is encased in a man-centered thinking that does not recognize that salvation is all of grace from beginning to end.

32:09 And we must make that confession. And then, by the grace of God, we must demonstrate that confession that something has happened to us that has no explanation, but that there's been an operation of the grace of God. Well, that's the second aspect of our confession and its relevance for our day. Sola fide, as it relates to the whole matter of our stance before Protestantism, our stance before Rome.

The Relevance of Sola Gratia in Facing the World

32:45 Now, what about with our stance before the world? What a wonderful confession to make in a day that's filled with despair. Thinking people have come to the point where they realize we're in a terrible mess and they've despaired of finding any answer. And the philosophy of despair screams out of our music, screams out of our art, it screams out of the theater.

33:10 Meaninglessness. Purposelessness. What a wonderful day in which to live and proclaim sola gratia. The whole perspective of Ephesians 2.

33:22 Read it sometime this week. There's the picture of man as we see him today as Paul saw him. Dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that worketh among the sons of disobedience. There is man dead, bound, a slave to his lust.

33:42 But then he comes to verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when dead, hath quickened us together with Christ and made us to sit together in heavenly places, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his kindness and his grace to us in Christ Jesus. Why does the jeweler set the brilliant diamond against the backdrop of jet black velvet? Because the brilliance of the diamond

34:23 is enhanced by the blackness of the cloth. Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. There was a time in our own country where there was a lot of what we'd call common grace, where people shared the overflow of vital piety that was present in the lives of a lot of people and without any supernatural power, without any supernatural saving grace in their hearts, there were kind people, moral people, upright people, honest people, hard workers, industrious. But all that's gone now for the most part.

34:56 We live in what Francis Schaeffer would call post-Christian Western civilization. That's a terrible thing. But the one wonder of it is the line between the true people of God who have grace and those who don't is much clearer now. And the diamond of the operation of God's grace can shine the more brilliantly because of the blackness of the backdrop.

35:22 So you ought to thank God for the privilege in living in a day like this. There was a time when you ladies in the office, you could count for the most part that you'd have some others who had the same, at least moral standards, who felt in giving a day's work you were doing what was right no longer. Right? If you don't want to be a goof off and really put in eight hours for eight hours' work, you're looked upon as somebody who's not quite with it.

35:44 When you work as diligently when the boss is absent and when he's present, you're looked upon as someone who's not quite with it. You kids at school who won't cheat when the teacher's out of the room, just as you won't when she's in. They look at you like something's wrong, huh? You see, these areas where common grace was operative in a moral tone, those have pretty well gone by the board.

36:03 But what a privilege then to live and display in this context the operation of God's grace. And according to Titus chapter 2, that's what the Lord died for. He died to redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. And Paul says that he feels his ministry has been in vain unless there at Philippi there are believers living blameless lives shining as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

36:35 And so we say to this world by our lives I trust and by our lips, it's all of grace. What's happened to you? What makes you what you are? You don't say, well, I made good use of my faith.

36:48 I made good use of my ability to repent. You say, no, I was just as blind and stupid and ignorant spiritually as any hottentot in the bush. But God, who is rich in mercy, opened my eyes to show me what a sinner I was. He showed me what a wonderful Savior Jesus is.

37:08 He enabled me to give myself to him. He's done it all. Ah, but I'm in too bad shape. No, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.

37:21 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Not to help them save themselves, but to save them. Everything that's necessary to save a sinner, he came to do. Awaken him, convict him, enable him to repent and believe, change the bent of his heart.

37:37 He came to save sinners from beginning to end. And then when he begins, the scripture says he will carry on unto completion. Well, I hurry on to close then with the third principle and its relevance for us today, sola fide, by faith alone. Well, it's obvious that we need not labor the point as far as Rome is concerned.

The Relevance of Sola Fide in Facing Rome, Protestantism, and the World

38:01 You ask the average Roman Catholic, if you don't believe this, just ask him sometime. You don't need to be nasty. You can be sweet as you do it. You just say to him, John, Harry, whoever it is, say, tell me in just a word or two, a sentence, how do you think a man gets his sins forgiven and is ready to meet God when he dies?

38:21 And he'd tell you, well, I can't answer that in a sentence or two, because there's too many things you've got to do, you see. The average Roman Catholic is blinded when he thinks of how. He thinks in terms of, I must do this and do this and do this. He doesn't reply by faith alone.

38:41 So our stance as far as Rome is concerned is that of sola fide. What is our stance with regard to Protestantism? Again, speaking of that great segment of Protestantism that has gone apostate, the most current philosophy is men don't need to believe they're saved already. All men are fallen in Adam.

39:02 All men are redeemed in Jesus Christ. Oh, you say nobody believes that. Yes, they do. I was talking with my good friend, Pastor Bradbury, who at the synod meeting just this past week down in South Jersey, a synod of the USA Presbyterian Church in this area, said that here's a man delivering a paper, one of the position papers or something, who actually expressed this.

39:22 And when he nailed him down, like these men will do, he began to dodge and hedge and play verbal double talk with him. But this was the thrust of what he was saying. No longer is it true, he that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned. All men are already saved.

39:36 We just go and tell them the fact of it. There's a new universalism. It's even being debated. I saw a questionnaire at a certain meeting of Protestant ministers, and here was the question.

39:49 Do Jews and Muslims need to be evangelized? Why, the very asking of the question is the height of impudence, if you know your Bible. What's the whole argument of Romans 1, 18 to 320? God hath concluded all under sin, even the Jew of Paul's day who believed the Bible, who believed the doctrine of the transcendent majesty of God, the purity of the law, the necessity of a blood sacrifice, even the Jew who believed all of Orthodox Jewry needed to be saved.

40:22 How much more the modern Jew who is, for the most part, basically a liberal individual, who believes that the heart, most of the Jews you and I meet, are that. So our stance as we face Protestantism is to insist that though salvation is all of grace, we have no reason to believe that grace has been operative until we have been brought to rest wholly in Jesus Christ and to acknowledge that nothing in our hands we bring simply to his cross we cling. He that believeth shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned.

41:02 And then, as we face the world at large, what do we say to that world? We need to tell them that the way of acceptance is by faith alone, that they desperately need acceptance with God, and that the only way of acceptance is through Jesus Christ. In Luther's day, they were a little bit further on than we are. A man who wrote a very penetrating article said along this line, we have a long way to catch up with pre-Reformation Europe.

41:32 How lucky Luther was. He fought these battles before the days of trench warfare when positions were clear and understandable.

41:42 Since the age is unresponsive to the preeminently evangelical note of the Reformation, it must be made ready for the gospel. The biblical prescription of such preparation is the preaching of the law. And then the man goes on to say, in Luther's day, Luther didn't need to preach the law. People were going around under the terrors of judgment.

42:01 You look at the art of that day, the religious art, and it would have the picture of Christ on the throne with fire leaping out of his eyes. Some of you remember in the film Martin Luther, they have a reproduction of that. And there's the sinner cringing in his fear. These people believed in a concept of a God who was holy, who was an angry judge.

42:19 They didn't need to be convinced of that. Their problem was they didn't know how you get accepted before him. And so Luther came, almost with his exclusively positive note, by faith alone, God has set forth his Son as an able and a willing Savior. Throw yourself upon him.

42:35 Does the average man or woman walking down the street on your block get up in the morning dreading an angry God upon a throne with fiery eyes and a flaming sword about to bring it down in wrath upon him? Does he? Does he? Not in your life.

42:52 All he fears is the stock market will go down three more points. That's all he's afraid of. Maybe the Mets will get knocked off before they get into the World Series. That's what he's afraid of.

43:01 Afraid the Jets might lose or Joe Namath's knees, might get busted up. That's all he's afraid of. That's his circle of fears. Temporal, sensual, earthly.

43:13 And so if we're going to meaningfully communicate to this generation by faith alone, I say it reverently, we've got to create the problem which this answer solves. What's the problem? A holy God. A sinful creature.

43:28 An angry judge. A guilty criminal. An infinite chasm. Until they begin to say, how can that chasm be bridged?

43:40 And then we set forth the blessed message. This unique person who comes all the way from there because he belongs there. He's God. Came all the way down to us where we are because he's man.

43:52 And as the God-man, again I say it reverently, he pulls God and man together.

44:01 As God, able and worthy to save. As man. As man, sympathetic with us in our need. Dying, shedding his precious blood.

44:13 And we say by faith alone, weary of your sin, longing for deliverance from sin and its consequences. You need not beat yourself. You need not fast. You need not agonize.

44:27 Cast yourself upon the offered Savior. Plead the merits of his blood. He that believeth on the Son, hath life. He's not enough to go out and say to the neighbor, you know, by faith alone you're saved.

44:43 He says, yes, so fine, nice. Nice, nice, nice information, appreciate it. Thank you. But he's got no problem that makes that answer meaningful.

44:51 See, we've got to create problems. I don't want to steal his thunder. I'm sure he'll say it during the four days he's here, but it stuck with me. John Riesinger said, up to about ten years ago, he used to pray, Lord, save people.

45:04 He said, I don't pray that anymore. He says, I just keep praying, Lord, get some people lost. He said, Lord, if you don't pray, Lord, get some people lost. He said, Lord, if you don't pray, Lord, get some people lost.

45:09 He said, Lord, if you'll get them good and lost, I can tell them how to be saved. You see what he meant? They're already lost, but they don't know it, you see? And our generation doesn't know that it's lost.

45:18 Oh, it feels confused. But there's no vertical thought. Man feels out of touch with man. You see, the great thrust in our day is we've got to reconcile man to man.

45:30 We've got to get reconciled racially. And God knows we need to. We've got to get reconciled on the level of human relationships. Ethnically, socially, all of these problems.

45:43 But when you say to people, yes, but look, man's ruptured relationship with his fellow man is just one of the expressions of a deeper problem. He's got a ruptured relationship with God. And they say, away with this business upward. All we're concerned about is outward, see?

45:57 And we say, no, no, don't you dare. Don't you dare insult God and say, we want to clear up the fruits of our rebellion against God, but we don't want to deal with the problem that lies at its root, namely our rebellion against him. We must insist that the cry, faith alone, is an answer to that problem of how a holy God and a sinful man can be brought together. This is pretty relevant business, isn't it?

Conclusion: Be True Sons and Daughters of the Reformation

46:23 May God help us to be true sons and daughters of the Reformation, that understanding these principles, sola scriptura, sola gratia, sola fide, we may dare to be counted as the true sons and daughters of the Reformation, and that we may not betray those principles by becoming static. The Reformation was not complete. And there are areas of our own lives and our own church life corporately that need constant reform by the standard of Holy Scripture. Let's not be static.

47:03 Let's not be, as it were, those who throw off the tradition of 1500 years and are bound by the tradition of 50 years. That's true in many segments of evangelicalism in our day. Wouldn't dare accept a Romish tradition, but break an evangelical tradition and woe, woe be unto you. What sayeth the word?

47:26 Is it too much to expect that in this generation the God of our fathers, the God of Martin Luther, of Zwingli, of Calvin, of the Reformers, is the God who would once again bring a body of simple people, for he chooses, you see, to take the weak things, and the things which are despised, and the things which are not, to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence? Is it too much to believe God could take the likes of us and bring us broken to his feet and burn these principles into our hearts and so enable us to embody them in life and in practice that God would be pleased to make us an instrument in his hands to once again establish in some measure, in a way that we haven't seen for years, his truth, his law,

48:11 and the glory of his own name, and to the salvation of his Son here in our own segment of the Vineyard where he's placed us, and then in other places as God is pleased to extend that ministry. I hope our study today has brought us to a new appreciation of that great movement of God. I do trust that it has also brought us to a place where there is some holy aspiration and longing that God will do it again. I trust it's brought us to a place of confirmation, where we may hold things that put us out of joint with many of our peers, but we stand in the great stream of God's people, and we can thank God that we do,

48:55 and then that it may give us some direction as we face the problems of our day. God is not going to use great organized efforts of great congresses, whether it's on evangelism or anything else. God's going to use his people, coming broken to his feet, stripped of everything, but a desire to glory in Christ and see others brought to the place where they glory in him. And how he'll move, I don't know.

49:22 But I sure would love to hear news that he's moving somewhere. And if he doesn't do it here, I want to find where he is and go take my cup and hope I can catch a few drops. May the Lord give us a longing expressed in earnest prayer until he come and rain righteousness upon us. Let us pray.