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Voddie Baucham - The Reformation Part 1 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: When we talk about restoration and reformation, it is important
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  Speaker 1: for us to remember and understand why it is that
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  Speaker 1: we are called Protestants. Or why it is that we
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  Speaker 1: used to be called Protestants. We've moved away from that terminology.
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  Speaker 1: In many ways, that terminology became like the term patriarchy.
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  Speaker 1: And evangelical just sounds a lot less offensive than Protestant.
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  Speaker 1: But be that as it may, we are Protestants. The
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  Speaker 1: Reformation matters. And we forget that to our peril. There
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  Speaker 1: needs to be a reminder of the Reformation. There needs
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  Speaker 1: to be a renewal of the Reformation, if you will,
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  Speaker 1: because the gospel is being lost in our day just
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  Speaker 1: as it was then. And ironically, many of the things
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  Speaker 1: that we're moving to tend to be more Romish. So
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  Speaker 1: what I want us to do is I want us
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  Speaker 1: to examine the Reformation doctrines, the clarion call from the Reformation,
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  Speaker 1: those five solas that came out of the Reformation that
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  Speaker 1: we so desperately need here today. If these churches are
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  Speaker 1: going to be planted, I remember in, I forget what
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  Speaker 1: year it was, maybe it was, I think it was 1994, 1994,
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  Speaker 1: The Southern Baptist Convention in the U.S. I've always been
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  Speaker 1: a member of the Southern Baptist Convention. We had a
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  Speaker 1: convention and the theme of the convention that year was
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  Speaker 1: a million more in 94. A million more in 94.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, it was an evangelistic emphasis. Praying the
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  Speaker 1: Lord would give us a million more in 1994. And
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  Speaker 1: one pastor... One pastor summed it up nicely, and he said,
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  Speaker 1: if the Lord gives us a million more like the
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  Speaker 1: ones we've got, we're sunk. There need to be churches
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  Speaker 1: planted in Australia, no doubt. That was sobering, amen? That
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  Speaker 1: was absolutely sobering. But they need to be churches that
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  Speaker 1: echo The sound doctrine that we inherit from the Reformation.
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  Speaker 1: And so let's look at those five solas. And we're
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  Speaker 1: going to look at them from a single passage of
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  Speaker 1: Scripture that gives us all of them. If you have
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  Speaker 1: your Bibles with you, open to Romans chapter 3. Romans
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  Speaker 1: chapter 3. Beginning in verse 21. I'll read this passage
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  Speaker 1: and then read from the Second London Baptist Confession. And
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  Speaker 1: we'll move from there. Romans 3, beginning at 21. But
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  Speaker 1: now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from
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  Speaker 1: the law. Although the law and the prophets bear witness
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  Speaker 1: to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus
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  Speaker 1: Christ for all who believe For there is no distinction,
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  Speaker 1: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory
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  Speaker 1: of God and are justified by his grace as a
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  Speaker 1: gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
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  Speaker 1: God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to
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  Speaker 1: be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness
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  Speaker 1: because in his divine forbearance, He had passed over former sins.
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  Speaker 1: It was to show his righteousness at the present time
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  Speaker 1: so that he might be just and the justifier of
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  Speaker 1: the one who has faith in Jesus. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise
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  Speaker 1: the Lord. Let me read this from chapter 11 of
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  Speaker 1: the Second London Baptist Confession. chapter 11, of justification. This
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  Speaker 1: is the first paragraph there in that chapter. And as
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  Speaker 1: you listen to this, please know that this is pointed,
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  Speaker 1: for the most part, directly at Rome. It's pointed directly
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  Speaker 1: at Rome. Second London, Westminster, both. The the declarations and
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  Speaker 1: the confessions that came out of the Protestant Reformation, they
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  Speaker 1: distinguished themselves from Rome. And this is incredibly important at
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  Speaker 1: this moment. Understand that Rome was preaching a perverted gospel.
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  Speaker 1: Rome continues to preach a perverted gospel. I'll show you that.
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  Speaker 1: A gospel that was no gospel at all. And this
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  Speaker 1: was significant. It's significant because, again, Roman Catholicism is a
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  Speaker 1: sacramental and sacerdotal religion. Both of those terms are important.
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  Speaker 1: Sacramental meaning that grace is dispensed through the sacraments, the
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  Speaker 1: seven sacraments of the church. You partake in these sacraments
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  Speaker 1: and grace is dispensed to you through those sacraments. Now,
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  Speaker 1: this is incredibly important because in Roman Catholic theology, Your
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  Speaker 1: grace cup is never filled up completely. So just think
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  Speaker 1: about it here. If you've ever collected, you know, coins
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  Speaker 1: or you collected marbles or whatever it was, right? You
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  Speaker 1: have this jar and you fill it up. But your
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  Speaker 1: grace jar doesn't get completely full. Why? Well, the sacraments
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  Speaker 1: dispense grace to you. So the first one you get
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  Speaker 1: for free, it's your infant baptism, right? And then later on,
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  Speaker 1: there's your confirmation, and then you're allowed to have the Eucharist, right?
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  Speaker 1: The Lord's Supper, and then there's, you know, confession, and
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  Speaker 1: you have religious orders, you have marriage, you have last rites.
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  Speaker 1: All of these things fill up that jar for you. However,
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  Speaker 1: every time you sin... You take some away. And so
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  Speaker 1: it needs to be filled again and again and again.
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  Speaker 1: It will never be filled in this life, which is
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  Speaker 1: why everybody, not everybody, everybody has to go to purgatory.
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  Speaker 1: You go to purgatory so that you can suffer and
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  Speaker 1: finish paying off your sin debt, before you are allowed
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  Speaker 1: to enter into heaven. This, by the way, is why
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  Speaker 1: indulgences were so popular. When they were building St. Peter's Cathedral,
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  Speaker 1: one of the things that led to Martin Luther's outrage
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  Speaker 1: was the way they were raising money to build the cathedrals.
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  Speaker 1: selling a second seat to a bishop in Germany. And
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  Speaker 1: John Tetzel is coming through, and he's raising money in
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  Speaker 1: order to pay for this second seat for this bishop,
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  Speaker 1: which he wasn't supposed to get, but they needed money
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  Speaker 1: for St. Peter's, so he's going to be able to
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  Speaker 1: buy a second position there. And Tetzel's coming through, and
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  Speaker 1: you've heard about John Tetzel. If you don't remember his name,
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  Speaker 1: you remember his poems. Whenever a coin in the coffers ring,
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  Speaker 1: a soul from purgatory springs. You don't understand what that
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  Speaker 1: means unless you understand sacramentalism. He was selling plenary indulgences.
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  Speaker 1: What's a plenary indulgence? Well, this is a plenary session.
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  Speaker 1: We have breakout sessions, different people in different rooms. This
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  Speaker 1: is a plenary session where everybody comes together. A plenary
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  Speaker 1: indulgence is There are other indulgences that may fill your
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  Speaker 1: jar up some. A plenary indulgence completely fills your grace jar.
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  Speaker 1: Here's the problem. If you get a plenary indulgence while
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  Speaker 1: you're still alive, by the time you get home, right?
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  Speaker 1: So plenary indulgences are best for those who have already died.
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  Speaker 1: So here's what Tetzel's poem means. He would come into,
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  Speaker 1: you know, villages and towns and one of the things
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  Speaker 1: he would do often is he would put his hand
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  Speaker 1: over a flame. Where it was obvious that the flame
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  Speaker 1: was burning his hand, and people would be screaming and
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  Speaker 1: wanting him to stop. And he would remind them that
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  Speaker 1: your dearly departed relative is now experiencing a that kind
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  Speaker 1: of suffering in purgatory. And you can end it right
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  Speaker 1: here and right now by donating to the building of St.
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  Speaker 1: Peter's Cathedral. You understand the poem now? You can buy
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  Speaker 1: a plenary indulgence by helping us build the cathedral. Put
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  Speaker 1: some money in the coffer. And remember, whenever a coin
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  Speaker 1: in the coffer rings... A soul from purgatory springs. You
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  Speaker 1: love your grandmother? You can get her out of suffering
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  Speaker 1: right now. Give to build the cathedral. This is what
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  Speaker 1: set Luther off. So, that's sacramentalism. What's sacerdotalism? Sacramentalism, grace
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  Speaker 1: is dispensed through the seven sacraments of the church. Sacerdotalism,
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  Speaker 1: that grace can only be dispensed through the priest, which
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  Speaker 1: is why Roman Catholic priests have been and continue to
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  Speaker 1: be such powerful people. To this day, the Roman Catholic
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  Speaker 1: Church is the number one landowner on earth. Incredibly powerful.
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  Speaker 1: Incredibly wealthy. Guiding and directing nations through history because of
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  Speaker 1: sacramentalism and sacerdotalism. Understand how significant the Protestant Reformation was
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  Speaker 1: in light of this. And what made it worth the
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  Speaker 1: price that men ended up paying? It was the Gospels.
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  Speaker 1: It was the gospel. So hear this from 2nd London
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  Speaker 1: Baptist Confession, chapter 11, paragraph 1. And listen to how
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  Speaker 1: much of this is pointed at Rome. Those whom God
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  Speaker 1: effectually calls, he also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness
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  Speaker 1: into them. That's Roman Catholic doctrine. Not by infusing righteousness
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  Speaker 1: into them, but by pardoning their sins and and by
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  Speaker 1: accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything
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  Speaker 1: wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ's
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  Speaker 1: sake alone, not by imputing faith itself, again, pointed at Rome,
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  Speaker 1: the act of believing or any other evangelical obedience to
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  Speaker 1: them as their righteousness, but by imputing Christ's active obedience
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  Speaker 1: unto the whole law and passive obedience in his death Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Jonas has referred to that a number of times. For
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  Speaker 1: their whole and sole righteousness, they receiving and resting on
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  Speaker 1: him and his righteousness by faith, which faith they have
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  Speaker 1: not of themselves, it is the gift of God. Well,
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  Speaker 1: there's the expression of the doctrine. Let's walk through this passage,
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  Speaker 1: this passage that gives us all of the solos. of
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  Speaker 1: the Reformation. First, the text lays the foundation by reminding
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  Speaker 1: us that justification brings righteousness the law requires but could
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  Speaker 1: not give. The law requires this righteousness, but you cannot
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  Speaker 1: achieve this righteousness through the law. By the works of
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  Speaker 1: the law shall no flesh be justified. By the works
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  Speaker 1: of the law, no one is justified. You can't get
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  Speaker 1: there from here. The text begins But now the righteousness
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  Speaker 1: of God has been manifested apart from the law, although
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  Speaker 1: the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The
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  Speaker 1: righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.
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  Speaker 1: The law can't make us righteous. The law serves two
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  Speaker 1: main purposes. Number one, it's a mirror. And number two,
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  Speaker 1: it's a tutor. First of all, the law is a mirror.
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  Speaker 1: We look into the mirror and we see ourselves. We
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  Speaker 1: look into the mirror and we recognize that we lack
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  Speaker 1: the righteousness required by the law. I am not righteous.
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  Speaker 1: I've often said this, that legalism exists not because people
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  Speaker 1: think too highly of the law, but because people don't
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  Speaker 1: think highly enough of the law. If you view the
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  Speaker 1: law rightly, you'll never be a legalist. Amen? Here's what
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  Speaker 1: legalists do. Legalists pick a number of subjects and a
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  Speaker 1: number of issues that they themselves feel like they can handle,
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  Speaker 1: and they make those the righteous requirements. Everything else they ignore.
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  Speaker 1: But even the ones that they pick out for themselves,
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  Speaker 1: they don't even think about those fully or rightly. Amen? Instead,
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  Speaker 1: they compared themselves to others, not to the absolute righteousness
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  Speaker 1: of God. Because if we compared ourselves to the absolute
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  Speaker 1: righteousness of God, it would not matter how short or
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  Speaker 1: how long our list is. We would recognize that in thought, word,
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  Speaker 1: or deed, we have violated the law of God at
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  Speaker 1: every point, every day of our lives. The only way
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  Speaker 1: you can be a legalist is if you have a
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  Speaker 1: low view of the law. When you understand the righteousness
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  Speaker 1: of God that is outlined in the law and what
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  Speaker 1: is required of us, you look into that mirror and
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  Speaker 1: you recognize, I am not righteous. And that's when you
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  Speaker 1: need the tutor. The mirror shows you that you're not righteous.
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  Speaker 1: The tutor teaches you that there is one who is.
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  Speaker 1: All men are unrighteous. All men are accountable to God.
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  Speaker 1: And no man has ever kept the law apart from
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  Speaker 1: the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, after setting that stage,
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  Speaker 1: now we get to those five solas. The first one
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  Speaker 1: in the order that the text reveals him is justification
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  Speaker 1: by faith alone. Sola fide. The text continues, the righteousness
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  Speaker 1: of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
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  Speaker 1: For there is no distinction. For all have sinned and
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  Speaker 1: fall short of the glory of God. This is the
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  Speaker 1: universal application of salvation by faith alone. For all who believe. Specifically,
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  Speaker 1: when we look at the book of Romans as it
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  Speaker 1: has come up to this point, it becomes clear that
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  Speaker 1: when he talks about there being no distinction, he's talking
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  Speaker 1: about this distinction between Jews and Gentiles. In Romans 1, 18,
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  Speaker 1: through the end of that chapter, he reminds us of
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  Speaker 1: the guilt of the Gentiles. In chapter 2, he reminds
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  Speaker 1: us of the guilt of the Jews. Now we come
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  Speaker 1: to chapter 3, and it begins with the guilt of
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  Speaker 1: the entire world. So when he says there is no
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  Speaker 1: distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the
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  Speaker 1: glory of God, he said to his readers, whether you
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  Speaker 1: are a Jew or a Gentile, it does not matter.
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  Speaker 1: The whole world, when it looks into the righteousness required
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  Speaker 1: by the law of God, the whole world is guilty
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  Speaker 1: before God. Whether you know the law or you don't
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  Speaker 1: know the law, you're guilty before God. Whether you're a
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  Speaker 1: Gentile who's grown up in paganism or a Jew who's
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  Speaker 1: grown up with the law before you your whole life,
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  Speaker 1: you have not kept the law and you're guilty before
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  Speaker 1: God and your only hope is faith in the Lord
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Faith alone, not faith and, not faith plus,
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  Speaker 1: but faith alone. The heart of the matter is all
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  Speaker 1: are saved By faith. There is no other hope. We
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  Speaker 1: talked about part of Hebrews chapter 10 earlier today, but
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  Speaker 1: turn with me again to that book. And let's look
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  Speaker 1: earlier in that text. Hebrews chapter 10. Beginning of verse 1.
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  Speaker 1: We start it later. Look at verse 1. For since
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  Speaker 1: the law has but a shadow of the good things
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  Speaker 1: to come instead of the true form of these realities,
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  Speaker 1: it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continuing
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  Speaker 1: offered every day, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise,
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  Speaker 1: would they not have ceased to be offered? Since the worshipers,
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  Speaker 1: having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness
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  Speaker 1: of sins? But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder
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  Speaker 1: of sins every year. For it is impossible for the
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  Speaker 1: blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That's
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  Speaker 1: why it had to be done over and over and
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  Speaker 1: over again. That's why it had to be repeated. Because
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  Speaker 1: there was no salvation in these sacrifices. The blood of
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  Speaker 1: bulls and lambs and goats did not satisfy the righteous
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  Speaker 1: requirements of God. It is faith alone and the work
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  Speaker 1: of Christ alone. But we'll get to that. What's the
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  Speaker 1: Catholic response to sola fide? Well, the Catholics respond in
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  Speaker 1: the Council of Trent. They call a council to basically
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  Speaker 1: respond to the Protestant Reformation. And the Council of Trent
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  Speaker 1: met over several years. The Council of Trent, Session 6,
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  Speaker 1: Canon No. 9. Here's the Catholic response to Sola Fide.
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  Speaker 1: If anyone says that by faith alone the sinner is justified,
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  Speaker 1: so as to mean that nothing else is required to
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  Speaker 1: cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification, let
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  Speaker 1: him be anathema. By the way, anathema means cursed. Literally,
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  Speaker 1: it means damned to hell. Let him be anathema. to
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  Speaker 1: hell with anyone, literally, who believes the doctrine of justification
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  Speaker 1: by faith alone. Yet we're told they preach the same gospel.
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  Speaker 1: They anathematize sola fide. Well, not only faith alone, but
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  Speaker 1: also another sola, grace alone. As we continue, Paul writes,
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  Speaker 1: and are justified in By his grace as a gift.
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  Speaker 1: Faith alone. Grace alone. It's all of grace. Not of
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  Speaker 1: your works. It's all of grace. It is a gift
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  Speaker 1: of God. We read that earlier in Ephesians chapter 2.
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  Speaker 1: Let's look there again. Look at Ephesians chapter 2. You
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  Speaker 1: were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you
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  Speaker 1: once walked, following the course of this world, following the
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  Speaker 1: prince of the power of the air, the spirit that
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  Speaker 1: is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among
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  Speaker 1: whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh,
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  Speaker 1: carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,
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  Speaker 1: and were by nature children of wrath as the rest
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  Speaker 1: of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy because of
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  Speaker 1: the great love with which he loved us, even when
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  Speaker 1: we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together
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  Speaker 1: with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. By grace,
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  Speaker 1: you have been saved. This is not a result of works. Why?
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  Speaker 1: So no man can boast. Back in our text in
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  Speaker 1: Romans chapter 3, This boasting issue was taken on right
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  Speaker 1: after our passage. Our passage ends in 26, but if
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  Speaker 1: you look at 27, there's a question that comes. Then
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  Speaker 1: what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what
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  Speaker 1: kind of law? By a law of works? No. By
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  Speaker 1: the law of faith. But we hold that one is
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  Speaker 1: justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or
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  Speaker 1: is God the God of Jews only? Is he not
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  Speaker 1: the God of Gentiles? Yes, Gentiles also, since God is
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  Speaker 1: one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the
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  Speaker 1: uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by
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  Speaker 1: this faith? By no means. On the contrary, we uphold
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  Speaker 1: the law. Faith alone. Grace alone. Nothing added to it
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  Speaker 1: Not the grace of God plus, not the grace of
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  Speaker 1: God and, the grace of God alone. And again, this
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  Speaker 1: makes us comfortable. I like that. The reason this makes
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  Speaker 1: us comfortable is because, you know, there are things like
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  Speaker 1: easy believism, and we're worried about easy believism, and we're
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  Speaker 1: worried about antinomianism, and we're worried about not being serious
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  Speaker 1: about righteousness or not being serious about holiness. And we
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  Speaker 1: cry out when we hear this, faith alone and grace alone,
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  Speaker 1: and we want to cry out and say, yes, but brother,
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  Speaker 1: what about obedience? Do not confuse what the gospel requires
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  Speaker 1: with what the gospel produces. The gospel requires faith, repentance.
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  Speaker 1: The gospel produces obedience. Listen to this very carefully. If
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  Speaker 1: the gospel required obedience... then that would mean we could
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  Speaker 1: meet the requirement before the grace of God and without
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  Speaker 1: the grace of God. That would mean that we had
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  Speaker 1: some reason to boast. Why are you saved, my friend?
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  Speaker 1: I am saved by faith alone. I am saved by
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  Speaker 1: grace alone. Or why are you saved, my friend? Well, actually,
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  Speaker 1: I brought my obedience and I mixed it with faith
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  Speaker 1: and grace and God and I saved me. Does obedience matter? Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: But it's what the gospel produces, not what the gospel requires.
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  Speaker 1: Legalism gets that twisted. And that's why we get so
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  Speaker 1: uncomfortable when we start talking about By faith alone. By
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  Speaker 1: grace alone. And this is what Catholicism has a huge
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  Speaker 1: problem with. That's why their response in Trent, session 6,
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  Speaker 1: canon 30, says this. If anyone says that the guilt
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  Speaker 1: is remitted to every penitent sinner after the grace of
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  Speaker 1: justification has been received and that the debt of eternal
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  Speaker 1: punishment is so blotted out that there remains no debt
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  Speaker 1: of temporal punishment to be discharged, either in this world
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  Speaker 1: or in the next in purgatory, before the entrance to
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  Speaker 1: the kingdom of heaven can be opened, let him be anathema.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: You say the grace of God is enough? Anathema. In
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: other words, that is damnable heresy. Anathema. Anathema. Yes, my friends,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: we are Protestants. Thirdly, not only faith alone and grace alone,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: but justification is through the atoning work of Christ alone.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: We are indeed saved by works. His. Amen? Not ours.
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  Speaker 1: His active obedience. In his active obedience, he keeps the
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: whole law. He is righteous. He is righteous. He is
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: born of a virgin so that he does not inherit
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: original sin. And then he actively keeps the whole law
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: so that it is righteous based on keeping the entirety
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: of the law. That's his active obedience. And because of
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: his active obedience, he can impute his righteousness to us.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: So God can then look upon us as though we
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: have kept the entire law and kept it perfectly. And
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: then in his passive obedience, our sinfulness is imputed to him.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: And it is that double imputation that allows God, as
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: the end of our text says, to be both just
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: because he pours his wrath out on sin and the
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: justifier of the one who places faith in Jesus. That
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: double imputation makes that possible. Paul continues, through the redemption
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: That statement, by his blood, is doing a lot of work.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: We just read that flippantly, and we just go over
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: it as a propitiation by his blood. A propitiation, remember
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: we've already heard, this means he satisfies the wrath of
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: God A propitiation, and by the way, when we say
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: he satisfies the wrath of God, a lot of people
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: hear that and they think that somehow God is there
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: being bloodthirsty and he says, more blood, more blood. No, no, no, no, no.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Satisfying the wrath of God is legal terminology. God is
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: not saying, I'm bloodthirsty, I need to see more. No,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.
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  Speaker 1: He satisfies the wrath of God in that he meets
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: the legal requirement of our holy and righteous God who
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: must pour his wrath out on sin. By the way,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: we all know this. We all get this. Every human
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: being regardless of who you are or what language you speak,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: one of the first things that you learn how to
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: say with confidence and conviction is, that's not fair. And
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: all the parents in the house said, amen. It's not fair.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: It's just not fair. In fact, one of the greatest
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: arguments that people try to bring, one of the most
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: common arguments that people try to bring against our God
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: is that if our God is so powerful, if he's
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: omnipotent and he's omnibenevolent, then why, why does he allow suffering?
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: In other words, that's the grown-up way of saying that's
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: not fair. They recognize that That a good God must
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: pour out his wrath on sin. A good God must
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: look at injustice and deal with injustice. All injustice everywhere.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: And we say a hearty amen. But trust me, you
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: want him to do it his way, not yours. Because
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: your way is short-sighted. Your way just looks out at
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: the world and looks at all of the injustice in
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: the world and says, God, get them, get them, get them,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: get them. And you're short-sighted because you don't recognize that
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: the moment God gets them, you get got too. You're
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: a sinner. There is none righteous. All have sinned and
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: fall short of the glory of God. And you look
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: at God and you shake your fist because God hasn't
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: gotten rid of injustice. And you say, what kind of
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: God are you? And he says, one that is merciful
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: to you. Because if I was not. And because God
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: is merciful, he pours out his just wrath on his
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: only begotten son. The only one who could take it.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: The only one who could make sufficient payment. Because if
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: your sinfulness is not poured onto Christ, and if it's
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: not punished in Christ, you pay for it, not in
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: purgatory for a thousand years, but in hell for eternity. Why?
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: And people are like, why? Why, why, why, why? Why
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: for eternity? Why? Why? Because you will never be able
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: to pay the debt you owe. That's how significant it is. Yeah,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: but I've lived 60, 70, 80, 90 years. It's only
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: 90 years worth of sinning. Yes, against an infinitely holy God.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: So you are absolutely right. justice of God demands that
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: every act of unrighteousness be punished and it will be
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: either on the unrepentant sinner for eternity or at the
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: cross on the perfect spotless sinless lamb of God who
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: in his active and passive obedience allows for that double imputation.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: The work of Christ alone. Listen to this response from
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: Horatius Bonner. Perhaps you've heard this hymn before. Not what
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: my hands have done can save my guilty soul. Not
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: Not what I feel or do can give me peace
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: with God. That all my prayers and sighs and tears
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: can bear my awful load. Thy grace alone, O God,
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: to me can pardon speak. Thy power alone, O Son
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: of God, can this sore bondage break. No other work
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: save thine, no other blood will do No strength save
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: that which is divine can bear me safely through. By
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: his grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. That
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: is why it is to the glory of God alone.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: He continues, this was to show God's righteousness because in
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. That's
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: what we just talked about. That's the forbearance of God.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: You look out at these injustices, and you look at
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: injustices of the past, and you look at genocides, and wars,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: and You look at all these horrific things that people
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: have done and you shake your fist at God and
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: you say that God somehow is unjust. Listen again. This
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: he had passed over former sins. By the way, including yours.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: It was to show his righteousness at the present time.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: So that he might be just and the justifier of
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: the one who has faith in Jesus. To the glory
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: of God alone. By the way, Rome has a response
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: to this as well. Council of Trent Again, session six,
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: and this time, canon 24. If anyone says that the
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: righteousness received is not preserved and also not increased before
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: God by good works, again, your righteousness is increased before
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: God by good works. How can my righteousness be increased
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: if it is the righteousness of Christ? but that those
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: works are merely the fruits and signs of justification obtained,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: but not a cause of its increase, let him be anathema.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone. Because
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: of the work of Christ alone. and to the glory
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: of God alone. And when you hear that, I know,
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: I know, I know, I know what you're doing. That's
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: only four. No, it's not. It's five. It's just not
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: counting right. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. And
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: I say this with all confidence and authority because it's
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: based on the teaching of the scriptures alone. Not my experience,
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: not my authority, not my position, Not tradition. Not history.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: Not the magisterial teaching of the church. None of that.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: Scripture alone. Let God be true. Though every man a liar.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: Scripture alone. Scripture alone. So why? Why depart from Rome?
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: Because They were preaching another gospel. They were leading men
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: to condemnation. And the truth of the matter is, we
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: are not saved by filling up our grace jar through
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: the seven sacraments of the church as long as they're
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: performed by the proper priesthood in the church. No. No.
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: We're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: And we argue that on the authority of the scriptures alone.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: And no man has the right to deny it. So
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: as we go forth and prayerfully plant many churches in Australia,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: I'm still shaken by that. You got me sitting up
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: here thinking what I need to do. Like, what do
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: I need to do? I'm not moving to Australia. You know,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: it's funny. I say that, right? I'm not moving to Australia.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: If I show up and get spit out by a
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: fish next month. But in all seriousness, folks, this is
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: mission critical. But these churches that are planted have to
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: be Protestant. They have to have the right gospel. And
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: here's been the problem in missions. There's been a disconnect
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: between passion for the task. As you like to say,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: a heart for, right? And a sound, solid, unwavering theological
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: commitment to truth and accuracy. And unfortunately, modern missions has
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: been characterized by people who are all passionate and no
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: street smarts. It's also been characterized by people who, because
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: they're all passion, either end up just going and doing
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: peripheral things and calling it mission, or doing a disservice
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: to the mission by bringing in incorrect or incomplete gospel.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: It cannot be either or. It has to be both and.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: Australia does not just need churches planted desperately. It needs
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: churches who hold firm to Reformation doctrine, to biblical doctrine,
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: to the biblical gospel. It needs both. Pray that the
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers. And pray
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: that perchance it might be you. Let's pray. Father, we
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: thank you for your grace and mercy in bringing about
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: the Reformation and bringing about a correction that we so
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: desperately needed in recovering the true gospel. And we are
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: grateful for the fruit that that has borne throughout the
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: world and particularly in our own lives. Grant by your
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: grace that we might hold firm to this truth. But
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: more than that, grant that we might be representatives thereof,
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: particularly as churches are planted here in Australia so that
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: they might be churches that hold fast to the true gospel.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: And that proclaim it with clarity and passion and power
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: to a lost, hurting and dying world. Because our desire
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: is that Christ might have the fullness of the reward
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: for which he died. Do this we pray. In his
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: name and for his sake. Amen. Amen.