God Centered Podcast - Episode 2 - Sola Fide

God Centered Theology

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:10

Hello everyone, this is Pastor Andy Cain of By His Grace and once again I welcome you to another episode of Foundational Theology.

00:19

Now this is just the second part and first time we are we're actually going through the five solos to begin with and the first time we covered soloscriptura and let me just say another quick word about that before we move on.

00:31

It is amazing to me I was watching a video two or three days ago with Dr.

00:38

James White he was talking about a particular group or organization I won't name them but he was talking about how they had an issue with their theology and the root of it was they had abandoned soloscriptura and you see this so often with the social justice movement or this so -called social justice gospel with the social justice warriors and all these different things you all whether it's them or any other group for that matter it's always an abandonment at some point and it's usually foundational or at the beginning point an abandonment of soloscriptura an abandonment of the one true gospel.

01:11

This is why and I do hope to at some point pick back up in Galatians in a sermon series but this is why

01:17

Paul was so amazed that these people that have been set free from the law and legalism and set free in Christ would so easily just disturb be disturbed and go for a gospel which really is not another gospel but it's a perverted gospel so soloscriptura is so important that's why

01:35

I started with that but I do want to cover today sola fide meaning faith alone faith by itself faith plus nothing else you cannot add works to it now foundationally in terms of the atonement we are saved by works but it's

01:51

Christ's work is Christ's work on the cross that makes salvation a free gift of God's grace and mercy the key to it being faith alone is in terms of our justification there are no works that we can provide we cannot add to the work of the cross we can certainly not take away from it it is the work of the cross alone that atonement that the high priest

02:12

Jesus Christ did on our behalf as his people that pays for our sins it is our faith that is placed in this mediator the second person of the

02:21

Trinity the Son of God the living Son of God the eternal Jesus Christ that saves us and to note this and to bring this out about sola fide

02:29

I want to take a look at the second chapter of the book of Ephesians it says in you and this is

02:35

Paul talking to the Christians here he says you were dead you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked notice that there is a distinct and foundational shift and difference between the one that is lost the one that Romans describes as the one being in rebellion

02:55

Colossians describes it as being formerly alienated and hostile in mind and also in Romans 8 it talks about those of the flesh and those of the spirit drawing that distinctive line between the lost and the saved the unregenerate and the regenerate so Paul is really driving this point home he says you once walked this way and in fact later in the book here in Ephesians 5 and verse 7 it says therefore do not become partners with them for at one time you were darkness so Paul uses the darkness and light aspect as well he says you once were darkness but now you are light not of yourselves not of works sola fide faith alone you are light in the

03:41

Lord and because of that Paul can command us to walk as children of light for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true and try to discern what is pleasing in the

03:55

Lord then he says take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness but instead expose them now if you walk as a children of light you can only do that because by sola fide by faith alone you've been justified and made alive in Christ and if you walk in the light as Christ is in light you will naturally expose the deeds of darkness not only in yourself but in those around you and a lot of people won't like that and sadly this is obviously

04:22

I cover this a lot on the by his grace program but even in churches you expose disobedience in churches when you try to walk specifically the manner worthy of the calling of which you've been called and walk as a child of light but getting back to Ephesians 2 it draws a distinction says you were dead in your trespasses and sins you used to walk that way meaning you no longer walk that way that's no longer who you are 2nd

04:48

Corinthians chapter 5 talks about how we are a new creature in Christ all things have passed away behold new things have come he says you normally or you once walked notice he adds on this other phrase following the course of this world see the unregenerate mind the unregenerate soul the one who is dead in trespasses dead in their sins can only choose from those range of options consistent with their nature this is the essence of total depravity and we will cover this as a part of foundational theology later we will cover the doctrines of grace and things like that and which this is a part of it

05:25

I believe the five souls and I believe the tulip of Calvinism all kind of goes together in my mind all part of the grace of God so he says that that totally totally depraved person makes his choices based on his nature which is dead and sin he loves his sin he chooses his sin if left to himself would die in his sin and this is how we all at some point walked following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience so that spirit that was once formerly at work in us when our in our flesh is still active and still working in the sons of disobedience the ones that are still unregenerate he says among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh notice that we carried out the desires of the body of the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind you see you don't become a sinner when you sin you sin because you're a sinner those that are unregenerate they naturally do what is theirs by nature we naturally would sin because it was ours by nature says the whole essence of the new birth is we have a new heart

06:33

God just doesn't clean our heart up or make it better he takes out our heart he gives us a new it's a spiritually speaking of course takes out our heart not referring to a literal organ inside our body as part of our flesh but spiritually speaking takes out the heart that inner seat of man where the will and the desires and our decision -making comes from takes out that heart of stone replaces it with a heart of flesh gives us a new nature new desires new wants now sermon for another day but it talks about in Ephesians 6 how that new spirit wars with the flesh because we haven't received our glorified body but we should have these new desires and want to walk differently but he says the unregenerate walk that way because they are by nature children of wrath but notice he says but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us loved his people loved the elect even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together with Christ it is monarchism it is a all of God salvation is a work of God in the human heart man can do nothing to change his state that is why it takes

07:44

God regenerating the human heart regenerating us making us live in Christ then we are able to show and to possess that soul of Eda that that saving faith that loves

07:56

God and loves his son and wants to please him and we noticed this based on the order in which he's laying it out here he says we were dead in trespasses and sin made alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved see if it is anything on our part any merit of ours anything that we could do to either cause or ensure us being saved then it wouldn't be fully by God's grace it's got to be all of God because it's all of his grace because we don't deserve any of it and then he says so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus God with his eternal degrees is eternal purposes what he what he's working out in time even our salvation is all to his glory and part of his purposes purposes and then notice finally he says for by grace you've been saved through faith sola fide it is our faith that saves us not our works nothing about ourselves only that saving faith in Jesus Christ and he says this is not your own doing it's not your own doing that means the grace of God and your faith is even not your own doing your faith is a natural consequence of a regenerated heart which is why regeneration must precede faith because the unregenerate the one that is walking and dead and trespasses and sin by nature children of wrath cannot possess saving faith they're spiritually dead they must be raised to spiritual life first he says not your own doing it is the gift of God the gifts of repentance and faith not a result of works so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship we are his workmanship he lays us out on the table and he crafts us and works us and makes us alive in Christ and sanctifies us and works in us our own

09:54

Christian life is not us living it it is Christ living out his life in us created in Christ Jesus for good works which

10:04

God prepared beforehand he laid it out that's the whole purpose of my ministry by his grace that's the whole purpose of my theme for my ministry which is our journey is paid by his grace is the reason

10:18

I'm going through the book of Jonah on the by his grace program laying out and showing how Jonah's life was paid by the grace of God how our lives is paid by the grace of God as because it says which

10:29

God prepared beforehand God is paved and laid out the path of our life by his grace that we should walk in them and we walk in them through the power of the

10:42

Spirit the Spirit pushing us and carrying us along developing that righteousness in us sanctifying us showing us how to look live and to love

10:52

God and to walk in a manner and in a pattern consistent with the

10:57

Christ likeness and with what the salvation that we have received as a free gift of God's grace and it is all finds its basis and its foundation in Sola Fide faith alone we are united by faith we are the faith ones the believing ones of John 3 16

11:15

John 3 16 says for God loved the world the created order in this fashion that he sent his son the second person of the

11:24

Trinity both co -eternal and co -equal as God he sent him to die and to make the atonement for sin so that all the believing ones will have as a present possession eternal life not in a life in the sense of measuring it in time but a life that has a certain quality to it it's an eternal life and it can only come from the one who is eternal life that's

11:49

Jesus Christ he came he is the life and we receive and share in his eternal life because we are his people what a beauty

11:58

I urge you to spend some time in the book of Ephesians specifically chapter 2 here studying and meditating on the fact of who you are in Christ and it should affect your behavior your faith is what saves you your faith is what is lived out in your life and this faith is never alone it always produces the works of Christ because Christ is working those works in us now obviously we don't have to work to maintain our salvation and so many people get this off they don't catch the distinctions they they make category errors they try to say well you're saying you have to keep on working over didn't know what we're saying is every single person that God saves always produces the fruit of that salvation now we all all obviously struggle in the flesh and have sinful times and times when we need to repent and get that relationship restored and then move on down the road of sanctification we're covering in the book of Jonah how

12:55

God uses even our sin to build and craft our testimony so our sin doesn't keep God from fulfilling his purposes in us but it's not his best and we'll certainly lose out on reward and we'll certainly lose out on glory that we could have brought to God in that in that vein and we'll cover that more in detail when we look at Soli Deo Gloria but to wrap this up just understand this there's not by works not by tradition rituals rights anything you can do but by faith in the

13:23

Son of God amen well thank you for joining me once again on foundational theology as we have covered

13:30

Sola Fide today I trust this was both informational for you and hopefully it will spur you to go to the scriptures and study them for yourselves