Five Solas (part 3) - [Ephesians 2:8-10]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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Well, in this last year, I've been to the emergency room, not once, but twice. And you notice when you go to the emergency room, let's say there's 40 or 50 people there, they are selective in who they bring back to treat.

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They sift through, they sort, they separate, and they perform something what we call triage.

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Right? So if you have a broken ankle and someone else is bleeding from the aorta, which wouldn't last long, but something like that, they take them away first.

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And the good news is when you are finally taken to be seen, you're thinking, well, I'm finally to be seen, but I must be a lot worse than all these other people that I'm going past.

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Or what ran through my mind, I have really good insurance, one of the two that pays cash.

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Modern triage was developed during the Napoleonic Wars where they, quote, treated the wounded according to the observed gravity of their injuries and urgency for medical care, regardless of nationality or rank.

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And so you'd have soldiers that were hurt and you'd kind of identify them. Well, will this person live no matter what care they receive?

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Are they going to die no matter what care they receive? And it's called medical triage.

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And as I think about the world in the last 2 ,000 years ago, about 600 years ago, there was a triage done by the

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Lord, but it was theological triage. Lots of problems in the medieval church, but there were some main problems that needed to be pushed to the front, needed to be separated and sifted from that French word triage to be pushed up, prioritization of theological error.

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It was fascinating too, because God used people who are sinful and frail and fallible through his providential working.

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You think about in the 1400s, you've got the Gutenberg Press that's developed, and then all of a sudden you have this city on a river called

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Wittenberg. It's out in the middle of nowhere, but it is on a trade river. And then you have this university right there in Wittenberg.

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And then God raises up a man, a frail man, a sinful man, yet a redeemed man named Martin Luther.

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And he, Martin Luther, was used by the Lord to sift through the million problems of the church, to hone down to the most important ones, to sift, to prioritize, to say, you know what?

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Scripture is at risk. We have to deal with it. And then all of a sudden you have the Lord at the same time working with this prioritization of God's Son, Christ must be exalted alone.

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And you have to have this done by grace alone and faith alone to the glory of God alone. So that's what we're studying in this mini -series called

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The Solas of the Reformation. And I thought yesterday that I'm going through these solas, kind of slola, and that's okay.

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It's okay. Sola means alone, our only. And so when people say it's Scripture plus something, we're saying, no, it's

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Scripture alone. Jesus plus something, and we're saying, because the Bible teaches that it's

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Christ alone. It's grace alone, faith alone, to God's glory be alone. And so with every one of these solas,

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I've been trying to give you proof from the Scriptures, an Old Testament proof and a

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New Testament proof. And so instead of going through, for instance, the book of Ephesians, which I think I'll start chapter by chapter in two weeks,

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Michael Bartlett says you've been saying that for like months now, but we're just taking care of something like this because it's important.

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A lot of you know the solas. Some of you don't, but everybody needs to understand that God's glory is at stake and he has raised up throughout the years people to make sure that we don't have theological and doctrinal death.

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Doctrine matters. Theology matters. Life matters. Death matters because sin matters and righteousness matters.

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Sola Scriptura. We're not having any traditions. If you remember just for a review, the way

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I like to think about the five solas, I guess you could use your hand, but I like to think of kind of Greek architecture and at the baseline is going to be

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Scripture alone. That's the foundation for everything. And then you've got columns. Think of Greek columns.

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Can you name the three different Greek columns? I think I can remember rightly, Ionic, Doric, and what?

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You guys are smart. Should have come to Greece with me years ago. And so you've got three columns and the center column is

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Christ. And then you've got grace, faith, and then the overarching roof or ceiling, if you will, our umbrella is to God's glory alone.

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So let me just review quickly the first couple because we're in sola gratia, that is grace alone.

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But to remind you in case you weren't here, first of all, we are looking at sola Scriptura.

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Jesus's words, Moses's words, all the words in the Bible are the final authority for the

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Christian. Did you know here at the church we have many authorities? We have elders, they are authorities.

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We have the London Baptist Confession, the 1689 Confession, that is an authority. But are the elders,

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London Baptist Confession, the final authority? And the answer is no. The final authority is

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Scripture alone. And so what the Roman Catholics were doing, they were saying, well, the Pope has authority, traditions have authority, magisterium has authority, and God had

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Luther and Calvin and Zwingli and others to come along to say the final authority, the final source of authority for all faith and practice, for doctrine, for living is found in Scripture alone.

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And we looked at Psalm 19 for that, that great Psalm that talks about God's word. We looked at 2

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Timothy chapter 3 and we said to ourselves, you know, if God's word is so breathed out and is so good for us and profitable and makes us adequate, equipped for every good work, why would we go elsewhere?

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And of course, the Reformation was battling things that we might battle with, people that add tradition and also people that say,

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God told me something outside of Scripture. So you not only have the Roman Catholics that the Reformers were battling with, but the

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Reformers were battling people called Anabaptists. And just because they were baptized as believers, that doesn't mean they were good.

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Most of them were crazy. I mean, they got that part right, but they were crazy everywhere else. And they would hear from God.

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God told me that I could have another wife and I can have five wives and I can have all these things. And the Reformation said, no, that's not true.

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Long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days,

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Hebrews 1, he has spoken to us by his son. So God speaks through his son and his apostolic messengers.

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So that's the final authority, the unique authority for life and doctrine and practice is

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Scripture alone. And by the way, that's probably why you're at this church, right? Bethlehem, tradition, church.

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Bethlehem, whatever Mike says goes, church. It'd kind of be a nice church, wouldn't it? Be kind of a small church.

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Not even Kim would attend. Kim's my wife. By the way, young men and young women, when you're dating, of course, the person you're dating needs to be a

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Christian. But beyond that, find somebody that'll keep their word. I think that's the most important thing to find in a

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Christian young man or woman. Because what? Then they'll never leave you nor forsake you. Find somebody that'll keep their word.

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Well, you've got the foundation here. It's Scripture. Then we were looking last week a little bit too on the first pillar, the center pillar.

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While Scriptures might be foundational to everything, they're not at the center because Christ is at the center.

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Because frankly, John 5, Luke 24, the center of all Scripture is Christ himself.

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His life, his substitutionary death. You think about Jesus and you just begin to rehearse who he is, both in the

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Old Testament and the New Testament. He's a prophet. He speaks forth God's word. He's a priest. He makes intercession for us.

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And he's a king. He rules. He reigns. Solus Christus. You see, he is exclusive.

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Nobody else is the Savior. Nobody else can be the God -man. Nobody else is very God of very

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God. Very man of very man. No one else is sufficient.

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And we looked at, remember the Old Testament passage for Christ alone? Anybody? Go ahead and you can just shout it out.

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Old Testament, Christ alone. Well, that's why we have these reviews. Job 9.

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Remember, we need a referee or an umpire or someone to stand before us as we stand before God.

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I can't stand before God because I have sin. I'm going to need a sinless person who has assumed human flesh to be my representative to stand before God.

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And that is Job 9. Jesus is the one who lived the life, who died the death that we deserve and was raised from the dead.

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I don't know if you know this, but even in the Middle Ages, the priest, the minister, the pastor was seen as somehow really special.

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Like, I had the inns on God and you had to come to me if you wanted access. Jesus, though, alone is our mediator.

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We also looked at a New Testament passage, and I'll read it. 1 Timothy 2 .5. Predeep used it in his prayer.

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For there's one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

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Humans need a human representative. Humans need a divine substitute who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony born at proper time.

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We don't believe that God saves those and helps those that help themselves. The third pillar, or second pillar rather, the third sola, is sola gratia, grace alone.

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The only reason you're going to get to heaven is by grace and grace alone. A supernatural working, a sovereign working of God alone.

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The medieval phrase was, God will not deny his grace to those who do what they can.

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And so we looked at an Old Testament passage, but remember it was a trick passage. And what was that trick passage? For every sola, we look at Old Testament and New Testament.

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What was the trick passage for sola gratia? Romans 3. And you say, Romans 3, it's in the

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New Testament, but Romans 3, 10 and following, has this list, this accumulation of Old Testament quotes.

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In Hebrew, it's called a string of pearls. One man said, but this necklace is really a noose for all men.

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And so it tells us no one's righteous, no one's good, we need a savior. And if we need a savior, we can't save ourselves, then it has to be by grace and grace alone.

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But for a New Testament passage, and now we're all caught up, what if you were a pastor and you wanted to teach someone that you're saved by grace alone through faith, what would you pick?

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Ephesians 2. Thank you. Let's turn there. Ephesians chapter 2. What a book. This is almost like a little teaser for a couple of weeks.

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Ephesians chapter 2. You are very familiar with this if you're a Christian. If not, and you don't understand these verses or have never heard of them,

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I have the great privilege of preaching these verses to you now for the first time because they are really life -changing.

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They're praise -altering. This is what Spurgeon called the grand essential truth that is often forgotten and ignored.

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It was important during the Bible days. It's important now. It was important during the Reformation. It's important now.

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The only way you'll ever stand before God when you die is by grace alone. We'll all die.

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We'll all stand before Him. How do you get into heaven? Because you're good. You're smart. You have an IQ. You're handsome.

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You're pretty. You do more good than bad. No, it's nothing in us.

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The answer is not found in man or woman. God will not share His glory. So how does anyone get to heaven?

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Now, before I read verses 8, 9, and 10 of Ephesians, chapter 2, Paul is writing to a bunch of churches.

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This letter is going from one church to the next to the next. And he is just extolling who

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God is. And Spurgeon said, Every time you hear the clock strike 1 o 'clock, 2 o 'clock, 3 o 'clock, you should train your minds to say,

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By grace, you're saved. By grace alone, you're saved. By grace alone, you're saved.

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That would be good to do. Let's not do it at 12, I guess, if I keep preaching. You know what? If I preach to 12 today, you can do it.

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Okay? Verse 8, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

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It is the gift of God, not as a result of works that no one should boast.

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For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

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How many people have memorized this verse over the years? Maybe forgotten the memorization, but have memorized it.

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Come on, a little more enthusiastic. Okay. And how many people have memorized 1 Samuel 27?

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Well, it's wonderful there, but somehow we know we gravitate towards Ephesians 2 because we realize our need.

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We realize chapters 2 starts off with, We're dead in trespasses and sins. And verse 2 and 3 of the same chapter talk about,

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We are just enslaved and we need help. We need rescue. We need someone to do something for us that we can't do.

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And so, I think our hearts gravitate to such a great passage. We realize that people in heaven are singing now the praises of God by grace alone.

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Do you think anyone is hovering around the throne now, singing praises of themselves, their cooperation, their working with God together to get to heaven?

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Spurgeon said, I'll tell you this. It is the great fact that you never did meet a

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Christian in your life who ever said he came to Christ without Christ coming to him.

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Have you ever heard a prayer like this? Lord, I thank you that I'm not like those poor presumptuous

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Calvinists. I was born with a glorious free will. I was born with power by which

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I can turn to you of myself. I've improved my grace. If everybody had done the same with their grace that I have, they might have all been saved.

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Lord, I know that it does not make us willing if we're not willing ourselves. Thou gives grace to everybody.

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Some do not improve it, but I do. There are many that will go to hell as much bought with the blood of Christ as I was.

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They had as good a chance, and they were as much blessed as I am. It was not thy grace that made us to differ.

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I know it did a good deal. Still, I turned the point. I made use of what was given me, and others did not.

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That is the difference between me and them. And then

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Spurgeon said, I didn't say it, but Spurgeon said it. Hide behind Spurgeon. That is the prayer for the devil, for nobody else would offer such a prayer as that.

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And when you read Ephesians chapter 2, you say, Amen. You say that's true. If you're a Christian, you know deep down.

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I brought sin to the table. I brought trespasses and iniquity and perversion, law -breaking.

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And what did God bring to the table? Sinless, blameless, perfect, Lamb of God, no spot, no blemish.

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And He didn't save me because I was worthy. He didn't save me because He looked down the corridors of time, whatever that is, and some

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Star Trek wormhole. I was told in seminary, never use a Star Trek illustration. So, I am now the seminary professor.

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I do what I want. I mean, isn't it great with the Borg in Star Trek for irresistible grace?

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You will be assimilated. It just is good theology. How can you stop? Christian, can you say,

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I came to Christ without the power of the Holy Spirit? You can't do it.

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So, you came to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, which was gracious. And all this, by the way, leads to praise.

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You get to go to heaven. I get to go to heaven. On the back of another. I deserve to go to hell.

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So did you. This virgin said, do

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I hear one Christian man saying, I sought Jesus before He sought me? No, beloved. Each one of us to put our hands on our hearts and say, grace taught my soul to pray and made my eyes to overflow.

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T 'was grace that kept me to this day and will not let me go. You, dear

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Christian, have acceptance before God. You, dear Christian, stand before God.

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He's not angry with you. He's not mad at you because of grace and grace alone. That has saved you.

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Look back at verse 8. Let's dissect this a little bit. Just dive in. I don't want to zoom past it.

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Did you know it's grace alone because it was done to you? Salvation was done to you? You see it right there in verse 8.

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For by grace, front loaded. He doesn't even say, you've been saved by grace. For by grace, you have been saved.

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It does not say, you saved yourself, you cooperated. This is called a passive verb.

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You've been saved. I hit the ball. The ball was hit by me. This is something that God does.

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It's right there. It's passive. You have been saved. Past action.

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Jesus did it all. It is His work. His life. His finished work at Calvary. Father, into Your hands

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I commit my spirit. Jesus is raised from the dead. He doesn't say, you shall be saved, you might be saved.

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If you just work hard enough to the end of your life, you might be saved. Don't worry when you're in the ER, you might be saved.

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Don't have concerns when your loved ones are on their deathbed and you might be saved. No. You are saved.

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God saved. He saved entirely and fully of His own sovereign initiative and energy and based on His love alone.

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Based on His grace alone. For while we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

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That's Romans. And now Paul makes sure. I don't know about you, but sometimes it takes a lot to get through the ebendroth noggin.

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And so he is just one after another after another making sure, I can't have one peep of merit for myself.

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It's grace alone because it's not of yourselves. If you're a Christian here today, you stand as a

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Christian not because of anything you did. The Greek is, and this is not of you. The English says, and that not of yourselves.

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You think about, well, eternity passed, God chose me, and that not of yourselves.

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God decided at proper time and due season to send the Son. We celebrate Him now during Christmas time.

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That was not of yourselves. God created you. That was not of yourselves.

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God had the Son die for you, dear Christian. That's not of yourself. He raised

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Jesus to prove the point. Death can't overthrow God's plan. That's not of yourself.

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You say, well, God regenerated me. That's not of yourself. God justified me. That's not of yourselves.

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God assuaged the wrath. Jesus intercepted the wrath due me and every other Christian. He exhausted it.

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He assuaged it. That's not of yourself. Well, I used to be at odds with God. I was at war with God, and we needed to be reconciled.

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That's not of yourself. Yeah, but I was in the slave pit of sin, in the marketplace of sin.

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Somebody needed to bid for me, the highest bidder. I had no money. I was enslaved to sin. And Jesus redeemed me.

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That's not of yourselves. You see what Paul's trying to do in this self -help age?

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In this pull -yourself -up -by -your -bootstraps age? You know, there are other solas that we're not celebrating today, and the one that I'm thinking about right now is sola bootstrapsa.

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That's exactly right. We could talk about sola homeschula another day, but that might split a church.

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No self -salvation. Self, in Greek, is auto. Automobile, you drive yourself.

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There's no auto salvation. There's no self -salvation. By the way,

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I hope this encourages you, if you've got a loved one that's not a Christian. Because guess what? If grace can reach you, can it reach your loved one?

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Can it reach someone that you love? Absolutely. God, by your grace, save them.

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And that's not of yourself. I know some of you are saying, does that refer to faith, or to grace, or salvation process?

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I think it's the entire salvation process. By grace through faith, salvation did not come from yourself.

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He makes sure he makes the point. Because your salvation is a gift of God.

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It's done to you. It's not of yourself. It's a gift of God. Of course, we're all thinking about gifts now, aren't we?

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How many people would admit they're all done shopping, it's all wrapped up, put under the tree? Some are.

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Wow. I think maybe you're the people that don't celebrate Christmas, and it's Ba Humbug, and you're ready, right?

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No, just kidding. The gift. And you think the gift is great, but regularly and often we think the gift giver, the love of the giver, this is the greatest gift you could ever have.

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Forgiveness, salvation, grace. It is the gift of God. And the Greek word order that makes it emphatic is from God.

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God's first. He's the gift giver. You know, give this. You know, I think I'd, let's see,

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I'm not a Christian. I know I'm really struggling. I'll die one day and stand before God and then judgment. So I'd like to give a gift to myself.

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Funny, I went to a store yesterday, and people were trying on things I thought probably for themselves because they're out just like I am shopping for other people.

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But I think that'd be kind of a nice thing for me. I think I'll give the gift of salvation to myself.

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By the way, if you could do that, that was an awful thing that God the father did to the son, the

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Lord Jesus Christ, because it took nothing less than to Christ life and death and from by the resurrection to save us.

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Gift is opposite of wage. You go to work and in the old days you'd get a paycheck and the person would hand you the paycheck and you'd say after 80 hours per week, working double overtime, thanks for the gift.

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I appreciate that gift so much. Excuse me, I work for that.

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But here this gift can't be earned. That's why when you're sitting here today and you think,

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I'm not a Christian, but I know I'm a sinner and I need salvation. The most wonderful prayer you can pray is, besides I'm a sinner,

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God, could you be gracious to me? Would you be merciful to me, please? I read years ago

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American Express did a survey about Christmas gifts found and what's the worst Christmas gift that you could ever get.

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And back in these days, I don't see much of it now, but in those days it was fruitcake. It was so bad it finished above, on the worst list, above no gift at all.

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It was so bad. And they said, the next part of the survey was, how do you get rid of this?

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I mean, what do you do with fruitcake? My trash can only take so much weight. 30 % hid it in the closet next year.

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21 % returned it. And 19%, this is what I would do, give it to somebody else.

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God, the gift that you gave. This is why we make a big deal about Christmas, even though there are 52 holy days, as it were, in the church calendar, we have no problem celebrating the

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Incarnation. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

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That's called a gift. And He keeps going here in Ephesians 2, verse 9.

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Not as a result of works that no one should boast. Doesn't He just make sure?

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Yeah, but you know what? These are like works of the law, almost, in Galatians. Religious works.

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Wait a second. I know it's not like helping old ladies across the street works, but I have religious works.

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That's what I should go to heaven. I've been baptized. I've been through confirmation.

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I attend church. I'm a charter member. I've been to Rome.

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La Scala Sancta. And I've climbed my knees on those special stairs that supposedly

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Jesus was on, shipped from Jerusalem to Rome. I've been there.

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I give money to the poor in Jesus' name. I fast. Not as a result of works, lest anyone should boast.

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If it's a gift, it's logical it can't come from works. You can't mix grace and works.

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Romans 11 that I referred to last week, if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Titus 3,

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He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His what?

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Mercy. That's why this is a big deal, so no one should boast. I got my sins forgiven.

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I pulled myself out of the muck and mire. I'm better than you. No, we receive humbly through faith the work.

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A commentator named Ian Hamilton said, if you ask anybody these days, Jew, ancient, modern,

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Romanist, or most people in religion, to spell grace, here's how they spell the word grace.

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W -O -R -K -S That's built into our system.

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That's why we need divine illumination. That's why we need grace. I don't want to take away

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Christ's work. I want to praise Him and thank Him. Back in the day when the

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Reformation happened, and they were struggling for grace alone, grace wasn't something that was...

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I mean, how would you define grace? Unmerited favor? Demerited favor? Christ incarnate would be grace incarnate.

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But back in those days, it was like a thing. It was like a substance. It was like gas. And you start living your life, you have trials, and you start running out of gas, and you need to go to the gas station and fill it up.

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Those days it cost 25 cents a gallon, like when I grew up. You know, that's the fun part of getting old, is telling them stories.

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I remember I went to Derby Gas on 90th Street in Omaha, and we didn't have any money. We were out of gas, and we fumbled around in the ashtray, and I found a quarter, and they bought me one gallon of gas.

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And of course, the people that are 20 years older than I am, they're saying, we had that for a nickel a gallon. I need some more gas.

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I'm trying to get to heaven, and I'm working my way there, and I need a substance. I need a thing. I need a material.

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And that's what Rome taught it was. Well, how do I get this material? How do I get the gas? How do I get the substance?

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Well, there are seven ways to get it. There are seven sacraments that you can get the grace infused to you because you need some more substance or gas.

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And the Reformers are saying, no, it's grace alone. Ephesians is saying it's grace alone. Romans is saying you can't add anything because you're a slave to sin.

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It has to be by grace alone. I don't need a substance. I don't need medicine. I need

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Jesus. Baptism is not going to cleanse me from original sin.

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Confirmation is not going to give me increased spiritual power. Penance is not going to remove the penalty of my sins after baptism and confirmation.

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The Eucharist is not going to re -offer up Jesus on a non -bloody sacrifice. Marriages are going to help me with special grace.

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Anointing of the six doesn't get me special grace towards near death. And holy orders don't either.

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I need the Lord. I need grace because I can't contribute anything. I need help.

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The New England Primer was written and published between 1687 and 1690 by printer

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Benjamin Harris. And it was a little booklet so people in the American colonies could learn how to read and write and learn a little theology too.

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You probably know the most famous verses found in the New England Primer. Now I lay me down to sleep.

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I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray thee,

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Lord, my soul to take. And you've heard me say many times that they would have letters for every letter of the alphabet and you would memorize what

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A was, what B was, and there was like a little rhyme for each to help you remember. D, the deluge drowned the earth around.

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C, Christ crucified for sinners died. B, heaven to find the

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Bible mind. I've always thought it was interesting because what do we do with children now?

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We're afraid to even take them to a funeral. But in the 1600s, X, Xerxes did die and so must

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I. Y, while youth do cheer, death may be near.

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That just kind of gives me a flutter in my heart, doesn't it? A, who can say it?

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Just blurt it out. In Adam's fall, we sinned all.

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So we need grace. I don't need a substance. I need grace incarnate. Henry Mahan said, there's enough evil in the heart of the best sinner to make another devil.

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You say, well, that's a pride crusher. I know. That's humbling. I know.

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Churchill did not like his rival, Clement Attlee. He never said anything good about him until one day, it was weird, he kind of like uttered something.

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Clement Attlee is a very humble man. Well, for Churchill to say anything nice about his political opponents.

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Churchill said, and of course, he has a lot to be humble about. And so do we.

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I'm not sick and need some medicine. I'm dead. I need new life.

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You say, yeah, but there's something about works, right, in the Christian life. Just as a side note, verse 10. Yes, that follow your salvation, that follow.

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Are works important? Yes, but God doesn't need them. Your neighbor does. I'd like to give you some works to get saved.

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God doesn't need those. He's done the work, grace alone. But now that we're saved, do we want to do good works as evidence, as fruit, as love, as a demonstration of, yes,

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Jesus, he was kind to people. We want to be kind to people too. Yes, so works follow. Our works never save.

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Jesus' works do, but our works follow. So for those of you that think somehow we just don't care about works at all, we do, but in the right order.

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Verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which

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God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Faith is a busy thing.

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Faith without works is dead. But our works don't do anything to save us.

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But once we're saved, we want to do good works because now we have the power to do that very thing.

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If you're here today and you're not a Christian, I also want to remind you with this doctrine. You can't wait till you're on your deathbed and then say,

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God saved me, because it's not in your power. If it were, then it might be a smart thing to do.

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It might be a gamble, but it might be smart. I'll live my life. I'll live for my flesh. I'll live for the world. I'll live for my own, me, myself, and I.

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And when I'm on my deathbed, then I'll repent. Well, that might work if you're not killed suddenly.

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And it might work also if salvation was controlled by you. But if salvation isn't controlled by you because it's by grace alone, then today's a good day to believe.

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Today's a good day to trust. Every one of us without God's word has an overconfidence in their own world.

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Number four, the fourth sola, sola fide. So we've got

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Scripture as the foundation. The centerpiece is Jesus. He saves by grace and grace alone because He is a grace incarnate.

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And now we receive Him by faith alone. Sola fide.

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Some of us know that word fide, F -I -D, from fidelity, fiduciary, semper fi, semper fidelis, faithful.

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No, it might be semper fidelis means faithful, but sola fide means faith alone.

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Justification by faith alone. The doctrine upon which one man said the church either stands or falls.

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Another man said this is the main hinge on which religion turns. You stand before God, and there's two ways to get into heaven.

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God, I've perfectly, entirely, exactly, and perpetually obeyed You. I've never disobeyed because the doers of the law will be justified.

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Or I realized that was just a law to show me, that was just indicative to show me that I had no way to keep the law because I've stumbled it in many ways.

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And therefore, I need to trust in one by faith alone who kept the law for me. And so our

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Old Testament passage, which is a wonderful passage to talk about sola fide is

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Numbers 21. Please turn to Numbers 21. So the series on the five sola is simple. It's not verse by verse exposition, but we do exegetical expositional work within these verses like Ephesians and now like in Numbers.

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You won't soon forget Numbers chapter 21. I'd like to have an Old Testament illustration and a New Testament illustration for each sola because one mind wrote the scripture, the divine mind.

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Of course, he used human agents, but I don't want you to forget the continuity between the Old Testament and New.

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Now, there was a man here who did a Bible conference named Ron Allen. And he said, here's how you summarize Numbers. I'm like, oh,

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I need that. I need to know how to summarize Numbers because I didn't even know Numbers was a book in the Bible. That's what you say when you're a new

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Christian. Here's how you summarize the book of Numbers. Ron Allen said, in the desert there's a lot of sand and God has a lot of time.

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I thought that's brilliant. In the desert there's a lot of sand, right? They're in the wilderness and God has a lot of time.

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Generation of unbelief, generation of unbelief, generation of unbelief, generation of massive corpses dying in the wilderness.

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And some of that unbelief is catching Numbers 21, generation 2. Verse 4, from Mount Hor, they set out by the way of the

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Red Sea to go around the land of Edom and the people became impatient on the way. That's Numbers 21.

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Verse 5, the people spoke against God and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?

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There's no food, no water. We loathe this worthless food.

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Then the Lord, the covenant -keeping Lord Yahweh, sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people so that many people of Israel...

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Now, sometimes Israel complains of the wilderness. God talks to them. They complain. God rebukes.

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They complain. God discusses. They complain. God tells them to do something. Here they complain.

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There's nothing verbal going on here. He just sends the snakes supernatural snakes, divinely sent snakes.

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Snakes sent with a purpose to get their attention. Now, I don't know about you, but when

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I get stung by a wasp or a bee and I regularly get stung because I'm riding a bicycle and the bees and the wasps and the hornets are flying around,

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I ride into them and then they drop onto my thigh and that's where they sting me. Or they fly into my helmet and by the time

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I'm just trying to be cool about it, okay, iPads out. Eyebuds out. Unlock this.

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Take my glasses off. Helmet off. I'm almost there. Pow! And you get it and it just starts swelling up.

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It burns. It stings. These are snakes that produce fiery burning.

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They're fiery hot, not because they're red, but because of what they do. The inflammation. Snakes that produce burning.

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God has now brought a new way of judgment. Oh God, we are so thankful for the manna from heaven and God gives him something from the earth.

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Can you imagine if God made a snake poisonous to go bite you? Hmm. And the people, verse 7, came to Moses and said, we have sinned.

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We've spoken against the Lord and against you. I'll be some good news for a change.

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Pray to the Lord that He may take the serpents away from us. So Moses prayed for the people. We have no foundation to say anything.

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We're unworthy, but God, I know, will listen to you, Moses. Snake still biting.

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Snake still slithering. What's God say to Moses? Make a fiery serpent. Like a struck one.

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Set it on a pole. Everyone who is bitten when he sees it or looks at it shall live.

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Hmm. That's interesting. Nobody really likes snakes, do they? Everybody knows about the snake in the garden, don't they?

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Everybody seems to be ophidiophobic, don't they? What's ophidiophobic?

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Afraid of snakes. I know. You guys know Latin. You know Greek. You know

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Nebraska -ese. If they thought the manna from heaven was detestable, verse 9, so Moses made a bronze serpent, set it on a pole, and if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

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Now this is crazy. This does not make sense. I don't see the connection. But this is regular in the

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Old Testament. Not doing, not achieving, not working, not meriting.

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See that dirty river over there? I know you've got better rivers. But see that dirty river over there? You want to be cleansed from your leprosy,

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Naaman? I want you to go over to that river and dunk yourself. I want you to bob seven times. Well, how does bobbing in a dirty river do anything to my leprosy?

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How does looking at some detestable thing, matter of fact, last time I checked in Leviticus, it's an unclean thing a snake is.

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An unclean thing is put up on some pole, on some, I don't know, some kind of cross thing, and if I look at that,

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I live. You mean to tell me if I just look at that, if I take God's Word and look, if I take

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God's Word and just dunk seven times, is that what you're telling me? Well, the only way anybody could be saved is by faith, because if God said, be better, do better, start obeying the law, don't ever sin against me again, never work.

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Isaiah 45, Look to me, God said, and be saved. All ends of the earth, for I am

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God and there is no other. I'm bit. If you're bit by a snake, what do you want to do?

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I know what I want to do. I want to follow protocol. Get me back to that ER for the third time this year.

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Make sure if the bite is on my foot, that my foot is lower than my heart. If I've got something around my foot, like if a lady is wearing a toe ring or something, get that ring off.

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There's going to be swelling. If you're a man and you've got a toe ring, see me after service. Of course,

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China is trying to say in their country, no effeminate men. And of course,

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China is trying to say to America, effeminate men rule. Sorry, are ruled.

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I read online, what do you do if you get bit by a poisonous snake? Do not cut the bite. Do not apply a tourniquet.

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Never do what Mike might try to do, suck out the venom by mouth. Do not apply cold or ice packs.

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I know some of you are kind of funky, you do all kinds of holistic stuff, so let me give you a few things you might do if you were bit by a snake.

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Aloe vera, milk thistle, sea soil, castor oil, red grape juice, all for helping poisonous snake bites, or so they say.

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But what's weirder than all that? Just look. Take me at my word,

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God says, and believe, and look. That's a synonym for believe, is to look. What good does it do looking at a bronze snake?

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I mean, at least you could give me a little Latin formula, hocus pocum or hocus pocus or something.

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If you look, you'll be saved. We'll say, you know what? I know 20 people, they looked, it didn't work.

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Nope, infallible looking. Dad, you think you could look for me? Because I'm not quite sure about this.

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No, you have to look. Yeah, but it seems so weird. But this is the divine remedy.

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And so no wonder the Lord Jesus, centuries later, used this illustration and said, before our famous John 3 .16,

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as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Jesus said, so must the

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Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.

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You mean to tell me that the crucified one can't even be crucified within the city because he might defile the city?

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You mean to tell me we better get his body down off the cross before the festivities because it might make everything unclean?

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You mean to tell me even the Persians said, you know what, this crucified person shouldn't even touch the ground when they're killed, so let's lift them up off the ground so they might not contaminate and pollute the ground.

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You mean to tell me if I look at some naked slave, a man treated like a slave, a criminal, hung on a tree with ten other thousand

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Jews hanging around those days on trees, on crosses, if I look to that one, not the thief on the cross to the right, not the thief on the cross to the left, but if I just look to him, if I just believe, are you telling me based on all my sins in the past that I've committed and all the sins

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I've committed in the future, you don't even know how bad my sins are, are you telling me I don't need to be baptized, catechized or anything else,

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I look to the Lord Jesus Christ and believe and I have eternal life? Is that what you're telling me? That's exactly what

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I'm telling you. Look. Don't look to yourselves.

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Don't look to some spiritual leader. Don't look to substance of grace. You simply look and you have everlasting life.

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He didn't say surrender your life, yield your life, commit your ways, treasure

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God, desire God. You do that as a Christian. But if you're not a Christian, you don't do those things.

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You look. You rest. You trust. You believe. Because these other components, if you say, if I surrender my life to Jesus, my whole life, will

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I be saved? Well, you're never going to surrender your whole life to Jesus. It's impossible. But you say, well, you know what?

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What belief does, it takes, surrender keeps it on my focus. Belief says, you know what?

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It's about the object of faith. And it's the one who gave me the promise about the object of faith.

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And if I look to that person, I live. Believing. Faith is the receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness.

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It is the alone instrument of justification. Westminster Confession of Faith.

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You don't work. You don't earn. You receive by faith alone.

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Isn't that a great truth? If you've looked, it's by grace alone. If you've looked because you've learned from the

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Bible alone. If you've looked to the Lord Jesus, it's because He's the one proclaimed in Scripture.

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And it's all by grace. But if you've looked, you're saved. You're like, well, you know what? And I've told you this. I'll probably just keep telling because it's still in the forefront of my mind.

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I'm laying there in the hospital bed and I'm thinking I might not get out of this. And I'm thinking, but if it's anything but faith alone,

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I have no hope. I know how bad I've sinned. The Lord then knows.

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I don't have any other hope except, Mike, in spite of your sins, in spite of your transgressions, there's something like a defiled snake upon a pole.

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Now, He isn't really defiled, although He was treated like He was. But if you look at that sinless

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Savior on the cross, you have eternal life. And I say to myself,

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I'll bank my soul on that because the other way I'll never get there.

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There are lots of problems in the world, but I'm sure in the providence of God, God saw in the 1500s, there are some doctrines that need to be rescued.

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And if they need to be rescued, then they need to be rescued now, hence the series. So theological triage means that every good pastor and elder will say,

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Scripture alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, to the glory of God alone, even if I'm preaching alone.

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Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word. I'm thrilled and fired up to realize that we get to go to heaven by faith alone.

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And we will confess and learn about even next week that faith's not of ourselves. You even gave us faith.

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That's a gift too. Is there anything you've withheld from your people? Any good thing? Any spiritual thing that we're lacking?

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We have every promise. We have every truth. We have all of the Savior because of grace.

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And we pray for our friends and neighbors and loved ones who still don't believe or somehow believing in Scripture plus,

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Jesus plus, grace plus, et cetera. Would you help us to be kind to them? Warm, yet biblical.

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And we're thankful for what you've done in our lives as you sent other people to us to confront us with your word so that we might say, may