Sola Fide - Faith Alone

This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.

Reformation Day and the Need to Remember the Gospel

This October 31st will mark the 506th year since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Essentially launching what became a worldwide reformation that would see millions of people come back, return to a biblical understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And if you've been with us for any length of time, at least for a year, you will know that we like to make a big deal of Reformation Day. Or maybe if you were to blame one person, I like to make a big deal of Reformation Day.

Maybe for some of you, you just don't understand why that is. Why would we make such a big deal of an extra biblical day on the calendar? It is not, after all, Passover or the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur or some other day.

So why do we make a big deal of Reformation Day? And there is a very important reason for why we do this, why I do this. And it's not primarily because we are fond here of historical theology. Though I think we are, and maybe myself especially.

But that's not why. It's not because we are enthusiastically reformed in our understanding of salvation, of the doctrines of God's sovereign grace, his electing love of his people. That is certainly true, but that's not why we make a big deal of Reformation Day.

Instead, I think it's because Reformation Day serves as an important annual reminder. We sung a little bit earlier about raising an Ebenezer, a milestone, a landmark, something that we will pass and remember.

It serves as an important annual reminder of many of the central tenets of the Christian faith that we find in our Bibles. And these central tenets are worth revisiting. And revisiting often because when we look at the whole scope of human history, the scope of redemptive history in the nation of Israel and Christ and his church, and then the scope of human history from Christ to today, what we see is that some of these important truths that were rediscovered in the Reformation are some of the most easily forgotten by God's people.

And so if Christ should tarry, and if the Lord should preserve me, and I have the opportunity to stand behind this pulpit on a Sunday close to Reformation Day, I am always going to bring a message that deals with Reformation themes.

Lest we lose sight of these doctrines once more. And believe me, if we do not continuously remind ourselves of these important gospel truths, we will lose them. Now, we might stand here, sit here very confidently and think that we will never forget the gospel.

Well, perhaps you might not. But what about your children? And what about your children's children? And what about your children's children? In 1948, the statesman Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, a few years after the Second World War, stood in the British House of Commons, and he uttered those famous words, words that we've all repeated a few times at least on our own.

That those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I think most children learn that. I know I learned that in elementary school. I'm not sure if they still teach it today. It seems they don't.

Because when we look at the world around us today, what we see is the veracity of Winston Churchill's statement. That those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. We see it in 4K, on social media, in the news, in public schools, on the campuses of universities, and in the public square.

All we have to do is look at people today marching through hallways in Edmonton, chanting, from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. Displacing, destroying the Jewish people in the process. Just over 50 years since the last Holocaust.

We have shorter memories, I think, than we care to admit. And we're always, even in Christchurch, I would suggest, only one generation away from losing hold of the gospel. The only gospel that has the very power to save our souls.

And I don't think, and I am not, in fact, speaking in hyperbole. You might have heard of it before, that Ligonier and Lifeway Research, they do this survey every couple of years that they call the State of Theology Poll.

They team up and they go out and they ask conservative, evangelical, and largely church-going Christians important questions about important doctrines to see what the average Christian in America, and I would suggest their results are probably friendlier than what they would be in Canada, so we might extend them to North America, what the average, ordinary, evangelical Christian believes in North America.

And just recently, I took some time to look at the 2022 poll. So the next poll will be taking place again next year in 2024. And after a bit of digging, I found a survey result, I think, that deals with the most fundamental aspect of what it means to be a Christian.

Namely, what is the gospel? Oh, if you were to go and ask the average, ordinary Christian basic questions about the gospel. And the question in this survey that I paid particular attention to was this question.

I want you to think about how you might answer it. Agree or disagree. Children, be on deck, I'm going to ask you a question in a moment. Agree or disagree. God counts a person as righteous, not because of works, but only because of faith in Jesus Christ.

God counts a person righteous, not because of works, but only because of faith in Jesus Christ. Agree or disagree. And this poll then was put to over 3 ,000 conservative evangelical Christians. And kids, what would you answer to that?

Agree or disagree. Are we saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ? Agree? Do we have agreements there? Agree? I think the consensus is that we agree that we are saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ. And of the 3 ,000 that were surveyed, 43 of the respondents indicated that they could not agree with that statement.

43%. This means 43 of the visible evangelical church in North America is hopelessly lost. In complete and utter darkness about what it means to be right with God. The most fundamental question of the Christian faith.

It serves then only to reinforce what the doctor Martin Lloyd-Jones said in the 1960s. So 60 years ago now, he said that Christianity was reverting to a pre-Reformation Christianity. A Christianity where the growing segment of Christians know as much about the gospel as believers did when the literacy rate in Europe was 11%.

And the Bible was locked up in a dead language for only the bishops and a select few priests to read. So we remember Reformation Day every year in this church. And I am eager to remember Reformation Day every year in this church.

Because we live in a Christian world that has a rapidly eroding understanding of the gospel. The banks are giving way. And the gospel that has been assumed for so long has been forgotten by so many. One professor in our institute program, for those men who are in our Grace Institute, you might recognize this name, Dr. Michael Riccardi.

He is a TMS professor. He doesn't hold any punches when he says why it is that a growing segment of Christianity is ignorant to the gospel. He said, we are content as a Christian culture to be ignorant about the theology of our own salvation.

We are apathetic about the very doctrines that the reformers gave their lives for. And that just should not be. And God help us that that should not be the case in this church. That we would grow apathetic to the doctrines of justification.

Of what it means to stand before God freely accepted by Him. Reconciled and at peace with a living and a holy God. And so this afternoon we are going to consider what has been called then the crown jewel of the Reformation.

Justification by Faith Alone as the Heart of the Gospel

Sola Fide. Justification by faith alone. It is the very heart and soul of the gospel. To be justified by faith alone is this. It is to be declared righteous through faith alone in the unmerited work of Jesus Christ.

Luther called it the article upon which the church stands or falls. Justification by faith alone. He said, without Sola Fide the world is utter death and darkness. John Calvin further agreed. He said, justification by faith alone is the main hinge on which religion turns.

Wherever the knowledge of it is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished. Religion is abolished. The church destroyed. The hope of salvation utterly lost. It has been said that Sola Fide is the sun in the solar system of gospel doctrine.

And so today we are going to look at this text. Romans chapter 1 and verses 16 and 17. And I will describe partway through why this is an important text to the Reformation. We are going to look at this text that turned the world upside down once more.

This text that rescued Martin Luther and subsequent millions from bondage to the cruel dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church. And it all hinges on this. That we are not made right with God through deeds, through good deeds, through works of the law, through the toil and sweat of our brow.

No, but every Christian who is a Christian is reconciled to the living God only by believing on Jesus Christ for eternal life. And so this week I am going to give us from this text three exhortations.

I've had a great deal of fun with it in the preparation of it. In that we are going to look at the text itself. A little bit of what it teaches. And then we are going to look at how these apply to the lives of three different Reformers in the time of the Reformation.

And if you have been here for a number of years, you will remember that we started our Reformation day. This is now our third Reformation day. We started our Reformation day by looking at Martin Luther and the German Reformation.

Last year we looked at the canons of Dort and the Reformers in the Netherlands. And this year we are going to highlight, we have to deal with Martin Luther because of the text. So we are going to deal with Martin Luther, but we are also going to look at the English Reformation.

This is not a cultural Reformation, but this is a return to biblical Christianity. That transcends languages, that transcends cultures. And that all at once as people were reading their Bibles, discovered anew what it means to be saved and to be right with God.

And so, let's turn our attention back to verse 16. And I am going to read that verse one more time. Paul writes,. And also to the Greek. My first exhortation to you today is rejoice boldly in Christ by faith.

If you are writing notes you want shorthand, rejoice. We have alliterated today and so they are all our words. Brethren, I want you to leave here today rejoicing in Christ. Rejoicing in Christ because of the access that we have to the Father through Him.

And through Him alone by faith. This point in my sermon is a call to every person here. Not only to avoid passively forgetting the Gospel. But the way that your child is going to remember the Gospel, to some respect, is because he saw his father rejoicing in that Gospel.

The way the world, I think of our membership class yesterday, if I can use an example. That our brother Neil was speaking about hearing the Gospel spoken, but then seeing a life transformed by the Gospel.

Oh the power of a transformed life. One can argue against the message, but it is hard to argue against a transformed life. And this is a call for us to love and to rejoice in what Jesus Christ has done for us.

And to boldly rejoice in it. Paul tells his Roman audience, in verse 15, he has just told them that he desires to preach the Gospel to them. He is writing to Christians and yet he knows that they need to hear the Gospel again.

And he wants to be one who delivers, who proclaims, who heralds that Gospel to them. And in verse 16 he says, I am not ashamed of that Gospel. Those words might grow dull in our hearing because we've heard them so many times.

Because we have read them so many times. But think about those words for a second. I am not ashamed of the Gospel. How few there are who can repeat those words after the Apostle Paul and truly mean them.

Now is that a bit of a stretch? Are we all ashamed of the Gospel? I am not suggesting here that we are all ashamed of Christ. But let me say this. Every intellectually honest person in this room has to acknowledge that we still find it tremendously difficult at times to turn conversations towards Christ.

We hear of brothers and sisters who get on planes. I think of one of our brothers, Joel Beakey, who travels a great deal. And he talks often how every single stranger that he sits next to on a plane, he makes it his goal to share the Gospel with them.

Many of us would be terrified at the prospect of, as the plane is taxiing to the runway, we share the Gospel on what's going to be an eight hour flight. And then they should reject that Gospel. And then we have to sit there in awkward silence for eight hours.

Trying to argue over who is going to have the arm rest. For some of us, we struggle to share the Gospel with our family members. We think to ourselves, a prophet is not honored in his own hometown and among his relatives.

And so we are tight-lipped with the Gospel. Some of us, we go to work, we go to school every day. I can guarantee that for many of you, your colleagues, your fellow students, they know you're a Christian.

And yet you have the message that will bring those lost people eternal life. And it's true that many of them have never heard that message from your lips. And then, no doubt, there are people here who have never shared the Gospel before, ever, to anyone at all.

And all of us lament our frequent failures. That in many respects, we cannot say with the Apostle Paul, I am not ashamed of the Gospel. Because we look at our actions and we say, well in fact, in this regard, I am a failure.

And yet Paul tells us why this is. In 1 Corinthians 1, in verse 11a, he says, For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. We know. This is why we don't share with the man on the airplane next to us.

And why some of our co-workers have not heard the Gospel from our own lips. We know that everyone who identifies themselves with Christ and with his Gospel will be counted foolish by a perishing world.

But Paul tells us, I am not ashamed of the Gospel. And I'm not sure about you, but I want to ask Paul, How is it that you have gotten to that point, that you are not ashamed of the Gospel? Paul has put his money where his mouth is.

If we read the book of Acts, we see in Acts chapter 14 that he was stoned in Galatia. Then in Acts chapter 16, he was imprisoned in Philippi. That later on in the book of Acts, the people in Jerusalem were ready to tear him into pieces.

So that the Roman guards had to intervene. Why? Because he was preaching the Gospel. And I want to ask the Apostle Paul, how did you escape the fear of men's opinions? The fear of men's murderous thoughts.

The fear of men's scorn. Paul tells us that he is not ashamed of the Gospel. And then I think in this passage, he tells us how it is that we get there. What does he say? I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

Paul was no longer ashamed of the Gospel because he came to realize that it was this message itself that contained the very power of God. And that that power is absent when the message is not preached.

That if you love your neighbors, and if you love your co-workers and the people around you, you will preach the Gospel because inherent in it is the power of God in word form. But more than that, and where I want to highlight today is this.

That Paul realized what the Reformers relearned some 1 ,500 years later. That it is a message that is simply too good to hide. To keep hidden. To remain silent about. It is a message of salvation. Not for everyone who works.

Not for everyone who keeps the law perfectly. Not for everyone who attends church every Sunday. But it is a message of salvation for everyone who believes. And I would venture to say that many of us are tight-lipped with the Gospel.

Because we do not yet fully believe that Gospel. That there is a holy God. That there is a holy God who is good and just and who has created us. And of whom we have sinned against. And he offers peace and reconciliation with himself.

Not by jumping through hoops and hurdles. But by believing on the Son that he has sent to die for us. A Gospel whereby God justifies everyone. Both Jew and Greek who believes on Christ. A Gospel of sola fide.

This was the message of salvation. By grace alone. Through faith alone. In Christ alone. And it was Paul's attitude. Woe is me if I do not preach this Gospel. Paul would later go on to write to the Romans about this Gospel.

In Romans 3 and verse 21 he said,. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God. How? The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

For there is no distinction. For all have sinned. And fall short of the glory of God. And are justified by his grace. As a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood.

To be received by faith. This is, for me, is the greatest place to be at this very moment. That I have the unspeakable privilege. Of standing here before you. To tell you the greatest news that has ever been preached in the history of the world.

That God has sent his son, Jesus Christ. To die for sinners. Sinners like you. And sinners like me. And sinners like the rest in the world. And he does not call us to break our backs to earn salvation today.

But to be justified. To be forgiven. To be made righteous. Accounted righteous.

How?

As a gift. To be received with the open hands of faith. Brothers and sisters in Christ. If you have believed on Jesus for your salvation. I don't say this as a prophet. But I say this in general. As a principle.

As a rule. You are saved. And you are right with God. What an amazing thought. If you have believed on Christ. I look you in the eyes and I say. If you have believed on Christ. You are saved. And this is not a truth to be ignored.

Or forgotten. Or to be ashamed of. But it is an eternal truth to be rejoiced in. When this truth was rediscovered. This truth of sola fide was rediscovered during the reformation. It became a wellspring.

Of deep and everlasting joy. In the hearts of the reformers. It meant nothing less than the rediscovery. Of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pure and unadulterated. And this afternoon. I want to convince you.

Of the goodness. Of this gospel. Of sola fide. Not just so that you would go out and preach it. That is certainly a secondary benefit. But that you would believe it. So that as you sit there in your seats.

You might think. I am not condemned. But I have peace with God. And I have peace with God. Not through my own merit. But through what Jesus has done for me. And there is nothing that can separate me now from that God.

If Jesus Christ be God. And died for me. Then no one can take that from me. Not even God. Will cross his son in that way. And I want to illustrate this. In the life of a reformer. I tried this week. I tried, I tried, I tried.

To find reformers that you have never heard of. Because. At Reformation Day. Who am I going to quote? Luther. Calvin. Melanchthon. Knox. We can just run a list of names that we have all heard of. That are pivotal.

That are giants of the Reformation. And so I pushed the giants of the Reformation aside for a minute. So that I could reach for someone of a similar stature as I. And his name is Thomas Bilney. Thomas Bilney grew up in eastern England.

He was born in 1495. Just east of Cambridge. So if you know where that is. It's about part way up England. To the right. On the east side. Near the strait. And he was a man who grew up in a very Catholic England.

So much so in fact that he decided he was going to devote his life. To being a Catholic priest. And so he went and he studied to be a Catholic priest. In his native country of England. And though he was a tremendous scholar.

He was a sharp minded man. There were a lot of things going against Thomas Bilney. Thomas Bilney was a very unremarkable man. He was not a man of great courage and valor. He was not a charismatic leader.

In fact he was very shy. If you find yourself at most hours of the day. And maybe especially in church. Shy and feeling a bit subdued. Not knowing how to have a conversation. Feeling that you're plagued by awkward silence.

Well that was Thomas Bilney. And not only was he shy and reserved. But he was a very little man. Probably my height. So that because of his personality. And because of his stature. He became known as Little Bilney.

Now I'm not sure men. Those of us men who want to be the providers. And the protectors of our homes. The leaders of our families. How someone might feel if they said. Ah Little Malta. You're an easy one to pick on brother.

Because you're not little. But here we have Little Bilney. And so not only was he an unremarkable man. In terms of his personality. In terms of his stature. But he was a man that was plagued. With the question.

How can a man be right with God? In fact he used to ask his fellow scholars. And his fellow priests. Exactly that. Can I? Oh can I truly be right with God? But every time he asked. He received no satisfying answer.

All he got was a longer list of to do's. More Hail Marys. More of this. More works of the law. More deeds. And then maybe. Just maybe. Your time in purgatory. Will be just a little bit shorter. He was in every possible sense of the word.

A hopeless man. A man of complete despair. But one day as he was. Hearing news of recent developments in the Catholic Church. He heard about a man named Erasmus. And Erasmus. If you've ever heard of Erasmus.

If you like the Textus Receptus. The King James Bible. Then you will know a little bit about Erasmus. Erasmus had made his first translation. Of the Greek New Testament. And it was a forbidden book. In the Catholic Church.

To be in possession of a copy of the Hebrew Bible. Or of the Greek Bible. Was a sin in the Catholic Church. Tantamount to heresy. But little Bilney. Had to have a copy of God's word. And so he saved up.

And he found a copy of Erasmus' Greek New Testament. And when he took it and held it in his hands. We've lost this wonder in the Christian life. For most of us. He looked at what he had in his hands. And between the two covers he said.

That is the word of God. That is God's word to me. And so eagerly. Some of us need to rediscover this. Eagerly he went home. He locked himself in his room.

Deadbolt.

Shut. With his forbidden book. And he opened his Bible. And what did his Bible turn to? The first page that he found in his Bible. It fell on 1 Timothy chapter 1. In verse 15. I normally would not recommend the plop and point method.

But this is the first time this brother had a Bible. And so we'll forgive him. But where did his eyes land? In 1 Timothy 1 .15. The saying is trustworthy. And deserving of full acceptance. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Of whom Paul says. I am the foremost. The chief of sinners. And reading that. Little Thomas Bilney cried out. He said.

What?

Saint Paul?

The chief of sinners? And yet Saint Paul is sure of being saved? Oh assertion of Saint Paul. How sweet art thou to my soul. And then he said. I am like Paul. And more than Paul. The greatest of sinners.

But Christ saves sinners. At last I have heard of Jesus. I have heard of Jesus Christ. Yes. Jesus Christ saves. I see now. That all my vigils. My fasts. My pilgrimages. My purchase of masses and indulgences.

Were destroying. Instead of saving me. And discerning this truth of justification by faith alone. In Christ alone. Little Bilney fell to his knees. And joyfully praised God. And immediately he went out.

Having prayed to God that he would do just this. And he went out and began preaching that same gospel that had saved him. Like the Apostle Paul. Who had discovered for himself. The truth.

The joy.

The glory of Sola Fide. And you might have heard. There's a podcast. There's I believe a publishing company. Named after this now. The White Horse Inn. If you've ever heard of that. Well Thomas Bilney began preaching the gospel.

Some were saved. He found other men of like mind. And they began meeting in a place called the White Horse Inn. And there they would study the forbidden book together. To the point that they became known as.

The nickname. I would like this a lot more than Little Poirier. Little Shane. The Scripture Men. And it was not long then. After they became the Scripture Men. That the Catholic Church caught on. And they ripped Thomas Bilney from his pulpit.

He was charged with heresy. And he was sent to the stake to be burned. And Bilney was faced with a decision. That probably many of us have put ourselves. In that hypothetical position. If they're about to.

Strap me to the stake. And light me on fire. Am I going to say. Am I going to remain resolved. Yes I believe in Christ. Or am I going to deny him. And little Thomas Bilney. Enduring. Torments. And persecution that none of us in this room have ever experienced.

Recanted of his faith. And said. I deny. The gospel. Of Sola Fide.

Well.

What proceeded then was probably worse than death itself. That the Roman Catholic Church released him. You are free.

Carry on.

As a Roman Catholic priest. But Bilney was so weighed down. By this denunciation of Christ. That when he finally came to his senses. He said. I'm going to get arrested again. And so Bilney went back to preaching the gospel.

Not ashamed of the gospel. Not afraid of the consequences of preaching that gospel. But he went and preached. That those who believe in Jesus Christ. Count on it. You will be saved. And the Roman Catholic Church in 1531.

Came for little Thomas Bilney once more. And he got his wish. And was imprisoned again. And the men and women of the White Horse Inn. Came the day before he was scheduled. To be burned at the stake. And they came there to comfort him.

After all this was little Bilney. The man who had already once before. Recanted and denied Christ. And what they found in that prison cell. Was not little Bilney. But what I might say. Who I might say was giant Bilney.

In that when they walked into his cell. He was sitting there with his open Bible. His Bible turned to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 43. And he was reading verses 1 and 2. By candlelight. And he looked at his comforters.

And instead of being comforted by them. He emboldened them. And he read these words. He said, fear not. Isaiah 43 verse 1. I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. And then in verse 2.

When you walk through the fire. You shall not be burned. And the flame shall not consume you. Now when I was in recruit class. Training for law enforcement. One of the things that I found. Is that sometimes if I subjected myself to things.

That I knew I was going to be subjected to. It helped to reduce the anticipation of it. And so Nicole is not here. It's really too bad. She isn't here to enjoy the story with me. But I recall a time. When I was going to be pepper sprayed that week.

And so I thought. Well the best thing for me to prepare myself. Is I'm going to put a bit of pepper spray in a container. And I'm just going to smell it. And acquaint myself with it. And so in the backyard of our house.

With my can of bear spray. As I shot my can of bear spray. Into a little sour cream container. It exploded in the backyard. And contaminated me. And contaminated Nicole. Who was standing behind the door.

So that we were both coughing and sneezing. And our eyes and our mouths and our noses were running. Just to prepare myself for that anticipation. And so this is what I think Thomas Bilney was doing. As he read that text.

That you are mine. I have redeemed you. I have called you. The flame shall not consume you. He looked at his comforters. He took his finger. And he put it in the candle. That was lighting the room. To the point that it began to consume his finger.

And then his friends realized. I think Thomas Bilney is serious this time. And so the next day. As he was walked to the stake. He stood tall. He got onto the stake. They prepared to fasten him there. And he looked out at the crowd of people.

And he said. Oh she just missed it. Looked at the crowd of people. And said. I am prepared to die. Good people. I have come here to die. And as they lit the wood underneath him. And the fire consumed him.

His last words in Latin was. Jesus I believe. That little Thomas Bilney. Huge Thomas Bilney. Greatest confidence. His only hope in that moment. It was not the masses. It was not the pilgrimages. It was not the indulgences.

It was his faith in Jesus Christ. And he was going to. Not only not be ashamed for that. That gospel of Jesus Christ. But he was going to die. For that gospel of Jesus Christ. His confident hope. Even as he breathed his last breath.

Was this.

Sola Fide.

He believed in Christ. And so he was saved. And let me say. If you believe in Christ. So will you be saved. On the day of Christ's return. On the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe then. And therefore we speak.

Reckon Yourself Righteous by Faith

The second exhortation. In key fashion. That is my longest point. In my typical fashion. In verse 17. Paul says. For in it. The righteousness of God. In that gospel. The righteousness of God is revealed.

From faith. For faith. And from this text. I want to exhort you. To reckon yourself. Righteous. By faith. That's an old word. I had to fit it into the alliteration a little bit. To count yourself righteous.

Oh to consider yourself righteous. To remember. Even on your deepest darkest days. That if you have placed your faith in Christ. Brethren. You are counted righteous in Christ. Oh that when he looks at you.

He sees. The unblemished righteousness. Of his own son. I want to transport us back in time. To. To the place. Where the greatest sermon in the world. Was ever preached. Kids. Do you know where that was?

It wasn't here. I promise you that. Where was the greatest sermon ever preached? Maybe ask your parent for help. We're going to test the parents. Ask dad. We're just. We're getting a little bit of help in the back.

Acts 2. That's. That's. Maybe that's the second best sermon. The sermon on the mount.

There.

Out of the mouth of babes. The sermon on the mount. I'm going to transport us back to Matthew chapter 5. And verse 20. And there was Christ was standing. On that mount. With the crowd standing before him.

He could have said any number of things. But one of the things that he did say. I think is a masterful. Use.

Of the law.

Sometimes when we think of. Of our favorite preachers. It's because they are just. Masters of the use of the law. They show us our tremendous. Need for Christ. In the use of that law. And then masterful.

A masterful use of the gospel. That they show us our need. To the point that we are undone. And then they show us Christ. And how he meets our every need. And then we are redone. A new.

A fresh.

In Christ. And here Christ uses. That law masterfully. He says this. As he looked at those crowds. I tell you. Unless your righteousness exceeds. That of the scribes and Pharisees. You will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

I repeat that to you now. That for you in this room. Unless your righteousness. Exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. You will never. Enter the kingdom of heaven. Let me tell you. If the gospel is good news.