Hi, this is Josh Montez and welcome back to the Hymn We Proclaim podcast. In this special six-part series, we're revisiting the foundational gospel truths that turned the world upside down 500 years ago and still shape the Christian life today. We're talking about the five solas of the Reformation.
Sola scriptura, scripture alone, it's our vital authority.
Sola gratia, grace alone saves us, not merit.
Sola fide, faith alone, not works, justifies.
Solus Christus, Christ alone, is our only mediator. and sole deo gloria to God alone be the glory. But these aren't just historical slogans, they're fuel for the Christian life. Pastor John unpacks how each one connects directly to our daily battles with sin. our assurance in Christ and our joy in the Gospel.
You'll come away not only understanding what these solas mean, but how they free you to live with confidence, conviction, and clarity. Here is Rediscovering and Proclaiming the Five Solas, Part 2. What estimate Uh looked at la scriptura scripture scripture Just scripture, just say it like that. Scripture alone. Just scripture, right?
Why? Why? Because when we saw that scripture is our final authority for the church. Our final authority. Why is it that?
Because scripture is from God. Scripture is from God. What Scripture says, God says. If you want to hear God, speak, read scripture out loud. Yeah.
This is what Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. He says scripture, he says all scripture, he's talking about here in this context, the Old Testament. We'll come back to the New Testament because the New Testament is included too, but Paul's talking about in this context, in the Old Testament. He said, as all scripture It is. Infant.
My God. And he says, and it's profitable for teaching. reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.
Now, here's the question. Why is Scripture? Why is Scripture our final authority? Here's why. because of its purpose.
Because of its purpose. Its purpose. The purpose of Scripture is to save people. Because scripture is not the same. is Paul says, breathed out by God.
It comes from God. It can't. Yeah. It doesn't err. Doesn't because it is from God, because it doesn't make mistakes, because it is trustworthy.
Here's the point. You can trust the purpose of scripture, which is what? Salvation. That's the point. You see, if if this errors How can you trust that you can be saved?
But you can be assured that this message of salvation that scripture unfolds to us is true. Trustworthy. It's true because it comes from God. Scripture comes from God.
Now What is scripture? It is this, it's scripture, as I said, it's the living voice of God. Right? It's not live. It's not just information.
We're going to come back to that. But scripture isn't live, it is powerful. 2 Timothy 3, verse 15, Paul says that this is the purpose of Scripture. To Timothy, he says, From childhood, you have known the sacred writings which are able. They possess the power, the capability to give you.
Wisdom. Listen, what kind of wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ? That's wisdom we saw last week. The foolish thing a person can do is not listen to the purpose of scripture which is to lead you to faith in Jesus Christ. That's wisdom.
And so Paul says The purpose of scripture is to instruct us for salvation. It is to. lead us to a person. Through faith. Through faith.
And that brings us to this week, Saltless Christianism, which we'll see at our conference, Christ alone. Christ You see because scripture Scripture points us to Christ. Why? For salvation. There's Author Michael Reeves has written this great book called Lighting.
in the Trinity. Hmm. Ask this question. Who is it?
So when you pick up your Bible, okay, this is the context. You pick up your Bible and he asks this question. Who is it that you looking for. Who is it that you're looking for? Listen to what he says.
Who are you looking for all dramatically affects why we open the Bible? We can open our Bibles for all sorts of odd reasons. Religious duty. an attempt to get God's favor. Are you thinking that it's just this guidebook to be better people?
Aesop's fables. It's it's a it's a manual for tips for living the Christian life. Right. And he says, but but he says that that idea, looking for something, a tip, looking for a self-help guide. Looking to get God's favor.
He says, here is the reason why that Makes you feel So discouraged. Why? He says, because when you pick up your Bible to read it and you feel discouraged, He says, you hope to find quick lessons for how you should spend your day. People instead, what do they find? Genealogies.
You ever enjoy genealogies from 1st and 2 Chronicles? Right. Or you find various lists of sacrifices. The book in Leviticus. How could a page of genealogies and histories and descriptions of the temple and instructions to priests affect how I rest, how I work, how I pray?
He's he's oh if you approach scripture like that if that's what you're looking for It's discouraging But When you see that Christ. is the subject of all the scriptures. That he is the word. The Lord, the Son who reveals the Father, the promised hope, the true temple, the true sacrifice, the great high priest, the ultimate king. Then you can read, not so much asking, what does this mean for me now?
But what do I Learn here. of Christ. He says, knowing that the Bible is about him and not about me means that instead of reading the Bible, obsessing about me. I can't gaze on him. And as through the pages, you get caught up in this wonderful story that's his story.
You find your heart strangely pounding for him in a way that you would have never if you treated the Bible as a book about you. That is exactly what happened to the disciples on Maus Road. Jesus was walking with them, and we've heard that story a thousand times in this church because it's so critically, vitally important to get. They're walking with the risen Lord himself. And they have no idea who he is.
And how does he tell them who he is? Oh hey guys, it's me. Right? He doesn't do that. Do you know what he does?
Do you know how he reveals himself to them? He opens up Scripture. And he says, beginning with Moses, that's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, and that's the whole Old Testament, he goes page after page. Guys, this is me here, this is me here, this is me here, this is me, this is me.
It's all about me. And then He serves in the Lord's Supper, means of grace, a visible gospel. And through word and sacrament, But the word first and what kind of word was it? A Christ-centered exposition of Scripture. Where he picks up the Bible and he says, guys, you've missed it.
You've missed me. You've missed the purpose of scripture. which is to lead you to faith, to salvation through faith in me. This reveals me. And then the disciples said, when That that our hearts not Burn within us when he explained to him when he explained himself to us in all the scriptures.
And so, when you pick up your Bible to read it, let me ask you a question: What are you looking for? What are you looking for?
Sometimes people come here and they say, man, he preaches the same thing every single week. Because that's the purpose of scripture. I wish he would. I've had people say this to me literally after the service, before I got off the steps. Come up to me.
I wish you would tell me something to do I'm like, well. Let me give you the Ten Commandments. Let's just start right there. Let's go back to the beginning of the service where we read to you the greatest commandment: love God perfectly, love your neighbor perfectly. How's that going for you?
Getting in Christ. What you need to see. Every week in church is not a list of tips for practical Christian living. Wisdom is important. Don't hear me wrong.
Wisdom is important. We have to have wisdom. You can't be foolish. But you can have the 50 best practical tips. evergiven to you.
in the history of the church. Walk right out this door and break them off. Oh, before you leave this parking lot. Why? Because what do you need?
You need Christ. You need to see Christ. We need to see Him. That is what changes us. The scriptures themselves tell us that Christ is the main point of the Bible.
And some people say, no, it isn't. It's the glory of God. The glory of God is the main point of the Bible. Yes, it is, because Christ is, the scriptures say, the glory of God. The whole Bible testifies to him.
I don't have time to go through the whole Bible today. Just listen to Jesus. That's good enough, right there. John 5:39. Jesus asked in those who are seeking to kill him, You search the scriptures because you think that in them they have eternal You have eternal life.
But it is they that bear witness about me. Yet, you refuse to come to me that you may have life. Jesus tells us that the scriptures Testify about him. They point us to him. That is the purpose of scriptures.
The scriptures come from God. The scriptures point us to Christ. And the Bible is essentially a handbook of salvation, not a handbook of Aesop's fables. The story of David is not about this. It's not about.
You can slay the giants in your life and be like David and pick up the five smooth stones of, and then you get. Five. Character Uh uh uh Mm-mm more old tales. Right? Have integrity.
Uh be courageous. Don't fear. stand up and fight or whatever you you can just come up with them And be like David and slay the giants in life and be victorious. That's Aesop's fables. That has nothing to do with the story of David.
Nothing. The Bible is essentially a handbook of salvation. Its purpose is not just to teach us facts. those facts are true. Its purpose is to unfold to us.
The scheme of salvation, the story of salvation that begins the first gospel of Genesis chapter 3, verse 15. But before that, it goes back into eternity past. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as we have sung about this morning, God is a blessed Trinity. Right, where they have come together and pacted together to save a people for his namesake, for his glory and our good. Bible, the Bible is about this story that unfolds from Genesis 3.15 and Genesis 3.15, that champion seed, that mother promise, the entire scripture.
Everything after Genesis 3.15 simply explains how Genesis 3.15 comes about. Jesus is that promised seed. He is that champion seed, the offspring of woman. He is the last Adam. Who has been sent by God by His promise to save us?
And so because the Bible is a book of salvation, and because salvation is through Christ, the Bible focuses its attention upon Christ. The Bible focuses our attention upon Christ. Richard Hooker that great. English the erosion. He says this, he says that scripture has Christ as its center and as its interpretive key.
And so the scriptures lead us to salvation. How? The scripture is revealed to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ alone for our salvation. The scriptures reveal to us that Christ is our prophet, priest, and king.
Why do we have prophets in the Old Testament? Because they're foreshadows of greater things that are to come. They're previews of coming attractions. Prophet, Jesus is our prophet, Jesus is our priest. Why do you have Levitical priests?
Why do you have all of that? Because all of that was just a shadow pointing us to the reality to come, Jesus Himself. Our great high priest is Jesus. Jesus is our king. Why do you have kings in the Old Testament?
You have King David, right? Just very quickly. Let me tell you about the Devitic covenant. 2 Samuel chapter 7, God comes to David and says, David, your son will reign forever and ever on the throne. And David goes, that's a good deal.
Right? And he builds God a house, a temple. And so Solomon comes, the son of David.
Solomon is the son of David. Have you read 1 Kings about Solomon lately? He didn't make it. Who comes after Solomon? all the other fellow kings of Israel.
A son of David, he comes up to the throne, he fells, he's taken off, set aside. Here comes another one. He puts a son of David on the throne. He fells, he takes him off, he lays him aside, he gets another son of David. He puts him on the throne, he fells, and it just goes over and over and over.
Then eventually Eventually, for what, 400 years, God is silent. There's no prophet speaking from God. There's no prophet revealing to God's people light and salvation. There's no king. There's no priest.
There's no son of David. There's just the Roman government. Caesar is king. Caesar isn't Lord. He's Koreas.
That was his title. Caesar isn't Lord. That's why, when you said Jesus is Koreas, that's why you were. Killed. And then in obscurity.
Out somewhere. Just nobody would ever have made this up. The Holy Spirit invades and comes in upon with grace a womb of a virgin and gives her Jesus. Yeah. Who's the son of David?
The perfect son of David. finally has arrived. The scriptures lead us to Christ. He saves his people from their sins. Matthew chapter 1, verse 21, the angel comes to Joseph in a dream.
He says, Joseph, She shall bear a son. What a dream that would be, right? Because you're thinking. Uh Uh Yeah. The honeymoon hasn't happened yet.
Yeah. She's going to bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. Why? Because he shall save his people from their sins. Jesus is our prophet.
Why? Because Jesus reveals to us by his word and spirit the will of God for salvation. The scriptures lead us to salvation by revealing to us that Christ is our priest who offered himself as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice on our behalf. Jesus. The great high priest.
The scripture won't lead us to salvation and tells us that Jesus is our king who subdues our. us to himself he subdues our hearts he subdues our sin he subdues our rebellion And he does it by grace. And he conquers our hearts and calls us to himself and becomes our king. And he rules over us by grace. He defends us from all our enemies.
He's our king. Yeah. Going back to some history about this soulless Christus Christian Christ, just Christ for salvation. Back in the Middle Ages, the minister was saying, As having this special relationship with God. Please don't ever look at me like that.
As though the minister mediated God's grace and forgiveness through the sacraments. And so it was against this type of teaching that the reformer said: no, Christ alone. Which means what? Jesus Christ is our only mediator between God and man. This is what Paul says in 1 Timothy 2, verse 5.
There's one God and one mediator between God and man, man, Christ Jesus. It is by Christ, it is by Christ alone, that our sins are taken away, that we have righteousness before God, because Christ is righteousness. It is by Christ that we have reconciliation with God the Father. That Christ has reconciled us to the Father. And listen, that Christ has reconciled the Father to us.
See, God is against, he is against not just sin, he's against us. We have to have God reconciled to us, and that is what Christ has done. Just Christ. Christ gives us this kind of assurance. What?
That He bridges this gap between us and a holy God. How? By He has lived for us the kind of life that we should live but can't and haven't. And that he has paid for us the penalty that we deserve for the life we do live but shouldn't. Just that message.
Give us assurance that we have peace with God. Just that message. Michael Horton says as though the Reformation was more than anything else an assault on faith. in humanity. It's defense against this idea that God alone reveals and saves us.
We do not find him, he finds us. That's right. He says that that emphasis was the cause of the cry.
Solus Christus. Christ alone. Jesus is the only way to know the Father. The only way to know what God is like The only way to enter into a relationship with God is our Father and not our Judge. The only way to be saved from his judgment, from his wrath.
Christ alone. That was the context of this Reformation slogan. But we don't live in the 16th century. Right. Times have changed, but the truth of Christ alone for our salvation is again being challenged in our day.
And in the church. The secularization, the pluralization of the West. Has affected how people think both outside and inside the church about the exclusivity of Christ for salvation. Just this past week, last week, at this interreligious meeting in Singapore. Pope Francis makes this declaration: quote, all religions.
are a path to reach God. Quote, they are like different languages. different idioms to get there, but God is there for everyone. And then he continued. Quote.
And since God is God for everyone, we're all children of God. And he says, but God is, but my God is more important than yours. Is this true? He says, quote, there's only one God. And our religions are languages, paths to reach God.
Some are sick.
Some are Muslim.
Some are Hindu, some are Christian, but they're different paths. End quote. That teaching is what's called religious pluralism. Which teaches that all religions are equal. equally valid pass to God.
without prioritizing a single faith. That's a departure from the truth of solus Christus, Christ alone. It's a serious departure. Because religious pluralism is not what the scriptures teach. What do the scriptures teach?
I just read it to you from 2 Timothy 3, verse 15. Timothy, you have nothing in the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. That's the purpose of Scripture: to reveal to us Christ, only Christ for salvation, no one else. This is what Jesus says to his disciples in John 14, verse 6. He says, I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me. That's Jesus' exclusive claim. Acts chapter 4, verse 12, Peter says to the people, gathered, he says, there is salvation, no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. No other.
Article 18 in the 39 articles, which is our church's confession of faith. It summarizes the teaching of Scripture. Article 18, it says, obtaining salvation only by the name of Christ. Listen to what it does, it summarizes the teaching of Scripture. Those who presume to say that every person shall be saved by the rule of life, religion, or the sect that he professes, provided he makes diligent efforts to live by that rule.
and the light of nature. must be regarded as accursed. Four. Holy Scripture declares to us that it is only in name. of Jesus Christ that men must be saved.
That's solus Christus. That's Christ alone. That is what. Reformation was summarizing the teaching of Scripture from. This idea that all religions are equal passed to God.
goes against the witness of scripture itself. Because Paul says that scripture is inspired by God. It is. It originates from the breath and spirit of God. Scripture comes from God, therefore it should be received as instruction from God.
What is that instruction? It instructs us to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. And so, since the Bible is a book of salvation, and since salvation is through Christ, the Bible focuses. Our attention solely our faith solely upon Christ. Thomas Crantner, Archbishop, who gave his life for this doctrine that he teaches here.
Unjustification. He teaches solos Christus, and listen to what he said. He says, we're justified only by faith in Christ. That's solos fide and solos Christus. We're justified only by faith.
Isn't Jesus Christ? Christ. We put our faith in Christ that we are justified by him alone. That we're justified by God's mercy. and the merits of our Savior Christ Jesus.
Christ alone. By no virtue or good works to our own that we have. or that we're able to do or possess. Can we deserve the same? Christ Himself is the only meritorious cause of our justification.
Christ is our merit before God. Christ alone. Now, as we reflect upon this Reformation slogan. It's vital to understand that what we're doing here this morning is not studying interesting history. That's right.
This is not a history lesson. This is an interesting bit of history. It's not just to know something about Christ. The purpose of Scripture is not to help us know about him, but to know him. to trust him to to receive and rest in him.
Because Paul told Timothy that the Bible instructs for salvation through faith in Christ. We unfold Christ. to receive him, to rest in him. Michael Reed says this. He says, The Spirit, the Holy Spirit, breathed out those words of Scripture.
not just to alter our behavior. Not just something we can know about Christ, but as John Calvin said, we can have sincere affection for him. That we can, quote, cordially embrace him. By faith. Charles Spurgeon put it like this.
He says, the motto is all true servants of God must be this. We preach Christ and him crucified. Because a sermon without Christ is like a loaf of bread without flour. No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then he says this: go home and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.
He says, because for a Christian, the majority of the Christian is the first. is the word of God. Without him, we would be blinder than moles. That's why, for example, in church, in our church at least, in our church's tradition, when we have scripture read to us, what do we say after scripture read? We say, hear what?
Hear the. Mm-hmm. We hear it as read to us. The reader says, This is the. The word of the Lord, and we say what?
We should never mumble that. Never. Ever mumble that. Yeah. Could you imagine what it would be to be born in North Korea where you can't hear this and if you hear it you're killed for it?
What if God didn't speak to us? left us in total, complete darkness, blind as a mole. Never revealing Christ to us for salvation, left to grope in darkness and in our sin. God speaks to us through His Word, and we say, Thanks be to God. With a hearty amen.
Never take that for granted that he has spoken. Because he didn't have to. Calvin says that when God speaks to us in Scripture, he condescends to us. and baby talk. And his baby talk reveals to us Christ for salvation.
And we say thanks be to God. The Spirit-breathed Scriptures proclaim Jesus as the radiance of the Father, the only one who can share with us true life of knowing and loving and being loved by the Father. No one else can do that. And that comes from scripture. By the power of the Spirit revealing to us the Son.
Incarnate. crucified, buried, risen. raining ascended for us and coming again. And we say to that, what? Thanks be to God.
Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for Christ. We are so grateful. We are so needy.
We're deeply needy people. And we thank you, we thank you, we thank you for Christ. We thank you for speaking to us this. Perfect word. Forgiving us in your scriptures, God breathed out scriptures that reveal to us life through Christ.
Open up our eyes to see and hear. price a day. Give us faith that leads to salvation through faith in Him. We thank you for Christ's.
So Louis Christ, there is Christ alone. We thank you for him. Feed our hearts at this sacrament. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today. And before we wrap up, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon? It's called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity. You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available. only to find yourself feeling defeated again.
This book may be just what you're looking for. with his shepherding heart, John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity. and it's available to every Christian. What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways. paperback, audiobook, or Kindle.
The links are in our podcast descriptions or check out. Just search for Hope and Holiness by John Fawnville on Amazon. to get a copy for you and it's a wonderful book to go through with a small group. Him we proclaim is a ministry of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can find us at Paramountchurch.com.
We'll talk again soon.
