Solus Christus #1

Why is it solus Christus? Why is Christ alone the one who can provide the necessary path of salvation for us?

Two points. It is the person of Christ and it is the work of Christ. Because we're saved by faith and not by works, it's vital that faith be placed in the one and only person it should be, in Christ alone, solus Christus. That's the fourth of the five solas of the Reformation that Pastor Don Green is currently taking us through here on the Truth Pulpit as he continues teaching God's people God's Word.

Hello again. I'm Bill Wright. And Don, the heart of Scripture, grace, and faith is in fact Jesus Christ.

Well that's definitely the case, Bill. You know, friend, there is no sweeter name under heaven than the Lord Jesus Christ because he is the one who loved our souls. He is the one who gave himself up for us.

And he's special for another reason. He is the only one who can save any sinner anywhere in the world from their sins and from eternal damnation. It is Christ alone that saves a man. And that's going to be the blessed consideration of our broadcast today and next time as you stay with us on the Truth Pulpit.

Okay, Don. And friend, have your Bible open and ready as we join Don Green now in the Truth Pulpit. Now, just by way of reminder, starting with the very basic things, salvation, spiritual deliverance from sin is necessary for every man, woman, and child because men are separated from God by their sin. By nature and by choice, mankind is a sinful rebel against God. He is not pleasing to God in his own right. It is not true to say that all men everywhere are children of God in the precise sense of belonging to him and being secure in his salvation. To the contrary, Scripture tells us that apart from Jesus Christ, all men everywhere are under God's wrath. That they are on the receiving end of his displeasure in this life, and if they die in that state, they will face the eternal fury of the wrath of God for their sin and rebellion against him. In John chapter 3 verse 36, it says, that he who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. You see in that verse, and in others that we will look at, the exclusivity of Christ, that there is no other savior. You must believe in the Son to have eternal life, the one who does not do that, and manifest his unbelief by his disobedience to Christ. Without exception, the wrath of God abides on him. And so, one of the implications that this has for our souls and our attitudes toward God is that this teaches us not to trifle with Christ.

This teaches us to take him seriously, to take him earnestly, to hear what he has to say with willing and submissive ears, because he is the only one who can save us. We cannot wash away our own sins. We cannot reach God any more than we could take a running jump and traverse the width of the Grand Canyon on our own human power. You would sooner jump the Grand Canyon with your feet than you would get to heaven on your own merit and efforts.

You would sooner jump across an ocean than you would jump the gulf that exists between you and God. You say, but that's impossible. No one can do that.

No one can jump that far. To which we say precisely that's the point. It is an impossibility. It is impossible for a man to reach God on his own, to reach God through his own intuition, to reach God through his own righteousness.

There is no such thing and there never will be. And so for us, as we come together more and more as a body of Christ, we have to gather around these truths and rally around them in a way that is clear in our minds and that become the central focus of our conviction. And to not be brought into the spirit of our age that tells us that all roads lead to God.

They don't. To think that there is a spark of divinity in each man. There's not.

There's nothing like that. It's a figment of man's imagination. It is a self-flattery of man to think that he can go to God apart from Christ.

And so we just find it very essential to speak these things plainly and clearly. Here's the point, beloved. Because our sin separates us from God. Because the wrath of God is against sinners. Because we cannot fix what we have broken. Because we are like Humpty Dumpty having fallen off the wall. We can't put righteousness back together again.

There is no place to start. You can't stitch it together. We are ruined. We are lost without Christ. And that is why solus Christus is necessary. You and I need to have someone intercede for us before God.

And if we do not have that, we will be lost. Now, pivoting from the need for solus Christus to the reality of it, here's the wonderful news. That in the person of Jesus Christ, God bridges the gulf and comes to man.

God stepped across the gulf. The things that are impossible for man to do, God has done in the person of Christ. And what the gospel of Jesus Christ declares is this.

That Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate, died for sinners and was raised from the dead on the third day after he had lived a perfectly righteous life on earth. And having offered his life on the cross as a sacrifice for sinners, he now offers full forgiveness of sin to everyone who repents of sin and believes in him. That is the only message that can save a sinner's soul. Everything else is a false gospel that will lead them to damnation. Solus Christus, the gospel alone, the gospel as we just declared it, is the only message that can bring salvation to a sinner.

It's the only one. The Bible does not apologize when it says that Jesus Christ is the only one who can save men from their sins. In fact, as we're going to see, that is the claim that Christ himself made. And so it is impossible to be a true Christian based on the words of Christ to name him as Lord and simultaneously say that there are other paths of salvation, that there are other ways to reach God apart from Christ. A true Christian would not say that, or at the very, very least, a true Christian would not resist that idea when it is presented to them.

Maybe somebody in the fog of the early days of their conversion might not have that clearly established in their mind, but no one could be a Christian and deny with understanding what I had just said. Jesus Christ is the only one who can save men from their sins. And you see this in the words of Jesus himself. Look at the chapter eight of John chapter eight, verse 24. Jesus said, I said to you that you will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. Unless you recognize Christ as the exclusive savior of mankind who did the work of salvation in his own person in the cross. Unless you believe that, unless you entrust yourself completely and wholeheartedly and unreservedly to him, you will die in your sins. And beloved, let me just say that whatever the full eternal consequences of that condition might be, you don't want to know what that turns out like. No one wants to know what it is like to die in sin because to die in that condition is to have your doom sealed and to have God turning from one who offers forgiveness to you in the gospel of Jesus Christ, to have him turn into a final judge whose fury and wrath and justice must be satisfied to the uttermost and which you cannot spend eternity. Eternity is not long enough for you to pay for a single sin of your own. And so this is just very, very crucial. And Jesus sets himself as the one and only dividing line between doom and deliverance.

Look at it again with me. Let these words sink into your heart. Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. Now, Jesus states this in a positive way. If you look over at John chapter 11 verse 25, he states it in the negative way. Unless you believe that I'm he, you'll die in your sins. He states it in a positive way later on in this gospel. In John chapter 11 verse 25, he said to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this? And so he says, everyone who believes in me will be saved. Everyone who believes in me will live eternally, even if he dies physically. And so there is this gracious promise of Christ that he not only warned sinners about the consequences of rejecting him, he sets forth a stupendous promise of eternal life, of no threat of judgment, of no fear of condemnation for the one who believes in him.

Sola fide, to receive Christ for salvation and to rest in him alone, knowing and understanding and believing and assenting to the gospel with all of your heart, and entrusting yourself completely to Christ for salvation and entrusting him alone, denying self, denying all claims to self righteousness, denying any works and saying Christ alone is my hope. And if it were not for Christ, I would most certainly be judged and damned. And not only that, I would be most righteously judged and damned. That is the nature of understanding of true saving faith. You know, it's one thing, as I've said in times gone by, it's one thing for a sinner to say, I don't deserve to go to heaven.

That's a true enough statement, none of us do. But the real litmus test of understanding, the real litmus test of true saving faith, is whether the sinner will go the next step and say, not only do I not deserve to go to heaven, what I actually deserve is to go to hell for my sins, for my rebellion against God, for my indifference to his word. And so, beloved, it's fair enough for me to ask, even in a setting of familiar faces like this, is that what you say, is that your self assessment as you consider your own righteousness before a holy God? Because this is the difference between understanding your need for a savior and simply making a little qualified statement that seems to be modest, seems to be modest and humble to say, oh, I don't deserve to go to heaven. But the sparks can fly when you say, well then, are you saying then that you actually deserve to go to hell?

Well, no, let's not go there, let's not be radical, let's not be fanatical about it. After all, I'm not so bad. And when people speak like that, they betray the pride and self-righteousness of their heart. The statement that I don't deserve to go to heaven when you deny the other aspect of it, you refuse the other aspect of deserving to go to hell, all that does is it exposes what you really think. And so, beloved, in this context of talking about solus Christus, do you think you deserve to go to heaven on your own? I know you'd all say no, especially after what I just said, but it'd do you good to look in the mirror and to reflect honestly on whether you've come to grips with what Scripture says, that your sin and guilt require eternal judgment apart from Christ. Is that what you believe and say about yourself?

Because that's a whole different ballgame. Look at John 14 verse 6, and the point that we're making here in what we're saying is that Christ himself asserted his own exclusivity as the Savior of the world. And you either believe Christ and take him at his word for him to save you, or if you don't want, if you don't like that exclusive message, if you'd rather live in the postmodern world that there is no absolute truth, I mean, beloved, when Christ speaks, we are faced with the requirement to reject the spirit of our age in order to truly receive him. Jesus said in John 14, 6, you know what it says, he said to Thomas, I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father but through me. In Acts chapter 4 verse 12, it says, there is no other name given under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. And so, when we come to this doctrine of solus Christus, we're faced, first of all, with the recognition that Christ asserted exclusivity.

He will tolerate no other. What is it about Christ that makes him so that he's the only Savior? Why is it solus Christus, Christ alone? If we just simply said Christ without making the corresponding claim of exclusivity, a lot of people that otherwise hate us would get along with us just fine. If we would say that Christ is our Savior but you can have your God, then there would be no offense in the gospel. The offense that Christ brings to every man everywhere is that Christ says you must leave your false religion behind. You must leave your self-righteousness behind and come to me alone or you will die in your sins.

And that's what people don't want to hear. Why is it solus Christus? Let's look at those two realities about Christ to see that salvation can only come through him. First of all, let's consider the person of Christ, the person of Christ. Part of the reason that Christ is exclusively the Savior is because there is no one like him. Christ alone is able to bridge the gap between man and God because Christ alone has the nature of God and the nature of man in one person. No one else is God incarnate.

Christ alone is. In John chapter 1 verse 1, we're kind of staying in the gospel of John for a little while anyway. In John chapter 1 verse 1, it says, In the beginning was the Word. And the construction, the Greek construction there has the idea that in the beginning at the first moment of time, Christ was already existing. Christ was existing, time began and Christ existed through that. He is pre-existent deity. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Verse 14, and the Word became flesh. God became a man and dwelt among us. He saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. The only one, there is no other. He is solitary.

He is alone. He is exclusive as the God-man. And so, when we consider these aspects of his deity and his humanity, in his deity, Christ reveals God to men. In his humanity, he is able to represent man to God. He brings God to man and he is able to bring man to God because both natures reside in his single person. And so, expanding that out and the theological implications of that for how it relates to our salvation, his deity provides an infinite value to his merit, an infinite value to his righteousness. He's not simply righteous in himself, his person brings an infinite value to his merit, which means that everyone who believes in him can partake of it and it is not exhausted. And his humanity, oh, this is so sweet.

This is so sweet. His humanity identifies him completely with us, with the exception of sin. And so, his very nature, his very person is unique. There is no one else in the visible or invisible realm like Jesus. He is God in human flesh and no one else is. And if the gap between God and man is going to be bridged, it has to be someone who shares both natures. God couldn't delegate an angel to save us because he wouldn't share in our humanity. He wouldn't share in the eternal essence of God.

He couldn't be an animal. Scripture makes plain the blood of bulls and goats can't take away our sin because they don't share our nature. There's no infinite value to it either. You start to see how all of this fits together. You start to see the implications of theology. Of a right view of Christ.

Look at the book of Colossians chapter 2 verse 8 where the apostle Paul said, See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in him, all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. And in him, you have been made complete and he is the head over all rule and authority. And what has Christ done?

Verse 14, he's canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, and he has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross. His cross work and the efficacy, the effectiveness in other words of his cross work is tied into the reality of who his person is. All the fullness of deity dwells in him in bodily form. Only Christ is fully God and fully man. He shares the essence of both God and man and that is why he is uniquely and alone and exclusively able to save. It's because he has within his person the nature of God and the nature of man which enables him to save guilty sinners like you. His person makes that possible and his person is unique. It cannot be duplicated.

There is no one else like him. And so as we proclaim the full deity and the full humanity of Christ we automatically exclude any other claimants to the role of savior. Mary isn't God even though they're trying to add her to the Godhead.

Buddha, Mohammed, none of these people are God. And they can't save. And faith in them, faith in their teachings is misplaced. Trying to cross the bridge from man to God on them that bridge collapses. The first moment a man tries to put his weight and trust in that bridge it collapses underneath him. Trying to walk to God on your own self-righteousness it's a bridge that collapses.

It's toothpicks trying to uphold a runaway freight train. And so the person of Christ alone is the strong and sturdy bridge that we need to bridge the gap between us and God. Not only, not only beloved, not only the gap that sin creates because that is fatal, that is lethal in and of itself but also just to recognize the difference in essence that as a man we cannot reach the essence of undiminished deity.

We need deity to bring us to deity. And so the person of Christ does just that. As I've said so many times as we've gone through this series what you should find welling up in your heart is a great reverence toward Christ growing ever deeper, broader, and greater in your heart to reverence him, to love him, to fear him, to submit to him, to own him, to gladly identify with him, to love him more than life itself. Christ spoke of that didn't he? When I am lifted up I'll draw men to myself and the simplicity and inadequacy of our feeble human words we're trying to lift up Christ.

That's all we care about. Indeed there's never been anyone else like Christ and there never will be. Pastor Don Green will consider the work of Christ next time here on The Truth Pulpit as he continues our series The Five Solas and the message Solas Christus, Christ alone.

So be sure to join us then. Meanwhile we invite you to visit our website thetruthpulpit.com There you can download free podcasts or find out how to receive free CD copies of Don's series. And if you want to go even more in depth you'll also find the link Follow Don's Pulpit. That'll take you to Don's full length weekly sermons not subject to the time editing needed for radio broadcasts. Also if you're in the Cincinnati area check out the service times for Truth Community Church that's also on our website and plan a visit. We'd love to welcome you. Now for Don Green I'm Bill Wright inviting you back next time for more from The Truth Pulpit where we teach God's people God's Word.