Justified by … Grace alone … through Faith alone in Christ alone, revealed through Scripture alone to the glory of God alone
GRACE = God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
What faith is not.
- something that requires no evidence
- faith despite the evidence.
BUT it is faith based on the years and generations of evidence God has given.
How will you ever be declared right before God?
Historical context
… by Faith alone.
“what can you do about this debt?”
The church of the time started selling salvation
… paid for in purgatory.
… indulgences
“as soon as the coins in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs”
… pray or fast or endure physical pain to be right with God.
“I tortured myself with prayer, fasting, vigils and freezing. The frost alone might have killed me. I almost fasted myself to death again and again, I went for three days without taking a drop of water or food. I was very serious about it” Luther
What the bible says
Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Romans 3:20. “No one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by works of the law, rather through the law we become conscious of sin.”
Romans 3:22-24, “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”
For us today
What is faith
Firstly … ‘faith because of the evidence’
It is faith in God’s promises
Secondly …. faith is NOT a work we do that God then rewards with salvation.
What faith alone in God looks like – Romans 5:1-9
… evidences of faith
1 Thess 1:3, “we remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour produced by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Thess 1:11, “With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.”
Romans 1:5, “Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.”