Special welcome to Gerard and Shirlene. Good to have you guys with us this morning. Just in addition to the announcement, there's a bit of an echo if we can sort that out while I'm still talking, that would be helpful. Somebody asked me how we can go about, how do we plan for this special day? The first of December we're gonna have a special service and it's a invite a friend service. So if somebody else is going to another church, is the, sorry, is that on, my auxiliary on? Okay, first of December we're going to have an invite a friend service. And so what I, what we intend to do is to have you not only share the gospel through the month of November, but be prayerful about those whom you want to share the gospel to. So first of all, I suggested to make a list. Write a couple of names down of people that you want to invite and people that you want to share the gospel to. Those who are burdened on your heart whom you want to see come to saving faith. Pray for them. Pray for them for a number of days on end or weeks with no stop and then make a decision for a specific date where you are gonna pray for boldness and ask the Lord to give you not only an opportunity but the courage to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. I made some little flyers that on the back side of it, or actually on the front side of it, you have an outline of the gospel message. If you do not know how to go about it, starts with God, points out man's sinfulness, points to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and the need for repentance. That is it, in a nutshell. I mean, there are other aspects to it, but I want you to be, motivated about sharing the gospel. It is not just the responsibility of the elders and the pastors to share the gospel from the pulpit. In fact, Matthew 28 is not written for pulpit ministry, it is written for individual ministry. It is our duty as the God's people, as the church of Jesus Christ, to be gospel presenters, to be out sharing the gospel. So, pray about a specific person. And like I said, I didn't finish that sentence, if somebody is going to a biblical church, I don't want any church snatchers, okay? Like you know that movie, Body Snatchers? I've never seen it, I know the name. Doesn't matter. We don't want to be church snatchers. We don't want to grab people from other churches and want them to come here, unless they're in a cult. By all means, go for them. And unless they are in an unbiblical church that do not have a high view of scripture, a high view of God, a high view of the gospel, go after them. Invite them, by all means. But, Your main priority and our main priority is to share the gospel. I've been praying for an opportunity to share the gospel with our new neighbors and so that's my first desire is to see him and speak to him about Jesus Christ. So you can be prayerful about my prayer as well. Then on December 1, we want you to invite those friends whom you have had in heart and in mind to our special service. We're gonna have a special song, hopefully, with Wayne, or special item, and it will be a short service, just like this morning, meaning we won't have discipleship, but the focus is going to be the gospel, which is also for you, it's not just for unbelievers. So be prayerful about it, fly us out the back, grab one as we go. working towards this ministry. Romans 8 please, Romans chapter 8. It is not by plan that Peter dealt with Romans 8 yesterday and we read Romans 7 this morning. It is by divine appointment that it just happens to be the passage that we will look at this morning. Last week, we started a two-week Reformation emphasis by looking at Sola Scriptura. I'm sure around the world, over the next eight to 12 hours, there's gonna be a lot of sermons on some aspect of Sola. Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura, Sola Gracia, Sola Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria. I made the point that we cannot guarantee Sola Fide by faith alone without sola scriptura, scriptures alone. You cannot say that God has one means and one way by which he saves if we do not have a high view of scripture. And that is not just like the Catholics believe a high view of scripture. This is a devoted, committed, willing to die belief that the scripture is the final authority. There is no other authority other than God's word. This means that without a deep conviction in the Bible, is the line, not our conviction, not our theology, not what we believe about it. The Bible is the line that has been drawn, and we have no right to meddle with it. We have to maintain the veracity of the gospel. I defined the Reformation in two ways. I said that sola scriptura was the what? material cause, sorry, the formal cause of the Reformation. But sola fide is the material cause of the Reformation. The two has to do with what drove them to that conviction, which was sola scriptura, and what the net result was of that conviction, sola fide. The main issue in that day was, how can I be made right with God? This came about because the Reformers had the conviction that the Bible is the only way that we can understand how man can be brought into right relationship with God. And if the Bible is true, then we, nor Pope, nor creed, No man has any right, Luther includes himself in that, to change the meaning of the gospel. Luther recognized that something was wrong in the way that the church viewed justification. Moreover, not only was their view wrong, and in the way that they read scriptures wrong, but he realized that there was a problem with the relationship between man and God. God was not on our side. If the Bible is true, and it is, then Luther is right in saying that we have an insurmountable problem when it comes to our relationship with God, then works will never ever be enough. This was the question. How can I be made right with God? What does it take for God not to be angry with us? In fact, Luther said that if I can believe that God is not angry with me, I will stand on my head for joy. Because his conviction is God is angry with man. And if that doesn't change, then we are condemned. The answer to the question how man can be made right with God ought to be simple, right? And it should have been simple. But the gospel has been darkened. The basic tenets of God's message in Jesus Christ has been removed. The light of the gospel was hidden under the cloak of both Pope, church, and creed. Tessal went about saying, this is in Luther's day, that if you want to work your way to God, if you want to help your dead loving members or family members, if you want to help them out of purgatory, all you have to do is pay a little. You are working with God for their sanctification that they may be justified. You're working with them to get right with God. This was offensive to Luth. How is it possible that post-mortem we can affect a work in their life so that they can be right with God? And his problem was that if God is angry with me now, how is any amount of money or work that I'm going to do going to change that relationship? So, Luther wrote that 95 thesis. In which language did he write it? Latin, not English, Dwayne. He wrote it in Latin. I'm just joking. He wrote it in Latin. Why do you think he wrote it in Latin? Because it wasn't meant for the populace. It wasn't meant for the people. It was meant for Pope and clergy. He wanted them to understand that we are heading in the wrong direction. He wanted them to change their convictions, them to change their minds, them to change the approach that they had, not only to scripture, but to the gospel. But some eager beavers saw it, and they translated it, and copied it, and gave it to everybody. And somebody mentioned this this week, I think it was James White, and by accident, the Reformation started. That was not Luther's intent, but it was God's. Something had to change. God used this man, this weak, fearful monk, training to be a priest, wanting to do what God wants him to do, and realize that the church was not offering what he needed. Luther's response was not a hateful response to the church and is often viewed like that. It was out of love. It is out of love for the church of Jesus Christ, out of love for God's people. It was out of love for the scripture and for the Savior that died for him that he wanted to see the church get back to biblical authority. He didn't want the Catholic Church to change. He wanted them to understand that the authority was not the Pope, it was God's Word. Later Luther's view did change though. He called the Pope the Antichrist. But you could understand because they anathematized, if that is a word, they cursed everyone that did not believe in Catholic means of salvation. But the foundation of his thesis is that repentance was not by means of sacrament. Never, could never be. It was not by means of confession or acts of satisfaction. Could never be. But that repentance was a soul matter that worked itself out in works. Not for the satisfaction of God, but because of the work of satisfaction that God did by means of Christ in the life of the believer. This led Luther to the study of the scriptures, two books that changed his mind, Romans and Galatians. We looked at Galatians last week, and I basically covered sola fide underneath a canopy of sola scriptura. So I could just pray at this point and say, let's go home, right? Yeah, well, you're not gonna get off that easy. But this led Luther to this conviction that if Scripture is saying that it is not by means of the law, not by means of work, but only by Jesus Christ and faith in Him, then the church has been misleading us for a long time. I want you to understand the weight of Luther's conviction. The Catholic Church was not just in Rome. This was a global movement at that time. Yet you have this one monk who came to the realization that the church was wrong. The Pope was wrong. Luther was making a stand against Christendom. Let that sink in. It was not just a stand against a little church where he lived. It was not just against the Pope or him taking that 95 thesis and nailing it to the church in Wittenberg. Luther was standing against mainline Christianity in the world at that day. That is conviction driven by scripture, committed to God, to Christ, and to the gospel. Immovable, willing to die conviction that what he saw in scripture was the final authority and if they take my life, I'll be willing to die for that. It's like somebody coming up with a view today that just goes against the grain of what we as evangelicals believe. You would not naturally want to follow him because hang on, that's not what we're believing, right? That's not norm for us. This is not what we've believed for many years. So for Luther to stick to his guns, to stick to his conviction was not something that was wound up within himself. This was God produced in the heart of a man that saw that something was wrong. Luther could not answer this question. How can I be right with God? And so we went to the Scriptures. Although the Catholic Church answered this question by saying, with human action, meritorious works, indulgences, and penance, he said, well, I don't see that in the pages of Scripture. Here's the problem. Luther was willing to die. Calvin was willing to die. Zwingli was willing to die. Blaurock was willing to die for the separation because they understood that the Catholic Church did not want to change their beliefs and therefore the Protestant movement broke away. What were they protesting? We forgot. This is what Luther had been taught, this is what he believed, this is what was prominent in the day, and he was willing to stand against mainline Christianity because his conviction was the scripture of God has the final say about how man can be made right with God. This doctrine of sola fide, Luther described as, and I quote, articulus, stantus, vel, condentus, ecclesia, in Latin, meaning, The article of faith upon which the church would stand or fall. It is that serious. But we have forgotten. We have forgotten the line that has been drawn. We have forgotten the break that has taken place. And now there is a movement from evangelicals and Protestants wanting to go back to Catholicism. This was the line that could never, ever be crossed again. The area where upon no ground should ever be given, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. This was the non-negotiable, because the very veracity of God, the gospel, and Jesus Christ depended upon it. So what's the big deal? Certainly we can disagree on some theological issues, but we can work together for the greater good, right? Can we? Should we sweep aside theology for the sake of a cultural issue? James Wise rightly asserts that historical blindness concerning this history possesses a present danger for the doctrine we profess and the faith that we claim. If we don't know why they protested, if we don't know why they broke away, if we don't believe that it was a necessary break and a separation then we have undermined the gospel. In other words, when we don't see the split between Rome and Protestantism as a necessary or inevitable outcome, then we are blind to what the major problem is in the world today. Why can't reformed evangelicals and Catholics join hands together? Ever heard of the United Prayer or Day of Prayer? I remember going to that and I was surprised by how many Muslims pitched up. How many Catholics and Anglicans were standing hand in hand. How many evangelicals, and I was there, were there. praying together with a Muslim and a Catholic and an Anglican and a Methodist, as if we all believe the same truth about Jesus Christ. There's a drift towards a united effort between Catholics and evangelicals. We have this seemingly noble movement that says, stop talking theology, just give me Jesus. Let's put away that which separates and let's work together for a noble cause. In 1994, evangelicals and Catholics together, ECT as it is known, joined hands over a deep concern for social concerns. They called unity amongst Christians over what they said was common grace issues, such as social problems, murder, injustice, poverty, abuse, and abortion. And I agree, all of those are bad and evil and wicked, and we should have an aversion to it. We should not be just saying, oh, you know what? It will all pan out eventually. Our souls should be disturbed by the abuse that we see. And we can agree on those things. But these Catholics and Evangelicals came together. Over what? A social concern. Even though they disagreed on the gospel. But in their statement of faith, they would say, we believe. We believe. We, Evangelicals and Catholics together, believe together the gospel. Do we? Do we believe the same gospel? Where's the focus? Not the truth, but the culture. In 2009, the Manhattan Declaration called Christians to unite for the sanctity of life and marriage and freedom of religion. But again, the gospel was not central. They said, we believe, all Christians believe the gospel. But at the heart of the issue was a social problem. Today, there's a global outcry against the past injustices, and churches from all over the show are coming together, banding together against social problems. Hence, you have the social gospel. But again, the gospel is not central. Even if you attach it on to the end, when you have anything added to the gospel, it is no longer the gospel. Again, the gospel has been swept under the carpet. Why? Why so many evangelicals leaving Protestant, Orthodox, Evangelicalism for Catholicism? Because today we don't see the problem. We are saying, and there are some Christians who say, well, Catholicism and Protestantism and Evangelicalism is just two sides of the same coin. We believe the same thing, so what's the big deal? Why make a bigger hype over it? Why don't we just love one another and forgive the past and just work together? There's so many social problems. I don't know if you noticed, but in every case, it is not the gospel that motivated the desire for a change in society. It was a social dilemma, a social problem. So you have people saying, well, we might not agree on theological issues, but we can work together for a social reformation. This is not the problem. The problem is that the gospel is no longer central in the churches of Jesus Christ. People want to leave evangelical churches for Catholic churches. Why? Why do they jump from one to another? Because there is no clear line of difference between what we believe any longer. Yet this, the gospel, was the very issue that caused the reformers to protest against Rome and the Pope. Not social issues. Understand that during Luther's time, there were a lot of poor. There was a lot of injustice done by the church and the government. Did they rise up and say, hang on, we need to change society? No. They saw the need, the primary need, was getting back to the gospel. The church today acts as if we are on the same side. But here's the greatest problem. See, man's greatest need is not a change in society or culture. Man's greatest problem is what Luther said, God is not on my side. That is man's greatest problem. This is the issue. This brought about great concern for Luther. How can I be made right with God and greatest of all, how is it that God cannot be angry with me? Here the line is drawn. If you're taking notes, I want to give you two aspects concerning sola fide. Two aspects, number one, We will look at the meaning of Sola Fide and that will be more of a theological overview of what Catholics believe and just at the end I will say what the Orthodox view ought to be. And then the meaning of Sola Fide. That will be a biblical defense of Sola Fide. So the meaning and then the means, sorry, the meaning and the means of Sola Fide. So let's give attention to the meaning of Sola Fide. Romans chapter 8, I want you to look at one line in verse 33, right at the end. It is God who justifies. And we will get there. But I want that to settle. It is God who justifies. There's tremendous theological implication within that line alone. There is one who justifies and there is another who is being justified. The fundamental misunderstanding when we speak about sola fide is what is meant by sola fide. Some would suggest that Protestant belief in faith alone is what separates Catholics from Protestants. The Catholics don't believe in being saved by means of faith. They actually do. They say that, oh, you are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. The only thing that they differ on is the alone part. Sola fide is by faith alone. Catholics would say by faith, but you might need something else. So Catholics would affirm that man is saved by faith. So what is the issue? Well it is in the understanding of what justification is. The problem arose with this Latin word which was translated in the Latin Vulgate as justificere. Justificere meant to be made righteous. to make righteous. It had to do with man becoming righteous. There's certain things that takes place in his life, and the net result of that is that he is now in a state of righteousness, seen by God as being pleased or pleasing. And then, only then can he be accepted. This led to the belief of infused righteousness. where it is the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is infused into the man and he becomes completely righteous. Infused righteousness changes a man on a moral level. So you work towards that, your sanctification eventually results in this infused righteousness. Personal righteousness takes place and at that point in time when that infused righteousness has taken place and the sinner is sanctified through the sacraments, he becomes righteous and only then God will declare him right with him. But in order for a person to be justified, he needs to be sanctified to the degree that God will be pleased with him. Do you see the difference here? The sanctification is a process. Justification is part of that process. And so as you are growing in your sanctification and going towards this infused righteousness, as you are growing in that aspect and giving and doing and fulfilling what the Catholics require, then at the end of time or the end of your life, God declares you to be right with Him. So let me sum up the Catholic view as this. It is a process achieved by means of sanctification and cooperation with God. So you are saved by means of your sanctification as you are working your way up to God and God works with you as he pronounces you to be righteous or just or no more separated from him. Now, if you fall into sin in your process of growing in your sanctification, so that's becoming justified. If you sin and you don't do enough, you end up in purgatory. So if you are growing now and sometime you commit mortal sin, and they call it mortal not because it kills the flesh, but it kills justification. So it kills your justification, you're standing with God, you end up in purgatory. And then all that has to restart. You have to work your way or stay out your time in purgatory until you are right with God. Now, your living members in this life can shorten your time in purgatory. They just throw another nickel into the plate. So Catholics believe that a person in possession of saving faith can lose his justification by means of mortal sin. The killing of justification. Therefore, there remains a second plank of justification. So God knew that we would sin, so he gives you a second opportunity to make right with him. Another opportunity to be restored. And this is how, and I quote, if you do penance, including contrition, confession, upholding the sacraments, through this, you can be sanctified and obtain justification, end quote. This is how, if you fail in this life, you can become right with God. There's a second aspect in which, sorry, not in this life, not post-mortem, this is living. If you fail and you kill your justification, you can come back and be justified by doing penance. Confessing your sin to the priest, upholding the sacraments. So the gospel brings you to the point of salvation. Then faith helps you on the pathway to salvation. And then your sanctification makes sure that you are finally saved if you are righteous. So you have to become righteous in order to be finally saved. Now if you don't understand a word that I've just said, if that is absolutely confusing, it's okay, it's confusing to me as well. Faith is required, but that's not all. Faith is part of the process, but it's not all. The one thing that I want you to remember which differs our belief, Orthodox believers as Catholic believers, belief is a justification, to them is a process. We don't believe that. You will never be able to do enough, to work enough, to give enough, to be right with God. But the Catholic Church had such a strong aversion to the protest of the Protestants that in the Council of Trent, number one, Council of Trent, They wrote, and I quote, if anyone believes in justification by faith alone, let him be anathema, end quote. That's Paul's words, right? Letting him be anathema, when Paul says, if anybody comes to you with another gospel, they stole it from the Bible, and they said, if anybody believes in sola fide, by faith alone, they are cursed. They took a strong stance against the reformers. You know what? They've never changed their view. It is still the same today. So let me ask you, can we stand together? Are we together? Do we believe the same thing when they say we believe the gospel of Jesus Christ? No, we don't. If the very heart of the gospel is ripped out and swept under the carpet for the sake of a social concern, how can I, in good conscience, join my hand to a Catholic and say, we believe the same thing, we fight for the same thing, because we don't. I'm willing to die for the cause of Jesus Christ, but I'm not willing to die with a Catholic for the cause of Jesus Christ, because we don't believe the same thing. When evangelicals do that, They subvert the gospel of Jesus Christ to nothing more as another issue, a theological point that we just need to overlook. To Luther, the doctrine of justification was the cornerstone of the church. Calvin called it, and I quote, the hinge upon which everything turns, end quote. This is it, believers. This is where we draw the line. Why? Because justification deals with the gospel. Justification deals with God. And I will point that out in just a moment's time. So what then is justification? And I will merely mention this here and then get back to it in my next point. Justification is a legal term. It's not a process. It's a term that describes a legal action. It relates to God as judge. It is a declaration and it is not dependent in any way upon human actions, but upon God's free grace. Instead of making a person righteous, justification has to do with declaring a sinner righteous. See the difference? You are not made righteous, but you are declared to be righteous. For now, that's all you need to know. It is God who pardons and accepts the sinner on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, received by grace through faith alone in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. Now let's consider, what is the means of sola fide? Back to Romans chapter eight. How can man be made right with God? Verse 31. What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Justification is a judicial act, but this act cannot be done apart from the work of Christ. I want you to remember that. I want to stress the importance of the conjoining together of sola fide and sola Christus. They are one and the same. Without Christ you've got no sola fide. So Sola Fide is part and parcel of Sola Christus. So let me state it this way, Sola Fide is predicated or founded upon the doctrine of Sola Christus, Christ alone. God justifies through the substitution, the redemptive, reconciling work of Christ, the righteous one alone. No other way. His declarative act is mediated through Christ. So here then is the weight of the reality. If God does not justify by means of the righteousness of Christ, if he does it by another means, we have it wrong. That means you need to be starting to work your way to God. That means we need to become righteous in order for us to be pleased before God. However, the reality is that the Bible is absolutely clear how God justifies. In fact, it tells us at the end of verse 33 that it is God who justifies. A plain and simple reading of scripture absolutely shatters the Catholic view of justification by means of faith and works. So what shall we say to these things? What things? Everything that has gone before. What has He mentioned before? Well, God holds man accountable for his sin. God holds man accountable for the revelation that He has given to man in creation. That sin will lead to death. And that man has exchanged the glory of God for the creature. that all creatures will receive the vengeance of the Almighty God, a penalty due upon them for their rejection of God, their rebellion against His law, and their hatred of righteousness. Guilty in Adam we all are. Wicked, depraved, afflicted by sin in our souls. There's a great gulf, Romans 1-6. There's a huge gulf. guilty in Adam. On the one hand, you have a holy, righteous God. On the other hand, you have a sinner screaming blasphemous venom at this holy God. In other words, we are not at peace. God is not our buddy. God is not on our side. You say, well, it's not so bad. I mean, I think you're going a bit over the top there. Listen now, our greatest problem is not our social climate. Our greatest problem is that God is not for us. That is the problem. But notice what he says in verse 31. What shall we say to these things? Everything that has gone before and now it culminated in the gospel in chapter 8. And what do we know about chapter 8? What is the most favorite verse in Romans 8? Verse 28. And we know that all things work together for the good to those who love God and who are... Nobody remembers the last part. Who are called according to His purpose. You know what Romans 8 is about? It's about the gospel. In fact, go back to it. Romans 8, 28, look at the end. For those who are called according to His purpose, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also what? Glorified. That is the gospel. This is God's work. That's the point. So when we talk about Romans 8.28, it is not God's work for your good in this life alone. It is not just that He's got a good plan for you. It is not just that it doesn't matter how bad your problem is, it is going to work out. usually what we think. That is not the point. Romans 8 28 is that the good that God has in mind is our glorification. The good that God has in mind is our salvation, our election, our predestination in Christ for our glorification because in that God is glorified and that is our greatest good. So it is not just about the good that God will have done. So Paul says, what shall we say to all these things? Everything that is done and it demonstrates that God is now for us. Something has changed. How is it that God is for us? Go to chapter 5 verse 1. How can God be on our side? Paul answers this question in 5 verse 1, he says, Therefore, since we have been, what? Justified by faith and, is there any and there? No, it says, therefore having been justified by faith, we have, what? Peace with God. God, it's not peace of God, that's something different. We have peace with God. Chapter 8, verse 31. How is it that God is for us? It is this verse that answers that question. We have been justified by faith and because justification is a work of God, God had to do something to take man away from that vengeance, the side where he's going to pour his wrath out and put him on the right side so that God can say, I am with you. But notice what he says in verse one of chapter five. Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God, how? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. What did I say? Sola fide is never apart from sola Christes. It is always conjoined. They are like twins. Twins will know exactly what that means. They're like chickens, they're always running off to each other, never apart. Don't miss this. Justification is linked to Jesus Christ. Why? Because He is perfect righteousness. Let me say it this way. If you want to keep the law, you need to keep it perfectly. Remember what James says? If you fail in one aspect, you fail the whole law. So if you want to keep the law and you want to be saved by means of the law, you've got to be perfect. But we know we could never do that. But if it is justification by faith alone, it is based on a perfect righteousness which we don't have. Luther says, and I quote, a Christian is beloved of God and a sinner. Two things at the same time, which doesn't sit right with him. How can these contradictions be harmonized? I'm a sinner and deserve God's wrath and punishment, yet the Father loves me. How is it that God is on my side? Well, it is because of Jesus Christ. You see why Sola Fide is so important? Because Jesus' death secures and procures for you an eternal salvation and peace with God. doing things, keeping the Lord, doing stuff, pleasing God is never, ever, ever gonna be enough. You need something else outside of yourself. Luther called it the extra nos, an external thing. Outside of us is required, and it's the righteousness of Jesus Christ. See, justification by faith alone is never apart from the person and work of Jesus Christ. Now this phrase in chapter eight, if God is for us, who can be against us? Something changed. Do you see it? God is no longer against us. He is for us. He is for us. That is the beauty of the gospel, beloved. He's no longer angry with us, but he loves us and he's called us to his side and he is for us. God is on my side. Think about this. This is a legal act. Justification has to do with God's legal transaction. Now, this is a court case, and just imagine this. On one side, you have the great holy judge, and then you have yourself or me as a sinner. So God pronounces judgment on us, and we are guilty. We should all be consumed in His wrath. But something's changed and Paul says, what shall we say to these things? If God is for us. So imagine this, God is no longer on the side of the one who gives the judgment. Where is he? He's on our side. He's come off the podium of judgment and he came to stand on my side. You get the picture. So who then is on that judgment seat? In fact, that is what Paul's question is. Who can be against us? Who is there to raise any more judgment if God is on the side? What is the answer? No one. Wow. That is the beauty of the gospel. Here's one thing that I think we sometimes miss. This is what the gospel is about. Something drastic had to happen in order for God to step off His judgment seat and come stand next to me and make me right with Him. Right? Something drastic had to happen. Because the Bible demonstrates God as being a God who is not only holy, is not only righteous, is not only loving, is not only just, but He's a God that is angry. Ever heard of the sermon, A Sinner's in the Hands of an Angry God? I encourage you to strengthen your heart and go listen to it or read it. You will be changed. Keep your hand in Romans chapter 8. Go to Leviticus chapter 20. There is something we as evangelicals are afraid to say. And so we make a cop-out statement that God hates the sinner but loves, God hates the sin but loves the sinner. Right, so we are afraid to say that God hates the sinner, but we'll say He'll hate the sin. How is that any different? Who's the one committing the sin? The sinner, right? Look at Leviticus chapter 20, 23. We're going to go through a few verses and I want to demonstrate the theology that God has anger. Verse 23. And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, For they did all these things, and therefore I, you know what that word is, detest, hate them. They do wicked things, and therefore I hate them. That's reading into it. Look at Psalm 5 verse 5. You don't believe me, right? Look at Psalm 5 verse 5. Speaking. How clear is that? You don't take pleasure in it, and evil can never be found with you. You, what? How clear is that? You hate all evil doers. Hang on. No, no, no, no. God loves the sinner, right? He loves the sinner, but He hates the sin. I don't know about you, but that clearly says that God hates evil doers. Look at Psalm 11. I could go through a number of verses. I'll just give you these few. Psalm 11, verse 5. I'm going to read from verse four. The Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord's throne is in the heaven. His eyes see, His eyelids test the children of man. The Lord tests the righteous. But His soul, the Lord's soul, hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Well, there you go. God hates the sin, but He also hates the sinner. So something has to change for God to go from a God whose vengeance is towards the sinner, whose anger is aimed towards the sinner. He's a God who is filled with wrath and something has to change for God to go from that to being on our side. This is a theology that is almost swept underfoot because we are so afraid to say that God hates sin and sinners alike. He does. He hated us because we rebelled against Him. So what do you do with John 3.16? For God, so what? What does it say? John 3.16, God so loved the world that He gave, that He gave. God's wrath, untamed by the coming of the Son, will obliterate us as sinners. So something drastic had to happen. God had to come in the flesh in order for God to take the full brunt of his vengeance on sin and sinners alike. And for that reason, because Jesus is the perfect righteousness, he therefore becomes the shield. He is the one that absorbed the wrath of God so that we do not have to. Why? Because we cannot. Revelation chapter 20 verse 11 says that God consumes sin and sinners alike in the lake of fire. So, if that didn't wake you up, I don't know what will. Paul tells us exactly what has taken place. How is it that God is now no longer against us? Verse 1 of Romans 8. You all know this. There is therefore now what? No condemnation. Again, we have a legal term. There is now no more judgment, no condemnation. But notice what he says after this, for those who are in Christ, see the judgment of God, the throne is still there, the courtroom is still there, but for those who are in Christ, he has come off the bench and he's come to stand right next to them so that he is no longer the one who lays judgment on them. There is no one who can bring any judgment upon the people of God, no longer under judgment. Verse 2, What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is left on the other side to stand against us? No one! What a gospel! Now how does Paul prove this? Look at verse 32. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give all things? Who shall bring? any charge, again an illegal term, against God's elect. What is the answer? No one. Why? Ye is it. It is God who justifies. That is why That is the answer why there is no longer condemnation. You see, if it was you by your own works, if it was you by your own meritorious effort, if it was you through sacraments, if it was you through the law, it had to be you, perfectly you. But we cannot be perfectly us, so God has to justify. How does He do it? Verse 32, He gave His Son up for us. Without that, there is no justification. We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Do you see the link? We are counted as righteous before God by virtue of our union with Jesus Christ. The righteousness of God is ours by virtue of the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is something that theologians call the imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It's where God takes the righteousness of Christ and transfers it to the sinner. He takes the sin of the sinner and transfers it to Christ. Christ fully absorbs the sin. and at the same time absorbs the judgment of God upon that sin while transferring his righteousness to the sinner so that the sinner is not judged ever again for the sin and his rebellion and his hatred of God. He's clean, he's clear, he's declared right with God. That is what justification is. This is the gospel. So when we say sola fide, when we say sola Christus, we say that it is God who sovereignly, freely works on our behalf, saving us not only through the work of Jesus Christ, but declaring us right with Him for eternity. So 34, who is to condemn? What remains? Who else can come and make a charge against God's people? The answer is no one. No one. Why? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us again. It is not apart from the work of Jesus Christ. This is the gospel. When Luther came to this realization, he said, it is as if I was born again. The lights went on. Ever had that experience? You feel fresh, you feel renewed. Why? Because you understand that it was never because of your works, because of your effort, because of anything that you did. It's all of God. This is what we call monogism. All of God. We cannot afford to drop the burden of the doctrine of Sola Fide. You take faith by loan in Christ alone, and you remove it, or you add to it, you have no gospel. God alone justifies by faith alone in Christ alone. I need to end. Look at verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword, as it is written, for your sake we are being killed all day long, we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Now in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Why do we have this ending? Why does Paul add this to a discussion on justification? Well, the question is who? Some translations would say, what shall separate us from the love of Christ? What is able to remove us? The reality is that there is tribulation, there is distress, there is persecution, there is famine, there is nakedness, there is danger, there is sword. The reality is that we are dying. That is what he says in verse 36. We are being killed. We are being slaughtered. So how is it then that we can still hold to this? Paul is trying to point out the eternality, the security of your salvation, because it is not by your own works. Because if it is by your own works and you are being killed for it, you are dying for no cause. But because it is God who justifies, you remain justified forever. So it doesn't matter what happens, persecution, distress, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, even though we are being killed, it never will ever remove us from our union with Christ. 38, for I am sure that neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation. How much more clear can you be? Your salvation is secure not because of what you have done. Your salvation is secure because of what God has done. Nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. That is the whole point. This whole discussion is about our justification. It is not about, oh, you can go through suffering and trials and, you know, you will always be in the love of God. No, it's not about that. It's about the eternality of your soul salvation that God has wrought by means of justification. And then he goes on to illustrate it in chapter 9. Yeah, there's so much, I'm not gonna be able to finish this. Let me end on this. When we add works to Christ, we nullify His sacrifice. When we say that we can be sanctified and justified by means of the keeping of the law, we make the work of Christ immune. We nullify it. Any work added to justification destroys the work of God in justification. Any work added to justification nullifies the work of God in justification. The Westminster Confession of Faith has this to say concerning justification, and I quote, and by accounting them and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone, nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness, But by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves, it is a gift of God. Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness is the alone instrument of justification, yet it is not faith alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces and is no dead faith, but worketh by love." It's not by anything we do. It is God's work. It is God who justifies. Father, nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross we cling.