The Unchanging Truth

Guest (Male): Welcome to the unchanging truth, the verse by verse Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Jared Gilcher, lead pastor of Christ Community Bible Church in Arlington, Texas. Through the living and active word of God, the unchanging truth exists to encourage your soul, transform your life, and help you trust and treasure Christ as redeemer, savior, and king. Now, opening the scriptures and proclaiming the truth that never changes, here is Dr. Jared Gilcher.

Dr. Jerod Gilcher: Well, you and I both know that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, right? Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We we get that, we know that, and we love that. And here's the thing about that, is that grace alone we totally get. Christ alone we totally affirm, and we love that. The question is, why does it have to be by faith alone? Why does it have to be by faith? Did you ever wonder that? I mean, we know we know the Bible makes a really really big deal about faith alone.

The question is why? Why does it have to be by faith? I mean, is that just God's preference? I mean, is is it that it could be by works, but God just prefers that it's by faith? Is there some law in the universe, some universal, inviolable law that makes it that it has to be by faith and not by works? And the answer is yes. But the Bible makes a really big deal about faith, and we have to get to the bottom of why. And if you don't mind, I'm going to give you the answer right now, and then we're going to see from Paul where we get that answer.

But here is the reason why faith matters. Listen carefully. Faith matters because the empty, trembling hands of faith protect the grace and glory of God. That's why. Faith preserves the grace and glory of God. In other words, if salvation is not by faith and faith alone, God ceases to be glorious. And he ceases to be God. That's exactly where we're going this morning. Sola fide, faith alone. It has to be by faith or every soul goes to hell. It has to be by faith or grace ceases to be grace. It has to be by faith or God doesn't get the glory.

It has to be by faith or Jesus died in vain. And see, that's the point of Paul. From the end of chapter 3 all the way to the end to the of chapter 4, namely sola fide, faith alone, it has to be by faith. And and the reason why Paul does this, the reason why he unpacks the the meaning of faith and and all of its massive implications is because faith alone is at the very heart of the gospel. It is. And you see, teaching the gospel, instruction is in the gospel is exactly why Paul wrote the letter to the Romans in the first place, that they would be fluent in the gospel, that they would be familiar with the gospel, that they would be more effective in the proclamation of the gospel.

And 2,000 years later is it it is exactly the same for us, church. We must master the gospel, or should I say we must be mastered by the gospel. That we would know it, that we would love it, that we would preach it with power. You have to understand is that God has given to us, the church, the ministry of reconciliation. Do you know what that means? It means that sinners get reconciled to God through the gospel that comes through our mouths. That we are the means that those who will be there in the kingdom will be there through the means and witness of the church, which means we have got to get the gospel right, which also means we have got to get faith right.

Which is why the title of the sermon is sola fide, faith alone. The stake in the heart of foolish pride. You remember the sola fide that was a the battle cry of the Reformation, right? And and and and what it means is faith alone. And what it means is faith plus nothing equals justification. Faith in Christ and not a single work of merit results in salvation, which means getting faith right is of utmost absolute importance. Because I'll have you know that like everything else in the Christian life that we hold dear, faith alone is under attack.

You may be you maybe you know this that many today are moving away from authentic Christianity and they are moving towards Roman Catholicism precisely because they hear things like this and they believe it. This is from a Catholic writer. With his doctrine of justification by faith, Martin Luther brought in a new kind of Christianity unlike anything that had gone before. And the most drastic consequences followed. Popular Protestantism urges the individual to believe in Christ and be saved. No intermediaries, no priests, no sacraments or saints were needed as if Christ had done all, and the Christian had to do nothing toward his own salvation.

And that is the very basis of hypocrisy. That is so wrong. And evil and deceptive and eternally catastrophic. The the question is did you know did you know that faith alone separates the halves from the have nots? Those who have salvation from those who don't. Did you understand what faith is and why faith matters? And do you see that if salvation is not by faith alone, everybody dies in sin and God ceases to be God? Those are the stakes. So, here we go. These are in your notes. Either way, this is where we're going. I want you to see five reasons, five reasons why faith alone is essential to the gospel, God's glory, and our gladness in God.

I'll say it again. Five reasons why faith alone is essential to the gospel, to God's glory, and to our gladness in God. And we'll take the text that Michael just read in two different parts. Part one, I call the implication of justification. The implication of justification, which is the futility of boasting. The futility of boasting. Cuz you remember that from chapter 3 verse 21 all the way to the end of chapter 4 justification is the topic on the table. And that is a massive deal, like an absolute deal breaker, because you remember what justification is, don't you?

It is where a sinner is counted righteous in Christ, where we are declared righteous by faith in Christ alone. That where as in a court of law, the perfect righteous record of Christ is transferred to us, and now the father sees us with the very righteousness of his son. That is justification. And the reason that matters, the reason why that means everything is because we were at one time hopelessly condemned, weren't we? We were guilty and vile and blind and dead and damned and deceived in the cosmic court of the king. Feel this. We were officially and judicially and cosmically condemned.

And here's the thing about that. The the filthy rags of righteous deeds were never going to cut it. No good works of any kind could ever repair the guilt of sin. We were internally corrupt and defiled by sin. We were legally condemned and guilty for sin. And yet, God be praised. God made a way. God made a way to find sinners not guilty without dropping the charges. That he made a way to righteously punish sin and pardon guilty sinners all at the same time. Namely through faith in Christ, the righteous one. And when we trusted in him, when we trusted in the righteous and sinless son of God, the perfect, flawless, righteous record of the son was then imputed and transferred to us.

And now the father sees us with the very righteousness of his son. That is justification. And that's crazy. That that that doesn't make sense, right? Be because how how how can God pretend that we are righteous when the opposite is true? I mean, it just feels like we're making it up. It feels like a fiction, like it's where it's monopoly money. And and and furthermore, how does the righteous record of another person, namely Christ, get transferred to our account and we be declared righteous? It doesn't make sense, but it does make sense. Because chapter 3 21 through 26, this is all review.

21 through 23 explains it was the cross, right? The sin bearing, sacrificial slaughter of the son is the way, the only way to be counted as righteous. I I've said it before that God didn't wave a magic wand and just declare us righteous. This wasn't some kind of tax fraud that God willingly went along with and pretended like we were righteous, pretended like the debt was paid. No, the debt was paid. The wrath was appeased. The ransom was offered. The guilt was cleared. And here we are this morning fully reconciled to God. That's verses 21 through 26.

And what that does, what that does, you understand, is it raises the question, why does it have to be by faith? Salvation. Why why by faith? Why can't it also be by works? What's at stake if it's only by faith? And you see, we should care about this. Paul wants us to care about this. And so from here all the way to the end of chapter 4, faith alone is what's cooking in the pan. And so beginning at verse 27, look at the text. Where therefore is boasting? It is excluded through what kind of law?

A law of works? No, but through a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law or is is God the God of Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, also of Gentiles. Since indeed the God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that faith is one. Are we abolishing the law therefore by faith? May it never be. But on the contrary, we are establishing the law. Couple of things I want you to notice. First, almost everything Paul says here is in the form of a question.

Did you notice that? And you'll notice their tense, their rapid fire, their passionate. And every single one of those questions is answered by Paul himself. And second, you need to see that every question is rhetorical. Meaning there's no room for debate here. And it also means that Paul is in a debate in this text. Not with the Romans, but with a hypothetical Jew who's not a believer, but who thinks he's faithful to Judaism. Do you see? You you understand the Jewish person that Paul's debating with, talking to, he isn't actually there. But Paul has had this conversation a thousand times in his life.

And what he does is he includes a part of that conversation here in the text for the clarity of the gospel. Because here's the thing about the Jews in Paul's day, and frankly in our day as well, is that the Jews in Paul's day, they did not understand grace, they did not understand faith or the law or works, which means they did not understand the gospel. See, in in Paul's day many Jews believed that faith alone was foreign to the Bible. That works had to play a part in earning salvation and getting someone saved. And and here's the thing.

Paul also knows knows that for the church, for us, faith can feel a little ambiguous, right? And that the human heart is always bent towards pride and that we somehow think that we can earn or merit salvation. In other words, we are all born, every single one of us, legalists. And therefore Paul puts that conversation here to clarify the gospel. Because at the heart of the gospel is faith alone. And so six six urgent questions in light of justification by faith. Question one, verse 27. Where therefore is boasting? Who could boast? Who could brag? I mean, if we if we really understood what sin is, who we were, where we were headed, and all that God has done in Christ to save us from destruction, who could boast?

Do you see? Think about it. Name one. Name one aspect of your salvation that you have a right to say I did that. I accomplished that. I achieved that. And therefore God, even at some infinitesimal level, owed me salvation. Can you think of any? That's Paul's point. Who can boast? I mean, you have to understand even the very faith with which we placed in Christ to get saved, even that faith was a gift of sovereign grace itself. Every part of our salvation is owing entirely to God's sovereign initiative and choice. We were chosen before time.

We were purchased by Christ. We were awakened by grace. We persevere by his power. Therefore in answer to the question, who can boast? What is Paul's answer? It is excluded. It is ruled out. It's impossible. It's unthinkable. It's irrational. It doesn't make sense. And we know this, we believe this that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone. The question is why? Which leads to questions 2 and 3 verse 27. Boasting is excluded. How? Through what kind of law? A law of works? No, but by a law of faith. And there are the questions.

And you see the logic of the text, right? If boasting in ourselves is impossible, and it is, then the question is how? What kind of law? What kind of system, salvation system obliterates boasting and shows it to be ridiculous? In other words, hang with me. What is a way that people could be saved that would rule out the possibility of boasting? That's question number two. Through what sort of law? But then question three. Through a law of works. Will that do it? Meaning in some hypothetical world, would a if sinners could somehow be saved by their works, would that rule out boasting and pride?

Or would a law of works create boasting and pride? And that is exactly what it would do. A system of works doesn't lead to humble sinners exalting God alone, but instead to boasting and pride and glory in the self. Do you know why? Because at the end of the day, no matter how you cut it, salvation by works means you get partial credit that you were good enough, that you were better than others, that you did what others could not. And even worse than that, that God was willing to take a bribe and share his glory with another, which is why Paul says in verse 27, no.

No, that doesn't work. A system of works always leads to pride. A system of works always robs God's glory. A system of works only leads to hell forever. That's why it has to be by faith, sola fide, faith alone. And and I I just want you to know, and I and I know you know this, that that we are in the minority here. What I mean is every other faith or system in the world world always adds works to faith. Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Roman Catholicism, even Buddhism. All of it built on a system of merit where you earn eternal life and it doesn't work.

And there are five reasons why why salvation by works is utterly impossible. They're in your notes. Five reasons why. Number one, number one. The sin stained works of human effort are powerless to make you right with God. Works before we're saved don't have the leverage. They they don't have the buying power to to redeem your soul or appease God's wrath. I've said it before, even the best deeds done by an unbeliever are still so polluted by sin that they are acts of rebellion worthy of judgment. And therefore therefore salvation by works is impossible. The conversation's over.

And yet, number two, number two, get this. Should God allow himself to be bribed by the sinful works of evil men, he would profane his glory. He would. You know why? Because he would show how cheaply he could be bought. Really? A few good works that repairs the damage done to the glory of God. A few good deeds. Those are enough to satisfy the righteousness of God. By no means the payment for sin is an infinite payment. And therefore God alone could pay the fee. Number three. Salvation by works actually puts God in debt to the sinner.

It puts sinful man in the place of power even over God himself, which Job 41 and Romans 11 says is absolutely out of the question. God is under obligation to save no one, which is what grace is, which leads to number four. Salvation by works completely destroys the grace of God. It does. It obliterates grace. It nullifies grace. It cancels grace. Put it like this. One single work added to the pile of grace makes grace no longer grace. Romans 11 verse 6. And number five, here it is. Salvation by works gives sinful men the opportunity to boast in themselves.

And thus God must share his glory with another, which Isaiah 42 8 and 48 11 says is never going to happen. And so you see what's at stake, don't you? If sinners are saved by or attempt to be saved by anything other than faith and faith alone, God ceases to be glorious. He ceases to be God. And every soul goes to hell forever. That's what's at stake. It's got to be by faith. And my question for you this morning is is that what you also believe? To to which to which law do you submit, beloved?

A law of works where you trust in your merit or a law of faith where you trust in Christ alone? Let me ask you this. Did you ever come did you ever come to the point in your life where you saw that the only contribution you could make to your own salvation were the sins that needed to be forgiven? Or do you still hold at some possible level that you are saved in part by your works? Because you need to know that if you try to add works to your faith, you endanger your soul forever.

The entire reason why the the letter to the Galatians exists is to prevent people from doing that very thing. Which is why Paul says what he does in verse 28. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. There it is again, justification by faith counted righteous in Christ. The righteous, perfect, flawless, faultless record of the son imputed to us. Counted righteous in the son. You understand there's there's no such thing as a hybrid justification. There's no such thing as a salvation participation award, which I hate by the way.

Participation awards, really? You ever get one of those? I basically got that in high school when I got, you know, voted a hardest worker on the baseball team, which means you're not any good, but at least you work hard. So, thanks for showing up. Don't know what that means. I threw that trophy away, by the way.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for the unchanging truth, the verse by verse Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Jared Gilcher and Christ Community Bible Church in Arlington, Texas. At Christ Community Bible Church, we exist to praise, portray, and proclaim the supremacy of Christ as we trust in his word and wait for his return. We hope today's teaching has encouraged your soul and helped you trust and treasure Christ as your redeemer, savior, and king. If you're in the DFW area and looking for a church home, join us for worship Sunday mornings at 10:30. To learn more about the mission of the church, meet the pastoral staff, or plan a visit, go to ccbiblechurch.com.

You'll find ministry services and additional teachings there as well. Just click on the resources tab to get started. That's ccbiblechurch.com. Join us again next time as we open the scriptures together and proclaim the truth that never changes. This has been the unchanging truth.