Happy Reformation Day!

Today we celebrate and remember the work that God began during the Reformation through Luther’s nailing of the 95 Theses on October 31, 1517. Since we rightly celebrate the Reformation by affirming the Five Solas, here are five sermons that capture those glorious themes.

For Scripture Alone, read The Authority of Scripture.

If we want to know Christ more and walk more like Him, we must give our time and attention to His Word. It is simply not enough to profess the Scriptures as our ultimate authority; we must also submit to them by knowing them and obeying them. We must be a people who like the psalmist who composed Psalm 119 find our very life bound up to God’s Word.

For Grace Alone, read By Grace You Have Been Saved.

We have contributed nothing to our salvation. Our being in Christ, raised with Him into the heavenly places to receive every spiritual blessing, is not a result of works. We have nothing in ourselves to boast about. Just as Lazarus had no part in bringing himself back to life, so too is our being alive with Christ a unilateral work of God, which theologians call monergism. Our salvation is not synchronistic, where we collaborate with God to be saved (that view is called synergism). We contribute nothing and deserve no boast or praise. Salvation is purely an act of grace from God the Father, worked by Christ the Son, and applied by the Holy Spirit.

For Faith Alone, read Shield of Faith.

God is not subservient to faith; rather, He is the object of our faith. Faith, after all, is only as good as its object. I may have the greatest and most sincere faith that an origami chair will support my weight. Sincerity, however, cannot change reality. Conversely, the most skeptical and hesitant of faith is sufficient for sitting down in an actual chair, so long as one actually sits down. This is the beauty of saving faith in the gospel! How much faith is needed to be saved? Only enough to truly cling to Christ! A mustard grain size of faith may cast a mountain into the sea, but far more importantly it may hold fast to the Savior who renews our hearts and regenerates our souls. 

For Christ Alone, read God the Son.

The glory of this gospel is only magnified when we understand that God is not merely restoring us back to Eden, He is making things even better. In the garden, we were God’s stewards over the earth, His image. But now, in Christ, we are adopted as sons and daughters of God. God is not only the Father of Jesus the Son; He is also now our Father, since we have been made into co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). This, in no way, negates the truth of Jesus being God’s only Son, since He is still the only begotten Son. We, instead, are adopted, brought into God’s family, chosen by the Father before time began.

For God’s Glory Alone, read Adopted in Christ.

Glorifying God is our highest purpose. It must be the great goal of our life. And why would we not long to give the proper honor to the One who has so exalted us above what we deserved? How can we meditate for any length of time upon our adoption through Christ without bursting into praise for our heavenly Father?