Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Last week we looked at the importance of standing on Scripture alone as the foundation for all that we do in the church

It is important that we search the Scriptures and handle them rightly to understand what God has given to us

We should be like the Bereans in Acts 17

This week we’re going to look at the second pillar of the Reformation - the next building block on the idea of what we are doing here

Grace alone - we are going to see that all of Scripture points us to the idea of grace alone....

Let’s dig in

Pray

Grace in the 1500’s

There was a theology of grace taught - while it may seem to be the same as our grace today it is different

“Not because of our merits,” he explained; salvation is “given out of the pure mercy of the promising God.”

This doesn’t sound all that bad

Isn’t this exactly what we teach?

Unlike “faith alone”, “grace alone” as a simple phrase is unlikely to provoke much controversy among anyone who claims the name Christian

But this is not the extent of their teaching on grace

Hence the teachers correctly say that to a man who does what is in him God gives grace without fail.  .  .  .

[God] bestows everything gratis and only on the basis of the promise of his mercy, although he wants us to be prepared for this as much as lies in us.

“God will not deny grace to those who do their best.”

This is the difference between imputed and infused

Pre-reformational grace said you do everything you can - and when you’re at the end of your efforts God will make up the difference with His grace

Like a spiritual shot of 5 hour energy

There is no assurance available for the believer - when have I done enough to merit grace?

How do I know?

Have I done enough today to merit grace?

Have I kept the law well enough?

Can I say what Paul says in Philippians 3?

Or Luther said of himself?

It’s true.

I was a good monk and kept my order so strictly that I could say that if ever a monk could get to heaven through monastic discipline, I should have entered in.

All my companions in the monastery who knew me would bear me out in this.

For if it had gone on much longer, I would have martyred myself to death, what with vigils, prayers, readings, and other works.  .  .  .

And yet my conscience would not give me certainty, but I always doubted and said, “You didn’t do that right.

You weren’t contrite enough.

You left that out of your confession.”

The more I tried to remedy an uncertain, weak and troubled conscience with human traditions, the more daily I found it more uncertain, weaker and more troubled.

That’s the idea of infused grace - and it is one that is still taught

What Luther began to understand and to teach from Scripture was imputed grace

It meant that, instead of looking to God for assistance and then ultimately relying on himself, Luther was turning to rely entirely on Christ,

This was perhaps the Reformations single most important experiential insight into the Christian faith

What does the Bible teach about Grace?

Grace in the Old Testament

Jonah - the entire book is about grace

Jonah 1 - Jonah flees from God’s command

Jonah 2 - Jonah prays for grace

Jonah 3 - Repentance is preached to the Ninevites

Jonah 4 - Jonah pouts

Grace in the New Testament

Grace is not God giving wholesome advice or a helping hand.

It is God raising someone from the dead, first Christ and then those who are in Christ

We cannot truly understand the beauty of grace until we grasp the raw violence of sin

Sin is violent, lethal rebellion against God; and biblical grace is God’s violent, raw, and bloody response

When we sin we proclaim that God is dead to us - we refuse to follow His laws

This is the great offense of the story of the prodigal son - that we have decided that God is dead and that we want our own ways

But that story also demonstrates the beauty of grace

The father running to the son to forestall what should have happened

Pot breaking

When we sin we proclaim our own death sentence - Romans 6:23

We see the violent response of God in the covering of sin right from the very beginning

God did not look at Adam and Eve’s attempts at covering their sins with leaves and say “oh so good but you need a stitch here or a tuck there....now that looks better”

He killed an animal, skinned it and draped the bloody carcass over them - think about that visual

It is an image of the blood of Christ being laid over us

Christ purchased this grace at a cost to which we cannot attach a price but at which we can only marvel in terrified awe....

Now that it has appeared, been perverted and rescued in the 16th century - what are we doing with grace?

Grace in the 21st Century

Cheap Grace

“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession...Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

This is taught by people like Joseph Prince - preaching repentance in the area of consciousness of sins is nothing more than dishonoring the work of Jesus

Romans 7

Free Grace

It’s all good - I’m saved I can do what ever I want

Carnal Christianity

This is also seen to a degree in some who say they have freedom in Christ to drink, smoke etc. because they are under grace

Limited Grace

It’s only for me and not for these other people - so I’ll keep it to myself

Deathbed confessions

The grace exhibited in Jonah

The grace demonstrated in the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector

Infused Grace

Imputed Grace

Conclusion