Solus Christus #1

Why is it solus Christus why is Christ alone. The one who can provide the necessary path of salvation for us to points is the person of Christ, and it is the work of Christ because we are saved by faith, not by works.

It's vital that faith be placed in one only person it should be in Christ alone solus Christus that's the fourth of the five solos of the Reformation, Pastor John Green is currently taking us through your the truth pulp as he continues teaching God's people. God's word hello again, I built right and on the heart of Scripture, grace and faith is in fact Jesus Christ that's definitely the case. Bill, you know, friend. There is no sweeter name under heaven than the Lord Jesus Christ because he is the one who loved our souls. He's the one who gave himself up for us and be special for another reason. He is the only one who can save any sinner anywhere in the world from their sins and from eternal damnation. It is Christ alone. That saves a man that's going to be the blessed consideration of our broadcast today, and next time as you stay with us on the truthful okay.and Fred have your Bible (as we join Don green now in the truthful. Now just by way of reminder, starting with the very basic things. Salvation spiritual deliverance from sin is necessary for every man woman and child because men are separated from God by their sin by nature and by choice. Mankind is a sinful rebel against God. He is not pleasing to God in his own right. It is not true to say that that all men everywhere are children of God in the precise sense of belonging to him and being secure in his salvation to the contrary, Scripture tells us that apart from Jesus Christ, all men everywhere are under God's wrath that they are on the receiving end of his displeasure in this life and if they die in that state.

They will face the eternal fury of the wrath of God for their sin and rebellion against him. In John chapter 3 verse 36 it says that he who believes in the son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. You see in that verse and in others that we will look at the exclusivity of Christ that there is no other Savior, you must believe in the son to have eternal life. The one who does not do that and manifest his unbelief by his disobedience to Christ without exception, the wrath of God abides on him. And so one of the implications that this has for our souls and our attitudes toward God. Is it that this teaches us not to trifle with Christ. This teaches us to take him seriously to take him earnestly to hear what he has to say with willing and submissive ears because he is the only one who can save us. We cannot wash away our own sense, we cannot reach God any more than we could take a running jump in and traverse the width of the Grand Canyon on our own human power. It would be you would sooner jump the Grand Canyon with your feet. Then you would get to heaven on your own merit and efforts you would sooner jump across an ocean than you would jump the golf that exists between you and God you say, but that's impossible. No one can do that no one can jump that far, to which we say precisely that's the point.

It is an impossibility. It is impossible for a man to reach God on his own to reach God through his own inner intuition to reach God through his own righteousness. There is no such thing and there never will be. And so for us as we come together more and more as a body of Christ we we have to gather around these truths and rally around them in a way that that is clear in our minds and the become the central focus of our conviction and to not be brought into the spirit of our age that tells us that all roads lead to God.

They don't think that there's a spark of divinity in each man. There's not there's nothing like that figment of man's imagination. It is a self flattery of man to think that he can go to God apart from Christ, and so we just find it very essential to speak these things plainly and clearly here's the point.

Beloved, because our sin separates us from God because the wrath of God is against sinners because we cannot fix what we have broken because we are like Humpty Dumpty, having fallen off the wall. We can't put righteousness back together again.

There is no place to start. You can't stitch it together.

We are ruined we are lost without Christ, and that is why solus Christus is necessary. You and I need to have someone intercede for us before God and if we do not have that we will be lost now pivoting from the need for solus Christus to the reality of it. Here's the wonderful news that in the person of Jesus Christ. God bridges the golf and comes to man. God stepped across the golf, the things that are impossible for man to do God has done in the person of Christ and what the gospel of Jesus Christ declares is this that Jesus Christ who is God incarnate, died for sinners and was raised from the dead on the third day after he had lived a perfectly righteous life on earth and having offered his life on the cross as a sacrifice for sinners.

He now offers full forgiveness of sin to everyone who repents of sin and believes in him that is the only message that can save a sinners soul. Everything else is a false gospel that will lead them to damnation solus Christus the gospel alone the gospel as we just declared it is the only message that can bring salvation to a center. It's the only one.

The Bible does not apologize when it says that Jesus Christ is the only one who can save men from their sins. In fact, as we were going to see that is the claim that Christ himself made and so it is impossible to be a true Christian based on the words of Christ to name him as Lord and simultaneously say that there are other paths of salvation that there are other ways to reach God apart from Christ. A true Christian would not say that are at the very very least a true Christian would not resist that idea when it is presented to the maybe somebody in the fog of the early days of their conversion might not have that clearly established in their mind but no one could be a Christian and deny with understanding what I had just said Jesus Christ is the only one who can save men from their sins. And you see this in the words of Jesus himself.

Look at the chapter 8 of John chapter 8 verse 24 Jesus said I said to you that you will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins and less you recognize Christ as the exclusive Savior of mankind, who did the work of salvation in his own person in the cross in less you believe that in less you entrust yourself completely and wholeheartedly and unreservedly to him, you will die in your sins and beloved, let me just say that whatever the full eternal consequences of that condition might be, you know, I know what that turns out like no one wants to know what it is like to die in sin because to die in that condition is to have your doom sealed and to have God turning from one who offers forgiveness to you in the gospel of Jesus Christ to have him turn into a final judge whose fury and wrath, and justice must be satisfied to the uttermost in which you cannot spend eternity. Eternity is not long enough for you to pay for a single sin of your own and so this is just very very crucial and Jesus sets himself as the one and only dividing line between doom and deliverance look at it again with me, let these words sink into your heart in less you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.

Now Jesus states this in a positive way.

If you look over at John chapter 11 verse 25 he states it in the negative way.

Unless you believe that I'm healed die in your sins. He states it in a positive way. Later on in this gospel in John chapter 11 verse 25 he said to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. You believe this, and so he says, everyone who believes in me will be saved. Everyone who believes in me will live eternally. Even if he dies physically and so there is this gracious promise of Christ that he not only warns sinners about the consequences of rejecting him. He sets forth a stupendous promise of eternal life, of no threat of judgment of no fear of condemnation for the one who believes in him soul of the day to receive Christ for salvation and to rest in him alone knowing and understanding and believing in assenting to the gospel with all of your heart and entrusting yourself completely to Christ for salvation and entrusting him alone, denying self, denying all claims to self-righteousness, denying any works in saying Christ alone is my hope and if it were not for Christ.

I would most certainly be judged and dammed, and not only that I would be most righteously judged and damp.

That is the nature of understanding of true saving faith. You know, it's one thing, as I said in times gone by. It's it's one thing for center to say I don't deserve to go to heaven that's that's a true enough statement. None of us do. But the real litmus test of understanding the real litmus test of true saving faith is whether the sinner will go the next step in Satan. Not only do I not deserve to go to heaven. What I actually deserve is to go to hell for my sins for my rebellion against God for my indifference to his word, and so beloved. It's fair enough for me to ask even in a setting of familiar faces like this, is that what you say is that your self-assessment as you consider your own righteousness before a holy God. Because this is the difference between understanding your need for a Savior and simply making a little qualified's statement that seems to be modest seems to be modest and humble to say all I don't deserve to go to heaven but the Sparks can fly when you say will then are you saying then that you actually deserve to go to hell no I know, let's not go there is not be radical. Let's not be as not be fanatical about it. After all, I'm not so bad when people speak like that they betray the pride and self-righteousness of their heart. The statement that I don't deserve to go to heaven when you deny the other aspect of it, you refuse the other aspect of deserving to go to hell. All that does is it exposes what you really think and so beloved in this context of talking about solus Christus do you think you deserve to go to heaven on your own. I know you all say no, especially after what I just said but it do you good to look in the mirror and to reflect honestly on whether you've come to grips with what Scripture says that your sin and guilt require eternal judgment, apart from Christ is that what you believe and say about yourself because that's a whole different ballgame. Look at John 14 verse six the point they were making here and what were saying is that Christ himself asserted his own exclusivity is the Savior of the world and you either. You either believe Christ and take him at his word for him to save you or if you don't want if you don't like that exclusive message. If you'd rather live in the postmodern world that there is no absolute truth.

I mean, beloved, when Christ speaks we are faced with the requirement to reject the spirit of our age in order to truly receive him. Jesus said in John 14 six you know what it says, he said to Thomas, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but through me. In acts chapter 4 verse 12 it says there is no other name given under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. And so when we come to this doctrine. Solus Christus were faced. First of all, with the recognition that Christ asserted exclusivity. He will tolerate no other. What is it about Christ that makes him so that he is the only Savior. Why is it solus Christus Christ alone.

If we just simply said Christ without making the corresponding claim of exclusivity. A lot of people that otherwise hate us would get along with us just fine.

You know if we would say that Christ is our Savior, but you know you can have your God the know there would be no there would be no offense in the gospel the offense that Christ brings to every man, every everywhere is a Christ says you must leave your false religion behind you must leave your self-righteousness behind and come to me alone or you will die in your sins.

That's what people don't want to hear, why is it solus Christus.

Let's look at those two realities about Christ to see that salvation can only come through him.

First of all, let's consider the person of Christ, the person of Christ.

Part of the reason the Christ is exclusively the Savior is because there is no one like him. Christ alone is able to bridge the gap between man and God, because Christ alone has the nature of God and the nature of man. In one person. No one else is God incarnate Christ alone is in John chapter 1 verse one were kind of staying in the gospel of John for a little while anyway. In John chapter 1 verse one it says in the beginning was the word in the construction the Greek construction there has the idea that in the beginning at the first moment of of of of time.

Christ was already existing Christ was existing.

Time began. Christ existed through that he is preexistent deity in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Verse 14 and the Word became flesh, God became a man, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the father full of grace and truth.

The only one there is no other is solitary.

He is alone he is exclusive as the God man and so when we consider the these aspects of his deity in his humanity in his deity Christ reveals God to men in his humanity. He is able to represent man to God he brings God to man, and he is able to bring man to God because both natures reside in his single person and so expanding that out in the theological implications of that for how it relates to our salvation. His deity provides an infinite value to his merit an infinite value to his righteousness is not simply righteous in himself. His person brings an infinite value to his merit, which means that everyone who believes in him can partake of it and it is not exhausted in his humanity. This is so sweet.

This is so sweet.

His humanity identifies him completely with us, with the exception of sin, and so his very nature, his very person is is unique. There is no one else in the visible or invisible realm. Like Jesus, he is God in human flesh and no one else is. And if the gap between God and man is going to be bridged. It has to be someone who shares both natures. God couldn't delegate an angel to save us because he wouldn't share our humanity. He wouldn't share in the eternal essence of God can be an animal.

Scripture makes playing the blood of bulls and goats can't take away our sin as they don't share our nature.

There is no infinite value to it either start to see how all of this fits together start to see the implications of theology of a right view of Christ. Look at the book of Colossians chapter 2 verse eight where the apostle Paul said, see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ, for in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form and in him you have been made complete and he is the head over all rule and authority and what is Christ done. Verse 14. He's canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us and is taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. His cross work in the efficacy the effectiveness.

In other words, of his cross work is tied into the reality of who his person is all the fullness of deity dwells in him in bodily form only Christ is fully God and fully man. He shares the essence of both God and man. And that is why he is uniquely and alone and exclusively able to save this because he has within his person. The nature of God and the nature of man, which enables him to save guilty sinners like you is person makes that possible. And his person is unique, it cannot be duplicated. There is no one else like him. And so, as we proclaim the full deity in the full humanity of Christ, we automatically exclude any other claimants to the role of Savior. Mary is in God even though they're trying to add her to the Godhead Buddha, Mohammed know these people and God they and they can't save and faith in them faith and their teachings is misplaced.

Trying to cross the bridge from man to God on them. That bridge collapses the first moment a man tries to put his weight and trust in that bridge collapses underneath him trying to walk to God on your own self-righteousness. It's a bridge that collapses its toothpicks trying to uphold a runaway freight train and so the person of Christ alone is the strong and sturdy bridge that we need to bridge the gap between us and God not only not only beloved not only the gap that sin creates because that is fatal. That is lethal in and of itself, but also just to recognize the difference. In essence, that is, a man we cannot reach the essence of undiminished deity.

We need deity to bring us to deity, and so the person of Christ does just that. As I said so many times this week as we've gone through this series. What you should find welling up in your heart is a great reverence toward Christ growing ever deeper, broader and greater in your heart to reverence him to love him to fear him to submit to him own hand to gladly identify with him to love him more than than life itself. Christ spoke of it when I am lifted up drawl and myself the simplicity and inadequacy of our feeble human words were trying to lift up Christ. So we care about. Indeed, there's never been anyone else like Christ and there never will be pastor Don Greene will consider the work of Christ. Next time you're on the truth pulpit as he continues our series.

The five solos and the message Solis Christus Christ alone, so be sure to join us then. Meanwhile, we invite you to visit our website. The truth pulpit.com. There you can download free podcasts or find out how to receive free CD copies of Don series and if you want to go even more in depth. You'll also find the link follow Don's pulpit. That'll take you to Don's full-length weekly sermons not subject to the time editing needed for radio broadcasts.

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