Last night the Farmer and I had the pleasure of gathering with brothers and sisters from local congregations for the Roanoke Valley Reformation Service. Paul Washer was the guest preacher, and if you've ever heard Paul preach, you know we were served a thick, meaty slice of sacred Scripture.
When we arrived the parking lot was already overflowing, so we parked along the colorful tree lined street, hurrying with the others who were also being happily swept along in the crisp autumn air of my hometown. It'll always be a sweet memory. Built in 1875, the church had been where my parents and grandparents had taken me to be baptized as an infant, so there was a lot of emotion mixed with the joy in my heart. I had never been back to my knowledge
When Paul Washer took to the pulpit and reminded us of the importance of "Scripture Alone," he said that if someone were to take the Bible away from him and he could only have one small piece, he would choose Romans 3:23-25a:
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith."
Scripture is clear that no part of our salvation is accomplished by the administration of the church or the sacraments or the priesthood or any work we do, no matter how "good" we think it is - this is something the Reformers stood for in the midst of a bombardment of persecution from the Catholic church.
In Christ Alone is the only way we can stand before a thrice holy God.
The Reformers reformed the church - it was not a revolution or a church split. It wasn't even something they planned. No, the Reformers were calling the church back to the orthodox, original, apostolic church that Jesus founded on his own blood.
This wasn't something new - it was a return to the ancient paths. ( Jeremiah 6:16 ) I believe that it was Christ protecting his Church. I believe it was his sheep hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd, the words of sacred Scripture, because the voice of a stranger they will not follow. ( John 10:5, 27 )
"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." ( verse 28 )
Jesus alone gives us eternal life.
We can only learn and know from the Scriptures, the objective truth, who God is in all of his holiness and glory and wrath and love, his mercy, grace, and perfect justice, and as Preacher Paul reminded us last night, in the most sobering truth, that it took only one sin from Adam and Eve to throw the entire universe into condemnation. We need to think about this.
And that damnation could only be remedied one way: Christ Alone.
Brother Paul told how the great Welsh medical doctor turned preacher, Martyn Lloyd-Jones would use the word "placard" to describe how God "put forth" his Son. We don't use this word "placard" in our generation so much, Paul said, but it's the same as a billboard. And Dr. Lloyd-Jones would use the word as a verb and say that God "placard" his Son, making a spectacle of him, crucifying and lifting him up on a Roman cross for the world to see.
Throughout the last two thousand years of human history I would venture to think that the majority of people, whatever their belief system, know what the cross represents to some degree. It has become a universal "placard," or "billboard," of what God has "put forth" to a universe under condemnation.
"so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." ( Romans 3:26 )
In Christ Alone, my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this cornerstone, this solid ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease;
My comforter, my all in all,
here in the love of Christ I stand.
💜
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