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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity |
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November 4, 2007 Ephesians 5:8-9 Saved by Grace through Faith Thursday was October 31st, a date well known as Halloween. I prefer to remember it by another name, “Reformation Day.” It was on October 31st, 1517 that Martin Luther pinned his famous “95 Theses” to the door of the church in Wittenberg, and became the catalyst for the movement we know as the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther didn’t mean to start a revolution, he just wanted an answer to a very pressing question. He wanted to know how he would know when he had done enough to merit God’s forgiveness. Martin Luther had done everything his church told him to do. He became a monk. He took a vow of poverty. He went on pilgrimages, he fasted, he prayed, he went to church, he gave money, he prayed, and prayed , and prayed. Yet, he did not know if he had done enough to atone for his sins. So, he wanted to know, is there an authoritative word that clearly tells him what to do to earn salvation so he can put that issue to rest and get on with other things? He knew of no such word, consequently his soul was in a constant state of unrest. If he said ten “Hail Mary’s” how could he know he didn’t need to say twenty? If he fasted for three days, how could he know he shouldn’t have fasted five? If he gave one hundred dollars to feed the poor, how could he know he didn’t need to give two hundred, or even just one hundred and one? So he was in constant turmoil about his soul, and his turmoil caused him to realize something very important. He came to realize he did not love God. His constant attempts to find forgiveness did not bring him closer to God, or cause him to love God. Instead they caused him to hate God. All Luther could see was the wrath of God burning against him for his sins, with no hope of ever resting in the knowledge of forgiveness, or appeasing God’s wrath, so he grew to hate God. Martin Luther was an educated man, a Doctor of Theology, who read the Bible in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, and he began to notice that the Bible didn’t teach that he had to do all these things to earn forgiveness. The Bible simply taught that Jesus was God in the flesh, who came to this earth to die in the place of sinners by taking their sins upon Himself and suffering for them on the Cross. According to the Bible, all who turn to Jesus in faith receive forgiveness as a free gift because of His sacrifice. Furthermore, according to the Bible, there is nothing we can do to add to or detract from the forgiveness offered by God in Christ. We can’t improve upon it. We can’t make ourselves more forgiven. In other words we are saved by grace, which we receive by faith alone. We can’t earn it for ourselves, we can’t be good enough to deserve it, we can’t buy it, we can only receive it as a free gift from God. The Bible calls this being saved by grace ( Eph. 2:8-9). It means salvation, or forgiveness, or justification, as it is also called, is a gift from God that we can’t earn for ourselves. It is given according to His mercy, not according to our merit. Good thing, for how could we ever earn it? What good thing can we give to God? He already owns everything. You can’t buy something from a person with his own money. I remember as a child asking my father for money to buy his Christmas present. I’m sure he loved whatever trinket I bought. But if I go to him today and say “Dad, give me a hundred dollars because I want to buy a really nice gift for you for Christmas,” I don’t think he will appreciate that. Can we earn salvation with good works? Good works and obedience are what we owe God because He is God. Your bank does not say, “you’re so good at paying your mortgage we’ve decided to stop charging you interest.” You don’t get or expect any reward for paying the debt. You owe the money, so it is your duty to pay. Likewise, perfect obedience is what we owe God. Even if we live perfect lives we would not be giving Him any more than we already owe Him. We can never earn forgiveness just by giving what we owe. Therefore, it is utterly impossible for us to do anything to earn God’s favor or buy our forgiveness. Our only hope is that God will forgive us on the basis of a conscious decision on His part to freely give us what we could never earn. He must decide not to hold us accountable for our sins. That decision or attitude in God is what we call grace. That is not all there is of grace, for it was grace that sent Jesus to the cross. In grace he became our willing sacrifice, and in grace all our sin is washed away in His blood. So, grace is the whole operation of God in salvation bringing us to Himself and treating us as though we are without sin. Now the question is, “how do we get this grace?” The answer is, we receive it by faith. Faith is first of all, believing in Jesus, not merely as an intellectual proposition or a historical person, but as the Saviour who took your sins upon Himself and suffered and died for those sins in your place. Second, it is to place your trust in Him and His work on the cross as your only hope of forgiveness. It is, as the old timers used to say, to embrace Jesus Christ as He is offered to us in the Gospel. One more point needs to be clarified in this study. Christians today often speak of being saved, or, justified, by faith. They do not mean that we save ourselves by our faith. Faith is the act of trusting in Jesus to save you, but it is Jesus who does the saving. Think of a drowning man, unable to stay above water. A second person swims to his rescue. He approaches the drowning man, circles his arm around his chest and tows him to safety. All the while the drowning man is conscious and very aware of his rescuers actions. In fact, at the crucial point he decides to trust his rescuer. He puts his confidence in the swimming ability and good will of the rescuer. Now ask yourself, what saved the drowning man? Did his faith in the rescuer save him? Or did the rescuer save him? Of course the rescuer saved him. His faith simply allowed him to trust the rescuer. It is the same with Jesus. He, acting in grace, does the saving. Like the rescuer, He comes to us in our distress and encircles us with His mighty arm. Like the rescuer, He carries us through the water, supporting us, ensuring we can breathe, taking us to the shore of Heaven. Like the rescuer, He places us gently on dry ground, safe and sound. We did not save ourselves by trusting Him. He saved us; we merely received salvation by trusting Him to save us. Salvation, or forgiveness, is always by grace, which we accept by faith. Always remember this when you hear people speak about justification by faith, because this is what they mean. So, whatever happened to Martin Luther? First, he settled the question of authority. He learned that the Bible is the authority, the rule of faith and practice. It has authority above all churches, all councils, all institutions of men, and all men. Second, he trusted in the Christ revealed in the Bible. He stopped trusting in his own efforts to earn forgiveness, and started trusting in what Jesus did to give it to him. Thus he recovered the biblical teaching that we are saved by grace through faith, not by earning it. This doctrine is the heart of the message of the Bible. For this reason it is foundational to the Anglican Orthodox Church. Only on this doctrine can we have a solid base on which to build a right, Scriptural understanding of the Christian faith, and our relationship with Jesus Christ. So what are you trusting to teach you what to believe and how to live? Are you trusting your own feelings? Are you trusting ecstatic experiences? Are you trusting a minister, a church? By what authority do you judge these things? We of the AnglicanOrthodox Church have always held that the Bible is the authority by which the doctrines of men are judged because it is the word of God. Trust it today. What are you trusting to secure the forgiveness of your sin? You are a sinner, you know. And God hates sin. Are you trusting your good works? They are only filthy rags in His sight. Are you trusting religious ceremonies, giving money, pleading with God? Why not trust in Jesus? Receive his grace by faith, and know that you are forgiven. Let us pray. O God of grace, we rejoice in the free gift of salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ. May Your grace abound that others may trust in Christ and be saved also. In the Name of Christ our Sacrifice and Saviour. Amen. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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