Christ Alone

0:00Good morning. I'm always excited to preach the word, but this morning I am even more excited to preach because what we have, what the Lord has for us this morning, is nothing less than the pure gospel of grace. For those who are taking notes, Christ alone is our title this morning. Christ alone. I'm not going to spend a bunch of time on the history of the five solas this morning, but these five confessions, the five solas that I will review very quickly, came much later than the Reformation, but they do summarize for us much of Reformation theology and certainly what we preach and what we teach. Those solas are sola scriptura, that we believe and confess in Scripture alone as authoritative and supreme in our lives. And we live our lives by Scripture alone. Sola fide, right? Faith alone. We are saved by faith alone in Christ. Sola gratia, grace alone, that that faith given to us is by grace alone. It is an unmerited favor given to us by grace alone. Sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, sola deo gloria, sola deo gloria, to the glory of God alone. All things that we do in life, certainly in salvation, is for the glory of God alone. And finally, with respect to our text this morning, solus Christus. Christ alone. We are saved by Christ alone. And as I was thinking about this this week, I was curious and kind of pondering in my mind, do we really know what we mean when we say we are saved by Christ alone? What does that really mean that we are saved by Christ alone? I'll give you a few verses to consider. John 14, 6. John 14, 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. Also, John 8, verse 47, whoever is of God hears the words of God. And the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. Finally, John 6, 43 and 44. Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day. So from those verses, we can begin to summarize what we mean by in Christ alone, or that salvation is by Christ alone. And that is that Christ is not just the way, which he certainly is, but also that Christ shows us the way. Christ reveals to us the way. Christ protects the way. Christ leads us down the way. And quite often, likely all the time, and actually I will say all the time, Christ carries us on the way. Further, we wouldn't go down the way if not for Christ. We wouldn't know the way. We wouldn't know how to get to the way. We wouldn't go down the way. Even if we could find the way, we couldn't make it down the way. We wouldn't survive the way. When we get to glory, it will be truly because of Christ alone. And don't we honor him because of that reality? Shouldn't we honor him because of that reality? That when we get to glory, it will be because of Christ alone? Since this was on my mind recently, what if Snow White thanked Prince Charming for having made a way for her? And that's how she thanked him. Just for having made a way for her. As opposed to the reality of the fact that in that illustration, he was the way for her. He saved her. It was him. He wasn't just the way, he was the salvation. And in that respect, we are saved by Christ alone. So a few points. As we get into the text, then, if you're for those who are taking notes, we're going to talk that Christ makes his sacrifice in heaven, this sacrifice that is necessary for our salvation. Christ makes that in heaven, as we'll read from our text. That sacrifice is once for all, as we have said. And then after that sacrifice, the next thing that we experience is judgment. Is judgment. Makes a sacrifice in heaven, it is once for all. And then comes the judgment. So that's where we're going, all wrapped around this idea of salvation by Christ alone. So stand with me. We are in Hebrews 9. I don't know if I said that to start, so my apologies. Hebrews 9, starting in verse 23, is where I will read. Thus it was necessary for the copies of heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own. For then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. This is the word of the Lord. Lord, we thank you for your word. I pray and ask, Lord, please, would you speak now for Christ's sake? It is in his name that I pray.

7:58Amen.

8:00Amen. Imagine a person goes to a bank and says, I want to pay off every debt from every person that has debt at this bank. But don't pay it off immediately. Total up how much these debts are going to cost, and I'll give you the money, but just sit on it. And only pay it off when they, these people, come and they ask for it to be paid off. And in that scenario, did that person actually do anything? Did they really pay any debts? Not really. And how many people would live and potentially still be bankrupt? Or bankrupt their lives or ruin their financial health and struggle while the salvation for them was there all along, but they didn't ask for it, so it was never given. Perhaps again, not unlike Prince Charming declaring to Snow White, I'd love to save you, but you have to ask me first. I'd love to rescue you, but you have to give me consent to be rescued. I'll be very direct then as we begin. Do you believe that you are saved and in Christ because of some act that you did? Some belief that you manifested, some action that you took, some prayer that you prayed, some consent that you issued.

10:10Woe to you.

10:15I do not believe that is how it works. Our text began this morning in verse twenty three saying, thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites. Necessary. Why were those Old Testament copies, why was it necessary that they were purified with those rites, that blood? Necessary because those things foreshadowed a heavenly reality. Those Old Testament rites foreshadowed the real, the heavenly reality. Their covering of blood was a pointing to or a foreshadowing of Christ's covering of blood. The forgiveness of sins that was copied there foreshadows Christ's ultimate forgiveness of sins by his blood. And the Old Testament atonement covered the sins of a particular people without them needing to accept it or to ask for it, to give consent for that covering. And that is how the Old Testament Jew would have read this passage. That's how they would receive this letter from Hebrews. They would have, you wrap your head around the reality that the Old Testament Jew would have been steeped in those rites, in that religion, wouldn't they have? They would have understood fully the reality of the fact that when the high priest entered into the holy place, what was he doing? He was making atonement for their sins. They were fully dependent upon, in that moment, upon this high priest who was entering into the holy place to make atonement on their behalf. They were dependent upon the high priest by that sacrifice to cover their sins, to atone for them. That's how they would have understood it. Again, the blood of the Passover Lamb is another good example. Particular people being passed over on account of covering of blood. So in verse 24, then, when Christ is entered, not into the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Christ enters into heaven for us, as that high priest, the substance of the copy that was the original high priest or the Old Testament high priest, to do what? To make atonement for our sins on our behalf. To do something for us. Not once. Every single year, but once for all time, as we will get to. And just as those Old Testament rites were a copy of the real, every drop of blood was used for a purpose, wasn't it? Every drop of blood had a purpose. Nothing was wasted. Nothing went unused. And that analogy that I began with with respect to that banking analogy, how how much money in that scenario would go unclaimed, go unused? Because people didn't know? Because they didn't care? Because they didn't hear? Because they didn't want it? Because they rejected it? Because they were skeptical? Is this even real? Is this even a thing? How much money then would go unclaimed? Unused. Every drop of Christ's blood was purposed. There was not a molecule of that blood that was gone unused, was wasted, was poured out for nothing. There was not an ounce of blood in vain. It was spilled out for a purpose and for a people. Not, again, not to make atonement possible, but to secure it for all time. Our text continues in verse 25. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, this idea of purposeful shedding, right? That Christ shed his blood purposeful and not in vain and not wasteful, but specifically and intentionally and particularly and purposefully. That sacrifice then was necessarily a thing that could only have happened once. He couldn't do it again. That debt was paid once for all. And it was not conditionally paid. The debts weren't paid if you do this or that or live this way or do this righteous thing. They were not conditionally paid. It was not paid if they were paid once for all. And it's disparaging to think that the blood of our eternal Savior does not, and in that moment, eternally save. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, our text said. Many times, and I'm sure I've used this example before, had this illustration of the church camp altar call. It's conducive of our culture, but certainly of our lives. And this idea that there is this call for Christians to continually rededicate our lives to Christ. How often do we do this? Do we feel year after year that Christ will be more, Christ will be happier with me? He will love me more if I do this. If I can only do this more. If I would just be more faithful, then God would love me more. Then Christ would surely save me if I would just do this more this year. So we enter into this continual rededication of ourselves. Lord, this year I'll be better. This year I'll do more. This rededication mindset puts the emphasis on our faithfulness and the repetitive nature of our faithfulness and lack of faithfulness, as opposed to trusting in the finished work of Christ, who shed his blood once for all for the forgiveness of our sins. Christ doesn't have to rededicate himself to us. He dedicated it once for all when he shed his blood. Trusting in our own works, then, will never bring us peace. Trusting in our own works will never it will never bring us peace. And for those who say, I don't trust in my own works, do you assume that you are more committed than others? Do you assume that you are more dedicated than others? Do you assume that you are in Christ because you are smarter than others? Because you get it while others don't? Do you assume that you are in Christ because you're you're more humble? You're the humblest of the humble. You think you are in Christ because you are more sacrificial? I'll say it again: trusting in your own works will never bring you peace. We trust in Christ alone. And just as is it appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly awaiting him or waiting for him. Church, judgment is coming. Judgment is coming. We will all stand before Christ, and we will be judged based upon our faithfulness, our diligence, our dedication, our service, our sacrifice. Or we will be judged by Christ. And so often we hear this and we see this specifically because Christ Himself says, Many will come to me and say, Lord, Lord, I did this, I did that. And to them he says, Depart from me, I never knew you. Why doesn't he know them? Because they desire to be saved by something other than Christ alone. They desire to be judged based upon their Their own works, their own merits, their own sacrifices, their own things. Christ does not know them. He knows those who are saved by Christ alone, by his merits, his works. There is a finality to that work, as we have read in our text. There is a finality. You can feel it when you read it. There is a finality to it. Romans 6 verse 10 says, For the death he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. He was offered once to bear the sins of many. This is what our text says in the second half of verse 28 there. So Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many. He was offered once to bear the sins of many, and he now lives to return to us again. Sin has been defeated. It's been dealt with, as our text says. It is finished, atoned for, paid off, canceled, whatever word you want to use, it's done. But it's not fully removed. There is this lingering effect of it. So what do we do? We long for his return. We eagerly await for him so that it will be gone forever. Finally, gone forever. I'm sure some of the dads can experience this, but I've oftentimes had to go out of town for a work trip. And then when I come home and I know that the feeling that my kids are feeling, because I have experienced this myself. But when I pull back into the house after having been gone for a few days, they're all of my kids are lined up outside waiting for me. Not all the time. I wish you would do it all the time, but most of the time. And they jump up and down and they scream and they rush me when I get out of the door out of the car. And in those moments, and again, I know because I've been there, your thoughts are held captive for those few moments when all you want to do is just have dad come home. This is the eagerly, the eagerness that we wait for him to come home. Because when Christ comes home, he's not dealing with our sin because that's been dealt with. What is he coming home for? To save us. He's coming home to save us. And the timeline of human history then is advancing towards that, towards that return of Christ when he comes home to save us. To finally and fully save us. Then all of his own will be fully free of sin, rid of it finally. Though it has been paid for, the lingering effects will finally be gone, and we will be home with him, fully saved, fully free. And that is why we can say, even so, come, or Maranatha in the Greek, come, Lord Jesus, come and save us. We eagerly await Christ alone. To be saved by him alone. At his coming home to us. John Owen says this faith in the second coming of Christ is sufficient to support the souls of believers and to give them satisfactory consolation in all difficulties, trials, and distresses. All true believers do live in a waiting, a longing expectation of the coming of Christ. It is one of the most distinguishing characteristics of a sincere believer so to do. At the second appearance of Christ, there will be an end of the business about sin, both on our part and his. Frees us from that. There is therefore now no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Do you believe that? Do you believe that your sin has actually been dealt with at the cross when Christ entered into those heavenly places and shed his blood? Do you believe that he actually paid for all of your sins, every single one of them? If you do, you can be free from a life of guilt and sin to live for him. Because there is now no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The other thing that it does is it truly empowers us then to be joyful and to eagerly await him. Because we have no fear when he comes, because we know that he is not coming to deal with sin, because that he has already dealt with. So now I can be joyful and I can eagerly await him to come home and save me. It empowers us to live joyfully as we await him. And all of that then is what it means to trust in Christ alone and what it means when we confess that we are saved by Christ alone. Amen?

30:28Let's pray.

30:32Lord, we thank you as always for your word. We thank you that it is not up to us to be saved, Lord. We thank you that it is not our merits that accomplish our salvation. It is not our dedication, it is not our faithfulness. We confess if that is the case, we would not be saved. But help us now to confess in the salvation that it is by Christ alone, that he alone has saved us, shed his blood for us. Apart from anything that we could ever do, Lord, we accept his salvation. Lord, we receive his salvation by grace through faith. And now help us to live for the glory of God alone, joyfully, Lord, knowing that our sins have been dealt with on the cross. May we eagerly await Him now to come and save us, Lord. Save us and come, Lord Jesus. Ask all these things in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.