 The symbolic beginning of what is known in church history as the Protestant Reformation. So we're going to take some time today. What we do in our services today is really celebrating God's grace in that Reformation of the church. We're certainly not celebrating key figures of the Reformation. We're not celebrating those men. They are, after all, weak and fallible men. We're certainly not celebrating or waxing nostalgic about a bygone golden age. That time period was certainly not better than our time period in that respect. Our desire today in having a Reformation day or a Reformation celebration like we are is to extol the grace of God in Christ for having fueled by His grace needed Reformation in the church to praise God, right, to express gratefulness to God for the grace that brought about the Protestant Reformation. That's what we want to do today. We want to celebrate God, God's grace, God's word in observing or remembering the Protestant Reformation. So if you're visiting with us, this is not normal. We don't do this weekend and week out. Ordinarily, we preach verse by verse through text of Scripture. We're currently working verse by verse through 2 Corinthians. And I believe that verse by verse preaching through Scripture is highly necessary. It is highly, I can't recommend it or commend it highly enough. It's not that you need to hear or understand the opinions of men. You need to hear from the Word of God weekend and week out in your church. You're visiting with us if you're not going to a church that preaches expositionally verse by verse through the Bible where you're getting weekend and week out the whole counsel of God from the words of God, the very phrases of God, Holy Spirit inspired text. And I exhort you to go to a church that does that. It is monumentally important. What has happened by and large in the churches today is that churches, professing churches have abandoned the Word of God. They neglect the Word of God in their preaching and teaching. And what you're getting is you're getting the opinions of man every week, what he thinks you need to hear or what he thinks the text means. You can sit there with a Bible. If you're preaching verse by verse expositionally and you can determine for yourself if what that guy is saying is accurate to the text or not. That's very, very important. The vast and varied problems of the modern church are largely due to the fact that they have neglected or abandoned the Word of God. Just like the masses at the time of the Reformation, oftentimes the masses today don't care that it has been abandoned or neglected. They like their ears tickled, right? The Reformation itself really was, in essence, a return to Sola Scriptura, a return to the Word of God. And the church today is in great need of exactly that same Reformation. So today, in remembering God's grace at the time of the Reformation, we're going to take some time and look at the highlights of our theological heritage during this time together that we have. We're going to take a walk through the Bible, so to speak, to look at some of what was recovered during this extremely important period in church history. This won't be an overview of history. That was given during Sunday school, I'm sure, very adequately and professionally and helpfully. But we're going to give a theological overview through a walk through the Bible, so to speak. And I want you to take notes if you can and think through these things. Put these things together. They're very important and we don't want to take these truths for granted. So with that, let's pray and then we'll look at God's Word together. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we are grateful to you for your kindness to us, grateful to you for your grace toward us, your condescension, Lord, to provide for us, to make provision for our sin, and to provide for salvation, Lord, that we might be in eternal fellowship with you. We praise you and thank you that your revealed truth has been preserved by your omnipotent hand, by your grace preserved infallible, preserved inerrant amidst or in the midst of a millennium, millennium of assaults, of assailing efforts of Satan and the world against it, preserved against the onslaught of human sin, human error, and our sure means, Lord, of doctrine of reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness is certainly your word and we're grateful to you, Lord, that you have preserved it and that, Lord, you are continuously reforming us by your word, reforming your church by your word. Thank you, Lord, for your spirit who works in us to that end for your glory and we plead with you now, even now, Lord, that in this time of worship, as we look at your word together, that you would do that work which only you can do and work in our hearts according to this precious treasure that you've given us in Christ. We love you. We thank you for our time together. I pray that you'd edify my brothers and sisters and that you, Lord, would be glorified in all things. In Jesus' name, amen. All right. Our sermon title this morning is Rediscovered Treasure, Rediscovered Treasure. And I want to start by way of illustration. In 1989, a man by the name of Donald Shear walked into a flea market in Adams Town, Pennsylvania. And as he was in the flea market, he was looking around and he came across a painting for sale. He wasn't really interested in the painting. The painting was very ordinary, nothing of real interest. He was interested in the frame. That old frame caught his eye. It was a beautiful frame. And so he wanted to buy the painting for the sake of that old frame. And so he purchased that for $4 in the flea market that morning. When he got home that afternoon, Donald Shear began taking the painting out of the frame. And as he was taking it out, examining the image, it was virtually falling apart in his hands. It was just crumbling off the frame, falling apart in his hand. And he noticed as it was falling apart, he noticed what looked like a really old document, an old piece of paper, a parchment underneath the worthless painting that had covered it obviously for decades. Donald Shear had discovered and purchased for four bucks in the flea market a lost original copy of what many historians consider the most important single printed document in the world, the Declaration of Independence. John Hancock had commissioned on July 4th, 1776, had commissioned John Dunlap to print copies of the Declaration on July 4th and then deliver those to Congress the next day on July 5th. These were known as the Dunlap broadsides and only three remain in private ownership today. Shear would later sell the declaration, sell his copy there at auction in 1991 for $2.4 million, making Donald Shear an immediate millionaire. The same copy at same Dunlap broadside would sell in 2000 for $8.1 million. And the copy of Dunlap's broadside continues to increase in value at the rate of about a million dollars per year. I think about that circumstance for a moment. In 1517, 500 years ago this week, Martin Luther, a Roman Catholic monk in Wittenberg, Germany rediscovered a priceless treasure of infinitely greater value. That immeasurable treasure was lying there in plain sight, virtually hidden, bought and sold at market like a common thing, covered over by a decaying and worthless image, a filthy shell, an empty system that simply fell apart under Luther's examination. Under centuries of human error, under the painted shell of traditionalism, under the thick dust of mysticism and doctrines of demons, Luther found gospel truth in what is the single most important document in all of human history, God's infallible and inerrant word. Upon discovery of this inestimable treasure, Luther unleashed what we know today as the Protestant Reformation. Desiring to reform the church, desiring to reattach its moorings to the word of God, Martin Luther then wrote the 95 theses regarding error in the church, and he nailed those theses to the door at All Saints Church in Wittenberg on October 31st, 1517. Within two weeks, copies of those 95 theses were all over Germany. Within two months, copies were all over Europe. And although many reformers before and after Luther contributed to the Reformation, Martin Luther became the symbolic head of this movement in the church. The treasure being unearthed, or the treasure being rediscovered, so to speak, by Luther and by the reformers, was nothing short of the very gospel, the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. Over time, these precious recovered truths became encapsulated in five proclamations, the five solas of the Reformation. Solascriptura, Solagradia, Solafide, Solus Christus, and Soli Deogloria. According to Scripture alone, salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. Luther, or the other reformers, didn't invent, they didn't create these truths. They had been there in the Word of God all along, they simply unearthed them, they rediscovered them after they had been hidden, covered up by years of tradition, years of man-made inventions. The church in Luther's day had lost sight of these truths. They had been covered up by the professing church, they had been papered over, so to speak, supplanted by the traditions of men, not unlike the Pharisees of the Lord Jesus Christ day, who, as Jesus said in Mark 7, verse 13, the Pharisees make the Word of God of no effect through their tradition. For centuries, the Word of God was made of no effect by the traditions of men. One of the reasons that Luther chose October 31st, 1517, to nail those theses of the church door, was because November 1st in Wittenberg was a holy day called All Souls Day. And on that day in 1517, November 1st, the church had planned a huge display of relics at the church at Wittenberg for thousands of quote-unquote the faithful to come in to genuflect before the relics and buy off years, hundreds, maybe thousands of years off of time in purgatory, either for themselves or for their relatives. The practice of indulgences, or this practice of worshiping relics sickened Martin Luther for good cause. And he saw the people as enslaved to a corrupt, works-based system for that righteousness, which is necessary to be right with God. So, in Theses number 62, Luther concluded, the true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and the grace of God. The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God. Jesus described this good news of the Kingdom of Matthew chapter 13. He described it as being like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid. And for the joy over that treasure, he goes and sells all that he has and he buys the field. He described it like a merchant seeking a beautiful pearl, who when he had found one pearl of great price, he went out and sold all that he had and he bought it. That's the value of this treasure. Paul calls this treasure the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The Reformation didn't end that false wicked Roman Catholic system. In fact, Rome has only added to her numbers and today there are 1.3 billion souls deceived by her unbiblical corruption of the gospel. The priceless treasure that is the biblical gospel has been papered over by the traditions of Rome, but it's been papered over by the traditions of other denominations, other groups. They call themselves Christian as well. In addition to the errors of the Roman Catholicism, there is papering over the truth of the gospel, the work of baptism for salvation in the churches of Christ or in the Christian churches. There is the evangelical sacrament of asking Jesus into your heart or praying to receive Christ, which is nowhere in the Bible. You have the legalistic works righteousness of Seventh-day Adventism. Truth has been overrun by mysticism in the Charismatic or Pentecostal movements. It's been lost or reduced to emotionalism or experience as churches strive to be culturally relevant today. It's been lost to rank liberalism, rank antinomianism in many mainstream denominations. It's been rendered powerless in cold, dead, orthodox churches. Most professing Christians are overcome by a soul-damning friendship with this world, and if you ask 50 pastors to tell you what the gospel is, you're liable to get 50 different answers. Satan is a master counterfeiter. In so many ways, the professing church in our time is in greater need of Reformation than it ever has been. However, just like in Luther's day, just like in Luther's day, there are Reformed churches today who preach the gospel, Reformed churches who live the treasure that we've been given in Christ, and we want to maintain that here by God's grace and pray that he would maintain that among us, sustain that among us. So what exactly was rediscovered during the Reformation? What are some of those Reformed doctrines that are held dear by Reformed churches? Reformed churches today, but what are we remembering? What are we celebrating when we celebrate the Reformation? In other words, let's consider now together the nature and substance of that rediscovered treasure. In order to do that, we have to ask a very simple and a very straightforward question. As we consider the importance of the Reformation, as we consider what they rediscovered, what they recovered that was so important to you and to me and to the church, we have to ask a simple and straightforward question. How is it that sinful humans can live in fellowship with a holy God? How is it that sinful humans, how is it that they do that? How is it that sinful humans can live in fellowship with a holy God? Now, referring to the fully Reformed Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, God created man upright and perfect. God created man upright and perfect in fellowship with God to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Chapter two, paragraph two of the London Baptist Confession of Faith states this, God, he is most holy in all his councils, in all his works, and in all his commands. To him, our Creator is due from angels and due from men whatsoever worship, service, or obedience as creatures they owe unto their Creator, and whatever he is further pleased to require of them. What we have to remember is that you were bought. You were created. You're not your own. We have a Creator whom we are responsible to, and God determines whatsoever worship, service, or obedience as creatures we owe to him. He has dictated that to us in his word, whatever he is further pleased to require of us. God establishes the form of our fellowship with him. God establishes the form of our relationship with him, and he does that by means of a covenant. Covenant, and covenant theology then, is throughout the Bible, and it is through covenant that God shapes the life and practice of his people. The first time that we see covenant and that those boundaries of our relationship with God introduced in the Bible is in Genesis chapter two, and I want you to turn there with me. Genesis chapter two, and we see God governing, ruling, and reigning, so to speak, over his people through means of covenant. Genesis chapter two, and look beginning at verse seven. Now God first creates life in Genesis chapter two, verse seven. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden then eastward and Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground, the Lord God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now according to then, God's sovereign will as creator, and according to his own good pleasure, having created man, placing man in the garden, in his garden, a garden of delights as it's described, God then governs how his creatures are to relate to him. He governs how they may have fellowship with him, and we see that in Genesis chapter two in verse 15, verse 15. Then the Lord God took the man, and he put him in the garden of Eden to tend it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Literally there, dying you will die, God says. Now think with me first for a moment. This is glorious condescension, right? You have Almighty God, infinite, perfect, eternal, holy, incomprehensible, Almighty God, stooping, condescending, so to speak, to such a degree as to relate to his creatures, that which he has created. That in and of itself is a tremendous work of grace, right? A tremendous work of grace. The London Baptist Confession, chapter seven, paragraph one, says this, the distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures do obedience to him as their Creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of life, but by some voluntary condescension, grace on God's part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant. Remember when we referenced the London Baptist Confession, we're referencing a Reformed document. Our statement of faith came out of the Reformation, came out of those Reformed doctrines, came out of that period of Reformation. So in Genesis chapter two, then, we see what the Reformers called a covenant of works, a covenant of works, both Isaiah and Hosea refer to this as a covenant. You have two parties in this covenant. You have God and you have Adam. And notice also that in Genesis chapter two, verse 15, that the Lord all caps, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That's the covenant name of God in the Hebrew. That's Yahweh. So Moses in writing Genesis here goes to using the covenant name of God in referencing this relationship with Adam that is expressed in Genesis chapter two, verses 15 to 17. God is graciously here given life. The relationship between God and Adam is conditioned on Adam's obedience. If Adam obeys God, Adam lives. The reward for that obedience is life and the tree of life is there in the garden as a pledge. The penalty for Adam's disobedience is death. Dying, you shall die. So life and death were written on those two trees, right? Life and death were written on those two trees. So how does Adam fare then in his relationship to God under the covenant of works? Look at Genesis chapter three, verse one. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. We're already lurking away from the word of God, right? In her very description of the penalty, verse four. And the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die, for God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave her husband with her, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And so as Paul would later say then, reflecting on this passage in Genesis chapter three, Paul would later say that through one man, sin then entered the world and death through sin. Sin enters the world, death through sin, and so then God drives Adam and Eve out of the garden in verse 22, lest he also take of the tree of life and eat and live forever. God ensures that Adam will die. Abel is murdered then in Genesis chapter four and Adam dies in Genesis chapter five. Covenant theology, this doctrine of covenants, which is part and parcel with the Reformation, or with Reformation theology, insists that sin tragically breaks our fellowship with God. We have broken our fellowship with God through sin. So we consider this, number one, I want you to consider this with me. The Reformation in a Reformed theology helps us understand how God relates to his creation, namely through covenant. God relates to his creation, namely through covenants. But two, this led to another affirmation of the Reformation, and that is the doctrine of original sin, the doctrine of original sin. Now understand the consequence of this. If we look at this event, this tragic fall in Genesis chapter three, to understand the consequence or the implications of Adam's sin and the reality of our own sinfulness, we have to turn to Romans chapter five. So let's look at Romans chapter five together. I just want you to hang in there with me and put these dots, connect these dots, connect these concepts and consider this together. We're building through the doctrines of the Reformation. We'll be building to a point. Romans chapter five and look beginning at verse 12. Romans chapter five, verse 12. Again, reflecting on this event, the event of the fall, Adam's sin in Genesis chapter three, Paul concludes in Romans chapter five verse 12 that therefore, just as through one man, Adam, sin entered the world and death through sin, thus death spread to all men because all sinned. The entrance of sin into the world is attributed to the one man. It's attributed to Adam and on the coattails of that sin, death comes and death spreads to all men because all men have sinned. You and I have sinned. Adam's sin has had a horrific and tragic and deadly effect and it's affected all of us in his institutes of the Christian religion. The reformer John Calvin describes it this way. Calvin says this, Adam, by sinning, not only brought disaster and ruin upon himself, but also plunged our nature into like destruction and that no, not only in one fault in a matter not pertaining to us, but by the corruption into which he himself fell, he infected his whole seed. Paul never could have said that all are by nature, the children of wrath, if they had not been cursed from the womb. And it is obvious that the nature there referred to is not nature such as God created, but as vitiated or as destroyed and paired in Adam. For it would have been most incongruous to make God the author of death. Adam therefore, when he corrupted himself, transmitted the contagion to all his posterity. I want you to think about that statement for a moment. You don't have free will in that. You inherited a sin nature from Adam. It's a sin nature that I would assume you would not want. Some of you are enjoying your sin. There are many here today who profess Christ who don't want to have anything to do with their sin. They want free of that sin nature. But Calvin says that he who perverted the whole order of nature in heaven and earth deteriorated his race by his revolt. We've inherited this sin nature. This is the doctrine, the reform doctrine of original sin. That which is passed from Adam to all men, it's passed at your birth in the womb. David said, in sin my mother conceived me, right? That which is passed to you from Adam is a sinful nature. Having inherited a sin nature from Adam, we all then sin in our own way and we sin in accord with our natures. We sin because we are by nature sinners. It's not that we are sinners because we sin. Understand the distinction? We sin because we are by nature sinners in Adam. A sinning against God in this way, we incur guilt. We incur the penalty of sin. The Westminster Confession of Faith, another reformed document says this, from this original corruption whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled and made opposite to all good and wholly inclined to all evil do proceed all actual transactions. In other words, we sin in accord with our nature. Our nature has been corrupted. This is the reformed definition of total depravity. Doesn't mean that we are as bad as we could be, right? There is God's common grace to all men, God's restraining grace that keeps men from acting as corruptly as they could. But all of our faculties, what the reformed definition of total depravity teaches us is that all of our faculties have been corrupted by sin, corrupted by your sin, corrupted by your sin nature. Your will has been corrupted by sin. Your desires have been corrupted by sin. If you will take an honest look at your own heart, your own mind, you know this to be true. Your desires have been corrupted by what is filthy in God's sight. Your desires have been corrupted by sin. Your emotions have been corrupted by sin. Your affections have been corrupted by sin, right? In other words, all of your faculties, there's not a square millimeter of your being that has not been touched and defiled and corrupted by the reality of sin. And you were made in the image of God. You were created to be like him, to reflect his character, his nature, his attributes, his glory. And we've been corrupted by sin. Because of that sin nature, because we are corrupted, we are totally depraved in that way. Paul describes us as dead in trespasses and sins. Incapable, because of our sin nature, incapable of pleasing God on our own. Our sin nature, our sinfulness deadens our will. It deadens our desire such that apart from a work of God's grace, the sinner cannot truly desire and pursue Christ by faith. Men are free to do what they will, but their wills are not free. They're captive, captive in bondage, enslaved to a sin nature. And all men act in accord with their nature. This prompts the Lord Jesus Christ to say in John chapter six, verse 44, that no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. Do you see how all of this is connected, right? Having inherited a corrupt nature, a corrupt sin nature for madam, hopelessly enslaved under its power, having sinned ourselves then in likeness of Adam, incurring the penalty of death, incurring estrangement from God, and having then neither the nature nor the will nor the desire to truly seek after God in saving faith. It's apparent, it's clear from Scripture that we can't save ourselves. Salvation then truly is not of works. What work can you do under the influence of your sinful, depraved nature that would be pleasing in God's sight? There's nothing that man can do. There's nothing. Many today, when you talk to people, they'll say, I'm a good person. I believe that I'm a good person. Not in God's sight, you're not. In God's sight, the diagnosis of Scripture is that no one is good, not a single one. Why is that? Because we've inherited this sin nature from Adam, and having inherited this sin from Adam, we are born into sin. As a result of that nature, we then ourselves plunge into sin. We are sinful by nature, sinful by act. We're sinful in the eyes of God, corrupt, totally depraved. And there is nothing that we can do to clean ourselves, cleanse ourselves, to make ourselves right with God. There's nothing that we can do. It's not by works then. You can't go through the waters of baptism and cleanse that. You can't simply say a little prayer and cleanse that. You can't go to enough masses and cleanse that. There's only one cleansing agent that will ever cleanse your sin. And that is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. Salvation is not by works. Now the reality of this, the truth of this, the fact that that you can't work your way to salvation, you can't work your way to God, doesn't get you off the hook with God either. God's requirement of perfect obedience remains. You and I were born under a covenant of works. So when you were born, you had the requirement from your creator to obey him in everything. To obey him in all things. You were born under God's law. You were born under a covenant of works. God says, obey me and you'll live. Disobey me and you'll surely die. Dying you will die. Cursed are you if you do not abide by all things written in the book of the law to do them. God commands you. God commands you, commands me to do that which by our own nature, by our own sinfulness, we are incapable of doing. And yet God commands it. Heidelberg Catechism is helpful at this point. Heidelberg Catechism, written at the time of the Reformation in 1563, asks this question then, is not God then unjust in requiring of man in his law what he cannot do? You understand the question? Is God not unjust then? The answer, no. For God so created man that he could do it. But man upon the instigation of the devil and by deliberate disobedience has cheated himself and all his descendants out of these gifts. And that began with Adam in the garden. This is the doctrine of original sin. This is the Reformation doctrine of total depravity. This brings to the forefront then, this brings to the forefront two inarguable incontrovertible truths papered over or hidden under the works based salvation of Roman Catholicism. One is this, one truth is this. God then is right and just in sending you to hell for your sin. He created you having created you. He ordered your relationship to him by covenant, a covenant of works. And you have broken that covenant and deserve to die. The penalty for having broken the covenant is death. And I would ask you as I would witnessing someone at the door, witnessing someone at the mall or the restaurant or wherever you are, does that concern you? Does that concern you? God would be just, God would be righteous in sending you to hell for your sin. Second truth is this, if anyone is to be saved, if anyone is going to be saved, it will take a sovereign act of God's grace alone to do it. We are incapable of writing our own wrongs. London Baptist confession, chapter seven paragraph two. Moreover, man having brought himself under the curse of the law by his fall, it pleased the Lord to make a covenant then of grace wherein he freely offers unto sinners a life and salvation by Jesus Christ requiring of them faith in him that they may be saved and promising the given to all those that are ordained unto eternal life, his Holy spirit to make them both willing and able to believe. So what do we first see in scripture than a promise of this covenant of grace? We see a promise of the covenant of grace right from the beginning, right from the beginning within the curse of the fall itself. Look back at Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter three. Adam having sinned, plunging the created order into futility. God then gives the curse in Genesis chapter three, the curse of the fall beginning in verse 14. Genesis chapter three, verse 14. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field on your belly. You shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He, the promised seed. Notice that seed, they're a singular, right? Seed, the promised seed shall bruise your head. In other words, the seed of the woman will deal a death blow to the serpent, a death blow to Satan. And he concludes verse 15, and you shall bruise his heel. So even in the midst of his judgment, even in the midst of condemnation for sin, before the dust even settles on Adam's fall, so to speak, in the very heart of the curse, God makes provision for hope through the promise of the gospel. The victory of the seed was announced with the defeat of the serpent. Do you see where the first Adam failed, this last Adam, this promised seed would prevail. Satan overcame the first Adam, the last Adam would overcome Satan. Let's again, again, go back to Romans chapter five, and look at this in New Testament perspective from the pen of Paul, Romans chapter five, verse 12. Romans chapter five verse 12, Paul says, Therefore, just as through one man, through Adam's sin into the world, and death through sin, thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. Now look at verse 15, but the free gift, this free gift of grace from God to save men, the free gift is not like the offense, not like Adam's offense. How? For if by the one man's offense many died, one man's offense refers to Adam's fall, if by one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, the last Adam, abounded to many. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, for the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. God intending to save his people from their sin, freely of his own will gave a provision, gave a sacrifice, an acceptable sacrifice for their sin to justify them to himself, the sacrifice of his own son. Look at verse 17. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. Therefore, verse 18, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act, you could say through one man's righteous life, through one man's righteous sacrifice on the cross, right through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Amen. London Baptist Confession Chapter 7, paragraph 2. This covenant, this covenant of grace, is revealed in the gospel. First of all, to Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman, that in Genesis Chapter 3, right? And afterwards by farther steps until the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament or the New Covenant, and it is founded in that eternal covenant transaction that was between the Father and the Son about the redemption of the elect. That's referring to there in London Baptist Confession Chapter 7, paragraph 2, the covenant of redemption. God's intention to save his own. We saw that in John Chapter 17, verse 2, where Jesus in his high priestly prayer explains that God, intending to save his own people, right? Intending to save his elect to himself from their sin, God says there, has given Jesus Christ authority over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as God has given him. And when did that transaction, when did that occur between the Father and the Son? It occurred before the foundation of the world, before time began. What the Reformers embraced then as the clear teaching of Scripture, what they rediscovered, recovered in their study of the Word of God was the eternal plan of God to work all of human history after the counsel of his own will. And that certainly includes his gracious plan whereby he would save sinners to the eternal glory of his grace. London Baptist Confession Chapter 3, paragraph 1, God hath decreed in himself from all eternity by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will freely and unchangeably he has decreed all things whatsoever that come to pass. We know that to be true from the testimony of Scripture. God decrees all things that come to pass. He didn't decree anything because he foresaw it in the future as if he was merely looking down a cord war of time. God decreed all that has come to pass from the beginning. That includes the election of those whom he would save. Ephesians 111. Ephesians 111 explains it this way. In him also, we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who walks, works all things according to the counsel of his will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. Turn there with me to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Let's look at this text together. Ephesians chapter 1. God, creator God, eternal decrees all things whatsoever that come to pass. That includes the salvation of his own people from their sin. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3. Paul says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Now who's the us? Yes, here you have to recognize our believers, those who have been saved by God. Those have been turned from their sin, put their trust in Christ and are following Christ, right? These are believers that Paul is referencing here, who's blessed believers, blessed us, who's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Verse 4. Just as God, he, chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. When was the election made? Before the foundation of the world. By whom? By God. In whom? In Christ. Verse 5. He predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, not according to a corridor of time, not according to a foreseeing faith, not according to an understanding that one day they're going to make a decision to follow Christ. It's according to the good pleasure of his will. Verse 6. To the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the beloved. Paul told the believers at Thessalonica, in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13, Paul says, We're bound to give thanks to God always for you brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. It's God's electing grace, God's work. And if you think about it, all that comports together, right? If we are totally depraved, unable to save ourselves, unable to do anything that is pleasing in God's sight, then salvation must be a sovereign work of God's grace alone. God's grace alone. The London Baptist Confession explains it this way, chapter 3, paragraph 5. Those of mankind that are predestinated to life, God before the foundation of the world was laid according to his eternal and immutable purpose and the secret counsel and good pleasure of his will, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory out of his mere free grace and love without any other thing in the creature as a condition or cause moving him there unto. The biblical truth, the biblical truth that we're speaking of rediscovered at the Reformation came to be known as unconditional election. Unconditional election flows from total depravity. You are unable to save yourself, God, in his free grace according to his love and according to his good purpose, his good will, the good pleasure of his will, God has saved. We're in everything having to do with the salvation of man owes nothing to the work of man, it rather therefore owes everything to the grace of God in Christ. Look at Ephesians chapter 2, just flip the page. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1, our salvation owes, is owed entirely to the grace of God in Christ. Verse 1, you then he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. You were totally depraved, enslaved and in bondage to your sin nature. He brings you to life. It's a work of the grace of God in Christ. He made you alive when you were dead. Verse 2, these are the sins, these trespasses in which you also once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. Elsewhere Paul calls them children of wrath. Right? By nature, children of wrath. Verse 3, verse 3, among whom we also once it conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature, children of wrath, just as the others. This explains the biblical doctrine also rediscovered in the Reformation, the biblical doctrine of regeneration, regeneration, not given on the basis of human work, not given on the basis of baptism, but given as a gift of God's grace apart from any works of man. That's further explained now in verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved. The words he did that work and it's entirely by grace. He raised us up together and he made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So that verse 7, in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through the means of or the instrumentality of faith. And that is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Now what is the gift of God? The gift of God is salvation, both the grace and the faith are gifts of God. Verse 10, why? Because we are his workmanship. Why is it that you cannot boast in your salvation because you are his workmanship? If you believe that you are saved because you one day you respond to the gospel and you walked an aisle and you prayed a prayer and you believe that you prayed that prayer sincerely, you have something about which you can boast. Do you not? Why is it that you are saved then and maybe a friend or a loved one is not? Because you, you'd have to admit, wouldn't you, did the right thing and they have not done the right thing. You prayed that prayer, they have not. You walked that aisle, they have not. You did that work, they have not. Why are you saved? Because of that thing which you did, you have something about which you can boast. Salvation is not through that evangelical sacrament of asking Jesus in your heart. Salvation is by the grace of God alone, through faith in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. According to the Bible, when was all of this decreed? When was it all decreed? It was decreed in eternity past, in the eternal councils of his will. Now notice that all this grace is accomplished in Jesus Christ our Lord. Galatians chapter 4 verse 4 says this, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. John chapter 6 verse 37 listen to this, all that the Father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me that of all he has given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day and this is the will of him who sent me that everyone who sees the son and believes in him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day. John chapter 10 verse 11 Jesus Christ says I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep, for the sheep. The reformers therefore spoke clearly and decisively of a definite or limited atonement. Now it's clear it's clear because there's a hell because there's a hell it's clear that not everyone benefits from the saving work of Christ. Right there are those who are in hell who are paying for their own sins who are bearing the guilt of their own punishment right but there were some at the time of the Reformation that wanted to apply the substitutionary atonement of Christ to every single person who lives as if Christ's blood were shed for every single person as if Christ bore the punishment for the sins of every single person and would take and they still do this today obviously they would take as evidence for that position those texts which seem to say that his work applies to all men however it's clear it's clear from scripture again rightly handling the word of truth that the work of Christ applies to all kinds of men all kinds of people not only Jews but also Gentiles men and women slave and free and where they the opponents at the time the remonstrance where they would limit the atonement as insufficient to save all requiring humans to express faith for it to be effective the bible teaches an effective and sufficient sacrifice an effective and sufficient atonement that saves everyone whom god intends to save having predestined them and elected them in eternity past having secured their salvation by the foreordained work of the sun having given them to the sun for him to redeem and the sun having come now to live and to die on the cross to secure their redemption god then effectively calls them in time through the means of the gospel causes them to be born again and works in them repentance and faith the reformers understood this from the bible they explained it in london about his confession chapter 10 paragraph one those whom god had predestined in the life he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time effectually to call by his word by his spirit out of the state of sin and death in which they are by nature to grace and to salvation by jesus christ enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of god taking away their heart of stone giving unto them a heart of flesh renewing their wills and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good and effectually drawing them to jesus christ yet so as they become become most freely being made willing by his grace now what that that that's explaining there is again the reformation doctrine of irresistible grace irresistible grace salvation being entirely of god's grace god then changes the hard stubborn resisting sinner from the inside out right when god gives spiritual life when he brings a dead sinner to life through the spirit he changes that corrupt nature that you've inherited right he remakes the sinner he reveals to him his sin reveals to him his rebellion he points the center to the beauty and value worth of the lord jesus christ and then as reform scholar michael alan states there is nothing left in the center with which he can resist there's nothing left with which you can resist god's grace then is irresistibly it's unfailingly effective in saving his people there won't be anyone whom god intends to save it won't be saved now the rediscovery if you will the recovery of this reality this truth from the bible gave birth to the reformation preaching calling sinners to their need for regeneration you must be born again you must be born again you need a new nature salvation is not of works you can't do anything to clean yourself up make yourself worthy of god's favor you stand condemned under the law of god sentenced to eternal death you are enslaved to sin a son of disobedience a child of wrath you must be born again this doctrine of regeneration is explained in ezekiel 36 beginning in verse 25 where god says i will sprinkle clean water on you you shall be clean i'm gonna cleanse you of your sin i will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols god says i will give you a new heart i'm gonna put a new spirit within you i will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and i'm going to give you a new heart of flesh i'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes you will keep my judgments and do them then you shall dwell in the land that i gave to your fathers you shall be my people and i will be your god and i will deliver you from all your uncleanness all of that is the work of god right all of that is the work of god's grace think with me having elected his own from eternity past unconditional election right having secured their redemption by the blood of his own son substitutionary atonement having called them to himself and giving them new life in christ and salvation and start to finish being entirely of god's grace alone through faith alone in christ alone god then by his spirit works in them as ezekiel 36 says to will and to do according to his good pleasure he works in his own he preserves them in faith to the end this came to be known after the reformation as the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints london davis confession describes it chapter 17 paragraph one those whom god have accepted in the beloved effectually called and sanctified by his spirit and given the precious faith of his elect unto can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace but shall certainly persevere therein to the end and be eternally saved seeing the gifts and callings of god are without repentance or without regret without changing without turning without they're irrevocable once he still begets and nourishes them in faith repentance love joy hope and all the graces of the spirit unto immortality and though many storms and floods arise and beat against them yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation off that rock which by faith they are fastened upon that truth has cleared us in romans chapter 8 turn with me to roman's chapter 8 let's look at this in closing roman's chapter 8 the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints if it were left up to you and i to preserve ourselves in the faith we would surely fail often daily right it is entirely a work of god's grace that his own persevere in the faith entirely a work of his grace look at roman's 8 look at verse 28 reformers refer to this as the golden chain the golden chain we know verse 28 that all things work together for good to those who love god to those who are the called right there's a definite group of the called those who love god everything works together for good according to his purpose verse 29 for whom he foreknew these he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the first born among many brethren moreover here's the chain those whom he predestined those same ones he also called to himself as we've said those who are called who are called come right everyone whom the father calls comes to him his grace is effective those whom he has called these he has also justified how by faith in christ because of christ's substitutionary work on their behalf he shed his blood for them god makes them right with himself a legal declaration of innocent because of christ those whom he justified these he also what glorified if you are saved if you've been brought to saving faith in christ you will be glorified together with him eternally and forever saved drop down to verse 31 what shall then we say to these things if god is for us then if we're justified before god who can be against us that god god our god our creator who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all delivered him up for all of us believers is what paul is saying there in verse 32 how shall he not with him also freely give us all things if he's given us his only son how much more will god see to it that we have everything that we need to make it to the end who shall bring a charge against god's elect verse 33 it's god who justifies who is he who condemns it's christ who died furthermore is also risen who is even at the right hand of god and also makes intercession for us who shall separate us from the love of christ shall tribulation distress persecution famine nakedness peril sword as it is written for your sake we're killed all day long we're counted as sheep for the slaughter yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us i am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord it can't get any sureer than that it's based entirely on the faithfulness of god the grace of god in christ total depravity unconditional election limited atonement irresistible grace perseverance of the saints all of our salvation start to finish according to scripture alone is by the grace of god alone through faith alone in christ alone to the glory of god alone soloscriptura sola gratia sola fide solos christus solidae gloria you might think to yourself as many have considering these things that just doesn't sound right it wouldn't it's a man if it weren't revealed in the text of scripture why would we ever believe such things but this is god's word and it is the cause of great rejoicing paul anticipated objections you see those the very next page roman's chapter nine beginning in verse 14 what shall we say then right verse 14 roman's chapter nine is there unrighteousness with god god's somehow unfair no he says to moses verse 15 i will have mercy on whomever i will have mercy and i will have compassion on whomever i will have compassion he is god so then it's not of him who wills doesn't matter what you intend to do it's not of him who runs it's not according to your works it is of god who shows mercy verse 17 for the scripture says the pharaoh for this very purpose i've raised you up that i may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth therefore he has mercy on whom he wills and whom he wills he hardens you'll say to me then in light of these things why does he still find fault how can he hold us guilty for our sin how can he judge us according to our sins how can he still find fault for who has resisted his will paul answers verse 20 but indeed oh man who are you to reply against god will the thing formed say to him who formed it why have you made me like this does not the potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor he is god right what if god verse 22 wanting to show his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long sufferings the vessels of wrath prepared beforehand for destruction and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he called not of the jews only but also the gentiles as we consider these things we consider the the doctrines of the reformation what does he require of us then you consider this put all this together right if you can meditate on these truths from scripture connect the dots and put this together what then does he require of us it's not by our works it's entirely by god's grace what is required of us is faith what then is left for us what then is left for us but to believe in these things what is left for us but to trust god in christ and embrace these truths as having been applied to us in him and rejoice in them to his praise and glory what is left for us but faith faith faith this is what martin luther was overcome by when the lord converted him was faith look at roman's one flip a couple of pages to the left roman's one paul says in verse 16 i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ for it is the power of god to salvation for everyone who believes who trusts who entrusts themselves to god in christ to save them right for the jew first and also for the greek for in it for in the gospel the righteousness of god is revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith on martin luther used to consider meditate on that passage of scripture he thought to himself this is not good news the righteousness of god the holiness of god the perfections of god is infinite righteousness is revealed against me because i am sinful i've been born with a sin nature i am bound enslaved to my sin and i can do nothing to save myself so god's righteousness is not a a thing to embrace it's not a thing to rejoice it's not a thing to worship him for god's righteousness condemns me that's the way that martin luther used to think but when he saw this passage as being god's grace in the gospel to him that if he will put his faith and trust himself to the lord jesus christ then god's righteousness in christ is revealed to him as given to him as a free gift of god's love a free gift of god's grace so that he could stand righteous before a holy god and be saved then it's a gift of love it's a gift of grace it's a gift of mercy do you see what is required of us faith to trust him for that to see yourself the way that scripture reveals you to be to accept that diagnosis from god as being true and right and to turn from your sin to turn from being the the lord and sovereign ruler so to speak of your own life and to entrust yourself to him in all things and to believe upon him who has made provision for our sin in christ and his only son to trust him to entrust yourself to him we are justified we are made right with god by faith he's done all that you need it's completed he has done it all it is just now and coming upon us to believe what does it mean to believe what does it mean to put your faith in him means to trust him in all things you submit yourself to him believing him and believing his word you do all things whatsoever he commands right you live for him heart soul mind and strength you express gratefulness to him for all of this glorious grace that he has shown you in the gospel right you live wholeheartedly for him trusting him involves an act of your mind an act of your will an act of your emotions trusting him involves an act of obedience and trusting yourself to him your obedience is the fruit of faith does that make sense faith trust and trusting yourself to him turn from sin right turn from sin trust christ alone he has made provision for your sin let's pray father in heaven we praise you and we thank you lord that you by your grace by the work of your spirit through your word worked in and through men and women in history as means to preserve these great truths of the bible we're so grateful to your lord for your grace and grace that you've shown us in doing that thank you lord for giving us by your spirit eyes to see ears to hear hearts to understand these things thank you lord that it has absolutely nothing to do with me thank you lord that your perfect holy righteous son accomplished all this would purchased it all with his own blood on the cross and thank you lord that you apply it to us by faith that when the lord jesus christ proclaimed on the cross it is finished he meant that and that it was and that it is and that we can embrace it by faith i pray lord that if there's anyone here who has never turned from their sin to trust you they would see the glories of the gospel of christ the glory of god in the face of the lord jesus christ and they would turn from their sin and entrust themselves to christ for your glory and for their eternal salvation or save them and do that work in their heart that only you can do cause them to be born again draw them to yourself break their heart over their sin and work in them repentance and faith for my brothers and sisters lord wait may we continue to worship you to praise you to rejoice and exult in you for these great truths that you've shown us in the gospel may we live for you heart soul mind and strength knowing that our home is not here or that we have a heavenly inheritance that awaits us and we are joint heirs with our lord and savior the one who died for us loved us and gave himself for us we praise you and thank you for these truths i pray that we would rejoice in them i pray that we would live in light of them to your glory forever more in jesus name amen conclude this morning i just wanted to make you aware that we'll begin activities outside pretty much immediately i've been told that to get something to eat you just head out these doors around the building and tents and food are set up out back from what i understand there is a relay race coming up about two o'clock and so they want people to sign up for the relay race i think they want families to sign up for the relay race we got something planned for all that so uh see brian alexandra about signing up for that and um let me say this real quick too before we get started um very very grateful to the people who work in labor here to make things like this possible uh it is a labor it is hard work and so i will have time to thank those people who are involved and i want to take time to do that but if you see people working and you know who those people are hug their neck and say thank you for making this possible we're very grateful for those people and grateful to god for them and i pray that you have a blessed afternoon and just fun and the lord and wish you well let's um pray and um ask the lord to bless the food and then we'll dismiss you for for lunch and the afternoons activities father in heaven thank you lord for all the many ways that you provide for us we know lord that every good and perfect gift comes down from above comes down from the father of lights and we look to you then lord in gratefulness we don't want to be as the heathen and be ungrateful lord we thank you for these ways that you've provided for us and not the least of which lord is just this day by day meal by meal reminder how good you are how you care for us and how you provide for us and how we're to look to you for provision and so we thank you for our meal this afternoon lord i pray that you bless our time together bless our conversation bless our rejoicing to your glory god and our good and thank you for the opportunity that we have to do it thank you for all those that have worked and prepared and put up tents and loaded tables and moved chairs and cooked chicken and cleaned kitchens and all those things that lord um have to be done to make a day like this possible i pray that you would bless them in their labor and bless us as beneficiaries of it and may we love one another for your glory god in jesus name amen