Luther on the gospel and those who seek their own sacrifice...

Martin Luther relates the gospel as he prepares to point out ways that the “silent mass” of those days departed from that gospel. …


First, I want to remind each one of the ground on which our faith and all our preaching rests. I shall repeat it briefly. But I preach now only to those who accept the gospel as the Word of God and nothing else, for those who still do not know that or are in doubt about it will not accept this ground of our faith. Well, you have heard in the gospel and learned from it that the problem of our salvation from sin, death, the devil and an evil conscience, the problem of attaining true righteousness before God and eternal life, is by no means solved or helped with works or laws, no matter what they may be or may be called. For God will accept no other mediation and no other mediator than his only Son, whom the Father sent into the world and whom he caused to shed his blood for the sole purpose that he might thereby obtain for us the treasure of faith.

That, briefly, is the sum total of the gospel that we preach. And if anyone seeks another way to be freed from his sins and stand before God, he blasphemes and insults God and accuses him of lying, as if he had let his Son shed his blood in vain and his death had accomplished nothing and was of no importance. For this is what God insists on and nothing else, that on one shall stand before him except by that innocent blood alone. And if anyone undertakes some other method, such as his works or order or station in life, he shall belong to the devil much more than anyone else. For it is a very serious matter with God and he will have no jest made of it, because for this purpose he gave his Son to die. For that reason we know and have no other sacrifice that that which he made on the cross, on which he died once for all as the Epistle to the Hebrews (9:12, 20) says, and thereby put away the sins of all men and also made us holy for eternity.

That, I say, is our gospel, that Christ has made us righteous and holy through that sacrifice and has redeemed us from sin, death and the devil and has brought us into his heavenly kingdom. We have to grasp this and hold it fast through faith alone. We have preached this and reiterated it so often that everyone can know it well and can conclude from it that all our own works undertaken to expiate sin and escape from death are necessarily blasphemous. They deny God and insult the sacrifice that Christ has made and disgrace his blood, because they try thereby to do what only Christ’s blood can do.

–Luther, April 1525 as found in “The Abomination of the Secret (or Silent) Mass”

How to go to heaven--by Miles McKee and the Bible

The Wednesday Word: What Truths Must We Believe to go to Heaven?


There are many great and wonderful truths taught in the Bible, but which of them do we primarily need to rest in order to receive acquittal before God? Take the ‘Second Coming ’, for example, (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18): that Christ will one day return to this earth in great glory is an excellent truth. In fact, if someone told me that they were a believer, but rejected this truth I would probably question their salvation (1 Jn 3:3). Yet we are not in any sense declared not guilty by believing in the second coming of our Lord.

We believe that Christ ascended into heaven (Eph 4:10) and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high (Heb 10:12), but wonderful as this truth is, it is not the basis of our justification.
We believe that the Holy Spirit has been sent to earth as the exclusive substitute for Christ (John 14:16-20) and that He is actively calling out a bride for the wonderful Son of God, yet again, believing these things does not cause us to receive right standing before the all-holy and righteous God.

What about the resurrection? Faith looks at the resurrection and sees it as the proof that Christ satisfied the justice of God. Romans 4:25 tells us that He, “...was raised again for our justification.’ Faith sees that the resurrection was, therefore, the visible pledge of a justification already accomplished. However, although the resurrection is the proof of our justification, it is not the ground of our acquittal.

So what then is the belief that we need to have in order to be saved? What we need is faith in Christ Jesus, the God/Man, who was crucified on our behalf. It is not merely enough to assent to the fact that He died; we must be possessed by a faith in His person and death. What we need is a faith that Christ, the man who is God, died as our substitute and our propitiation to remove the righteous wrath of the all-holy God. But more than that, the faith that justifies also grasps that Christ Himself is now our only righteousness (Jeremiah 33:16; Romans 1:16-17). Faith sees that no other righteousness other than Christ’s admits us to heaven. Faith also sees that no other righteousness is either requested or required (Phil 3:9)!
No one will stand in the presence of God who does not have the righteousness of Christ as their very own. His righteousness is the only perfect righteousness in existence (Isa 11:1-5; Ps 40: 7-8;) and it is given to us as a free gift in the gospel (Rom 5;15-18; Heb 10:9-14). The only way of salvation is in Christ plus nothing. If He and His finished work are not your exclusive hope then, regardless of what else you believe in the Bible, you are lost; you are still under sin, guilt, and condemnation.
Faith, although it receives all the great truths of the Word, always brings us back to Christ crucified as the exclusive ground and basis of our justification. Christ plus nothing received by faith plus nothing is where we stand.

There's a marvelous text in 2 Timothy 1:12 where the apostle says "Nevertheless I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day." Many years ago, ‘Rabbi’ Duncan, Professor of Hebrew at New College, Edinburgh, (he was nicknamed Rabbi for he was so steeped in learning), was lecturing in class and they were discussing this particular verse. One of the students cited the text, "I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded." Professor Duncan stopped him and said, "Repeat that text." He said, "I know in whom I have believed," "My dear sir," interrupted Rabbi Duncan, " it's ‘I know whom I have believed;’---- you must never let even a preposition come between you and your Savior."
So let’s say it again, it is Christ plus nothing received by faith plus nothing that is the true gospel ground.
And that’s the Gospel Truth
Miles

Christ is the End of the Law

By Don Fortner (Go to http://www.sovereign-grace.com/doctrine/gcdoc0057.htm)

"Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." – Romans 10:4

"Christ is the end of the law." It is entirely correct to do with that statement exactly what the whole religious world says we must not do with it. Take it and run with it just as far as possible. There is no sense in which Christ is not the end of the law. He is the fulfilment of the law, the conclusion of the law, the finality of the law, the object of the law, the reason why the law was given, and the termination of the law.

"Christ is the end of the law for righteousness." There is no righteousness of any kind, justifying righteousness or sanctifying righteousness, to be had by our personal obedience to the law. It is written, "If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain!"

Christ is not the end of the law for everyone. The Son of God did not fulfill the law's demands for everyone. He is the end of the law for God's elect, for all who trust him. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth."

Holy, Just and Good
When the apostle Paul declares, "Christ is the end of the law," he is not telling us that the law is evil. It is not (1 Tim. 1:8-9). It is an evil thing to misuse the law; but the law is not evil. Writing by divine inspiration, the apostle tells us those apostate religious leaders who try to mix law and grace, who try to put believers under the yoke of bondage, desiring to be teachers of the law, do not know what they are talking about, "understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm." The law was never intended, in any sense, for those who are righteousness before God. The law was given for the unrighteous. The law is not evil. It is holy, just, and good. It would be well if all men lived in conformity to the law's commands, both in outward practice and in inward principle. Indeed, it is ordained of God and used by all civil governments to protect society from those who would otherwise disregard all respect for the rights, property, and lives of others.Delight in the Law

When the Scriptures affirm, as the New Testament constantly does, that Christ is the end of the law and the believers are entirely free from the law, the Spirit of God certainly is not suggesting that believers are free to break, or disregard God's holy law. Not only is the believer not free to break the law, he has no desire to do so. To those who believe, God's commandments are not grievous (1 John 5:1-3). Every child of God in this world truly delights in the law of God after the inward man (Rom. 7:22). If we could, we would love God with all out hearts. If we could, we would love our neighbor as ourselves. But we do not have the ability to do so.Bible Doctrine

I am fully aware that the creeds, confessions, and religious dogma of almost every Protestant or Baptist denomination, as well as those written by papists, stringently affirm that there is a sense in which believers are yet under the law. (That fact alone ought to be enough to convince us that it is contrary to Holy Scripture!)) But the Word of God declares exactly the opposite, and states the believer's freedom from the law with such frequency and clarity that error in this regard is utterly in excusable. In Christ every believer is entirely free from the law, because Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." "We are not under law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:14-15). We have been crucified with Christ, and we are "become dead to the law by the body of Christ" (Rom. 7:4). There is no sense whatsoever in which it may be said that the believer is under the law (Rom. 8:1-4; Gal. 2:19-21; 3:1-3, 13, 18-19, 21-26; 4:9-11, 21, 30; 5:1-5; Col. 2:8-23).

"I defy anyone to find a solitary text of Scripture in the New Testament that uses the law to motivate, inspire, regulate, or even guide the believer. Believers are motivated by love, inspired by gratitude, regulated by grace, and guided by the Holy Spirit. The whole Word of God, the complete revelation of his will is our law. Our lives are governed by love, not by fear. We walk by faith, not by legislation. We walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh (Rom. 8:9-14; Gal. 3:3)." – (Scott Richardson)

Our law, our rule of life, is not one section of Scripture [1],
[1] Frequently, the word "law" is used in the Old Testament, particularly in the psalms, to refer to the whole Word of God, the whole revelation of God and his will in Holy Scripture. Sometimes the Word "law" is used to refer to the ceremonial, dietary and sometimes to the civil law given to the nation of Israel. And the word "law" is often used to refer specifically to the ten commandments as recorded in Exodus 20.

These ten commandments are commonly referred to as "the moral law" by preachers and theologians. However, you will search the Word of God in vain to find a separation between the ten commandments and the other laws given by the hand of Moses to the children of Israel. When the Scriptures declare that believers in Christ are free from the law and that Christ is the end of the law the declaration is that we are free from all the Mosaic law (civil, dietary, economic, and moral) by which the nation of Israel was governed in the Old Testament, but the whole revealed will of God in Holy Scripture.

We take the Word of God in its entirety as our only rule of faith and practice. However, we rejoice in the fact that we are no longer ruled, motivated or governed by the law. We do not live before God upon legal principles. Therefore we sing with joy,
"Free from the law, oh, happy condition!Christ has redeemed us from every transgression."

In Christ, the child of God, those who live in the Spirit, those who walk by faith, are entirely free from the law. We have no covenant with the law. We live under a covenant of grace. We have no commitment to the law. Our commitment is to Christ, who obeyed the law for us. We do nothing by constraint of the law. "The love of Christ constraineth us." We fear no curse from the law. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree."

False Accusations
Because the doctrine of the believer's freedom from the law is so clearly and universally taught in the Scriptures that it cannot, upon any grounds, be refuted, those who refuse to bow to the Word of God have only one other course of action by which to persuade men against it: Slander.

They attempt to justify themselves and their doctrine by making the doctrine of Holy Scripture and those who teach it appear vile. Men often accuse us of being antinomians. They accuse us of promoting licentiousness. They censor us and warn others to avoid contact with us, as though our liberty in Christ were some kind of spiritual leprosy. But we will not again be entangled with the yoke of bondage. We will not attempt to reach the throne of God by climbing Mt. Sinai. We will simply trust the grace of God streaming to us from the wounds of our crucified Savior, finding all our righteousness and all our redemption in that One who died for our sins at Mt. Calvary.

Be Warned
Let all who seek God's favor by their obedience to the law be warned – "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." Show me a man who trusts his own righteousness, his own obedience, his own devotion, his own feelings, or anything else of his own as a basis of acceptance with God to any degree or for anything, and I will show you a man who is entirely lost, a man to whom the blood of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, and the grace of Christ is worthless.

"Christ is the end of the law."
The law of God is that which we ought to dread above all things, for the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. The law condemns us and demands our execution. In solemn terms, it appoints for us a place among the damned. "For it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Gal. 3:10).Yet, man has a strange infatuation with the law. Like the gnat that is drawn to the candle that will destroy it, man by nature is drawn to the law for righteousness, when all the law can give is destruction. The law can do nothing else but reveal sin and pronounce condemnation on the sinner (Rom. 3:19-20).

Still, we cannot get men to flee from the law. They are so enamored with their own self- righteousness and their own self-worth that they will cling to the law with a death-grip, though there is nothing to cling to. They prefer Sinai to Calvary, though Sinai offers them nothing but death. Listen to the Word of God. If the opinions of men, or your own opinions contradict the Word of God, "Let God be true and every man a liar."

The law was never given to save sinners; and it can never serve that purpose (Gal. 2:16).

The law was never given to motivate the people of God to holiness and service; and it cannot serve that purpose. The one thing that God requires is a willing heart (2 Cor. 8:12; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; Rom. 12:1-2).

The law was never given as a rule of life, or standard of conduct for the believer; and it cannot serve that purpose (Rom. 3:28, 31; 1 John 3:23).

The law was not given to produce sanctification in the believer; or even to be a measure of sanctification, and it cannot serve such purposes (Gal. 3:1-3).

Christ is our sanctification!
The law was given to point men to Christ for salvation. The law was given to show man his guilt, his sin, and his need of a Substitute. This is the law's only purpose; and it serves that purpose very well (Rom. 3:19-22). The thunders of Sinai drive us away and point us with its lightening bolts to Calvary and to Christ who is the end of the law.

When the Holy Spirit asserts that Christ is the end of the law, he means for us to understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is the end of the law's purpose. He is the purpose and object of the law. The law was given to lead us to Christ. The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (Gal. 3:24-25). "But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster."

The law is the sheriff's deputy who shuts men up in prison for their sin, concluding them all under condemnation, so that they may look to the free grace of God in Christ for deliverance. This is the purpose of the law. It empties, that grace may fill. It wounds, that grace may heal. The law was given to lead sinners to faith in Christ, by showing them the impossibility of salvation in any other way. Spurgeon said, "The law is God's black dog, by which he fetches his sheep to the Shepherd."

How does the law perform its work? How does the law bring men to Christ? It exposes our sin (Rom. 7:7-9). The law shows us what the result of sin must be. It declares that sin has separated and will forever separate man from God, unless justice is satisfied and sin removed. The law declares, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:20).

The only way any man can obtain mercy from God is to approach him with the bloody sacrifice of his own darling Son.

The law reveals our utter helplessness (Psa. 24:3-4). Any man who thinks he can keep the law, and thereby win God's favor, simply does not know what the law requires. "Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?" (Gal. 4:21). The law demands perfection. The law demands satisfaction. If we ever see what God requires in his law, we will beg for a Mediator (Ex. 20:1-19).

God's holy law shows us our great need of Christ as our Substitute. Our only hope before God is that God himself will send One who is able and willing to satisfy his holy law for us. We must have a Substitute, one who is able to make us righteous, one who is able to redeem (Rom. 3:24-26).

Knowing what the law requires, my soul cries, "Give me Christ. I want nothing to do with God's naked law!" The law strips. Christ covers. The law condemns. Christ pardons. The law kills. Christ gives life.

Not only is Christ the purpose and object of the law, the One to whom the law points. Christ is also the fulfillment of the law (Isa. 42:21). Our Lord said, "I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil the law." The law demands complete obedience, without one spot or speck, failure or flaw. The law demands holiness, righteousness, perfection. The terms of the law cannot be lowered, not even in order to save God's elect.

The law demands complete satisfaction. It will settle for nothing less than the death of every transgressor. In Christ God's elect have all that the law demands. His life of obedience is our perfect righteousness. His sin-atoning death is our satisfaction of divine justice (Rom. 5:19). In Christ we are free from the law's curse (Rom. 8:1). In Christ the believer fulfills the law by faith (Rom. 3:31).

Christ fulfilled the law representatively for us; and we fulfill the law by faith, offering to God what his law demands: – The Obedience and Blood of Christ!
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the termination of the law. Yes, read that right. Christ is the end of the law in the sense that he is the termination of the law. Dead is just about as terminated as you can get; and Paul tells us that if we are truly married to Christ we are dead to the law (Rom. 7:1-4). Christ has terminated the law as a covenant of life. – "We are not under the law, but under grace." Christ has terminated the law's curse and penalty. In Christ, every believer has a just, righteous claim of merit upon all the blessedness of everlasting glory (Psa. 32:1-2; Col. 1:12).

Do you see the sweet mystery of salvation by the substitutionary work of Christ? The law has no claim upon those for whom Christ died. The curse spent itself on our Redeemer. Dying in Christ, when he died for us upon the cursed tree, we are dead to the law. We are righteous, justified, guiltless, innocent, holy, without blemish, perfect before the holy Lord God in Christ."Christ is the end of the law for righteousness."

Sinners cannot obtain righteousness of any kind, of any merit before God by the works of the law (Gal. 2:21). God requires perfect righteousness (Matt. 5:20; Heb. 12:14). We have no righteousness of our own, and we have no ability to produce righteousness (Isa. 64:6). Christ has established righteousness for his people that meets the law's demands (Phil. 3:8-10). His name is "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS!" The righteousness of the law is found only in Christ."Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth."

The one issue of vital importance is just this: – "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" If you believe, Christ is the end of the law to you. If you do not believe, you are yet under the curse of God's holy law. If you would be saved you must submit to the righteousness of God. You must trust Christ alone for righteousness. Your sin cannot be put away except by his blood atonement. You cannot be made holy before God except by Christ. If you refuse to submit to the righteousness of God in Christ, you must forever perish under the infinite curse of God's holy law.

Let us never attempt to serve God by a legal principle (Col. 2:16-23). We must never allow anyone to bring us back into bondage, no not for a moment (Gal. 5:1-4). We must never trust our own righteousness (Gal. 5:2). Self-righteousness sticks to human flesh like leaches. Shake it off. Flee from it. Cling to Christ alone for all your hope before God. He is "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."