Sola Scriptura

WELCOME

Pastor Chris Paavola:

Well, hey everybody. Good morning. Thank you band. Wonderful job. You guys did great. My name is Chris Paavola. I’m the senior pastor here at St. Mark. I get the honor of being the senior pastor and we are in a series kind of nearing the end of it called Certain, where we are going through these historical truths of this time period in history known as the Reformation. And we’re just letting those truths, kind of looking at them and examining them because these ideas didn’t just reform the church. They didn’t just reform human history, they reformed people’s hearts. And what happened then we just sang about in that song. Same God, what happened then can happen now for you and your life, and that’s our hope for this series. Now, all of these ideas of the reformation, these concepts are captured in these phrases that use Latin because that’s what the Bible was written in at the time at Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

And it’s the phrases, Solas, alone or only. So we’ve looked at Sola gratia, so and so Christus, so this idea that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone and each of those things. Now, if you notice, it’s so gratia, God’s grace to us. That’s what the Father does. And then it’s faith alone, meaning our faith. That’s kind of what we’re bringing to the table, not our works, not our deeds, but simply faith, right? And just faith not in heaven that heaven is real or faith that God is good or faith in faith. It’s faith in something specific. And that faith, the object of our faith, where we put our faith is in Christ, his substitutionary work in our behalf, his death and resurrection for us. So that’s the three solos we’ve looked at. Grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone. Today we’re going to add to that a fourth solo.

SCRIPTURE ALONE

How we know all of these things is by solo scriptura. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone according to scripture alone, meaning we didn’t get these ideas out of nowhere. This is what the summation of scripture is, that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ. That’s the summation of scripture and scripture alone that tells us this. Nowhere else do we find this information and all of life is kind of then viewed through scripture alone. It is the ultimate authority by which everything else is judged. And so one of the sayings of the Reformation leaders was that scripture alone is the rule and norm by which all teachings and teachers are evaluated, meaning that we are held to the standard of scripture alone and nothing else. And also that’s to say that if scripture says something, either permitting or condoning something, that’s it.

That’s the authority. And if it doesn’t, this scripture says nothing about the color of socks you wear this morning. Well then there’s freedom, there’s liberty. And for instance, we can look outside and be like, wow, that tree is beautiful. The sunset is gorgeous, the stars are amazing, but we would know through scripture that the heavens declare the glory of God. But it’s not like we can read something out in scripture that’s different than what we find in the pages of scripture alone. That’s this idea. And scripture alone is not just this doctrinal point that informs what you believe though, remember it reforms your life and it has the power to reform, reshape everything about you. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. And quite honestly, the easiest way to describe this is to just describe how it reformed and raised, shaped the life of someone else, and then you can make the connection to your own life.

And we see it really in the life of this guy named Martin Luther. So Martin Luther, good guy, right? We’ve talked about him. He was this German monk in the Catholic church and he started noticing that there are a whole bunch of things the Catholic church is doing that are not in scripture, right? Praying to the saints, purgatory, penance for your sins to somehow reduce your sentence from God, making pilgrimages, Rome, all these things that the Catholic church was teaching as a mandate and affecting your salvation. He’s like, hold on, I don’t see this in scripture. And so he wrote these 95 complaints called the 95 these and posted them on the door of this church in Wittenberg, Germany, and thus began this time period called the Reformation. We’ve talked about that in weeks one, two, and three, the summation of the 95. These really could be described as so gratia, so sola Christus, so scriptura, we are saved by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone according to scripture alone, okay?

DIET OF WORMS

POPE LEO

The 95 theses starts circulating all throughout Europe and eventually makes its way towards this guy named Pope Leo. We talked about him a little bit. History does not look fondly on Pope Leo ii very scandalous guy. He even looks angry in his painting. So that’s Pope Leo and he reads Luther’s 95 theses, and he’s enraged by it because Luther is teaching against the Catholic church and specifically calling him out. And so Pope Leo writes down his objections to what Luther has said and calls Luther a heretic and threatens him with excommunication outside the grace of God outside the church of God. He rolls it up and he seals this letter with his papal seal and that word seal and Latin is bull. So it’s referred to in history as the papal bull. And they send it back to Luther. Luther gets this papal bull threatening him with excommunication if he will not renounce and cease with his teaching cease and desist and all that stuff. He reads it and he says in effect, you want to burn me? You want to burn my books? I burn this. And he burns the palpable and this big public demonstration and everyone’s like, Ooh.

EMPEROR CHARLES

And so Luther is called a trial to be found a heretic. And people in recent history from this point have been burned at the stake for less. And so this is like the gauntlet has been thrown down, the challenge is accepted. And so Emperor Charles summons Luther for trial. That’s Emperor Charles safe to say he had an underbite. It’s what happens when you marry your cousin, okay? That’s what they did back then. I’m just spitting facts here people, okay? I’m just telling you the way it was back in the day, royalty married cousins and that’s how they kept power and they got underbites. So anyway, emperor Charles though is like this king over a whole region and the Roman Empire, there was no separation of church and state at the time. So it’s kind of like our idea of the legislative and the executive branch of our government.

So there’s the pope who’s governing all of the religious affairs, and then there’s Emperor Charles, a very devout Catholic, actually probably more devout than Pope Leo, who’s governing all the civil affairs of his empire and his region where he’s king goes from Germany down to Italy all the way to Spain. So pretty much all of western Europe. And then remember, 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. They discovered all of this new land they could colonize, never mind that there were already people there. And so he colonized Emperor Charles pretty much all of modern day Peru and all of modern day Mexico and parts of the Caribbean. And so it was set of Emperor Charles the sun never set on his empire. And it’s true, the sun never set on his empire. It was a pretty big important guy. And so he summoned Luther to this trial.

PRINCE FREDERICK

But to get Luther, Luther was residing in Saxony or Germany that was governed by a guy named Prince Frederick. And this is important because next slide please, prince Frederick, right? So this is our idea of a governor and a president. That’s kind of the same concept. So you’ve got Emperor Charles and then Prince Frederick, who’s the prince of Saxony where Luther happens to be located and modern day Germany. And as Luther is growing in popularity over the last five years since 1517 when he nailed the 95, these Frederick is first of all interested in Luther’s ideas and he’s kind of agreeing with him, but he also notices how popular Luther’s becoming. And so either politically or personally, we can’t really be sure. Frederick starts attaching himself to Luther a lot because he notices when he does the people really like him, and that matters to princes.

And so there’s a lot of this interplay of personal and political stuff going on and hitching your wagon and to Luther and stuff. And so Prince Frederick says to emperor, Charles, I will deliver Luther to you if you can guarantee safe passage to and from the trial. And surprisingly, emperor Charles agrees is something that becomes very important later on. And so Frederick guarantees Luther’s safe passage to and from this trial with this armed militia, these armed guards. And so Luther travels several days to this place in southwestern modern day Germany called Verms is the name of the town. And the problem with that is it translates into English, or we say it in English phonetically as worms. And the word in Latin for an assembly or a trial is diet. And so Luther’s famous trial happens at the Diet of Worms, and we read this and hear this and we’re like, that sounds disgusting.

DIET OF WORMS

It’s almost lunch, can we not? But Luther goes to the Diet of Worms for this trial, and when he gets there again, the armed militia kind of leading him and guiding him. And he gets to the city and his city is packed because the emperor is in this little town and the city is packed, and it’s full of proponents and opponents, supporters and detractors. And the city is packed. And he gets in this assembly hall, and they’re in the assembly hall sits, you can see him on the left there. And kind of the shadows is Emperor Charles himself, and there’s cardinals there, and bishops there and priests. And then in the back in the balcony and stuff is all these local residents and local leaders. And it said that lay people and just common peasants were leaning in through the windows and door is trying to hear what is happening to their beloved Martin Luther. And as Luther gets into the room, he stands there, and this is, I believe it’s April 16th, 1521, I think it’s April 16th. He gets inside and there’s a table. And on the table is all of Luther’s writings to that point. And these are actually, Luther’s works here.

It’s kind of a gift from mom and dad. After you graduate seminary, they give you Luther’s works and you’re like, thanks anyway, get right on that. I’m just kidding you use them as reference. I use them as reference all the time. But so there’s a table with all of Luther’s works on it and books that he had written at this point, like the Babylonian captivity or the Bondage of the Will or the 95 theses, they’re all on this table. And there’s a lawyer for basically a lawyer for Rome for the Pope named Johan Eck. And Emperor Charles is just kind of sitting silently on his high chair there and Johan Eck, they have Luther stand in front of the table and they say, and Johan Eck goes, Martin Luther, “are these your books?” And Luther’s like, well, what are the titles? And they read the titles and he says, “yes, these are my books.” these.”

And then Johann X says, “do you recant?” And Luther actually is visibly shaking. This is a big moment. There’s people holding swords. He’s in the presence of the emperor of Europe and he realizes what’s at stake. People have been burned at the stake for less in very recent history, and he’s nervous. And so he’s very timid and everyone’s like, this is the mighty Martin Luther who writes all of these bold statements. And here he is, quivering and trembling. And so Luther asks for a little bit more time to consider his answer, and they grant him one day and they say, we will reconvene tomorrow at 4:00 PM and you will give an answer.

(14:24):

So Luther spends the night in this holding cell and quite literally wrestling in prayer with God. And he’s like, praying, prayer is very reminiscent to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane or something like that. And like, Lord, not my will, but your will be done if there’s any other way, take this away from me. Save me God into your hands. I commend my spirit. And finally Luther surrenders. It’s this wrestling of his will with Gods, but he surrenders, okay, Lord. Okay. The next day he’s back at the assembly hall. It’s packed out with people again, standing room only.

And Luther stands in front of the table in front of his books. And Johan Eck repeats the question, do you recant of these writings? And Luther is now much more resolute. He’s much more bold when he speaks. He’s not shaken by the moment because he’s prayed and he says, well, I’m not going to recant of the things where I quote scripture and the parts of what I have written that the Catholic church would agree that you’re not asking me to recant of that are you? And Johan Eck is like, you are not here to give speeches. Luther. You’re not here to debate Martin, but to answer the question that is asked, do you recant? And so Luther says: ”through the laws of the Pope and the doctrines of men, the consciences of the faithful have been miserably, vexed and flayed “Luther was great with words, which is part of the reason he’s so popular.

He just has a way of saying things. He says, “if I recant of these writings, I will do nothing but add strength to tyranny and open not just the windows, but also the doors of this great ungodliness.” And then he continues, “only let my errors be proven by scripture alone, scripture alone, and I will revoke my works and throw them in the fire.” And it said that after Luther said this, that the emperor Charles gasped and said, no, how could you speak against the Pope? And he’s just so critical of God’s high priest. How could you? And Johann Eck was not pleased with this answer because it sounded again like a speech in filibustering. And he says, answer simply yes or no. Do you recant? And Luther replies the immortal words that have continued to, it’s so funny. I’m not sure what I just missed.

Anyway, Luther replies these immortal words and he says, oh, I get it. You guys are like yes or no. And here’s a paragraph. Yeah, okay, yeah. And so here his answer. Since your majesty and your Lordship’s desire, a simple reply: ”I will answer unless I’m convinced by scripture alone and not by popes or counsels, which have so often aired, my conscience is captive to the word of God to go against consciousness, neither right nor safe, I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God.” And when he said it, the room erupts. Half of them are cheering, half of them are cheering it’s disorder in the court, and they find Martin Luther guilty of heresy, call him a heretic. And his excommunicated from the Catholic church reform is impossible.

And now, if you remember, prince Frederick had guaranteed him safe passage to and from, and there is a bouncy on Luther’s head the moment he has found a heretic they could take his life except for the fact that Prince Frederick has negotiated for his safe passage. And so Luther gets outside and they put him on a wagon. And this armed detail, this armed guard rides out of worms and get beyond the city limits, and they get into the country and into the dark woods, and it is now nighttime. They stop. I’m not kidding. This is absolutely what happened. It is intrigue and espionage. They unhook the wagon, and then all the riders ride back into town leaving Martin Luther stranded. And all by himself in the middle of the woods, he is certain that he’s going to die.

And as he sits there in the darkness, absolutely terrified, he starts to hear the sound of horses hooves rumbling off in the woods. And they come and they converge upon him on the path there, the road there through the woods, and it says militia. And they grab Martin Luther and they throw him on the back of a horse and throw a hood over his head and ride away.

WARTBURG

Luther never makes it to Wittenberg. Everyone assumes he’s killed. But instead of going to Wittenberg, prince Frederick knew they were going to be waiting for him. So into the cover of darkness, this clandestine operation, he arranges another armed guard to take in secret to his private palace in a city called Wartburg in modern day Germany. And no one knows Luther is there. Everyone assumes Luther is dead, and Luther stays there in this castle in Wartburg alone.

And while he’s sitting there in this holding cell, solitary confinement, basically waiting for the dust to settle and the smoke to clear and things to blow over, he reflects on his life and reflects on this trial at the diet of worms and how he was defended by scripture alone. That’s why he’s still alive because of scripture alone. And he used the words captive to the word of God. But he had surrendered, he had submitted to the authority of scripture alone. He didn’t place himself an authority above it, and scripture did what Scripture does. It protected him. It defended him. It guide him, it blessed him, it prospered him.

The Christian life is not without its benefits. My friends, I tell this to people all the time, if you let the word of God be an authority over you, rather you and an authority over it, your life will be blessed. Sure, things will be hard, but you will prosper, you’ll be protected, your marriages will be healthier, your relationships will be better, your finances will be better, your career will be better when you live under the authority of scripture alone. And Luther’s reflecting on how scripture had defended him at his hour of need, and he realized that no one else in Germany could say the same because the Bible up to this point was only written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. And the only people who could read that were scholars and priests who had been educated, and they would read the Bible and then they would translate it and disseminate it and interpret it for the people. And nobody could hold them accountable. Whatever they said goes, how would we know any different? We can’t read it.

And so Luther decided while I’m sitting here and I got months to pass, I’m going to translate the Bible into the German language. So he arranged for a Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Bible, and then sat down by himself for months translating scripture line by line, letter by letter into German. And it’s the first time in human history that the Bible is made accessible in a common language in the years that followed, it would be translated into English, into French, Spanish, on and on. But it starts here. People would lose their lives for this. But it starts with Martin Luther. He gets done translating it. And there’s this invention at the same time, about 30 years prior, 40 years prior called the Gutenberg Press. It was a printing press, so they sent it to the printing press, and Frederick bankrolled this thing, and they printed Bible after Bible after Bible. And one of the gifts that Luther gave to Frederick was the Gutenberg Bible. Actually, you can go into museums today and there are dozens of copies of the Gutenberg Bibles floating around out there, and you can go to museums and see them. To this day. It’s a remarkable piece of history, remarkable.

And soon there were enough Bibles that the people in Germany could read for themselves scripture. They could feast on the word of God for themselves and see that we are saved by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ’s work alone, according to scripture alone. And it changed the world. Martin Luther would later go on to describe this. I love this line, “but a German peasant with scripture is more powerful than any pope or counsel without it.“ That’s the power of scripture alone to reform your life and to not just inform what you think or believe about God, but to truly shape your life.

And you may not be on trial before Rome, but this is exactly what we see in the life of Jesus, isn’t it? Right? When Jesus was on trial before the devil in the desert, we just heard this in our reading, and the devil would bring accusation against him. And every time Jesus responded with scripture alone, the devil said, turn these stones into bread. Jesus responded with scripture alone. “It is written, man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” The devil said, throw yourself from the high point of the temple. Jesus responded with scripture alone. ”It is written. Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” The devil said, bow down and worship me, and I will give you all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus responded with scripture alone saying, “it is written worship the Lord your God only.”

YOUR TRIALS

And you may not be on trial with Rome. You may not be on trial with the devil in the desert, but you know what it is like to be on trial like when your heart condemns you for the things that you’ve done. Scripture alone says, “if our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts”

If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts

1 John 3:20

or when others condemn you, scripture alone says, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

            There is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ.

            Romans 8:1

And when you lay awake, haunted by your sins and the mistakes that you’ve made, scripture alone says “He has taken away every charge against you, nailing it to the cross.”

He has taken away the charge against you, nailing it to the cross.

            Colossians 2:14

And when you are experiencing doubts, scripture alone says, “do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.”

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me

            John 14:1

And when you experience fear, scripture alone says, “fear not for I am with you.” Do not be dismayed. For I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Isiah 41:10

And when you don’t know what to do, and you are confused, scripture alone says, “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not in your own understanding and all your ways submit to him, and he will make your path straight.”

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3: 5-6

And you know what it is like to be attacked, to be gossiped about, to be criticized, to be maligned. But scripture alone says, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” And just like Rome before Luther, just like the devil before Jesus, when you quote scripture alone to your circumstances, your critics will be silenced. Every mouth will be stilled.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

            Romans 8:31

THE POWER OF SCRIPTURE ALONE

That’s the power of scripture alone. So my friends, my to you today is simple. Isn’t that right, Gary? My charge to you today is simple. That book in front of you and the pew rack in front of you, that Bible people have lost their lives, lost their livelihood, shed sweat and shed blood to put it there, and something has happens. It has suddenly become so widely available and readily accessible that we no longer treat it for the treasure that it is. We’re like, eh, I’ll get to the Bible later. I’m watching YouTube shorts right now. The game is on. I got dinner to get ready. I don’t have time.

Slowly but surely, it has been crowded out into the fringes and margins of our lives, and it’s lost its preeminence. My charge to you today is simple. It’s impossible to preach about scripture alone and to not ask you guys to treasure it for the treasure that it is. I can’t read it for you. I can’t hide it in your heart for you. It’s between you and God and getting alone with him, opening it up and reading it. And all I’m asking is for this week that you try it, just this week, read the Bible for yourself, please. I am begging you. Don’t let it sit and lie, fallow and dusty on your nightstand, please.

And if you’re wondering, don’t take it and flip it open and put your finger down. Start reading Lamentations. This is depressing. Don’t do that. Okay? And I actually don’t like when people start in the beginning either, because it’s about Jesus, right? And I’m not asking you to spend the next year reading the Bible. We could do that if we wanted to. That could be a challenge. Maybe someday we will. But I’m just asking for this week. Just this week, get your Bible out and read it. And if you’re looking for a place to start, I tell people, start with the Book of Luke. I love the book of Luke because Luke is an investigative reporter trying to figure out who is this Jesus guy? And it’s just such a wonderful lens to look at the life of Jesus from somebody who is trying to understand who is this Jesus? And I think that describes all of us. And so this week, read the Book of Luke. Read a few chapters of Luke. Read a chapter, read a sentence. Just get it in your hands. When are you going to do it? Find a time, find a place. And please, please read it. And when you do, you will discover what millions have discovered before you, the power of your life to be reformed by scripture alone.

PRAYER

Lemme pray for us heaven. Father, we confess that we have taken this incredible, priceless gift of your word, and we’ve treated it with a yawn, maybe a little disdain. It is your word that creates everything, light and darkness and everything that is, it’s your word that gives life. Your word heals. Your word transforms. Your word changes us. Your word protects us and guides us. It teaches us. It encourages us. And so, God, I say with everyone, I can hear the sound of my voice right now. We open our hearts to you to receive your word this week. Would you speak to us, please? What? We need to hear each one of us, and we confess that we have fallen short in this. But as you forgive us, renew us and lead us so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your holy name. It’s in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.