This post contains a 12-minute excerpt of Sproul’s message on the doctrine of justification by faith alone. He emphasized that there cannot be two gospels, believing that the biblical gospel message was recovered by the Protestant Reformers….
Ligonier Ministeries intro to message:
“Was the Reformation debate over justification by faith alone a tempest in a teapot? There are many today who think so, many who argue that the Reformation is over. In this message, Dr. R.C. Sproul will explain why the Reformers spoke of justification by faith alone as the article on which the church stands or falls, and why we are never to compromise on this essential truth of the Christian faith. This message is from our 2013 National Conference, No Compromise:”
Sermon text: Galatians 1:6-10
Galatians 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
HIGHLIGHT POINTS for 12-minute excerpt:
- The doctrine of justification by faith alone is the doctrine upon which the church stands or falls
- [One who believes this doctrine, knows that he/she must trust only in the righteousness of Christ for salvation; and that is done by faith]
- The Galatians had begun well, trusting only in Christ for salvation as had been preached to them by the apostle Paul
- [They later began to add to the gospel by following the heresy of the Judaizers which called them to add elements of Judaism to the gospel, circumcision, for example. Adding to the gospel, Paul later explains in Galatians, nullifies the gospel and puts the believer back under the system of the Law of Moses, via which no one can ever be saved. Christ is the only one who ever kept the Law of Moses. The righteous merit He earned by doing so is imputed to those who trust in Him by faith. Galatians and Romans 1-5 state these things]
- Paul expresses his astonishment that they had turned so quickly to a ‘different’ gospel; he said a moment later, there is no other gospel than the one he had earlier preached to them
- In other words, Paul adamantly stated that there are NOT two gospel messages
- That is, if one compromises on the ONE gospel message, then he is without the gospel [earlier in the message, R C had discussed ECT, a movement that sought to unify Catholics and Protestants. To do such a thing is not possible, as there is only one biblical gospel message]
- Paul’s admonishment of the Galatians is the most severe rebuke he made in all of his epistles
- He basically stated, God damn those who preach a different gospel
- The Council of Trent, pronounced an anathema on the Reformers for taking a stand for the gospel on the pages of scripture
- Paul took much heat over his non-compromising stand for the biblical gospel
- In Galatians 2, he publically confronted the apostle Peter and Barnabas
- Peter and Barnabas repented
- That is, Paul was willing to split the early church in his stand for the biblical doctrine of justification
- But today we hear such statements as: ‘doctrine divides,’ ‘it’s no big deal,’ ‘we all believe the same thing after all…’
- There may be thousands, perhaps millions of Roman Catholics who actually trust in Christ alone and are justified; but those who trust in the Roman doctrine are without hope
- Luther stated that his conscience was held captive by the word of God; to act against conscience is neither right or safe
- God help you if you compromise this doctrine; it is not negotiable; without it all is lost
- [Dear reader, if you doubt what Sproul said about the doctrine of justification, then you might explore the matter yourself: study Romans 4 and 5; then study the epistle of Galatians. Therein, Paul covers what it means to be justified by faith; as our father, Abraham was, in Genesis 15. Roman Catholics, for example, believe that their priests impart ‘justifying’ righteousness at the time of baptism; the Bible states that God justified Abraham at the moment of his believing Him. Will you believe God or men?]
Initial 34 minutes of sermon:
The sermon excerpt of this post is from the YouTube site, Ligonier Ministries
Video-page link: https://www.youtube.com/@ligonier/videos
Link to Full, 46-minute, Sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmLBMu2NmgU&list=PL30acyfm60fVqiHGaTGxfYPGmL41Ltgzf&index=1
LINK TO TEACHING SERIES, JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE, AT LIGONIER MINISTRIES [15-part series that takes a little more than 5 hours to listen through, but is a thorough explanation of all the matters around this doctrine, the Protestant Reformation…. This series is free to hear]:
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/justification-by-faith-alone
LINK: The movie, Luther, which is about Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. It is a good overview of the Reformation for those who know little or nothing about it. But the movie does not get into the matter of imputation… as that came later, as reformers grew in understanding the heart of the matter, according to R C Sproul’s teaching series linked above:
Links that accompanied video at YouTube:
Aug 13, 2015
• No Compromise: 2013 National Conference
Purchase this conference on DVD: http://www.ligonier.org/store/no-comp…