The Fruit of The Reformation Sermon The Fruit of The Reformation

The “Solas” Scripture Alone, Grace Alone, Faith Alone ,Christ Alone, and the Glory of God Alone

The Fruit of the Reformation – The Evangelical Church

What is an indulgence? An indulgence is a payment to the Catholic Church to purchase an exemption from punishment for some types of sins.

Indulgences functioned like "confession insurance" against eternal damnation.

“They preach man-made doctrines who say that so soon as the coin jingles into the money-box, the soul flies out of purgatory.” #27

D.T. Niles: “The Gospel is the proclamation of an event and the invitation to an encounter.”

Much of church life had been spent on manipulations for the dead rather than on the communion of the living saints. Wm. Childs Robinson

Luther brought the focus of the Evangelical fellowship from gaining heaven for the dead to encouraging gospel faith in the hearts of those who were living on earth.

The Worship of the Evangelical Church

Wm. C. Robinson – “In the man Christ Jesus the high and holy became the meek and lowly. Through Christ we poor sinners find access to the throne of grace and receive mercy for every time of need. “

A distinguishing mark of the evangelical congregation was the preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

“When the church recedes from the truth of God as her rule for worship, she ceases to be the wife of Christ and becomes an adulteress.” – Jean Calvin

The Priesthood of All Believers “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” - 1 Peter 2:9–10

In his Address to the Nobility of the German Nation (1520), Luther criticized the traditional distinction between the “temporal” and “spiritual” orders—the laity and the clergy

—arguing that all who belong to Christ through faith, baptism, and the Gospel shared in the priesthood of Jesus Christ and belonged “truly to the spiritual estate.”

The universal priesthood expresses not religious individualism but its exact opposite, the reality of the congregation as a community. - Paul Althaus

For Calvin, the priesthood of all believers was not only a spiritual privilege but a moral obligation and a personal vocation.

Luther’s view could be expressed by the idea that ,“The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because it is work done in the service of your neighbor to the glory of God.”

The priesthood of all believers is a call to ministry and service; it is a barometer of the quality of the life of God’s people in the body of Christ and of the coherence of our witness in the world, the world for which Christ died. -Timothy George (Beeson Seminary)

This teaching is a summons to faithfulness on the part of all Christians, Protestants and Catholics alike.  

The Reformation is something that we must keep alive so that we, the priesthood of believers, might be faithful to clearly proclaim the clear Gospel message of salvation by Grace alone, by Faith alone, through Christ alone.  

FIRST COMMANDMENT AND ROOTS, BRANCHES, FRUIT  

The ABC’s of coming to faith – A - Admit that you’re weak and need grace and strength – That means there is GOOD NEWS FOR YOU   B- Believe that Jesus is the only savior who can heal your heart. C- confess to God that you want to trust Jesus as your savior and Lord.