What Do We Mean By Grace Alone? – Part 2
Romans 5:12-14, Ephesians 2:1-9
May 21, 2017
If you were with us last week, there’s a relatively good chance
Your brain is spinning just a little as we started to look at
What is a controversial and extremely deep issue.
Most people don’t think that saying salvation is BY GRACE ALONE
Is a big deal, but believe me it absolutely is.
For those of you just joining us tonight,
I would highly recommend you go back online or get the cd from last Sunday night and listen to it, as we don’t have time to go back and recap the entire historical issue again.
But to make sure that you are not totally lost, let me fill you in just a little.
We have covered the first of the 5 Solas,
• Namely SOLA SCRIPTURA.
• We have determined that Scripture Alone is source of authority and belief.
• We can’t put any other creed or tradition or form of logic anywhere close to the
same level as Scripture.
In fact by Scripture, we test our creeds, we test our traditions, we test our reasoning, and if Scripture says that they are false, then they are false.
We had to cross that bridge first so that
When we get challenged a little, like we did last week,
Then we all agree that if Scripture says it, then we will let go of our preconceived ideas and cling to the written word.
And we wasted no time putting that belief to the test last week
As we introduced the issue of Salvation BY GRACE ALONE or Sola Gratia.
And it all starts with a question:
• For the moment, we will all agree that Justification is by Faith Alone.
• That is to say, we believe that it is faith apart from works, which God accepts.
The question involving grace is this:
WHERE DOES THAT FAITH ORIGINATE?
Or, where does your saving faith come from?
Does it originate with you, inside of you, from you?
Or does it originate with God, apart from you?
To put it another way,
Is saving faith a human contribution or a divine gift?
That may not sound like a big deal, but for at least 1300 years,
It has been an issue the church has wrestled with.
It started with Augustin of Hippo
• In the 5th century who developed his view of salvation known as MONERGISM,
• Which is to say that salvation is “The Work of One” (namely God)
Augustin was opposed by Pelagius
• Who rejected this view in favor of saying that salvation was the work of man.
• Pelagius believed that man had it within himself to choose good and to be righteous and that man must fulfill that duty.
• (Pelagius was condemned by the church as a heretic)
But in Pelagius foot prints came John Cassian
• Who also opposed Augustin by promoting what he called “Orthodox Synergism”.
• Synergism says that salvation is NOT the work of one, but is instead a cooperative effort between God and men.
Statements like:
• God helps those who help themselves…
• If you’ll take the first step, God will do the rest…
• You need to make a decision to follow Christ…
And as I told you last time, that is a debate that rages even today.
• There are some who hold that salvation is the sole work of God,
• And there are some who hold that salvation is a cooperative work
between God and man.
To put it a little clearer.
Some believe salvation is by grace, some believe it is by grace alone.
Augustin (and the Reformers)
Would be in the camp which held to Monergism and that salvation is by grace alone.
Cassian and many even Southern Baptists today
Would be in the camp which holds to Synergism who cannot hold to the word “alone”
For they see that there must be a little something in man
Which remains good and righteous,
By which this man can find it within himself to reach out to God
In repentance and faith, thereby prompting God to respond in grace.
And I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that our denomination is divided over this.
But since we have learned that the only suitable response is
SOLA SCRIPTURA.
We must go to the Scripture and find out what it teaches
So that we will know what is true.
And the first issue regarding centers around THE FALL OF MAN
The question is this:
Did the fall of Adam and affect us all, and if it did, how did it affect us all?
We are trying to find out
What state we find ourselves in when we are born.
After all, if one holds that salvation originates with the good will of man
(Namely that man cries out to God)
Then there must at least be a little something good in that man
Which enables him to do that.
So the question would be, what exactly did Adam do to us?
Augustin and the Reformers would say that Adam totally killed us.
Cassian and the Arminians would say that Adam just made us really really sick.
Which is it?
And more importantly, what does Scripture say?
Well that is where we started last week.
We turned to Romans 5.
Romans 5 is a chapter all about the security of the believer.
And one of Paul’s main points to prove the security of the believer
Is that we will be saved forever because
In Christ we have all been made righteous.
That is to say that the one act Christ did,
Was enough to make us righteous in the sight of God.
Now because Paul understands his critics,
He knows that there will be some who take issue with such an insinuation.
How Paul, can you say that the act of one man was able to affect us all?
And to that Paul issues his proof, which is,
Because Jesus wasn’t the first man to affect us all.
Before Jesus brought us to life, Adam effectively killed us.
And this is the point Paul is making in Romans 5:12-14.
We started looking at it last week.
#1 THE SOURCE OF SIN
Romans 5:12a
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world…”
And we recognized that just as Christ was a mediator for righteousness,
Adam was first a mediator for sin.
Sin entered through Adam.
He had the command of God.
He willingly transgressed the commandment of God
And through Adam sin entered the world.
#2 THE SIDEKICK OF SIN
Romans 5:12b
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin…”
Also foundational is the understanding that
Were it not for sin, then death would not be here.
DO YOU GRASP THAT?
If there had never been any sin, there would never have been any death.
Death was the result of sin.
• After Adam sinned, it’s not long before he is burying his own son.
• Then of course we get to that infamous 5th chapter of Genesis, “And he died…” “And he died…” “And he died…”
The Source of Sin, The Sidekick of Sin
#3 THE SPREADING OF SIN
Romans 5:12c
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned”
And there we learned that sin spread to all men, as did death.
But the important thing we recognized there is
The verb tense which Paul uses.
If you look back at Romans 5:1 Paul says:
Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
And we noted that the verb tense there for “justified”
Is in the AORIST or POINT tense,
Which means it was something that happened at a specific point in time.
And of course we have no problem with this
Since it was the moment when Christ died upon the cross.
He said “It is finished!” and He, at that one point, justified God’s children.
It was done at one point.
And it is important that you grasp that because in verse 12
When Paul says that “all sinned” he uses that exact same verb tense.
Which indicates that Paul is not talking about
People only dying because they keep sinning,
But rather that all people sinned at one point in the past.
That is to say, that we all sinned in Adam.
At that one point in time all of humanity fell into sin.
Romans 5:18a “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men…”
Romans 5:19a “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners…”
It is also true then that at that one point, all of humanity died.
It was then, with Adam, that all sinned and that death spread to all men.
Because of this we now say that man is “born sinful”
Psalms 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”
Psalms 58:3 “The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth.”
We don’t say that man becomes a sinner the first time he sins,
We say that he sins because he was born sinful.
When Adam fell, he took us all with him.
The day he sinned, we all sinned in him,
And in Adam, we were all instantly declared guilty.
People say, “I don’t like that” “That’s not fair”
Well we have no problem believing we died with Christ,
We just don’t want to own up the fact that we sinned with Adam.
The point is that when Adam sinned, God saw that all of mankind was there, in Adam, and thus all of mankind was condemned.
And with that the skeptics say: WAIT A MINUTE!
I don’t think that’s what Paul’s saying at all.
I think Paul is just saying that
• Every man simply followed in the pattern of Adam,
• And like Adam we all chose sin,
• And therefore like Adam we all die.
Does that sound about like the argument?
We are actually born righteous, it’s just that we blow it
Because of the temptation of our surroundings
And after we blow it we then receive the same condemnation as Adam.
So, we are born neutral,
It’s just that every human makes the same mistake, and after we blow it,
We then need help getting out of our mess, we need to be saved.
That would be the argument against what I’m saying.
• Man is not born sinful…
• Man is born innocent…
• And if man never sinned, then he’d be ok before God.
• The problem is that the culture tempts man, he falls like Adam did, and therefore death spreads to him too.
If you were with us last week, that’s exactly what Pelagius said.
(And Pelagius was condemned because he minimized grace)
But, for argument sake, let’s say that’s how you read Romans 5:12.
You don’t think Paul was saying we all died with Adam.
You think Paul was saying that like Adam we all made the same mistake.
Well then, let’s move on to Paul’s next point.
The Source of Sin The Sidekick of Sin The Spreading of Sin
#4 THE STRENGTH OF SIN
Romans 5:13-14
Now no doubt, some who argue with what Paul has just said.
They don’t want to believe it, and therefore they will refuse to believe it.
So what Paul does here is furnish you with proof
That we really did inherit the sin and condemnation of Adam.
Paul says that ever since Adam you were a sinner.
YOU MAY OR MAY NOT AGREE.
You may choose to say, I didn’t become a sinner until I sinned.
Well let’s look to Paul’s next point.
(13)“for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
It means, if there is no law against an action,
You cannot be held under punishment for committing that action.
Now, after the law is clear and posted, you are accountable.
Therefore, after the time of Moses,
We understand why people are in such trouble.
BUT BEFORE MOSES THERE WERE NO COMMANDS.
(Adam had the only one)
What commands do you read about in the book of Genesis which were to govern mankind?
• There weren’t any.
• There was no law,
• That means there was no identifiable sin.
People say that all we did was transgress the law like Adam did.
BUT THERE’S A PROBLEM WITH THAT
Before Moses there was no law for people to transgress.
HERE IS THE POINT
In between Adam and Moses there was no Law,
And therefore there is no way that man could have been punished for breaking it. God had no way of condemning mankind.
verse 14, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
If you’re going to take the position that all men were born ok and just sinned like Adam then you have to answer this question.
IF ADAM’S CONDEMNATION DIDN’T SPREAD, THEN WHY DID PEOPLE BETWEEN ADAM AND MOSES DIE?
They had broken no specific command, they had no specific command.
“sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
YET EVERYONE CONTINUED TO DIE.
Remember that infamous 5th chapter of Genesis?
“And he died…”
“And he died…”
“And he died…”
BECAUSE ALL MEN HAD BEEN DECLARED SINNERS IN ADAM
AND ALL MEN HAD BEEN CONDEMNED WITH ADAM.
Paul’s point is hard to swallow,
But it has no small amount of evidence to enforce it.
What Adam did brought death to everyone
Adam’s one act of disobedience
Was powerful enough to condemn the world.
And that is made abundantly evident throughout Scripture.
In fact, look just shortly after the days of Adam
And see what God’s estimation of humanity is.
Genesis 6:5 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
• That doesn’t speak of a humanity that is untainted by the fall.
• That doesn’t speak of a humanity that is just mostly bad, but still some good.
• That speaks of a humanity that is totally fallen into sin.
And that’s the point: ADAM WRECKED US ALL.
There is nothing good left in man at all.
ADAM DIDN’T JUST open the door for sin to come in,
So that when we were born, sin also tempted us,
And we just messed up like him.
NO, ADAM KILLED US ALL.
And that is proven by the fact that after Adam,
Even when there was no command for men to transgress,
Men were still suffering the effects of sin, which is death.
SO WE TAKE THAT BACK TO OUR DEBATE concerning grace and whether or not we are saved by grace, or grace alone.
Synergists say that
• Man must first find it in himself to present some form of “good will” toward God.
• And in response to that good will God will then issue grace and save that
individual.
They say faith starts with the man, and God merely responds to it.
BUT OUR QUESTION IS THIS:
HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR A DEAD MAN TO INITIATE SALVATION?
Let’s look at another text real quick tonight.
TURN TO: EPHESIANS 2
Now you recognize Ephesians 2 as that wonderful chapter on grace.
Well it is way more than that. Ephesians 2 is a wonderful chapter
Which emphatically declares GRACE ALONE!
In the first 3 verses we find Paul’s evaluation of all humanity.
(1-3) “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
Now let’s look at that a second,
And make sure we all grasp what Paul was saying.
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins”
• Sick? No, dead
• Weak? No, dead
• And we just learned that this happened all the way back in Adam.
We weren’t alive, we were dead.
If I could just throw it out there for a moment, we were all Lazarus’s.
You’ve read the story.
Do you remember where we heard Lazarus crying out from inside the tomb saying, “Jesus, if You’ll just move this stone, then I’ll come out.”
Nope, Lazarus was dead, and he was incapable of doing anything
To solicit a response from Christ.
“Dead” by the way means “inability to respond to stimulus”.
If you’ve been to a funeral, it doesn’t matter how hot it gets, dead men don’t sweat, it doesn’t matter how cold it gets, dead men don’t shiver.
They don’t respond.
That means that if we were dead,
Not only could we not make the first move toward God,
But that also means that we didn’t even have enough ability
To even respond to God if He makes the first move.
We were dead.
• It didn’t matter how much Mary and Martha pleaded with Lazarus.
• And it doesn’t matter how much preachers plead with the lost.
• Dead is dead is dead is dead.
That is why this notion of putting salvation
Up to a decision of the sinner is so utterly ABSURD.
They can’t make that decision even if they wanted to.
They are dead, Adam killed them.
Now, you say, “Well, what if they weren’t totally dead? What if they were just nearly dead (Semi-Pelagianism) and in need of a lot of help?”
You know, what if Lazarus had been buried alive,
And was just too weak to move the stone.
Ok, well let’s examine that.
That is to assume that sinners can’t do it on their own,
But that they would be saved if the opportunity arose.
I mean, you take a guy on life support and you assume that if you have a drug that will instantly make him well, then certainly he would take it.
Incidentally, we see a lot of evangelism just like this today.
• Don’t you want out of that hopeless lifestyle?
• Don’t you want a fresh start?
• Don’t you want a second chance?
Well, is that true?
If man could cry out to God on his own
Or even respond to God on his own, WOULD HE?
Let’s listen to Paul again.
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh, and of the mind…”
So according to Paul, what is that sinners want?
Sin
• We lived in “the lusts of our flesh”
• And all we ever wanted to do was indulge “the desires of the flesh, and of the mind”
That means if given a choice, what would the sinner choose?
Sin…every time
Genesis 6:5 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
If you will remember, this was Augustin’s point.
Augustin defined “Free Will” as “The Ability to do whatever one wants”
The problem, he said, is that all man wants to do is sin.
So it’s not just that man can’t cry out to God.
It’s not just that man can’t respond to God.
It’s that even if man could, he wouldn’t.
Ever been perplexed by people who you’ve witnessed to and showed them clearly the error of their lifestyle, and who agree with you for a moment, only to return to sin the very next day.
And we are left scratching our heads as to why they would do that.
BECAUSE THEY ARE A SLAVE OF SIN
They can’t do anything different.
And they don’t want to do anything different.
And Paul says that was all of us.
You were there too.
And as a result of our spiritual death and our bent on sin,
Paul says we were on the wrong side of God’s wrath.
(3) “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
That is where we were.
• We were dead – couldn’t cry out, couldn’t respond
• We depraved – wouldn’t have responded even if we could
• We were doomed – because our sinfulness was an offense to God
Do you see the issue?
People want to act like salvation is a SYNERGISTIC effort
Where sinful man cooperates with Holy God to bring about salvation
And that is not just unbiblical, it is absurd!
Man can’t help he’s dead, and even if he could, he wouldn’t.
If that man is to be saved, it will require the MONERGISTIC effort of God.
DO YOU SEE THAT?
If he is to be saved, it will require grace and grace alone.
• Man has nothing to bring to the table.
• Man has no ability…
• Man has no good will…
• Man has no faith…
• Man has no sorrow over his sin…
• Man has no intention…
The only way man would ever be saved is if God takes matters
Absolutely and 100% in His own hands.
Which is what makes the next two words in Ephesians 2 so amazing.
Ephesians 2:4, “But God…”
• Man was dead, “But God…”
• Man wanted sin, “But God…”
(4-7) “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Now first, let me ask you, what in those 3 verses does it say that you did?
• Where is that statement about how you first had a “good will” toward God that He then responded to?
• Where is that statement that says when you took the first step, God went the rest of the way?
• Where is that statement that says, “But then, you gave God faith, and God responded”?
YOU DIDN’T DO ANYTHING – YOU WERE DEAD!
It was God’s mercy, it was God’s grace.
And if you’ll notice, every one of your problems, God Himself took care of.
• You were dead, verse 5 says He “made us alive”
• You desired sin, that is to stay in the mud and the mire, verse 6 says He “raised us up”
• You were a child of wrath, verse 6 says He “seated us with Him” so that He could be gracious to us.
You didn’t do it, He did it.
Which is why Paul goes on to say:
(8-9) “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
According to Paul salvation is a 100% Monergistic effort.
You didn’t contribute anything.
To which people immediately say, “Yes I did! I contributed faith!”
Really?
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God”
Where does Paul say your faith came from? It was a gift from God.
So when we ask, where did your faith come from?
The answer according to SOLA SCRIPTURA is: From God.
2 Peter 1:1 “Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:”
Where does Peter say that faith came from?
We received it.
Do you understand what is being said?
• We were dead sinners thanks to the fall,
• But God looked upon us dead sinners,
• Breathed enough life in us to make us alive,
• Then gave us faith, so that we could respond to Him.
How in the world could anyone say that salvation is a cooperative effort?
Or how about this passage?
Titus 3:3-7 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Does that not make it clear again?
“He saved us” and Paul says as a result we were “justified by His grace”
Do you see it?
2 Timothy 1:8-9 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,”
Salvation can only be BY GRACE ALONE
Because man has no ability to bring anything helpful to the table.
If salvation depends the least little bit on me at all,
Then I will be lost forever.
Think about it.
What little thing did Adam have to do?
Simply be content with the most awesome creation ever seen.
All he had to do was stay away from the tree,
And that proved too much for him.
Friend if the divine decree is that I must move 1cm toward heaven and then God will move the rest, then it is over, because dead men can’t move.
And this is really the danger of a synergistic theology.
If man does anything to help out in his salvation
Then man is also entitled to a piece of the credit.
And that reveals why men hold so firmly to a synergistic belief.
They want glory
AND THAT IS DANGEROUS
I listened to R.C. Sproul last week talk about this very idea.
He spoke of arguing with a synergist.
• Tell me, friend, is there anyone among your family and friends who heard the same gospel message as you, yet remains lost? (Yes)
• Why are you saved and they lost? (Because I believed)
• Would you say then that you made the right decision and they made the wrong one? (Yes)
• So would it be true then that you are saved because you did the right thing and they did the wrong thing? (Yes)
• So are you not taking credit for your own righteous deed which you did as the reason you are saved? (Yes)
That’s full blown legalism – you had better be careful.
The fact is
• Men are not saved because they are smarter than lost people.
• Men are not saved because they are more righteous than lost people.
• Men are not saved because they are stronger than lost people.
Men are only saved by grace and grace alone,
Because there is no power in man to do anything
To cooperate to his salvation at all.
So where did your faith come from? God
What do you contribute to salvation? Nothing
Who then gets all the glory for your salvation? God alone
Let me just leave you with this one last verse
Which we are sure to return to at a later date.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
