Solus Christus

Well, thank you, worship team, for reminding us of those truths from God's Word. As you can see, there's many different passages that we could have preached this message from. Today on Solus Christos, I'd like to add one more. This is going to be our text for today. I encourage you to turn to First Timothy 2, verses 5 through 7.

That's where we'll be at in our message today. You know, one thing I just need to mention, I. Sorry, Oliver, he asked me to mention this earlier. We have some new mics here, and so if you're in the front or, you know, in these areas here, then it might pick up your voice. Just be aware of that with the live stream.

You know, Doncho, if you want to throw in a couple almonds and that one there, you're welcome to. I'm sure your voice was beautiful while we were singing, but just to remind you of that. Yeah, I'd like to read this text for us today. These three verses from First Timothy 2, 5, 7. As we start, God's word says, for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men.

The man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this, I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am telling you the truth, and I'm not lying. A teacher of the gentiles in faith and in truth. And Lord, as we open your word, as we dwell on these words for a little while, Lord, we pray that your spirit would illumine our minds.

We pray that your word would penetrate our heart.

We pray that the word Jesus Christ will be lifted up in this time. For your glory, Jesus, in your name we pray. Amen. So two days ago, we had the opportunity as a church. Many of you were with us.

We went on this excursion to Wittenberg. I think I have a picture of the group that was there. Unfortunately, we missed a couple people that were there with us. It was a great group and just a great time together, celebrating in Lute, in the place, the birthplace of where this all happened. And you might say, you know, what's the purpose of doing a series on the solas?

You know, there's many things that we could do a series on. You know, if you've been with us at CrossFit, you know that we like to preach through books. We think that's really important. But yeah, we've paused for this opportunity to talk about these five SOLAs, and I think it's a good thing because in these solas, we find things in common, that regardless of our faith tradition, these Protestant Reformation truths are articulated in a way that we can believe them.

That the light has shone in the darkness. And we're reminded of the battle cry of the Reformation post Tenebris Lux. It's this idea that after darkness light has come, that in the darkness a cry has gone out across the land, that light has returned. And it was the light of the gospel that the church had forgotten.

And unfortunately, I believe that we stand in a similar place in our place and time, here in 2025, where the church has grown cold the truth of God's word.

We believe we must take our stand alongside those faithful that have come before us throughout the ages.

Now, you might wonder, why five alones? I don't know if you thought have thought through that, you know, as I was beginning to study, my thoughts were five alones. How can I stand on five things alone? You know, I have two feet, I can stand on one thing alone, right? But how do I stand on five things alone?

I think in many ways what we see in the Reformation is a similar truth. We see with the triune God and we begin to understand the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, how we believe in one God. And it's five alones that we stand on as a church. It's these things that stand alone.

It's been said that it's no exaggeration to say that the eye of the Reformation tornado was this one little word alone. That these alones, they're inseparable. And we see this in how we can move seamlessly from Scripture from last week to alone in Christ this week. And if you were with us last week, you heard Jack talk about in Scripture alone, how God has breathed his Word out and how the Word himself, Jesus, has come in the flesh as we look into in Christ alone this week, that Jesus is the Word incarnate. That you can't separate the Word of God that's been breathed out from the Word in Jesus that has come.

John 1:14 says, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of only the Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. And the eyewitness, John, he testifies to this, that the Word of God is the same as the Son of God. That God has not only related to us through the words of men inspired by God, but he sent his very word, his Son, into our reality. There is one that stands at the center of all things.

Scripture speaks of Him. Grace flows from Him. And all glory belongs to Him. So we believe this series. It's important for our church, and we want to remind you of what we believe to give you a firm foundation to stand on.

We live in a world that seems like shifting sand, but these truths are what we can hold. Impervious of culture or societal shift, they push back against the tide of rainbow fish and compromise theology of the church in our land.

I was in Wittenberg on the 500th anniversary in 2017. Went with Christy. She invited me. It was a harrowing trip to say the least. She was driving, but it was an amazing experience.

We actually got in one of the services in All Saints Church that day. So looking forward to singing A Mighty Fortress as our God hearing you know what the person was going to speak about. And unfortunately on that day, the five SOLAs were not spoken about. Unfortunately, on that day, we heard a lot about how we need to be good. We heard a lot about how we need to be unified and come together.

But what we didn't hear were the things that Martin Luther believed were true.

And as the preacher stood above Martin Luther's grave, I almost felt like I could hear a rumble that he was rolling over.

But today we say without apology that we testify and believe in Christ alone. And I encourage you to open to this passage in First Timothy 2, 5, 7. Once again, it's not a coincidence that the words of faithful witness to his young apprentice are written here. And last week we heard from second Timothy, we heard from another passage. And we heard Paul.

He's trying to relate these truths to Timothy, words that we are commanded to pass on to the next generation. That we believe in Christ alone. And what we declare is our first point, that this makes us different in what we believe about the way to salvation, that salvation is exclusive Jesus Christ, that salvation is offered to all that would come to him, but that all roads do not lead to the true God.

And when we say we believe in Christ alone, we say that he is the one worthy to redeem us. We just sang about this, that it's only his blood that can wash away our sins.

We reject the idea that we can contribute our own righteousness. We rest solely on the redemptive work of Christ to be made righteous. This is what the solas hold in common. This is what Martin Luther believed. They're meant to look deeply on God's word and in a simple way declare the key doctrines of what we believe.

They're like the confessions of the early church. Actually, some of those verses we just read were early Confessions of what the Christians believed to be true.

And unfortunately the Church had forgotten this. And while they held to the authority of Scripture, what they had done is they had added to it. And this is what we saw last week in the doctrine of Scripture. They had elevated the early Church fathers writings. They had elevated the teachings of the Pope to a level that was on the same level as the authority of Scripture.

So as we saw with with the doctrine of Scripture, we look at solas Christos today and we address another key issue of the doctrine of the Church. And this is what is happening with these five SOLAs. They are all meant to address a fallacy in the Church at this time.

We call this study of Christ Christology. It's an important part of what we believe about the Gospel and what we believe about Christ and his work. And what we believe on this subject is of utmost importance. Whereas Scripture speaks to whether we believe in God's sovereignty, it's what we believe about Christ that speaks to whether we believe Christ's saving work is sufficient. So last week we talked more about sovereignty.

This week we're talking about the sufficiency of Christ to save. Now the Church would have claimed with their words that this was true. But their actions, they said something different.

They had forsaken Christ's role. And by usurping Christ's role as high priest, they had done this. They had also forsaken Christ's sacrifice, that by pursuing the continual sacrifice of Christ's body in the Holy Sacrament, they were actually forsaking this actual work of Christ. And we talked about this in Hebrews in our series on Hebrews, that Christ's sacrifice was once for all.

Here's the thing. It was given to the Church the responsibility of passing on the word of God and teaching what is true about Christ. But yet the Church, it had strayed in practice from the all sufficient merit of Jesus work. False teachers had led the flock astray and they had forgotten that Jesus is Christos victor. Now we just sang this song just a little while ago.

It's a song that we know well. But before this was a song, this was an early Church theological model which focused on the atonement of Christ and his victory over the things that hold us captive. And this is at the central theme and the thing that we understand about in Christ alone that he has declared victory over things that hold us captive. And in particular there were four things that the Church believed that that were holding us captive. The first was sin, the thing that enslaves us.

It's the thing that holds us captive. Death is something we can't escape as humanity. It's our ultimate enemy. It's the law by which our guilt is identified. And Satan and his demons, the gods of this world, these are the things that hold us captive, but the things that Christ has come to release us from.

Christ truly is Christos victor.

And from the beginning of the church, this doctrine surrounding Christ focused on one key element which Jesus fought, conquered and secured victory. And it was through his atoning work. This is at the center of what we understand about In Christ alone, that it is his atonement that sets us free, specifically through his death on the cross, that our freedom is won. And this is where we see the centrality of the cross and the saving work of Christ. Solus Christus claims that it is the cross that stands central to what we need to know about Jesus, because it's here that our redemption was made possible.

Paul says it really well in First Corinthians. He says in verses 23 through 24, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and a folly to the Gentiles. But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. He goes on in verse 2 of chapter 2 in First Corinthians and says this for I resolve to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. This is what we preach at Crossway Church, Jesus Christ and him crucified.

And for a world that's in confusion, we desperately need to hear this message. And we can't focus on anything else. We have to keep the message of Christ central to everything we do. That's why we point everyone to Jesus in the pulpit. We don't point people to other men that have come recently or in the past.

But it's all about Jesus. And it brings us to our second point, that when we say in Christ alone, what we're claiming is that this makes us different in what we believe about the mediation of Christ. And this has to do with the atonement that Solus Christos focuses on the saving work of Christ. And it is his mediation that's vital to us being made righteous. That salvation comes solely through Christ alone, not through priests, saints, rituals or human merit.

And we find solace in the sovereignty of Scripture alone and in Christ alone. We find solace that Christ's work alone is sufficient to save us. And what is believed about Christ and His work is what separates those who are being saved from those who are not. Being saved. Our text confirms that salvation is found in one alone, that Jesus is the only God and mediator.

It says this in verse 5. Look at the text with me. It says, for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. We believe in one God, the Father, Son and Spirit, and in one mediator. Now it's interesting.

The word here for mediator is really important. Is actually the word means a neutral negotiator. It means someone that's actually capable of representing both sides. And what we find is that God's plan is perfect. He's qualified by his role because he is God.

And looking back to John 1:1, how can we deny it says in John 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. And the Word was God, was with God, and the Word was God. He is worthy because he is God, but he's also worthy because he is man. We saw this in Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 2. It says this in verse 14.

Since therefore the children share in the flesh and blood, he Himself, we're talking about Jesus likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil. The writer goes on, in verse 17 he says this. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, or he had to become man so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

We believe in Christ alone because Jesus has made himself the perfect mediator. He is the only one that can represent God and represent us. And by becoming man, he is able to represent us right now at the throne of God. Solus Christos claims that we will put no other mediator between God and man. And this is what we hold in common with the Reformers, that we will not look to anyone else to mediate forgiveness or grace on our behalf.

Here's the thing. The high priesthood of earthly men is dead. And the heavenly revelation of the God, man and eternal high priest Jesus Christ has come.

We are unashamedly exclusive in the fact that there is one way to God. And this was the verse that was shared on our prayer guide today. That he is the way, the truth and the life.

We are saved in Christ alone. And his work is sufficient to ransom all. And this is what this says in verse six of our text. It says it is this man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, that the payment he made is sufficient to ransom all that his grace is offered freely to all who would come to him. Now, one of the things we have to be aware of with this is many people in the church think differently about what it means to to be ransomed, that all are ransom.

It's this word all. It's one of the great debates in the church. And some would say that all refers to God's chosen specifically. Others would say that it refers to all of mankind. You probably want me to answer that question of what I believe today.

I'm going to leave that for you to understand and find out. But the question is, is the scope of the atonement limited?

Now, if you side with John Calvin, you might be convinced in one way. If you side with Jacobus Arminius, you may think differently on the subject. But let me just give you two thoughts today. Don't rely on the words of mere mentally rely solely the word of God to develop your own conviction. There are systems of theology out there that are helpful, but they are fallible.

It is only God's word we can trust. It is only God's word that will endure forever. Secondly, don't allow this issue to be divisive.

Just like we're talking about Christ. Keep the main thing, the main thing.

It is not a matter of salvation what we believe about the scope of atonement. So we can continue with others in fellowship that maybe believe in a different way. We do about this subject. And in a church like Crossway we have many different opinions on this.

But here's the thing. What we must agree on is the power of the atonement. That the atoning power and work of Jesus is effective to say save all those who would put their hope in him.

And if Jesus gave himself a ransom for all, then we should desire that all know that they have been ransomed. John Stott said this. I think it sums this up really well. He says whatever we may decide about the scope of the atonement, we are absolutely forbidden to limit the scope of world mission. The Gospel must be preached to all and salvation must be offered to all.

So don't lose sight of what's being said. If we believe in Christ alone, that we will bear witness of this, the salvation that has come in Christ Jesus. Even as we heard earlier how there were those on an excursion this weekend that were proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus, so too was must we take this gospel to the world. And there's a reason for what Paul now says in our text. He says in verse 6 this who gave himself a ransom for all which is the testimony given at a proper time or at the proper time, you might say, well, what does that mean?

I think that there's maybe some different ways to understand this. First, we understand that Jesus came at just the right time, right? Actually, just recently I saw, I heard this, like, there's a picture that you can move to on the next slide there, and it's Jesus on Time magazine. And I heard someone, you know, recently said, yeah, oh, look, Jesus is on time. And without hesitation, yeah, without hesitation, the cashier behind the counter said, jesus is always on time, honey.

And it's true. Jesus came at just the right time to save us.

We hold this to be true. But what we also understand is that faithful witnesses have been tasked throughout the ages to bring the testimony of Jesus at the proper table time. And we believe in solus Christos. And because of this, we will bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And in our text today, Paul, he reminds us of what we're to bear testimony to.

Did you guys see it? In the text? It says that. That we're reminded that Jesus is three things. That he is the man, literally, that he is the ransom, and that he is the mediator.

Paul, in this passage in first Timothy, points us to the three major saving events that have brought about our salvation in Christ. He points us to the Incarnation, where the Word became flesh, where Christ became man. Without Christ becoming man, this could not happen. He points us to the crucifixion, the ransom that happened at the crucifixion, that it's through Christ dying on the cross that he is ransomed all.

And then finally, as the mediator and the mediator helps us understand that as Christ went into death and humbled himself, it was in this way that he was exalted. That this began with his resurrection. And it was his ascension to the right hand of God and his mediation for us at this time that actually makes us righteous before a holy God. So if you want to know how to bear witness or testimony at just the proper time, then think of these three things. Help people understand that Jesus is the man incarnate, the God that is that has become incarnate in our.

In our world. That he is the ransom that redeems us, that he is the mediator that holds us right now at the right hand of God.

We believe in Christ alone. And if we believe this in the man, the ransom, and the mediator, then we will share this message with others.

This is the testimony we are to give that Christ Jesus is sufficient to save and this brings us to our last point today. If we believe in Solus Christos, then our belief in Christ alone means that we are different in what we believe about the testimony we offer with our lives, that we're called to give testimony at this proper time, that we're to live our lives in a way that bear witness to Jesus. And this I believe. I think it's the litmus test to whether we really believe seriously about the atonement of Jesus is whether we are actively confessing Christ to others. This is the very thing that drove the Apostle Paul, the thing he desired that his young apprentice would know.

In verse seven of our text, it says, for this I was appointed a preacher and apostle. This is what my whole life is about. He says, I'm telling the truth. I'm not telling you a lie.

And as the gospel of a generation has passed, so must we share this with the next generation. We are tasked with passing this truth on, just like Paul passed these truths on to Timothy. This is to be done with not just our words, but with our actions. And we speak every day about the grace that is offered to us.

Do you believe that Christ alone is at the center of all things? In fact, it is Christ that is at the center of these solas. And I hate to say it, but I got the best sola, because everything points to Christ. He's at the center of all things. All scripture points to him.

All grace is found in him. All hope is found only in faith in him. And all glory will be given to him. Christ is the victor. Will you stand in Christ alone?

There is one foundation in which we stand on. First Corinthians 3:11 says, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus.

I wanted to end with the words of Martin Luther one more time. We didn't sing. A mighty fortress is our God today. But in verse two, we're reminded of what is really true about Christ, that we can stand confidently in Jesus. Listen to these words.

Did we in our strength confide? Our striving would be losing? We're not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus.

It is he. Lord. So be his name. From age to age the same. He must win the battle.

He has won the battle. It's already won. And may we as a church stand firmly in Christ alone. We can do no other.

Lord, I thank you for this time.

I thank you for this sola, this truth that sets us free.

That in Christ alone we have every reason to be confident in your saving work. That your sacrifice is sufficient, that we need look nowhere else but you.

So, Jesus, in this time and place that we live, I pray you, give us boldness to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, that you would give us boldness to stand when everything around us fails.

We thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice, for your gift of grace.

All glory be to you. In your name we pray. Amen.

Power of Christ that we stand today. Christ is the victor and we have victory through Christ. He has won the battle. I want to remind you of this passage from First Corinthians 15 as we close. It's one of the most encouraging passages in Scripture.

I'm gonna do my bestest to speak this in English and German. It says in First Corinthians 15:54 through 57, when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortals put on immortality, then shall come to pass a saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is a law.

But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ taught.

Thank you so much for coming today. We hope you have a great day.