Now tonight our subject is Solo Christos, Christ Alone. Now in a perfect world we shouldn't have to have this title, Christ Alone. But in a world where there are enemies to the gospel and where there are counterfeits of the gospel we must use this title, Solo Christos, Christ Alone. Alone. Anyone who has read the Bible will know that polytheism is wrong. To have many gods and worship many gods is altogether wrong. When I was in Malaysia, I saw to my horror a Hindu temple with hundreds of faces on the exterior of the temple. Supposedly, they are to be worshipped in turn. To me, it was absolutely eerie, it was strange, and of course, it is ridiculous. And we know that worship is to be given to the true God alone, which includes his Trinitarian persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now in our culture we suffer from the Christ and Syndrome and you will see many books many titles to this effect Christ and prosperity Christ and healing Christ and marketing Christ and church growth Christ and the end times and Well, I've said it myself and And that's the problem. The and. It's the adding to the Lord Jesus. It is Christ plus that gets us away from the very truth of the gospel. Solo Christos applies to the very means of redemption. that we are saved by the person and the work of one Redeemer, one Savior alone to the exclusion of every other person or thing. Now the Galatians were warned. In their errors, that to add anything to Christ is to make him of no effect. You'll read of that in Galatians 5 verse 4, to make him of no effect. And so there are those who say Christ, but then they add. And if you add to the work and person of the Lord Jesus, you make him to be of no effect. Now, if you were to visit a Roman Catholic church, you would find, or a high Anglican church, and perhaps various other Greek Orthodox and various other churches under the umbrella of Christianity, you would find images, statues, pictures of various persons, maybe even angelic figures. And you have Mary, of course, and the saints. And they are to be worshipped in those churches. Now, I dug out of the Catholic Catechism, the most recent edition, what the Roman Catholic Church believes about Mary. Taken up to heaven, she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. Therefore, the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix. And so there is ascribed to Mary salvation powers, however they are given, however they are attained. And not only Mary, but then of course the saints and various figures from the past. And yet there are those in Protestant circles who will accept the Roman Catholic Church or even the Eastern Orthodox Church as another branch of the true Christian Church. Well, the Protestant reformers didn't. And when they got back to the Bible and got back to the gospel, and they saw these images and pictures, worship of mother-child religion, they protested. And they were called Protestants. They were protesters to any other mediator, any other advocate that helps a person or saves their soul. Now, tonight we ask, are we truly Protestant? Are we willing to stand for Christ, even unto blood, as the Protestant martyrs did? Will we be known in our generation as reformers, holding to the truths of the gospel, or will we be traitors to the Reformation cause? And of course, we need to be solid on this principle of sola Christos, to hold to the very heritage of the Protestant Reformation. Now I want to get straight at this tonight. I don't want a lengthy introduction. And I want to give you my three avenues of attack. Firstly, there's the doctrine of Sola Christos. There's the direction of solo Christos, and then there's the deliverance that this very truth brings to the believer's soul. So firstly, the doctrine, and you will know 1 Timothy 2, 5. I would like to think that anyone that attends this church regularly will know 1 Timothy 2, verse 5. There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. John 14, verse 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. Hebrews 12, 2, looking unto Jesus. the author and finisher of our faith. Acts 4.12, there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And then Genesis 3.15, that the seed of the woman will bruise the head of the serpent. One seed, one Savior. I read John chapter 1 tonight because John the Baptist refused to have any part in the work of the Messiah. He said, Christ must increase. I must decrease. Now, there were many who thought that John the Baptist was a deliverer or some kind of savior, but John refuted that. And he said that the Christ, the Messiah, and then he pointed people by this very text above me in the pulpit tonight, he told them to behold the singular, the Lamb of God. Now, the doctrine is very simple. God had one son who became our savior. Just one son. That's it. God appointed his son. It says, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He didn't give his son to add to that. Also in the covenant of grace, God had one servant, Isaiah 42, six, God referred to his servant in the covenant, one who would carry out the work of redemption, one who would shed his blood, pay the price, purchase salvation for us. And then of course, there was one who offered himself as a sacrifice at Calvary. There were three crosses. but only one Christ. God punished, who? His own Son. He poured out His wrath upon His one Son that we might be saved. Mary was at Calvary, but she was not on a cross. Mary shed tears, but she never shed blood as our Lord Jesus did. There were many others that were there, the apostles, the disciples, who were there at least for a time. But they did not offer a sacrifice for sin, and their blood is not atoning blood. There were no saints at Calvary. There were no angelic beings who took the punishment of sin. Just one Redeemer Savior. There is in heaven for God's people one suppliant. One mediator who continually intercedes for us. He's in heaven. Now, the Church of Rome says that Mary's in heaven. That means that she already has escaped death and ascended into heaven. There is absolutely no evidence for that whatsoever. Mary died a natural death. There is no record anywhere of her being raised from the dead and ascending into heaven. And of course, to be a prayer hearer as a suppliant in heaven, he must be omniscient. How can any finite human being, even though they would be raised from the dead, how could they hear the prayers of all God's people around the world generation after generation, unless they were God, unless they were omniscient. And on the eternal day there will be one judge, one before whom we will all stand. It is the seat of Christ, and we will answer and give account for every idle word and every deed before him. Now, I cannot rely on Mary or saints or other figures to do anything for my soul on that day. The Savior I need on the judgment day is Christ, and Christ alone. No matter what other religious figure or personage is brought forward, this doctrine must stand fast. I am saved by Christ. Alone, not Christ plus Mary, not Christ plus saints, not Christ plus a priest, not Christ plus a church. And you're not even saved by Christ plus the Protestant pastor. Gospel churches ought never to teach that whatsoever. And so this is the doctrine. And I know to many here tonight, this is not new. But praise God, it's true. Christ alone, that's the doctrine. Then the direction of solo Christos. Now with this knowledge of Christ alone burning in the hearts of those first fathers of the Reformation, they set about the great work of reforming the church to purify it and to purify worship. And so corrupt was the Roman system that they really gave up hope of ever changing the church from the inside out. And so the only thing they could do was to get out and form Bible churches that would have Christ alone as the mediator. And of course they turned the people away from all mediators but Christ alone. They excluded the worship of saints, the worship of Mary, the worship through priests. And this became a very essential part of the whole battle of the Protestant reformers. Does a believer in Christ alone for salvation need a human priest? They came to the absolute conclusion, no, Christ is our priest. He alone intercedes. He alone forgives sin. We do not need any of those things. And that led to what is now known as the priesthood of all believers. In a spiritual manner, every Christian, every born-again Christian is a priest, a spiritual priest. Now, of course, we don't wear gowns and paraphernalia as a Roman Catholic priest would do, but we have this access to God to offer spiritual sacrifices, worship, prayer, praise, directly the Lord Jesus now in first Peter chapter 2 and verse 4 we have this very doctrine of the priesthood of all believers every Christian first Peter 2 verse 4 to whom coming is on to a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood I get that You and I, Protestants, Bible believers, free Presbyterians if you are, you have a priesthood. Which really means you have a ministry of prayer and access to God. A priesthood. To offer up spiritual sacrifices. Now we know there was only one sacrifice that counted. That was the death of Christ on the cross. the sacrifice of Calvary. But out of our love, devotion, because of what the Lord has done for us by saving our souls, washing our sins away in his blood, we now offer up spiritual sacrifices. The sacrifice of praise acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. That word by Jesus Christ can also be translated through Jesus Christ. He's the mediator. We go to the Father through the Lord Jesus. He's the only one you need. He's the only mediator we need. and he is perfect in his work. And if you read on right down, well, we'll go to verse nine. Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. It's a great privilege to be a Christian. We don't need a priest. We don't need Mary. We don't need saints. We need Christ alone. And holy nation, A peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. And that is the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. It is a liberating, life-changing, setting men and women free from bondage. And this is now the direction that the Reformation took. Abandoning all the idea of these other intermediaries. Abandoning priestcraft. That was revolutionary. And now having sacrifices of praise, prayer, and worship. The other thing, the new direction that this solo Christos did, it took, was that they got rid of all the images. And you may have read about those who were called the iconoclasts. They went about smashing idols. They smashed church windows where there were pictures and paintings of saints and Mary and so on. And this became a very difficult time in the Reformation in Germany in particular. When Martin Luther was in hiding in the Wartburg Castle, I spoke last week about the Diet of Worms, when he defied the Pope, and he defied his ban, and he went into hiding in the Wartburg Castle. He was there for many, many months. And it was during that time that he took on the task of translating the scriptures into the German language. One of the greatest things that Martin Luther ever did for the German people was to give them the Bible in their own language. Can you imagine? Until 1520 something, the German people never had a Bible in their own language. The Church of Rome didn't want the common man to be able to read the Bible. The work of the reformers was, let's give the people the word of God for themselves. Well, while Martin Luther was in hiding and these rages of smashing images and so on were going through the cities of Germany, they appealed to Martin Luther to come out of hiding. He was the man who could instruct the people in how to go about a biblical reformation. And of course, violence was not the way and destruction was not the way. And if you're going to reform a people who are worshiping wrongly, they need to be taught. They need to be instructed in the Bible. And of course he came out of hiding and he went throughout Germany and tried to settle men and women down from their rashness, their hot zeal. Their zeal was good, but it was a zeal without knowledge. And Martin Luther taught the people. that you can only win a man's heart by the truth of the gospel, not by destroying his images. And he was certainly right. Now we must never add to the person and work of the Lord Jesus. He is sufficient. This all comes down to the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus. Now the direction of preaching is that Christ is sufficient for every issue in your life. Now let me tell you, this is radical. In New Evangelicalism today, in wishy-washy Protestantism today, there is this notion you need Christ and psychology. You need Christ and the counselor. You need Christ and principles, or steps to this and that. Gospel preaching is that you need Christ alone to meet the need of your heart. I heard of a pastor sitting down with a husband and wife, and the wife said, my husband doesn't meet all my needs. And he quickly answered, only one person can meet all your needs, and that's the Lord Jesus. Of course, the husband was greatly relieved. He was thankful for that counsel from the pastor. And loneliness, you need Christ. Guilt, you need Christ. Wisdom, you need Christ. It is the Spirit of Christ in you. And this is a direction that every Bible gospel ministry must take. And our challenge in the work of the ministry is to call people to get their eyes on the Lord alone. Everything else is a distraction. Now, I was down in Phoenix for the opening of the new church building there, and they have exactly the same text above there on the pulpit wall as we have. In fact, the woodwork was provided by our deacon, Darrell Wilkins, in Prince George, and he carved the lettering out of BC lumber, sent it down to Phoenix, and they installed it on the wall. And so I called it value-added wood. The best possible use you can make out of BC lumber, from dead wood to the living word on the wall. Now, I explained to the people that the minister is not going to be preaching on John 1 29, behold the Lamb of God, every single church service. But his ministry, his burden will be that the people, whether they are regular people, attendees, or whether they're visitors or friends that come in periodically, the burden of the gospel preacher, the direction of his ministry will be to get the eyes, the minds, the hearts of men and women on the Lord. And let me tell you, that's a difficult thing. but it's the necessary thing. That's what we call Christ-centered preaching. Everything focuses people to consider the need of the Lord Jesus in their life. Now let me tell you tonight, the greatest need you have in your life is the grace, the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus for your soul. And that applies to you as a Christian. It also applies to you if you're not yet saved. How do you get saved? You don't need a priest. You don't need to join a church. You don't need the baptismal water to get saved. You need the merits, the perfections, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus to your account. Christ alone. And that becomes the direction that I point you. If you come to me tonight and say, Pastor, I need to get saved. How do I get saved? The direction I point you is directly to the Lord Jesus himself alone and nowhere else. Now, I gave the third point as the deliverance of solo Christos from priestcraft, from the guilt of sin. What does this verse John 1 29 say? Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. He delivers. He's the great deliverer. And therefore, you need the Lord alone to deliver your soul. Also from the fear of death. If there's one thing, and I know this because I grew up in the north of Ireland where 40% of the population was Roman Catholic. My neighbors, I played with my neighbors growing up Roman Catholics. And there's one thing that a Roman Catholic fears, and that's death. They tremble at the thought of death. Because in the Roman Catholic Church, there is no assurance, no peace given to any Roman Catholic, no matter what they're standing in the church, that they will go directly into the presence of God at death. No priest can ever say that. And when the last rites are given by a priest, they are, I paraphrase, saying the church can do no more for you. After all the years of masses and communions and the Eucharist and priestcraft and death, they're left to themselves. But if you understand Christ alone, it delivers from death. He alone. And we know that he conquered death. There's no other person that ever conquered death like the Lord Jesus. And he proved it by his resurrection. He triumphed over the grave. He gives life when he promises, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Or that his words are the words of eternal life. It's true. He delivers. But once you add one little thing to Christ alone, you're saying, Christ delivers so far, but I need something more. Then you're in trouble. then you're not really delivered. You're only delivered a little bit. And of course the deliverance comes by getting our faith settled and focused on the Lord Jesus. When the Philippian jailer said, what must I do to be saved? What do Paul and Silas say? Believe on Jesus. the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou shalt be saved, Christ alone. That was it. In Romans 10, 8, 13, If thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The object of our faith, behold, get your eyes upon the Lamb of God. Didn't you ever notice that our hymnal is filled with beautiful, wonderful hymns just like this? Will you take your hymnal with me just for a couple of minutes as we look at the hymns we sing? A good hymn helps us to get our eyes on the Lord. 412, my faith has found a resting place, not in device nor creed. I trust the ever-living one. His wounds for me shall plead. My faith has found a resting place. Here is the object of our faith. Then verse two, enough for me that Jesus saves. And on down, I have no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. There is Christ alone as the object of our faith. Then the hymn we sang earlier tonight, 362, Rock of Ages cleft for me. If you look at the stanza number three, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Hymn 362, stanza three, nothing in my hand I bring. These are hymns with the theology of Christ alone. Nothing else is required. And that was one of the Protestant Reformation doctrines that liberated multitudes of people and set them free. And then back to another hymn 150, hymn 150, stricken, smitten, and afflicted. Now, in verse one, see him. dying on the tree. Tis the Christ by man rejected, tis my soul, tis he, tis he. Tis the long expected prophet, David's son, yet David's Lord. And then verse three, sorry, verse four. Here we have a firm foundation. Here the refuge of the lost. Christ's the rock of our salvation. His the name of which we boast. And of course, liberated people, saved people, they love to sing these hymns. It confirms our faith. It expresses our belief and our confidence in Christ. These now become our spiritual sacrifices. We offer our praises on the terms of the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus alone. Nothing added. Christ plus nothing. It is solo Christos. Christ alone. Do you want to be a Christian? It's Christ alone. If you want to lose what Christ has accomplished, to make it of no effect, as Paul warned the Galatians. Then you just say, well, I need Mary, I need a priest, I need a saint, I need some other person to intercede for me. Let me tell you, that will damn you. That will bring you into bondage. But Christ alone set you free, set you free. and you're saved looking onto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. He takes care of it all. From A to Z. Oh sorry, that's American. A to Z. Alpha and Omega. There it is. That's the Savior you need tonight. Christ alone.