Scripture Alone Series

This year, we celebrate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing the 95 Theses to the Wittenburg Door. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed a protest against the Wittenburg Church door against the church’s selling of indulgences. This was a catalyst to make real and lasting changes in the church for all these 500 years. This was the “starting gun,” if you will, where a monk and a mallet make real and lasting changes to our entire world. But at the heart of this 500th anniversary is a rediscovery of the gospel. Like barnacles on a ship, traditions had gathered around the gospel so that the gospel was no longer clearly visible. We are journeying through the book of Acts together and because this is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, we are telling the story of Martin Luther. The Reformation is bigger than this one man, but for the sake of clarity, we are focusing on him. Now Luther is so significant that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s father, renamed himself and his son after visiting Germany in the 1930s.1

For a long time, the legacy Reformation has been defined by the Five Solas.

FIVE SOLAS

Christ Alone – Acts 4 (last week)

Scripture Alone - Authority

Faith Alone

Grace Alone

God’s Glory Alone

Today, I want to speak to you on the importance of the Bible. We need the Bible because you cannot know God unless you believe and obey the Word of God. I read a most fascinating story about Charles Haddon Spurgeon recently. They had just finished building the great Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, which at that time was the largest auditorium in the world, seating thousands of people. Spurgeon had gone down to the church and was standing in the pulpit just to test the acoustics. And unknown to him there was a janitor back in the back sweeping, Spurgeon went to the pulpit and simple said these words, “Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.” That Sunday morning this janitor walked down the aisle to give his heart to Jesus. When Spurgeon asked him how he was saved he said “Pastor, you did not know that I was in the auditorium this past week when you were here testing the acoustics.” He said, “When you cried out, ‘Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world,’ my heart was immediately pricked. I knew I was a sinner.” And he said, “Then and there I knelt there in the very back and gave my heart to the Lord.”2

If you have your Bible, find Acts 17 with me. In the first half of Acts 17, we see the story of three men who traveled around 150 miles in ancient Europe to share the message of the gospel. We see a band of three (Paul, Silas, and Timothy) bring the gospel first to Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9) and then to Berea (Acts 17:10-15).

“Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore, believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed” (Acts 17:1–15).