10/18/25 Only Grace

In the last 2 wks. The basis for the series has established that an act from 1517 has shaped your world because it was a stand for truth. There is a lot of junk in the Christian community, some false teachings that have become common place and we will exploit a few of those here today so there is no confusion any longer. In 1517, there was no confusion, there was culturally accepted corruption, there was ignorance and there was outright wickedness by those who claimed to be of Christ, operating in his power, and in His favor, about our respective roles & access to him. The Catholic church was the only church at the time, & one man stood against an institution who had neutered kings & taken over countries by their power & deception.

Luther nailed a letter to the door of the church in Germany and stood against this machine with the truth of Christ, truth of faith, truth of God’s grace, the truth of scripture and the truth of God’s glory. Today the message is about God’s grace.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

This is where we ended last week. This week we tackle from a different area but still tying it to the original premise of the series. Like this verse says last week we established that the teachings of the Catholic church that brought about the stand of Luther and the pinning of the 95 theses was built on the foundation of by Christ alone, our hope is not on the men who serve in an institution who claim that they are closer to can manipulate the sovereign deity who gave his Son for you! 95 Theses was pinned to protest the narrative God’s favor was for purchase through penance. The corrupt theory was a way to roll in the money into a corrupt system & good works could make up for our inadequacies.

You may believe that preacher that was a long time ago, no we have it today with the prosperity gospel. This is also known as the “Word of faith movement” and the premise is that the user uses to achieve their purposes, whereas the Bible teaches the exact opposite, that God uses the believer to achieve His will. The source of power in the prosperity gospel is Holy Ghost as a means to gain financial and carnal driven gain. This is what we deem as outright heresy. This is idolatry because you are putting material and creation over the Creator.

Romans 11:6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

This verse blows up the whole movement. You cannot gain more grace, you cannot be more of a nice of a person to gain more of what faith alone in Christ alone gives you, grace.

Romans 3:10-11 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.

Proof we are all messed up. All stained, all corrupted. Some issues cannot, will not, be solved by human solutions. So, when you look at the fundamental problem with the move to buy God’s grace, it is an inset human condition. It is a blood bourn disease that requires the transfusion of supernatural blood. The Catholic presentation in the 1500’s was the idea you could buy yourself out of separation into the Presence of God.

It seems to me approach of Sola Gratia, “Salvation by Grace Alone.” has been misunderstood, not just today but back in the time of the protestant reformation when Luther nailed on the 95 theses to the church door in Germany.

Romans 6:1 What then will we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

To many this may sound absurd. But to others they are being taught this very thing under the deception of proper theology. This so called proper theology is called hyper grace. This movement gives the notion that the grace of God exceeds other teachings and is the highest form of understanding God’s gifts to mankind. This movement teaches that all sin has been forgiven, there is no need to ever confess it, no need to turn from it because it is covered by God’s grace. Further this type of heresy laden theology discounts Old Testament scripture claiming that they are irrelevant to the church. Even worse it declares that the words of Jesus himself are not applicable to the lives of those in the church. Jesus blows this up out of the sewage it dwells in Mark 13:31 heaven and earth will pass away but the words of me in no way not pass away.

If prosperity gospel of this day & age is discounting the Old Testament & Jesus words in the New, & this movement is proven incorrect in this, then we see the vast importance of scripture & its place universally since its conception from Holy Spirit to the authors. Additionally, we can link this to the basis for the series which is the commonality between the issues of pre-1500 Catholic church & now.

Luther’s contingency came as he saw the greed of the church, that used God to gain. The prosperity gospel is essentially the same ideology with a different approach. Instead of being forced on the people through ignorance, it is sold to people from these salesmen in the pulpit who sell to you this is what God wants for you. Some would say Preacher things are much more materially driven now than then, the inflation is higher, life is tougher and I say to you the hearts of men are still molested corrupted by the culture, by the sin nature. Jesus declared in Mark 7:21-23 ²¹ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Sola Gratia, “Salvation by Grace Alone.” It is proof that through salvation we are moved away from the wrath of God into the covering of grace, a gift of God himself not based on our works. This is brought by supernatural means through Holy Spirit through Christ alone! We have been set free of the bondage of sin, set free of the penalty of separation from God, given resurrection power & into eternal life because Holy Spirit brings change that coincides with his will, his character, & his way!