Post Tenebras Lux

Transcript

Family, would you take a moment to pray with me and ask for the Lord’s help? Our Father and our God, we do thank you for the foundation that has been laid before us, that we can open up your word and see the excellencies of our Savior and our King. And we do pray, O Lord and God, that this morning you might lend us the help of the Holy Spirit so that we might grow in our affections for you, so that we can see how you throughout the ages have sustained your church and how the mission of your gospel has spread and will continue to spread. We pray, O Lord, that you would illuminate your word and make us, conform us more into the image of Jesus. We pray, in Christ’s name, amen. Well as Sam mentioned earlier, this morning we begin our new Advent sermon series, though

we’ll take a day off next Sunday, then we’ll jump back in, so it’s a little confusing. But our sermon series is titled Light After Darkness. It’s a sermon series on the five solas of the Reformation, and so what I’m going to do this morning is try and provide a brief introduction to the series, and my aim will be kind of three-fold. First, I want to start by setting the context for our series by briefly exploring the history of the Reformation and the five solas. Notice I said briefly, okay? Number two, I want to try to help us to see how the Reformation is relevant for us today. And then finally, I want to explain why in the world your pastors have chosen to focus our attention on the five solas during the Advent season. So today’s message is going to be a little bit different than a typical sermon, as I’ll

The Fall and Promise

be taking a more topical and historical approach. But my hope is that our time this morning with this introduction will provide the necessary foundation for the weeks ahead, okay? So with that being said, let’s begin with a very brief history of the Reformation. About 500 years ago, the church experienced a profound transformation known as the Protestant Reformation, a change that was fundamentally necessary for returning to the fundamental truths of the gospel. Now to fully understand why the Reformation was so crucial to the church, we need to start earlier than most people would expect. Not with Luther or with Calvin, but with a promise given at the beginning of history just before the fall of humanity. When Adam, who was tasked with protecting the garden and keeping it holy, allowed the deceptive serpent to enter into the garden to deceive his wife Eve. The serpent’s primary deception, if you were to distill it down to its smallest compound,

had everything to do with the words of God. In fact, in Genesis 2, 16, after God placed them in this beautiful garden to enjoy forever, the Lord God commanded the man saying,

You shall surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die

— Genesis 2

(ESV)

. Only eight verses later, in chapter three, we see clearly the serpent deceiving Eve. In Genesis 3, verses one through six, the serpent said, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband, who by the way was with her, and he ate. So the fall of humanity, its rebellion against God, began with a distortion of God’s word. This introduced the curse, and sin, death, and darkness then spread from the garden into the world, affecting all of humanity. The light and the life that once flowed from the garden was now removed from them. But in the kindness of God, in the midst of His judgment for sin, He made a promise

of hope to His people. In Genesis 3.15, God spoke of a future light, a Savior who would come to crush the serpent and ultimately reverse the curse of sin. In Genesis 3.15, the Lord said,

I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel

— Genesis 3

(ESV)

. This promise of a future light that would come from the offspring of Eve became a thread of hope throughout human history, pointing people to the coming of Jesus Christ, the light of the world, who would deliver His people from sin, death, and darkness. The gospel of John beautifully captures this hope fulfilled in John chapter one, verses one through five. John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. This promised Savior spoken in the garden was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus Himself said in John 8.12, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have, possess the light of life. And in John the Baptist, the greatest of all prophets, because of his proximity to Jesus, when he saw Jesus with his own eyes, he said, look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus, the light of men, and the light of the world, came not only to proclaim the message of salvation, but to secure salvation as the final and sufficient sacrificial Lamb. You see, because of the consequence of sin, death and darkness entered in, and someone

had to pay the price for that sin, and that someone was Jesus. Through His life, death, and resurrection, He alone offers life and light to all who would trust and believe in Him as Lord and Savior. And for those who would embrace the light, this Jesus, He not only saves them, but He makes them children of the light. He calls them to take the light and to let it shine before men. Jesus illustrates this in His sermon on the mount in Matthew 5, verses 14 through 16. He said, you are the light of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works

and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. The mission of bringing the life and light of Christ into a dark and dying world that began with Jesus, He passed on to His church. We see this in Matthew 16, when Jesus asks His disciples, who do you say that I am? You guys should know this by now. Peter declares boldly, you are the Son of the living God. Peter testified that Jesus is the Messiah, the serpent crusher promised in the garden who has come to save His people from sin, death, and darkness. Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah established the foundation of the church that Jesus built. This is why immediately following Peter’s confession, Jesus says to Peter in Matthew 16, 17, and 18, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

And I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock, meaning on this confession that Jesus is the Messiah, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. By God’s perfect design, the mission of spreading the light was given to the church that Jesus built. The church, meaning the people that God has purchased with His own blood and gathered together, these individual ordinary people saved by grace are now His chosen instrument built specifically to be a lighthouse that shines the light of the gospel into the darkness of our world so that others might see it and be drawn to the light and believe. And Jesus’ promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against it means that the mission will succeed no matter what, no matter how dark things may get or may seem to be or for however long, the Lord has promised to preserve His church and ensure that the

The Church’s Mission

light of the gospel will not be extinguished. Amen. This mission of the church shining the light is even more explicitly expressed in Jesus’ great commission to the church. We see this in Matthew 28, 18 through 20. Jesus said,

all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age

— Matthew 28

(ESV)

. Jesus’ command, this mission was given to the church and it was two part evangelism and discipleship. And what this means at a very practical level is that the mission is a call to tell people about Jesus, the light who overcomes the darkness and to teach them to walk in the

light by the illuminating of God’s word so that they might learn to live in obedience to Him. That is at the most basic level, the great commission, learning to love the light and learning to walk in the light. And by God’s grace family, this was the pattern of the early church. The light shined and people believed and learned to shine their light before men. And because of that, the gospel spread powerfully, even in the darkest of times. And ironically, one of the greatest accelerants of the spread of the gospel happened during the rise of the very Roman and oppressive empire. Because of that, the Roman empire under God’s sovereign control provided the necessary infrastructure for this rapid gospel advancement. I mean, just think about how crazy this is. The roads that Rome built to expand its empire became the very roads in which the gospel

message would travel along. And Rome’s emphasis on establishing language and literacy to help dominate the world became the very means by which the gospel conquered the hearts of men and women in the world. In this area, God demonstrated that though men make plans with evil intentions, God is sovereign over it all, and He uses it for His sovereign, perfect purposes. In this hostile and secular environment, in the midst of horrible persecution, the church actually grew and the light shined bright in the darkness. And for several centuries, this caused the church to flourish. And you see, this is one of the greatest realities that is so often for us to comprehend. It’s hard for us to comprehend that God tends to grow His church the most in the midst of difficult times, in the midst of suffering and persecution. Now, around 500 AD, there was this interesting twist.

The great Roman Empire, with all of its sophistication and power, began to collapse. And shortly after the fall of this very oppressive, hostile, and secular Roman Empire, Europe entered what is appropriately called the Dark Ages, a period of time marked by economic, cultural, and even intellectual decline. And with this fall, there was a vacuum of power left behind that the Roman church absorbed. And as a result, the Roman church began to grow in power and influence and authority. And you would have thought that without the persecution of Rome, without this hostile and secular influence, that the gospel would have been unloosed like never before and spread to unimaginable places. But tragically, instead of this church using this new influence and power for spreading the light of Christ, the church, or better stated, the leaders of the church, decided that it would be best to block the light, to use their power to purposefully keep the

people of God in darkness. You see, they recognized that this vast chasm between the leaders of the church, the educated clergy, and the illiterate common people worked for their advantage. It kept these people deeply dependent upon the leadership of the church to provide all the spiritual instruction for the people. It was in this ecosystem of deep dependence and vulnerability that created a context of corruption. I’m sure you’ve heard the famous quote, power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Well, in most cases, and in most institutions, this is true. But for this to be the case in the church that Christ built is unimaginably wicked. Instead of these people helping God, God’s people to grow in their knowledge of Him and in His word, they kept the people in darkness. One of the practical and most wicked ways they did this, where they sought to maintain

power and control, was by intentionally holding their services in Latin, a language that was not common to the people. So they couldn’t understand anything that was being preached or proclaimed, which obviously made it impossible for the people to learn anything about the scriptures. The church, with this power grab, did the opposite of what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount. Instead of shining the light, the church hid the light. They put it under a basket. And as access to scripture diminished, the church was able to exploit the biblical illiteracy of the people by teaching religious practices that were the farthest thing from scripture. So take, for example, in order for the church to grow in its income power and to build bigger church buildings, essentially to function like an empire, they instituted the sale of indulgences, which was essentially offered as a kind of get-out-of-hell-free card.

This piece of paper signed by the pope would be a guarantee of salvation. And so basically what was happening was that the church was charging people money for what God had freely purchased and freely offered with his own blood. It was also this idea that they would profit off of the veneration of relics. They manipulated people with threats of excommunication, which in this context would have been eternal damnation if they didn’t do what the church asked them to do. The church had been corrupted by these self-appointed popes and priests who were money-hungry and power-thirsty. So during this dark period, the leaders of the Roman church reflected the same kind of deception as the serpent in the garden, who took God’s words and twisted it or obscured it to ultimately hurt God’s people and keep them in the dark. And this family was a very dark stain in the history of the church.

Light in the Darkness

But despite the corruption of the Roman church, God’s promise to preserve the church and to keep the light of the gospel blazing endured. So in the 1300s, by God’s grace, he raised up a man named John Wycliffe, who was often called the morning star of the Reformation. He was a brilliant scholar and theologian who not only taught but preached at Oxford University in England during the time when the Roman church held control over its religious teaching and access to scripture. But Wycliffe, through reading the illuminating scriptures, began to see the horrible corruption and unbiblical worship in the church, and he stood in protest. He looked at practices like the sales of indulgences and then the worship of relics, and he began to push back against the church’s corruption. He argued that salvation came by grace through faith, not by purchasing forgiveness or by praying to dead saints.

And he understood that if the people were to grow in godliness, they needed to have access to God’s word for themselves. And so this, you could imagine, created a whole lot of conflict with the Roman church. In fact, the Roman church was so angered by Wycliffe that he lost his professor position at Oxford and his writings were burned. Now Wycliffe died before the Roman church could officially declare him a heretic. But as one final act of power and control, 43 years after his death, he was excommunicated from the church officials and his body was dug up so that his bones could be burned. This of course was how the church would declare that a person was a heretic, according to the Roman church. But despite the church’s efforts to paint Wycliffe as a heretic, his teachings and his efforts to translate scripture into the language of the people sparked a movement, and reformers

like John Huss followed in his footsteps. He too stood in protest and confronted the corruption of the Roman church. He preached the gospel in the common language for the people to understand. He declared that the Bible alone is the authority, not the Pope, and that forgiveness comes from Christ, not the church, not from sacraments, and not from good works. His standing for the truth, much like Wycliffe, came with a great cost. He too was declared a heretic by the Roman church officials. He was excommunicated and eventually martyred. But before his death, just before being burned at the stake, John Huss made this powerful and prophetic declaration. Listen to what he said as he’s literally about to be burned. He said, Today you are burning a goose, but in a hundred years you will hear a swan sing, and him you will not be able to silence.

One hundred years later, that swan was Martin Luther, the one who would sing out the gospel so boldly and so loudly that no one could silence him. Luther, who was once a German monk who initially tried to earn God’s forgiveness through his religious devotion, through the study of scripture, realized a truth that radically transformed his life and ministry forever. The truth he learned from reading the book of Romans, that righteousness wasn’t something that could be earned through religious devotion, but that it was a gift from God received by faith alone. And so standing in opposition to the Roman church, Luther in 1517 famously nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg church door, challenging the church’s corruption and calling for reform. Luther’s teaching by God’s grace spread, and it spread quickly. He argued that salvation was by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. No works or payments required.

Jesus paid it all. He also translated the Bible into German so that ordinary people could read God’s word for themselves. And though he faced many threats, excommunication, and even the possibility of death, Luther famously declared in protest, here I stand, I can do no other. And this statement of protest echoes in the halls of the Protestant church to this day. Luther’s courage and conviction lit a fire that changed the church forever, restoring the truth that salvation is a gift, not a transaction. Luther reminds us that the gospel is worth standing for, no matter what the cost. And his actions ignited the Reformation, and Reformers like Calvin and Zwingli and Knox took up the charge, boldly declaring the darkness of the Roman church by proclaiming the light of scripture and the gospel. These teachings of these Reformers that revolutionized and reformed the church were distilled into

five key truths. Grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, scripture alone, God’s glory alone. These five solas are the pillars that keep the church anchored in the light of the gospel. And that, family, is what we’ll be exploring in greater detail over the next five weeks. Now, I do think it’s important to understand that the Reformation of the church didn’t in any way change the foundation of the church. So it’s not as if the church’s foundation was cracked and it needed to be replaced with something entirely new or different. No, the Reformation was about recovering and refocusing on what was originally the foundation, the one laid for in the beginning of the church. And what was that foundation? Well the scripture tells us in Ephesians 2, 20 through 21, where Paul writes that the church was built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself

being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. So the foundation of the church, as Paul tells us, is built on the teachings of the apostles and the prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the centerpiece of that foundation. So the Reformers didn’t change, add, or remove anything from that original foundation. They simply called the church back to stand firmly on what was already laid by the teachings of Christ and his apostles. It’s also important to recognize that the five solas of the Reformation weren’t these kind of new innovations or new theological concepts. They were already present in the teachings of the apostles. And while they might not be explicitly stated as the five solas, these principles were foundational to the apostolic teaching. The apostles taught that the good news of salvation is found in scripture alone, okay?

The apostles taught that we were rescued from God by God himself and that this rescuing was motivated by his gracious love towards sinners, meaning he didn’t save us because we were good people. He saves us by his grace despite that. They taught that God accomplishes our salvation through faith alone, meaning it is our faith in Jesus Christ and his work that justifies us in his presence. And this faith rests entirely on Christ alone. We are saved by the merits of Jesus, his sinless life, his substitutionary death, and his powerful resurrection from the dead. This is what secures our salvation. And because Jesus paid it all, the apostles taught that all glory belongs to Jesus. He initiates. He rescues. He secures. He pursues. He completes. So he alone deserves all the glory. These truths taught by the apostles from the very beginning of the church shaped the church.

Why the Reformation Matters

The Reformation simply brought the church back to these essential biblical foundations that were lost in the dark ages with the great corruption of the Roman church, to which we should respond in thankfulness and praise for God’s promise keeping of preserving the church and keeping the light of the gospel shining in the darkness. Amen? Amen. Now, a question you might be asking yourself this morning is how is this Reformation from 500 years ago relevant to us at Trinity Church today? And what significance does the five solas have in our current cultural moment? Well, there are so many, so many. But for the sake of time, I’m just going to give you a few reasons why I think the Reformation still matters today. Number one, scripture alone grounds us in the midst of cultural confusion. Today, there are countless sources competing and claiming to offer truth from social media

influencers to self-help Christians and even podcast pastors attempting to interpret scriptures with a more modern perspective. All these voices can create a sense of confusion for Christians. The principle of scripture alone reminds us that God’s word is our ultimate authority. It governs how we think, feel, and believe. Not the latest theological trend or popular podcast opinion, and even if it comes from a very popular podcast pastor. This means you can read your Bible for yourself to encounter the errors of our culture and trust in the sufficiency of God’s word. This is huge today, especially where there are questions of identity, sexuality, purpose, and morality. These things are growing more and more complex and confusing. Scripture alone anchors us, giving us the clarity and the direction that we need that transcends our time and our culture. Number two, Christ alone refocuses us in an age of self-help.

We live in a world that is increasingly focused on self-empowerment and this kind of self-salvation. We are programmed through media and through society to think that as long as we are good people then we will be accepted. And what this does is it causes for us to kind of live reflexively, to live our lives in such a way so as to avoid being canceled. As long as we’re not canceled, we’re good. Christ alone reminds us that our hope and our salvation and our forgiveness are not found in ourselves or by living up to our culture’s moral standard, but in Jesus Christ. Christ alone draws us back to the reality that our faith rests securely in our Savior who has accomplished for us what we could never achieve on our own and forgives us for all the wrongs that we’ve done without the threat of being canceled.

That’s huge in our world. Number three, grace alone frees us in a performance-driven culture. Our culture often tells us that we have to earn our worth, that we must perform for acceptance. This happens both socially and professionally. In the church, this can pressure us to evaluate how we see and live out our faith. It shapes the way we think about our faith, no matter how hard we try. Where Christians might feel like we have to earn God’s love or approval or perform for acceptance. Grace alone is the powerful antidote to this mindset. It reminds us that God’s favor is not earned, but it’s freely given through Christ. So it doesn’t matter how well you perform, how good of a person you might be, or how poorly you perform, or anything else. This truth, family, is liberating in a world that constantly demands more from you and

constantly makes you feel like you’re not good enough. Number four, faith alone anchors us when our faith is being challenged. As our world becomes more secular and skepticism towards Christianity increases, understanding the principle of faith alone is fundamental to Christian flourishing. It gives us confidence that our right standing with God is secured by faith, not by our religious performance or our feelings. I mean, deconstruction and deconversion in our culture is happening all the time. And one of the reasons it’s so popular is because people don’t understand what faith actually means. Or they attach all this kind of extra to it, like prosperity or social justice or inclusivity. They think faith is something that you feel or that you have to work hard for, when in reality it’s simply a promise to hold fast to. Faith alone reminds us that trusting and believing in Christ is enough to save you.

Number five, God’s glory alone helps us live in a self-centered world. In a time where self-expression and personal happiness are often viewed as the highest and greatest goal, God’s glory alone redirects our focus. It causes us to live, to work, and to worship, not for our own fame or comfort, but for the glory of God. This principle helps us stay oriented in a culture that can easily pull us towards self-centered pursuits, reminding us that our lives are ultimately about reflecting God’s greatness, not our own. He has done everything for us, so we should give everything to Him. And finally, perhaps one of the most pointed ways in which the Reformation is relevant for us is that it serves as a reminder that God is a faithful promise keeper to His church. No matter how dark or corrupt the church and our culture may get, the church will prevail,

and the light of the church will never be extinguished. He will preserve it no matter what happens. He promised He would, and He died for her, so why would He not protect her and provide for her? And listen, I know that there are a lot of you here that have experienced deep hurt from the church. Many of you have felt the sting of a pastor who has failed you or exploited you. Listen, Jesus knows your pain, and He hates when that is done. It breaks His heart. You need to know that Jesus will make it right. It might not happen according to your preferred timeline, but He will make it right. I mean, our church has experienced this before. We have experienced a pastor who failed this church, and the Lord preserved His church. Now He didn’t do it as quickly as I would have liked, but at least we didn’t have to

Advent and the Solas

wait 500 years. The Reformation reminds us that God will reform His church if it starts to go off the rails, that He will protect His church from leaders that seek to exploit or corrupt the church. God will purify it if it moves in the direction that is unhealthy or affects the witness or the light of the church. You can rest your confidence on that promise. Amen? Now, why in the world would we choose to preach the five solos during Advent? Perhaps it might have made more sense to preach leading up to Reformation Day, which if you didn’t know was October 31st. Okay. Well, that might have worked. We could have done it, but family, I would submit to you that Advent is a perfect time to preach on the five solos. Because it brings us back to the core of what we believe as Christians, specifically when

the busyness of the season is trying to pull us into all sorts of directions. And so in closing, I want to give you another round of reasons why this series during Advent can be helpful for us. Okay. Number one, it keeps Christ at the center of our Christmas season. The Christmas season is often overshadowed by family traditions and sentimentalism. Now, I do want to be clear. Family traditions and Christmas feelings are wonderful. We should feel the feels during Christmas. There’s nothing inherently wrong with them. They bring us together as families. They create moments and memories of joy and connection. In my own family, man, we turn up. Especially Heather. She loves Christmas. But family, if we’re not careful, we can easily let all the good and wonderful activities of Christmas subtly cloud the deeper meaning behind Christmas. The parties, the gift exchanges, the lights on Peacock Lane decorating our Christmas trees,

all the things we do as family traditions can end up becoming the priority and the main focus of Christmas if we’re not careful. The sola of Christ alone grounds us in what Advent is really about. It reminds us that the season is exclusively about Jesus, the light of the world who came to save us from our sin, death, and darkness. Christmas is celebrating the incarnation of God coming and taking on human flesh to be with us. By keeping Christ alone at the center, we remind ourselves and we protect our hearts from all the things that will try to eclipse the real reason for celebrating. Number two, it deepens our understanding of faith. Advent is a season of hope. But this word hope is so frequently used during Christmas, even among non-Christians, that the substance of hope can sometimes get lost. And so faith alone reinforces what and where that hope is rooted.

Christmas might stir up all these warm feelings, but hope is something much more profound than nostalgia or religious sentimentalism. Our hope is in Christ himself. Faith alone reminds us that it’s not about what we bring or what we do. Our hope is securely anchored in the person and work of Jesus. Jesus is the object, Jesus is the substance, and Jesus is the author of our faith. And it’s our faith in Christ, who has come and is coming again, that gives us hope. Number three, it reorients us to the authority of scripture. Scripture alone reminds us that Jesus is the word made flesh and that God’s word is our ultimate authority. Especially during Advent, there’s this kind of pull towards all these voices and messages telling us what Christmas should mean for us. But in the end, it’s scripture that informs us what Christmas is all about.

And Advent is the perfect time to renew our confidence in the authority, sufficiency, and inerrancy of God’s word. Christmas in every way is a celebration of a hope-filled prophecy of the word that was perfectly fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who is the word. Number four, it renews our focus on God’s grace. Family, we are so used to associating Christmas with giving and receiving gifts. This is part of what we do. Grace alone declares to us that the greatest gift humanity has ever received is the gift of salvation, and we didn’t do anything to earn it or deserve it. Advent points us to the gift of God’s grace wrapped in the righteousness of Christ freely and fully. Number five, it invigorates our worship. The glory of God alone is perhaps the most fitting theme for Advent. Christmas is a season filled with singing songs that declare his glory, not simply because

of what Christ has done in his coming to earth, but because he is gloriously worthy. And that should be enough for us. When we focus on the glory of God, we remember that our worship is all about him, not us. When we sing and celebrate and gather together, we are pointing our hearts and lives to the radiance of his glory. And finally, number six, it lays a theological foundation for Christmas. Advent is a season where people who might not typically come to church often feel this pull towards the sacred. Family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, they might feel more willing to accept an invitation to come to church during the Christmas season. That’s just what happens. And so preaching on the five solas during the Advent season offers a welcoming and clear introduction to the heart of the Christian faith. The solas lay a theological foundation that explains what Christianity is all about.

It reminds us of who God is, how he saves us, and how we are to respond. The solas give a beautiful biblical framework that reveals the essence of the gospel. And this will be helpful for those who are visiting the church, who are drawn by the sacredness or the sentimentalism of Christmas. And listen, if you’re here this morning and you don’t consider yourself a Christian, maybe you came here with a friend to visit Trinity this morning, or maybe you’re exploring what it means to be Christian, you need to know that this is true for you this morning. That the Bible, God’s very word to us, tells us that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is God, came to earth, born as a baby, lived a perfect life so that he might save us from our sins by dying in our place to pay the debt that we owed because of our sin, a debt

that we could never pay. And he offers forgiveness of sin and salvation freely by his grace. All that he requires is that you turn to him and trust in him, embrace him by faith. Embrace that he is the Son of God, the Savior of the world, and you can trust him this morning. You can trust him this morning and he will change your heart and cause for you to worship him. And you can experience the forgiveness, salvation, and a new heart by simply asking God to help you believe. And if you have questions about that, you can talk to anyone in this room about what it means to be a Christian. Ask them, are you a Christian? If they say yes, they will help you to learn to follow Jesus. And for us, family, as Christians, sitting under the preaching of the solas during Advent,

this will lay a foundation that will strengthen us. It will deepen our understanding. It will solidify our theological convictions and build us up in spiritual maturity so that we can worship him more fully and live out our faith more confidently. In a season that’s filled with distractions, which Christmas often does, the solas will help us remember and celebrate what’s truly important, Christ, the light of the world who came to bring life, hope, and redemption to a lost world in sin, death, and darkness. And so as we move through Advent, our prayers for you as you engage with the solas is that this will help to keep your focus on what we’re truly celebrating, the light breaking into the darkness. Amen? Amen. Let’s pray. Our Father and our God, we do thank you that in the midst of the darkness, you sent the light of the world to save us.

We were doomed. We were hopeless. We couldn’t do anything. But because of your wonderful grace, you gave us Jesus to die in our place. We pray, O Lord, in God, that as we move through Advent, we would keep that as the priority, that would be the thing that increases our affections and lights up our joy. Help us, Lord, to not be distracted by all of the things in this season, but to be preoccupied with the glory and radiance of your fame. You deserve all of our attention, all of our affection, and all of our adoration. Help move our hearts to that end through the preaching of your word this season. We pray these things in Christ’s name. Amen.