ONLY AND ALWAYS
FAITH: SOLA FIDE
DR. JIM DIXON
JULY 29, 2012
EPHESIANS 2:8-9, 2 TIMOTHY 4:1-8
In the year 1505 in the German countryside, a young lawyer, just 22 years old, was walking in a thunderstorm. Lightning filled the heavens and thunder shook the earth. It was a violent thunderstorm. As this young lawyer walked along, he was afraid. Suddenly, a massive bolt of lightning struck the tree right next to him, knocked him to the ground, and shattered the tree and burned it. The young man began to cry out. He said, “God, help me.” In his soul that day, the young man made a vow that if he lived he would give his life to the ministry. He vowed that he would enter a monastery and become a monk. The young man’s name was Martin Luther.
It is impossible to overestimate the impact that Martin Luther has had on Western Civilization. When Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door of the castle church at Wittenberg, it was the beginning of the Reformation. When Martin Luther did all the things he did, ultimately it led to a split in the Western Christian world—the split between Catholic and Protestant. Luther was a brilliant man. He was a linguistic genius. He had mastered so many languages. His translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible into German is a masterpiece. It did more than any other single writing to shape the modern German language. It was Martin Luther who influenced Europe in terms of music, economics, and culture—an amazing impact by an amazing man.
Martin Luther honored the vow he made that day in the German countryside in the midst of the lightning storm. He left the practice of law, and he entered a monastery seeking to be a monk. He struggled. He was a man of conscience. He had a great awareness of his own sin and felt significant guilt about his own sin. I don’t know about you. Are you aware of sin in your life? Do you feel sensitive to it? Does it bring any guilt to you? Do you just go about your life day after day almost unaware of sin? Martin Luther was very aware of his own sin.
He struggled in the monastery. He was told by his ecclesiastical superior that he had to live a good life in order to get into heaven, that he had to be more righteous; and he knew in his heart that his thoughts, motives, and desires were not pure. He knew that he was a sinner. He felt so guilty that he went into the confessional six hours a day. Can you imagine? He went into the confessional six hours a day, day after day after day, month after month, year after year. He began to practice self-flagellation, seeking to pay the penalty for his own sins, seeking to atone for his own lack of righteousness.
The authorities in the monastery began to worry about this young monk. They sent him to the university at Wittenberg. They thought maybe in the scholastic arena, in the world of scholarship and study he could find peace. He learned many languages and became a master of many languages, including Greek and Hebrew. He received his doctorate in theology; ultimately, he became a professor in the school of theology at Wittenberg University.
It was during that time that Martin Luther’s whole life changed, his whole worldview changed. Everything changed because of one Greek word that he discovered in the Greek New Testament in Romans 1:17. It was one Greek word that he had studied when he first read it in Erasmus’s New Testament. That one Greek word was the word “dikaiosune.” It is a word that means “righteousness.” In Romans 1:17, the Bible says, “The righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith.” It also says, “He who is by faith righteous shall live forever.” It was an epiphany for Martin Luther. He suddenly understood that he wasn’t saved by his righteousness, he wasn’t saved by his own holiness; he could only be saved by the righteousness of God, by the righteousness of Christ through faith.
Martin Luther understood what no one in the church had taught him, but was clearly taught in the Bible. He understood that he could be saved, not by his own holiness, not by his own righteousness, but by the righteousness of Christ, the holiness of Christ covering him, invested upon him, imputed to him, gifted to him if he would just believe. This was at the very heart of the gospel. He made a stand against the false teaching of works-based righteousness in the Catholic Church, and Protestantism was born. Saved by grace through faith, the righteousness of Christ gifted. What a beautiful concept, the very heart of the gospel.
Today, we take a look at faith. There is no more important subject in the whole of the Bible. In all of theology, there is no more important subject than faith. This is the very heart of the gospel that we are looking at today.
The Greek word for “faith” is the word “pistis.” It is just like the Latin word “fide” in that it has both an active and a passive form. To understand faith, you have to understand that it is both active and passive. It is dynamic, and it is static; both are important. We are going to begin by looking at the dynamic side of faith—faith as active, faith as a choice, faith as a decision. If you have saving faith, if you are bound for heaven, biblically, you have taken action. You have made a choice if you are bound for heaven. You have active faith; you have made a commitment, a relinquishment of life.
Last month at Niagara Falls, a guy named Nik Wallenda did the tightrope walk across Niagara Falls. Did you see that? I am sure most of you did. It was pretty awesome. That was just last month on June 15th. He walked across Niagara Falls on a tightrope that is 1,800 feet long, six football fields in length. He was 190 feet above the raging torrent. He was tethered at the command of ABC; they would not film it unless he was tethered. He is a seventh-generation member of the famous Flying Wallendas. (When you are a tightrope walker you do not really want to fly.) The Flying Wallendas used to work on the trapeze.
What an amazing deal. They asked Nik Wallenda how he did this tightrope walk. They asked him what the key was. Was it all the training? Was it unusual balance? How did he do this? He said, “Most important, lots of prayer.” He is a man of faith. The whole deal reminded me that this was the first time since 1896 that anybody had walked on a rope across Niagara Falls. When they did it in the 19th century, they did it further down the river where it wasn’t 1,800 feet across, but only 1,300 feet across.
The first person to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope was the Great Blondin in 1859. It was a little further down river, but he was still 190 feet above the water. It was a little over four football fields in length, 1,300 feet; and he was not tethered. It was huge risk. He had no fall-back plan. Ten thousand people were gathered there in 1859. Last month, 125,000 were gathered on the Canadian side, and just 4,000 on the American side (the view was greater on the Canadian side).
The Great Blondin would come back each year and do something more spectacular. In 1860, he came back and did the tightrope walk across Niagara Falls pushing a wheelbarrow. He had a stove in the wheelbarrow, and he cooked and ate an omelette on the tightrope. He was not tethered. He was crazy. Pretty amazing. That same year in 1860, the prince of Wales was in the crowd watching him. The Great Blondin was told about it; he went up to the prince of Wales and said, “I am about to go across the tightrope again. Do you think I can do it safely?” The Prince of Wales said, “Yes.” The Great Blondin said, “Well, do you think I can carry a person across safely?” The Prince of Wales hesitated a little bit then said, “Well, I think so.” Then the Great Blondin said, “Would you be the person?” The Prince of Wales said, “Absolutely not.” Now we are starting to take a look at faith.
Faith isn’t theoretical. Faith isn’t, “Do you think I can do it?” Faith is, “Will you commit your life? Will you make a decision? Will you make a choice?” That is faith. The gospel goes forth the world over, and Christ is saying, “Will you let me carry you? Can I carry you across to the other shore? Will you trust Me? You need to make a decision.” It is not a short walk; it is not 1,800 feet. It is not just a few minutes; it is a lifetime. The other shore is the shore of heaven itself. Christ is saying, “I will hold you, and I will take you all the way through this life to the other shore. But you have got to act on faith. You have got to have a dynamic faith. You have got to make a choice. You have got to make a decision.”
I made that decision when I was five years old. I knelt by my mother’s side, as you know. I asked Jesus into my heart, and I said a prayer with my mom. I prayed the words that she gave me to pray. I said, “Lord Jesus come into my heart. Be my Lord and Savior. Forgive me of my sin. Come and be my Lord. I want to live the rest of my life for you.” I got on His shoulders. That was 61 years ago. The ride has been a long ride. He has never let go of me. I know there have been times through the years when I have let go, but He has never let go of me. We are bound for the other shore. I made that decision, and I am saved by grace through faith. Remember that faith is dynamic and active. His righteousness, His holiness has been imputed to me and covers me even though I have no righteousness of my own. This is the gospel.
I was privileged to meet Billy Graham some years ago at Black Mountain Retreat in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. I was on the national board of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Billy Graham’s daughter Ann was on the board with me, so Billy came to our retreat one weekend. I met him. I love the life and ministry of Billy Graham. Have you ever been to any of his crusades? I am sure that at least you have seen a Billy Graham Crusade on television. There comes that moment in every crusade where he makes the altar call, where he makes the invitation . . . the gospel covers the stadium. You can just feel the presence of the Holy Spirit descend upon the crowd. The choir begins to sing “Just As I Am, Without One Plea.” You see people begin to rise as they come down onto the field. That is dynamic faith. That is active faith. They are making a decision. They are making a choice. Understand that if you are a Christian, you have made that choice. Either you did it suddenly or you did it over a process of time, but you have made that choice. Faith must be dynamic, and it must be active.
In Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 9, you can find the parable of the sower. Jesus says that a sower went out to sow the seed of the gospel. Some of the seed fell on hard ground, and birds came and snatched the seed away. Jesus explained later that the evil one comes and takes the seed of the gospel, snatches it from a person’s heart. Some of the seed, Jesus said, falls on rocky ground; there is not enough dirt above the rock, and the seed can’t take root. Other seed falls on the thorns, Jesus said; the cares, desires, and pursuits of this world, even the lusts of life choke the seed of the gospel.
But Jesus said that other seed falls on good soil and brings forth fruit, 100-fold, 60-fold, 30-fold. I know in the worship center today, there are many kinds of soil. There is the hard soil on the path, there is the rocky ground, there is thorny soil, and there is good soil. Know and understand that it takes a dynamic faith, it takes an active faith, and it takes a choice to find salvation. Whatever doubt you might have, you can still make that choice if you are willing to say to Christ, “Hold me. Carry me all the way to the other shore. All the way through life, hold on to me. Help me live for You. Save me.”
But Faith is not just active. There is another kind of faith that is passive. We see this in the tense of the Greek. Faith is static or passive. This means that there is a sense in which faith has content. In this case, the Bible speaks of “the faith.” The Apostle Paul, in our passage of Scripture for today (2 Timothy 4), said, “I have kept the faith.” The force of the Greek is passive. He is talking about the content of the faith. “I have kept the content of the faith. I have held onto it. I have protected it. I have preserved it.” The Greek word is “tereo,” and it means “to protect,” “to preserve,” “to safeguard.” Paul says, “I have protected the content of the faith.”
You see the same thing when you come to Jude 1:3. (Of course, in Jude, there is only one chapter. So, Jude verse 3.) It says, “Contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints”—that faith that has once and for all been delivered to the church. Contend for it. The Greek word is “agon,” from which we get the word “agony.” When Paul says, “I have fought the good fight,” he is saying, “I have agonized the agony,” “agonizomai.”
There is a certain struggle in contending for the faith. The world attacks it. As a matter of fact, as we approach the eschaton, as we approach the end of this age, the Bible is clear. Bible prophecy is clear. It is not the active, dynamic faith that will come so much under attack. It is the content of the faith that will come under attack. You see a lot of people making commitments to Christ, but it is almost meaningless if they go ahead and live however they want. Their faith has no content.
The Church of Jesus Christ has sought to summarize the key teachings of Holy Scripture. They have put them into faith statements like the Apostle’s Creed. Our church has a faith statement. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church has a faith statement. I am on the board of Valor Christian High School across the street, and they have a faith statement. I am on the board at Colorado Christian University, and they have a faith statement. These are summaries of the doctrines of Holy Scripture, the content of the faith. The Bible says you are going to have to contend for it, and you are going to have to keep it. You are going to have to preserve it as it comes under attack.
When we say “sola fide,” we are speaking of the faith in the active sense; but we are also speaking of the faith in that passive sense. It is both dynamic and static. That is why we have established the Institute here at Cherry Hills Community Church. It is because we want to contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. We want to fight the good fight. We want to keep the faith. That is why we established the Institute of Apologetics and Evangelism here at Cherry Hills Community Church.
I have had some people come up to me over the past year and say, “Jim, when did you get the idea for the Institute? How did you choose to do the Institute?” I didn’t do it. I am telling you it is a God thing. The Institute of Apologetics and Evangelism here at CHCC was God’s idea. It was all absolutely a God thing. We live in such a time where this is so critical. Until a few years ago, I had never met Lee Strobel or Mark Mittelberg. I had read books written by Lee Strobel, and they meant a great deal to me. I read books by Mark Mittelberg which meant a great deal to me. I have respected these men, but I had never met them. Mark and Lee lived in California, and here I am in Colorado.
One day, just a couple of years ago, Lee Strobel contacted me. He contacted me out of the blue. I was kind of honored and amazed. He told me that he and his wife Leslie were going to move to Colorado, and he would like to get together with me. Bill Hybels from Willow Creek Church north of Chicago suggested that he contact me. Lee Strobel and Leslie lived in California; Barb and I happened to be heading to Orange County, the John Wayne Airport, a few weeks later. So, I said, “We are going to come out there. Why don’t we get together and have lunch.” We went to Houston’s Restaurant near the John Wayne Airport. Lee brought Mark. Barb and I sat down with them for lunch. It was all a God thing.
Since I was a little kid, ever since I understood the faith and accepted Christ, I have had this passion in my heart to defend the Christian faith. As I went through my life, I saw people attack Christians and make fun of Christians. When I went through education, higher education, and graduate school, I saw people attacking the Christian faith at the highest levels. When I saw people challenging the claims of Christ and the credibility of Holy Scripture, in my heart I had this passion to defend the faith. That has been my heartbeat. When I sat down for lunch with Lee and Mark, I saw the same heartbeat. It was so cool. Such a God thing. Out of this crazy world, God brought us together.
On top of all of that, they are a lot of fun—fun guys to talk to and hang with. Barb and I both felt that way. The idea for the Institute has been from God. Blake LaMunyon has had a huge part in seeing this thing come together. Gary Poole is now a part of the team. Understand how important this is in such as time as this, when so many would attack the claims of Christ and the credibility of the Bible. This Institute is established so that we can offer conferences, seminars, retreats, teaching sessions, and materials defending the faith and helping promote the gospel in an unbelieving world. I think this is important not only locally, but nationally and, ultimately, internationally. I think God has great things planned.
I hope you know how important the content of the faith is. When you say you believe in the deity of Christ, do you realize how important that is? You think that perhaps it is not so important. There are a lot of people who claim they are Christians and they just think Christ was a great teacher. Why is it important to believe that Christ is God? First of all, the Bible makes it clear. The Bible couldn’t be more clear: it says of Jesus Christ that He was in the beginning with God and is God. “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” He came into the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He is the visible image of the invisible God.
When Jesus was talking to the crowds, He told them what Abraham would have done and what Abraham was currently thinking. They said to Him, “Wait a minute, Abraham lived 2,000 years ago. How could You know this?” Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham ever was, I am.” What an amazing statement! He took the Tetragrammaton, the very name of God, and applied it to Himself. When Phillip said, “Show us the Father and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said, “Have I been with you so long and you don’t know Me, Phillip. He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? I and the Father are one.”
Do you realize how important this is? Jesus came into our world for many reasons, one of which is to show us the Father. He came into the world that we might know the Father. If He is not God, He can’t do that. If He is not Emmanuel, if He is not “God with us,” He cannot show God to us. He has to be deity in order to reveal deity. This is so important. Every single doctrine in the content of the faith is critical.
It is so important that you understand that God in His fullness—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—created. How tragic is it that there are growing numbers of people who think all this is some kind of a cosmic accident? How then shall they live? All of these doctrines are precious. The fact is that we are sinners, that God created us and breathed on us the “imago dei.” We are crowned with glory and honor, created in His image and likeness; but we are fallen. The fact is that He gave us freedom. What a precious gift. The Bible says that God also created the spiritual realm with angels and principalities. He gave freedom there. What a precious gift. That gift has been abused. There is spiritual warfare, and the world of man is fallen. You understand that when you see something like we experienced in Aurora at the theaters there last week. Nobody can do what this man did unless there is some level of demonic activity there.
All of these doctrines that we see within the content of the faith are so important. Jesus Christ is coming back. This is so important. There is ultimate accountability. Nobody is getting away with anything. He will judge the nations. He will receive His people unto Himself. All of this is part of what the Church of Jesus Christ has affirmed, and it is all based on Holy Scripture. It is the content of the faith, and we contend for it, we keep it. It is all a part of “sola fide.”
Faith is dynamic; it is a call to action, and it requires a decision. You have to say, “Lord, okay. Carry me. Carry me to that distant shore. Hold onto me and never let me go, through all the days.” You have to wake up every morning and remind yourself of the choice you have made. It is active. It is dynamic. It is daily. It is also static; it has content. That content is precious; it is truth, and it must be fought for.
Next week our subject is “sola scriptura.” This is going to be so important. We are going to look at why the books of the Bible are included in the Bible. Why were they chosen? Why were others not chosen? Why should we believe the Bible? Why do we say that it is infallible, inspired, and holy? We are going to take a look at that. You want to make sure you are here next week. Also, if you have friends who have questions about that, it would be a good time to bring them. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.