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How am I made right with God ? How do I experience the presence of God ?

Explore how Paul addresses perennial questions about righteousness, God's presence, and heart transformation. Compare with the reforms by Luther in the 1500s to embrace Scripture over rituals.

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How am I made right with God ? How do I experience the presence of God ?

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  1. Paul and perennial questions How am I made right with God? How do I experience the presence of God? What impact does God have on my heart?

  2. Paul and perennial questions How am I made right with God? How do I experience the presence of God? What impact does God have on my heart? Paul’s answer is always the gospel (whether in Ephesians or any of his other books)

  3. Paul and perennial questions • We are made right with God by placing our faith in God’s gracious work, accomplished in Christ. • “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith.” Ephesians 4:8

  4. Paul and perennial questions • We experience God’s presence as a result of Christ’s work. • “2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing [the gospel] with faith?” Galatians 3:2

  5. Paul and perennial questions • We experience a changed heart as the Spirit works in us. • “15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you….” Ephesians 1:15-18

  6. Perennial questions in the 1500s • The church taught that you could be made right with God by a complex series of rituals. • Baptism

  7. Perennial questions in the 1500s • The church taught that you could be made right with God by a complex series of rituals. • Last Rights • Prayer, “If you’ve sinned with your • hands, eyes, ears, etc., may this sin be • ‘expiated by means of this unction .’”

  8. Perennial questions in the 1500s • The church taught that you could be made right with God by a complex series of rituals. • Confession and penance

  9. Perennial questions in the 1500s • The church taught that you could be made right with God by a complex series of rituals. • Indulgences

  10. Perennial questions in the 1500s • The church taught that you could experience God’s presence through rituals. • Mass

  11. Perennial questions in the 1500s • The church taught that you could experience God’s presence through rituals. • Relics

  12. Perennial questions in the 1500s • The church’s formal rituals could leave the heart of the ordinary Christian relatively untouched.

  13. Perennial questions in the 1500s • The church’s formal rituals could leave the heart of the ordinary Christian relatively untouched. • And, there was a great deal of corruption within the church hierarchy.

  14. How did it come to this? • The church had grown to trust the authority of its leaders and its traditions over the teaching of Scripture.

  15. Martin Luther and Scripture Alone • Luther: a young monk and professor of the church. • Wrote the 95 Theses (1517)

  16. Martin Luther and Scripture Alone • Diet of Worms (1521)

  17. Martin Luther and Scripture Alone • Diet of Worms (1521) • “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason-for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves-I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. [Here I stand. I can do no other.] God help me. Amen.”

  18. Significance for us • Gratitude

  19. Significance for us • Gratitude • A call to vigilance • To know the Scriptures

  20. Significance for us • Gratitude • A call to vigilance • To know the Scriptures • To not let popular sentiment and belief color our understanding of Scripture

  21. Significance for us • Gratitude • A call to vigilance • To know the Scriptures • To not let popular sentiment and belief color our understanding of Scripture • To know how to read the Scriptures

  22. Significance for us • 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” • 1 Corinthians 1:25: “25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men….”

  23. Significance for us • Gratitude • A call to vigilance • A warning and loving invitation to skeptics

  24. Significance for us • “Take me, for example. I opposed indulgences and all papists, but never by force. I simply taught, preached, wrote God's Word: otherwise I did nothing. And then, while I slept or drank Wittenberg beer with my Philip and my Amsdorf the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor did such damage to it. I did nothing: the Word did it all,” • (from Luther's Works).

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