ResponsiveReiding

The last of our cult-proofing mottoes is the famous “Soli Deo Gloria” – To God alone, be the glory. This particular one is probably best known because J. S. Bach used the initials for it – SDG – as part of his signing the manuscripts of his cantatas and other works. Following Bach’s example, George Frideric Handel was known to do the same. By it, these men meant to dedicate their works to the glory of God. But its theological import during the Reformation was a bit different.

Soli Deo Gloria as part of the the roster of Reformation slogans carried this meaning above all: The salvation revealed in the Scripture alone, which is ours by grace alone through faith alone because of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ alone – is a salvation which owes all of its glory to God alone. It was His plan; issues from His love, mercy and grace; is paid for by Him and is wrought in our souls by Him: ALONE. TO GOD BE THE GLORY – all of it. To Him alone.

Sadly, in our day, the idea of God being worthy of all the glory all Creation can muster has taken on a dark hue. Some think because God has done all things for His own glory – that somehow He is on some sort of cosmic ego-trip, wandering through the cosmos and going to every creature saying: “worship me!” Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, God is the most humble of all beings, though He IS the most glorious as the most perfect, wonderful and deserving of our awe, wonder and glory. Especially in His work of saving His enemies by the Cross.

To give God ALL the glory, simply means – to make sure God is recognized and appreciated for who and what He is. Nothing more. This in fact results in the greatest good of His creatures – like you and me. Since He is the source of all good, all love, all mercy and grace and loving kindness and holiness – we can have no greater good than to be exposed to Him. He Himself IS the greatest good. And when we “give” Him glory – all we are doing is making Him known.

But then, in our context here – we need to remember that because salvation is God’s idea, at God’s expense, and through His sovereign agency alone – it is most fitting that all the glory for it be His alone. And none of it belongs to the undeserving creature saved, or the secondary means by which it is accomplished, or any organization, Church, Council, person or anyone or anything else. The Apostle Paul summed it up perfectly when he said: “But by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10 ESV).

That is the bottom line beloved. Keep Him in His rightful place, and never let anyone or anything else take that place – and all will be well. He is Lord of all.

“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:36 (ESV)

Mark 14:32–36 (ESV) 32 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

We all face decisions. Some easy, some hard.

But put yourself in God the Father’s shoes at this moment.

His Son, His only begotten Son – THE Son, is praying.

He appeals to the Father’s absolute sovereignty and power – “All things are possible for you” He says.

And He is right.

The Father does not HAVE to save anyone.

He can at this moment, deliver His own Son – and let the rebellious race go to Hell.

He is under no obligation.

There is nothing constraining Him but one thing – His own heart.

Out of nothing but pure love, He willingly sends His Son to that Cross in our place.

He didn’t have to.

He wanted to.

He could remain just and eternally condemn us all.

He could remain full of mercy and grace – without it rising to the level of this sacrificial act.

But He refused.

Hearing His perfect Son’s pleas.

Knowing His agony.

Seeing His “distress” and “trouble” (vs. 33).

Knowing He was “sorrowful, even unto death” (vs. 34).

Yet still, He will not relent.

He sees the Son’s willing heart.

It must melt His own.

It can do no other.

Yet the plan remains.

The deliverance will not come.

The Son will die – though the Father can freely and in all holiness and righteousness choose to spare the Son and cast us aside.

But the “love that will not let me go” prevails.

What love is this?

What a Father is this?

What a Son is this?

What a salvation is this?

Words, cannot express.

Solus Christus – Through Christ alone. This marks our 4th cult-proofing slogan. And it is just as essential as the others. It is in Scripture alone, and by its sole authority, that we learn that the malady of the sinful rebellion of lost humanity against God has a remedy which is ours by God’s free gift of grace alone, obtained through faith alone, because of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ on Calvary – alone. Or, as we read in Acts 4:11-12 “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Beloved, once again, EVERY false belief system or cult errs on this point. Each and every one of them posits SOME kind of addition to the work of Jesus at Calvary as essential for our salvation. But, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:4) No sacrifice can do it.  And, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:3) These things He has done alone. There is nothing to be added. Concepts like Purgatory or personal acts of penance rob Jesus of His mediatorial glory. If His infinitely righteous blood shed in death for my sin is not sufficient to God, what hope do any of us have? What can possibly be of more effect? Who can possibly be more worthy? “For there is one God, and there is ONE mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” (1 Timothy 2:5–7, emphasis mine)

No other mediator. No other means. No other sacrifice. No other works of obedience. No other anything. We are saved – through the mediating work of Jesus Christ and Him alone. His sole obedience to the Father on our behalf – to give us a righteous history. His sole death on the cross enduring our guilt and shame so that we might have an expunged sentence. No thing more is due – nor could we pay it if we still owed the smallest portion of it. Christ, and Christ alone – saves. He is the Savior of lost people.

Solus Christus!

So far we’ve looked at 2 “slogans” from the Reformation period. Sola Scriptura points us back to the ultimate authority of Scripture above a persons, experiences, writings or groups – be they Synods, Councils, Denominations, Popes or anything else. Everything and everyone but Scripture, can err. Then secondly we looked briefly at “Sola Gratia” – that salvation comes to fallen mankind solely through the grace of God as a gift. Forgiveness of sin and eternal life are NEVER the product of any human merit whatsoever. Else, (as Paul notes so well in Rom. 11:6) “otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”

Thirdly then, we want to consider the idea of “Sola Fide” – that salvation is through FAITH ALONE. And in this one consideration, we have THE sticking point of the Reformation itself. Indeed, once again, EVERY false system falls at this point. If we lose this reality, we lose the Gospel. Fallen human beings are justified (declared righteous through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us) solely on the basis of believing the Gospel. Once again, as Scripture declares: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph 2:8–9)

Beloved, we cannot make this point strongly enough. The Bible emphatically, undeniably, and unequivocally posits our justification before God as through the means of faith, and that, in direct opposition to human works, or effort. It does not mean the Redeemed will not exert effort in following Christ – we invariably will. It does mean however that we do not obtain our right standing with God by any of our efforts. We obtain it by faith alone.

Let me make one brief comment before we close, since many fear that to call men to believe the Gospel, to repent of their sin and cast their hope upon Jesus alone is somehow “a work” – look again at the passage just quoted. However one may conceive of faith – the Bible says it does not qualify as a “work” – and thus pits faith specifically against works here. The eye sees, but it exerts no effort to see. It simply drinks in the light and images proposed to it. Faith is like that. It sees the truth of the Gospel, and believes it. There is no merit to be assigned for only believing what is true, and no effort in believing what is evident. Thus no merit accrues to the Believer, and the Believer has done nothing to save themselves – but to believe what is true and declared under the command of God to be believed.

Through the authority of the Scripture, we come to know the person and work of Jesus Christ, and are called upon to Believe it. By God’s good grace alone. We are saved BY grace, THROUGH the agency of faith. A fire hose can put out no fires. Water is needed for that. Faith is the fire hose through which the saving grace God sends extinguishes the fires of Hell within our fallen souls. Keep to this, and no cult or false religion will suck you in. Look to some other means, and you will lose your own soul.

James 1:2–4 (ESV) “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Christians count the meeting of their trials joy – NOT because the trials are “joyful” in and of themselves. We do so because the unpleasant trials, due to Christ’s redemptive work, will make them useful to us in joyful results. If our single goal for our lives is our Father’s – Christ’s likeness – then everything in life can be co-opted to that end. Even if what we suffer comes from the World, the Flesh or the Devil. In Christ, “all things are []ours” (1 Cor. 3:21)

But we MUST remember this: Only one who remains undeterred (steadfast) and single-minded in pursuing Heaven and the likeness of Christ will gain the “full effect” – the “completeness” referred to here.

There are things which DRAW us off the road, things which BLOCK the road, things which DRIVE us off of the road, things which make the road HARD and things which make the road DANGEROUS. We must be ready to face them all if we will persevere and obtain.

So, what is so enticing that you are DRAWN off of the path today? What lures you away from holiness and the love of God as supreme in your heart and mind? What is it that you perceive as an imovable block to making progress? What have you been struck by, what disaster has plowed into you which has knocked you off course? What seemingly innocuous attention grabber steals you away from keeping on course, from keeping focused on the goal and active pursuing the goal? What difficulty ahead seems impossible to overcome? What seems to threaten your safety and well being if you continue?

Only steadfastness will serve to bring you to completion. DON’T GIVE UP NOW! “THIS” is what we are after, and thus we build our lives around “THIS”. That we may be like Him!

I’ll be in Wheaton with my fellow F.I.R.E. brethren Monday thru Thursday – and hope to be back in the office on Friday!

Pray for me – I’m traveling with Tony Bartolucci.

Trust me, I NEED prayer!

OK – so maybe Tony does too.

There are certain crystallizations of Biblical truth, which if thoroughly understood, believed, and made a part of one’s world-view, will enable Believers to easily assess other truth claims. These are not substitutes for knowing the greater body of Scripture – but useful digests; a sort of theological short-hand.

That God has spoken in His Word, the Bible, and that having done so has provided us with an ultimate authority on truth from which to proceed is our very first place to go. This is what the Reformers referred to by advancing the slogan: Sola Scriptura. But, by God’s grace, they did not stop there. They went on to help us get a grasp of some of the central truths taught in the Bible, in a form that once again is extremely helpful in weighing the most important issues of life – those which impact our souls and their eternal destiny.

This brings us to our second great slogan in cult proofing our kids and ourselves – Sola Gratia – by GRACE ALONE.

Once again, the basic message is exceedingly simple. And, it is inestimably profound. One is delivered from their guilt before God and thus saved from His just wrath – by one means ONLY – by His grace. By God’s unearned favor poured out in the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and applied to those who believe by the Holy Spirit.

Grace, by definition is unearned. And in this regard, the Reformers coined this slogan so as to pit it in direct opposition to the idea that one can MERIT – can be good enough in any way to deserve and thus obtain salvation because of earning it. Grace is grace, when it is given to the undeserving. This is how the Apostle Paul unpacks the issue for us in Romans 11:5-6: “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” Those last words expound the key concept. If one’s salvation is earned by some one, or mass of works – then salvation ceases to BE by grace, at all.

Every cult or false religion proceeds precisely on this point. “Good people go to heaven.” Be a good enough person (though no one can say exactly HOW good one has to be to out-weigh their sin) and you’ll be fine. The false premise upon which this is built is obvious – no amount of doing good things in one place, mitigates the evil done in another. A person is not less guilty of murder, because when they DID kill their victim, at the same time they didn’t kill all the people they could have. The two ultimately are not related. It is a logical fallacy. No number of good things, no matter HOW good, somehow erase the guilt of my sin. It can no more do so any more than all the times I do drive under the speed limit somehow builds up a bank of miles per hour I can trade off against the ones I spend when I DO go over. No system of justice works like that anywhere. And yet when it comes to salvation, millions are ready to sign on the dotted line. And every false religion and cult adopts this point of view in one way or another.

Beloved, salvation is by grace alone. It is a gift. It is unearned in any way, shape or form. It must be received as a gift and as a gift only. Nor is it given to those somehow more deserving than others. It is given to the very lowest of human debris. It is given to us in the preaching of the Gospel. Unearned. Undeserved. Never forget that, and no cult, no man-made religion will ever suck you in.

It is in the Scripture alone, that we are told authoritatively that salvation is by grace alone. Sola Scriptura. Sola Gratia.