REDISCOVERY OF GOD’S FAVOR IN HIS WORD

 

Selected Scriptures

 

On July 6, 1415, John Hus was stripped of his clerical robes, decorated with a dunce cap embellished with drawings of demons, tied to a stake, and burned to death. According to an eyewitness account, he entrusted his soul to God and sang a hymn to Christ as the flames enclosed him. Once he was dead, the authorities ground up his remains and cast them into the Rhine River to keep them from being venerated by his followers. It is said that John Hus expressed in a letter he wrote during his imprisonment, “A hope that stronger "birds" than he would arise to carry on his work.” History of the church revealed to the world that it wasn’t a church at all but an institution seeking power, not gospel saving. Historians of this period called it “Before the Light, Darkness” This darkness was felt theologically, religiously and spiritually. Which led to darkness… socially, economically, politically, and education.

 

On October 31^st on the Eve of “All Saints Day”, a man who was completely transformed by Holy Scriptures, a monk named Martin Luther marched up to the castle church in Wittenberg and nailed his 95 Theses to the door, this lighting the flame of the Reformation. This lead historians to say ”After Darkness, Light”. Many would credit Martin Luther as the driving engine that propelled the Reformation. But Luther said, “I did nothing; the Word did everything.”

 

History reveals to us that in 1517, the front of the Castle Church’s door served as a large social media outlet in primitive form. Long before the social media platforms of our day with smartphones and apps at our fingertips, Luther, and his colleagues would enter into friendly and passionate discussions by nailing documents containing their ideas on specific matters to the front of the Castle Church’s door.

Little did Luther know that God would have other plans for his Ninety-Five Theses on the Eve of all saints day? A day in which the Catholic Church would use to exploit  indulgences on the weak, poor, sickly, and uneducated, to buy their way to heaven. The Catholic Church celebrates the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls, a time to reflect on those who have passed from this life to eternal life. The Catholic Church did this because they would try to sell eternal life for them and the dead? For a price a person could buy an Indulgence to be obtained for themselves or for a deceased loved ones. This is one of the reasons why Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to door of the church. Number 21 of his 95 thesis said, “Thus those indulgence preachers are in error who say that a man is absolved from every penalty and saved by papal indulgences. ... They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory.”

 

So! Rather than a waiting for a localized debate in the city of Wittenberg Germany, his thesis would spark a world-wide debate that would end in Luther’s anathema and the unleashing of the Protestant movement. It is from this Reformation, the church rediscoveries its favor with God through Holy Scripture. It’s this Reformation where we continue to stand in favor with God as we grow and proclaim the gospel to a broken world system. It’s this Reformation where we stand under the non-negotiable truth of Scripture….this is where the Five Sola’s became to be pillars in the church. The five solas are five Latin phrases popularized during the Protestant Reformation that emphasized the distinctions between the early Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church. The word “sola” is the Latin word for “only” and was used in relation to five key teachings that defined the true biblical church of any age.

They are:

Sola Scriptura: “Scripture alone”

Sola Fide: “faith alone”

Sola Gratia: “grace alone”

Solo Christo: “Christ alone”

Soli Deo Gloria: “to the glory of God alone”

 

These Biblical truths served as theological pillars that support the whole of the true Church of God. These five theological pillars lay at the center of what distinguished the theology of the Reformation from the theology of the Roman Catholic church in the 16th century. These are non-negotiable; we must die on that Hill to preserve these truths of the Christian Church.

 

1. Sola Scriptura

The Reformers recognized the Bible as God’s written Word and the supreme rule of faith and life for both the individual believer and for the life of the church. Yes! Indeed, for all of life. The “formal principle” of the Reformation was this principle of “Scripture alone.” Whatever the church and others may have taught, it can be given no credence unless it conforms to this “What does the Bible say?” Every doctrine must be grounded in and measured by what God has said in his Word, Scripture. According to Luther, “The pulpit is the throne for the Word of God.” History tells us that Martin Luther ascended the pulpit with the Word of God in complete confidence….Why?

 

Authoritative…. Scripture is the very Word of God and “the voice of God “verbum Dei”, and is therefore supremely authoritative. Paul said in Romans 15:4 “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

 

Infallibility and inerrancy…. The Reformers taught that the Bible’s infallibility is comprehensive, for every word of every sentence, as 2 Timothy 3:16–17 says, is the breath of the living God. Peter said, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:19-21

 

Martin Luther said, quoting Augustine’s letter to Jerome. “I have learned to hold only the Holy Scripture inerrant,”

 

Self-interpretation and self-authentication…. Reformed theologians also stress the harmony between Scripture and the Holy Spirit. They taught that the Holy Spirit is the true expositor of the Bible, which enables the church to recognize that Scripture interprets and validates Scripture. The Psalmist wrote, “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.” Psalm 119:160. Jesus said to His disciples before His arrest and execution, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:25-26

 

Powerful…. The Reformers taught that God gave us Scripture as His word of power that transforms and renews our minds by His Spirit. The Hebrew writer said, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Heb 4:12

 

That power must be manifested in our lives, our homes,

our churches, and our communities.

 

Joel Beeke said, “While other books may inform or even reform us, only one book can transform us and conform us to the image of Christ.” Spurgeon found the Bible to be totally authoritative and sufficient. Note the language that he uses; he does not say “go beyond Scripture” but to “go behind it.” Spurgeon also said, “Scripture is the writing of the living God; each letter was penned with an Almighty finger” All Scripture which is inspired of God; not all writings, but all the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Tim 3:16-17

 

2. Sola Gratia

 

The Reformation period agreed that God’s grace was necessary for salvation. But just how great was that need? And how is that grace to be received? The Reformers insisted that we are so completely helpless in sin that God must do for us whatever it is he requires of us. From beginning to end salvation hinges on what God does for us. Election, atonement, calling—all this is God at work redeeming and restoring us to himself in grace. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.” Eph 1:3-6

 

Salvation is not something we have in any way earned or achieved, salvation comes to us free gratis. We are saved by grace alone. It’s not Jesus plus, but Jesus it is done…. in our salvation. We are justified by His grace not working to be justified by grace. Our lives are solely kept on the grounds of His unmerited grace that he showers over the son and daughter of the King. Our salvation isn’t earned, but freely given through the finished work of Christ, Spurgeon said, “Forgiveness, like love, is unpurchaseable by us. God’s pardons are absolutely free.” As Paul said, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” Eph 2:4-6

That is, His great love was the reason why He had compassion upon us. It is not that we had any claim or deserved his favor; but it is, that God had for His image-bearers, and that love led to the gift of a Savior, our salvation.

3. Sola Fide. 

The “material principle” of the Reformation was this principle of “Faith alone,” and it follows from “Sola Christus and sola gratia”. Understand! If Christ does the work that saves so that we are saved by grace alone, then human works and merit are excluded: salvation is by faith alone. With every other means of approach to God stripped away, and recognizing our utter inability to contribute anything to our own salvation. This means we abandon ourselves to Christ, resting in Christ alone to save us. Martin Luther once said, “If the doctrine of justification is lost, the whole of Christian doctrine is lost.” The meaning of the word, “justify.” In both OT & NT, means to set an accused person free from the sentence of condemnation and to vindicate him or her as righteous. The justification that we receive by faith comes to us only through the sacrificial death of Jesus in our place on the cross. We are justified by the blood of the Lamb, who took our sins and the punishment we deserved upon Himself, and so took them away. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” Rom 3:23-28

 

In Romans 5:1 Paul reminds us, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Rom 5:1. When we say that we are justified by faith, we do not mean that faith itself is what justifies us.

 

It is not the virtue of faith that makes

us right with God.

 

God makes us right with Himself by grace, through the atoning death of his Son. But….. faith is the empty hand of the soul stretched out to receive God’s gift of righteousness in Christ. Ours is simply to receive the gift and that receiving is what we mean by faith. “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. Our works contribute nothing to the perfect work of Christ on the cross, which is itself the gift of God’s lavish grace.

4. Sola Christus

When the Reformers insisted on Solo Christus, they affirmed that we are saved by Christ alone, apart from the merit of any other person. The center of the Sola’s all point to this truth! Through Scripture alone we come to know the person and work of Christ alone. Our salvation is through faith alone; faith’s object is Christ alone. God’s grace alone leads to our reconciliation and adoption through Christ alone. His goal in our redemption is God's glory alone; the radiance of that glory is in Christ alone. None of this make sense apart from the Son of God who became a man for our salvation. This what the Reformation did. One theologian said, “It has been said that the difference between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism is the little word “and.” Can we say that we are saved only by what Christ has done? Or must we say that we are saved by Christ and …? The difference that little word “and” makes is massive.” The Reformers insisted that Christ alone does the work that saves and so should the church today. Prime example of this is Peter before the Sanhedrin “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 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." 

Acts 4:8-12

 

The centrality of Christ is the foundation

of the Protestant faith.

 

Martin Luther said that Jesus Christ is the "…center and perimeter of the Bible." Without Christ, we can do nothing; in Him, we can do all things as it pertains to our eternal position. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Phil 4:13. Jesus said. “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5. No amount of you getting yourself better or right with God on your conditions and ability can unite God and man.

Union with Christ is the only

way of salvation.

5. Sola Deo Gloria

 

The glory of God is the beauty of His spirit. “Glory” this word means abundance, honor, dignity, riches, dignity, there is a weightiness to it even as you say it. Often when something is heavy it is really valuable. This expression is used to describe God when Isaiah penned these words “everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory (my honor, my excellent reputation), whom I formed and made." The glory of God is not exactly an attribute of His being but rather it describes the superlative (unmatched, excellent, unbeatable) honor that should be given to God by everything in the universe. We read in the last Psalm “Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!....Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!” Psalm 150:1-6

 

The whole earth is screaming: the weightiness, the glory of God. And His glory is something that belongs to Him alone and is the appropriate outward expression of His own excellence. J I Packer said “It is not an aesthetic beauty or a material beauty, but it is the beauty that emanates from His character, from all that He is.” All glory belongs to God is a given, and we should expect that God will save only in a way that brings glory to himself.

 

That is what is at stake in the solas.

 

Christ alone saves us, and he does so by grace alone received through faith alone so that God alone receives the glory for it. The Westminster Catechism declares that “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. All things are ultimately intended for a single purpose: glorifying God.” As Charles Spurgeon said, “God’s greatest and highest object is to make to himself a glorious and an everlasting name.” One of the greatest displays of this was when the Shepherd men had their encounter with God’s holy angel. “And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" Luke 2:9-14

 

The highest act of our worship is praising God to highest superlative degree. The Scripture reveal to us that we are to do worship God to the lightest of levels. Remember the encounter Isaiah had? “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe is me! (a sense of judgement) For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." Isaiah 6:1-7

 

The glory of God is something that we shouldn’t take lightly; and it shouldn’t be something that we say loosely either. When Isaiah was in the throne room he felt unworthy, unclean, to be the same room, especially in the holy presence of the glory of God. Isaiah 6. Peter, James and John felt the same way on the Mount of Transfiguration when fear came over them when God the Father spoke. Luke 9:28-36. We read in Matthew’s gospel “When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and have no fear." And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.” Matt 17:6-8. Paul wrote that the glory of God is the supreme purpose of redemption “so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.” Eph 1:12. Paul wrote “For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Cor 4:6.To truly understand the glory of God is fall to our knees in humility, and adoration, for His excellence and supremacy. So we see everything started with God, and is for God, and we have the honor to be a part of that for His glory…Soli Deo Gloria.

 

The Reformation is so much more than Martin Luther; the Reformation rekindled the church to be the church. On April 17, 1521 Martin Luther was brought before the Catholic Church to recant his writings and his thesis or be declared a heretic and a rebel. Martin Luther stood before the religious authorities at the Diet of Worms and said these words, “Since then your sere Majesty and your Lordships seek a simple answer, I will give it in this manner, neither horned nor toothed. Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen."

This is what makes Five Sola’s non-negotiable for

the church of any age.

 

There are two basic religions in the world. False Religion…….that is man-centered and self-gratifying and it builds on works righteousness. True Religion……is the gospel of Jesus Christ, a divine accomplishment by God’s sovereign grace provided for man’s redemption through the sacrifice of Himself on the cross alone.

 

Everything points to Almighty God the maker of heaven and earth. 

We see the glory of His grace.

We see the glory of His gift of faith.

We see the glory of His Scriptures revealed to us through the Spirit.

We see the glory of His Son as our Great Redeemer.

We see the glory of God and His perfect work to save sinner like you and me.

 

It’s these foundational truths that

our lives are built upon.

 

It’s these truths that separate the

believer from this world.

 

The five solas of the Protestant Reformation offered a strong corrective to the faulty practices and beliefs of the time, and they remain relevant today. We are called to focus on Scripture, accept salvation by grace through faith, magnify Christ, and live for God’s glory.