Reformation 500 - The Five Solas - Sola Gratia
Reformation 500 - The Five Solas • Sermon • Submitted
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God is Good
God is Good
I grew up in church. I know people say that all the time and it kind of loses its meaning. And most time nowadays when people say it they are talking about leaving the church after they grew up as though what happens here is childish and for children but not for grown ups. But not me. When I say I grew up in church I mean I literally spent most of my days as a young person in a church building or participating in a church activity or at a church related institution or surrounded by the the actual church, the people of Jesus. By the time I was in 5th grade I was helping to run lights and sound for the children’s ministry and lead children’s church. In middle school I began attending conferences. In high school I entered preaching and writing contests. I was steeped in everything church and Christian for so long that there was a time I thought I knew everything there was to know. I thought I had seen it all, experienced it all, heard it all when it came to church and Christianity. Silly me. Then something really jarring happened - I encountered a preacher I had never heard of before who preached in a way I wasn’t accustomed to hearing. In fact the reason his message was so jarring was that in so many ways it contradicted everything I had been taught, every tradition I had embraced, and every idea I had about my self and my knowledge and understanding of the Bible, Christianity, and even Jesus. Who was this preacher that so shook me to the core and what did he say? His name is Paul Washer and what he said was this:
The most terrifying truth I can tell any man, woman, or child - the most horrifying reality that I can express to you is this simple truth - God is good.
Let that marinate and roll around in your brain for a second. Let that bake your noodle for just a moment. God is good. And I know for many of you, you may be wondering why is that terrifying? That doesn’t seem horrifying to me. And I’ll be honest with you, I thought the same thing when I heard that statement as well. I thought it’s great news that God is good. That’s fantastic news. But then Mr. Washer explained why this was terrifying news. He said:
The reason it’s terrifying, the problem with God being good, is that you’re not good. What does a good God do with someone like you? That’s the problem.
In one moment I was wrecked by a truth that I had encountered in scripture, but never really understood, the idea that nothing I do, no matter how righteous it may seem to me amounts to anything meritorious in the eyes of a perfect and holy God who knows my every thought and motivation. The Holy Spirit in one moment convicted me about the years of self-righteous works and deeds and I realized the terrifying truth that nothing I had done would get me into God’s good graces. All the actions that world may see and think were so right and righteous amounted to nothing and for the first time in a long time I felt small, ignorant, and woefully inadequate. And that is when I began to truly encounter the good news.
Let’s pray: PRAYER
Last week we began talking about the 5 Solas of the Reformation, five truths that separate Biblical Christianity, true faith in Christ, from every abomination and aberration created by man to mimic or co-opt elements of the gospel for their own purposes. Last week we talked about Sola Scriptura - Scripture Alone, the teaching that scripture alone is our sole infallible rule of faith that is able to reveal God, determine doctrine, command and judge behavior, and divide rightly between truth and lies, reality and fiction. Today we’re going to look at the second Sola - Sola Gratia - Grace Alone. So if you have a Bible open to
as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Much of my life I have lived like a Pharisee thinking that I saved myself through right belief and right action and right thought. But when I encountered Paul Washer’s sermon I just told you about I was greatly disturbed in my thinking and I began to read more and study more listen to lectures and sermons more and one of the passages that came up was this one. And as I began to rightly understand it, I became more and more troubled about my old way of thinking.
In the book of Romans Paul addresses many big ideas - election, predestination, salvation, justification, and righteousness just to name a few. And in this segment we just read Paul specifically looks at the works of man and the nature of man. He needs to lay the ground work for everything else that follows and so he begins by addressing human nature and the will of man. And in so doing he shows us what the reformers would come to call the depravity of man.
Paul quoting several Psalms says that no one is righteous. There is no man, woman, or child who is righteous in the eyes of God. Not a single one. In our own eyes we may seem righteous, in the eyes of other human beings we may seem righteous, but in our Creator’s eyes we are not. Our Creator knows us too well for that. While all the world may see what we do publicly and hear what we say aloud, God knows the very depths of our souls. He knows every fiber of our being, the fabric of our nature. God knows what motivates the nice things we say and the good deeds we may do. The prophet Jeremiah in recording the word of the Lord writes this in
Jeremiah
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
“I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”
Only a fool or a liar would look at that and not be terrified. Be honest, the fact that God knows you better than you do is scary. And even more terrifying is the fact that in searching the heart and mind, the being of man God finds nothing that is good and righteous. He finds sick and deceitful hearts, he finds unrighteousness, he finds ignorance, he finds indifference for his divine being and utter disregard for his holiness. In peering into the depths of man God sees that every single human being has turned away from him, they do not do good, not even one. They speak evils and lies. They shed blood and bring ruin. They make war because they love violence and they do not fear God. That my friends is a very serious indictment from God against us. I cannot emphasize enough we are in dire straights and desperate need of saving because God is good and we are not. And not act of obedience no matter how grand you may think it is and no matter how much you think it may merit you in God’s eyes in any way obligates God to save you or undoes the sin that you have committed against your Creator. Lest you still think you can get right with God by some action of goodness and obedience to the law look at what Paul says next verse 20.
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
You will never be able to save yourself. And we hate that message as human beings. We despise the idea of not being able to rescue and right ourselves. Even the vast majority of evangelicalism today teaches that you can “get right with God” by doing some action that manipulates and obligates God into doing something, but my friends that is not the message of the Gospel, that is every pagan religion in the world masquerading behind the guise and jargon of Christianity. That is not Christianity.
But I have exceedingly good news.
What then is the resolution? Is man without hope since he hates and does not seek God? No, rather there is exceedingly great hope which brings much joy when understood. And to hear it we must look to scripture. God has a plan to seek and to save the lost, God chooses out of His own goodness and love to act in history to save some even though we have clearly seen that in His eyes all deserve damnation and not salvation. John tells us what exactly it is that God does, the action of grace that God enacts.
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Perhaps the most misunderstood verse in the Bible right beside .
John is revealing how God has shown grace. Very few English translations do this verse justice, but the original Greek is fairly specific. A more clear expression of this statement would be: For this is how God loved the world, he gave his only son, in order that all believing in him not perish but have eternal life. God loved, and out of this love acted even though the entire world was rightfully and justly perishing and dying in their sins. We often get everything so very twisted thinking that God loves because of what Jesus does, but that is inverted. The Father is under no compulsion or obligation to love or save anyone. None are deserving and there is nothing that can force or manipulate God into anything. Rather God loves freely, His affection is generous and undeserved yet He acts to save a particular people out of the wretched world by sending His son to live, suffer, die, and resurrect making payment for the debt of sin and cleansing that people from unrighteousness.
The obvious question then is who is this people that God loves and saves in the wretched world? The Greek text says clearly, but much more literally that it is the one believing into or in Jesus the Son. This is how God seeks and saves His lost people. This is how a man may be saved. Not by good works, not by keeping the law, not by perfect Sunday School attendance, not by bringing your Bible every Sunday, not by only watching G-rated movies, not by only listening to K-love and “Christian” music, not by serving in soup kitchens, not by giving away your money, not by being a nice person, not by being smarter than everyone else, not by fill in the blank. It is only by the grace of God that you may be saved.
As John Calvin so wonderfully worded this message from the word of God:
“For however much it may be commonly held that a good man can earn favour and acceptance with God, men are very seriously mistaken in such matters. Indeed, whatever we may have done, we cannot Win God's favour, because he deserves the very best of all that is in our power. There is, therefore, no merit possible on our part (if, indeed, we may call it that), unless we fulfil the terms of the covenant he made with us, when he said that whosoever keeps the law shall obtain life and salvation. When God uttered these words, he was prepared to accept our total obedience as worthy of salvation, but this does not, in fact, imply that we can, therefore, merit favour, for none of us have done our duty.”
In other words you will never achieve salvation because you have not kept the greatest command - to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Forget the the second command Jesus lists that is like this one, we can’t even keep the first one. But God in His great love has shown grace.
So how then do we receive this grace? By faith my friends, by trusting in God to accomplish what you cannot on your own behalf. We will talk about Faith more next time but today if you are under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, if He has revealed to you the truth that we find in - that all your righteous deeds no matter how good they seem to world are like filthy rags before a Holy God who sees and knows all then I want to urge you not to resist that conviction. Instead embrace it asking what must I do to be saved. There is only one way according to Jesus, only one thing to do - to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
This morning if you believe in Jesus, if you trust in Him now is the time to repent, now is the time to confess, now is the time to proclaim your belief. We’re going to have time for you to do that now as we stand and sing together.