| Introduction This morning, we come to the end of our celebration of the 500thanniversary of the Protestant Reformation. On Tuesday, exactly 500 years ago, the Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed to door of the castle-church in the little town of Wittenberg in Saxony, the reasons why a person can't buy forgiveness. This minor event unleashed the greatest revival in the history of the church, a revival that gave birth to us here today. As we have seen in our character studies in Sunday school, the Protestant Reformation was not a monolithic movement. Different men had different ideas. We can see that very clearly in the famous Marburg Colloquy where the regional leader Philip I of Hessen tried to establish a political alliance among the several strands of Protestantism together in order to fight the Roman Catholic state leaders. In that meeting all parties were able to agree or at least to disagree amicably on almost everything. When it came to the Lord's Supper, however, Luther said that he couldn't even call those who disagreed with brothers, let alone work with them. One thing, though, they were all united on is that God saves sinners. It is this unity that we have been considering in our Sunday morning sermons in October. The Reformers were all united around five teachings, which we have been calling the Solas of the Reformation. Today we come to the last one. I. Soli Deo Gloria: What Does It NOT Mean? A. When you hear the expression "To God alone be the glory," what first comes to your mind? 1. For most of us, the first thing that comes to mind is that we must live our lives in a way that honors God, a life lived in obedience to the Word of God. 2. That is definitely true. a. Calvin's motto was, "I offer my heart to you, O Lord, promptly and sincerely." b. God is glorified when we live in a way that displays the character of God. c. We can all think of passages that teach that. 1 Cor. 10:31 – Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Pt. 4:11 – If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. B. All that being true, that is not what the expression soli Deo gloria refers to. II. Salvation to the Glory of God A. Remember that these five teachings that we have been considering this month are all related to how God saves sinners. B. Soli Deo gloria means that salvation is from God, through God and to God. Rom. 11:36 – For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. 1. All of salvation is God's. 2. From changing one's heart, to granting faith, to declaring a sinner a saint because of Christ, to sanctifying that sinner and saint, to the final resurrection and glorification of all the saints, all of it is the work of God. 3. So all the glory and honor of a sinner being saved is God's. Eph. 1:3-6 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. III. All the Solas Working for the Glory of God A. When we talked about the teaching that it is through faith alone in Christ alone that one is justified before God, we looked at Romans 3 where Paul says God is the just and the justifier – God is the one doing the saving. Rom. 3:26 – … to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. B. When we talked about the teaching that our salvation is solely based and caused by the grace of God, we saw in Ephesians 2 that God and God alone brings the dead sinner to life. Eph. 2:4-7 – But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. C. When we talked about the teaching that the Scriptures alone are the ultimate authority as to what we should believe concerning our salvation, we saw that God is the one who gives that revelation where we find salvation. Jn. 17:17 – Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. D. Last week, we saw that Christ is the only Savior declared to be so by God. Jn. 3:16-17 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. E. What is the common thread among all of this? 2. Therefore, all the glory in the salvation of a sinner goes to God and God alone – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. IV. The Glory of God in Jude A. Jude's description of God, 24. 1. God is able to keep us from stumbling a. This is different than the word for stumbling block. b. This simply means not falling. 1) This is not a promise that we will not sin. 2) This is a promise that God will not allow any of his people to fall away from him. Jn. 6:39 – This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. Rom. 8:30 – Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. 2. God is able to present us faultless before the presence of his glory. a. God grabs wretched sinners, changes them, robes them in the righteousness of God, and presents them to himself in perfection. b. And he presents us before the presence of his own glory – what Moses could only see in veiled form, we will see face to face. 1 Jn. 3:1-2 – Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. B. Jude's description of God's attitude – he does all that with extreme joy. Heb. 12:2 – … looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 1. We might even do something nice to someone who doesn't deserve it. 2. But to do with joy? That's only God's doing. C. To this God and because of all his work of salvation, be all glory, 25. 1. All glory, all majesty, all dominion, all authority is declared to be God's. 2. And that is not just now, but forever. D. All of life is about God – that's what soli deo gloria means! A. The problem with this doctrine, which is not a problem with it at all but with us, is that we don't want to give glory to God. B. We prefer glorifying ourselves because we are at our core Narcissistic. 1. The story of Narcissus – Greek mythology character who looked into a pool of water and, enraptured with his own reflection, was unable to look away. "A narcissist is full of herself, has a big head, is a blowhard, loves the sound of his own voice, or is legend in her own mind…. Narcissists are not just confident, they're overconfident. In short, narcissists admire themselves too much." Jean Twenge 2. Other terms that describe facets of narcissism: "arrogance, conceit, vanity, grandiosity, and self-centeredness." Twenge C. The solution to this big problem is humility through the fear of the Lord his glory. Ps. 86:11-12 – Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore. 1. We will not ascribe all glory to God till we humble ourselves before God. 2. We need to stop looking at our image in the lake, and look to God. Jam. 4:10 – Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
The Scriptures alone are our ultimate authority to know what salvation is. It teaches that salvation is solely and completely based on the grace of God alone and comes through faith alone in whom Jesus is and what he did. All that from beginning to end is the work of God who receives all the glory for the salvation of the sinner. That is our heritage. May we have the courage of being a Protestant and hold on to these doctrines so that we might grow in our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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