“Sola Gratia” Grace Alone Cameron Jungles Wed, PM - October 16, 2013

“Sola Gratia” Grace Alone (Eastside Baptist/Wed PM/October 16, 2013)

 

Brief Historical Background

Ø  Development of centralized  church authority and accumulation of church traditions

Ø  Led to corruptions of the biblical gospel of salvation

Ø  Sacramental theology and the merits of human good works

 

Grace in R.C. Teaching

Ø  Grace is absolutely necessary for salvation.

Ø  Grace works in cooperation with human responsibility.

Ø  Grace is mediated through the church and its sacraments.

 

Reformers on Grace

Ø  Grace is absolutely necessary and sufficient for salvation.

Ø  Grace is monergistic (God working alone), not synergistic (God working with human cooperation).

Ø  Grace comes directly from God

 

Grace Alone

Ø  The Depth of Human Sinfulness

Ø  The Judgment of God

Ø  Human Spiritual Inability

Ø  God’s Freedom & Efficient Grace

 

Depth of Human Sinfulness

Ø  Sin: not just individual acts but a complete state of rebellion against our Holy God.

Ø  Sin is fundamentally a rejection of God’s rule and a desire for self-rule.

Ø  Spurning of the glory of God.

 

As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Rom. 3:10–12, NIV)

 

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Rom. 3:23, NIV)

 

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Rom. 1:21, NIV)

 

They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. (Rev. 16:9, NIV)

 

Judgment of God

Ø  Based on God’s Holiness, Righteousness, and Justice.

Ø  Every human being is worthy of eternal judgment because of sin.

Ø  There will be a final reckoning day, no excuses accepted.

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left."Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. (Matthew 25:31–34)

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matt. 25:41, NIV)

"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (Matt. 25:46, NIV)

 

Human Spiritual Inability

Ø  No one seeks God (Rom 3:11).

Ø  Our sinfulness permeates every aspect of our being, including our minds and wills.

Ø  We may understand the truths of the gospel, but will naturally reject it because our sinful mind will not desire it.

 

Human Spiritual Inability

Ø  Only God’s grace of regeneration enables our minds to desire and embrace the gospel.

Ø  “Revealed by my father in heaven.” (Matt 16:17)

Ø  “Must be born again.” (Jn 3:3)

 

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (Jn. 6:44, ESV)

 

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matt. 11:27, ESV)

 

God’s Freedom and Grace

Ø  God is free to be sovereign in the dispensing of his grace.

Ø  God is not bound to apply a human sense of fairness.

Ø  God is bound only by his own holiness, justice, and desire to show love and mercy.

 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will–to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment--to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory. (Eph. 1:3–14, NIV)

 

God’s Freedom and Grace

Ø  God the Father: electing

Ø  God the Son: redeeming

Ø  God the Spirit: effectually calling

Ø  God bestows his effectual grace out of the goodness of his own will, not based on anything in us—past, present, or future.

 

Implications

Ø  Grace is not: “God helps those who help themselves.”

Ø  Grace is a free gift of God’s love that alone accomplishes our salvation through the redeeming work of the son, and the regeneration of the Spirit.