Reformation 500: The Five Solas - Soli Deo Gloria
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Soli Deo Gloria
Soli Deo Gloria
Over the last few weeks as we’ve been enjoying Reformation month during this the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, we’ve been looking at the five solas of the Reformation. They are five statements regarding the faith that the Reformers stood resolutely upon and that today differentiate and define Christianity over against Roman Catholicism. We have thus far examined Sola Scriptura - Scripture Alone, Sola Gratia - Grace Alone, Sola Fide - Faith Alone, and Solus Christus - Christ Alone. We have seen that according to scripture alone, we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And today we’re going to finish it all up with the final sola - Soli Deo Gloria - Glory to God Alone. Salvation comes to the elect of God, not because of man’s effort, not because God is obligated or manipulated, but rather God chooses to act out of His own goodness and for His own glory. You exist to glorify God. All that is created is made for this singular purpose including the very act of God saving you from your sins. Let’s go to Him in prayer:
PRAYER
For most evangelicals in America the idea that salvation is not just from God, but that it is ultimately for His glory is repugnant. My friends I cannot emphasize to you enough about what a dangerous point the church in America is at right now. Not only are many preachers utterly ignorant of scripture and how to interpret scripture but their congregations are utterly ignorant of church history and theology and because of this ignorance, this willful blindness many are falling away from the true faith, chasing after abominations of it, and even repeating the mistakes of the past embracing the heretical ideas of the Roman Catholic Church. It is so very important that you hear this because my worry for you is that you have been or will be enticed by a false gospel that tells you that you are the center, you are the end all and be all, you save you and my friends there is no justification for you in such a gospel. There’s a thousand other preachers out there that are more attractive than me and that speak better than me and that are growing churches by trying to make services entertaining and relevant to the people of this culture, but I tell you the truth my friends there is no life in an empty man-centered gospel. This Sola, this phrase, this issue of the glory of God is what Martin Luther thought was the end issue, the foundation upon which everything was built and he addresses the ideas that we’ll talk about today quite clearly in his work, “The Bondage of the Will.” We are saved to glorify God and for God’s glory. God alone is the one who saves and who should receive praise, the end. Not God and me. Not God and you. Not God and anything or anyone. God alone receives the glory because it is God alone who saves.
I could probably just wrap the sermon up there and be fine, but because we use words all the time in the church without actually knowing what they mean I better not. I better define some terms so we really understand what we’re saying is such a statement. So what is glory, specifically, what is the glory of God?
The Bible is not a dictionary and does not clearly define terms in a Webster like manner, but it does show us pictures of the reality that is regarding God’s nature and being. And one such picture appears in the book of Isaiah, actually many pictures worthy of in depth examination appear there but we’re going to examine just one right now. In we are told about a vision that the prophet Isaiah receives in which he sees the Lord. {PAUSE} Let that sink in for just a moment. Isaiah saw the Lord, he saw Yahweh.
Isaiah 6:
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.
Isaiah sees the Lord, Yahweh, seated upon a throne, and while there’s lots of cool things to look at and examine here, most people want to look at the seraphim, I want us to focus on what’s really important - Yahweh. In this vision Isaiah sees that Yaweh is being worshipped by these beings and the worship they render unto Yahweh is this, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his.... glory.” There is a connection here that the seraphim worshiping Yahweh make between God’s holiness and God’s glory. What’s the connection? We know holiness is separateness and otherness, it is distinction from that which is common. We call our Bible the Holy Bible, because it is a Bible, a Biblos, a book that is altogether different from every other book. Why, because in it are the very God-breathed words that He gives His revelation of Himself to us through. There’s a lot of good books in the world, but there is nothing quite like the Bible, it is holy. Not because the paper and ink are magical, but because God has spoken. God because He is Holy can make places, objects, and even people Holy, by His speaking, by His touch, and by His presence. When we apply the idea of otherness to God we recognize that there are no others like Him. There are no other gods, no powers or persons that are like Him or that can even compare in the slightest with Him. We talked a lot about this in our study of God’s triune nature in Dr. James White’s book. I’ve mentioned several times R.C. Sproul has an excellent book on the subject of God’s holiness if you want to dive deeper into the subject.
we know that God alone is Holy and can make holy, but what is glory?
So what then is the glory of God that fills the earth?
John Piper in examining this very passage from Isaiah gives one of the best and most concise definitions regarding glory that I have ever heard. He said, “when the holiness of God radiates out and fills the earth for people to see, it’s called glory.” A little more in depth he says it this way: “The glory of God is the outward radiance of the intrinsic worth and beauty and greatness of His manifold {meaning many or various} perfections.” What he means by that is that we see many attributes of God, many aspects of His character, many actions that He takes, we see that judges, He loves, He saves, He purifies, He destroys, He creates, He delivers, the list goes on and on, but through each of these things God’s glory is on display. God is showing Himself and revealing Himself to His creations. This is God’s desire, His will from eternity past to make Himself known to His creations.
Exodus
I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
In fact that exact phrase, “know that I am the Lord” appears 88 times in the Old Testament. That’s not including any other derivatives or alternate wordings of that thought. That’s a lot folks. Why does God show Himself to His creations? Why does He act in such a way that humanity should know that He is the Lord? It’s simple: because He wants it that way. There is no greater reason. Nothing compels Him to such an action, He desires to show Himself and to be glorified by everything and everyone that He creates and it is thus so. Not just in creation, not just in distant history, but in the work of redemption and the ongoing work of the proclaiming of the Gospel. Everything that exists by virtue of God’s creation, exists to declare the glory of God. Remember what Peter said in - that as Christians, as God’s elect we are chosen to proclaim His excellencies, His virtues, His goodness, His wonderful deeds, His qualities, and His perfection. But not just us, all of creation the heavens above, the earth below, the sun, moon, stars, galaxies beyond our numbering, they exist to declare that the Lord is Holy. They exist to radiate the truth, the ultimate reality of their creator. This is why sin is so very damnable, because we presume that everything is for us, for our pleasure, our indulgence, our ultimate glory. Rather than seeing alcohol as blessing that reveals the goodness of God to His people we see it as something to indulge ourselves upon in order to forget everything. Rather than seeing sex as a gift of God that reveals His creativity and generosity to us we see it as a pleasure that is self-gratifying. We twist everything and make it ultimately about us, rather than ultimately being about God. And this is so very counter-culture in our country and our time. More than ever before man is obsessed with himself. My friends the reason you exist is not for your own pleasure, gratification, glorification, purposes, or will. You exist to glorify your creator. Later speaking of Israel’s only savior, their only hope in times of trouble, Isaiah says, thus sayeth the Lord,
I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
Isaiah
Did you see that? Why did God make humanity? For His glory. And the belief of the Reformers was the belief that the Bible reveals that even salvation is for God’s glory. That God’s sovereign choosing and working to justify sinners is for God’s glory. They saw that the church of the day, The Roman Catholic Church, much as modern evangelicalism in America does now, believed that man was responsible for saving himself, by exercising his freewill, and by using it he sought out and chose God and through the sacraments merited from God salvation and justification.
In 1
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:11
You didn’t save yourself, you did choose God. God chose you, to Him belongs glory for saving you, because you don’t deserve saving. Scripture says that the wages of sin is death and that in our sin we are spiritually like dead people. We can’t choose squat anymore than a corpse can choose what flowers to put on its own grave. It is God who chooses and raises dead men to life. It is God resurrects the spiritually dead and gives newness of life.
Ephesians 2:4-
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, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 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. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
He raises you up from death to life, He seeks, He saves - glory for everything, especially our salvation belongs to Him and He saves us for His glory. Did you notice that in verse 7 - all this happens so that by His salvific work He can show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness. Glory to God. You don’t get to boast about anything except in how good God is. This is what Soli Deo Gloria is all about - that to God alone belongs all glory in all things, including salvation. He is eternally deserving of our praise and adoration. This is your purpose. And it is only when we recognize our absolute inability and spiritual destitution that we begin to see wonders of God’s glory, the grace that He has in granting to anyone at all faith, hope, life, resurrection, justification, sanctification, and peace.
INVITATION
See the fullness of His glory,