“Christian, the apex of the glory of God crescendos in His grace. And God’s very great grace is embodied, lived out, made exhibit in Christ Jesus and his cross…”
Divine Simplicity (Exodus 34:5-8)
“What we cannot do, however, is we cannot look at this list of attributes like a recipe card and think that God is made up of ‘one part mercy, one part grace, a pinch of slow to anger, and a cup steadfast love and faithfulness’. That would be a grave mistake. God is one. Indivisible. He is not made up of parts. A few weeks ago Marshall led the congregation in reciting the 1689 London Baptist Confession, specifically Article 2, which states: that God’s essence is ‘…without body, parts, or passions…’Theologians have coined this principle by describing it as the Simplicity of God. By simplicity they do not mean simplistic. He is not a simpleton. No, by simplicity they mean God is not composed of parts…
When it comes to us humans, attributes can compete against each other. As a parent, I struggle with the concept of when to be just and when to be merciful. One kid hurts another in a fight - to be merciful to the one who hurt the other is to do injustice to the other. So, in my ‘part-hood’, I struggle to make sense of what justice and mercy look like. But not-so in God. Everything God does is perfectly full, complete in love, justice, and truth. So much so, that we can confidently say ‘God is love’ (1 Jn 4:8, 16). Just as we can say God is justice, God is righteousness, God is gracious. Not merely God was gracious to me at this point in my life. No God IS gracious to you at every point, because He IS His attributes.”
Solus Christus (John 14:1-6)
“Friends, Christ Alone should be the easiest sola to speak on. Jesus is the only way. But the unbelieving world has to attack it, because of sin, it is the only option available to them. Sinners had to fight against God. And yet…however…notwithstanding…BUT: the greatest attack on the Christian church is never from the outside, but has always come from within. History bears this out, when the unbelieving world rages against the church, the church only gets stronger, but when the church stagnates, gets comfortable, ponders endless theories, looks for ways around tough verses, then false teachings and tiny little lies creep in and cause the unimaginable damage. Christ Alone should be the biggest no brainer to speak on. Christ Alone should be the shortest sermon in the series. Look! Jesus is the only way! There done. But church, Christ Alone is always, most under attack, from within the church.”
Sola Gratia (Ephesians 2:1-10)
“God’s grace is the root of salvation, Christ’s work is the means, and Human Faith is the path by which a person receives it…Sola Gratia: God’s grace is the root of salvation, the grace of God is the start and source of salvation. Which means God’s decision to save is entirely unearned. It is an entirely free gift, given out of His mercy, and not based on any human attractiveness, merit or good works…”
Justification by Faith Alone
“Abraham has been brought to faith by a faithful God. His deepest trust and belief was in the One who had promised, and not in this son whom God had provided. God’s faithfulness is evident throughout Abraham’s life—even when Abraham is the villain of the story—even when Abraham makes the dumbest move available. Abraham, a primary biblical example of faith, is also our example of the obedience brought by faith. God’s test required him to give up everything that had come together so far in the fulfillment of God’s promises; everything that had worked out so far for Abraham to get what he was hoping for, trusting God for. And Abraham can let everything good in his life go; every provision; every advance in the achievement of his hope, and ultimately his salvation, because his trust is in the giver and not in the gift…”
Sola Fide (Galatians 1)
“…(R)ather than relaxing his command for humans to be perfect, Jesus reiterates the commands of Deuteronomy 18:13 and Leviticus 19:2 in Matthew 5:48 calling us to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And instead of relieving this righteous demand, God makes the greatest provision for purification ever, in Christ. In order to approach the all Holy God, sinners needed to be made sinless. Which is the impossible thing. So before time began, it was decided that the ultimate and only worthy sacrifice of God’s own Son, would be the necessary and perfect substitute and target of God’s good wrath, and Christ Jesus would die in the place of sinners, in order to cleanse sin fully, once for all…”
Sola Scriptura (Hebrews 1:1-4)
“…(T)he Bible is our first and last word on who God is. It is his very revelation of himself in writing. And it is the supreme source of our understanding of God and man, sin and salvation, Jesus and his Gospel. The reformers call this the doctrine of sola scriptura, or scripture alone. This means the final or highest authority on all matters is found in scripture, rest in God’s word alone, and that this authority is not to be shared by things like traditions or councils, popes or church leaders, science or reason,…or just how we feel. Which is to say, the Holy Bible stands above them all.”
Sovereignty (Jonah 2:2-9)
“In my last sermon we saw God’s sovereignty in creation and in human interaction, God created what he wanted to create, he made what he wanted to make. Then he actively directs kings and countries, individuals and their relationships and interactions to his own ends. And now today, we see that God is sovereign in salvation as well…Paul handles these things conclusively. Saying all stand condemned, but God chooses to save some for his name’s sake. And even if it doesn’t sound fair, it certainly is just. If we had more time we’d read the next few verses, reminding us that the potter can do as he wishes to the clay. God is God, and he can do as he chooses…”
Sovereignty (Isaiah 40)
“This begins a new series on Doctrine. And for me, the thing that got me most excited about my faith, the thing that changed my whole understanding of the bible: from a long drawn out collection of little stories and ideas, into a single, solid, tight-knit story, was the doctrine of God’s sovereignty…Funny thing, I had read the bible many, many times, and through loving parents grew up in his word, and by God’s goodness, was surrounded by his truth in most of my relationships, conversations and pastimes, but when I finally understood from scripture that God is sovereign: like in control of absolutely all of creation, every single human interaction and every aspect of our salvation, I had to reread the bible again. Actually I got to read the bible anew; for the 1st time. Fresh eyes. New heart. New understanding.
So the very first doctrine to look at, in my mind, ought to be that of sovereignty. And I love it, I mean because of this, all the puzzle pieces fit together…”