Five Solas - Session #5 (2025.0.08.03)

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:02

Hi.

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:02

If you're looking for greater hope, assurance and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the Bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there will be a link to the episode website@beholdingbibletruth.com and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:46

So when I'm training some people, you know, my errors are a gift to you. When they make a quilt, they will leave stitch out on purpose to remind them that only God is perfect. So I said this is my gift to you to remind you that only God is perfect.

Speaker C [: 00:01:10

Can we get a little discount because of the.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:14

Yes, you can. Yes you can. You can. You can pay 80. 80%. Well, good reminder from Roger about AI. As it increases in technology increases, it's going to be used for all sorts of things. All sorts of things.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:38

Remind me when he was saying that I thought about in Isaiah talked about the Lord Jesus, that the spirit of the Lord would be upon him, that he would not judge by what his eyes see nor make decisions by what his ears hear. AI is going to deceive what your eyes see, what your ears hear. The spirit of the Lord was upon him and he would not judge by what his eyes see nor make decisions by what his ears hear. So AI, the enemy will use technology, of course, to simulate he is. And he masquerades as an angel of light. So he will indeed. Right. That's why it's absolutely critical to live your life inside out.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:32

Inside out. The Word of God, truth of God, Spirit of God, confirming what's true. Because you'll be able to rely on your senses less and less as technology changes over time. What is that scripture, Scott, in Isaiah. Isaiah, Roger 11 probably would be wrong, but I think, yeah, Ephesians 3, 9. As time goes on, I'm trying to be sure I remember the scripture, but I forget the location. I think it's. I think it's Isaiah 11 something.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:15

Thankful for the Word of God. Aren't you thankful for the word of God, which is where we'll go next week, but yeah, that's really Jesus. Two, eight, nine. All right, so five solas gratia. Right. Grace alone. Eustace Christ alone, faith alone, the O Gloria, the glory of God alone Scriptura Scriptures reminder this at the time the, the Roman Catholic Church would not have argued with any of those. Still won't argue with any of those.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:15

What what the big deal was adding that right alone. It's the alone thing that makes make this challenging. Right. And all that it needs alone. So again, the Rome Catholic Church the dun wouldn't have argued about any of these. They wouldn't argue about any of these today. Right. But even within the evangelical world there's argument about what does this mean theologically.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:44

Theologically. So that's really important. So the, the, the, the one question I asked my foot on there is which one of these phrases showed up in at the time in the Reformation speak or refor Reformation print it was really the two sola fide faith alone and sola scriptura on the basis of the word alone. The others came over time that make sense. And then last week we asked even from the beginning how many of these phrases showed up in the Bible really only one which is sola fide. And it seems to counter seems to counter faith alone because it shows up in the book of James. If you weren't here, you want to jump on either the YouTube or the podcast channel Beholding Bible truth, beholding vital truth on so each week it shows up on YouTube so you can watch it again or you can listen again on any of the major podcasts. That would be important.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:49

And Archie Sproul helped us understand the way to understand Paul and James, which are written by the Spirit of God only through Paul, through James. So it's not Paul's view, James view, it's the spirit of God writing through two different authors, human authors. And he said because they're answering different questions in Paul's the question is how can an unregenerate sinner stand before a holy God who dwells in unapproachable light? His holiness would consume sin. He's a purer eyes than to behold iniquity. How could a sinner stand before God? That's the question in Romans, the question which is justification. How is a man justified, right? In other words, declared innocent to be able to stand before God and not be consumed by his holiness. Where James is asking justification, where is the outward evidence of your faith? Can you have faith without works? No, it's right. He would say you cannot.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:01

Because they're asking different questions. How do I know that you have genuine faith? What's the justification of the fact that you say you have faith? Because he says in James, he says, you say you have faith. He said, I'm going to show you my faith by my works, which is the fruit. You'll know them by their fruits. Right? A good tree cannot produce bad fruit. A bad tree cannot produce good fruit. So one is justification before how does a sinner stand before a holy God without being consumed? The other is, where is the evidence of your faith, the justification of the fact that you say you have it? And you know, Jesus will say he's going to separate them. He says a very important thing, the most important thing.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:49

He says, I never knew you. I never knew you. And for a believer, he's known you from the foundation of the world. In fact, before all time, he's known you because your name is written in.

Lesson [: 00:08:03

In the book of life.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:06

So he says you never were one. So there, there were some works, but they are not the basis of salvation. That makes sense. Kind of. That's why this is absolutely critical. And remember when, you know, when, when Luther started this, it was not a theological reformation. It was really against, you know, the fact that they were selling favors that, that it was the corruption within the, the, the, the church itself that he was standing. It really wasn't until Calvin that the, the, the theological reformation sort of exploded or Calvin did his institute.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:48

So that's sort of where we got to today. Any questions on that so far? Other than lots? There should be. These are foundational theological concepts. So where we are now is day of Gloria. In other words, if all this is true, if we're only saved based upon grace. And so if you notice the faith alone, because of scripture alone, were the two foundation posts on which this rested. Over time it's come to be these five, and these are more in order. You're saved by grace alone on the basis of Christ alone, through faith alone.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:30

If that's true, then God alone gets the glory. And this is all verified through scripture. You might put scripture at the beginning, say because of scripture, it's grace alone, right? Christ alone, faith alone. Right. But anyway, these are more logical orders than how they unfolded over time. Does that make sense? All right, so we're going to watch John Piper as he talks about to the glory of God alone.

Lesson [: 00:10:02

In our fifth session now on the five SOLAs of the Protestant Reformation, we focus on the capstone of everything, the glory of God alone. Everything is being done, from creation to redemption, and in all of the solas, so that in the end, the person who will be honored, magnified, glorified, will be God alone. His Glory alone will be the end, and that end will not be shared in its ultimacy by anything else. I've tried to show that the solas are the biblical truths discovered by the Protestant reformers as a remedy for our problem of being spiritually dead and our problem of being under God's wrath because of our sin. And the remedy is that we are made spiritually alive and God becomes 100% for us in Christ by God's grace alone, on the basis of Christ alone, received through faith alone, and in this session, so that all things lead ultimately to the glory of God alone. That's why it's being done the way it is, with Scripture alone as the only final authority teaching these truths. Father, I pray now, as we focus our attention on this great goal of everything, that your glory would be magnified alone as the end and capstone and goal of all things, especially this work of salvation, that you would open our eyes to see the beauty of Christ, the glory of Christ, the glory of the way of salvation in Christ, and the glory of yourself as the origin and the goal of it all. I ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

Lesson [: 00:12:35

Our goal is to see whether or not this fourth of the five solas is biblical. Is it taught in Scripture? Let's start here with 2nd Corinthians 4:15. It is all for your sake. So that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. Now, we could look at the context here, but let me just draw out something that I think stands on its own from just these words that you can see a principle as grace extends to more and more people. So if in fact we are saved, justified from God's grace alone, not grace plus merit of ours, or saints or Mary, or anything else, but grace as the foundation of salvation. If grace is our salvation, and the principle here is that it extends to more and more people, to the glory of God, then all the salvation rooted in grace is for the glory of God. That's what grace does.

Lesson [: 00:14:02

Grace produces glory to God. When we realize how dependent we are on the absolutely free grace of God through salvation we give glory to God and realize that he alone gets the credit and honor. Ephesians, chapter two. We've seen this several times. It's a very central passage. By grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works.

Lesson [: 00:14:42

Why? What's the goal? So that no one may boast, meaning boast in ourselves, in our works, in our own Doing grace and faith and gift are all designed to strip from us. Boasting, no boast. What's the alternative? The alternative is boasting in God. Boasting in grace, boasting in his provision. And we see that right here in First Corinthians 1:26 31. Consider your calling, brothers, which is what we're doing. Not many of you were wise according to the worldly standards. Not many of you were powerful.

Lesson [: 00:15:39

Not many of you were of noble birth. But God chose. This is about election here. What is foolish in the world to shame the wise? God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. In other words, he's stripping boasting from us. God chose what is low and despised in the world. Even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are. His aim is shaming.

Lesson [: 00:16:12

His aim is that wisdom and strength and anythingness being would be stripped of pride so that no human might boast in the presence of God. Except of course, what and because of him. Because of him, Jesus or God? You are in Christ. God has united you to Christ Jesus, who has become wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that as it is written, let him who boasts boast in the Lord. So here's a. Here's a so that. And here's a so that. And what's this double so that? This double goal of choosing in such a way as to shame the strong and shame the wise and shame anybody who claims any independent being.

Lesson [: 00:17:32

The first is negative and the second is positive. So that is no human might boast. The positive is let him who boasts boast in the Lord. Everything is designed get glory for the Lord. Once you fall in love with the Lord and his way of salvation, those sentences make tingles go down your spine. Yes. Your whole soul leaps up with yes, yes. I want my life not to be a boasting of myself in the presence of God in anything I have achieved or anything I have done.

Lesson [: 00:18:16

I want all my boasting to be in the Lord. I want the Lord to get credit for his grace in my life. I want the Lord to get credit for providing Christ in my life. I want the Lord to get credit for wakening me from the dead and giving me faith. I want the Lord to get credit for any fruit that comes from my face. Let him who boasts boast in the Lord. So it's the Lord alone, alone who will be the final champion and star in this affair. Paul says it very, very, very plainly here.

Lesson [: 00:18:57

God chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. Before him in love. He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. And what's it all aiming at? All of this is unto the praise of the glory of his grace. The praise of glory, the praise of glory. Everything is aiming. This is the great purpose, the great purpose of it all unto the praise of the glory of the grace of God. See it again here in chapter 1, verses 11 and 12.

Lesson [: 00:19:40

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 here's the purpose. So that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. Everything is aiming at this, that we might exist in our salvation, in everything we become and do, that we might be to the praise of his glory. There is nothing after that. That is the alone goal. Glory alone, not glory shared with anybody else. And here's the great beautiful statement in comprehension.

Lesson [: 00:20:32

Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God. Amen. How unsearchable are his judgments, how inscrutable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? In other words, we have never made a contribution to the wisdom of God. Nobody has counseled God. All wisdom is flowing from God in how he saves sinners. We shut our mouths and learn we don't counsel God. And then he says it even more broadly.

Lesson [: 00:21:08

Or who has ever given a gift to him in such a way that he might be repaid. In other words, you cannot give to God anything that puts him in your debt. Why, here's the ground clause, most sweeping statement in the Bible. For from him. So here he is back here, and from him, and through Him. And here he is working in history through him, and to him. Here he is out at the goal of history are all things. Therefore to him be glory forever.

Lesson [: 00:21:54

Him alone, because he alone was the One from whom everything came. He alone was the One through whom everything was done. He alone was the One who for whom and to whom everything was tending to him be glory forever.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:13

Praise God.

Lesson [: 00:22:13

We draw it like this. At the bottom of all salvation and all the redeeming purposes of God is grace. And therefore Christ was sent as the foundation of all salvation. How shall we enjoy Christ as the foundation of salvation without getting glory for ourselves? Answer faith alone. So grace alone is at the bottom. Christ alone is provided as the foundation for all our righteousness. We attain it by faith alone, not by any works of our own, so that we do not boast in ourselves. And therefore everything tends and ends with the glory of God from his grace for his glory with Christ alone as the foundation in faith alone as the reception of that amazing gift which ends now with this great statement from Isaiah.

Lesson [: 00:23:26

For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty. God's way of working in the world, God's way of salvation. These five SOLAs are all designed for this. He is going to bring down all human pride. Everything is designed in the solas to humble man and elevate God. For the Lord of Hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up. And it shall be brought low. Oh, don't wait until that day to bring yourself low and accept the gift that glorifies God, not you.

Lesson [: 00:24:06

The haughtiness of man shall be humbled, the lofty pride of man shall be brought low. And here it is. The Lord alone will be exalted in that day. The glory of God alone is the ultimate goal of all history and all salvation. Therefore the Christian gospel includes this truth. The gift of spiritual life from the dead, the gift of spiritual life from the dead, and the gift of justification, that is God's being 100% for us and not against us. That gift of life and, and being right with God, along with all the transformation of life that flows from this gift, all this transformation is not the foundation of our new life, not the foundation of our justification, but the fruit of it. It all flows from the gift of life, from the gift of standing right with God through faith.

Lesson [: 00:25:31

All of that leads ultimately to the glory of God alone. And any praise or glory that we receive, and the Bible says we do, we will be praised, we will be glorified. All of that is owing to grace and will forever point to the ultimate goal of all things, namely the glory of God alone. So we join the Apostle Paul from the heart and set ourselves to live for the praise of the glory of God.

Speaker C [: 00:26:23

So often even the beginning of our salvation is seen as a joint venture between God and man. And this we call a man centered view where man gets at least some of the glory which belongs to God alone in the work of redemption. All the credit, all of the honor, all of the glory belongs to God and to God alone. The Scriptures tell us salvation is of the Lord and God is glorified in his plan of redemption. It is God who initiates salvation. And when we talk about the different steps of salvation, the that are wrought in this plan, the very first step that takes place is regeneration. Where God, working through the immediate power of the Holy Spirit, enters into the human soul, supernaturally, divinely changes the disposition of your soul, quickens you from spiritual death, raises you from spiritual death, changes the disposition of your heart. Where formerly you were estranged from God, you didn't want God in your thinking, now all of a sudden you have a desire for the things of God.

Speaker C [: 00:28:05

And before, where you were not interested in Christ, now you embrace Christ, you come to Christ and you receive him in your heart. But you do that only after God initiates through his grace. And if sola grazi is true and sola fide is true, then sola dea gloria must also be true, because the glory for your salvation belongs to God. What does Paul say? Let him who boasts boast of the Lord. But so often views of salvation are such that even the beginning of our salvation is seen not as a monergistic work that God brings to pass in our soul, but as a joint venture between God and man, where in the final analysis, the ultimate decisive input to our salvation rests with us. And this we call an anthropocentric view of salvation or a man centered view of where man gets at least some of the glory, which glory belongs to God and to God alone. That's what the Reformers had in mind when they advanced this notion of sola dea gloria, that we can take no credit whatsoever for our salvation. All of the honor, all of the praise, all of the glory goes to God and only to God.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:37

Foreign thanks for listening to ultimately with R.C. sproul. Oh, question, comment, insight. And we get to share in the praise of his glory. Not just glorify God, but we are to the praise of his glory. We'll get to sharing his praise and sharing his glory. What, and he won't share his glory with another? Huh, that doesn't make sense to me. Good deal.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:18

It's not only a good deal, it's a great deal. It's a great deal. You'll never get a bad one. It's a great deal. Who else? Question. Insight. Yeah. Certainly demonstrates his love in Christ.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:37

Yeah. So, Josh, our son, you stay. Some of this makes my head hurt. Well, the fact is it should make your head hurt. You can figure out finite mind, God's infinite wisdom, right? Then he would not be who he is and you would be more than you are. And so if you're. And I always say, if you're if you're a believer seeking God and you're not left with some big questions, you're not looking at the God who is inexplicable. He's incomparable.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:14

He's. He's. He's beyond. And his wisdom is inscrutable. What's that mean? Beyond scrutiny? Beyond scrutiny. Which is why CS Lewis and I love this analogy. Are you putting God. Are you magnifying God by putting him under a microscope and therefore you're scrutinizing Him? Or are you being blown away by God by looking, magnifying him through a telescope? Be blown away by a cosmos that you can't speak.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:47

They can't even put it in a, in a, in a, A telescope anymore. They finally got a craft to get within 4 1/2 million miles of the sun. The physical sun. The physical sun is a picture. It's a mini picture of the glory of God. He dwells in unapproachable light. It says they've gotten within four and a half million miles and all they can figure out is that the physical sun is so powerful. Light power.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:17

Right. It would consume any craft that got near it. How is it that you and I get to be near the God who dwells in unapproachable light? How do we get. So he gives us a physical picture of getting near. Right. Physical sun. It's of such brightness and power, it would consume anything that wasn't equally as powerful, of the same nature as the sun. Does that make sense? You'd have to be equally powerful.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:47

So we have the beginning of time, the Father and the Son, who is at his right hand. And because of the Lord Jesus, we now are at his right hand. Incomparable, incomprehensible, indescribable. Right. It should. It should completely blow your mind. So at the end of the day, it's gotta be from him, through him, and to him is all the glory. Right? That'd be it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:27

We go from being enemies, Right. Sinful. Right.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:32

To.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:33

To being his sons, Sons, Sons in position, sons in inheritance, sons and favor, sons in relationship. All that. That means we are adopted eternally. We're adopted eternally. Jesus's reward is us. Yeah. It's out of my building, right? Yes. Sounds like you had the movie prize, right? Yeah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:10

So when you wonder why God's immutable purposes are beyond comprehension, but the. So that phrases tell us a sense of these are the. This gives us. This is purpose. Whenever you see. So that it gives purpose. And some, some is penultimate purpose. Less Than ultimate and some ultimate.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:31

But he. He says the two big. So that's there are that no man may boast. And then. Then the ultimate is that we boast in the Lord. We boast in the Lord. So all of the discussion about salvation and who gets credit if you would. Well, if man has some part in it, then we should be able to boast.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:58

I responded, so hey, what the heck? You didn't. There could be some boasting. So that's the question, right? If it's boast in the Lord and so that we would display the riches of his glory, we would be to the praise of his glory, right? So you start to go through that. So he does give us a sense of some of the wise as you go through here. So that he alone is the most. There is no boast in that. Then God gets most of the glory. God gets most of the glory.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:32

So that's as you go through here, Right. Kind of get that sense. Does that make sense? Sort of. Good. This is. This is heavy duty stuff and it's deeply foundational and that's important. So Father in heaven, we bless your holy name today for indeed great things you have done. We bless you, Lord Jesus, that you have purchased each of us because of your blood and because of your life, because of your death, because of your resurrection.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:11

We are now yours eternally. Yes. So we're grateful for all that. We have every spiritual blessing, Father, in the heavenly places in Christ. We do bless your holy name, for you deserve all that there is now. To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. And may the Father and the Son, may they bless you. May they keep you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:39

May they cause his face to shine upon you. May he grant you his deep soul, soul, soul peace so that you could walk in certainty of who you are in Christ. And you can rejoice in the fact that we have been created and now we will be to the praise of his glory. May he bless you, keep you always. Amen. Amen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:09

Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance and and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the Bible and His Son, Jesus Christ. Until next time. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time. May God bless you and keep you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:38

Sam.