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WEEKLY
Volume 2 Number 23
4 November 2007
The Five Sola
Statements
(Message delivered by Rev Hien
Nguyen at the Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, Oct 28, 07)
Text:
John
6:66-69
Today is the Reformation
Sunday, and we give thanks and praise to the Lord for raising His godly
servants like Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, and John Knox
for the 16th Century Reformation to shine forth His Truth in
the dark world of lies, hypocrisy, idolatry, superstitions, and
apostasy. In those days people did not have the Word of God in their
own languages and in their hands, so they had to go to Roman Catholic
Church (RCC) to hear the wrong interpretation and unbiblical preaching
of the bishops or priests or Pope; as a result, they were misled by
unbiblical doctrines, practices, and traditions of the RCC: their
salvation was not by grace through faith alone but mixed with good
works, their worship was not in spirit and in truth based on God’s Word
alone but mixed with human traditions, unbiblical rituals and
sacraments, their loyalty was not to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
and to God’s Word alone but to the Pope, to his words and to the RCC,
etc. We must thank God for delivering us from such horrible bondage.
In our Bible text today, we
see that many of Jesus’ disciples “went back, and walked no more with
him” (v 66) due to their lack of faith and submission to the Lord
and His Word. Our Lord did not lower His standard nor run after them and
compromise His truth, but turned to the twelve and challenged them,
“Will ye also go away?” (v 67). How will you and I reply to the Lord
if He asks us this same question today? Thank God for granting Peter the
illumination to confess, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” (showing a
great need of the Lord and His grace – Sola Gratia) “thou hast
the words of eternal life” (Sola Scriptura). “And we
believe” (Sola Fide) “and are sure that thou art that
Christ” (Solo Christo) “the Son of the living God.”
Through this confession, Peter gave all glory to God alone (Soli Deo
Gloria).
Through the Truth of God’s
Word, the Reformers and believers were illumined to understand that
their salvation was by grace alone, through faith alone, based on the
Scriptures alone and Christ alone, so they gave all glory to God alone
and spared no effort to contend for their saving faith even unto death.
Thus, the five great Sola (alone) statements of the 16th
Century Reformation are the Truth you and I should treasure and
practise, and hold forth and contend for in these last days of
compromise and apostasy.
Scripture Alone (Sola
Scriptura)
Without God’s Word, the
Scripture and without a sincere submission to the authority of the
Scripture alone, we are really in spiritual darkness, unable to see nor
discern truth from falsehood or right from wrong! This is what has
happened to the RCC and other cultic or occult groups, not to mention
many other human religions. The RCC believe the Scripture but also the
sayings of the Pope and traditions, and even put the papal words and
church traditions above the Scripture. To them, the Scripture alone is
not sufficient nor the sole authority and foundation of their faith,
salvation, doctrines, and practices. Only the Pope, bishops and priests
are qualified and have the right to interpret the Scripture and they
only use the Scripture to suit or support their papal words and church
traditions. As a result, they do not see the Truth but blindly follow
their unbiblical doctrines and practices such as prayers for the dead,
exaltation of Mary, extreme unction, purgatory, prayers to Mary, dead
saints and angels, kissing the pope’s foot, worship of the cross, images
and relics, holy water, canonization of dead saints, the Mass as a
sacrifice, celibacy of the priesthood, Rosary, sale of indulgencies
(tickets for forgiveness), transubstantiation (the bread and cup become
the real flesh and blood of Jesus), confession of sins to a priest,
adoration of wafer, seven sacraments, tradition declared of equal
authority with the Scripture (actually above), apocryphal books added to
the Bible, etc. Even after the Reformation, the infallibility of the
pope in matters of faith and morals proclaimed by Vatican Council
(1870), assumption of the Virgin Mary (bodily ascension into heaven
shortly after her death) (1950), Mary proclaimed Mother of the Church
(1965)! What heresies and superstitions! It is “because they received
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause
God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie”
(2 Thess 2:10-11).
Sola Scriptura
is the watchword of the Reformation in the establishment of the reformed
doctrines. We can see the power of God’s Word to save sinners and
deliver them from the power of darkness when the Scripture was
translated into English and to German and to other languages. It is
God’s Word that made them free from the bondage of unbiblical doctrines,
traditions, practices and rituals of the RCC!
We thank God that through the
Reformation we have our English King James Bible in our hands today,
which was translated by godly and talented servants of God from His
perfectly inspired and perfectly preserved texts (Traditional Masoretic
Hebrew text for OT and Received Greek Text for the NT). Sadly, many
so-called Christians even leaders and scholars nowadays doubt, question
or criticize God’s Word! Dear friends, the Scripture alone must the sole
foundation of our salvation, doctrines, lives, practices, worship, and
service. The Scripture alone must be identified as the sole authority,
clarity, sufficiency in all matters of our faith, doctrines, and morals.
It is through the Scripture that we may know the truth about God and man
and our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are born again and
sanctified (1 Peter 1:23; John 17:17), that we may grow in faith, grace
and the knowledge of God (Matt 4:4; John 6:63; 1 Peter 2;2; 2 Peter
3:18), that we may obtain God’s wisdom, guidance and comfort (Ps 19:7;
119:50, 105; Rom 15:4; 2 Tim 3:15), that we may overcome Satan with the
sword of the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:14; Eph 6:17). Shall we not truly
live and grow by God’s Word (Matt 4:4; 1 Peter 2:2)?
Grace Alone (Sola
Gratia)
The RCC requires her
members to do good works and to keep unbiblical doctrines and sacraments
to be saved, even to believe that only those who belong to the RCC are
saved! But what the Scripture says is truth. The Scripture shows our
totally depraved, corrupt, and sinful nature, “The heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer
17:9), and we “were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1). The
Scripture confirms that we can never justify or save ourselves by our
own good works, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no
flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin”
(Rom 3:20; Gal 2:16). Then, we must thank God for His grace alone that
we are saved and justified, “For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8), and
“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24). Knowing this truth, we can enjoy God’s
salvation in Christ and give Him all thanks and praise for His grace and
mercy!
Then how can we grow in
God’s grace (2 Peter 3:18)? It is vital to know that grace comes from
God alone (Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:3, et al) as He is “the God of all
grace” (1 Peter 5:10), Jesus Christ is “full of grace and truth”
(John 1:14), and the Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of grace” (Heb
10:29), and then we must humble ourselves before Him for “God
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (James 4:6; 1
Peter 5:5), and “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16),
believing that God’s grace is always “sufficient” for us (2 Cor
12:9). Shall we not do this to grow in grace? We should remember that
sincerely humbling ourselves before God includes submitting ourselves to
Him and His Word. Many think that they are humble while not trembling at
God’s Word (Isa 66:2). They even arrogantly dare to question or
criticise God’s Word!
Faith Alone (Sola
Fide)
The RCC holds that faith in
the Scripture alone or in the Lord Jesus alone is not sufficient and
requires her members to believe also in their own traditions, doctrines,
and sacraments with good works. It means that they cannot be saved by
faith alone but with good works, and this is contrary to the teaching of
the Scripture, which says, “a man is justified by faith without the
deeds of the law” (Rom 3:28), and “put no difference between us
and them, purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9), and “are
sanctified by faith” (Acts 26:18), and “by grace are ye saved
through faith” (Eph 2:8), and “not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil 3:9), and “that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith… For ye are
all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:14, 26),
and “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Eph 3:17),
and “this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”
(1 John 5:4).
It is so vital to have faith
in the Lord and His Word because “without faith it is impossible to
please him” (Heb 11:6) and that “whatsoever is not of faith is
sin” (Rom 14:23). As we can be saved by God’s grace alone, we are to
humbly receive God’s grace by our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone
and God’s Word alone. Nowadays, many are proud of their tolerant and
open-minded attitude, welcoming all religious faiths in their interfaith
conferences or services! It is ecumenism, compromise and apostasy! The
Scripture confirms that there is only “one faith” as there is
only one God, one Lord, one Spirit, one baptism, one body, one hope (Eph
4:4-6), and that it is the “most holy faith” (Jude 1:20) because
it is a gift from God (Eph 2:8) and built on the holy God and the holy
Scripture (Rom 10:17). How about your faith and my faith, dear friends?
Do we “live by faith” (Rom 1:17; Gal 2:20) and our “faith
grow exceedingly” (2 Thess 1:3)? Do we “continue in the faith
grounded and settled” (Col 1:23), “earnestly contend for the
faith” (Jude 1:3), and “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Tim
6:12)? Let us look unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher
of our faith, read God’s Word to grow in faith (Rom 10:17) and hold fast
our “shield of faith” so that we may “quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked,” especially the darts of doubts from Satan (Eph
6:16).
Christ Alone (Solo
Christo)
The RCC requires her members
not to believe in
Christ alone but also in Mary and saints and pray directly to them, to
confess their sins to priests, and to be submissive and loyal to the
Pope and RCC despite their unbiblical doctrines and traditions! The
Scripture confirms, “For there is one God, and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5), and each one of us
can boldly come near to God and pray to Him directly in Jesus Christ’
name and by His blood, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter
into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” (Heb 4:16; 10:19) and
“whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may
be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13), and “whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). Dear friends,
is Christ alone our Saviour and Lord, our divine Prophet, great High
Priest, and King of kings? Is Christ “our life” (Col 3:4)? Are we
loyal to Christ alone and His Word alone? Would we obey Christ alone and
His Word alone rather than men (Acts 5:29) without any compromise no
matter what may happen to us?
Glory to God Alone (Soli
Deo Gloria)
Since salvation is not
by grace alone nor by faith alone nor by Christ alone but mixed with
good works and unbiblical doctrines and traditions, the RCC gives glory
to Mary and saints and Pope and priests and even to her members on the
basis of their good works! But the truth is that we are hopelessly
unable to save ourselves but by God’s grace alone, by faith in Him alone
and by Christ alone, so we shall humbly give all glory to God alone and
have our purpose of life to glorify Him alone: “That no flesh should
glory in his presence… That, according as it is written, He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord… Whether therefore ye eat, or
drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor 1:29,
31; 10:31). Dear friends, do you and I give all glory to God alone?
Conclusion
Dear friends, we must thank God that by His
grace and mercy we are enjoying the heritage of the Reformed Faith and
the King James Bible. Then, we are to treasure, hold forth, and contend
for this holy faith in these last days of compromise and apostasy. May
the Lord help you and me, not only to believe but also to live by God’s
Word, the Scripture alone, by God’s grace alone, by faith in God and His
Word alone, and by Christ alone with our humble, thankful and submissive
heart, giving all glory to God alone. May the Lord help us be loyal to
Him alone and His Word alone until He comes back again. Amen.
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