The Five Solas: Part 3
Sola Gratia: Grace Alone
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Dark Human Condition
Psalm 51:5, p. 405
“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”
Ephesians 2:1-2, p. 827
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”
Romans 3:23, p. 797; Psalm 14:1-3, p. 388
“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.”
Jeremiah 17:9, 549
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?”
John 3:19, 752
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”
Romans 6:26, p. 799
“For the wages of sin is death.”
Hopeless
Isaiah 64:6 NLT, p. 531
“We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.”
Unregenerate man will never respond in faith to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Good News
Luke 19:10, p. 743
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 15:1-7
“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.
Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
Acts 26:17-18, p. 793
“I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”
God’s Grace (unmerited favour) is:
God initiated
John 3:16, p. 752
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
God sustained
Ephesians 2:3-5, p. 827
“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
God secured
Ephesians 2:6-9, p. 827
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
What will your response be right now?
Seek God’s gift
Accept God’s gift
Exercise God’s gift