What is a Reformed Baptist..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. We've been working through as a church through the theological teachings and that really summarized the protestant reformation from 500 years ago. We've discussed already the purpose of the reformers was for the church to or the catholic church to abandon the human traditions and rituals and return to the true gospel of Jesus Christ as found in scripture alone.

For scripture is the only sufficient certain and infallible rule of saving knowledge, faith and obedience, as stated beautifully in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith. This is to say that the Bible alone stands as a judge over all matters of faith, including the Church and her practices. Scripture alone is the foundational solar of the five solas. Scripture teaches that all mankind is born in sin. All have sinned and fallen short of the righteous standards of God.

It teaches that as a result of that sin, all mankind in their natural state are under the righteous wrath of God. But by the goodness of God alone, not because of anything we have done or anything we will ever do, God grants unmerited, undeserving mercy and favor towards a people, a people whom he will save from his impending wrath. At the heart of this salvation is this. God does not give and elect people what they deserve. This is mercy and God does give and elect people what they don't deserve.

This is grace, sola gratia. This leads us to ask a few questions. How do the elect receive this salvation? How is it that wretched sinners are able to attain this favour and mercy from God? How can they be forgiven and saved from the wrath of God?

Or said another way, what must we do in order to receive this heavenly kindness of God, this divine grace? 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. Ephesians 2, 8 through 9.

Salvation is through faith. Faith alone is the instrument or the means by which a person is saved. Because it is through faith alone that the righteousness of God is imputed to his people and by this they are justified. Sola Fide. Okay, but faith in whom?

We know that it is by grace alone and we know that it is through the instrument of faith alone. But who accomplished the work of salvation? Who is the source and the substance of our salvation? In whom must we have faith in? We all know the answer to that question.

The Lamb that was slain, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Christ has purchased the salvation for his people by his finished work, his life, his death, and his resurrection. Christ alone fulfilled all righteousness on behalf of his people. Christ alone bore the wrath of God on behalf of his people. And Christ alone is the only mediator between God and man on behalf of his people.

Solus Christus. Over the last four weeks, we've worked our way through four of the five solus. These are mainly concerned with the how, the what, and the who of our salvation. The big question remains that we all need to ask, why? Why has God decreed and ordained that He will save a people?

This brings us to the sola that binds and gives purpose and meaning to all the solas of the Reformation, the central sola of all solas, if you wish. Soli Deo Gloria, for the glory of God alone. the 16th century reformist efforts were obviously not received well by the Roman Catholic Church and much persecution was inflicted as a result by the church. Both the formal principle, which speaks to the source of authority for the church, sola scriptura, and the material principle, which speaks to the central teaching of the church, sola fide, and these were explained last week by our brother Nelson, Both were met with strong opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, whereas solely Deo Gloria was actually a point of agreement, at least in principle. You see, none of the clergy in the 16th century Catholic Church would deny that all things, and in particular all workings pertaining to salvation, were primarily for the glory of God.

But the contention was not in the phrase, solely Deo Gloria, which both the Church and the Reformers agreed upon, but rather it was the consequences of the teaching of the Catholic Church. Let me explain with an example. The Catholic Church teaches that when a Christian is in a state of grace, that is, he hasn't committed the mortal sin, Every time a good work is done, a person immediately receives an increased infusion of grace of his own merit. And this grace provides additional justification for the Christian. Furthermore, the reward for a person's own merit comes in three forms.

The first is increased grace. The second is eternal life. And the third is increased glory in heaven. This is according to the Canon 32, session six of the Council of Trent. So now let me ask you, how can God get all the glory when it's obvious that salvation is a joint effort?

You can't explain this away. Man is bound to get some glory or at least some praise because his efforts are essential. to his salvation. As biblical Christians we know that all the blessings in the heavenly realm have been earned by Christ alone and we enjoy them only because we've been justified by grace alone through faith alone and now we have been united in Christ alone. He has earned eternal life and it's only because of his work, not ours, that the elect will enjoy Now, although the Catholic Church doesn't openly deny solely Deo Gloria, as you can see, their doctrine and their practices contradict their confession.

I'll give you one more example. Just think about this for a moment. Practically speaking, the Catholic Church's teachers If a person is in a state of grace and commits a serious willful transgression against God's law, a mortal sin, they will fall from this state of grace. Now, if this mortal sin is not dealt with through repentance and the sacrament of penance, that person is at risk of eternal damnation in hell. Beloved, penance, which is essential for the return of that person into the state of grace, is a work.

Basically, the priest prescribes what the sinner is to do in order to receive forgiveness and to be restored into the state of grace. These prescriptions are usually special prayers or deeds performed by the sinner. Penance is the means, according to Catholicism, by which sins after baptism are removed. You see how this is a cooperation, it's a joint effort? We see that there's a teamwork happening, man and the sinner.

It's the sinner's efforts who returns him into the state of grace and merits him eternal life. Sure, God gets most of the glory, for he's the one who does the forgiving, but the sinner gets at least some of the praise because he's the one observing the penance. Beloved, this diminishes the work of Christ and God's glory in salvation. This is not solely Deo Gloria. Listen to the words of Paul in Romans 11, 36.

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. The glory belongs to God alone because the salvation of sinners is God's work alone. According to Paul, it's through God alone, for God alone.

Therefore, he receives what is rightfully his. And that's all the glory. When there is a participation between man and God, there may be much glory ascribed to God, but certainly not all of it. This cannot be solely Dear Gloria. Beloved, I want to make this clear.

Even if we do confess solely Dear Gloria to God be all the glory, but our belief is that we participate somehow, even with the speck, of merit, or a speck of our own work, the work of our own hands, then the glory is not ascribed to God alone. This can be subtle, such as the semi-Pelagian view we discussed in a study a few weeks back. Our confessions, such as Soli Deo Gloria, must be consistent with our doctrine and with our practices. It's best now that I give a definition for the glory of God. The word glory is not foreign to any of us.

We all read it countless times in our Bible. We've heard it on countless times on multiple occasions in the sermons that we've heard, and we've heard it multiple times probably in our own prayers. But I suspect that if you're like me, when a word is so common in the Christian circles as glory, we may take it for granted and we may take for granted what it actually means. And to be honest, the glory of God concept is surprisingly difficult to define. So let's take a few minutes this evening to define the term before we move on.

The dictionary definition of the word glory says, High renown or honor won by notable achievements. That's high renown or honor won by notable achievements. Yes, God does get glory from all his notable achievements, especially his creation, as evident in these verses. The heaven declares the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Psalm 19.

and everyone who is called by my name whom i created for my glory whom i formed and made speaking of his people and this is found in isaiah 43 7 but although glory is ascribed to god because of his work the bible is clear god's glory is seen in his work but not dependent upon it He was all-glorious before he created a single thing. Remember Jesus' high priestly prayer in John? John chapter 17, verse 5, Jesus says these words, And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed. The dictionary sheds some light but it falls way short of giving the justice to the biblical expression of the glory of God. We can look at synonyms of glory.

Synonyms such as magnificence, splendor, beauty, brilliance, majesty. I suspect we've all used these alternatives when we've prayed or even in our conversations. And these words are an expression of what God is like. The Bible even uses these words to describe His greatness. But brothers and sisters, to be honest, words will always fall short of describing the immeasurable glory of God.

Because the glory of God is unique to God alone. Our human words and our imaginations take us only so far. You see, we can know of the glory of God, but its fullness is beyond our comprehension. The late 4th and early 5th century theologian Augustine said these words of these things, quote, I can see the depth, but I cannot see the bottom. This is a good description of the glory of God.

The Bible describes the glory of God for us in truth and genuineness, but we kid ourselves if we think for a moment that we'll be able to plumb the depth of this well. You only have to read Ezekiel's attempt to describe the glory of God as he saw it, In his vision, in the first chapter of his book, to realise it's an impossible task with human limitations to fathom the infinite richness of this truth. Despite this though, we are still able to explore some of the riches of this concept, because God was pleased to reveal his glory for us in scripture. So now is a time where Sola Scriptura comes into play. With a difficult concept like the glory of God, we must allow the Bible only to be authoritative or to be authoritative in developing for us whatever understanding we can attain on this subject.

Let's see what the Bible says. We certainly can't be exhaustive this evening, but we'll look at a few references Biblically, God's glory is described in many ways, such as, and I'm going to run through them fairly quickly, a brilliant light, Transfiguration, Matthew 17, an expression of his greatness in Deuteronomy 5. It's linked with his holiness, Isaiah chapter 6. His goodness, 2 Chronicles 7. His power, Psalm 145.

His salvation, 2 Timothy 2. His name, Psalm 66. His eternality, 1 Peter 5. His presence, 2 Thessalonians 1. His perfections, Psalm 97.

His beauty, Isaiah 28. And the list goes on and on. Beloved, you have to, you may have gathered already that the glory of God is not only an expression of what God is like, but it is an expression of who God is. His glory radiates from His being. We must remember this.

The triune God is glorious. Now when the Bible does speak of the glory of God, it describes it as terrifying, awesome, spectacular, majestic, unique. It doesn't depend on any external influences and only a glimpse of the fullness can be observed by people like Moses on Mount Sinai. Isaiah thought he would be doomed when he saw the glory of God in the temple. Brothers and sisters, the only fitting biblical response to being in the manifested presence of the glory of God is praise and worship.

It is for this reason we were created. The psalmist also knows this all too well. Listen to the verses or the following verses. Psalm 29. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name.

Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. Psalm 66. Sing the glory of his name. Give to him glorious praise. Psalm 71.

My mouth is filled with your praise and with your glory all the day. Psalm 96. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come into his courts. all things considered, and keeping in mind that words will always fall short of doing justice to the magnificent, indescribable glory of God, I will give you a one-sentence definition I found to be biblical and very helpful.

John Piper, on the glory of God, he says, It's the outward radiance of the intrinsic worth and beauty and greatness of his manifold perfections. Again, it's the outward radiance of his intrinsic worth, that is his essential worth, and beauty and greatness of his manifold, that's multiple, perfections. Said another way, The glory of God is the shining force of God's greatness, his immeasurable worth, his beauty and power in all his divine qualities. Now I'm going to break it down even further just one more time. It's the totality of all his attributes made manifest.

Who does that sound like? He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. Hebrews 1.3 Beloved, the ultimate display of the glory of God is Jesus Christ. For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.

If you want to see the fullness of glory of God, look to Christ alone. He became flesh and dwelt among his people in order to make the unfathomable glory of God known to his creatures. John 1.14. And we're going through the gospel of John and the Lord's day.

So I don't want to give too much away, but listen to what he says. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. The word dwelled in Greek is actually tabernacle. This has strong Old Testament symbolic ties. Whenever you have a tabernacle with the presence of the Lord, as in Ezekiel 43 or in Revelation 15, the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle.

John is alluding to this. Jesus's human body is a tabernacle and therefore filled with the glory of God. Beloved, Jesus is the full manifestation of the glory of God. Unlike people like us who are only able to reflect God's glory, Jesus embodies the full glory of God. Now with that definition in mind, We come back to soli deo gloria.

We ought to ask ourselves this question. Why is this sola considered by the reformers so central? A sola that gives purpose to all the other solas. Don't let the fact that soli deo gloria is the last of the five phrases mislead you into thinking that it's the least importance because it's not. In fact, It is the most important solar.

Without solely Deo Gloria, the whole Christian faith falls apart. Beloved, if you get nothing else from tonight's Bible study, please, please remember the next point. If you don't get this, you'll have no foundation to stand upon. The reason God justifies, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as we know by the authority of Scripture alone, is for the glory of God alone. It's not about you and it's not about me.

It never was and it never will be. We live in such a self-centered generation that we think it's all about us. This thinking is obvious in the world. Everywhere we look, we are bombarded with advertisement and subtleties which place us in the center of the universe. You've heard the slogans and the ads.

You've heard them. You deserve it, they'll say. Treat yourself. You're worth it. You've worked hard.

Now enjoy the fruits of your labor. And you only live once. Have fun. This is expected in a secular world, but beloved, this thinking, unfortunately, has crept into the church also. Often, and all too often, we hear man-centered preaching and teaching within the so-called Church of Jesus Christ.

Christian book titles such as Your Best Life Now and It's Your Time and Become a Better You. This should not be. Until we understand it's not about us, we deceive ourselves and dishonor God we seek to serve. Every man, every woman, and every child has been created primarily, firstly, to glorify God. He is the focus, not us.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism starts with the question, what is the chief end of man? And the answer is, Mikey, can you give me the answer please? While I get some water. To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Thank you.

Sorry for putting you on the spot. But the answer was correct. The chief end of man is, man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. In that order, beloved, God's glory comes first, then to enjoy Him. forever.

This is your purpose and this is my purpose. This is the meaning of life. The world's asking that question, what is the meaning of life? We have it. It's in scripture.

It's to glorify God. That's the meaning to life. To glorify God is to acknowledge His greatness and His manifold perfections and to praise and worship Him for who He is and for what He has done. This should be the highest priority for all His creatures. In fact, our affections and passions were created for the glory of God.

Our very existence is for the glory of God. And when we have our hearts set upon Him and Him alone, we'll experience the joy in abundance in fulfilling that which we were created for. Now, when we say we glorify God, This does not imply that we in any way add to his glory as though we can enhance his perfections but rather it's meant to convey that we acknowledge him in all his greatness and reflect his glory through ascribing praise and worship to him alone. Practically this plays out by loving God and completely submitting to his will as we find in his word. Now to be clear, scripture is God's unfolding plan of redemption.

Salvation accomplished through the decree of the Father, through the work of the Son, and the power of the Holy Spirit. But beloved, your salvation and my salvation is not the primary thing. The glory of God is. Preeminently, he gets glory through the salvation of the elect. God's plan of redemption does certainly include us.

In fact, we were predestined in Christ before the foundation of the earth. But God's purpose is for His own renown, first and foremost. We are the recipients of this incredible grace of God in salvation, but it's not about us. Again, it's about God. He has done all things for His sake.

and His glory. We must understand this point and we must acknowledge that God alone is worthy of all praise and all honor and He, listen to this, He will share that glory with no one else. Isaiah 48 11 Beloved, no one else is worthy This theme is repeated over and over in the Bible. Numerous passages tell us that God is most concerned with his own glory and does all things for the sake of his own renown. The Bible tells us, for his sake he preserves a people, 1 Samuel 12.

The Bible tells us, for his sake he forgives sins, Isaiah 43. The Bible tells us for his sake he withholds his judgment. Isaiah 48. And when he's speaking to Ezekiel, Yahweh, God acts for his own sake. Ezekiel 20.

There are many such passages in the Bible and there are many in the New Testament also. So now let's open up our Bibles Let's open up our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1, and we'll be reading from verses 3 through to 14. Now please, as we read through, I want you to listen for the phrase, to the praise of His glory, or to the praise of His glorious grace. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 through 14. 3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He has lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. 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. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory.

Did you hear that phrase, to the praise of His glory? It's found three times in here, verse six and verse 12 and verse 14. Did you get the list of things that God does for His glory? For the praise of His glory? Let's have a look at these things.

I've listed nine in this one passage in Ephesians chapter one, The 11 verses, there are nine things. The first, blessed. He's blessed us in Christ with all the spiritual blessings for His glory. He chose the elect before the foundation of the world for His glory. He predestined the elect for adoption for His glory.

He forgave sins in Christ for His glory. He's lavished His grace upon the elect for His glory. He's made known the mysteries of His will for His glory. He's united the elect in Christ for His glory. He gave an inheritance to the elect for His glory.

And He sealed the elect with the Holy Spirit for His glory. We get the picture, don't we? God saves the elect primarily for the praise of his own glory, and he has accomplished all things for his own namesake, not ours. Recognizing this fact brings new light to the first four commandments, doesn't it? The second commandment even states, I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.

Beloved, we're not the center of the universe, God is. A great exercise would be to grab the Bible, pick a book, any book, and go through that book, consciously reading to discern where the author places the emphasis. You'll be completely surprised to see the emphasis is always on God. The purpose and goal is always centred on God and not man. A man-centred Christianity is no Christianity at all.

God is jealous for his glory because he alone is worthy of it all. Now you might say, this attribute Among men is an attribute of jealousy, for example. Among men is egotistic, and it's deemed detestable amongst us. Jealousy, self-centeredness, these aren't virtues, we would say. Why is it okay for God to have these seemingly selfish attributes, and it's not okay for us?

Well, for starters, When any person displays self-centeredness, he has no right because he's surrounded by other people, other human beings, other people of equal worth. Trying to elevate oneself above the rest is obnoxious and unwarranted. But let me ask you this question. Who's God's equal? Who's God competing with?

Who is he to share his glory with? It's interesting to note that idolatry is defined by something or someone that is loved more than God or something or someone worshipped who is not God. Idolatry is when you give what belongs to God alone to someone or something else. Beloved, our purpose Our greatest affections and our praise ought to be given only to he who is of greatest worth, God alone. Doing this is the greatest good a person can do.

Now, because no one is God's equal and there is none of greater worth than he, God necessarily has his ultimate purpose and affection in his own being and for his own glory. There's nothing greater and nothing more worthy. How can God have anything less than that which is of highest worth to be the object of his eternal love and purpose? In human eyes, that would be adultery, idolatry. This is why throughout the Old Testament God accomplishes all things for His name's sake.

Beloved, this means if God is primarily concerned for His glory, and He is, and He is glorified in the manifestation of His manifold perfections then he would design a world that will display all his attributes, including his justice. Beloved, this is a very difficult thing for us to handle, but God is glorified in both the salvation of the elect, as well as the damnation of the sinner. How can the grace of God be put on display if the wrath of God and the justice of God is not also on display? If there is no wrath or justice, then there is no need for grace. Understanding these truths is the only way we can make sense of the scripture in all of its fullness.

The universe is God's universe. He will ultimately be glorified in all things, but He will also accomplish all things according to His own purpose, for His sake and for His glory. And we, as His people, rejoice and have our hope in the glory of God for which He has saved us, or for which He has saved us. Back to the Westminster Catechism. The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

The chief end of God is to glorify Himself. Solely, dear Gloria. Amen.