What is Grace For?

Uh Hi, thanks for listening to the latest episode of the Hymn We Proclaim podcast.

Sola Gratia. It's the third pillar of the five Solas of the Reformation. It means our salvation is by grace alone. And today we're going to learn that grace is one of the sweetest and kindest gifts from God that we know as believers. John will be dispelling any misunderstandings we may have about grace and will answer three questions.

What is grace? What does grace look like as God applies it in the life of sinners? And thirdly, what is the ultimate purpose of grace? With that, let's press play now on solo number three, Sola Gracia, Our Only Cause. This week we come to the third sola.

Sola gratia. Grace alone. To help you understand this, I want to give you some background by which this debate took place, grace alone back in the medieval church prior to the Reformation. And then during the Reformation, But uh When you go back and you look at the medieval church, Two predominant themes characterize the medieval church as theology and piety. These two dominant themes were this.

Cooperation with grace for salvation. and Jesus as judge. First of all, many in the medieval church believe that God saves sinners by grace. But they also taught that the sinners saved by grace cooperated with their own free will with that grace to do their part in salvation. The popular medieval phrase was this, God Will not deny his grace to those who do what they can.

That was a very popular slogan that was used. The second thing that was predominant in the medieval church was this: that Jesus as judge. The Gospel presents Jesus as judge. The English Reformation scholar Ashley Null. He writes this: he says that the whole machinery of late medieval piety was designed to shield the soul from Christ's doomsday anger.

End quote. And so the medieval church functioned on the notion of forced obedience. through fear of punishment. Noel goes on in his book to describe what it was like to walk into a medieval church. I'm not going to, we don't have time to look at that, but I'll just paraphrase for you.

He basically said: to walk into a medieval parish back in those days was to encounter a great, big, huge picture of Jesus in judgment.

So, when you walked into the church, you were immediately struck by this big Jesus. Quote Jesus, it's not Jesus, but this big quote Jesus hanging over you in doomsday judgment, quite. the announcement of what they were about. But tragically, in recent years, surveys, studies have revealed that Protestant denominations descending from the Reformation bear a similar resemblance in beliefs to those of the late medieval church. Let me give you some examples.

Cooperation with grace. Today's version of the popular medieval phrase, God will not deny his grace to those who do what they can, goes like this. God helps those who help themselves. A Barnas survey just a couple years ago discovered that nearly 50% of evangelicals affirmed this slogan. And 50% thought it was a direct biblical quotation.

84% thought it was a biblical idea. And that percentage rose with attendance at evangelical churches.

So almost nine out of ten Surveyed, believed God helps those who help themselves. That slogan comes from Benjamin Franklin. It was one of his famous sayings. He was a deist. He was not a Christian.

Ligonier life waste study in a 2014-2016 ligonium life waste study found that. 36% of self-identified evangelicals agree or somewhat agree with this statement. Quote By the good deeds that I do, I partly contribute to earning my place in heaven. God helps those who help themselves. In a Christianity Today article that was just recently published, It was entitled this: 500 years after the Reformation, many Protestants closer to Catholics than Martin Luther.

And then it goes on to cite a Pew study to back up this point. According to a Pew study, only 35% of Protestants believe that faith is all you need to get into heaven. In addition, the report says that half, 52%. Of American Protestants say that both good deeds and faith. in God are needed to get to heaven.

God helps those who help themselves. In Luther's home country of Germany, 61% of Protestants believe that good deeds are needed for salvation. In John Calvin, Switzerland, 57% agree.

So, simply put, in this study, over half the Protestants who are surveyed in the study affirm the popular medieval phrase: God will not deny his grace to those who do what they can.

Now, here's a second predominant theme that we see, eerily similar in the contemporary church today: Jesus is the judge gospel. Much like the medieval church, we hear a great confusion of the law and gospel in the church today. And this confusion of law and the gospel in the church today turns the Christ of the gospel into a judge who threatens to damn sinners and who seeks their obedience through fear of punishment. We hear this Jesus is judge gospel from a famous, quite read author. His name is David Platt.

He has this best-selling book called Radical, which is a massive confusion of the law and gospel throughout his whole book. Platt's gospel is a very stunning resemblance of a medieval moralist preacher. Who would turn Christ into a judge and set forth fear of punishment to produce transformation in a sinner? Let me give you some examples from his book. It's all throughout his book, but in chapter 2, Platt says that he wants his readers to take a step back and quote: look at the foundations of the gospel.

So, his whole chapter is devoted to the foundations of the gospel. But misunderstandings of the uses of the law abound, and he mistakenly attributes the spiritual effect of the law to the gospel throughout the entire chapter. Let me give you some examples. Quote The gospel reveals eternal realities about God that we would sometimes rather not face. And I'm thinking, what would this be?

Kindness? Love, grace. Mercy, forgiveness, propitiation, expiation, atonement, reconciliation. Quote These realities that the gospel reveal include a God who is a wrathful judge who might damn us, end quote. Behold, I bring you good news of great joy.

The gospel reveals God is a wrathful judge who might damn us. Put another way, he says, the gospel confronts us with the hopelessness of our sinful condition.

Now, whereas for Reformation theology, it is the law that brings us up short and quite short. This is a task that Platt erroneously attributes to the gospel throughout his book on so many occasions, I couldn't count them. Listen to what he says: quote: The biblical gospel says you are an enemy of God. You are dead in your sins. And in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life.

And then he concludes. This brings us to recognize, quote, the beauty. of the gospel. Unfortunately for readers, none of those propositions reveal to us the beauty of the gospel. It reveals to us the terror of God's law.

It reveals where we stand apart from Christ. In Romans chapter 3, verse 20, Paul says it is God's law that discloses our sin. He says, Romans 3:20, through the law comes knowledge of sin.

So in contrast to the medieval church, Ashley Null points out that the English reformers in the Reformation maintained that fear of punishment could not produce such an inward, all-encompassing transformation in a sinner. He says they understood that only the assurance of divine love made known in free pardon has that power. You see, the reformers did not define Christ as revealed in the gospel as a wrathful judge who might damn us. But they discovered rightly and proclaimed that the gospel reveals Christ as a gracious Savior who redeems us.

So, in contrast to the medieval church's teaching that turned Christ into a judge, listen to what Martin Luther says in response to this medieval view of Christ. Quote: This sly serpent really knows how to present Jesus Christ, our mediator and savior, as a lawgiver, judge, and condemner. Against this temptation, we must use these words of Paul, in which he gives the very good and true definition of Christ. How do you define Christ? Listen, Christ is the Son of God and of the Virgin.

He was delivered and put to death for our sins. If the devil cites any other definition of Christ, you must say the definition and the subject are false, therefore I refuse to accept the definition. He says, I am not speaking vainly here, for I know why I define Christ so strictly from the words of Paul. For Christ is not a cruel master. He is the propitiator for the sins of the world.

If you are a sinner, therefore, as indeed we all are, do not put on Christ a rainbow as the judge. For then you will be terrified and will despair of his mercy. No, grasp the true definition of him. Namely, that Christ, the Son of God and of the Virgin, is not one who terrifies, troubles, condemns us sinners, or calls us to account for our evil past, but one who has taken away the sins of the world, nailing them to the cross and driving them all the way out by himself. In brief, Jesus is a Savior to sinners.

And then, lastly, in contrast to the medieval church, which held that a sinner cooperates with God in salvation, the Reformers rightly proclaimed that fallen men are saved by the unprovoked, undeserved acceptance of God. For Christ's sake alone. In other words, salvation is sola gratia, it is by grace alone. And so this brings us to this third solo today: Grace Alone, sola gratia.

Now, what we've learned is that all five solos are inseparable and you can't have one without the other.

So, we began with solo scriptura. Scripture. Because it alone is inspired by God, the Holy Spirit, is the church's final authority, inerrant authority, it does not err, infallible authority, it cannot err. And the reason we stay with Scripture is because We learned last time that the scripture alone leads us to Christ alone, solus Christus. Paul said to Timothy, From childhood, you have known the sacred writings, which are able to give you the wisdom, listen, that leads to salvation.

Through faith. Which is in, that faith is in Christ Jesus. The scriptures alone lead us to saving faith in Christ alone.

So, Paul's statement about the scripture leading to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus is simply a way for Paul to say: salvation is by grace alone.

Solafide was a confession, as we'll look at next week, by the reformers that it is by grace alone we are saved.

Sola gratia, grace alone, is never left dangling by itself. It is always closely tied to sola Christus.

So, as we think about solar gratia this morning, there are three key questions I want to explore with you as we look at this grace alone. First, what is grace? Second, what does grace look like as God applies it in the life of sinners? And third, what is the ultimate purpose of grace?

So let's look at the first. What is grace? If salvation is by grace alone, what is grace? This brings us to the real heart of the Reformation debate over grace and this Latin phrase, sola gratia. The first thing we note about grace is this.

What is grace? Grace is grace. is not a thing or a substance, grace is a person. That grace as a person stands in stark contrast to the Roman church, both then and now. Which teaches that grace is a created thing.

It is an impersonal power that transforms the sinner. The Roman Church taught and still teaches that grace is like a medicine. And this medicine is infused into you by means of the sacraments to help you cooperate and merit further gifts of grace. But it's important to keep in mind that the Reformers never alleged that Rome denied the necessity of Christ, the necessity of grace, the necessity of faith and salvation. That wasn't the debate.

What the Reformers rightly denied and charged Rome with. Was denying the sufficiency of Christ, the sufficiency of grace, and the sufficiency of faith. Listen to Michael Horton. He explains, he says, Rome believed in grace. It was oozing from the pores of the church through a sacramental system.

Especially the practice of penance. But it became clear as the debate progressed that not only the sufficiency of grace over against the believer's merits was at stake. But the different definitions of grace itself were in play. What is grace? How do we define it?

Grace is a person. It is not an impersonal force or substance. It's not a medicine. And so sola gratia, grace alone, is never left dangling by itself, but is always closely tied to solus Christus, Christ alone. In Ephesians 2, verse 5, Paul says.

By grace you have been saved. In the context, what he means is: by Christ and His saving work, you have been saved. When God gives us grace, He gives us nothing less than Himself. Grace isn't a substance mediating between God and sinners. Grace is Jesus Christ in redeeming action by his life, death, burial, and resurrection.

Titus chapter 2, verse 11: For the grace of God has appeared. bringing salvation to all kinds of people. John chapter 1, verses 14 and 17. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory. Glories of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace.

And truth. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. Paul customarily begins all of his letters in the New Testament with this greeting from God himself. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Does that sound familiar? We encounter this gracious greeting from God every week in the liturgy, in our worship. This greeting is the triune God's response to the congregation's invocation, cry for help, cry for mercy, plea for salvation. And so every Sunday we begin the worship service. Calling upon the triune God who has delivered us in his Son.

And when we call upon him, how does he meet us? He meets us with this gracious and surprising announcement greeting. Grace to you. And peace. from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So the first thing we note about grace is that grace is not an impersonal force. It's not the force be with you, right? It is not an impersonal force of the universe. It is a person, Jesus, in redeeming action towards us. Second, grace, listen carefully, is God's demerited favor.

Grace is God's demerited favor.

Now, to understand grace, And I'll get back to that. You have to have a proper understanding of sin. The reformers disagreed with the medieval church with respect to the human condition. What is Rome's view of the fall? Rome teaches, to be sure, that no one deserves salvation in any strict sense.

The Roman church is not pure Pelagian. Rome's view of sin is what we call semi-Pelagian. Which means this. Man is fallen, but there still remains a little small island of righteousness tucked away, left in the sinner's heart, whereby he or she can cooperate with the grace of God in salvation. And so the Roman church taught and still teaches that God will not deny his grace to those who do what lies within them.

In this view, God, the grace of God, consists in God's leniency. God is lenient. The fact that he requires the smallest obedience rather than perfect righteousness, God is lenient. The grace of God is lenient. God, Rome maintains, has decreed this covenant according to which those who do their best, assisted by grace, will attain final justification as if they merited it.

So, God accepts the believers in perfect righteousness is called congruent merit, which means giving your best sincere effort. Satisfactory effort. Is meritorious before God rather than what they call condine merit, which is strict and perfect. Merit. Just give your sincere best effort and God will give you the rest.

Luther was schooled in this kind of theology, which is known as covenantal gnomism. It's what Paul addresses in the book of Galatians, and we spent three years in our church going through, so I'm going to remind you: getting in by grace, but staying in by your obedience and good works. and completing yourself by that. But Luther and the other reformers strenuously rejected this medieval system of covenantal gnomism, which later became officially sanctioned at the Council of Trent.

So that's Rome's view of the fall. What was the Reformers' biblical view of the fall? Here it is. In contrast to Rome, the Reformers rightly insisted that man is so sinful, he has so fallen, the fall is so pervasive that no one can cooperate with God in salvation at all. As a result of the fall, the whole person is radically defiled and pervaded with sin.

Intellect, mind, will, soul, body, even all of creation itself is under the curse, Paul says in Romans 8. Everything is fallen. to the core. And so post-fall All who are in Adam are not, according to Rome, merely sick, needing medicine. All, Paul says in Ephesians 2, verse 1, are dead in trespasses and sins.

They need a Savior for resurrection. What can an unregenerate sinner do? To this, the reformers replied: nothing. Because they said grace is not leniency. Grace is not a medicine that aids a sick man to cooperate and save himself.

From the sensual passions of his body. Grace is God's demerited favor given unilaterally in Christ by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel, not only at the beginning of the Christian life, but throughout the whole Christian life.

So, in the context of a fallen world that we live in, grace cannot be defined as leniency. Grace can certainly not be defined as merited favor because no sinner can make such a claim against God. Right? Merit equals something that we earn, and it is clear that what we have all earned is God's justice. Grace also cannot be solely defined in the general sense as just the favor of God.

Must be more specific than that. And also, grace cannot be totally only defined as God's unmerited favor. Though it is, but not solely as that, because his grace is not merely undeserved. Because unmerited favor equals something that we didn't earn. Grace must be defined as God's demerited favor in that despite man's sinfulness, God does not give to him what he has merited or earned.

Namely, God's justice, what God does is give Him His favor, His grace. In other words, listen carefully. Demerited favor of God equals something we receive in spite. Of our sin. And this is Paul's argument in Ephesians 2.

He says in Ephesians 2: Even when we were dead in our transgressions, God has made us alive together with Christ by grace. You have been saved. And despite the fact that we were dead in sin, He gave us favor, grace. He gave us Christ. He saved us.

That is demerited favor. Third, Grace is the efficient cause of our entire salvation. God's grace is not grounded in what people do or don't do. The efficient cause of our salvation consists solely in the Father's love.

Solely in the grace and mercy given freely to us in the Son. Sinful men are forgiven. Converted, justified, sanctified, glorified, they are quote, saved from beginning, middle, and end, not because of anything that is in them or anything that could ever be in them. Sinful men are saved solely out of the boundless love, goodness, pity, compassion, mercy, and grace. of our God.

So, when the reformers were speaking about grace alone, they were saying that sinners have no claim upon God. God owes them nothing but punishment for their sins. That's all we deserve. You don't want what you've merited and deserve. God saves us in spite of our sins.

And it pleases him to do it, and for no other reason but to do that. You see, God's grace is grounded in his sovereign freedom and willingness to show grace to whomever he pleases. This is exactly what Paul says in Romans chapter 9, verse 15, when he quotes Exodus 33, verse 19, where the Lord says to Moses, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. Compassion. In Ephesians chapter 2, you can turn back there because I want you to look at that.

That's our main text today. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 through 10. In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul announces the startling good news that God has decided to show mercy to those who are dead in trespasses and sins. That is demerited favor. Look at this contrast.

In verses 1 to 3, we'll just read: look at this. You were dead in your trespasses and sins. You formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. We too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest, both Jew and Gentile, he condemns right there. Everybody is dead in their trespasses and sins.

And note the contrast with verses 1 and 3 to verses 4 through 10. Let me just walk you through this. Chapter 2, verse 1, to the Ephesian Gentiles, Paul says, You were dead in your trespasses and sins, verse 4, but God being rich in mercy, You were dead in your trespasses and sins, but God being rich in mercy to the Ephesian Gentile, verse 2. This is how you formally lived your life. According to the course of the world, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit of now, working in sons of disobedience, but God being rich in mercy.

To both Jew and Gentile in chapter 2, verse 3. He says, We all too formerly lived in the lust of our flesh. Verse 4, but God being rich in mercy. He's saying that our salvation is all of grace, beginning, middle, and end. The entire Christian life from start to completion is lived on the basis of God's grace to us through Christ alone.

Paul begins this letter in Ephesians 1, verse 2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He continues this letter, Ephesians 2, 5, and 8. By grace you have been saved. He concludes this letter, Ephesians 6, verse 24.

Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus with incorruptible love. It is grace, grace, grace. The scheme of the Christian life is not grace works grace. It's grace, grace, grace. Paul makes this very succinct statement in Titus chapter 3, verse 5.

He says, He saved us, how? Not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy. Grace is the efficient cause of our salvation. It is the fountain and source of faith. It is the first and last moving cause of our salvation.

We are saved through faith, but salvation is by grace alone. And that's good news for sinners who have received something in spite of their sin. Right.

So that's grace. Here's the second. What does graze look like? as it is applied in the life of sinners. Let me give you two examples this morning very quickly.

We're going to do a jet tour through the Old Testament with two characters that the Bible presents to us. The first is Abraham. If you go back and look. At this Genesis account of Abraham, grace. is a key theme interwoven into this historical narrative.

When we read the Genesis narrative about Abraham, It is brutally honest in its worst and all about the portrayal of this man. First, there's no hint in the Genesis narrative that God chose Abraham because of his goodness. There's no hint. Just like the account of Noah that precedes Abraham, the Genesis narrative doesn't set forth anything worthy of Abraham that is deserving of the Lord calling him and choosing him. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

In Joshua 24, verse 2, it says that Abraham grew up in a pagan family that, quote, served other gods.

So there's no use in asking why the Lord chose Abraham and not some other person out of the mass of condemned humanity at that time to be the father of a blessed race. But like Noah, the Lord elected Abraham, chose Abraham, whom Paul in Romans 4 verse 5 describes Abraham as an ungodly man. The Lord's freely given election of Abraham is grace. Election is grace. This is what Paul says in Romans 11:6.

If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. Election and grace are inseparable because both show us that salvation is God's work alone and that it has nothing to do with our works. Second, when you look at the Genesis account of Abraham, it shows us that the Lord justifies Abraham, right? Genesis 12 and 15.

But immediately after Abraham is justified, immediately after he sins. Genesis chapter 12 verses 11 through 20. And then in chapter 20, verses 1 through 18, we also see another occasion. Where he does the same thing again. Both times, what does he do?

He lies about his wife to preserve his life. That wouldn't go well for me. Bad Sunday afternoon lunch at that point. He was willing to put his marriage at risk with Sarah rather than trust in the Lord's promises made to him. Genesis chapter 16.

Abraham and Sarah were promised a child. They were a little bit old and they're thinking that this is not going to happen.

So let's cooperate together and let's get Hagar and make God's promise come. And so they both reveal their lack of faith in the Lord's promise of a child, and they actually work to undermine the Lord's promise that Sarah would be the mother of the promised descendants.

So instead of trusting in the Lord's promise, they tried by their own works to bring about the Lord's promise with Hagar, and we know how that story ended. Not too good. We're still paying the price today. And even though James, in the book of James, sets forth the account of Abraham's obedience born from faith in Genesis 22, what the Lord called him to sacrifice his only promised son, who was the offspring to carry on the Lord's promise, it is clear from the Genesis narrative. That we do not see God's grace to Abraham as something that was deserved of meriting anything by cooperation.

It's quite the opposite. At best, what we see in the life of Abraham is what Martin Luther drove the Roman medieval church crazy with: Simo Eustace et Picotter. In justification, Abraham was at the one and at the same time righteous or just, and he was also a sinner. In and of ourselves, under God's scrutiny, we still have sin and we're still sinners, but only by the imputation, the reckoning of Jesus' perfect righteousness to our account through faith alone, by grace alone, listen, are we considered just or righteous before God? And that is the heart of the gospel.

So, Abraham's entire life was lived under the reign of grace. It was lived under God's unilateral covenant promise, Genesis 12, verses 1 through 3, where he says over and over, Abraham, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will. Paul quotes that promise of Genesis 12, verse 3 in Galatians chapter 3, verse 8, and he calls Genesis 12, 3 the gospel promised beforehand to Abraham. That's grace. And so clearly, the Genesis account of Abraham sets forth the Lord's free and sovereign grace to this ungodly man.

Second, Not only do we see this kind of lavish grace given to Abraham, we see it all the way back, a few chapters back to the beginning, to Adam. Grace is also a key theme interwoven into the historical account of Adam in Genesis. In the opening chapters of Genesis, they reached their climax when the offended Lord of the covenant of works. comes to judge his servant Adam. For his rebellion in the covenant of works, his breaking of the covenant of works, Genesis 2:15-17.

And what we see from the book of Genesis is that God created man to live in a joyful, intimate relationship with his Creator based on obedience to God's moral will. But tragically, man turned his back on his covenant Lord. in this self-willed act of idolatrous rebellion. And what happens, Genesis chapter 3, verses 7 and 8. This whole relationship is now marked and characterized by separation and by fear and by dread.

And so Adam and Eve, knowing that their Creator had become their judge and that they had come under the penalty of the covenant of works, what do they do? It's the first attempt in the Bible at self-justification. They attempt to cover up their nakedness, their exposure, their guilt, their rebellion before God, and they put fig leaves on themselves. They're trying now to keep the covenant of works. But it's too late.

And so the Bible, listen, and Genesis chapter 3, verse 8 says that they hear the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And they immediately hid themselves in fear. from his presence. This word sound in the Hebrew is voice. What did Adam and Eve hear?

They heard the voice of the Lord. They heard the word of the Lord. What was the word that they heard? It was the word of judgment, law. While hiding, God calls out in judgment to Adam, Where are you in relationship to me now that you have broken my covenant?

This is a question of covenantal judgment. Where do you stand before me, Adam, now that you have broken my covenant? And Adam replies to God's question of judgment: I heard the sound, I heard your word, I heard the voice. of you in the garden, and I was afraid. Because I was naked, so I hid myself.

Listen carefully. Prior to the fall, the first Adam did not need grace. Grace is for sinners, not for the sinless. Adam was sinless. And so, because of that, grace was not in Adam's vocabulary.

Unlike the law, grace was not in Adam by nature. The gospel is not in us by nature. The gospel is not lodged somewhere in my heart. In my mind, in my will, in my emotions, it is an announcement that comes from outside of me, that comes to me as foolishness, like Sarah's response to the Lord's promise of a child, and she simply laughed. And so, by virtue of his creation, Adam was wired only for the law, and Adam and we, like Adam, only understood the law.

He didn't understand grace, it wasn't there yet. And so Adam rightly hid in fear because his expectation was judgment, and it was a right expectation. While hiding, as I said, they tried to reconcile this broken covenant relationship with God by keeping the covenant of works with these fig leaves, but the Lord of the covenant would not accept his obedience, would not accept his fig leaves at this point. The covenant of works was broken, and the sanction of the Lord of the covenant was execution death. Adam's fearful response becomes the reply of every human conscience that is fully exposed to the presence of a holy and righteous lawgiver.

And it's tragic because that's not how it was designed to be. Yet, surprisingly, the lawgiver reveals himself to Adam. not as the God of law, but as the God of promise. Adam hiding spitless in fear. Knowing what is about to happen.

had no idea really what was about. to happen. The Lord promises in Genesis 3.15 to send a second Adam who would fulfill the work that the first Adam failed to do and thus therefore by that work bring his people to the tree of life. And the blessed state for which they were created. And into the darkness and despair and fear and guilt and shame of his sin, Adam's catastrophe.

Listen, a light came into his darkness. A shining beam of hope. Coming from the God of promise. Who made this startling, shocking, surprising announcement? I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.

He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. That is the first announcement of the gospel in the Bible. The Lord promises a redemption that would be accomplished by the offspring of Eve, this serpent crusher, this champion seed of a woman. And so the Bible is very simple. From Genesis 3:15 forward, the Bible is simply the unpacking of the Lord's unconditional, unilateral, gracious promise.

Through the covenant of grace, that though death entered the world through one man's fall and disobedience, one day a child would be born from the offspring of Eve, who would restore all things and crush the serpent's head. And so the Bible presents this unfolding story of the triune God's gracious plan to save sinners through his Son, Jesus Christ, and that is what's called sola gratia. That's what grace looks like applied by the triune God to sinners. And so finally, this morning, as we finish, what is the ultimate purpose of this grace? What is his ultimate purpose?

Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 1, turn over one chapter from Ephesians 2. Three times in Ephesians chapter one, Paul says. That God's ultimate purpose in salvation is for the praise of His glory in saving sinners. Everything that our triune God does. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in concert together.

is designed to bring about his own glory. Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 6. He has predestined us, verse 5, look, and adopted us as sons. Verse 6, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us. In the beloved, that is in Jesus, who is E, capital B, beloved.

Look at verse 12. He says, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory. And then look at verse 14. The Holy Spirit has been given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise. of his glory.

He says it three times. It doesn't. take a Bible scholar to get that point, right? Grace alone is the efficient cause of our salvation, the total package. And the praise of God's grace and kindness is the final cause of our salvation.

Ephesians 2, verse 7, I read it earlier. By grace you have been saved, verse 5, verse 7, so that in the coming ages, He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Look at that. The immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness. toward us in Christ Jesus.

What an amazing God we have. His kindness. God's mercy and grace given through Christ to sinful man is the capstone of his glory. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, that the gospel gives to us, what does the gospel give to us? The light?

of the knowledge of the glory of God. Where? and the face. of Jesus Christ. God's glory, not man's glory, is the central focus, but the gospel.

And he is glorified by saving Sinful men who have a demerited status. Paul says the gospel according to Christ compels him, Galatians 6, verse 14. to do nothing but boast. And the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see self-love, self-promotion, self-justification, self-exaltation, self-importance.

These are the driving desires of the fallen heart. But the gospel attributes all glory to our triune God revealed perfectly in Christ and nothing to man. It takes away and condemns all of our glory, all of our wisdom, all of our reason, all of our righteousness, all of our goodness, and attributes all of it to Christ alone.

So, this is why we must stay with Scripture alone, because it is the only place where we are told that sinners are saved by the unprovoked and undeserved, demerited favor of God revealed to us in Christ, which is not to exalt us, but it is to exalt Him. And that's counter to everything that is human. that we know.

So, as we consider this Reformation pillar this morning, Solagratia Grace Olnon, I want us to remember this as we finish. That this little Ladd phrase reminds us that our entire life. Beginning Middle and the end. is lived under the rain. of God's grace.

Listen to Augustus' top lady as we finish. It provides a fitting conclusion. He says this. A true believer lives upon free grace as his necessary food. And indeed, He who has really tasted the sweetness of grace.

can live upon nothing else. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you.

for the grace that you have given to us in Christ. Our hearts are profoundly humbled for such a lavish gift. but our hearts are profoundly thankful. and rejoicing. That from beginning, middle, and end, our entire life.

Is lived under the reign of grace, which means it is lived under the perfect. person and work of our savior. Christ. We give thanks to you this morning and say, Glory be to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And blessed be your kingdom now and forevermore.

We pray in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today. And before you hit the next episode, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon? It's called Hope and Holiness.

How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity. You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available. only to find yourself feeling defeated again. this book may be just what you're looking for. With his shepherding heart, John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity.

and it's available to every Christian. What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways, paperback, audiobook, or Kindle. Please look for the links I put in the description and get a copy today. Does anyone come to mind who may like this episode? Please share it with them now and listen again soon to the Hymn We Proclaim podcast.