Good morning. Okay, first question. Wake up question. What is the chief end of man? Yes, sir. Very nice. Very nice. Do you do that? Okay, good work. What is God? God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable, and is being, wisdom, Justice too. Yeah, thank you. Excellent.
Okay, next question. Are there more gods than one? Well, that’s a good answer. It’s not a complete answer. There is but one only, the living and true God. Last week we talked about living and true and the necessity and the goodness of there being one. All right, new question. How many persons are there in the Godhead? That’s a very short answer. Three. Okay.
There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one God, because we already agreed upon that, right? The same in substance, equal in power and glory. Is that true? Yes. Is it true that the Son of God is the same substance as God the Father? Yes. Is it true that the Holy Spirit is the same in substance as God the Father? Yes. Is it true that all three are equal in power?
Wait a minute, wait a minute. I thought that the son was subordinate to the father. Somebody should be standing up and saying, no, no, that’s not true. Subordinate is clearly not the right word. They have different roles, right? But that doesn’t equal subordination. So they equal in power.
What about glory? That too? Yes? Okay. All right. Just come from the Bible? Yes? You’re saying yes? All right. Anyone have a scripture verse where this is said? John 17? The high priestly prayer? Yes? That would be a good support for this. Yeah. Glorify me with the glory we had All right, very nice.
It’s called a sword drill, right? You take the sword out. Okay, questions? Not seeing any. All right, so next week when we come, we won’t be here, but if you do review this, I’m expecting somebody to come with a fuller answer. Okay? All right. Mr. Hobbs, would you pray for our Sunday school classes? Amen. Thank you. We’re dismissed. All right. Sola fide. What does that mean? Faith alone. Always faithful. Always faithful is good, too. I like that. All right. Galatians chapter 4. I have to apologize. After yesterday, I’m Not as up to speed on this particular lesson as I should be. So thank you in advance for your patience with me. Galatians chapter four. Tell me you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman, one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now, this may be interpreted allegorically. These women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, marrying children for slavery. She is Hagar. Now, Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
For it is written, rejoice, O barren one who does not bear. Break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor. For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband. Now you brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, so also it is now. But what does the scripture say? cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman.
Amen. Would you pray with me? Father, we ask that now as we continue to study these foundational truths that you would guide us especially this morning as we think of faith, direct our hearts, even as we consider later in the service the preaching of the word in Psalm 3. Help us this morning, Lord, to understand more to be convicted more of the truth that is only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that we are saved. We ask this in his precious name, amen.
All right, so we’re studying the solas. What are they, the five of them? What was the first one we studied? Sola Scriptura. What was the second one? Sola Christus. What are we studying today? Sola Fide. And then? Sola Gratia. And finally, Soli Dei. To God alone. OK, so the five solas. Can we find this in John Calvin’s Institutes? No, we cannot. We cannot. Will we find the doctrines, so to speak, in his institutes? Yes, but not listed this way.
Sola Scriptura, the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary. This is from the Westminster Confession of Faith. Necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith in life is either expressly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture. Do you think those who wrote the confession were adherents to this doctrine, Sola Scriptura? Yes, yes, that’s a good definition of it. Fully sufficient and clear, yes.
Westminster Confession of Faith, one, two, all which are given by the inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and life. That’s where we go to see and hear and read of the rule of faith and life. We don’t go anywhere else. It’s all contained there. From Luke 16, Abraham saith unto him, this must have been a, from the new King James, I guess. They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. And he said to them, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded that one rose from the dead. And in Second Timothy 316, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, sola scriptura.
And what about the Apocrypha? What is the Apocrypha? Is it inspired? No, we would not understand it that way. Books commonly called the Apocrypha not being of divine inspiration are no part of the canon of Scripture and therefore are no authority in the Church of God.
All right. What about Solus Christus? The problem then was not the person of Christ, the problem was the work of Christ. That’s probably said the wrong way and I think I probably wrote that. Well, this is from Ligonier. It’s not a problem. Jesus’s work is not a problem. The issue with the Roman Catholic Church that the reformers were seeing, they weren’t seeing a problem with their description and understanding of the person of Christ. What they were seeing was the problem was with the work of Jesus Christ.
How they had corrupted that and fallen away from from that and added to it. The debate centered on the sacramental system. Rome had constructed a system in which the grace of Christ was mediated. A system of priests and sacramental works through the sacramental system. The Roman Church effectively controlled the Christian’s life from birth to death and even beyond.
This is a prayer of Saint Gertrude. Now, maybe some of you who were raised in the Catholic Church know this. I don’t know this. Eternal Father, I offer thee the most precious blood of thy divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Prayer of Saint Gertrude, below, or over there, is one of the most famous of the prayers for souls in purgatory. Gertrude, the great, was a Benedictine nun and mystic who lived in the 13th century. According to tradition, our Lord promised her that 1,000 souls would be released from purgatory.
Each time is said devoutly. You got to say it sincerely. I guess so. Solus Christus. The Trinity accomplished salvation through Jesus Christ alone. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. It’s finished. How can you add to that? It’s finished. Complete.
Jesus Christ alone is the mediator between God and men. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. which is the testimony given at the proper time. He’s the single mediator. He’s not a co-mediator with Mary. Access to the throne of grace, Genesis 28.
This is Jacob, and Jacob is having this vision, right? There was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached the heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Who’s the ladder? Yes. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac, and the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
A repetition of the covenant, now to Jacob, But he’s having this vision, and he’s seeing into heaven. Only the way he can see into heaven is by and through this ladder. The ladder is Christ. Hebrews 10. You see the parallelism there? I was reading something lately that brought these two together. Jacob’s vision and this verse. I think it’s appropriate. New and living way that he opened for us.
Not Jesus and somebody else. Only Jesus. Solus Christus. Interceding for all the children of God. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Only Christ. We don’t go to a saint. We don’t pray to a saint. as the Roman Catholic Church would have us to do. Only Christ. He’s the only interceder.
Okay, Sola Fide. Any questions on what we’ve done so far? Not hearing any. All right, you ready for this, Sola Fide? Question this morning is, how can I be saved? Who asked that question? Nicodemus asked it, sort of. The Philippian jailer asked it, right?
Paul was in the stocks. He’d been beaten and jailer throws him in the back. They’re singing psalms and hymns. The jailer probably knows why he’s been thrown in there. He’s preaching Christ. Doors fly open. He’s ready to kill himself. Paul says, don’t do it. We’re all here.
He says, how can I be saved? What must I do to be saved? Rich young ruler was also asking a very similar question, wasn’t he? as he came to Jesus in Luke 18. The ruler asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? That’s what he’s asking, what must I do to be saved?
He calls Jesus good, and so Jesus’ first response is what? Why do you call me good? Who’s good? There’s only one who’s good. Wasn’t he saying something to the rich young ruler at that very point? When he said, hey, there’s only one who’s good. You’re coming to me because you’re thinking you’re good.
Because you think that you’ve kept the commandments. And that is what is going to get you into glory. You think that’s what’s going to give you eternal life. And I’m here to tell you that, number one, you’re not good. There’s only one who’s good. But that’s what the rich young ruler was thinking. I’m pretty good, I’ve kept all those commandments which you just listed off. But I lack something, I’m not sure what it is, can you tell me what it is? And what’s he tell him? Sell everything you’ve got, give it to the poor, and then you come follow me.
And so the rich young ruler said okay. No he didn’t, no he didn’t. He goes away and he’s sad. He’s got all this wealth and he goes away with it, but yet he’s sad. He won’t give it up. He’s clinging to it and not to Jesus. What must I do to inherit eternal life?
That’s our question. Yes, sir. I think that’s the only example in scripture where somebody walked away knowing what to say. You may very well be right. I can’t think of another. Another interesting observation might be he didn’t read the book of Job, realizing that he could give everything away or lose everything, but gain much more. Never thought of that. Good point. And there’s a Philippian. We’ve already talked about this, haven’t we? How about that?
Paul and Silas were praying, singing hymns to God. Prisoners were listening to him. Suddenly, a great earthquake. Foundations of the prison were shaken. Doors were opened. Everyone’s bonds were unfastened. The jailer awoke, saw that the prison doors were open, drew his sword. About to kill himself, supposing a prisoner says, escape. But Paul cried with a loud voice, don’t harm yourself, for we’re all here.
What must I do to be saved? It’s a big question for us, isn’t it? It’s a big question for our culture today. Even though our culture is not asking it, for the most part, it’s still on their hearts. But it’s being suppressed. So what must I do to have life after death? That’s what these are asking. What must I do to have life after death? Or how can I, a sinful person, stand in the presence of a holy and righteous God? That’s an appropriate way to phrase the question as well. Or how can the atonement accomplished by Jesus Christ be applied to me? Again, another way to phrase the question.
We’ve already studied that it’s Christ alone. And by and through that, we understand that it’s only Jesus Christ who has atoned. It’s only Jesus Christ who has accomplished salvation. It’s only Jesus Christ who had said, it is finished, referring to his work.
So now the question becomes, how do you take that work and how does it become applied to you? Because you can understand and agree that he has accomplished salvation, but then what does that mean for you? How can the atonement accomplished by Jesus Christ be applied to me? Well, maybe, maybe you can be saved by works. Oh, I’m seeing a head shaking, no. We’ll see.
There are those who argue that one must work to earn the favor of God and enter into glory or heaven. Who argues that? Roman Catholic Church. Roman Catholic Church. What other religion is there that is premised solely on the work of another? I’ll ask it another way. Are there religions out there that are based upon the works of the people in the religion. All of them. All of them. With one exception, Christianity. And I use that term, that word loosely, religion.
It is the only religion which is based solely upon the work of someone else. But there are those who argue that one must work to earn the favor of God. This belief or idea originates from the pride of men to pursue independence from the Lord and the corrupt belief that they are good and can do good before a holy God. Isn’t that exactly what the rich young ruler was thinking as he came? I’m good. What else is there that I need to do? Because I’m good and I can do it. You just tell me. That’s it. Just tell me. And I’m off. Pride. Pride of men. To pursue independence from the Lord. It’s prideful belief.
Then, once that prideful belief is instilled, so to speak, I think we’re born with it, actually. Then it tries to find support for works which save from the word of God. Now here we have to make a division between works that save, over here in this category, and works that are called for as you are saved. Works that save, and on the other side of that line, works that you’re called to do as a result of your salvation. So the prideful belief then looks for something in the word of God, which is gonna say, yeah, here it is. This is the verse that tells me I need to work for my salvation. Because some passages seem to call for us to work for our salvation.
They seem that way, right? We gotta lift that heavy stuff. in order to get into glory. Adam was called to work, we can see that right away in Genesis. Adam was called to work, right? He was called to maintain, he was created very good. What does that mean, very good?
Sinless, perfect, holy, righteous. And so he’s called to maintain that and to suffer for unrighteousness. Lord God commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. From the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Some theologians refer to this as the covenant of works. Adam was called to work to earn that reward from God. What was that reward going to be?
Eternal life in an unchangeable state of purity. Was he in an unchangeable state of purity at that moment? No, he was in a changeable state. He could change it if he decided to. So we’re like Adam, right? We’re just called to maintain our righteousness. No, Adam was different, wasn’t he? How was Adam different? And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Does that include Adam? Yes, it did. Adam was very good.
Were you born very good? Anybody here? Ladies in the front row, are you born very good? No? Hmm, okay. So each one of you has inherited the sin nature of Adam, is that right? I see. So you weren’t born very good. That’s the difference. Right? And so if you’re looking at Genesis 2 and you’re saying, well, Adam was called to work, so therefore I’m called to work, and you say, no, no, you’re not like Adam. You’re different. You’re born with his corruption. And God didn’t bring you into the covenant of works individually.
Adam was called into the covenant of works, and as Adam sinned and broke the covenant of works, the covenant of grace begins. How can I say that? And that’s from a human perspective, because God has decreed everything from before the clock starts ticking, right? And so as I say, well, the covenant of grace begins after they sinned. I’m saying that from a human perspective. But where would you point to in the Bible to say, OK, here’s the beginning of the covenant of work, so to speak?
Genesis. Genesis. OK, that’s 50 chapters in that book. Genesis 2? I would move it forward one chapter. Genesis 3. Yes. Yes, Genesis 3. What does the Lord tell a serpent? Well, he’s going to eat dust, yes. But there’s something else. Something about the seed of the woman. Ah, the seed of the woman is going to crush his head. Who’s the seed of the woman? Jesus. See who’s going to crush your head and you’re going to bruise his heel. What’s that a reference to? The cross.
And so as we open up Genesis 3, we’re seeing, again, from a human perspective, because God has ordained these things from before the beginning of time, we see it as, oh, that’s the beginning of the covenant of grace. Adam has broken the covenant of works. And now God ushers in, so to speak, the covenant of grace. He’s going to send his son to die on the cross, who will, in fact, complete the covenant of works for you.
That’s important. OK, so we can set that aside. You’re not like Adam. God didn’t enter into you with you. The covenant works individually. What about the call to be blameless and holy? Genesis 17. This is the Abrahamic covenant, or one portion of it. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. What about that? You’re supposed to be blameless. He was, even as he’s entering into this covenant, Abrahamic covenant with Abraham, he calls him to be blameless.
Good, you’ve got to work for this, right? Isn’t that what the Lord is saying? Or Leviticus 19, speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, you shall be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy. Doesn’t that mean you’ve got to work for your righteousness?
Yeah, you gotta cleanse yourself. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves. You’re supposed to do that. From every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. Am I convincing you? Yeah? The call to perfection.
Jesus commanded his disciples to have perfect obedience. All right, Matthew 5, in the Sermon on the Mount. You, therefore, must be perfect. Jesus has just gone over a few of the Ten Commandments, and he’s explained to his disciples really what they mean. He’s dug down into them deeply. Adultery is not just a physical act. You lust after another, and you’ve committed adultery. And what about murder? Oh, it’s not merely a physical act. You get angry with somebody, you’ve broken that commandment.
So he’s explaining to them the meaning of the Ten Commandments, and then at the end he tells them, you’ve got to be perfect. Okay, well I guess I’ve got to work for my salvation, right? Is that what Jesus was saying? I’m seeing no shaking of head here. I’m not convincing you. Maybe one of the most significant verses is Leviticus 18. So you shall keep my statutes and my judgments by which a man may live if he does them.
I’m the Lord. See if somebody could take that and say, well, yeah, you gotta work for your righteousness. And then Jesus calls his disciples, again in that Sermon on the Mount, to be salt and light. In the same way, let your light shine before others. so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who’s in heaven.” Do you see?
Works of righteousness. So there’s clearly a call throughout Scripture to be righteous, to pursue good works, and to obey God. Throughout Scripture. No denying that. We would agree with that. But is that what you’re due to do to be saved? Do these passages then state that it’s possible to earn your way into heaven? I’m seeing no’s out there. Do they indicate that it’s possible for a person to work for the favor of God? Do these passages require one to merit or purchase your way into eternal life? That’s what the rich young ruler is thinking, right? And that’s the question. Was that the intent of these passages? Is that what God is saying? We need to read all of scripture to see the truth of faith alone, right? That’s one of the hermeneutics of reading scripture. We don’t take one verse out and set it over here by itself. We read scripture together.
David, did you have something to say? I was just going to say, the law demands absolute perfection. The standard never gets lowered, but there is, in some sense, a hypothetical promise of eternal life to the one who obeys perfectly. But the covenant of works is already broken. Yes. So you could. You could merit your way into glory if you keep the law perfectly. But you can’t. You didn’t want to. You were born not wanting to. Not only Jesus. So we need to read all of scripture to see the truth of faith alone.
Remember Isaiah chapter 6? What’s happening in chapter 6? Isaiah enters into the throne room. The train of the robe of the Lord is filling the temple. Wonderful. The seraphim is flying about. What are they crying out? Thresholds of the foundations are shaking. What’s Isaiah know at that point? Woe is me. I’m ruined. Why?
Because he’s a sinful man in the midst of a sinful people. And he’s coming into the presence of a holy, holy, holy God. He’s ruined. He’s expecting at that very moment the fire of God to come pouring out upon him and consume him. He’s ruined. What happens? Was he ruined? Well, he kind of was ruined, but something happens to fix that.
What? One of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he’d taken with tongs from the altar.” Hmm. What was the altar used for? Sacrifices. Sacrifices. Huh. OK, so he’s taking a coal from the altar used to offer sacrifices to the Lord, in a sense pointing to who? pointed to Jesus Christ, the ultimate sacrifice.
He takes a burning coal, touches Isaiah’s mouth, and says, behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. Do you see that picture of Christ coming and washing clean a guilty sinner? You can’t really read this, it’s too small. But this is Isaiah saying, I didn’t cleanse myself. Right? He didn’t cleanse himself.
From Job 15, what is man that he can be pure? Rhetorical questions are pretty powerful, aren’t they? What’s a rhetorical question? It’s one that suggests the response. And so Job here isn’t actually asking, can a man be pure? He’s just saying it’s impossible. What is man that he can be pure or he who is born of a woman that he can be righteous? He’s saying it’s impossible. You can’t. It can’t be. You were born in impurity. Isn’t that what David writes in Psalm 51? I was born in iniquity. Romans chapter 3, as it is written, none is righteous, no, not one.
And so if you can only ascend the holy hill of God with clean hands, it sounds like it’s just impossible. Am I on the right track? It’s just impossible. There’s absolutely no entrance for the one who has impure hands to enter into glory and that soap isn’t going to get it off.
Job knew that. Paul knew that. Could you say that Adam’s big problem was he had an impure will? No. Not originally. As he sinned against God, he changes his will. As Adam is created, as he is birthed by God, his will was pure. His will was aligned with God’s will, completely and wholly. As he sins, as he makes that choice to disobey God, he changes himself. He goes from being pure aligned with the will of God now to being in opposition to the will of God seeking his own will so Well, let me be clear there was no problem with the will in the beginning God says he beholds what he has created It’s very good. I’m not sure I again I don’t know if we see that in Scripture anywhere else with the exception of When Jesus Christ is baptized, and the Holy Spirit descends upon him, and God the Father speaks, says, this is my beloved son. I would say those two are equivalent. Very good, this is my beloved son. Okay, getting back. We have two problems.
First, no one is righteous, and that’s what we see here, right? No one’s righteous. So to think that I can add to what Jesus has done, that I need to work for my salvation in addition to what Jesus has done, suggests that, in fact, there’s some part of me which is righteous, which then would be accepted by God in the works that I do. Well, the problem is no one’s righteous.
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift his soul up who is false and does not swear deceitfully. No one is righteous, and we see that so often throughout scripture. It is pounded into us.
And the rich, the ruler asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit life? And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. What’s the second problem? No one’s righteous. The second problem is, the justice of God demands eternal death for even the smallest. And I put that in quotes. There are no really small sins, are there? The justice of God demands eternal death for even the smallest sin.
Genesis 2.17, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. It was just a fruit. That’s all it was. One piece for each. There was plenty in the garden. What’s the big deal?
It was eternally offensive to a holy God. Eternally, for the wages of sin is death. Even if you were able to please God with righteous works and you’re not, the problem of your eternal debt for sins committed still exists. Hmm. There still needs to be payment. Even if you stopped sinning today, if that were possible, and it’s not, and you remain sinless until your death, does that kind of warrant entrance into glory? You still have a debt to pay. So there are two problems, aren’t there?
For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” By works of the law, no human being will be justified. So then the right question is, how can one be just or justified before God? That’s the right question. Webster’s 1828 justify in theology to pardon and clear from guilt. You’ve got to get rid of that guilt, right? To absolve or acquit from guilt and merited. You’ve actually earned punishment. Isn’t that what the wages of sin is death is? Isn’t that what Paul is saying? You’ve actually earned this punishment, this wrath of God by your sin. How can one be just or justified? Well, what is it to be justified? Remember those two men who go to pray? The Pharisee, how does he position himself before God?
Oh, look at me. Everything that I do, can you believe it? I’m not like these guys, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, even like this tax collector over here who’s praying next to me. I’m not like him. Fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get, I’m so good. Was he justified? Were those good works justifying for him? No. Just the opposite. Just the opposite. Who was justified? The tax collectors. Wow, nobody liked tax collectors back then. Okay. Standing far off. He won’t even come close. This is how he views himself before God. I’m going to stand way over here. He wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven. But beat his breast. I’m not sure we understand what it means to beat his breast.
It’s something having to do with the culture and the times. This means something. saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That’s it. Be merciful to me. I acknowledge, I confess before you, I’ve sinned against you, I’ve offended you. I’m gonna stand over here, because I’m not worthy. He was justified. Who justified him? I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. We can’t exalt ourselves. The tax collector didn’t think he could exalt himself. He couldn’t, he knew it. We can’t. We can’t earn our salvation. We can’t make ourselves just before God.
Impossible. Westminster Shorter Catechism, what is justification? It’s an act of God’s free grace wherein he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. It’s such a great statement that says you can’t work for your salvation. Impossible.
And then a little bit longer verse or not verse description. Those whom God effectually calls you also freely just he also freely justifies how by Pardoning their sins and accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them or done by them.
It’s faith alone. But for Christ’s sake. They receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves. It’s the gift of God. We can’t even boast that I’ve come to faith in Christ. I’ve done something good. No, no, you’ve been given it as a gift. But you need it. You need it. And by and through it, you get the obedience and satisfaction of Christ as you receive and rest upon him and his righteousness. Have you noticed as the Lord begins the Sermon on the Mount? And all of these blessed are, blessed are, blessed are.
They have to do with the heart, the condition of the heart, not with work. Jesus Christ does not say blessed are those who really work hard for their righteousness. No. Poor in spirit, gentle, merciful, pure in heart. All of them have to do with the condition of the heart, not work. And who governs the heart?
Only God. Yes, sir. I’m just curious. How would you go about the whole James dilemma? Faith without work. I think there’s obviously a mixing of the two. How would you work that out if somebody who pre-brought that up and says, well, you say soli fide, but James says soli fide and words.
Yeah. So here’s the thing. It’s 939. Which means that’s another class, actually. But that’s actually a very good question. And it would take some time for me to walk through that, an excellent question. with your permission, we’ll put it into another class and walk through that because that’s important. That’s important. Because it is 939, actually 940, let me pray for us and Lord willing, we’ll continue.
Father, we thank you and praise you that our salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone, by grace alone. Oh, what a glorious thing you have done in your son. Help us to know, to understand, to believe, and to rejoice in these doctrines. We thank you. We praise you. Prepare us now to come before you in worship and service and praise Work on our hearts, Lord. Cleanse us of our sins in Christ. Help us to ascend the holy hill, your holy hill, this morning. We ask all this in Jesus’ name.