Soli Deo Gloria: Glory to God Alone
The Solas of the Reformation • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.
Introduction: Over the past four weeks, we’ve looked at the Solas of the Reformation. Sola Scriptura, or “Scripture Alone,” is the doctrine that our highest authority is God’s word. Because the Bible is the very word of God, and since God is our highest authority, any belief, creed, or earthly authority is ultimately subject to what Scripture itself says.
Next, we looked at Solus Christus, “Christ Alone.” This is the doctrine that Christ alone is the way to the Father. There is no other path of salvation, no other way to be saved, outside of the work of Jesus Christ. And Jesus doesn’t just make it possible to be saved if we go through the church or do enough good deeds. No, he alone was worthy and able to secure our salvation.
Then, we discussed Sola Fide, “Faith Alone.” The means that our faith alone—without respect to any good deeds done—is the means by which God justifies us.
But, ultimately, we saw last week that it’s God’s Grace alone, “Sola Gratia,” that is the basis for our salvation. We’re saved through faith—that is, our faith is the occasion and instrument God uses—but we’re saved by grace. God is the one who initiates, God is the one who opens blind eyes and softens hard hearts. Outside of the unmerited favor of God, we would be totally helpless to save ourselves or to bring ourselves to faith. It is by grace we’re saved, through faith, and all of this—God’s salvation by grace through our faith—is a gift from God.
This all points to one inevitable conclusion—it’s all about God! It’s not about us! All of our good deeds, our faith, and even our salvation itself is not ultimately about us, but about God. Everything God has done in salvation history is all purposed for one end goal—Soli Deo Glory—Glory to God alone!
And this is a perfect reminder for us today as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Formosa Baptist Church. As we celebrate today, it would be very easy to brag about what we have done, about what great things we have accomplished. But, if even our salvation was done for the purpose of God’s glory, then we can conclude that the reason God has allowed Formosa Baptist Church to continue on in this community and not—like so many churches in similar settings—close up shop or die a slow, painful death is for the glory of God.
And so, today, we will boast—but not in ourselves! We will boast in what Christ has done through us.
17 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Psalm 145.
1 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. 3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. 5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. 6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. 7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.
10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you! 11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, 12 to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.
14 The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. 15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. 16 You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. 17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. 18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. 20 The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. 21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
The Lord has blessed us with generation after generation of those who have honored him. (145:4-7)
The Lord has blessed us with generation after generation of those who have honored him. (145:4-7)
This sermon is going to be a little bit different from my normal sermons. I’m not going to try to explain what the text says this morning, because this isn’t that kind of text. It’s pretty self-explanatory. Instead, we’re going to DO what the text says to DO. The passage says “one generation shall commend your works to another,” and so that’s what we’re going to do! We’re going to meditate on his works and deeds and declare his greatness.
4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.
Testimonial from the Vest/Bonds family of the transmission of faith from one generation to the next.
(5-7 mins)
The Lord has been gracious and merciful to his people. (145:8-9)
The Lord has been gracious and merciful to his people. (145:8-9)
8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.
My personal testimony of Jennifer’s medevac, subsequent mental health struggles, and God’s redemption.
All of us have experienced the grace and mercy of God.
The Lord has shown his power and glory through mighty works. (145:10-13)
The Lord has shown his power and glory through mighty works. (145:10-13)
10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you! 11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, 12 to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.
Testimonial from a mission trip of God’s power and working advancing his Kingdom.
Liz Reece’s Testimony
Brianna Pate’s Testimony:
Our trip in 2016 to Honduras took an unexpected turn. To give a backstory on these trips, a large group of us from Arkansas, including many from Formosa Baptist would go on a medical-dental mission in January. There is an in-country team there that would scout out places, usually remote villages, where we could serve. They would usually find villages that hadn’t had medical or dental care in years.
The one in 2016 was VERY remote. The typical process was that we would fly into the country on a Saturday and drive out to the village on Sunday. We would usually “take over” a school, making our home there for the next 3 days. On Monday-Wednesday we would have our medical-dental clinic, then we would leave on Thursday. It was a well-oiled machine.
This particular year we didn’t have enough people coming to the clinic for care. Typically we would see hundreds of patients each day but that year we had seen almost all of the patients in the first day or day ½. But we noticed that several of the patients who were coming to the clinics were sharing with us that they were hungry, which I don’t remember hearing before in other villages we had served. So our plans started to change.
After speaking with the in-country missionary we decided to buy some food for them. The in-country missionary team went back to town and bought some rice, beans, and corn meal in bulk. We used some money that had been donated to us prior to the trip to buy the food. When they returned from town we distributed the food into smaller bags. Then we loaded the food into backpacks and “backpacked” it to homes in the community.
There weren’t roads to these homes so we had to walk it there. The terrain was pretty rough! It was mountainous and although there were lots of homes in the area we couldn’t see them. We found, or maybe I should say God brought us, a sweet local lady who went with us and showed us where all the homes in the area were located. We ended up delivering food to one home where they told us the children hadn’t eaten for 3 days! They were so appreciative and I have a framed picture of one of the little girls chasing after us and giving me a picked flower to say thank you. It's funny how God usually changes our plans on those trips and we always end up leaving different than when we came.
The Lord has provided during times of need. (145:14-20)
The Lord has provided during times of need. (145:14-20)
14 The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. 15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. 16 You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. 17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. 18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. 20 The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
Billy Reece--Testimonial of God’s provision during building programs.
Add testimonial of God’s faithfulness during the Great Depression, WWII, etc.
1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!