2 Chronicles 34 and the Reformation – Part Three
Rev. Pollema continues from Part Two . .
Reformation Today
Today the church again needs to preach the truths of the Reformation. The bulk of theology being taught today denies that the Bible is, in any supernatural sense, the Word of God. Most seminary graduates today have exchanged the truths of the Bible for myths and legends, and as a result, Sunday worship services have become nothing more than little social gatherings where the injustices and evils of present day society are discussed and debated, or where men and women are made to feel good about themselves, but where no cause and cure is ever forthcoming because God’s Word is not applied and the corruption of sin is not preached. Consequently, God’s Law is again lost to the bulk of today’s generation.
Today, as in the past, God’s Word must be brought back into the pulpits of the land and its truths faithfully proclaimed. The great principles rediscovered during the Reformation—grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone, and Christ alone—must again be proclaimed. God’s Word offers much more than a way of escape from hell; it extends the opportunity for an inward reformation, a reformation in the human heart. It is inward reformations that blossom forth in outward reformations.
The principles that served as the watchword of the Reformation 490 years ago: grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone, and Christ alone, can also be used to speak of the reformation that takes place in the individual’s life when Jesus Christ comes in.
Grace Alone (Sola Gratia)
“For by grace are ye saved” (Eph. 2:8). The Christian life begins and continues on the basis of God’s grace. God is at work in the Christian to change him from a selfish, self-willed rebel into a son of God whose purpose in life is to do his Father’s will. Paul told the Philippian Christians that God the Holy Spirit was continually at work within them, first to make them desire His will and law, and then to help them do it. The apostle Paul said of himself and of every Christian, “It is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in” (Phil. 4:13). The Christian who misses this principle of grace and seeks to live the Christian life by flexing his own spiritual muscles will fail miserably.
Stay tuned for Part Four!
Labels: Doctrine of Salvation, Reformation
posted by The Catechizer and The Deacon | 8:17 AM
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