The sermon by Jason Dohm, titled 'The Goodness of God in the Reformations,' discusses the biblical account of King Josiah's reforms as a model of spiritual reformation. It contrasts the wicked reigns of Manasseh and Ammon with Josiah's righteous leadership, emphasizing his discovery and adherence to the book of the law. Josiah's reforms included the removal of idolatry and the re-establishment of covenantal worship. The sermon draws parallels between Josiah's reforms and the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s, highlighting figures like John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, Martin Luther, and John Calvin. It emphasizes the five solas—Scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, and to the glory of God alone—as foundational to Protestant theology. The sermon argues that reformation is an ongoing process, driven by God's faithfulness and the power of His Word. It concludes by urging believers to remain anchored in these principles and to continue reforming by returning to the Word of God.

Ammon was 22 years old when he became king and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord as his father Manasseh had done. So he walked in all the ways that his father had walked, and he served idols that his father had served, and worshiped them. He forsook the Lord God of his fathers and did not walk in the way of the Lord. Then the servants of Ammon conspired against him and killed the king in his own house.

The people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Ammon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place." This is a history of two kings, Manasseh, the grandfather who reigned 55 years and then his son Ammon who reigned two years, both very wicked, both pagan idolaters who did the most terrible things. And the span of their reign was 57 years, so unless you were an old man or an old woman in Israel, you never would have known the reign of a faithful king. The one king further up the line was Hezekiah, and he was a faithful king. So now to 2 Kings 22.

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. It came to pass in the 18th year of King Josiah, so now he's 26 years old, he was eight when he became king, and this is the 18th year of his reign, so he's 26. Now it came to pass in the eighteenth year of King Josiah that the king sent Shafon the scribe to the house of the Lord saying, go up to Hilkiah the high priest that he may count the money which has been brought into the house of the Lord which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people.

Let them deliver it into the hand of those doing the work, who are the overseers in the house of the Lord. Let them give it to those who are in the house of the Lord doing the work, to repair the damages of the house. Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shiphon the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. Hilkiah gave the book to Shiphon and he read it. So Shiphon the scribe went to the king, bringing the king word, saying, Your servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of those who do the work, who oversee the house of the Lord.

Then Shefon the scribe showed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. Shafon read it before the king. Now it happened when the king heard the words of the book of the law that he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahicham, Achbor, Shafon the scribe, and Asiah the servant of the king saying, Go inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us.

So Hilkiah the priest, Ahakam, Achbor, Shafon, and Asiah went to Holda the prophetess, the wife of Shalom, and they spoke with her. Then she said to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, tell the man who sent you to me, thus says the Lord, behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants. All the words of the book which the king of Judah has read, because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore my wrath shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched. But as for the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, In this manner you shall speak to him.

Thus says the Lord God of Israel, concerning the words which you have heard, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before me. I also have heard you, says the Lord. Surely I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see the calamity which I will bring on this place." So they brought back word to the king. Second Kings 23. Now the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him.

The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant. And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the hosts of heaven.

And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in all the places all around Jerusalem. And those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the hosts of heaven. And he brought out the wooden image from the house of the Lord to the brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the brook Kidron, and ground it to ashes, and threw its ashes on the graves of the common people. Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the House of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the wooden image.

And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense from Giba to Beersheba. Also, he broke down the high places at the gates and he defiled Tofeth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or daughter pass through the fire to Molech. So this is a place where they actually engaged in a child sacrifice to pagan gods. Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the Son at the entrance to the house of the Lord by the chamber of Nathan-Melek, the officer who was in the court, and he burned the chariots of the Son with fire. The altars that were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king broke down and pulverized there and threw their dust into the brook Gidron.

Then the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chimash, the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom, the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images and filled their places with the bones of men. Moreover, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, Both that altar and the high place he broke down, and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image. As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain, and he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the Lord, which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. Then he said, what gravestone is this that I see?" So the men of the city told him, it is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.

So there's this prophet here who's buried, and God had sent him to prophesy the things that Josiah is unwittingly. Josiah never knew that these things were prophesied, but this prophet was sent to say these things would be done in the future by a king of Israel. He's fulfilling these things and then asking whose tomb is that and it's the prophet who prophesied these things that he has unwittingly fulfilled. And he said, let him alone, let no one move his bones. So they let his bones alone with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

Now Josiah also took away all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger. And he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel. He executed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned the men's bones on them, and he returned to Jerusalem. Then the king commanded all the people, saying, keep the Passover to the Lord your God as it is written in this book of the covenant. Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of all the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.

But in the 18th year of King Josiah, this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem. Moreover, Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritus, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. Now before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his might according to all the law of Moses, nor after him did any arise like him." That was a wonderful Reformation. And So our term, the Reformation, we know what we mean by that. We mean the Reformation of the 1500s, but It's a misnomer.

It's an incorrect way to think about it. It was a Reformation. Praise God for it. But I just read about a Reformation that might have been a greater Reformation than Martin Luther and John Calvin and all their theological children. The greatest reformation in all of time, of course, is the time of Jesus Christ where he entered the temple and he cleansed it and he corrected all the false doctrine and he corrected the practice of the people and he won salvation for his people.

Now that's the reformation that we should love above all reformations. When God sends reformation, the Holy spirit saves people and then raises them up to embrace the word of God like Josiah and to worship God in spirit and truth, heart worship, but according to his word like Josiah and to smash the idols of the age like Josiah." And certainly all that fits Martin Luther and those who came before him and after him. So, therefore, the title of the sermon, The Goodness of God in the Reformations, reformations happen not because men are great, but because God is faithful. And He's promised never to leave us or forsake us. And even when the people of God backslide and forget about the Word of God, he doesn't just let us drift off and let his glory be lost forever, but he raises up people to restore honor for himself by restoring honor for his word.

So praise praise God for that. The many reformations that have happened through the millennia. Let's pray. God we thank you for your goodness expressed in every Reformation. The most significant one near us, the Reformation of the 1500s, we owe so much to the recovery of the Word of God and critical foundational doctrines during that time.

So thank you for raising up these men. We want to thank you for them, but not divert honor that's due to you to them. Thank you for your promise to be with us to the end of the age, to never leave or forsake us. And Thank you for these tokens that you're always keeping those promises. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Well, I want to begin by giving you some history from the Reformation of the 1500s, what we call the Reformation, which is a Reformation. And to do that you really have to go back to the 1300s and the preaching and ministry of John Wycliffe, who was a seminary professor at Oxford. He got crossways with the Roman Church about their practices and about their not giving the Bible to the common man and he actually produced a Bible in English in the 1300s. You have to go back to Jan Hus, or we would say John Hus, from the early 1400s. He was a monk who opposed the Pope and championed scripture.

Does that sound familiar? A monk who opposed the Pope and championed scripture. That's just like Martin Luther, only a hundred years earlier than Martin Luther. And he was burned alive for his troubles in 1415. Jan Hus or John Hus lived and ministered in modern-day Czech Republic.

It was called Bohemia then. This gave way to Martin Luther and the 95 theses that he nailed to the door of the church in Wittenberg on October 31st, 1517, I guess, 504 years ago, if I've done the math right. John Calvin was eight years old at the time, so the Reformation of the 1500s really did begin in a significant way with Martin Luther. A few years later in 1521 was the diet of worms, spelled worms, the diet of worms, or worms, in which he said, here I stand, I can do no other. So he stood on the word of God, he refused to recant his teachings, He put his life on the line.

This year, I've read a really good biography of Martin Luther called The Triumph of Truth. It's by Merle Dobinier. It's not a modern biography, but it is wonderful, and so I would really, really commend that biography of Martin Luther, the triumph of truth. And then in 1522, the next year, he produced the German Bible when he had been hidden away, really sort of abducted by his friends to keep him from being martyred. So in the next year he spent that year totally devoted to producing a German Bible.

In the mid-1520s, the Reformation spread to Switzerland with John Calvin in Geneva and with Ulrich Zwingli. And in 1526, William Tindal produced the English Bible. In 1545 was the Council of Trent, which represented the Counter-Reformation. In other words, the Catholic Church recoiled from the Reformation and made an effort to clean up some of the the worst abuses, but also anathematized or explicitly rejected the core doctrines of the Reformation at the Council of Trent. So many of these worst of the abuses, the selling of indulgences and the like, had been cleaned up by the Catholic Church, but their doctrine is exactly the same as it was coming out of the Council of Trent in 1545.

None of those doctrines have ever been walked back. So the fundamental differences between the Protestants and Catholics are the same today as they were in 1545. In the 1540s, John Knox, who had been with John Calvin in Geneva, left Geneva and went home to Scotland and took the Reformation with him. So those are just the high points. Seminaries have semester classes on the Reformation.

We've not even scratched the surface, but those are some of the high points of the Reformation in the 1500s. All that to get to the important stuff, which is the theological inheritance of the Reformation. So what did we inherit theologically from the Reformation? We inherited the five solas, which is a summary of the key points of conflict of the Protestant Reformation. Sola is Latin for alone or only.

It's the five alones, or the five onlies, of the Protestant Reformation. I'll give them to you. We should know them well. They should roll off of our lips because this is Not about fine points. This is about Fundamental doctrines about how sinners are saved if you don't know these points you really don't know how sinners are saved according to Scripture.

The first sola of the Protestant Reformation, sola scriptura. You spell scriptura just like you spell Scripture, except for the last letters, not an E, it's an A. Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone, or only Scripture. Friends, the Bible is the, not A, The fixed, immovable basis for knowing truth revealed by God. Listen to 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17.

Such familiar territory, but I'm not ashamed to read it again for the whatevereth time. 2 Timothy 3 verses 16 and 17, Paul writes, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It literally means God breathed. You have one book on planet earth that has been breathed out by God and I'm holding it. All scripture is given by inspiration of God or God breathed and is profitable for doctrine, like a body of truth, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." The Word of God, from the first word in Genesis to the last word in Revelation is inspired by God.

Directly inspired by God. Every word inspired by God. It's called verbal plenary inspiration. Meaning the unit of inspiration is not the thought, it's the word. And it all is inspired by God or breathed out by God.

It will make the believer complete. In other words, there's nothing that you need that it doesn't have. You can't be complete through this and also this other thing. The other thing isn't needed. If all you have is this, you have what you need to make you Complete as a believer Thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Let's listen to this comprehensive language that the Apostle Paul draws on. It will make you complete. It will make you thoroughly, not partially, but thoroughly equipped for every good work, not for some good works, but for every good work. Because that is what scripture is, it is the final court of appeal for all matters of doctrine and practice. So what's the supreme court for our doctrine and practice?

Here it is, the Supreme Court. There's nowhere to go after the Bible weighs in on a topic. A translation. Only Scripture defines what we must believe. Only scripture defines what we must do.

Doctrine. What we must believe. Scripture defines it. Only scripture defines it. Practice.

What we do. Scripture defines it. Only scripture defines it. You can listen to or turn to Isaiah 8 verses 19 and 20. Just listen to this.

Very profound. Isaiah 8 verses 19 and 20. The prophet says, and when they say to you, so these are the other voices, when they, the other voices say to you, Seek those who are mediums and wizards who whisper and mutter. Should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?

To the law and the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. There are other voices out there, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of other voices out there, whispering and muttering, claiming authority. God through the prophet says to the law and the testimony. If they don't speak according to what is in this book, it's because there's no light in them.

This is light. This is light. It is the plumb line. What's a plumb line? A plumb line is just a string with a weight on it.

When you have a string with a weight on it, you have a standard for vertical, because gravity makes sure that it's straight up and down and so you you erect a plumb line a string with the weight on it to ensure that you're building to vertical if the plumb line says the wall is vertical it's vertical because it is the standard for vertical. If it says the wall is not vertical, it's not vertical because the plum line is the standard for vertical. The Word of God is that for the people of God if the Word of God Says it it is it because it is our standard. It is the final court of appeal for all things All matters of doctrine what we must believe and all matters of practice What we must do brothers and sisters we have no frame of reference for how distant the Bible was in the time of Martin Luther. Martin Luther would go to the meetings, the gatherings that were part of the church calendar, none of which are to be found in the Bible.

He would go to these things and he would hear bits and pieces of scripture read during these events and he assumed that was scripture. That was the sum total of scripture and it wasn't a thousandth of scripture, but he didn't even know there was more. He was a monk. He was a full-time religious man and he didn't know there was more to Scripture than what was just read on the Catholic feast days. The Bible was so distant to them.

It was not available to them. It was not preached to them. They didn't know it. They couldn't read it. Second, the second sola, the Protestant Reformation.

Sola gratia, G-R-A-T-I-A, grace alone, or only grace. Salvation is 100% grace. It is 100% gift, the gift of God. Or it's not a gift at all. It cannot be 99.99% gift and 0.01% something else, or it ceases to be what the Bible claims to be.

It ceases to be a gift at all. Listen to Ephesians 2, you can go there, we just preach through Ephesians so this should still be semi-fresh in your mind. Ephesians 2 verses 4 and 5 and then verses 8 and 9. Ephesians 2, 4 and 5, but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses. So now Our ability has been defined by Paul.

You have the ability of a dead man. Okay, so our ability has been defined. Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. It is completely in keeping with the text to say, by grace alone.

That's an addition, but it's in keeping with the text. By grace alone you have been saved. Now verses 8 and 9. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is The gift of God, not of works.

How could Paul be more explicit, be more careful, not just to be misunderstood, but to make sure that he can't be misunderstood? To say that salvation is by grace alone. Well, maybe Romans 6 23. Listen to Romans 6 23. For the wages of sin is death, But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It's the gift of God. Salvation. By grace, by gift. Alone. Or maybe Romans 11 verse 6, and if by grace then it is no longer of works.

Otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works it is no longer grace. Otherwise work is no longer work. Okay well what's the argument being made here? Pick one, stick with it.

Like make it of grace or make it of works because they define the range. They are polar opposites of one another. The minute you add a smidgen of works, it isn't grace. The minute you add a smidgen of grace, it can't be of works. They invalidate one another.

They invalidate one another. It has to be one or the other. So, Paul is actually attacking the notion that it could be 99% grace and 1% works. He's forcing us to pick between the two because they are polar opposites. Brothers and sisters, we have no frame of reference for how disruptive solo gratia by grace alone was to the religious system of the day.

The worst abuse potentially, Probably not actually, but one of the very bad abuses at the time was the sale of indulgences. The producing of money, either to shorten a time in purgatory for a friend or family member who had already died, or to purchase pardon for your own sins with money, even future sins. So like pre-purchase a pardon for future sins. In the biography that I mentioned, the triumph of truth, there's a hilarious story about Tetzel who was the most famous, most successful indulgent seller coming into town to sell pardon for sins. Now I mean that's not grace alone.

Grace plus money to sell pardon for sins. And there was a nobleman who actually understood truth. And he asked Tetzel, so, I can purchase pardon for a future sin. Yes, you can. So he purchased pardon for a future sin.

As Tetzel left town, he met him, he gave him quite a beating. When he was hauled into court for his crimes he produced his indulgence and dared the judge to convict him of sin when heaven had pardoned him for his indulgence. And the judge let him go free. There you go. Salvation is by grace alone.

It can't be purchased with money or anything else. These other systems try to purchase pardon through different kind of ceremonies or works reliance on other things. It might as well be money. Do you understand that? It is the sale of indulgences.

Every other religion in the world shares this commonality. Work harder, do more. That is buying pardon for sin, and pardon has never been for sale by money or any other currency. Only grace, only the gift of God and the minute you abandon that for 1% or a tenth percent or a hundredth of a percent or a thousandth of percent, you have stolen the glory from God for salvation. You've stolen it.

You've robbed him of his glory. The third sola of the Protestant Reformation is sola fide, F-I-D-E. Faith alone, or only faith. Faith alone, or only faith. Justification of the believer, the pronouncing of a believer to be pardoned and made right and made innocent is through faith alone.

Faith is the great channel for pardon. The only channel for pardon. Listen to Romans 4, the beginning of Romans 4 and then the beginning of Romans 5. I'll read Romans 4, 1 through 5. Paul writes, What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh.

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Paul here quotes Genesis 15 verse 6. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

The justification of Abraham was because he believed God. Verse 4, now to him who works the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. So there's that argument again. If it's of works it can't be of grace. If it's of grace, it can't be of works.

But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. What's Paul teaching? It was always by faith. It's not that the Old Testament is about salvation through law keeping and the New Testament is salvation through Christ. Old Testament and New, Trusting in God has always been the channel for salvation, for justification.

There has never been another one. Then the first two verses of chapter 5, Romans chapter 5 verses 1 and 2, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. So The access into the grace comes by faith. That's how we're justified. That's what makes us a partaker of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Faith is the only channel to lay hold of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. The nanosecond you add anything to faith, you ruin the grace formula. The nanosecond that you add anything, any measure, any hint of anything to faith, you ruin the grace formula because faith is the channel for grace. It must be faith alone. More on that in a moment.

The fourth sola of the Protestant Reformation is actually a solo, solo Cristo. Christ alone or only Christ. Only Christ. Jesus is that great solitary object of faith. No one preaches on Christ alone better than Christ.

John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." Later in that same chapter, so we're still in John chapter 3, John chapter 3 verse 36 isn't Jesus, it's actually John the Baptist about Jesus. Listen to this, John 3.36. John the Baptist says, He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. The only thing that determines whether the wrath of God abides on you for your sins is if you believe in the Son of God whom God sent. Period.

There's nothing to be added to it. If you believe in Jesus, the wrath of God has been satisfied on Christ on the cross. And if you do not believe in the Son, then your sins remain with you unaccounted for until you pay for them yourself. Breath taking clarity out of the words of Jesus and John the Baptist. Ultimately, it isn't faith that saves.

Hear that? It is the object of faith that saves. Faith is the channel, but it is the object. Everyone has faith. I think you could make a great argument that atheists have some of the strongest faith in the world.

It does not save them. Faith in Allah does not save you. Faith in Hindu gods does not save you. They might have stronger faith than many Christians, and yet the object of faith will fail them. Their trust is misplaced.

Nothing can be added to Christ. He alone is the object of faith. When you add Mary, it is not saving faith. When you add works, it is not saving faith. When you add the sacraments, taking the Lord's Supper, baptism, It is not saving faith.

When you add the sacraments, taking the Lord's Supper, baptism, it is not saving faith. When you add oricular confession, or going to the priest to confess your sins, it is not saving faith. When you add anything, it is not saving faith. Let's give Peter the last word. Acts 4 verse 12.

He said this to the enemies of Jesus. He invited them to become the friends of Jesus. Listen to this in Acts 4 verse 12. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Only Jesus, in all of world history, only Jesus Christ fits this description. Fully God, so the sacrifice would be pure, so the sacrifice would be of sufficient value.

Only man, so he could stand in our place as one of our kind. Only he can do what is necessary to save a sinner, to make a sacrifice that could be acceptable to God. The fifth sola of the Protestant Reformation and the final one, soli deo gloria, to the glory of God alone, or only to the glory of God. Paul couldn't be more concise on this, 1 Corinthians 10, 31. 1 Corinthians 10, 31, Paul writes, therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Wake up to the glory of God. Breathe to the glory of God. Have breakfast to the glory of God. Go to church to the glory of God. Do your work to the glory of God.

Do all to the glory of God. I stumbled on this quote this morning. It's from a Dr. Matheson. I know nothing about him other than he's a professor of systematic theology at Reformation Bible College.

Reformation Bible College was founded by Ursi Spruill. He says this and I found it helpful and wonderful. Sole Deo Gloria is both the beginning and the end of the other four solas. The Holy Spirit inspired the scriptures to the glory of God alone. Christ humbled himself to the point of death and was raised and exalted to the right hand of the Father to the glory of God alone.

Grace and mercy are offered to rebellious sinners to the glory of God alone. Grace and mercy are offered to rebellious sinners to the glory of God alone. Justification is by faith alone to the glory of God alone. Sole Deo Gloria therefore is central. Do you remember back to the structure of Ephesians chapter 1?

The Father does this to save sinners, to the glory of, to the praise of His glory. Jesus does this for the salvation of sinners, to the praise of His glory. The Holy Spirit does this for the saving of sinners, to the praise of His glory. Let's close out this solo with Isaiah 42 verse 8. Isaiah 42 verse 8.

I am the Lord, that is my name. In my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carved images." He is a jealous God. He will not share his glory with another. Before we move on, let me make two final comments about the five solas. One, these are under attack in every generation.

You cannot find a generation in which these five central foundational points of doctrine were not under attack. You can find the modern version of the attack of every one of them. Know these. Know how to find in the Bible the truths that establish these solas and defend against the attacks on these solas. Two, these are such an anchor.

These will anchor you and keep you from drifting. These will bring you back when you've started to drift. These will keep you sound when people around you are becoming unsound. So my exhortation is let them anchor you. Let these five solas beginning with scripture alone anchor you.

Finally, I want to talk about what I think is the other great and actually the greatest inheritance from the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s. The Bible in our language. The Bible in our language. The greatest legacy of the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s is putting the Bible in the hands of believers in a language that they understand. Why do I say this is the greatest?

Because if you don't have the five solas, but you do have the Bible, believers will have the five solas soon enough. They're not snatched out of the air. They're here. They're here with breathtaking clarity. So if you deprive The people of God of the five solas and a crystallization of this doctrine, but you leave them with the Bible They'll be back to the five solas soon enough But if you give them this distillation this separate articulation of Bible teaching, but you take away the Bibles, you'll lose it all sooner than you know.

When Luther was in a monastery, There was one Bible on a chain. So monastery, a lot of people, a lot of monks, one Bible chained in place so that someone didn't make off with this valuable book and Luther would come back to the Bible on the chain and come back to the Bible on the chain and read and study and and expose himself to Scripture. That's all it took. It was one Bible on a chain. And God birthed the Protestant Reformation and gave us so much we should be thankful for.

So that brings us to our applications. I'll give you two. Number one, thank God that He will never leave or forsake His people. Reformations are just a sign that He keeps all His promises. Really isn't about the personalities that God raises up, though we should give thanks for them and be grateful that God did raise them up.

It really, these are tokens that God is a promise keeping God who has promised to never leave or forsake his people to be with us to the end of the age. Second application is this, never stop reforming. The other thing about that I don't like about the term the Reformation is that it makes it sound like we're done. We got our Bibles in our language. We have the five solas and so all we have to do is just Keep doing what they did.

Well, we do need to keep doing what they did, but we don't stop there. I want to end with a quote from Alexander Vannet, who was a Swiss reformed theologian and preacher in the early to mid 1800s. So this is more, a little more modern. Early to mid 1800s. Alexander Vannette says this and I just want to give a hearty amen to it even before I've read it.

He said this, the Reformation is still something to be accomplished. Something for which Luther and Calvin only prepared an even ground and an open door. They did not once and for all reform the church but they affirmed the principle and laid down the terms for all future reform. To continue the work of Reformation do not consider it complete but return without delay to the large, pure spring of all truth, the Word of God. Amen to that.

The church hasn't been reformed once and for all, but they laid the groundwork for it. And to continue the Reformation, we return to the large, pure spring of all truth, the Word of God. God, thank you for these five alones or onlys. These five alones or onlys. Scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, Faith alone, Christ alone, the glory of God alone, may this be the watchword over us.

May we be so rooted in these, knowing which portions of your word establish them, and knowing from your word how to defend them. Thank you for this great theological legacy. I pray that you would help us to continue reforming till We breathe our last breath. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.