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October 25, 2009
1 John 2:27
Exordium: When the men of old Scotland went out to battle by clans they shouted out their slogans. Strong crisp words that said who they were and what they were doing.
That was also the way of the Reformers. They had slogans too.
Sola Gratia-Grace alone
Sola Fide-Faith alone
Sola Scriptura-the Bible alone
Sola Dei Gloria-God’s glory alone and
Sola Ipse-the individual alone.
It is that one that we want to focus on just now “Sola Ipse”. The Reformation has been called “the declaration of intellectual independence”. It stresses the worth and the place of the individual as over against the institution.
And out of that spirit and the writings of the Reformation came democracy in the Western World with its conviction that the state ought to serve the person rather than the person the state.
How indebted we are to this truth of the Sola Ipse. We need to find out more deeply what it means.
I John 5:7, II Corinthians 13:14
Exordium: This morning let’s start with the benediction: Often we use what is called the Apostolic Benediction.
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The Love of God the Father,
And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all forever.”
The suggestion is here that each person of the Triune God has a particular kind of blessing to impart to us. There is one God, but the whole deity has within Himself three persons or distinctions, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The question we want to ask this morning is “How does the fact of the Trinity assist us in our daily walk with God?”
Explication: These two texts will help us:
“There are three that bear witness: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit and these three are one.” (1 John 5:7)
These words reinforce the words of the benediction for us- in expressing that the persons of the Trinity have a special connection, a communion, with the believer in ways particular to each member of the Triune God.
The other text is: “In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you-for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.” (John 16:26-27) This text teaches us that the particular kind of communication which the Father has with us is love.
In these three Sundays, I hope to show how the members of the Trinity each in His own way, assist you in walking with God.
