Developing Resources to help you glorify God and enjoy Him forever

Most of the time our conversations with one another are shallow, surfacy and do not get to the real issues of our lives. We like staying on top of the water, discussing the weather, the latest sports debacle, or neighborhood gossip. We want to interact with each other but we don’t want to meddle or get too personal. We ask the question, “How are you doing?”, yet we don’t really want an answer longer than, “I’m fine, how are you.”

But why? Why are we afraid to talk to each other about the really important things in our lives and what is really going on in our hearts? I think mainly because we are selfish and self-conscious. Selfish in the sense that we really don’t want to take the time to listen to someone’s problems and then have to take even more time if they need help working through them. Self-conscious in that we don’t want others to see how vulnerable and weak we really are. We all have struggles and we just don’t want to admit it, and we certainly don’t want to discuss it with others.

But, God designed us to live in relationships. God designed us to communicate and interact with one another in such a way that we can carry each other’s burdens, share our needs with one another and minister to one another.
But how can we do this in everyday conversation? Sometimes we don’t have more than a few minutes to be with people. Sometimes we just don’t know what else to talk about. I want to offer three simple questions that could radically change your small talk into significant life on life interaction with those around you. Are you ready?

1. Have you been living in the rhythm of repentance and faith?
Many of you know I like to use that phrase, “living in the rhythm of repentance and faith.” I believe, because the Scriptures tell us, that every day we fall short of God’s best for our lives. We all fall short of living for God’s glory all the time. Therefore, we need to repent, stop doing the things that oppose God and His glory, and believe in faith that God has redeemed us from our sin. We turn away from our sin and turn back to God through faith in Christ who has died for our sins, past, present and future. This takes humility, vulnerability, and honesty before the face of God. But, it is also good to live authentically before the face of one another. How would you react if someone asked you, “Have you been living in the rhythm of repentance and faith?” Would you share honestly about your struggles and shortcomings? Why not? What are you afraid of? Let’s put aside our pride and our outward persona to be open and honest with one another. Let’s be ready to embrace the gospel of grace through Jesus.

2. Have you been personally engaging the Bible this week?
There is no greater book for no other book contains the very words of God. Some people say, “I wish God would just speak to me.” My answer is, “He has, just read the Bible.”

God really does want you to know Him, face to face, word to word. He has revealed Himself to us through the Scriptures, so we take them very seriously. We study them, memorize them, read them, listen to them and meditate on them. So that we can clearly hear God speak to us, to understand His will for our lives and for this world.
How do we engage the Bible personally? We study it daily on our own. Create in your schedule some time to be in God’s Word daily. We listen to it preached and taught. This happens on Sunday mornings in church and Sunday School, this happens in Community Groups, and small group Bible studies. Engaging the Bible can happen as you download a sermon from one of your favorite preachers or watch them online. But engaging the Bible means that we not only listen and read it, but we also obey it, struggle with it, apply it and allow it to transform our hearts, minds and lives.

3. Have you been reaching out and loving those around you this week?
God does not call us to live self-centered, isolated lives. He calls us to live in community and in relationship with others. Jesus said, “Love one another. All men will know you are my disciples if you love one another.” This means loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, with all their warts and worries. Jesus lived out a life of service as Mark says, “For even the Son of Man [Jesus] did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” We follow Jesus throughout the day by loving, serving and ministering to those we come in contact with through the power of the gospel living in us.

I realize that these three questions do not comprehensively cover all the things we are to do and be about as believers but it’s a start. What might happen if we started asking these questions to one another? I believe we would start speaking to one another in a way that God wants us to. Getting below the surface of our skin to our hearts. I believe we will be challenged by one another and we will be holding one another accountable to being disciples of Christ.

Repentance and faith?
Engaging the Bible?
Loving others?

Giving you permission to ask me these questions,
Fletch

I have been using an excellent resource for daily personal Bible study. It is a daily email devotional sent by Ken Boa. As an author, Ken is one of my favorite spiritual mentors. All you have to do is log on to: http://kenboa.org, on the right side sign up for Daily Growth Sign Up.

I hate to waste time. So I use this devotional when I am sitting around waiting for someone, or something. I get email on my Blackberry so I always have some Scripture to encourage me. I use it to keep me going through the day.
You could use this for your devotional time or to supplement it. Whatever works best for you.

All for Jesus,
Fletch

Monday, June 14, 2010 was a life changer.  I was supposed to go fishing with my son, Taylor.  Instead, I woke up with some chest pain and my left arm felt kind of “funny”.  I shrugged it off as heartburn and tried to go on with my day.  But after fixing breakfast and a cup of coffee but not having the energy to eat or drink it I knew something might be wrong.  One more hour of feeling completely out of gas, Julie and I decided to go to the emergency room.  I felt pretty stupid going through all this trouble for heartburn.  However, after several hours of consistent pain and a myriad of tests the doctors determined that I had a heart attack and shipped me off to the ICU and then to another hospital for a catheratization.  They looked at my heart and found no major blockage or buildup, just a small branch artery that could have been clogged.  They decided to treat me with meds, watch me for a couple of days and then sent me home on Thursday.  I am extremely grateful for God’s watchful care and for giving me the sense to go to the hospital and not just “man up” and work through the pain.

But it begins to set in, “I had a heart attack.”  I’m only 43 years old, I exercise regularly, eat fairly well, I don’t smoke or drink, and my cholesterol levels were good.  But now I have to live with this thing that is going on in my heart.  I should be back to doing normal things in two weeks.  But still, it’s really frustrating.  I sat in my hospital bed a little depressed and decided the best thing I could do was not watch tv but read my Bible.  I know, I’m a pastor and I’m “supposed” to do that kind of stuff.  But seriously, all of us are “supposed” to do it.  The truth is, that reading my Bible did give me relief and comfort.  I truly believe that God speaks to us, comforts us, and guides us through His Word.  So it shouldn’t be surprising that in the middle of a life changing event such as a heart attack, the Scriptures can bring joy to a depressing situation.  God wants to lift our spirits when they are down and one way he does that is by speaking His words of love and grace through the passages of the Bible.

I’ll be taking it easy for a couple of weeks.  But I won’t be slowing down on my Bible reading.  I think I will try to read my Bible slower, thinking deeply and meditating on what God wants to teach me.

I read these verses while I was in the hospital because they were next in my Bible reading plan,

“Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. 
This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life…
When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort…
Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning. 
I remember your name in the night O Lord, and keep your law. 
This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts.” 
                                                                                                      Psalm 119:49-50;52;54-56

By the way, I don’t believe in coincidences.  I believe these were God’s special words to me at that particular time.  “Hope, comfort in affliction, life, blessing” what better words can God give us. 

My encouragement is for you to pick up your Bible, read it slowly, thinking deeply about these special words of grace and love that God is speaking to you.  Charles Spurgeon puts it this way,

 “And may God, in his infinite mercy, when you read your Bibles, pour into your souls the illuminating rays of the Sun of Righteousness, by the agency of the ever-adorable Spirit; then you will read to your profit and to your soul’s salvation.”

 All for Jesus,

Fletch

Too often we look at life from a worldly point of view, mainly because we live in the world and are surrounded by it all the time.  However, what we need to do is live life from a Biblical point of view.  I have created a 28 day devotional that helps give us a Biblical perspective.  Each day has three different passages with the same three themes:

1. Who God is…
2. Who I am…
3. What I am called to do…

I believe that God wants us to look to the Scriptures and understand how these three fit together.  You can print out this one page devotional chart for your own personal use by clicking here.

How can I get the most out of this devotional?  Read and meditate on each passage of Scripture.  Meditation simply means that you take a few minutes to prayerfully think deeply and ponder what is written.  Jot down some notes, in a journal, as you go along .  Each day has a main theme, so as you go through each passage try to draw out the main theme.   Look at the relationships between who God is, who you are and what God is calling you to do.  Who we are and what God has called us to do should mirror who God is.  Finally, apply the truths to your own life.  Ask the question, “How do these passages identify me and cause me to live differently today as I interact with the world around me?”

• Read and prayerfully meditate on the passages.
• Draw out the main theme.
• Apply it to your life today.

It is critically important that we do not read the Scriptures as a book of “do’s and don’ts”.  God desires that we know Him intimately, that we understand Jesus Christ has come to save us from our sins and redeem us back into a loving relationship with God.  May you read, meditate and bathe yourself in the truth of God so that you walk away transformed by His love and grace.

Here is an example of one day:

Who God is…Ephesians 4:4-6

There is one God and this one God who is a Spirit is over all things.  God is sovereign, God is in control.  God watches over me as my Father.

Who I am…1 Corinthians 12:27

I am a member of the body of Christ.  All believers make up the whole body of Christ, but God has also called me to be an individual member, with specific gifts and living out a specific role He has for me.

What I am Called to Do…Ephesians 4:15-16

I am to be a part of a growing body, the church, the body of Christ.  I am to grow individually, but also corporately with everyone else.  I am to speak the truth in love.

The devotional really is that simple.  But I think you see the progression of Biblical thought.  The beauty of this study is that you can take ten minutes to prayerfully meditate on the passages or an hour, whatever you like.

All for Jesus,

Fletch

THIS IS TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM JOHN PIPER’S BOOK 50 REASONS WHY JESUS HAD TO DIE.  I thought it would be appropriate to take the next few weeks and focus on the meaning and significance of the death of Jesus as we approach Good Friday and Easter.

He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”  2 Corinthians 5:15

It troubles a lot of people that Christ died to exalt Christ. Boiled down to its essence, 2 Corinthians 5:15 says Christ died for us that we might live for him. In other words, he died for us so that we make much of him. Bluntly, Christ died for Christ.
Now that is true. It’s not a word trick. The very essence of sin is that we have failed to glorify God – which includes failing to glorify his Son (Romans 3:23). But Christ died to bear that sin and to free us from it. So he died to bear the dishonor that we had heaped on him by our sin. He died to turn this around. Christ died for the glory of Christ.
The reason this troubles people is that it sounds vain. It doesn’t seem like a loving thing to do. So it seems to turn the suffering of Christ into the very opposite of what the Bible says it is, namely, the supreme act of love. But in fact it’s both. Christ’s dying for his own glory and his dying to show love are not only both true, they are both the same.
Christ is unique. No one else can act this way and call it love. Christ is the only human in the universe who is also God and therefore infinitely valuable. He is infinitely beautiful in all his moral perfections. He is infinitely wise and just and good and strong. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3). To see him and know him is more satisfying than having all that earth can offer.
Those who knew him best spoke this way:
“Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:7-8)
“Christ died that we might live for him” does not mean “that we might help him.” “[God is not] served by human hands, as though he needed anything” (Acts 17:25). Neither is Christ: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). What Christ died for is not that we might help him, but that we might see and savor him as infinitely valuable. He died to wean us from poisonous pleasures and enthrall us with the pleasures of his beauty. In this way we are loved, and he is honored. These are not competing aims. They are one.
Jesus said to his disciples that he had to go away so that he could send the Holy Spirit, the Helper (John 16:7). Then he told them what the Helper would do when he came: “He will glorify me” (John 16:14) Christ died and rose so that we would see and magnify him. This is the greatest help in the world. This is love. The most loving prayer Jesus ever prayed was this: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given to me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory” (John 17:24). For this Christ died. This is love – suffering to give us everlasting enjoyment, namely himself.

We make resolutions because we see some deficiency in our lives or we want to change something in us that we don’t like.  Self-examination is good.  God wants us to look into our hearts and be honest about the areas we feel we are falling short of God’s best.  You may have some issues like anger, laziness, lack of discipline or a myriad of others that you know are not glorifying God.

Making resolutions is an act of faith.  God is in the process of “sanctifying” us, which just means He is maturing us in our faith and causing us to be more holy every day.  The fun part is that God wants us to participate in our sanctification through obedience and reliance upon the Holy Spirit.  This is when we get to examine dark areas of our lives and shed the light of Christ on them.  For instance, if you struggle with anger… you need to admit your struggle to God and those you are angry against.  Next you need to ask the Holy Spirit show you why you are angry or lose your temper.  Then you ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength, courage and power to overcome your anger issues.  I want to stress this is not just asking God for “help”, but rather asking God to change your heart to become more Christ-like. 

So go ahead, take a good, deep look into your heart and see which areas you need to resolutely apply the gospel.

Jonathan Edwards put this at the top of his resolutions in 1722, the principle still applies:

“Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.”

All for Jesus,

Fletch

Many people struggle during the holidays for various reasons.  Here are some thoughts to help you fight off the winter holiday blues.

1. Read your Bible and fellowship with God.  Even if you are not sure whether anyone cares about you or likes you, God does, more than you can imagine, so hang out with Him.
2. Go to church.  You were created to worship God with other believers.   We get depressed and confused when we are not living out who we were created to be.  So get to a Bible believing church this Sunday.
3. Spend time with family and friends.  Even if you don’t like being around them.  They are your family, love them unconditionally with the love of Christ.
4. Don’t use your credit card.  Do you know who invented the Credit Card? Satan did, in order to ruin your life.  Money already causes way too much stress.  Your friends and family don’t need your expensive gifts that cause you to go into debt.
5. Listen to Christmas hymns more than goofy Christmas music.  Hey, I’ve loved Bruce Springsteen’s rendition of Santa Claus is coming to town ever since I saw it live in ’85 (that’s 1985), but seriously, it’s not pointing me to Christ.  Christmas hymns are rich and deep with theology that proclaims truth.  Listen, sing and enjoy.
6. Get out of the house and do some fun things: tacky light tour, watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”, Christmas pageants, play games with your family, etc.  I DVR’d a couple of classic Christmas shows so our family can watch them over the holidays.
7. Stop being so self-centered.  Take your eyes off your belly button and start looking at Christ and the mission He has for your life.  Remember, you have two main goals in life according to Matt. 22; “Love God and Love Others.”  God will take care of you and your needs, start reaching out and serving those around you and quit waiting for them to come to you.
8. Believe the Gospel. The truth is that your life is a total wreck and completely screwed up because you have rebelled against God, choosing to live life “your way”, and therefore you are hopelessly lost, now and forever.  But the gospel (which literally means “good news”) is that God has not chosen to leave you in your miserable state.  God chose to send His Son Jesus to come to earth as the God-Man, to live a perfect life and to die on the cross to take away your sins.  When you put your faith in Jesus, God puts His Spirit in your heart changing you forever.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is THE ONLY true and lasting answer to your holiday blues.  So go ahead, put your life in the hands of Jesus and celebrate His birthday with joy!

All for Jesus,

Fletch

^ESV Romans 8:1-11

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

All for Jesus,
The Apostle Paul

Sometimes I have to go out to my shed to get something when it’s dark.  I usually forget to take a flashlight, so when I get there I’m just frustrated because I can’t find what I’m looking for because it is so dark.  In John 8:12, Jesus says,

“I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 

Jesus is the light of the world.  But why do we need a light?  Because the world is actually a dark place because of sin and satan.  The world we live in can be extremely difficult to navigate through.  Most of the time we don’t even realize how dark it is or what obstacles are out there because we are blind even to the darkness.  We see life through our own eyes which normally give us a self-centered, pleasure seeking, pain avoiding, idol making perspective.  It’s really hard to walk in darkness. You don’t know where you are going or what is before you.  It can be scary, dangerous and frustrating.  But Jesus knows this world, he knows about our skewed perspective on life.  So he tells us he is the light of the world.  He will be our light for us. 

 One of my friends has a flashlight, but it’s not your ordinary flashlight.  It is the size of a mini-mag light, about six inches long, but this light is bright.  It is actually as bright as a car headlight.  We were at a camp where it gets really dark at night but having him shine this light made it look like daylight.  This is what Jesus does when we follow him.  The very presence of Jesus in our life lights up our way.  I see people everyday walking in darkness.  They do things that they are completely blind to see how harmful they are and how contrary their actions are to the way they were created to live.  I’m not trying to be judgmental, I really feel sorry for them.  I pray that God would open their eyes to see Jesus, his love, his mercy, his grace and his forgiveness.  I pray that they would believe in Jesus so they can see where they are going in life and how their life needs to be satisfied by God himself and that they need to be living for His glory and not their own.  Then I look at my own life and how I often choose to walk in the darkness.  I know Jesus is leading me in one direction, but I will choose to walk in a different one.  So then I pray that God will pick me up and put me back on the path to follow Jesus.   May you and I follow Jesus today, the Light of the world, so that we can clearly see where we are going, and that we can clearly see God’s will for us today and how we might glorify Him in all that we say, do and think about.

All for Jesus,

Fletch

Today is actually Reformation Day not Halloween. Somehow in the pages of history today was turned from a day of Biblical joy and reformation to a day of celebrating Satan and his minions. So let’s redeem today by remembering what actually happened on October 31, 1517. It was on that day that Martin Luther, a catholic priest, took a hammer, nails and some papers and started one of the greatest firestorms in the history of Christianity. Martin Luther’s papers were 95 Theses that exposed and refuted the abuses of the catholic church. Among many of the abuses was the idea that one could “buy” forgiveness of sins from purchasing an “indulgence”. Thesis 32 of 95 says, “Those who believe themselves certain of their salvation by letters of indulgence, will be eternally damned.” Luther wanted everyone to understand the Biblical doctrine that we are justified before God by faith alone in Jesus Christ.
Reformed Theology, as it is known today, has five distinctive characteristics. May these encourage you in your walk with Christ and your understanding of the Christian faith from a Biblical perspective.

The Five Solas of Reformed Theology

Sola Scriptura: The Scripture Alone is the Standard

The doctrine that the Bible alone is the ultimate authority was the “Formal Principle” of the Reformation. In 1521 at the historic interrogation of Luther at the Diet of Worms, he declared his conscience to be captive to the Word of God saying, “Unless I am overcome with testimonies from Scripture or with evident reasons — for I believe neither the Pope nor the Councils, since they have often erred and contradicted one another — I am overcome by the Scripture texts which I have adduced, and my conscience is bound by God’s Word.” Similarly, the Belgic Confession stated, “We believe that [the] holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and that whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein…Neither may we consider any writings of men, however holy these men may have been, of equal value with those divine Scriptures nor ought we to consider custom or the great multitude, or antiquity, or succession of times and persons, or councils, decrees or statutes, as of equal value with the truth of God… Therefore, we reject with all our hearts whatsoever does not agree with this infallible rule” (VII).

As the Scripture says,
Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Thy law….I will bow down toward Thy holy temple, And give thanks to Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth; For Thou hast magnified Thy word according to all Thy name….You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (Psalm 119:18; Psalm 138:2; II Tim. 3:14-17)

Soli Deo Gloria! For the Glory of God Alone

The Reformation reclaimed the Scriptural teaching of the sovereignty of God over every aspect of the believer’s life. All of life is to be lived to the glory of God. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” This great and all consuming purpose was emphasized by those in the 16th and 17th Centuries who sought to reform the church according to the Word of God. In contrast to the monastic division of life into sacred versus secular perpetuated by Roman Church, the reformers saw all of life to be lived under the Lordship of Christ. Every activity of the Christian is to be sanctified unto the glory of God.

As the Scripture says,
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God; Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (1CO 10:31; 1PE 4:11; REV 1:6; 2PE 3:1; EPH 3:21; REV 7:12; ROM 11:36)

Solo Christo! By Christ’s Work Alone are We Saved

The Reformation called the church back to faith in Christ as the sole mediator between God and man. While the Roman church held that “there is a purgatory and that the souls there detained are helped by the intercessions of the faithful” and that “Saints are to be venerated and invoked;” “that their relics are to be venerated” — the reformers taught that salvation was by Christ’s work alone. As John Calvin said in the Institutes of the Christian Religion, “Christ stepped in, took the punishment upon himself and bore the judgment due to sinners. With his own blood he expiated the sins which made them enemies of God and thereby satisfied him…we look to Christ alone for divine favour and fatherly love!” Likewise the Heidelberg Catechism, Question 30 asks, “Do such then believe in Jesus the only Saviour who seek their salvation and happiness in saints, in themselves, or anywhere else? They do not; for though they boast of him in words yet in deeds they deny Jesus the only deliverer and Saviour: for one of these two things must be true that either Jesus is not a complete Saviour or that they who by a true faith receive this Saviour must find all things in him necessary to their salvation.”

As the Scripture says,
There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time...For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities– all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything. (1TI 2:5-6; COL 1:13-18)

Sola Gratia: Salvation by Grace Alone

A central cry of the Reformation was salvation by grace. Though the Roman church taught that Mass is a “sacrifice [which] is truly propitiatory” and that by the Mass “God…grant[s] us grace and the gift of penitence, remits our faults and even our enormous sins” — the reformers returned to the biblical doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. Our righteous standing before God is imputed to us by grace because of the work of Christ Jesus our Lord. In contrast to the doctrines of self-merit taught by Rome, sola gratia and the accompanying doctrines of grace — total depravity, unconditional election, particular redemption, and perseverance of the saints — were preached by all the reformers throughout the Protestant movement. As the Baptist Confession of 1689 says, “Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified; and did, by the sacrifice of himself in the blood of his cross, undergoing in their stead the penalty due unto them, make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in their behalf;…their justification is only of free grace, that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.”

As the Scripture says,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. (Ephesians 1:3-8)

Sola Fide: Justification by Faith Alone

The “Material Principle” of the Reformation was justification by faith alone. As the Westminster Confession of Faith says, “Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.”

As the Scripture says,
Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations shall be blessed in you.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” (Galatians 3:6-11)

The Five Solas was taken from http://www.fivesolas.com/reform_r.htm