Grace Alone, Faith Alone & The Chilean Miners

Romans 4:1-3 ¹  What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?
²  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
³  For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

i think our american culture bristles at the notion of "Grace Alone, Faith Alone".  "Sola Gratia", "Sola Fide" were appropriated by the Reformers - Luther and Calvin, and others - to express their opposition to the Catholic ideas of Salvation thru the merits earned in the church.

Well, the modern American doesn't believe in either option anymore, although that person is much more closer to the idea of "earning" salvation (if they even believe in Salvation)...or at least "earning entry into Heaven" on the basis of doing good, performing, doing the best they can.

It probably insults the average person to think they cannot earn their way into God's favor.

But, here's the point...and the text for the next teaching in Romans that I'm immersed in these days (a brief commercial interruption...if you want to listen to these messages from Romans you can access them at http://www.nlfellowship.org/). The point is that Faith alone and Grace alone are precisely the way in which people have always come to God for Salvation.

Do you remember in 2010, the story of the Chilean Miners dilemma?  

BACK IN 2010, AUGUST 4, A MINING ACCIDENT TOOK PLACE IN CHILE.

33 MINERS WERE TRAPPED 2300 FEET UNDERGROUND AFTER THEIR TUNNEL COLLAPSED. 

THEY HAD NO WAY TO GET OUT AND THEY WERE SEALED IN – SO THEY WENT INTO SURVIVAL MODE.

THEY ATE TWO TEAPOONFULS OF TUNA A DAY, EACH TOOK ONE SIP OF MILK, AND A BITE OF PEACHES IN HOPES THAT THEIR FOOD COULD LAST UNTIL THEY WERE RESCUED.

ON THE SURFACE, A RESCUE TEAM BEGAN TO DEVISE A PLAN.  THEY BUILT A 13 FOOT TALL CAPSULE, LARGE ENOUGH TO FIT ONE PERSON INSIDE OF IT, AND THEN PROCEEDED TO DRILL A HOLE.

THEY DRILLED A SMALLER HOLE TO COMMUNICATE AND TO PUMP OXYGEN DOWN INTO THE TUNNEL WHERE THEY WERE TRAPPED IN. 

FOR TWO MONTHS, THEY DRILLED, AND THEY DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.

THE MINERS TRAPPED BELOW HAD NOTHING THEY COULD DO.  THEY WERE COMPLETELY DEPENDENT UPON THE RESCUERS ON TOP BEING ABLE TO REACH THEM IN TIME.

8 WEEKS… 8 WEEKS WENT PAST.

ON OCTOBER 13^TH, THEY LOWERED THE CAPSULE DOWN INTO THE HOLE AND THE FIRST MINER WAS BROUGHT TO THE SURFACE.

ALL 33 WERE SAVED BECAUSE EACH CLIMBED INTO THE LOWERED CAPSULE AND EACH WAS RAISED TO THE SURFACE.

NOW…WHAT’S THE POINT?

WE’RE TRAPPED…WE’RE ALL “UNDER SIN”.

THE RESCUE PLAN COMES FROM ABOVE.  DOWN BELOW WE HAVE NO RECOURSE…THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN DO.

WHEN THE RESCURERS COME TO US…THEY LOWER A CAPSULE, AND THEY SAY, “GET IN”. 

THE ACT OF FAITH IS TO “GET IN”.

IT IS GRACE THAT IS THE CAPSULE… THEY WERE SAVED BY THE CAPSULE BEING LOWERED FROM ABOVE. 

IT IS GOD WHO LOWERS THE CAPSULE AND THAT CAPSULE IS CALLED “JESUS”.

WHAT IS ASKED OF US IS TO STOP DIGGING, STOP TRYING, AND GET IN.

IT IS SOLA GRATIA, BY GRACE ALONE, AND SOLA FIDE, THROUGH FAITH ALONE.

Not what these hands have done

Can save this guilty soul;

Not what this toiling flesh has borne

Can make my spirit whole.

Not what I feel or do

Can give me peace with God,

Not all my prayers and sighs and tears

Can bear my awful load.

Thy work alone O Christ,

Can ease this weight of sin;

Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,

Can give me peace within.

Thy grace alone, O God,

To me can pardon speak,

Thy power alone, O Son of God,

Can this sore bondage break.

I bless the Christ of God;

I rest on love divine;

And, with unfalt'ring lip and heart,

I call this Savior mine.

-      Horatius Bonar, 1861

-PEACE