Reformation Sunday

<)) Listen to the sermon here and here.

Your Sure Foundation – Romans 3:19-28

A man might boast about a building he built, but time will tell. Will it lean? Will it totter? Will its walls get all out of joint? Will it fall down? For a building to stand and not fall down, it must be built on the right foundation. The same is true of a person and of our faith. Built on the right foundation. Not self-built or self-chosen, but on the foundation from God our builder.

I.

Martin Luther, the sixteenth-century monk, priest, and theology professor, grew up in a world that was surrounded by the walls of Christianity, but which had lost the foundation of Christianity.

Baptized the evening he was born, raised in a faithfully church going family, taking their faith seriously. But what was that faith? Where did young Martin learn to put his trust? What was the foundation of his standing with God?

Ultimately, he was pointed to the things he must do. But young Martin could only stand on his own works and obedience for so long. The assurances the Church of his day offered ran thinner and more hollow the more he pursued them.

Confession was followed by penance to work off the punishment he owed. Sins were to be enumerated in full. God kept a record. [yet see Psalm 130:3-4]. Sin unconfessed or not worked off meant the punishments of fire in purgatory. If it was mortal sin, that meant eternal hell.

Young Martin Luther’s conscience saw clearly enough for him to know, and to live with the constant knowledge, that he was not righteous – that his penance was never enough – that the necessary conditions were never truly met —  

— that his heart remained attached to sin – that inward evils were also sin and punished by God – that “doing what was in him”, doing his best, was never really done and did not meet the measure that God’s law clearly required.

What Martin Luther had been given as his foundation for his standing with God was work that he must do – measurements for him to meet – measurements he knew he didn’t meet – work he knew was never done. But it was the only way he knew.

The life built on this foundation of his own works and obedience could not stand, and would not stand in eternity. No matter how much of God’s assistance was promised, because a man’s works were still part of the equation, the fallen sinner – me, myself – was still always there as the weak link by which the bond would break.

And such a foundation for our standing with God is not God’s will. It isn’t true. Instead, trusting in our own works and worthiness as part of the equation for our good standing with God is the path to hell, not to heaven. “I must do good enough” is the voice of our sin-fallen nature, which only knows the Law of God. It’s not the voice of faith, which knows also the Gospel of God.

II.

It was the Word of God in the book of Romans, in the New Testament, that first brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the troubled heart of Martin Luther. As he studied the book of Romans, finally seeing it bare, in the original Greek – looking at those words just as God gave them – he found the foundation. The true and only foundation for his good standing with God. Justification by faith in Jesus, without works, for all who believe.

This is the way of speaking in the Bible, including in Romans. To be “justified” means to be regarded righteous, counted righteous, deemed righteous – “reckoned” righteous.

And these verses in Romans and Galatians and elsewhere shouted so clearly that you are counted righteous, reckoned righteous to God, not by your works you have done but through faith in what Jesus, His Son, has done for your salvation.

Martin Luther was reckoned righteous to God, not on account of his works or worthiness, but by faith in Jesus Christ who had, Himself, given an account for Martin’s sins by His own death and punishment suffered on the cross in Martin’s place. This is what Martin found.

And you can replace Martin’s name with yours. You are righteous to God, not by the measurement you meet, but because Jesus has met the measurement and paid the price for you. He died for sinners to save them, and He did.

Jesus has reckoned you righteous to God by His sin-atoning sacrifice on the cross. What Jesus did worked. You the sinner, because the Son of God atoned for your sin with His blood, are now holy to God by His sacrifice. You can’t grab onto to this invisible reality with your hand, but faith – belief – is the hand that receives it as a gift. This truth of God’s Word [John 8:32] set Martin free, and it sets you free. And once it’s found, we see it everywhere in God’s Word:

III.

[Romans 3:19-28] Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God – so, this isn’t just about the Jewish ceremonial laws, but about the moral law, the Ten Commandments, which holds the whole world accountable. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin – God’s moral law does not save us but shows us our sins.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets – the Bible, the Scriptures – bear witness to it — the righteousness of God – His righteousness, counted as yours – through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified – reckoned righteous – by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation – an act or an offering that fulfills the requirements to put away God’s just wrath – by His blood, to be received by faith.

               This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance – His patience – He had passed over former sins – but He had to deal with them to be just. It was to show His righteousness at the present time so that He might be just – He dealt with sin in the cross of Jesus – and the justifier of – the “One who counts righteous” – the one who has faith in Jesus.

               Then what becomes of our boasting? – We didn’t build the building – It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith – the way of faith, not the way of works – For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

[Romans 4:2-3] “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 counted to him as righteousness.’” [Ephesians 2:8-9] “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” [See also, Galatians 2:16; John 3:16; Romans 5:1,6-8; and more] 

Being reckoned righteous through faith in Christ, through His atoning sacrifice, is your sure foundation because it brings you back to God your Creator. Sin is forgiven; the gap is closed. There’s nothing in the way between you and God’s good hand anymore.

Now your Creator becomes your re-Creator. He makes you again. He is the Craftsman, you are His project. By His power through which He raised Jesus from the dead, He is raising you anew. The walls and roof of your life are being rebuilt as His work.

He builds His good works in you; a new, growing life according to His commandments, not our human thoughts or choosing. Not our work to boast about. Not our attempts at saving ourselves. But His commandments now alive, as a gift, in a life that was once dead.

[Ephesians 2:10] “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” A gift, not the cause of our salvation, but caused by our salvation.

IV.

Martin Luther’s life was a lot like another man’s life who was also set free by the Gospel. But in this man’s case, he was not set free from the torment of a troubled conscience but from the self-righteousness of a self-secure conscience which believed it was keeping God’s Law very well.

The Apostle Paul, formerly the Pharisee Saul, was at first so angered by the Gospel of faith alone in Jesus that he persecuted it. But then he preached it. Not by coming to a conclusion by his human reason, but by Jesus Christ who opened His eyes and set him free.

Set free from a troubled conscience – or set free from a self-righteous heart – “If the Son sets you free – by the truth of His Word – you will be free indeed.” [John 8:31-36]   

            You might not live in a world that points you to a lot of religious works, or to God’s Law, to save yourself. But you do live in a world that points you to yourself for your worth and worthiness.

And you live in the reality of there being a God, a heaven, and a hell, and you being a sinner. The foundation, walls, and roof of your good standing with God for eternity – and for withstanding the waves and winds of this life – is faith in Jesus Christ alone and all He has done for you. On this you stand. And on this God builds [Ephesians 2:10]. Amen.