Reformation Sunday 10/30/11
Reformation Sunday
10/30/11
Text: Romans 3:19-28
Title: Grace!
Today is Reformation Sunday. It is the Sunday when we celebrate the posting of Martin Luther’s theses on the door of Wittenberg Church in Anglo Saxon on October 31, 1517. The posting of his theses had a profound effect on the Christian religion.
I would wager that if I were to ask anyone here today what they were about I would get an “I don’t know.” Now I am not going to ask any of you that question, because I did not know what they were about until I attended seminary.
The correct title for the Theses is "Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences." Martin Luther recognized the false teachings of selling free passes to heaven by the Roman Catholic Church to raise money for the Roman Church. He saw, along with others in Switzerland, France, and England, the corruption of God’s Word, especially Romans 3:19-28.
So, this morning I want to go through Romans 3:19-28 with you, since it is time for a second reformation in the United States. People are dying and going straight to hell because they do not know the Good News of this passage and others that clearly proclaim God’s Grace on behalf of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection.
There are those who believe they are Christians who either out-rightly deny the free gift of God’s Grace on our behalf or believe that they must have to do something to earn God’s forgiveness. That doesn’t even take into account many who really don’t believe that they are sinful enough that Jesus had to die on their behalf.
They have all put their soul and body in danger, for on that day when Jesus comes back in all his glory to raise up all people from their graves, believers and unbelievers, he will unite their souls with their bodies as he designed them to be. For you see, when God created humans he did not make the soul to be separate from the body. The soul and body are meant to be together.
Those who truly believe in Jesus’ salvation alone will go to live with him in the new heaven and earth while those who did not believe in him will be permanently separated from him, knowing that he is the only Way, the Truth, and the Life. That, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is hell.
That is why this passage and others similar to it in God’s Word are so important. Let’s take a look at it.
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.” Does God’s law speak to you, telling you that you have missed the mark of being good before God? If so then you, according to this text are a sinner. You are accountable to God.
“20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” In this passage we learn that the purpose of the law is to show us how sinful we are. We might be obeying the law outwardly, but inwardly, if we are honest with ourselves, we know our thoughts and at times they do not give God glory.
“21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—“ God’s righteousness, that is, his holiness, is made clear though the words of the prophets and for us New Testament people, the apostles. There is no excuse for not knowing God’s demands and as the next verse shows us, his righteousness as shown in Jesus Christ. “ 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”
Continuing, “For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Saint Paul restates what he had said earlier. He wants all his listeners to know that no one except Jesus has nor could meet the demands of God. You are doomed without Jesus.
But Paul does not leave you cringing, as we all should, as he continues with the Gospel message, gladdening your heart, “24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation (propitiation means to appease the wrath of God by blood sacrifice. This comes from the Hebrew word describing the Mercy Seat, that is, the lid of the Ark of the Covenant which once a year was sprinkled with blood.) by his blood, to be received by faith.”
There it is! You are declared not guilty before God, not because of anything you have done, will do, or can ever do, but because of Jesus who took your guilt upon himself, so that God would punish him instead of you. Why did God do this? We are told that “This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” This does not mean that everyone who died before Jesus’ death and resurrection were saved even if they did not believe in the Triune God. It means that, as we are told in 1 Peter, that the people of old were given credit for something that had not even taken place, Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Why would God do that? We are told in verse 26 that, “26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” In other words, it showed just how just God is. He could not, out of his sense of justice, let those who died before Jesus’ saving act be lost. That, my dear friends, is an awesome God.
Paul ends this particular part of God’s Word, by asking a question, “27 Then what becomes of our boasting?” No one can boast, for as Saint Paul has earlier explained, nothing we can do can make us right with God. It does not make any difference how nice you are, how many times you go to church, or how much you give the poor. It makes no difference, for, as he continues, “It is excluded.” By this he means our goodness will not cut it before God, because as he writes, there is no law that will make us right, only the law of faith, as he ends this reading with, “28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
It is truly amazing that God would have anything to do with us, since in our innermost being we don’t want anything to do with God. It is truly amazing, but he does, and we give all praise to God. Amen
10/30/11
Text: Romans 3:19-28
Title: Grace!
Today is Reformation Sunday. It is the Sunday when we celebrate the posting of Martin Luther’s theses on the door of Wittenberg Church in Anglo Saxon on October 31, 1517. The posting of his theses had a profound effect on the Christian religion.
I would wager that if I were to ask anyone here today what they were about I would get an “I don’t know.” Now I am not going to ask any of you that question, because I did not know what they were about until I attended seminary.
The correct title for the Theses is "Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences." Martin Luther recognized the false teachings of selling free passes to heaven by the Roman Catholic Church to raise money for the Roman Church. He saw, along with others in Switzerland, France, and England, the corruption of God’s Word, especially Romans 3:19-28.
So, this morning I want to go through Romans 3:19-28 with you, since it is time for a second reformation in the United States. People are dying and going straight to hell because they do not know the Good News of this passage and others that clearly proclaim God’s Grace on behalf of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection.
There are those who believe they are Christians who either out-rightly deny the free gift of God’s Grace on our behalf or believe that they must have to do something to earn God’s forgiveness. That doesn’t even take into account many who really don’t believe that they are sinful enough that Jesus had to die on their behalf.
They have all put their soul and body in danger, for on that day when Jesus comes back in all his glory to raise up all people from their graves, believers and unbelievers, he will unite their souls with their bodies as he designed them to be. For you see, when God created humans he did not make the soul to be separate from the body. The soul and body are meant to be together.
Those who truly believe in Jesus’ salvation alone will go to live with him in the new heaven and earth while those who did not believe in him will be permanently separated from him, knowing that he is the only Way, the Truth, and the Life. That, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is hell.
That is why this passage and others similar to it in God’s Word are so important. Let’s take a look at it.
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.” Does God’s law speak to you, telling you that you have missed the mark of being good before God? If so then you, according to this text are a sinner. You are accountable to God.
“20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” In this passage we learn that the purpose of the law is to show us how sinful we are. We might be obeying the law outwardly, but inwardly, if we are honest with ourselves, we know our thoughts and at times they do not give God glory.
“21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—“ God’s righteousness, that is, his holiness, is made clear though the words of the prophets and for us New Testament people, the apostles. There is no excuse for not knowing God’s demands and as the next verse shows us, his righteousness as shown in Jesus Christ. “ 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”
Continuing, “For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Saint Paul restates what he had said earlier. He wants all his listeners to know that no one except Jesus has nor could meet the demands of God. You are doomed without Jesus.
But Paul does not leave you cringing, as we all should, as he continues with the Gospel message, gladdening your heart, “24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation (propitiation means to appease the wrath of God by blood sacrifice. This comes from the Hebrew word describing the Mercy Seat, that is, the lid of the Ark of the Covenant which once a year was sprinkled with blood.) by his blood, to be received by faith.”
There it is! You are declared not guilty before God, not because of anything you have done, will do, or can ever do, but because of Jesus who took your guilt upon himself, so that God would punish him instead of you. Why did God do this? We are told that “This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” This does not mean that everyone who died before Jesus’ death and resurrection were saved even if they did not believe in the Triune God. It means that, as we are told in 1 Peter, that the people of old were given credit for something that had not even taken place, Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Why would God do that? We are told in verse 26 that, “26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” In other words, it showed just how just God is. He could not, out of his sense of justice, let those who died before Jesus’ saving act be lost. That, my dear friends, is an awesome God.
Paul ends this particular part of God’s Word, by asking a question, “27 Then what becomes of our boasting?” No one can boast, for as Saint Paul has earlier explained, nothing we can do can make us right with God. It does not make any difference how nice you are, how many times you go to church, or how much you give the poor. It makes no difference, for, as he continues, “It is excluded.” By this he means our goodness will not cut it before God, because as he writes, there is no law that will make us right, only the law of faith, as he ends this reading with, “28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
It is truly amazing that God would have anything to do with us, since in our innermost being we don’t want anything to do with God. It is truly amazing, but he does, and we give all praise to God. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 9:24 PM
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