Church Sermon - October 27, 2002

JUSTIFIED BY FAITH

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Old Testament Lesson; Jeremiah 31:31-34
Gospel Lesson; John 8:31-36
Sermon Text; Romans 3:19-28

Nine years before Christopher Columbus discovered America, on the evening of November 10^th, 1483, near the hour of midnight, in the city of Eisleben, Germany, Hans Luther and his wife Margaret were blessed with the birth of little, baby boy. They named that little, baby boy Martin. Now, at that point in time, no one knew that Martin Luther would be the man who ultimately would rediscover what had been hidden in scripture, for years and years and be the instrument through which God caused The Reformation to take place. God certainly permitted the events of Martin Luther’s life to prepare him for what he was about to discover in scripture, 34 years later (and, we believe that God also guides the events of all of our lives, leading us in a certain direction).

Martin Luther was brought up in a land where people couldn't read the Bible because it was in a language they could not read. So as a child, he simply had to trust what was told to him, by the church leaders of the day. He was taught, as was his family, that we are saved by our good works, by the good things that we do. We are saved by the prayers that we say. We are saved by the amount of times we go to church. We are saved by the good things that we do for other people. And Luther, like the people of his day, believed that his good works saved him.

As a child, Luther had seen a picture of Jesus in a cemetery. It was a picture of Jesus that he carried with him in his mind, for many years. This picture was of Jesus as a judge. He had a stern look on his face, and was sitting on a throne, with a sword in His hand. As a child, when Martin Luther saw that picture, it scared him. He saw Jesus as a mean judge who looks at us and says, "Have you done enough good works to be saved and get to Heaven?" And, that worried Martin Luther, even as a young boy.

Martin Luther says he grew up to be a shy, timid, young man because of the way his parents treated him, being quite harsh with him. When he was 13 years old, his parents sent him off to school, because he was promising in his academics. They sent him off to school in a town called Magdeburg and then from there, to a town called Eisenach. This is where he began to bloom as a young man, falling in love with music and studying. And as he excelled in school, his father Hans decided to enroll him in the University of Erfurt, Germany, so that young Martin Luther could become a lawyer. There in Eurfurt, Germany Luther studied to become a lawyer, where he received his degree.

He was about to begin lecturing in a university, as a lawyer, but in his heart, he was despondent. All through his studies at the university, there was something that troubled Martin Luther. He went through periods of great depression, because something was troubling him.

In the year 1505, just a few days before Luther was to begin lecturing in the University in law, he had a terrifying experience. That evening, as he happened to be coming back to Erfurt, after visiting his parents for two weeks, there came a violent thunderstorm. Lightening was flashing and thunder was crashing. Suddenly, a lightening bolt hit just a few feet from Martin Luther! The air pressure from the lightening bolt threw him back, and he landed on the ground. He was terrified for his life. And, because he thought he was going to die and have to face that stern Jesus, with the sword in His hand, he was troubled.

He cried out, "Saint Anne, save me." He cried out to Saint Anne, because his father was a miner, and Anne was the Patron Saint of miners. The belief was that that she protected miners, so he called out to her, "Saint Anne, save me. If you save me I will become a monk."

Well, Luther didn’t die that evening. And, even though it was against his father’s wishes, (since his father did not want him to become a monk) he felt duty bound to carry out the vow he had made to Saint Anne that evening. In the year 1505, Martin Luther entered the Augustinian Monastery and became an Augustinian Monk. There he had the monk’s robe put on him, had the top of his head shaved and was told to take the vows of celibacy and poverty. Finally, he was given the order of the Augustinian Monk. The order of the Augustinian Monk was simply three things that he was to do. He was to love God with all of his heart, all of his soul and all of his mind, number one. He was to love his neighbors as himself, number two. And he was to live a completely humble life, number three.

He was told, "Martin Luther, if you carry out those vows, you will certainly have eternal life."

Those vows were all good works, weren’t they? They were all good works.

Martin Luther was a very serious young man, who took his religion seriously. He wanted to have eternal life.

So he worked,

and worked,

at loving God, with all of his heart.

He worked,

and worked,

and worked

at loving his neighbor,

the way he loved himself.

And, he worked,

and worked,

at being completely humble.

And, outwardly it appeared to everyone as if Martin Luther loved God with all of his heart, all of his soul, and all of his mind. He said his prayers more diligently, went to mass diligently, and carried out his vows as diligently as anybody! He appeared to love his neighbor. He was involved in doing alms, good deeds in his community. And, he did appear to live a completely humble life.

And yet, Martin Luther kept in his mind that picture of a mean, stern Jesus, with that angry look in His eyes and a sword in His hands. Martin Luther knew that Jesus’ eyes can pierce through all the outward things and that Jesus sees into the inward things. He sees the heart. And, Martin Luther knew that in his heart, deep within his heart he was still self-centered. He was still selfish. And he was troubled. He was very troubled, because he knew that he was not good enough. He wasn’t good enough for the Jesus, who had that stern look on his face, to smile at Luther and say, "Martin, now you have done enough. You have earned my forgiveness. You have done enough to satisfy me." And, his heart was very, very troubled. He trembled and was terrified of God’s wrath and in horror of God’s judgment, and of Hell.

Now, I want to stop there for a second. That all happened because Luther was depending upon:

his own good works

to save himself.

He thought that he had to somehow justify himself in God’s eyes. He thought that he had to somehow make himself right enough in God’s eyes, and justify himself, so that he could stand before God and say, "God, I have done it! Look at me! I have done what you have wanted me to do, and now you can forgive me. You can now save me and now you can take me to Heaven." He thought that he had to justify himself.

So, before we go any further, we need to ask, "Do we try to do that in our own lives? Do we try to justify ourselves before God?"

There are four different ways that people try to justify themselves before God. Number one is this. We try to justify ourselves, make ourselves right in God’s eyes, by denying our sin. In our hearts we want to say, "I can’t be as bad as the Bible says I am. I can’t be that bad. Aren’t I basically a good person? Don’t I basically do good things? Am I really that kind of a sinner?"

Isn’t that what Adam and Eve tried to do? They tried to deny their sin before God. They covered up their nakedness and went into the garden to hide. They were trying to act like nothing really ever happened. They thought that maybe they could hide it all from God, and maybe it was not such a big deal.

But it was a big deal. It was such big deal, that God sentenced Adam and Eve to death.

They could not deny their sin, and neither can we. God, in His Word says,

"Every inclination of man’s heart is evil,

even from his youth."

Scripture also says,

"The heart is desperately wicked and

deceitful above all things,

who can know it?"

There, God does not permit us to deny our sin, and act like, "I’m not really that bad. Can’t you just save me and take me to Heaven?"

The second way that people try to justify themselves in God’s eyes is by blaming other people. "I would not have committed that sin, if it would not have been for my parents. They taught me how to do that." Or, "I would not have done that sin, but my boss made me lose my temper."

Adam and Eve tried to do that. Adam said, "God, the woman you gave me, she gave me some of that fruit and I ate." He was blaming someone else.

Did God excuse that? No! God saw the sin that Adam committed was so serious, that Adam was sentenced to die. We cannot blame other people for our sins, and then somehow think that we are justified in God’s eyes, that everything is OK now and we can be saved, because we are OK.

The third way that people try to justify themselves before God is by rationalizing their sin. Isn’t that what Eve tried to do? She looked at the fruit on the tree and she saw that it was pleasing to the eye. She thought it was good for gaining wisdom. And so, she ate it. She thought she had good reason to eat that fruit.

Sometimes we do that. We think, "I had good reason to lose my temper. I had good reason to do this sin. Or, I had good reason to fall into that sin." But does that justify us before God? It does not justify us before God.

It certainly didn’t justify Eve, and God sentenced her to death.

The fourth way that people try to justify themselves in God’s eyes is by comparing themselves to other people.

Do you remember the story that Jesus told about the two men went into the temple, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector?

The Pharisee went up to the front of the temple, looked up to Heaven and said, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, robbers, evil doers, adulters, and even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of all I get."

But the tax collector stood off in a distance and he wouldn’t even look up to Heaven. He beat his breast and he said, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." And, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth. That man went down to his house justified, rather than the other one.

You see, the Pharisee tried to compare himself to other people, and look at his good deeds, saying, "God, look at what I have done. I go to church. I give to the church. I say my prayers. I do this and I do that." He was trying to say, "God, aren’t I justified in your eyes? Don’t I deserve to have you love me and forgive me?"

And, Jesus’ simple judgment for that man was, he was not justified.

And, that is exactly what Luther was trying to do. He was trying to justify himself, in God’s eyes. And, he was troubled, because he ultimately realized what scripture tells us in Romans 3.

"Now we know that whatever the law says (that means this is what you should do and this what you should not do), it says to those who are under the law (that is all of us), so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin."

In looking at his own good works, all that Luther did was become conscious that he was not good enough. He was a sinner and couldn’t justify himself in God’s eyes. He trembled and was troubled by a feeling of God’s wrath, the horror of God’s judgment and of hell. Now remember, this was a man who was troubled. In fact he says that he was so troubled that he became angry with Christ. He was troubled that Christ was so demanding of him.

But thank God, in the year 1516, after Martin Luther had gone into the monastery and become a Dr. of Theology, he was given the job at the University of Wittenberg to lecture the students there, on the books of Romans and Galatians. They are the two books in scripture, found in the New Testament that lay open that wonderful flower of how a person is truly saved. The truth had been hidden. The church had hidden it from the people, for hundreds and hundreds of years. But, when Luther went to Wittenberg, and there, because of his job, had to open up the Bible, he discovered that wonderful truth! He began to pour through the book of Romans and study, and study, and study. He tells us that one day, in a tower, there in Wittenberg, which he aptly calls his Tower Experience, there in that tower, all of a sudden, as he was studying the book of Romans, he discovered that we don’t get to Heaven by our good works! We get to Heaven by grace, the free gift, because of what Christ has done for us!

There in the book of Romans, Luther discovered the truth that had been there all along! That truth was the doctrine, the teaching, of justification. Now what does it mean to be justified? It is a very critical teaching in scripture. In fact we believe that the doctrine of justification is the heart, the core, the center, the heart beat of scripture. So, what does it mean to be justified?

Let’s put it this way, first of all. The word justification or justify is a court term. So, let us imagine that I am on trial in court. Let us imagine that Pastor Tweit is the judge. What is the job of the judge? The job of the judge is to determine whether I am guilty or innocent.

But, he has help in doing that. Let us say that people of the left side of the church represent the Prosecuting Attorney. It is their job to present evidence to the judge that I am guilty. So, they present their evidence. They say, "Mark’s finger prints are on the knife. He was seen fleeing the house on the night of the murder." And, so they present all of their evidence to the judge.

There is another group that appears before the judge in a courtroom. That is the Defense Attorney. We’ll say the people on the right side of the church represent the Defense Attorney. Their job is to present all of the evidence that would prove that I am innocent. "Yes it is true that Mark’s fingerprints are on that knife, but there are other fingerprints there, as well. It is true that he was seen fleeing the house the night of the murder, but he left before the murder took place." They present this evidence to the judge, which tells him I am innocent.

On the basis of all the evidence, the judge declares the verdict. You are guilty or not guilty. If he finds me guilty, then he sentences me.

Now, if we take this into the spiritual realm, who is the person on trial? It is you. You are on trial. Who is the judge? The judge is God. Who is the Prosecuting Attorney? The Prosecuting Attorney is the devil.

The devil appears before the Judge, with all the evidence, that we are guilty. He can name sin, after sin, after sin in our lives and present all of that evidence before the Judge. And, if God, the Judge were to judge us on the basis of that evidence, He would have no choice as a just God, other than to say, "Mark, you are guilty. Guilty of sin. Guilty of breaking My Law. Guilty of going against My Word." And, the sentence for anyone who goes against God’s Word, the sentence for anyone who is guilty of sin, is eternal condemnation.

Thank God for what Luther discovered in scripture! He discovered that we have a Defense Attorney! That Defense Attorney is Jesus Christ!

Our Defense Attorney steps up before His Father the Judge and stands right in front of us, so that the Judge cannot see us. We can imagine Jesus, our Defense Attorney saying to His Father, "Father it is true. Everything that the devil said is true. Mark did commit this sin and that sin. It is all true. But, Father, I have taken every single one of those sins as my own. I have claimed them as my own."

And, the Father in His love for us has seen our sins as if they are Jesus’ sins. He has declared His own Son, not us, but His own Son, guilty.

"Son, you are guilty. You are guilty of breaking My Word. You are guilty of going against My Law. You are guilty of sin."

And, then the Father proclaimed the sentence on His own Son. "Because you are guilty, you shall die and be condemned." And, that is what the cross is. There God carried out His just anger on sin, on His own Son, Jesus. Jesus suffered the torments of condemnation and death, for sin. The Bible says that we are justified. When Jesus stands in front of the Father and says, "It is true. Everything that the devil says about Mark is true. But I have taken Mark’s sins. I have died for those sins and I have paid the penalty."

God, the Judge, brings down His gavel and as He looks at me, the verdict is announced. "Mark, you are not guilty! You are not guilty because of what My Son did for you." And, not only that, but Jesus, our Defense Attorney, stands before God and says, "Father, the perfect life that I lived, I lived for Mark as his very own. I have given it to him, as a free gift. It is his!"

And the Father brings down His gavel and says, "Mark, for Christ’s sake, you are not only not guilty, but I declare you to be holy. I declare you to be perfect, for Jesus’ sake."

Brothers and Sisters, in Christ, that is what it means to be justified. To be justified means that for Christ’s sake, because of what Jesus has done, God has in His grace, goodness, kindness and mercy declared us not guilty, and utterly free from sin! He has declared us holy for Jesus’ sake, because of Jesus merits!

And there is nothing that we need to do, to add to that. If we think that it is true that Jesus has forgiven my sins, but that weneed to do good works, on top of that, so that God will finally say we are not guilty, then we make Jesus out to be a little God, a small Christ, who couldn’t do enough to save us. We would be saying that Jesus could begin my salvation, but I must add good works to help out. Scripture never teaches that.

Scripture teaches that what

It was more than we could ever do.

Luther says that when he saw that in scripture, it was as if the floodgates of Heaven itself opened up, and the doors of Heaven were open wide, and peace came to his heart. He realized that it was not his good works that justified him before God. I am justified and declared not guilty, completely, fully and freely, because of what Jesus has done for me! No matter how big my sins and no matter how often I have committed them, no matter the great severity of those sins, I have been declared not guilty! That is true for the whole world.

"God was in Christ

reconciling the whole world to Himself,

not counting their sins against them."

Everybody by grace in God’s eyes has been declared innocent and holy.

So how do we benefit from it? Here again scripture is so clear. It says,

"We maintain that a man is justified by faith"

By FAITH!

"apart from observing the law."

How do I benefit from what Christ has done for me? It is not by my good works. It is simply by trusting. Faith is the empty hand that says,

"Nothing in my hand I bring,

simply to Thy cross I cling."

Luther says,

"Faith is the

bold,

daring confidence

that what scripture says about Jesus Christ

is

true for me!"

We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. That is the great heritage of the Lutheran Reformation. We thank God that He used His servant Martin Luther, to rediscover what scripture had always said.

And, we thank God that He gave Luther the courage to be steadfast in his faith. Luther believed, it was the great treasure, the bedrock of scripture, the heart and core of his salvation, that he was justified. When he stood before kings, princes and emperors, and they tried to get him to take back his belief that he was justified freely by grace Luther said, "Here I stand, so help me God." He was willing to risk his life, for that great teaching of scripture, which we cannot and must not give up.

Luther was willing to go forward and proclaim with all of his might to the world, so that all could know that wonderful flower in scripture that comforts us! God grant the same to us. May we see the teaching of justification by faith alone, through Christ alone, as our treasure! May we see it as our comfort, when our sins trouble us. May we see it as our comfort on our deathbed that Jesus has saved us. And, may we know that it is God’s promise to us. May we stand to defend it, as Luther did, and say, "Here I stand, so help me God." May we give our lives to spreading that Gospel message, so that others may know the wonderful, gracious way of salvation for Jesus’ sake. God grant that to us all!

Amen.

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