HOLD FIRMLY TO THE WORD!
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Old Testament Lesson; Jeremiah
31:31-34
Epistle Lesson; Romans
3:19-28
Sermon Text; John
8:31-36
It is traditional for us, the last Sunday of October, to celebrate the Festival of the Reformation. It was on October 31, 1517 that Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis on the Wittenberg church door, thus beginning the Reformation of the Church, bringing it back, by God’s grace, to the teaching that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
We do not deify or glorify Martin Luther, but we certainly thank God that He works through His servants, to keep His Word pure. We also see, in the example of Luther’s life, someone who stood steadfast to the Word of our Savior. This is exactly what Jesus calls us to, in John, chapter 8 verses 31 and 32. It is a call of steadfastness to His Word. Listen to what Jesus said.
To the Jews who believed Him, Jesus said, "if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
These are Your Words, Heavenly Father. Lead us in the way of truth. Your Word is truth.
Amen.
Martin Luther was a young monk, who took his religion with dead seriousness. Martin Luther had been brought up believing that most Christians when they die, do not go to Heaven. He was brought up believing that the vast majority of Christians, when they die, go to a place called Purgatory. He was brought up believing that Purgatory was a place where they suffer for thousands of years, in tormenting fire, making up for the good works that they did not do in this life.
Martin Luther was taught to believe that God is an angry God, and that God is a God of vengeance. Martin Luther took that teaching very seriously. He did not want God to be angry with him.
He was taught that the way to take away God’s anger was to do good works. So, Luther struggled, with all his might, to do good works. Which means he strove to follow God’s Law. God’s Law, the Ten Commandments, tells us what to do and what not to do. The harder Luther tried to keep the Ten Commandments, God’s Law, the more he realized "I am still not perfect. I still have bad thoughts. I still say wrong things. I still do wrong actions. I am still a sinner." He knew that God was displeased and angry at sin. He looked at God as an angry God, who was going to punish Martin Luther for his sins.
Luther longed to be rid of his sins, so that God would look on him with graciousness and favor. But Martin Luther didn’t know how to get rid of his sins. And he longed to know the answer to that. However, there was no one to tell him how to get rid of his sins.
Now, who of us would not jump up from our seat and tell Martin Luther, "Luther, we know how to get rid of your sins." But, nobody told Luther.
And so, he went back to the Word of God. (He was one of the few people, in his day, who could actually read the scriptures.) He went back to the Word of God and there he tried to find the answer to his question, "How can I get rid of my sins, before God?" He studied the book of Romans. And, in the book of Romans he ran across a passage that he longed to understand. It was a passage that says,
"But now
a righteousness from God
apart from Law
has been made known."
Luther longed to understand the meaning of that passage. It says that there is a righteousness that is apart from law! It is apart from good works, apart from what I do! It is righteousness from God. Luther wanted to find out what the righteousness from God is, that he could have, that doesn’t have to do with good works.
Luther studied day and night to try and find out what is that righteousness from God, that is apart from law. As he read through the book of Romans, he found the answer. He found the passage that says,
"We maintain,
that a man is
justified by faith,
apart from observing the law,
(or apart from good works)."
When Luther understood the passage, which said that we are saved not by what we do, but by believing in a gift that God gives to us, he was overjoyed. He said, "It was as if Heaven opened up and the doors of paradise stood wide open and I walked through them, because I was free."
You see, Luther understood! As he went back to scripture, he came to believe that there is righteousness from God that is ours, as a free gift! Scripture declares that righteousness, that holiness that comes from God is ours, through Jesus Christ! The Bible says,
"He is the atoning sacrifice
for our sins."
Because of what Jesus did, God does not count our sins against us! It is a free gift of grace, which God offers to us. It is undeserved, and unearned. The Bible tells us
"Through the righteousness of one man,
Jesus Christ,
the many will be made righteous."
There, God offers that free righteousness of Jesus as our very own, so that we can stand before God declared forgiven and not guilty, for Jesus’ sake. Martin Luther said, "If somebody would offer you a free gift, who of us would look him in the eye and say, ‘I don’t want your gift. I am going to go out and earn it myself.’"
There in scripture, God the Father offers you a free gift of grace, and salvation through Jesus Christ, because of what He has done. It is righteousness from God!
Who of us would look at God and say, "God, I don’t want your free gift. I am going to go out and try to earn it, so I deserve it."
Luther discovered, as he went back into scripture that
we are saved by
grace alone,
through faith alone,
in Christ alone.
Again, it was as if heaven opened up to him, when he understood that his sins were gone, for Jesus’ sake.
God is a loving,
gracious,
forgiving
God!
That is the heritage that we stand on. That is the way of salvation. Those are the Words of Scripture. Those are the promises that we cling to. We will cling to those, with all of our hearts, and defend them to the very death, because there is nothing more important than our way of salvation.
Luther now knew that he was free from his sin. He had been set free!
He was free from a troubled conscious. He had been set free!
He was free from the fear of death. He had been set free!
He was free from hell, for all eternity. He had been set free!
He was so filled with joy that he wanted to go out and spread that message to his fellow man. And you know what happened as soon as he started to spread that message? He became persecuted. Luther once said this, "If you are a Christian, if you cling to Jesus as your only Savior from sin, if you believe that you are saved, not by your works but by what Jesus did for you, and then the world begins to persecute you. You need to teach yourself to say this to yourself: ‘I thought so. I thought so, because Christ is in the ship with me. This world and the devil rage against Christ, they do not want me to believe that my sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. They will seek to sink the ship to the bottom of the sea, and Christ is with me. This world will rage against me. The storms will blow against me. I thought so.’"
Luther now began to feel the hot breath of the devil and the world coming after him. Finally, in the year 1521, three years after the Reformation began, Martin Luther was given an ultimatum by the authorities. As he stood before the emperor, judges, magistrates, and the rulers, he was given the ultimatum to take back the teaching that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and they would let him live. Or, if he did not take that back, then his life would be in danger.
That is what Jesus was talking about in today’s scripture reading. Would Luther remain in God’s Word? Would he remain in Jesus Christ, remaining faithful to his Savior? Jesus said, "If you hold to my teachings, (when trouble, trial and persecution come, if you remain in my teachings) you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Jesus, in telling the parable of the sower and the seed said, "Some of the seed fell among rocky ground. It sprung up for a little while, but then the troubles and persecution came, and it died out."
Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
By God’s grace, what did Luther do? By God’s grace, Luther stood before all the mighty people in his world and though his very life was at stake, he said those famous words, "Unless I am convinced from scripture, I cannot recant (or take back what I have said), because my conscious is held captive to God’s Word. To go against conscious would neither be safe nor right. I cannot and will not recant. Here I stand, so help me God."
There was a man, who was willing to stand steadfast, to remain in Christ’s Word, regardless of what may come. Why was he willing to do that? I’ll use the illustration that he said earlier, "If you are a Christian, if you cling to Jesus, as your only Savior from sin, and then the world begins to persecute you, teach yourself to say to yourself, ‘I thought so. Christ is in the ship with me. The world and the devil rage against Christ and they want to sink him to the bottom of the sea. I thought so.’"
But then he went on and said this, "You also need to teach yourself to say this: Let them rage against me. Let the storms and the winds and the waves blow, because it is an established fact that Jesus Christ is the LORD of the wind the waves and all the armies of men. They must submit to Him. This storm, this persecution, will last only so long as my LORD permits it. They may take away my life. They may put me in the gallows. They may burn me in the fire. But in the end, they must submit to my Savior. He will bring it to an end. They cannot harm me. Only pray that the LORD would help you not to tremble in unbelief." That is why Luther loved the passage in Psalm 46, which says,
"God is,
God is
our refuge and strength
and ever present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
though the earth be removed
and the mountains be tossed into the depths of the sea."
We are free, so long as we remain in Jesus, so long as we remain in His Word. They can take away our life and everything from us, but we are free. Our sins are forgiven. Death, hell, and Satan cannot harm us, because we stand with the Victor. That is why, when Luther wrote the hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is our God", he based it on Psalm 46. Just think about what he said. He wrote,
Though devils all the world should fill,
all eager to devour us.
We tremble not.
We fear no ill.
They cannot over power us….
This world’s prince may still
Scowl fierce as he will,
He can harm us none
He judged, the deed is done,
One little word can fell him…
But for us fights the Valiant One,
whom God Himself elected.
Ask ye, who is this?
Jesus Christ it is! Of Sabbaoth Lord.
And there’s none other God.
He holds the field forever.
Take they our goods, fame, child, and life.
Let these all be gone.
They yet have nothing won.
The Kingdom, ours remainth.
"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free."
I want to read to you, something that Luther said about the world, as it rages against believers.
"See to it, therefore, that you have a genuine divine cause for the sake of which you suffer persecution. And that you are really convinced of it. Your conscious can take a stand and cling to it, even though the whole world should stand up against you. Grasp the Word of God, firmly and surely, so that there is no doubt in your heart. Then, you can have the confidence to say, ‘This cause does not belong to me, but to Christ, my Lord. For I have not concocted it out of my own head. I have not assumed, or begun it by my own, at the advice, or suggestion of any man. But, it has been brought and announced from Heaven, through the mouth of Christ, who never deludes me, who never deceives me, but is Himself pure truth and righteousness. At Christ’s Word, I will take the risk of suffering everything, even losing my life.’"
"All by itself, Christ’s Word will accomplish more to comfort and strengthen my heart, than the raging and threatening of all the devils in all the world can accomplish to frighten me. Who cares? Who cares if a crazy prince, or a foolish emperor fumes in his rage and threatens me with sword, fire, or gallows, so long as my Christ is talking comfortingly to my heart. Comforting me with the forgiveness of sins, comforting me with the message that I have a good and gracious God and that I am right with Him. Just let my heart and mind be ready to suffer for the sake of His Word and work. Then why should I let myself be scared by these people, who rage and foam in their hostilities to God? For suddenly, they will disappear, like a puff of smoke or a popping bubble, but He who comforts you and takes pleasure in you, is Almighty. And He is Eternal. And, when it is all over, with those who rage against me, He will still be up there, sitting up there in Heaven and so will you. Why then let the threatening and fuming of this world trouble you? Be grateful to God. Be happy in your heart that you are worthy of suffering for your Savior. As the apostles went forth, leaping for joy over the fact that they were disgraced and beaten down for Christ’s sake."
Jesus says, "If you hold to my teaching, (come what may) then you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
They can take away your goods, fame, child and life. Let them all be gone. The Kingdom, yours remainth. You are free! You stand with the Victor, Jesus Christ. That is why we pray with Luther in the hymn he wrote:
Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word.
Curb those who fain by craft or sword,
would wrest the Kingdom from your Son
and set it naught all He has done.
Lord Jesus Christ your power make known.
For you are LORD of Lords, alone.
Defend your holy Church
that we may sing your praise eternally.
Amen.
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