Go! And Remember: The Reformation Changed Everything Series

Go! And Remember: The Reformation Changed Everything

Introduction

On 31st October 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther nailed ninety-five theses to the church door in Wittenberg. He never imagined that his bold act would shake the foundations of Europe, transform the church, and ignite what we now call the Protestant Reformation. But the Reformation was not ultimately about a monk, a hammer, and a door. It was about the Gospel of Jesus Christ breaking free from the chains of human tradition, rediscovered in the Word of God.

Today I want to remind us: the Reformation changed everything because the Gospel changes everything.

It is not a story locked in dusty history books; it is the heartbeat of the Church today. And the same truths that reformed the Church in the sixteenth century must reform our lives in the twenty-first.

Let us begin with the Word of God.

Romans 1:16–17 (NLT): “For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, ‘It is through faith that a righteous person has life.’”

Paul writes to the Romans, declaring the essence of the Gospel. The word “ashamed” in Greek is epaischunomai—to shrink back in fear or disgrace. Paul is saying, “I will never shrink back from the Gospel.” Why? Because the Gospel is dynamis—power, the explosive might of God. Not human power, not church power, not tradition, but God’s power to save.

Verse 17 gives us the heartbeat of the Reformation. “The righteous will live by faith.” Luther read this, and the Spirit opened his eyes. Righteousness (dikaiosune) is not earned through penance, indulgences, or human works. It is a gift of God, received through faith in Christ alone. That revelation shattered centuries of spiritual darkness.

First Point: Salvation is by Grace Alone (Sola Gratia)

Ephesians 2:8–9 (NLT): “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

The Reformation rediscovered that salvation is not earned but given. Grace (charis) means unmerited favour. You don’t deserve it. You can’t buy it. You can’t achieve it.

Imagine a drowning man struggling in the ocean. He cannot save himself by swimming harder; he must be rescued. That’s grace—God reaching down in Christ to pull us from the waters of sin and death.

John Piper: “Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon.”

Piper is right. Grace is not a licence to live carelessly; it is power to live righteously.

In the 21st century, people still try to earn God’s approval through performance, comparison, or religion. Grace says, “Stop striving. Receive the gift.”

Second Point: Salvation is through Faith Alone (Sola Fide)

Galatians 2:16 (NLT): “Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”

Faith (pistis) means trust, reliance, dependence. It is not blind optimism but confident resting in Christ’s finished work.

Picture a chair. Faith is not believing the chair exists; faith is sitting down, resting your full weight upon it. Faith is leaning your entire life upon Jesus.

R.T. Kendall: “Saving faith is not believing that God can, it is believing that God will.”

Kendall reminds us that faith is not theoretical—it is personal, active, and present.

In our world, people say, “Just have faith.” But faith in faith saves no one. Faith must have an object, and only faith in Christ saves.

Third Point: Scripture Alone (Sola Scriptura)

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NLT): “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”

The word “inspired” here is theopneustos—God-breathed. The Reformers proclaimed that Scripture alone is the final authority for faith and life, not councils, traditions, or popes.

Charles Stanley: “The Word of God is the only stable foundation for life in a world full of shifting values.”

Stanley is right. Human traditions shift like sand; God’s Word stands like a rock.