In Jesus Holy Name October 25, 2020
Romans 3:22-25a Reformation Redeemer
“Rescue: The Story of Martin Luther and Us”
Rescue. The news media loves to tell us stories about rescue. When pilot Sully Sullenberger managed to crash land his disabled U.S. Airways jet on the Hudson river and save the lives of 158 passengers and crew, his praises were rightly sung by the press and all who heard of his skill.
There was a rescue story out of Kilgore, Texas years ago. The story is told of a man who had been pulled unconscious from his car after an accident. His good Samaritans carried him to a nearby gas station. It was there that the motorist came to. He opened his eyes, took one look around and began struggle desperately.
Fearing that he might hurt himself the man was forcibly subdued and taken to a hospital. After his immediate needs had been tended to, he was asked why he had struggled so hard to escape from his rescuers. He explained how he had been taken to a Shell gas station. When he regained consciousness, he quickly scanned his surroundings. He saw the Shell sign. Unfortunately, at that moment someone was blocking his view of the first letter, the “S” of the Shell sign. He struggled because he was certain he had died and had awakened in hell.
(sermon by Rev Ken Klaas July 2015)
His reaction was pretty normal. It is a scary truth. To this day Satan encourages people to deny the existence of hell. Satan encourages a culture to throw out the teachings of Christianity as no longer needed in the modern world.
There is a problem so fundamental that it is at the root of all the other problems we have. Stated in one sentence, it goes like this: God is righteous and we are not. God is holy and we are not.
God is pure and we are not.
God is perfect and we are not.
God is just and we are not.
God is perfect love and we are not.
God is always good and we are not.
This is our human predicament. Something is wrong between us and God, and deep in our hearts we know this to be true. Something has gone badly wrong in the world, and even if we don’t know what it is, we know things aren’t the way they ought to be.
God demands perfection. If you ask people, “Do you have to be perfect to go to heaven?” In our postmodern culture most will answer no. But the answer is yes. Hell is the destination of people who do not have peace with a holy and righteous God.
Our broken commandments have truly and profoundly and utterly separated us from God. Everything God is, we are not. What we are, God is not. Instead of harmony, there is friction. Instead of friendship, there is enmity. By nature the whole human race is under judgment from God and separated from Him because of our broken ethics and broken commandments.
If you doubt the truth of what I have said, take a good look at the person in the mirror. Study the image you see looking back at you. What about the man or woman in the mirror? Are you holy, righteous and pure? Are you perfect in all your ways? Are you without sin in all you do? If you are honest, you must admit the answer is no.
What is to be done about the great gulf that stands between us and God? How can we be rescued? When Adam and Eve gave in to the suggestion of the serpent and tasted the forbidden fruit they were overwhelmed by guilt. They went into hiding. They scurried into the bushes filled with guilt and fear. Their perfect world collapsed like an accordion. On their own they could not bridge the gap. It was their Creator who rescued them. (phrase from Max Lucado Anxious for Nothing)
Christians in all denominations are forever indebted to Martin Luther. He brought Christianity out of the Dark Ages. The truth of the words of Jesus had been lost. God knew our human state, ever since the fall of Adam and Eve. Death has become a reality in the world… No one escapes. That makes people worry about how to please a righteous and holy God. When we break God’s commandments, guilt overwhelms. Guilt sucks the life out of our souls. I love this passage in Hebrews 2:14. (read) Grace rescues and restores.
The greatest human need is to be loved, to be accepted. We need to know that another human being loves us and accept us. A hug is always reassuring. That’s why we spend so much time hugging our children. If children are not hugged and loved…. The result will be a hole in their heart, something will always be missing…
This great human need for acceptance, also applies to our relationship with God. We want to know. “How can I be sure I have been accepted by God?” How can I have peace with God?
This was Luther’s soul search….He was overwhelmed with the burden of his sin, his guilt left him separated from God. He tried everything the Church of his day offered: prayers, monastic vows of poverty, religious pilgrimage to Rome and even flagellation, all in an attempt to find peace and acceptance with God.
During the years 1505 – 1508 Luther entered the Augustinian monastery in order to please God by living a monastic life, dedicated to serving God.
But the more he sought to live a holy life the more he realized that his sin was overwhelming, his guilt unbearable. He knew that within his body there existed both a Dr. Jykell and a Mr. Hyde. He was alienated from God, cast out of God’s presence like Adam and Eve.
You can catch a feel of his emotional struggle in the words of the hymn he wrote: “Dear Christians One and All Rejoice”.
“Fast bound in Satan’s chains I lay, Death brooded darkly over me. Sin was my torment night and day …. My life became a living hell.”
As a Professor of Theology Luther taught the book of Galatians, Psalms and Romans. In 1513 when studying the book of Romans… the word of God set him free. The Spirit of God broke through to Luther’s heart when reading Romans (1:17; 3:21) His heart was set free. Luther wrote: “Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want.” There it is…. We have free will to choose.
“You see, just at the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…..since we have been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”
In the 14th, 15th and 16th century Christianity had lost this understanding of God of grace. Few people could read, until the printing press, all bibles had to be hand copied. They were usually in Latin. The majority of the people could not read. Luther and his contemporaries grew up in a religious world that only knew an angry God. You could only “hope” that you could go to heaven but you were never really sure.
On October 31, 1517 Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the Castle Church Door…and the Reformation in Luther’s heart became public knowledge.
Martin Luther wrote: “Grace is freely given to the most undeserving and unworthy and is not obtained by any strenuous efforts, endeavors, or works, either small or great….Our human nature wants “merit grace by good works.” Then you are laughing at God and provoking the wrath of God.” Luther recognized that it is the natural desire of human beings to want to acquire grace. “This evil is planted in all human hearts by nature: If God were willing to sell His grace, we would accept it more quickly and gladly than when He offers it for nothing.” Jesus already paid the price.
Martin Luther called justification the chief doctrine of the Christian faith. It is so important that if you do not understand this doctrine, you really don’t understand Christianity. The word “justify” means to “declare righteous.” Romans 8:1 says there is “no condemnation” for those who are in Christ Jesus. Justification means the sinner is declared “not guilty” in the eyes of God because God “transfers” the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ to all who place their trust in Jesus. That’s a pure miracle of God’s grace. Guilty sinners are forgiven, pardoned, and declared righteous because Jesus died on the cross.
Max Lucado in his book: “Gentle Thunder” writes: “We know that works are necessary for the Christian. (Ephesians 2:10) God has created good works for us to do on His behalf. But in order to get into heaven neither good works nor good character will open the heavenly gates.
So, Max Lucado asks this question: “how then can we go to heaven?” The answer: “Only believe that Jesus died on the cross for you.” Accept the work already accomplished at the cross. Accept the goodness of Jesus. Accept the words of God to us: “…at just the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6) “therefore we have been justified through faith…and we now have peace with God through Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)
It’s that simple. It’s that easy. But there was nothing easy about the cross on which Jesus died. The cross was heavy, the blood was real and the price to set us free was extravagant. God paid the price to bring us back to himself so that we would know his love and acceptance.
Scripture has proudly proclaimed, “By grace you are saved through faith and not by anything you can do.”
By grace you are saved through faith. That is the unchanging message which comes from an unchanging God through His unchanging Word. That is the unchanging message which every sinner needs to hear. You are saved through grace which God offers to all by accepting the sacrifice of His Son on Calvary’s cross. You are saved because Jesus took your place. In His death He took the wrath of God against evil and our broken commandments.
God’s grace is bigger than your sin. Judgment day would be terrifying were it not for the rescue plan God set in motion in the Garden of Eden. When on judgment day, your list of broken commandments are produced, simply point to Jesus and say: “He erased them at the cross.” Jesus has guaranteed your salvation by His resurrection and His empty tomb. He is risen!
