Sermon – Romans 3:19-28 “Here I Stand, I Can Do No Other”

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon – Romans 3:19-28 “Here I Stand, I Can Do No Other”

Reformation Sunday

New Covenant Presbyterian Church

October 29, 2017

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed a piece of paper to the door of a school in Wittenberg Germany, in protest of corrupt practices in the church.  On this paper, he had written 95 Theses about how the church needed to be reformed.  Five hundred years ago the Protestant Reformation began.   And we celebrate this anniversary today.  We will get to this, but first, let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Martin Luther was a bright student.   His father, in the mining industry, sent Martin to school to learn Latin grammar in preparation for becoming a lawyer.   But one day when Martin was returning from school he encountered a terrible storm.  Wind, rain, thunder, and lightning,  frightened Martin’s horse which threw him to the ground.  Young Martin thought he was going to die.   So he prayed to St. Anne, Mary’s mother, to save his life.  And he vowed to the saint that if she saved him from death that day, he would become a monk.   Martin Luther’s life was spared.   And so, over the strong objections of his father, Martin went to the Augustinian monastery near his school, fulfilled his vow to St. Anne,  and became a monk.

The Augustinians continued Martin’s education and he became a priest in 1507.  Martin Luther was on the fast track for leadership in the Augustinian order.   In 1510 he was selected as part of a group to go to Rome.  Upon returning from Rome he was sent as a teacher to a new Augustinian school that had been started in Wittenberg.  At this school, he began lecturing from the Book of Psalms because young men could learn proper behavior by studying them.

While Martin Luther was teaching in Wittenberg problems were arising in Rome.  Saint Peter’s Basilica was being built, and great artists and craftsmen had been recruited to do the work.   The great Michelangelo had been hired to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  And all of these craftsmen had to be paid.  The church needed money.   So they turned to a fundraising program that had worked well in the past.  They decided to sell indulgences.

The sales pitch for indulgences was simple.   The church taught that you had to do good works to be right with God and go to heaven.    People were encouraged to do good works to earn their salvation.   But some people worried that they had not done enough of these good works to please God.  Some people were also worried about their families, had their loved one done enough to please God.  And some were worried about loved ones who had died.  Had they done enough in their lives to please God and to go to heaven?

The church told them that, if needed, they could buy extra good works from the church that would ensure passage to heaven.   The church said that the saints of old had earned an excess of good works that they left behind in the church when they died.   And so the church can sell these good works earned by the saints to anyone who needed them.   All they had to do to have all the good works they needed for themselves and the families was to buy indulgences from the church.   The indulgence was a receipt for good works of the saints purchase to please God.  Sales of indulgences were brisk, and money was coming in.

In Germany, there was a bishop who was very ambitious and wanted wealth for his family and a cardinal’s hat for himself.   But how could he persuade the Pope to make him a cardinal?   Archbishop Albrecht decided to sell indulgences to people in Germany and send the money to the Pope for the construction of Saint Peter’s in Rome.   This way, he hoped the Pope would grant his request to be a cardinal.  And so the selling of Indulgences spread throughout Germany.

After Martin Luther completed his lectures on the Psalms he turned his attention to the Book of Romans.   And while preparing for his class on Romans he read this.

Romans 3:21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

As he read this, Martin Luther realized that church was in error.   We enter into a right relationship with God not through good works, but through our faith in Jesus Christ.   The sale of indulgences was a sham.  The church was praying on gullible people selling them worthless pieces of paper.   The church had to be reformed.  Martin Luther issued a protest be nailing 95 theses to the door of his school in Wittenberg.   A protestant reformation had begun.  

By nailing 95 theses to the door Luther had started a conversation in his school. And if that was all he did, little would happen.    But Luther did not stop there.   Luther knew of someone with a recent invention, the printing press.   Luther took the 95 theses to the printed and large quantities of pamphlets in both Latin and German began to circulate.   These pamphlets reached other countries and were printed in other languages.  And people all over Europe began to realize that a right relationship with God came not through good works, but through faith in Jesus Christ.   They stopped buying indulgences from the church.  

Pope Leo sent Cardinal Cajetan to Germany to speak with Luther and get him to recant.   But Luther refused.  And so in 1520 Luther was excommunicated by the Pope.   Luther had no intention of breaking away from the church.   He wanted to reform it.  But the church blocked his reforms leaving him no choice but to leave the church he had served.

In April of 1521 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor convened a Diet or Parliament in the city of Worms.   He ordered Luther to attend.    As Luther looked up at the Emperor he was told to either recant or be declared a heretic and be sentenced to death.   Luther stood before the emperor and made a passionate defense of his beliefs.   

Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

You are saved, made right with God and receive eternal life, not by your good work.  Good works will not save you.   Evil works will not condemn you.   Because God has chosen out of his great love and mercy to forgive you.   Our salvation comes not from anything we do.   We are saved solely by the grace of God.

But who gets saved?   Certainly not everyone?  Of course not!   God’s gracious salvation comes only to those who believe in Jesus Christ.   Paul said,

Romans 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

So, those who have faith in Jesus Christ and believe in the resurrection are chosen by God for salvation.    You are not saved by what you do or fail to do.   Your salvation comes solely from your faith in Christ.   You are saved by the grace of God through your faith in Jesus Christ.

But where does this faith come from?   How can we obtain it?   Paul tells us this:

Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

Faith comes from hearing the word of God read and proclaimed.  That is why we come to church, to hear scripture read and a sermon preached.  The Holy Spirit uses our hearing of the scripture to bring us to faith.   Only scripture can bring us to saving faith in Jesus Christ.   So we are saved not by works, but by the grace of God, through our faith in Jesus Christ, which comes to us as a gift of the Holy Spirit through hearing the word of God read and proclaimed.

When Martin Luther finished his proclamation to the Emperor he said, according to legend, “Here I stand, I can do no other.”   This became the rallying cry for protestants all over Europe.     Here I stand, I can do no other!

Luther had been given safe passage to and from the Diet by Emperor Charles.   So Luther was allowed to leave the assembly.    Then Charles declared him a heretic and ordered his execution.

Luther went into hiding.   He pretended to be kidnapped and then assumed a false identity while living in the safety of Wartburg Castle.  There, Luther did a truly extraordinary thing.   He translated the Bible from the original Hebrew of the Old Testament and Greek of the New Testament into German.  When this was printed and distributed all over Germany it became an instant best seller.   People wanted to read the Bible for themselves.   So they filled reading classes in schools and churches.  Literacy rates skyrocketed and a standardized German language was born.

Luther started something he had never imagined.  He sparked a protestant reformation which has covered the world.    We now know that our salvation depends not on anything we do, but solely on the grace of God.    We now know that God mercifully forgives only those with faith in Jesus Christ.   And we now know that faith comes to us as a gift of the Holy Spirit through the hearing of the world of God read and proclaimed.   Here we stand, we can do no other.   Let’s pray a prayer from Martin Luther...

Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it.
I am weak in the faith; strengthen me.
I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent, that my love may go out to my neighbor.
I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether. O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you.
In you, I have sealed the treasure of all I have.
I am poor; you are rich and came to be merciful to the poor.
I am a sinner; you are upright.
With me, there is an abundance of sin; in you is the fullness of righteousness.
Therefore I will remain with you, of whom I can receive, but to whom I may not give.
Amen. (Martin Luther)  

http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/a-prayer-of-martin-luther)