Reformation - 11/01/09 -- Romans 3.21-28

Hymns: 201, 280, 441, 199

Old sayings are never old because each generation keeps them new by quoting them and explaining why those old sayings need to be remembered. One such old saying is: Whoever does not learn from history is doomed to repeat it. History is everything that has preceded us. What have we learned from past ex-perience about how to avoid war or what it takes to win a war? how to avoid economic depression or how to overcome it? Or what have you learned from the experiences in your life? what would you do differently to avoid mistakes and what would you do the same to accomplish the good things you enjoy?

In the history of religion/Christianity we also want to learn from the past so that we both avoid the mistakes made by those who have gone before us and learn what they did right so that we don’t lose what has been handed down to us.

Every year confessional Lutherans make a point of remember-ing our history which dates back to the 16^th century and the heroic efforts of church leaders who brought about the Reformation of the church. We don’t comment much on the work of 13^th and 14^th century church leaders Jan Hus or Girolama Savonarola, or 16^th century contenders for the faith John Calvin or Ulrich Zwingli. We do, however, make mention of Dr. Martin Luther for two, I suppose, obvious reasons: 1) those who followed his leadership became known as Lutherans, not because they chose that name for themselves but because those opposed them gave them that name, and they liked it. And 2) we recall Luther specifically because we, to this day, agree with the doctrine that he brought back into the church, whereas we don’t agree with what the other men taught. Nonetheless, Luther was not the only man who saw the need for the church to make major changes in what was being taught in the 16^th century because the salvation of souls was at stake. People were not being taught what the Bible reveals regarding God’s plan of salvation for sinners. We do this so that we do not repeat the mistakes made in the early centuries after Christ and plunge people back into the darkness of despair and so that we reaffirm the truth of God’s love and bring that assurance to the people of this 21^st century.

And so this morning, as we conclude our study of First Century Biblical Doctrines for Twenty-First Century Biblical Christians we do with this statement that was forged at the time of the 16^th Reformation of the Church after rediscovering the biblical truth that WE ARE JUSTIFIED, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS.

One of the things we need to learn from history lest we are doomed to repeat it is that the Bible words need to be accurately defined and everyone needs to agree on that definition.

What I mean is this: in the year 1999 an organization of liberal, unbiblical Lutherans, The Lutheran World Federation, signed a document with representatives of the Catholic Church, with the title, Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. This document claims that there is no longer any reason for our two church bodies to remain separate. Whatever differences there were at the time of the 16^th century Reformation, they said, no longer existed at the beginning of the 21^st century.

We can understand the desire to erase the memory of the con-flict that divided Germany into two religious camps and brought about the birth of a new Christian denomination, Lutheranism. But let the lesson of history be retained that intolerance toward what is biblically false is not a negative but a loving and positive attitude that must be retained (cf Forward In Christ. "From the President’s Desk." November 2009).

Let’s look at three important Bible words and their definitions and take note of the fact that what these words mean, what Luther discovered that these words mean, and the way that the Catholic Church of 1517 and of 2009 claim that they mean, do not agree. And it is precisely because of the lack of agreement of these Bible words that our two church bodies are still separate today, not because of loveless intolerance of anyone who doesn’t agree with us but because of a loving intolerance of those who empty the Bible of God’s love and deprive souls of the certainty of that love. The words we will define are: Justified, Grace, and Faith.

(V 21-24). The word ‘justify’ means to declare someone inno-cent, not guilty. You are justified, not guilty of sin (Rom 8.33; 2 Cor 5.19). WE ARE JUSTIFIED means there is no charge of sin against us. When someone is accused of a crime and the judge declares that person to be justified, the accused is free to leave the judge’s courtroom, free to walk out the door and the judge will not stop that person and say, "I’m not done with you yet; your trial isn’t over yet." No, the judge is done; the trial is over; there is no crime, no offense. And so it is with God. There is no trial awaiting us because there is no sin that can or should condemn us. We are justified, free to walk out of this life through the door into eternal life in heaven.

The next word is ‘grace’ (v 24). Grace is defined as the unde-served love of God. We did not do anything that moved God to declare us to be innocent of sin. Nor is there anything that we must still do in order for our innocence to be affirmed (v 27,28). There is no unpaid debt, no penalty, no "time off from punishment" for good behavior and good works. God was disposed to forgive the debt of sin because of his undeserved love, because he wants us to be in heaven with him and there is no way that could happen without his forgiveness.

The final word is ‘faith’ (v 22). Faith is the belief, the conviction, the trust that what God has revealed in the Bible is true. "Trust me," the surgeon says before putting you to sleep on the operating table. "I am willing to put my life into your hands," you respond in faith. Faith in Jesus believes that the perfect life he lived as the divine Son of God and human Son of Mary was credited to you as though you lived that perfect life. Faith in Jesus believes that his death on the cross made full payment for sin on your behalf and in your place (2 Cor 5.19,21. YOU ARE JUSTIFIED, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS. This is the promise of the Bible, the message of the Reformation. Any definition that contradicts what the Bible says leads away from Christ and the certainty of forgiveness. Learn from history; learn the Scriptures so that history is not re-peated, so that you are certain of God’s love and salvation.