The Festival of the Reformation, 2022

Rev. Thomas Van Hemert

Romans 3:19-28; Matthew 11:12-19

Reformation

October 30, 2022

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The summary of the Reformation and of pure Christian doctrine can be summarized by what St. Paul says in Romans, chapter 3. He says, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” To the Jews, this means that they are justified by faith and not by works of the Levitical Law—the observances of sacrifices or of feast days. Here, Paul is saying that even when the Law was given by God through Moses, it still wasn’t the following and the observation of the Law that justified one before God. It was by faith. We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

For the gentiles, this means the same thing. Gentiles are justified, that is, declared to be righteous and sinless, not by following the Ceremonial or the Judicial Law of Moses, or even the Moral Law—the Ten Commandments—but by faith, by believing in Jesus who gave Himself as a propitiation—that is, by the sprinkling and shedding of His own blood upon the cross as a worthy sacrifice to His Father. Trusting in this makes a person righteous before God.

So no. It is not the case in the Old Testament that if you wanted to go to heaven, you had to be a good, little Israelite boy or girl and observe the Law perfectly and that’s how you went to heaven. Moses writes in Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, and this is quoted numerous times by writers of the New Testament, “Abraham believed and God counted it to him as righteousness.” Abraham believed, that is, he had faith in the promises of God and that what God said to him was true and would be true and would eventually come true. Abraham was not justified by works of the Law. The Levitical Law hadn’t even been given yet. Certainly, Abraham knew the Moral Law, for it is written on every man’s heart. But even still, Abraham was justified by faith. And the same is true for each and every saint in the Old Testament. We need to get rid of this false idea that the Old Testament is the teaching of the Law and the New Testament is the teaching of the Gospel. Or that those who lived during the Old Testament were justified by works and those who live now in the time after the New Testament are justified by faith. Because immediately after the fall into sin, God does not immediately smite Adam and Eve and send them to hell. Because in His divine forbearance, God passed over those sins. He postponed judgment so that Jesus could come and pay our price for sin. Though Adam and Eve had sinned, God promised them a Savior who would come and be the propitiation—the sacrifice who would pour out His own blood so as to appease His Father’s anger against sin. Adam and Eve believed this. They were not justified by works or by a law. Even they were justified by faith, by believing in the promises of God.

What St. Paul says in Romans, chapter 3 also means that we who are in Church Militant today—those of us who are still fighting the good fight of faith—are still justified by faith, apart from any works of the Law or any new Law that we would invent. In fact, this is the very thing that Martin Luther fought against in his day.

Within the Roman church, the Gospel had been corrupted and substituted with a sacramental system which taught that human works were the means that appeased God’s wrath. Most of you know this to be in the form of what is called “indulgences” where you would pay the bishop or the priest and then he would write you a little receipt, which stated that your sins were forgiven. Of course, we know this is not how God works or operates. And even so today, the Roman church is not this crass with their selling of indulgences. I don’t think any Roman Catholic priest would ever say, “If you give the church money, this act will forgive your sins.” They do not teach today, in so crass of words. But they still teach this very thing, just in a different manner.

In any case, this is what offended Luther so much, that it drove him to reform the Church with the hopes of returning the Church to faithfulness in doctrine. But because these words of St. Paul are so simple, “We teach that one is justified by faith and not by works of the Law,” those who attempt to uphold it, like Luther, will be ridiculed and called all sorts of things by opponents. Because doctrine is important and ideas matter. Unfortunately, because we don’t have unity in doctrine, doctrine and ideas separate Christian denominations from one another. Because the whole of our doctrine is not the same as the Roman Catholic church, or for example, the First Christian church, or the Methodist church, or pick and choose.

Doctrine is important. What we confess matters. The doctrine of Justification by Grace through Faith is an offense to the devil. He cannot stand the fact that sinners get off free. The devil hates that Jesus died for you. He cannot stand that Jesus has paid the price in full, so the devil cannot have you. So his entire mission and goal is to corrupt the pure teaching of the Gospel and replace it with a theology based upon your works and what you must do to inherit eternal life, which, as we know, will never be good enough. Because no matter what you do, it will not be good enough. The devil knows this. 

St. Paul so clearly proclaims the Gospel with simple words. “We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” This is so simple. It is so simple to understand that toddlers can understand it. Usually, if you ask a toddler or a young child if they’re going to go to heaven, they’ll say “yes.” Then, if you ask why, they’ll often say, “Because of Jesus,” or “Because Jesus died for me,” or “Because Jesus gives me peace.” It’s so simple. However, at the same time, because this doctrine is so simple, it is often prone to abuse. It is so easily corrupted. In fact, during the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, the bishops, archbishops, and the pope declared Martin Luther to be a heretic even though he taught exactly what St. Paul teaches. Imagine that. Clearly, the devil was at work, always corrupting the truth. This is what he does. This is his nature.

Those who preach the pure counsel of God and those who love His Law and believe His Gospel, will be subject to attacks from the devil and from unbelievers. Just look at the example of John the Baptist. John came neither eating nor drinking, but because he prepared the way of the Lord with his fiery preaching in the wilderness, they said, “He has a demon.” Jesus, God Himself, came into this world as a man. He came eating and drinking, He called sinners to Himself, He healed them, they repented and He forgave their sins for free, and yet some of them said, “Look at Him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” The Gospel is an offense to the devil. If the world said this of John the Baptist and Jesus, who knows what they will say and have said of you, dear faithful Christians.

But you are not of this world. And no matter what sins you have committed, no matter what you have done in the past, there is no sin too great for which Jesus has not paid. This is how great His love is for you. This is why He went about this endeavor and died for you in the first place. God loves you. He loves you for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ. You are justified by faith, apart from works of the Law.

Now we all know, or at least most of us are well aware of the abuses in the Church during Martin Luther’s time and the time of the Reformation. Most of us have actually listened to Reformation Day sermons in the past or have read Luther biographies or history books. And while the Roman Church is not the same as it was back then, better in some ways and worse in some, we must realize and notice that the selling of indulgences is not the only way a works-based faith has crept into the Church. Today, many other denominations teach that you must do something in order to “confirm” your faith or “prove that you have faith” or “confirm you calling.” I would like to outline these for you so that you can recognize them, mark, and avoid them. We need to remember that our doctrine matters because what we confess, what we believe has consequences.

So, for example, you may have heard others say, not really anyone in this church body, but you may have heard others in other Christian denominations say that if you are a “true Christian,” then you need to join one of their church’s small groups. Now, of course, small groups are fine. They are. But if you are required to join a “small group” in order to be determined to be a “true Christian,” then you have fallen into the devil’s snare and have made works the bar by which you are measured to be a true Christian. No true Christian church body will force this upon their members, if they want to agree with what St. Paul says in Romans, chapter 3, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” (Romans 3:28)

Another way works are placed ahead of faith, which is pretty obvious to me, is when we see people, those who are so called “Christians,” withholding Baptism until the age of reason—usually around the age of 14—because they think that Baptism is our work! Can you believe that? They don’t think that it’s God’s work or that Baptism actually bestows the Holy Spirit and creates faith. And because they don’t believe this, Baptism, to them, then simply becomes a work that you do to show off your own faith and to prove that you are a true believer. So, again, it’s a work. Of course, this is directly tied into the heart of Decision Theology, which is not a theology taught in Holy Scripture. What Decision Theology teaches is that you must make a decision for Jesus. You may have heard this type of lingo before in certain Christian circles: “I finally accepted Jesus into my heart. I prayed the sinner’s prayer and accepted Him as my Lord and Savior.” Well there’s a couple things wrong with this line of thinking. First of all, St. Paul says “The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The natural sinful person, because of his sinful flesh, is not able to understand or accept the things of God or even God Himself. No one can make a decision for Jesus. It is simply not Biblical and therefore, not possible. Luther even talks about this in the Small Catechism. Concerning the Third Article of the Creed and the work of the Holy Spirit, Luther writes, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way, He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.” It is not by our strength that we “accept Jesus.” It is the work of the Holy Spirit who calls us into this relationship.

Another abuse that is currently taught, thankfully not in the Lutheran Church, and God be praised, not even in the Roman Catholic church, but rather in other protestant denominations is that the Lord’s Supper should only be understood as a “memorial meal.” But if it’s just a memorial meal and nothing else, if the Body and Blood of Jesus are not truly present in communion so that faith may be strengthened and sinners are consoled and comforted, if it’s just bread and wine, then what’s the point? So what? I have bread and wine at my house. Yet, it’s the official position and teaching of other denominations: well, it’s a “memorial meal” so it’s something we have to do. There’s no intrinsic value other than something that’s mandated by Scripture. Ah! So again, it becomes a work to them. It’s not a gift as you and I understand it. It has become something that must be done to show how much faith someone has.

Thankfully, these abuses are not taught in our Church. Admittedly, we are not perfect either. We are sinners. But we are sinners who are justified by faith. And still, should any abuse creep into our Church, we pray that God would raise up faithful reformers to correct any abuse. Because the Church is in constant need of reform and a return to Holy Scripture. At the same time, God be praised we, in this day and age, have the pure Gospel, rediscovered and taught by Luther and many other blessed Reformers. And the Gospel is this: we are justified by our faith in Jesus Christ, apart from works of the Law. 

In +Jesus’ name.