The Heart Of Romans (And The Reformation)
In 1517, Martin Luther knew enough to be angry at Rome. He did not yet know enough to be saved.
How can a sinner ever be righteous enough to stand before a holy God? That question drove Martin Luther to despair — and its answer, found in Romans 1:16–17, ignited the Reformation. In this Reformation Sunday exposition, Dr. Toby Holt begins with the Luther most of us forget: the monk of 1517 who knew enough to be outraged at the sale of indulgences, but not yet enough to be saved. Luther confessed his sins for hours, wore out his confessors, and still walked away crushed, convinced that God's standard forever exceeded his grasp — angry at Rome and, by his own later admission, angry at God.
Dr. Holt then turns to the apostle Paul, who declares, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16, NKJV). The gospel is not merely important to salvation or helpful for it, Holt insists — the semantics matter. It is the power of God, applied by the Holy Spirit through the Word. That is why the church in an increasingly hostile culture must not pare away the doctrines the world hates: to water down the gospel is to rob God of glory and to deprive sinners of the only message that saves.
Finally Holt arrives at verse 17, the text that in 1519 turned an angry monk into a man who felt he had entered paradise through open gates. Luther had assumed that to be justified he must first be justifiable — that righteousness must be earned and presented to God. Paul says the opposite: the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, received as a gift. And on the cross a great exchange took place — our sin imputed to Christ, His righteousness imputed to us.
Listeners will come away understanding why justification by faith alone was worth a Reformation — and why no sin, past or present, places anyone beyond the reach of God's grace.
Select a chapter to play the audio from that moment, or “Read” to jump to that part of the transcript below.
Questions This Sermon Answers
Romans 1:16–17 is the thesis statement of Paul's letter to the Romans. Paul declares that he is not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, Jew and Gentile alike, and that in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. In other words, the righteousness sinners need to stand before God is not earned by works but received as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ. Dr. Holt preaches these verses as the heart of Romans and the heart of the Reformation, since this was the very text that transformed Martin Luther's understanding of salvation.
The phrase, quoted by Paul from the prophet Habakkuk, means that those whom God counts righteous — the just — receive that standing and live before God by faith, not by works. Righteousness requires perfect conformity to God's law, a standard no sinner can meet. The gospel announces that God gives the righteousness of Christ as a gift to everyone who trusts in Him, from first to last. Faith is not a work that earns salvation; it is the empty hand that receives it. Dr. Holt stresses that this equation leaves no room for human merit: righteousness is solely a byproduct of faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Because the gospel is the power of God to salvation. Paul knew Rome was spiritually dark and personally dangerous — he had been stoned, beaten, and chased out of towns for preaching. He also knew the perennial temptation to soften the message so the surrounding culture could stomach it. But Paul refused, because a watered-down gospel is a powerless gospel: only the true message, applied by the Holy Spirit, can save. To preach anything less would rob God of glory and deprive sinners of the one message that can rescue them. Dr. Holt argues that this same unashamed posture must define the church today in an increasingly hostile culture.
In 1517 Luther knew enough to be angry at the sale of indulgences, but by his own later testimony he still misunderstood the gospel: he believed righteousness had to be earned, and he confessed his sins for hours without ever finding peace. Around 1519, meditating on Romans 1:17, Luther finally saw that the righteousness of God is not a standard God demands strivers meet on their own but a gift God gives to believers through faith. He described feeling as though he had been born again and had entered paradise through open gates. Dr. Holt presents this as the recovery of justification by faith alone — the spark that set the Reformation ablaze.
Justification by faith alone is the doctrine that God declares sinners righteous solely on the basis of Christ's righteousness, received through faith, apart from any human works or merit. Dr. Holt notes an important nuance: the medieval church did not lack faith or grace — it lacked faith alone and grace alone. Faith and grace were woven into a system of confession, penance, and merit, so that justification was never finished and assurance was never possible. Sola fide restores what Paul teaches in Romans 1:16–17: righteousness is revealed from faith to faith and received as a gift, which is why a believer can know he is a forgiven person, full stop.
Double imputation describes the two-way exchange at the cross. First, the sins of God's people were credited to Jesus Christ, who bore their penalty in full. Second, Christ's own perfect righteousness — His lifelong active obedience to God's law and His passive obedience in suffering and death — is credited to everyone who believes. Dr. Holt emphasizes that both sides are necessary: having sin removed does not by itself make anyone righteous. The believer needs a positive righteousness to stand before God, and receives it as a gift, so that God looks at the Christian and sees the righteousness of His Son. This forensic, or legal, understanding of justification stands at the heart of Reformed theology.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism (Q&A 33) defines justification as an act of God's free grace in which He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone. The Westminster Confession of Faith devotes chapter 11 to the doctrine, teaching that God justifies believers not by infusing righteousness into them but by pardoning their sins and counting them righteous for Christ's sake, faith being the alone instrument of justification. This is precisely the doctrine Dr. Holt draws out of Romans 1:16–17 — the same recovery of the biblical gospel that Luther's encounter with this text set in motion.
Yes — but they matter as fruit, not as root. Dr. Holt is careful to say that works are always important: they demonstrate that we are saved, showing the fruit of a living faith. What works cannot do is contribute to justification. The equation of Romans 1:17 — righteousness revealed from faith to faith — leaves no room for human merit in how a sinner is accepted by God. Reformed theology has always held these together: we are justified by faith alone, but justifying faith is never alone; it inevitably produces obedience and love. Confusing the two, as Luther's medieval training did, destroys both assurance and the gospel itself.
No. Dr. Holt addresses listeners who fear they have done something so egregious that God cannot or will not forgive them — and answers that this fear misunderstands what grace is. Grace is the receipt of something we do not deserve; if you feel undeserving, you have described the very people grace is for. Scripture is full of grievous sinners who are in the kingdom now: David sinned terribly, Elijah questioned God, Peter denied Christ. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8, NKJV). Our future rests not on our sinlessness but on Christ's — and no one is so far gone that He cannot rescue them.
R.C. Sproul devoted much of his ministry to defending sola fide, most fully in his book Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification, where he argues that justification by faith alone is essential to the biblical gospel rather than a negotiable secondary matter. Sproul taught that imputation — Christ's righteousness credited to the believer — is the heart of the Reformation's dispute with Rome, and he often retold Luther's breakthrough on Romans 1:17 as a turning point in church history. Dr. Holt draws on Sproul's account in this sermon, noting that Sproul and others identified Luther's fresh encounter with this text as the moment of his conversion.
1. The Gospel Is the Power of God, Not Merely a Message About Salvation
Paul does not say the gospel is important to salvation or that it contributes to salvation. He says it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). Dr. Holt presses the distinction: we are not saved because the gospel mattered to someone long ago and far away, but because when the gospel is heard, God Himself works through it to accomplish what no philosophy or ideology of man can do. As Paul writes elsewhere, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17, NKJV). This is the Reformed conviction about the means of grace: the Holy Spirit ordinarily applies salvation through the preached Word, which pierces to the division of soul and spirit as no other book in the world's libraries can. It follows that the church may never subordinate the gospel to gimmicks or trim it to fit cultural expectations. The power is in the message itself, and to preach something slightly less is to preach something powerless.
2. To Be Justified, You Do Not First Have to Be Justifiable
Luther's tormenting error, as Dr. Holt frames it, was believing that in order to be justified a sinner must first become justifiable — that one must do enough, confess enough, and merit enough to earn God's favorable verdict. Scripture closes that road entirely. Righteousness before God requires conformity to His own perfection in every attitude, thought, word, and deed, and, as Isaiah confesses, "all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6, NKJV). Reformed theology calls this our total inability: fallen sinners cannot cobble together a ladder of works, confession, and religious observance and heave themselves onto God's golden shores. The glory of Romans 1:17 is that the righteousness we so desperately need is not a standard to attain but a gift to receive — revealed from faith to faith, offered freely in Christ. Justification is an act of God's free grace, not a wage owed to human striving. When Luther finally saw this in 1519, he described feeling as though he had been altogether born again.
3. Double Imputation: The Great Exchange at the Cross
Dr. Holt explains the heart of forensic justification through the two-way transaction at Calvary. First, the sins of God's people were imputed — legally credited — to Jesus Christ, who bore their penalty in full. But forgiveness alone does not make a sinner righteous; a cleared record is not the same as a positive righteousness. So, second, Christ's own righteousness — His perfect active and passive obedience, rendered across some thirty-three years of living and in His death on the cross — is imputed to all who believe. Luther grew into this forensic understanding of justification over time, helped along by his colleague Melanchthon. The believer therefore stands before God clothed in what Holt calls the white robe of Christ's righteousness, so that when God looks at His child He sees the righteousness of His Son. Without that robe, Holt warns, our best man-made righteousness would melt like a wax figurine before a blast furnace. Both halves of the exchange are essential: sin removed, righteousness bestowed.
4. An Unashamed Church in a Hostile Culture
Paul had longed for years to preach in Rome, knowing full well that the city was spiritually darkened and personally dangerous — this was a man who had been stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, and left for dead. Yet he refused to sand down the hard edges of the gospel to fit Roman sensibilities, because he knew that doing so is both deadly and self-defeating. Dr. Holt applies the point squarely to the present: as the surrounding culture grows increasingly antagonistic toward Christian belief, the trajectory of much of the visible church is to pare away the doctrines the world hates and dance to the world's tune. Holt names that path for what it is — ecclesiastical suicide. Whatever the specifics of faithful ministry may look like in a darkening age, they must rest on Paul's premise: we are not ashamed of who we are in Christ, not ashamed of Scripture, and not ashamed of the gospel that saves us. The church has one King, one Priest, one Lord, and it is His Word we follow.
5. No One Is Beyond the Reach of Grace
Dr. Holt closes with pastoral force: grace is, by definition, the receipt of something we do not deserve. If you feel you have forfeited God's love by something you did — recently or long ago, once or repeatedly — you have misunderstood grace, not exhausted it. Scripture is filled with grievous sinners who now stand in the kingdom: David sinned egregiously, Elijah questioned God's plan, and Peter denied Christ at the most critical of moments. Our future is not predicated on our sinlessness but on Christ's sinlessness, and on that alone. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8, NKJV). No one — not the hearer in the pew, not the wayward loved one being prayed for — is so far gone that the captain of our salvation cannot rescue them. The everlasting arms of God are long enough to reach wherever sinners have traveled, and Christ's arms remain open wide.
About The Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt serves as the third President of New Geneva Theological Seminary (Colorado Springs, CO), founded 1993. An expository preacher with over 1.9 million sermon downloads on SermonAudio.com, Dr. Holt brings over 17 years of pastoral experience to his verse-by-verse Bible teaching. New Geneva offers fully online, Westminster Confessional theological education — M.Div., Th.M., D.Min., and other degrees.
Summary. Dr. Toby Holt expounds Romans 1:16–17, the thesis of Paul's letter and the text that converted Martin Luther. Holt traces Luther's years of anguished works-righteousness — a monk who in 1517 knew enough to be angry at Rome but not yet enough to be saved — and shows how verse 17 revealed that the righteousness of God is a gift received by faith, not a standard to be achieved. He explains why Paul was not ashamed of the gospel as the very power of God to salvation, why the church must not water down its message for a hostile culture, and how double imputation places our sin on Christ and His righteousness on us. The sermon closes with the assurance that no sinner, however far gone, is beyond the reach of God's grace.
The Heart of Romans and the Reformation
Most of us know the story, the story of Martin Luther and the time he nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg. Now, Martin Luther was angry that day. We know that. He was angry at the sale of indulgences that were going on throughout Germany. He was angry at his own role in helping to perpetuate false practices that he no longer believed in. In 1517, Martin Luther knew enough to be angry. He knew enough to be outraged.
But here's the thing that many forget. He did not know enough to be saved. In 1517, Martin Luther knew enough to know that Rome was wrong. He knew enough to know that it was a wicked practice to sell indulgences, to take advantage of poor and illiterate farmers in order to fill the coffers in Rome. He knew that was a bad plan. He knew that was unacceptable. But for all that he knew, for all that he understood, for as hard as he tried, He still didn't understand the core, the core of the Gospel itself.
Specifically, Luther didn't understand how to become righteous because he had a merit-based view of eternal security. He thought that God's standards perpetually exceeded his grasp. That made him frustrated. That made him angry. If you don't believe me, listen to Luther's own words on the matter. Listen to what Luther said as he looks back at this season of time. He said this. He said, though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience.
I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners and secretly, if not blasphemously, and murmuring greatly, I was angry with God. I was angry with God. And I said, indeed, it's not enough that miserable sinners, eternally lost to Original Sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law without having God add pain to pain by the Gospel and also by the Gospel threatening us with righteousness and wrath.
Luther, in his own words, was frustrated and angry. Ninety-five theses or no ninety-five theses. Luther had not only been angry at Rome, which we know that, we remember that about the story of the Reformation, but he was also, at this time, he was angry at God. Luther, he had tried so hard and for so long to meet a standard of works that forever seemed to be just eluding, eluding his grasp. He'd been doing this for so long, he'd been doing it so hard, He was always falling short, and in a sense, in an important sense, he was right.
He was right. If you read the story of Luther, he would confess his sins. He'd walk into the confessional, he'd confess his sins to the priest, he'd go on at times for hours, he'd confess,
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The Gospel in One Sentence
and then when the confessor was just about either asleep or just could no longer take it, when Martin Luther had no more words to even come to mind, He would walk away from the confessional booth, and as the story goes, he could get 50 yards away, and then he'd come running back with some new sin to confess. Martin Luther, he would later say that if any monk could ever get into heaven but on the basis of his monkery, he thought it would be him.
On the basis of his works, on the basis of his virtue, on the basis of his merit, on the basis of his confession, on the basis of all these things, He longed, he desired that God would see him as righteous. And yet, as he came to the Word, he had a reckoning. And the reckoning was this, that he was not righteous on the basis of his ongoing perpetual sinfulness. The theology of his day continually placed things like security just beyond the grasp of the individual believer.
And this, to Luther, it brought on depression. He was honest enough with theology and honest enough about his own sins to find an unreconcilable dilemma. And this caused him to fall into self-loathing, deep depression. He knew he was called to a level of righteousness that he feared he could never, never attain. Have you ever felt that way? Have you been introspective and honest enough about your sins to even begin to think that way?
Have you ever felt that God's love or God's forgiveness is just a pipe dream? Perhaps, because you feel that you've done something that is so bad, so egregious, that God can't forgive or won't forgive. Something times past, something more recent. That you've messed up things so badly, so repeatedly, that you're outside of God's grace. If you felt that way, then you don't know what grace is. And we'll get to that in a few moments.
Well, one night, Luther, again, being honest about his state, anxious about his state, angry about his state. One night, about two years later, after he wrote his famous thesis and put him on the door there, He re-read the verses, the very same verses that we're reading here this morning, Romans 1, verses 16 and 17. He read these verses and he had a new encounter with them, a fresh encounter with them. You would say a life-changing encounter.
Let's listen to what he said about his encounter with these words and how it affected his faith in the time to come. He said this, he said, at long last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words. Namely this, in it the righteousness of God is revealed as it is written, He who through faith is righteous shall live. And there I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives as a gift from God, namely through his faith.
Here I felt that I was altogether born again. Here I felt that I was altogether born again and I had entered into paradise itself through open gates. R. C. Sproul and others penned this. This is the time, the event of Luther's conversion. If there was ever a man that needed to have a fresh encounter with Romans 1, it was Luther. Perhaps you and I are in the same boat this morning. Perhaps we misunderstand or confuse some aspects of this.
In his time, if there was a man that needed a fresh encounter with Romans 1, it was Martin Luther. Luther needed to understand that he was a forgiven man. Full stop. He needed to understand that no matter what he had done and no matter what he would yet do 50 yards outside of the confessional booth, He was a forgiven man. He was a forgiven man. Full stop. He needed to understand that.
He needed to appreciate that. Again, we may be in the same position. Luther needed to understand that righteousness is not something that you continually earn and present it to God as a trophy to placate him. That's not the case. It is a gift that we receive through our faith, through our faith. And that's what God showed him, rocked his world in 1519. Let's have our own encounter with this passage once again.
I'm going to read verse 16, work through that, and then we'll go into verse 17. In verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. All right, we've talked a little about Martin Luther. Now we're talking about Paul, Paul here, the Apostle Paul in Romans 1.
Romans 1 and Righteousness by Faith
Now, for many years, the Apostle Paul had wanted to go to Rome. This was a heartfelt desire that Paul had. He wanted to go to Rome. He was a Roman citizen. It had been his desire to preach in Rome, and he reminded the church in Rome of this if you go earlier on in the chapter, early in the start of Romans 1. Now, as a Roman citizen, Paul knew this, that the Roman Empire, the Roman understanding of God and man was wrong, and he desired to breathe new life and new theology, better theology, into this city, into a place that was spiritually darkened, but also dangerous.
Also dangerous. Now, Paul didn't care about dangers. At least, they didn't cause him to turn and run the other way. Paul knew that it was dangerous. He'd faced similar dangers. Paul knew it was dangerous to address sinners who were immersed in their sins in a place like Rome. But the alternative to let them drown in their sins is unacceptable. Paul knew it was dangerous. Everywhere he went, there were people out to get him.
This is a man who was stoned and beaten and shipwrecked and left for dead and the like. He knew what danger was, and yet the alternative to let sinners die in their sins was not something he could stomach. And so he consistently and regularly went to places that most men feared to tread. Furthermore, when he went to these places, when he preached in these settings, He didn't water down what he believed.
That had to always be a temptation because it's a continual temptation in our day. We have truth in the book, and yet there is a great temptation to take this word and to apply it in ways or to preach it in ways that can fit with the understandings of the world and the culture around us rather than those which conform to the Holy Kingdom above. Paul was oftentimes inclined or tempted to say or preach something in a way that lessened, I guess, the hard edges of the Gospel.
And yet he knew to do that was both deadly and self-defeating. Deadly and self-defeating. Paul here in Romans 1.16, he says this. He says, I'm not ashamed. He says, I know people won't like it. I know it'll offend the world around me. I know there's people that chase me out of town. I've been chased out before. And yet, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed. Why? Because the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
Paul was not ashamed. Paul knew what was at stake. Paul knew that the Gospel is the power of God. Faith comes from the word. Paul knew the Gospel is the power of God and salvation. And he knew that if he was to preach something slightly less, it would be to rob God's glory and it would be to deprive men, to deprive mankind. And so that was not something he was willing to do.
Flash forward to our day. In our day, the culture is increasingly radioactive. That shouldn't come as a surprise or a spoiler alert to anyone in the room. The culture in our day is increasingly radioactive. As Christians, our beliefs are increasingly ridiculed at the least and attacked in other settings. But the answer, and the answer that there's whole sessions and leaders and elders and preachers and pastors and the like have to come to terms with is this.
When our beliefs come under ridicule or attack is the answer to start paring our beliefs down, start cutting away those doctrines that the world hates, to water them down. That's the trajectory. I'll editorialize for a moment here. That's the trajectory of most of the church, most of the greater church. To pander, to mollycoddle, a world of goats, to the detriment of the sheep and to the shepherd. That's the trajectory of most buildings with crosses out front.
What a great deception so much of Christendom has been under to think that we dance to the world's tune and that God's well-pleased. He's well-pleased by that. With that said, what's the course ahead for you and me? I can't speak to everyone out these doors. What's the course for this church? What's the course for 1 Presbyterian? As we minister in a culture that's becoming increasingly darkened, increasingly more antagonistic to who we are and what we believe.
What's the course ahead? Well, I know this. Whatever the specifics may be, whatever the specifics may be, they must be founded on this one premise, that we are not ashamed. That we are not ashamed of who we are in Christ. That we're not ashamed of the Scripture. We're not ashamed of the Gospel that saves us. And we will not water it down to conform to anyone's expectations outside these doors. We have one king, one priest, one Lord.
It is his word that we follow. Anything less is ecclesiastical suicide. We dare not walk down that path. In verse 16, Paul said this, I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation.
The Just Shall Live by Faith
Why does he refer to it in this way? Why does he refer to it in this way? Why didn't Paul just say the Gospel is important to salvation? The Gospel contributes to salvation. It's helpful for salvation. Why didn't he say that? Well, here's the thing. Gospel is important and is helpful. That's true, but the semantics matter. The semantics matter. you and I are not saved because the Gospel is important to someone somewhere a long time ago in a place far, far away. We're not saved because it was important to Paul. Rather, we're saved because when we hear it, when we have heard it, the Gospel alone had the power to cause a change in us that nothing else can. No other philosophy, no other ideology of man can accomplish and do what the Gospel has done. The Gospel is unique. It is the power of God unto salvation, not a peripheral thing, not something adjacent to our salvation. It is the power of God as it is applied through the Holy Spirit to our souls. It is the power of God unto salvation. Faith comes from hearing and hearing from what? The Word. Again, Paul knew this. You cannot chip away at that.
You can't take the book and chip away and say this chapter, this verse, this part, it no longer applies or God is progressive and hip and he doesn't mean what he meant then. You can't water it down, you can't chip away at it to conform to society around you and think that that'll work out well in the end. Paul says it does not work that way. He says the Gospel has a unique power that nothing else can match. When we hear it, it alone, the Word of God pierces the division of soul and Spirit. What other book out on the libraries of this world can do that? None. That's what the Bible alone, the Bible alone can accomplish these things. Now, if all that's true, I'll just presume for the moment that most of us would agree with that, that most of us, if we had a hand-raising contest here, we'd agree that that's the case. We'd agree with that. I'll presume that for the moment here. I'll hope it at the very least for the moment here. But if it's true, if the Gospel really is so powerful, then why in the world, again, do we, I guess, look on or are we complicit to the subjugation of the Gospel to other things, other means, gimmicks? And why would we ever be ashamed of it I hope that this morning we are not but many are well again for his part Paul wasn't ashamed he didn't want the Romans to be ashamed and through the corridors of history he wouldn't want us to be ashamed either let's look at verse 17 now I'm going to read verses 16 and 17 together for I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God's salvation for everyone who believes for the jew first and also for the greek for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. Let's stop for a moment. Let's return to our good friend, Martin Luther. As I said at the outset this morning, Luther really did want to please God. That really was high on his priority list. He did want to please God. He really did want to be righteous in God's eyes. In fact, he knew he needed to be righteous. He knew this was essential. That was a noble objective for him. It's a noble objective for us. It's an objective we are called to pursue, righteousness. You won't enter into heaven apart from it. Pursuing righteousness is good. So it begs the question, if we need to be righteous, if pastor's right, you can't be in heaven apart from righteousness, then how do you get it?
How do you get it? How do you answer? As you think that through this morning, righteousness is something you have to have if you're ever to grace God's golden shores, okay? So how do you get it? If you can't think that through or answer that in kind of a bullet points, then this is something we really need to focus on, pay attention to. If our future hinges on this word, we need to know what it means.
Well, to put it simply, righteousness involves matching God's own perfection in every attitude, every thought, every word, every deed. That's a simplification, but it's essentially true. Righteousness involves 100% fulfillment of God's law, His decrees, His mandates. Now, apart from God's grace, apart from God helping us to reach that plateau, that holy plateau of righteousness that corresponds with Christ, apart from God's grace, do any of us feel that confident on our own, that we can heave ourselves onto God's golden shores on the basis of our own righteousness?
Anyone?
The Truth That Changed the World
If I see any hands, we're going to have a meeting. No, no, this is not how it works. Martin Luther knew that he, for a guy who couldn't leave the confessional booth 50 yards without feeling the weight of his own sin upon him, martin Luther knew that he, let alone all of us, none of us, Paul, Luther, you and I, none of us has righteousnesses on our own, sufficient righteousness to stand in God's presence.
We don't have it. All of our righteousness is like what? Filthy rags. Filthy rags. That's a problem. To the thinking man, that's a problem. A significant problem. Luther knew about this problem. He'd studied these things a number of times. He knew that sin is not a small thing. He knew that God does not trivialize sin. He knew that the wages of sin is death. And he knew that as sinners, we all fall short of the glory of God.
So for his part, how did he try to bridge the gap? How did Luther try to bridge the gap? If Luther needed to be 100% righteous like we do, how did he try to offset or eliminate the stains of sin on his record? Well, we already talked about this a little bit earlier. But his solution for a long period of time was to try harder. His solution for a long period of time was to work his fingers to the bone in the monastery, to wear out his confessors by confessing every last thing he possibly had ever done, thought, or said.
Luther, you know what his favorite words during the season were? The words, te absolvo. What do you think that means? Well, those words, when they came from the lips of the priest, they meant that after Luther had confessed all his sins, that the priest at that time had the power, the God-given power, to absolve Luther of his sins. And in that moment, Luther could have this fleeting sense, this fleeting sense of security.
But guess what? He'd take two steps outside those doors, think something he ought not think, and feel the whole weight of wrath and condemnation upon him once again. Do you sense, if that was your mentality, if that was your belief, do you sense what it would be like to have that frustration? Have you ever felt that frustration? The Bible called Luther called you and I'd be righteous it called him to a standard that Luther because he was honest with himself realized he continually fell short of it made him resentful it made him remember how angry what he was when we read his words it made him resentful it's like you ever watch charlie brown you got you got lucy takes the football sets up the football and as soon as charlie brown goes up to kick it lucy takes it away that is the equivalent a equivalent of what Luther felt like he felt like he keeps trying keeps running at that football well, he keeps trying to do the right thing, and yet he can't achieve what he knows he needs to.
And the only alternative he had as he woke up fresh every day was this. I'll try harder. I'll try harder. He still no other alternative. Luther thought this. If there's a theological way to put it, it's this. Luther thought that in order to be justified, you must first be justifiable. Understand? Luther thought in order to be justified, you had to first be justifiable. You had to do enough. You had to work your way into God's good pleasure, and then he might justify you.
After years of desperately trying, that's when Luther made that statement. He looked back at all this, and he said, if anyone could have done it, if anyone could have achieved it on the basis of works, if any monk could have been saved on the virtue of his monkery, it would have been me. But then on one night, 1519, Luther encountered verse 17 of today's passage, specifically, he read this. He read, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.
As it is written, the just shall live by faith.
Why the Reformation Still Matters
And at that moment, a spiritual light bulb went on. Some say this is a moment of regeneration, this is a moment of change. Whatever happened in that moment, Luther finally realized that the righteousness of God is not something that we achieve, we accomplish, that we offer to God in order to placate him, but rather, it is a gift that we received from him through our faith. He connected dots that maybe we as 21st century Presbyterians already take for granted.
He did not take it for granted because his background said the exact opposite. His theological background said the exact opposite. you and I cannot be righteous on our own. The standards of God perpetually exceed our grasp. And ordinarily, that would be terrible news. Luther, like us, he could try and try and try some more, but to no avail. However, what if that righteousness that we want so badly, we need so badly, that alone is the means by which we can stand in God's good pleasure for all eternity, what if that which we need so much is not something that we have to reach out and grab or attain?
But what if it's offered and extended to us freely as a gift? To Luther, that was a game changer. A premise you and I might take for granted because we've been Reformed Presbyterians for some time. For him, at that moment of time, it was a game changer. Absolutely. As he looked back at the cross, Luther, in time, He began to have a greater understanding of forensic justification. Melanchthon helped him out with this.
But at times, he looked back at the cross, he understood two things. He understood this. First of all, that our sins, when Jesus Christ died on Calvary, our sin was taken and imputed, placed, credited upon Jesus. Now, most of us understand that. Most of us have learned that since we were children, singing the songs. We got that part. But there's an additional component, an additional component that's important that we understand. Not only was our sin placed on Jesus, but his righteousness is placed upon us.
It's one thing to have your sin removed. That's good. That's great. But having your sin removed does not alone make you righteous. On the cross, a double amputation. Our sin was placed on him. His righteousness was placed upon us. We need them both. We need his righteousness because our righteousness doesn't cut it. It's like filthy rags, as we said earlier. We need his righteousness. And regularly, consistently throughout Scripture, it tells us that that's what Christ came to bring.
Not only forgiveness, but to bring the righteousness, the white robe that we will wear. And the only thing that we must do, the essential thing that we must do, is to receive it by faith. Not to think I earn one stitch of that righteousness, because I don't, neither do you, neither Luther. But receive it by faith. In Christ's person, who he is, the divine God-man, but also in his work. What he did in his passive and active obedience throughout 33 odd years of living.
And what he did on the cross. We look back to that and we say, I have faith. What he did was sufficient. In his person, he was an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord on my behalf. I receive this as a gift. I accept this. I believe it through faith. We don't earn it. We don't achieve it. We receive it. Righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. From faith to faith.
That equation leaves no room for your works. Not that our works are unimportant. Our works are always important. They demonstrate the fruit of the root. They demonstrate that we are saved. And yet this equation with regards to our salvation and our justification leaves no room for our works or our merit. It says that righteousness is solely, singularly a byproduct of our faith. Again, that may seem basic to us, but to Luther it rocked his world.
To one who came out of Roman Catholic understanding for Luther who had been immersed all his life in confessionals and indulgences and rosaries and the like, that was a game-changer. That was a game-changer.
Pastoral Application
And when he finally understood it, when he finally accepted it and believed it and received it, again, this is what he said. He said, at last, at last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of these words. In the righteousness of God's revealed, he who through faith is righteous shall live. Then I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift from God.
The Gospel is honest with us. It tells us that we have a problem. Luther knew the problem. We're sinners. The wages of sin is death. Luther understood in this moment that the way home, the way to forgiveness and reconciliation, was through the blood of Jesus Christ alone. Singularly, full stop. Faith alone. Grace alone. You know, a misnomer is to say that the Roman Catholics didn't have faith or grace. They did. They really did.
Roman Catholic Church had plenty of faith and grace. It was interwoven in it. But here's the distinction. It was not faith alone. Sola fide. It was not grace alone. They had these things, but they did not have these things independently. However, this is our call. Like Luther, you're not going to cobble a ladder to heaven, a ladder of your confession and works and indulgences and rosaries and the like, wrong after wrong, and then finally lift yourself onto his shores.
It won't work that way. Left our own vices, we have no options. But the good news of the Gospel is that while we're yet sinners, Christ died for us. Do believe that. Do believe that. At the end of the day, that's the question that matters. You could ask a hundred, a thousand religious-sounding questions. That's the one that matters. Do you believe this? With that in mind, let me offer some closing exhortations and encouragement this morning.
In a room of this size, really in a room of any size, I know that not everyone has saving faith. I pray for it, I hope for it, but being a realist, I know that not everyone has faith in Christ. Throughout our community, I know for sure that not everyone has a saving relationship with Jesus. And yet, most people, you know what, I think they're in good shape. They think they're in good shape.
As long as they're better than their neighbors, they don't kick the cat, help the old ladies across the street, as long as they've done enough good deeds, they think that they're in. Martin Luther's voice is screaming from the past, screaming from the grave this morning, saying, it does not work that way. We do not work our way into God's good pleasure. Imagine this. I've used this analogy before. Actually, it's a Baptist pastor named Paul Washer who shares it, but it always stood out to me. If you imagine on that day that you were to stand before God, and that day in the future, you would come before him. Now imagine that at that moment, you have an opportunity to speak or to share or defend yourself in some way. And imagine that moment that you lean back into your own righteousness, the things you've done, how nice you've been, how everyone loves you. Imagine that you share those things. You stand before God, you place before him a tapestry of your man-made righteousness. You know what will happen in that moment? In that moment, you may as well be a wax figurine standing before a blast furnace.
All your man-made righteousness will melt away like that. In that moment, what do you need? You cannot be clothed in your own righteousness because it is like filthy rags. In that moment, you desperately need to be wearing the white robe of Christ's righteousness so that when God looks at you, he sees the righteousness of his Son. Anything less than that, anything other than that, is not sufficient to the task. Now, let's presume that you've got that.
Let's presume that you understand all that at a theological level. This is a 120-year-old Presbyterian church. Which this isn't the first or last time this topic's been preached upon. Let's presume we got that. But at the same time, let's presume that you've done something or some series of things in your life that you feel has shut the door on God's grace. Some folks, they've done something, they've messed up so badly, maybe it was recently, maybe it was long ago, that they worry they may have forfeited God's grace.
They worry that God may love that guy, that guy, that guy, but not them because God knows what they did. God knows who they are.
Christ, Grace, and the Closing Exhortation
And so they worry that somehow they are unique, that somehow they are apart from God's grace. Let me ask you this. If that's you this morning, what do you think grace is? Grace is the receipt of something that we do not deserve. If you think you do not deserve his love and his grace, you're right. But that's not what grace is. Grace is the receipt of something that we don't reserve. So if you messed up badly, maybe it was yesterday, maybe it was this week, last year, ten years ago, if you messed up, you're in good company.
King David messed up. That's a very benign way to put it. King David sinned egregiously. Elijah, at one point, he questioned God's plan. Peter denied Christ on the most critical of moments. And guess what? Every last one of them, although they sinned terribly, every last one of them is in the kingdom right now. Our future is not predicated on our sinlessness. Praise God, hallelujah. Our future is not predicated on our sinlessness.
It's predicated on Christ's sinlessness and that alone. So when you mess up, even in the week ahead, it's not the end of the road. It's not the end of the road. Even if you're living a life that is interwoven with all manner of things that you ought not be doing, you are never so far gone. And the loved ones that you're praying for, who aren't even in church this morning, are never so far gone that the captain of our salvation cannot rescue them.
That's an encouraging thought. No matter what sins they may be immersed in, no one is so far gone that the captain of our salvation cannot rescue them. The everlasting arms of God are long enough to reach wherever we might travel. In the course of our sins and to bring us close to himself this morning that's Christ's invitation this morning Reformation sunday every sunday this is Christ's invitation to us this morning Christ's arms are open wide no matter who you are no matter what you have done stop holding on to your fear stop holding on to your works let them go turn to Christ let's pray
More in The Book Of Romans
Continue the verse-by-verse series.
