The 31 October 1517 is a significant date in the history of the church. A young Martin Luther nails his 95 statements to the door of the church in Wittenberg, hoping to spark conversation that would reform the church. Luther quickly realised the church wouldn't change and so began the Protestant Reformation.

Luther was awakened to the truth of the gospel by discovering Romans 3: 21-31. Having concern for his own sin, the knowledge that righteousness from God was by faith alone in Jesus Christ. The closing verses of this passage provide us with three responses to the truth of this gospel: Humiliation, Integration and Affirmation.

Romans - The heart of the Gospel is a teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church. Find out more at www.annalongpc.org/sermons.

On Friday morning, I had the privilege of being the preacher

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in Mourne Meeting House for the 70th

anniversary of Kilkeel High School.

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It genuinely was a privilege.

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I had no idea what I was going to say.

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What do you say about a high school

that you didn't go to, that you've

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only known for five years and that's

celebrating its 70th anniversary?

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Well, I thought I'm not

going to go on my own.

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So I brought my friend with me.

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My visual aid that was with me on

Friday morning there in Moran Pulpit.

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If you don't know who this

is, this is Martin Luther.

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Uh, Martin Luther, we're going

to hear a lot about tonight.

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Um, I love church history.

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My grades at college may

not have demonstrated that,

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but I love church history.

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It tells us who we are, and it

tells us those who have fought

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the battles ahead of us, so that

we can be free to worship today.

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And one such battle began on

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In our house, I said this

morning, we don't celebrate the

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H word, it's Reformation Day.

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We get our Martin Luther out, we get our

John Calvin book out, and we make sure

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we know what is the significance of All

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Now the girls have not yet asked

to dress up as Martin Luther.

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I have to work out what my answer to that

is going to be, but that's who we look to.

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Because we look to the moment.

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That we stand in the heritage of on

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a young monk by the name of Martin

Luther nailed 95 statements to the

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door of the Wittenberg Chapel in He

wasn't wanting to start a revolution.

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He simply wanted a discussion about

where the church was an error.

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But what Martin Luther did, being

convinced by the Word of God, He

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had no choice but to break with

the church and to preach a gospel

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of salvation by faith alone.

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And that's what started what is

known as the Protestant Reformation.

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Protestant, by the way, comes from the

word protester, being protesters against

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the theology of the church at that time,

as we know today, the Church of Rome.

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Protestantism was never political.

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It was always Always theological.

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Luther was actually

studying to be a lawyer.

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His father was from a humble farming

family, and through hard work had risen

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to not only manage, but own his own

smelting factories in Eastern Germany.

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And it was while returning to university

after visiting his family that Luther was

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knocked off his horse in a thunderstorm.

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And in sheer fear and terror, he did

the only thing that he could think of

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doing, and he cried out to the saint

of his father, the saint who would

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protect the patron saint of minors.

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Saint Anne.

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And he said, help me Saint

Anne, and I will become a monk.

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Luther survived and, true to his

word, resigned from the university and

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entered the orders of the Augustinians.

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Hence why, whenever you see him

dressed, he has the flat cap of

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a scholar and the Geneva gown.

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That, that gown that proves

teaching and lecturing.

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And so, he worked hard, and he

grew deeper in the knowledge

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of God and of Jesus Christ.

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But he was still in the church,

as it was known back then.

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But there was one thing that he simply

couldn't get over, and that was his sin.

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You have no idea, you read his

own accounts, his own letters,

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and his sin troubled him so much

that he couldn't even sleep.

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A man tormented by his own sin,

and how it could be dealt with.

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No amount of confession in the

confession box could do it.

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In fact, at one point his abbot got so

frustrated with him that he sent him off

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to Rome to climb the holy steps and repeat

the rosary in each one, simply hoping that

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it would get it out of Luther's system.

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Luther did it, and it did nothing.

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Luther agonized.

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over the thought of how could

a just God simply forgive sins.

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He couldn't be instructed, he couldn't be

comforted, because he was so tormented.

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And then, one day, while reading

Romans chapter 3, in verses 21 and

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onwards, but particularly verses 22

to 25, his eyes opened to the truth.

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Let me read those verses.

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The significant verses to you.

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But now the righteousness of God has

been manifested apart from the law.

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Although the law and the

prophets bear witness to it.

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The righteousness of God through

faith in Jesus Christ for all.

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For there is no distinction.

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For all have sinned and fall

short of the glory of God and are

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justified by His grace as a gift.

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Through the redemption that is

in Christ Jesus, whom God put

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forward as a propitiation by His

blood, to be received by faith.

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This was to show God's righteousness.

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Because in his divine forbearance,

he had passed over former sins.

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Luther was completely captivated by this

truth that the forgiveness of sins was

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not based on piety, merit, or good works.

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It was a free gift of God, by Fide.

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by faith alone.

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And Luther described the moment

much like John Bunyan would write

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later in that story of Pilgrim going

to the cross and having the burden

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taken off him and rolling away.

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It was a weight being lifted from him

as he realized that he could do nothing

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with his own sin, absolutely nothing.

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It was only through Jesus Christ that he

could know that he was right with God.

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As Paul tells us in verse 21, But

now the righteousness of God has been

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manifested apart from the law, although

the law and the prophets bear to it.

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Paul here in this passage confirms for

us that after having looked at the human

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condition over the many chapters that

have gone before, there's actually hope.

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Because in chapters 1 and 2, in

the first half of chapter 3, he's

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told us what Martin Luther learned.

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That we are sinful by nature.

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And there is nothing we

can do with our own sin.

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Absolutely nothing.

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No amount of good works.

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No amount of trying hard

to simply live a good life.

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No amount of charity, nothing, absolutely

nothing can do anything with our sin.

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If you think that it does, well then,

you're following a different gospel.

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But what happens in verse 21?

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After being told of the human condition

from the beginning of this passage,

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we now break, and Paul breaks into

the good news of the gospel that

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what of what God has done for us.

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He has a way of salvation

that is fully open.

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We no longer need to fear the grave.

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We no longer need to fear the punishment

of sins because the gospel way is open.

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Up until 1517, the church had

lost its way on this matter.

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It had focused on what man who had

said was there, or what a man who was

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And apparently the head of the church

could do for you and what personal

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responsibility it was for our own

dealing with sin through confession,

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penance, the rosary, and other things

that would be by done by habit and

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that would absolve us of our sins.

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What the church up until 1517

never did was pointed people to

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the true gospel to Jesus Christ.

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And this is why Martin Luther's

theological discovery was

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so radical for the church.

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It challenged its ministry of

the gospel to the core, and the

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church of 1517 was found wanting.

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Because it was not adhering to scripture.

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But what lit Martin Luther's fire

was a man called Johann Tetzel and

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his abuse of the forgiveness of sins.

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Pope Leo X was building St.

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Peter's Basilica in Rome and you can

go there today and still see it in

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all its beauty and all its glory.

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But his problem was he had

quite literally bankrupt.

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And so he needed more money.

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And the wealthiest people around

in those days were the Germans.

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So off he goes to the German banks and

asks for a loan, quite a hefty loan.

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But they didn't trust him.

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They said, how are you

going to pay this back?

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And so he had to prove to

them a method by which...

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the money could be paid back.

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And so he decided that in his name

he would put it to a piece of paper.

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That piece of paper would

be called an indulgence.

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And people around the Holy Roman

Empire would buy these indulgences

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that would grant them absolution

of sin, past, present, and future.

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All you needed was a golden ticket.

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All you needed was this certificate,

with the name of the Pope on it, and

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you would be free from your sin forever.

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You'd think, surely not.

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And the people bought it?

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Yes, they did.

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Here's Johann Tetzel.

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I'm sure this isn't accurate.

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He was a rotund man, because

he earned a lot of money.

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Because he even had a jingle that said,

As soon as the coin in the coffers

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ring, the soul from purgatory springs.

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He knew what he was doing.

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He knew the game he was playing.

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And he knew that the money was being

raised to simply build a basilica in Rome.

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And this enraged Luther, because as

he had again turned to Romans 3 and to

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verse 25, he read whom God put forward,

speaking of Christ, as a propitiation

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by his blood to be received by faith.

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This was to show God's righteousness,

because in his divine forbearance,

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he passed over former sins.

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Not a name on a piece of paper.

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Not an indulgence that you paid money

for that somehow granted you absolution

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of sin, past, present, and future.

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It's only God who has the right

and the power to forgive sins.

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He is the one who passes over

former sins because of Jesus Christ.

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And here, Paul is confirming

that when our sins are forgiven,

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they are truly forgiven.

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There's no certificate involved.

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We rest in faith alone.

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Tetzel was selling a piece of paper,

but Paul communicated the goodness

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of the gospel in his demonstration of

his righteousness toward us so that

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we could be made right before him.

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And this was possible because

Jesus had taken the punishment

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that our sins deserve.

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Therefore, God could pass over

our former sins because of Jesus.

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And this was great news then, as Martin

Luther proclaimed it from the pulpits,

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and it continues to be great news now.

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This is why when Luther writes the hymn,

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, he says

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in verse 2, Did we in our own strength

confide, our striving would be losing?

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We're not the right man on our

side, the man of God's own choosing.

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Dost ask who that may be?

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Christ Jesus, it is he!

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Lord, sabboweth his name

from age to age the same.

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And he must win the battle.

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I would love us to sing this, but I

don't think too many would know it.

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But go home and listen to it.

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If you have a CD, a record, a

tape that has old hymns on it,

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you're going to find it on it.

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It's a hymn of the Reformation.

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It's a hymn Martin Luther

wrote, and it's a hymn of truth.

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You ask, who is the one who can save us?

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Well, it's Christ Jesus.

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It's he, Lord Sabaoth, his name.

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Luther, as Paul did, frames the

gospel in the image of a battle.

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He is accurate in doing so because,

because that's what the battle is.

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We're torn.

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We're torn between two sides.

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There's the way of righteousness that

comes from the Lord, and then there's

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the evil schemes of the devil, and

there's only one who must, and there's

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only one who will win the battle

for our souls, and it is the Lord.

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Sabawath.

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Sabawath means Lord of Hosts.

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Because of this conviction

of the forgiveness of sins,

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the world has changed.

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The fire of the Reformation spread

so that we today can continue to know

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this truth, that it is only through

Christ that our sins can be forgiven.

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We see it plainly in Scripture

today, but for generations it

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was kept from the people and

twisted to suit the power of men.

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Much was given for this truth, both on

Calvary's cross and in the flames of

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persecution that followed the Reformation.

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But as Paul says in chapter 1, For in

it the righteousness of God is revealed

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from faith, for faith, as it is written,

The righteous shall live by faith.

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And so Paul's heart sings the

gospel in verses 21 to 26.

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But he returns now to what we've

been familiar with and how Paul

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structures his, uh, his letter.

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To the Romans, and so knowing this freedom

in the gospel, that only comes from God.

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He asks a question in verse 27,

then what becomes of our boasting?

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It is excluded by what kind of law?

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By a law of works.

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No, but by the law of faith.

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And so now we have the song of the

gospel ringing through the generations.

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And these closing verses of

chapter three provide us with three

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responses to the truth of the gospel.

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Here they are.

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First of all, humiliation

in verses 27 and 28.

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Then integration in verses 29 to 30.

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And finally in verse 31, affirmation.

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And so we're going to

begin with humiliation.

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In Paul's questioning, he leaves

no room for our self righteousness.

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It might seem a bit odd here that Paul

begins this verse, how he does, by

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speaking against self glorying, especially

since he has just spoken in great deal

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about all that God in Christ has done

for sinners apart from their work.

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You would think that we could, could

sing this wonderfully from the rooftops.

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But Paul warns us because he knows

the human heart, and he knows

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that it has much pride in it.

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So, being led by the Holy Spirit to

deal with this issue, he concludes the

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question by asking where boasting is.

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And Paul responds by

saying that it is excluded.

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It's, it's not to be found.

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Quite literally, he is saying

that it is shut out and completely

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eliminated once for all time.

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And he now introduces to what, uh,

he introduces us to what our only

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hope is, and it is the law of faith.

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The law of faith is simply

believing in Christ as saviour.

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As John Murray rightly says,

faith is self renouncing, whereas

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we are self congratulatory.

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Let's see if we can get that up there.

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In other words, faith

looks away from oneself.

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Work looks to oneself.

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And to make sure that we understand this,

Paul impresses on us in verse 28 that

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our justification can only come by faith.

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This is what opened Martin Luther's

mind, heart, and eyes, this truth.

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As good and worthy our actions

may be, actions cannot suffice,

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nor actions plus faith.

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If this was the case, then that would

no longer be faith, as the gospel

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calls for, which is comprehensive

confidence in Christ and complete

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rejection of sufficiency in ourselves.

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Paul describes the stance

that is called for.

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In Philippians, uh, nine, uh, three, verse

nine, by saying, And be found in him,

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not having a righteousness of my own that

comes from the law, but that which comes

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through faith in Christ, the righteousness

from God that depends on faith.

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We have to recognize that when

we live in faith, there's nothing

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to boast about of ourselves.

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We can't make our faith, it is a gift,

a pure gift from God, so that faith

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is self renouncing, as we point people

not to ourselves, not to any kind

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of works that we do, but to Christ.

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The second truth of the

gospel is that it brings about

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integration in verses 29 and 30.

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Because Paul has spoken of

the impartiality of God when

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it comes to dealing with sin.

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So now he speaks of the

inclusiveness of the gospel.

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And he begins by challenging

the culture of his day.

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In the first century, racial

segregation was everywhere

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between unsaved Jews and Gentiles.

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This was because many Jews considered

the Gentiles dogs, being the type of

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people whose minds were always intent

upon idolatry, as one famous rabbi wrote.

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And many Gentiles despised the Jews.

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And sadly, when these individuals

were converted, the sin of

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racial segregation did not die

speedily, but came into the church.

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And so Paul deals with this in

several places in his letters.

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And the most famous, perhaps, is in

Galatians chapter 3 and verse, uh,

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28, where he says there is neither

Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave

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nor free, there is no male or female,

for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

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Paul's saying the gospel is inclusive.

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No one is too bad, nor is anyone too

pious not to have the opportunity

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to know it and to respond to it.

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So the gospel is what united

people, and it continues to unite

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God's people as we come together

under the name of Jesus Christ.

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There is no room for

human ego or superiority.

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There will be those stronger in the

faith and those weaker, but we are one in

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Christ and there is no room for groups.

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that would then cause divisions.

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The church is a body of many parts.

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Each one is resilient, or

sorry, is reliant on the other.

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That's why hymn 205 is so striking.

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Because in song we sing of the schisms

that have rent the church apart.

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That was never meant to be.

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No church was ever meant to be torn apart.

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Because churches exist

to proclaim the gospel.

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For God's people to grow.

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So that the world that so needs

the truth of the gospel may see,

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and hear, and come in faith.

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How precious is unity to you?

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Unity doesn't mean that we always

have to agree all of the time.

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I want to make that very clear.

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We can disagree.

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I like certain hymns that you don't.

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I perhaps like a translation

of the Bible that you don't.

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That's okay.

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I'm not going to fall

out with you over it.

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Some of you like your tea in

your cup before your milk.

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I don't understand why,

but I prefer my milk first.

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That's how ridiculous it can become.

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From quite literally the sublime

speaking of theology to the ridiculous.

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And yes, we can disagree, but we

have to learn how to disagree well.

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Because what Scripture calls for,

what God's Word calls for, is unity.

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This little man, represented

in plastic this evening, fought

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for the unity of the Church.

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He tried to reform the Church of

Rome, and he found he couldn't.

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But even in years after the

Reformation, he maintained that

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unity was what the Church had to be.

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For the sake of this gospel

that is so precious to us.

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If you are a believer here tonight,

and you are assured of your salvation,

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and you fight for that truth of the

gospel, the second thing you must

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fight for is the unity of the church.

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I don't say that to make life easy.

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I say it because it comes from God alone.

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What did Jesus pray in his

great high priestly prayer?

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Father, I pray that they may be

One, just as you and I are one, we

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have been given the heavenly divine

example that we are to replicate

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here on earth, one with the other.

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Fight first for the gospel, fight

second for the unity of the church.

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The third thing is affirmation.

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This truth that the

gospel brings in verse 31.

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Paul now answers a very logical question

that will come from what he has just

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taught on the doctrine of justification.

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How do Christians now approach

the moral law of God when we are

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depending on Christ's work alone.

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Does it mean that the

law counts for nothing?

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And Paul is emphatic in his

reply, because look at it there.

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It says, on the contrary.

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It's the exact opposite.

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And this may surprise us, but

Paul argues that we will be better

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upholders of the law, because we will

live it, or we will be living it, as

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God always intended it to be lived.

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In other words, God's

best rule for his people.

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Now Paul is not saying that we are

saved by the law, because the law

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never did and the law never can save.

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The law here is best understood as the Old

Testament, its narrative and its precepts

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and overall testimony to God's present

at that time, and promised redemption

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on the fallen world through the covenant

that he made with Abraham, sealed always.

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Of course, Paul is not

overthrowing the Old Testament.

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He depends on it for much that

he affirms in his letters.

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And particularly in Romans, but it is

true that he is rejecting understandings

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of the Old Testament that might reduce

it to a set of ethical or religious

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behaviors that if it is believed

they're followed well, will result

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in righteous standing before God.

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But Paul, like Old Testament prophets

such as Isaiah and Micah, as well as the

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Lord Jesus Christ himself, rejects an

approach to the Old Testament that amounts

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to lip service rather than a change of

heart via repentance and trust in God.

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Paul can now say with confidence that

we uphold the law in the sense that

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God intended his deeds and words to be

understood and applied over the centuries.

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During which his saving revelation

unfolded, leading up to the

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fulfillment in the Christ Paul serves.

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This is a great passage about the

gospel and its goodness to us.

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It was the 16th century Reformation that

recovered it to our hearts and minds so

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that we can continue to know its truth.

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But I wonder if it is your truth tonight.

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There are four things to consider.

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First of all, there is to

be no boasting in self.

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but only in the Saviour.

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We can claim no goodness of

ourselves, so don't even try.

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We can't impress.

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We shouldn't try to impress.

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We are to be for Christ and

for Him alone, and point people

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to Him and not to ourselves.

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Secondly, there is to be no

discrimination, but there is to be

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an assimilation of God's people.

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We're not, we are not to

say who's out and who's in.

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It doesn't matter who they

are, where they come from.

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The gospel goes far and wide throughout

this world, and so as it does, we welcome.

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And we assimilate people not into our

culture, but into the truth of the gospel.

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So that together we might be

one, just as Christ prayed.

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Thirdly, there is to be an evangelical

keeping of the commandments of

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God for His glory and our good.

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They'll never save us.

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They never will.

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But we are called to live them

because they are God's rule and,

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uh, for us, by which we are to live.

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Of how we are to live individually

in worship of him, but how we are to

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live as a community of his people.

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And when you read them in the

light of that, then they become

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so, so glorious to live and uphold.

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Because they are God's standard

and not the standard of the world.

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And finally, I want to say to

anyone here tonight who may not

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be sure of Christ as your saviour.

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Do not let your self importance

or your self righteousness Keep

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you out of the kingdom of God.

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You can't get there yourself.

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Doesn't matter how young,

doesn't matter how old.

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You can't do it on your own.

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Don't even try.

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Rather, see yourself in

truth as God sees you.

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Namely, as a lost, hell deserving sinner.

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And then go to Christ by faith alone.

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Quickly.

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To be saved by...

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Martin Luther knew something very well.

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Because he knew that all have sinned

and fall short of the glory of God.

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But he also knew that, uh, and are

justified by his grace as a gift through

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the redemption that is Christ Jesus.

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Do you agonize over your

sin as Martin Luther did?

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Because if you do, you need to

go to Christ, because he will

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deal with it once and for all,

because he died once and for all.

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Will you live the way that we've

always been intended to live?

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In the goodness of God, living

his way by his standard.

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Will you believe these words of Romans 3?

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That God has a gift for you.

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That gift is sola fide, by

faith alone in Jesus Christ.

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For he is the only one who can save us

and get us ready for eternity in heaven.

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May you know this gift of

grace tonight as you seek him.

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Let's pray.

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Our Father God, thank you for this word.

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Thank you that it excites us,

and that it should excite us,

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because it's transformative.

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It has changed the course of history

and we are so grateful because

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we stand in its truth tonight.

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So may we know it deep within us from

young to old as we look at history, as

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we look how it was opened up to us, but

as we look beyond that to Jesus Christ,

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the only one who can save, the only

one who can forgive, the only one who

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is our rock and our So hear us as we

pray and as we respond in Jesus name.

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Amen.