St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church – Watertown, WI
Pastor Mark Gartner
Sermon for Reformation – November 1^st and 4^th, 2001

Dear Children of the Reformation

Luther more or less said this about the biblical teaching of justification, "It is the central teaching of Christianity upon which the church stands or falls." As we look at justification we can see that Luther was correct, and we can see that we are correct as we hold to this same teaching today. This is not a teaching that Luther or any other person made up. This is a teaching that is found completely, entirely and firmly in God's inspired Word. This teaching of justification means everything for us as Christians. This teaching of Justification means everything for everyone who has already lived on this earth and who will live on this earth in the future. The doctrine of justification has one purpose, but it is a very important purpose. It is to announce the verdict of not guilty to all sinners. Without the verdict of not guilty our lives would be lost. There is no way that we can diminish or wipe out this teaching, since it contains the only way to heaven which is faith in the death of Christ. And there is only one place to find out about this justification. It has been made known to us by the Holy Spirit in God's Word. God's righteousness has been there for eternity, but it was revealed in its fullness at the proper time in God's Word. That is what we are going to look at this morning:

Paul the writer of these words has certainly hit the nail on the head, as he was led to write these words about justification. No book in the bible spends more time and explains more clearly this teaching of justification than the book of Romans. If there is any confusion in your lives as to how we are saved look to Romans. If there is a person that you are speaking to who has questions about his salvation lead them through the book of Romans. Our text is another wonderful example of where our salvation comes from. It is good to look back at the verses preceding our text. Without looking back at the context we might miss some of the key points. Paul in the verses before makes sure there is no mistake about sin. He writes, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God." He also writes, "There is no one who does good, not even one." As we look at these words, we see the very clear way that Paul leads us to see the one key point. He leads all people to see that they are sinners. The point that Paul is making is that on our own we are not righteous. We do not seek God. We are not good. On our own we are the very opposite. We are unrighteous and full of sin. We look away from God, and we do evil. Having made this very clear and making no mistakes about who is considered a sinner, Paul writes the words of our text. It is the Law which leads us to look outside of ourselves for help, and that is what Paul talks about.

The first words of our text change the context from that of all being sinners to something that changes the picture completely. Paul writes, "But now a righteousness from God has been made known." There is an outside factor playing into the picture. There is something that throws a completely different light on the words sin. That outside factor is the "righteousness from God" that is revealed or made known. It was revealed or made known as the Holy Spirit led the writers of the OT and the NT to record his Holy Word. As Paul writes, "to which the Law and prophets testify." It is not something new. It is something that has now been revealed. It is not something Paul made up. It is the same thing that the OT prophets preached about.

It is something completely outside of us. It is the words of the Gospel. Maybe we need to look a little more closely at the words "righteousness" and "justification." What do these words mean? Righteousness means "to be right with God". It ties very closely with the word "justification" which means that "we are declared not guilty" of our sins. The picture is of a court scene. We are standing before our heavenly Judge. He is looking at us as sinners, and he then pronounces his judgment "NOT GUILTY". That is what makes us righteous. It is something, which God has done for us.

But how does he pronounce us not guilty? Paul tells us, "We are declared not guilty freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." We see the motive for this act of righteousness. It is by his grace. There could be no other motive by which we are saved. It is the love and mercy, which God showed to us. We see the means for our righteousness is found in the person of Jesus Christ. And we also see how Jesus accomplished this act of righteousness. "God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood." We see the word sacrifice here, and that is exactly how our righteousness came. It came in the sacrifice of God's own Son, Jesus Christ. But there is more to this picture than meets the eye. We all know that Jesus died to take away our sins. But here we see that Jesus was a ransom price for us, as Matt 20:28 says, "He did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom." The ransom price freed us from the hands of Satan and best of all it freed us from the guilt of our sins and from the punishment that was waiting for us because of our sins.

But the picture of a sacrifice is the clearest picture used to describe our salvation. We are going to take us back in time to the time of the OT Israelites. Remember the many sacrifices that they were required to make as God commanded them on the mountain of Sinai. They had many different types of sacrifices, which were to be done for the many different types of sins, and problems they had. The key to these sacrifices was the blood that was shed. They were the symbol of the Perfect blood that would be shed on the cross of Calvary. The blood of those sacrifices had no power to take away their sins, but they were effective with regards to the coming prophecy of the Perfect Lamb.

We see here the word of Atonement. In this word we once again find meaning with the OT Jews. The word of Atonement is very closely tied with the Ark of the Covenant. Remember the Ark of the Covenant. It was the place where God said he dwelt as the Israelites moved and finally settled in Jerusalem. The Ark then was placed in the Holy of Holies where only the High Priest could go once a year to be in its presence. The cover of the Ark of the Covenant was called the seat of atonement. It showed the people of Israel where God was. He was in their midst. Once a year the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled blood on this cover of the Ark to pronounce forgiveness on the people of Israel. This was called the Day of Atonement. It is very fitting to say that we are also made clean by the Ultimate Day of the Atonement which is the cross of Christ. We are not bound to the OT laws and their sacrifices, but we are set free by the blood of Christ.

The problem is that many people have missed the fact that Jesus has already came and paid the price so that God could pronounce the verdict of "Not Guilty" upon all people. This verdict is out there for all without regards for race, gender or religious affiliation. The problem is that people think that there needs to be more to our salvation. There are many people who want to take part in their salvation. Justification or righteousness has nothing whatsoever do with us. If we would go up to a select number of people and ask if they are saved and going to heaven, we would get many varying responses. We would get our share of the work-righteous answers. Many people would reply that they rely on themselves and their lives for their salvation. They might give responses that go like this, "I've lived a good life, and God will reward me." "I'm doing my best, what more can God ask of me." "I don't know for sure but I will keep doing good works to give myself a better chance." We have probably heard these before and there are many variations to these answers, but they all revolve around the Devil's favorite temptation, OUR SINFUL FLESH.

We think we need to help God in some way. We want to be in control. But one look at Paul's words tears down this disastrous thinking, "a Righteousness from God apart from the law." "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." "No one is declared righteous in his sight by observing the law." Gal. 2:16, "by observing the law no one will be saved." Man likes to boast and that includes the good things man does in his life, but man cannot boast about his salvation. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the life we live and who we are. Remember we as Christians also sin and fall short of the perfect glory of Christ. With that in mind, what kind of hope is there to try and be saved by the keeping of the law? "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." It doesn't get any clearer than this.

If it is not works than what is it? Faith is the key word for us. It is by faith that we are made righteous and declared not guilty. Faith in the blood of Christ. "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Christ Jesus to all who believe." "Man is justified by faith." That is the only way for us as sinners to be saved. Trust in the blood of Christ for the forgiveness of all our sins. The blood of Christ is out there for all people, but this love is made ours personally through faith. All the benefits of Christ are placed into our hearts through the faith worked in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Faith is the receiving hand that reaches out and grabs hold of these benefits. BUT ONE THING WE WANT TO NEVER FORGET -- FAITH IS NOT A GOOD WORK!!! Faith is not an accomplishment on our part. We are not better people, and for that reason God gave us faith. We cannot in the slightest way boast because of our faith. It is a gift of faith that God has given to us. The Gospel righteousness awakens our faith. Faith accepts and trusts these words of promise as true. We need to remember the relationship of faith to righteousness. Our righteousness has always been there, since the death of Christ. It was there before we had faith. Therefore our faith did not do anything to work righteousness in us nor did our faith result from anything in us.

As we look at the righteousness of God that was freely given to us. We do see that it is the central teaching of the Christian church. If we in the slightest way change or pervert the teaching that God has done everything to save us, then we are weakening the wonderful and precious message of salvation by grace through faith. It sounds so simple to us, but it is the only way. We can in complete confidence and trust know 100% that our salvation is sure. We don't have to wonder if I'm living a good enough life. We don't have to say I think I've done enough good works. We can say Jesus has done all the work for us, and it is ours through faith. There are no laws or stipulations attached to God's righteousness. There are only promises. God tells us we are saved, and that is the Gospel message. It is this message of righteousness that is the motivation that gives us the guidance and strength to live for Christ. Salvation does not just come from Christ. SALVATION IS CHRIST! It will never fade away or lose its power. It is everlasting and permanent to the end of time. What a blessed assurance that is for us. Justification is not just a moral change. It is not just something that tells us to do better. It is the assurance that when we stand before God on the Last Day, he will not see all of our sinfulness, but only the righteousness won for us by Christ. Amen.