Reformation Day
October 31, 2004
Romans 3:19-28

^3:19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

²¹But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²²This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- ²⁶he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

²⁷Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. ²⁸For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. (NIV).

The Scriptures' 3-D Glasses.

  This summer I learned about a wonderful cartoon character: Sponge Bob Square Pants! Now even though Sponge Bob is one of dumbest things I have ever seen, I really enjoyed seeing him. You see, we were in a theatre at an amusement park where they were showing a 3-D movie of Sponge Bob. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Bob really did jump right out of the screen. He seemed to come right up to your face. That combined with chairs that rocked and bumped and twisted made for the best cartoon I've ever seen.

  Perhaps you too have seen a 3-D movie. If so then you know you have to wear some special glasses without which you cannot have the 3-D effect. In fact, if you take them off and peak at the screen, you can't see much of anything. It's all blurry and the colors are funny. Only the 3-D glasses allow you to see properly.

  For many people, God's Word is hard to understand. It's not that they don't understand the language because we have many good English translations that anyone who can read can understand. No, the problem is often the fact that there seem to be too many images at once. Some people find for example, that the God of the Old Testament seems like a very harsh war-like God, sending heroes like Moses, Joshua and David out to do battle, while the God of the New Testament seems like a tolerant God of love. Or take Jesus himself. At one moment he is trashing the market in the temple and railing on the Pharisees, and the next he's tenderly embracing children. How do those different images fit together? What glasses can we use to see clearly the sometimes blurry message of God's Word?

  Like the simple plastic or paper glasses for a 3-D movie, there is a very simple truth that allows us to make sense of Scripture. It was the great truth of the Reformation. Through his study of the Scriptures, Luther realized that the key to understanding God and his Word was this truth: that we are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. That is the central teaching of all of Scripture and the key to understanding all of Scripture. Justification by grace through faith is the pair of glasses that allows us to see clearly the different images of Scripture.

  Let's go back to 3-D movies. 3-D movies mimic what your eyes normally see. Your eyes are a couple inches apart, so they don't see exactly the same thing. There is a slight difference in the angle or perspective. The different image from each eye goes to the brain which then allows you to see normally in three dimensions. In a 3-D movie, they project two different images on the screen like the two different images your two eyes normally see. Then the special glasses filter the two images so that only one image goes to each eye, the way you normally see. The brain then puts the two images together and voila, you have 3-D! What was blurry and incomprehensible is now clear and exciting!

  The Bible covers a time period of about 4000 years, from Genesis to Revelation. In that time, God did many things. He both created the world and then destroyed it by a flood. At first he dealt with all peoples directly, then he chose to work through the Jews. He used to be the king of the nation of Israel, then he said that his kingdom was not of this world. For centuries he was unseen, revealing himself only through his prophets. Then he took the form of a man. Many people have a hard time putting these different pictures together. They struggle to understand who God is. Not a few have firmly believed that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are two different Gods! As a consequence, they struggle also to understand how we are to relate to God. Surely God requires us to keep some sort of law and judges our performance. So a Buddhist seeks to please God through meditation; a Muslim through prayer five times a day; a humanist by doing more good than bad. It all seems contradictory; and it's all very confusing. No wonder people give up and become agnostics. They truly don't know what to believe! Thus much of the world lives in doubt about God, his judgment and our future. We need a pair of 3-D glasses!

  But law is not that pair of 3-D glasses even though it has a very important function. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

  The law, whether that be our natural knowledge of right and wrong at work in our conscience or the 10 Commandments makes us conscious of sin—all that we have done wrong and all we have neglected. It holds us accountable to God and so shuts our bragging mouth! In this way, the law leads us to something else more important. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

  Here is what the Scriptures are all about. Here is the main point, the aim, purpose and goal of all of Scripture. This is what the law working in our conscience prepares us to learn and believe. This is what all the stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses, Joshua, David and the other kings, Samuel and the rest of the prophets prepare us for and lead us to. This is the Gospel, the central teaching of the whole bible: For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

  God does not relate to you and me on the basis of how well we have lived. In that respect we have all failed. Instead, God presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. Quite simply, God put Jesus' head on the chopping block in your place. Through that act he has forgiven you and taken you back as his child. The bridge between you and God is Jesus. "The heart, center, and ultimate message of the Bible is that God wishes to be gracious to sinners for Christ's sake. Unless one hears this voice of the Gospel . . . the whole point and purpose of the Scriptures has been missed." (Gospel and Scripture, no page).

  Sadly, much of the world and even much of the Christian Church has missed the point! The apostle Paul bemoaned the fact that most Jews missed the point. He said, Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. When Martin Luther got the point he tried to tell the rest of the Church. He wrote it in the Smalcald Articles, a part of our Lutheran Confessions.

The first and chief article [of Christian teaching] is this, that Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, "was put to death for our trespasses and raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:25). He alone is "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (Isaiah 53:6). Moreover, "all have sinned," and "they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, by his blood" (Romans 3:23-25). . . .
Nothing in this article can be given up or compromised, even if heaven and earth and things temporal should be destroyed. For as St. Peter says, "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). "And with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).
On this article rests all that we teach and practice against the pope, the devil, and the world. Therefore we must be quite certain and have no doubts about it. Otherwise all is lost, and the pope, the devil, and all our adversaries will gain the victory. (SA, Part 2, Tappert, p. 292).