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We often celebrate Reformation Sunday for all the wrong reasons. Yes, we rejoice in the work that Martin Luther accomplished, but he shouldn't be our focus. Yes, we rejoice in the proper realignment of Church authority, the translations of the Bible into the language of the people, the return of congregational singing and centrality of preaching, and recapturing of Sola Scriptura, but none of those things should be our focus. None of those things on their own changed the world. It wasn't Luther nailing his theses to the door, but God nailing His Son to the cross that changed the world. It is the recapturing of that reality, the recovery of the gospel, that turned the world upside down yet again. The gospel has that effect in history. Christ dying for our sins and rising again is what we celebrate every Sunday, and on this Sunday we remember how easily we lost sight of that gospel. Reformation Sunday isn't about patting ourselves on the back that we are right. It is a warning to us of how easily we forget. It's a reminder to us to take heed lest we fall. The sins of the past always return in the present, but they just update their clothing, their mask. Today, we are going to reexamine the sins of Rome, discover our own version of that sin, but then happily settle on Christ and celebrate Him. Our main point today is Only Christ can purchase our peace. Only Christ can purchase our peace Often when we think of Reformation Sunday, we think about what happened in Germany on October 31st over 500 years ago. Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenburg. Luther understanding of what needed reformation in the Catholic church was less than we might think at this point. We wasn't even totally against the indulgence system per se but more of its abuse. What is an indulgence? To oversimplify only slightly, it was an opportunity to buy your way into heaven. This, for Luther, was promising way too much. They had a phrase, "a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs." That sounds like buying salvation! It is false assurance. Luther himself put it this way in his 32nd thesis: "Those who believe that they can be certain of their salvation because they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned, together with their teachers." Surely we wouldn't stoop to something so crass! Oh, but we do. Honestly, one of the strengths of the past was people were simply more direct than we are today. We try to buy our salvation all the time today. We just wouldn't say it or even think of it like that. Instead, we think of it this way, "I am confident in my salvation because (blank)." Anything other than Christ in that blank is what you are trying to buy your salvation with whether that is a literal piece of paper or not. What gives you confidence is literally the definition of trust. Have you ever seen kids running around but not able to see their parents? You feel the burden of responsibility, don't you? But as soon as you see their parents round the corner, you feel that burden off your chest, right? Why? You have confidence in their parents. It works the same way with our salvation. What takes the weight off your chest when you think about your eternity? Is it Christ, or is it one of these things? Some of us try to buy our way into heaven by how much we know. "Surely," we good Presbyterians think, "God must be pleased with me because look at how much I know! I memorize my catechism twice a week, and there isn't a word of John Calvin that I haven't read...in the original French!" We ignore that knowledge puffs up, without love, is nothing (1 Cor. 13). Many a person has been well-read and sinned all the same. There will be pastors and seminary professors in hell. Knowledge will not save you. Knowledge will not purchase peace with God. On the other side of the scale, people buy their way into heaven, have confidence in their salvation, by the experiences that they've had. They push away the books as dusty collections of pride on a page and assume that their inner experiences hold the key to truth and confidence in salvation, as if this isn't pride as well. Maybe that is something mind blowing like miracles, visions, or tongues, but most often I find people confident in their salvation simply because they cried a lot when they went down an aisle one time. Experience of emotion or seemingly fantastic things with nothing but your own heart to judge ignores the warning that our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9). There are so many other false confidences. We can think we are saved because we have an office in the church. We can think that because we are a pastor, elder, or deacon that we are saved. After all, a whole church voted for us! Did Jesus? His vote is the only one that matters. The history of the church is absolutely filled with blots of unchristian elders and pastors. We can think we are saved because of the money we give or the time that we spend in the church. Being in a particular room a couple times a week shouldn't give confidence in salvation. The things you do or don't do are not confidences in salvation. A clear conscience isn't confidence, either. Have you ever had that argument with yourself when you realize you've sinned? You think about what you've just done and then immediately begin to try to figure out how that wasn't *actually* that bad in the first place? In fact, the more we think about it, it wasn't bad at all. As soon as we come to that conclusion, our soul relaxes once again. All of these and many more are false confidences. All of these things are just indulgences reclothed. "A page of the Bible to read, a soul from hell is freed." "Tears in an aisle shed, salvation in a soul is bred." "A church title obtained, a soul in paradise gained." It's all the same lie. It brings no true salvation, no true comfort. So what does? Well, that's where our passage comes in. Now, it bears remembering that Romans 5 comes after Romans 4 (you see, it's these insights that have you all coming back every week). Romans 4 talks about how Abraham receives his promise not by anything that he does but simply believing in what God does. Since it was true of Abraham, it is true of us (4:23-25: "But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.")! Salvation has always been given in the same way! Now, with that in mind, we get to chapter 5:1-2 "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Paul starts by saying, "because, just like Abraham, we aren't declared righteous by works, we have peace with God by faith, too." It isn't how much you have or haven't done. It is about what God has declared over you. In our times today, what matters in a legal sense is what the Supreme Court says. If the Supreme Court declares something is so, it is so. We've seen this work in both directions. Once they say it, that's it, that's what it is from a legal perspective. God is way higher than the Supreme Court. If He declares you are righteous because of what Jesus did for you, you are righteous in God's eyes. How is that declaration applied? Faith. How do you get this verdict? Trust in what Christ has done for you. Turn to Him and place your confidence in Him. The flip side of this process is repentance. You are turning from your sin, including confidence in yourself, to Christ. That turn will never be perfect this side of heaven, but that is it. There is no climbing to the top of a mountain, no earning of a degree, not even finishing some sort of probation period where you gotta behave for a couple weeks before Jesus will consider you. No, you come to Him now believing what He said that He would forgive all who come to Him desiring to be rid of their sin. Tears, titles, time, and study don't take away sin. Only Jesus can do that. Do you really think that you can erase every harsh word, every sexual glance or activity, every angry action? Think of it this way, can you remember something done or said against you? Maybe some of you have a whole list, but is there something that really hurt you? Does it still hurt or offend? Is there something that this person could do that would overcome that so much you would just have to put it aside? Maybe. What if that person did a thousand things that offended you just as much? You'd probably cut them off, wouldn't you? God didn't do that to you. He sent His son, not to purchase begrudging tolerance but peace, wholeness, shalom with God! Can you think of a time where you felt whole and content? That's what God has purchased for you. You two are no longer enemies. You have become a child in safe arms. You have access. What is access? I heard a story of a son whose father was known for his seemingly limitless hospitality. Once, when that son was an adult, called his father at 2 in the morning saying that his bandmates (whom his father had never met) were on the way to the house to stay and were hungry. His father, out of a dead sleep, paused to take a breath to ask, "do they eat chicken or fish?" When the band rolled up twenty minutes later, they found this father, dressed in pajama pants and a head lamp, hunched over a grill with chicken and fish for a bunch of guys he had never met. That's access. One commentator put it this way, "This peace carries with it free access to God; the former rebels are not merely forgiven by having their due punishment remitted; they are brought into a place of high favour with God—‘this grace in which we stand’." (Bruce, Tyndale) You have that with God. Not because of how many questions of the catechism you know. Not because of the title you hold. It is only because God loves you so much. Do you really think you need to add to that love? Isn't it a little insulting to think that you could? Doesn't mean that you don't read your Bible and pray. Don't you think those bandmates would want to know as much about that dad as they could having been shown such love? Don't you think they would want to talk with him? Don't you want the same with God? Are you not moved by such an expression of love as large as a sacrifice of His Son? If it doesn't, maybe you don't realize what you have been saved from. Maybe you haven't spent much time with such a Father and don't realize Who He really is. Maybe you've spent so much time trying to earn a love that your own pride won't let you accept. Maybe you've done something that you think Christ can't possibly forgive. No, no, my brothers and sisters. Christ loves you, freely, willingly. Come to Him. Stop trying to earn Him and enjoy Him! Rejoice in the work that He has accomplished for you, and let that joy motivate what you do. That is what changed the world for Martin Luther. I pray that it changes your world, too.
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