Speaker 1: 0:06

I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Romans, chapter 1. Romans, chapter 1, we're going to ponder the Reformation and what was recovered at the Reformation, not only from the Bible but also was reflected in the first several hundred years of the church and the early church fathers. Here in Romans, chapter 1, verse 17, we have in one sense the Apostle John's version, or the Apostle Paul's version of the Apostle John's 316. So, unlike John 316, though Romans 117 is not as clear on its face. It's a difficult passage to understand. In fact, I've always been encouraged that the Apostle Peter writes in one of his letters that some places in the Apostle Paul are difficult to understand. Can we get an amen to that? Yeah, they are. Some of them are more difficult. This is one of those places, martin Luther. He nailed the 95 theses on the castle church door there in Wittenberg, germany, on October 31st 1517. So Reformation Sundays we're celebrating that with many other Protestant churches today throughout the world. We're celebrating that with many other Protestant churches today throughout the world. It's usually the one closest to October 31st. But I think it's not an exaggeration to say that Romans 1.17, more than any other verse of the Bible, is responsible for at least beginning the recovery of the gospel for God's church, the great 16th century Protestant reformer, martin Luther. He struggled and he deeply wrestled to understand this phrase the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God here in verse 17. I praise God that he did Like Jacob. He stayed on this verse. He wrestled with God until he received the blessing. The late RC Sproul. I remember him saying one time if you really want to grow as a Christian and your understanding of the Bible, get a list of all the hard and difficult passages and wrestle with those. And by wrestling with those difficult passages it'll force you to learn a lot about the whole Bible. And I think he's right about that.

Speaker 1: 2:30

Martin Luther was a medieval priest in the Roman Catholic Church. I myself grew up in the Roman Catholic Church. Luther was a priest, he was a monk, he was a theological professor, he was very bright German. But he did not understand the gospel as good news. Isn't that something? Here's a priest, here's a monk, here's someone who gives his whole life to theology. But the gospel, which literally means good news, he did not understand as good news. I can testify myself. I went to church my whole childhood and I did not understand the gospel as good news. I did not understand God's righteousness was for me. And so Martin Luther.

Speaker 1: 3:13

He had a lot of moralistic be good religion and he had a lot of spiritual misery to match it. He viewed Christianity as trying real hard. And if you ever talk to people about their spiritual walk with God and you'll say, well, you know, do you think you're right with God? Do you think God accepts you? A lot of times I'll hear, as a pastor, people will say, well, I sure hope so, or I'm trying hard, pastor. And it always pains me to hear that, because when I hear that I know there's not a clear understanding or a clear acceptance of the gospel. So Luther, here he is a priest and a monk trying real hard. And he thought that if he tried real hard to be good and then he also participated in the sacramental life of the church, he thought that hopefully he could become righteous enough, that maybe he could earn enough merit for God to accept him. But you don't have to go down that track too long to realize that's never going to happen. You can't do that.

Speaker 1: 4:20

Luther had a very sensitive conscience to sin. He had a conscience that was haunted by the holiness of God. He couldn't see the beauty of God's holiness. He was haunted by that holiness combined with this sensitivity to sin in his conscience Sometimes. Johann Staupitz, his mentor, said that sometimes Martin Luther would come to confession six hours a day and he would get irritated with Martin. Martin, come back when you have something worth confessing. It became a nuisance to Stalpitz, who helped him, by the way, later on.

Speaker 1: 4:58

But as a monk, luther was part of the very strict Augustinian order. It was very strict. Look, luther was part of the very strict Augustinian order. It was very strict. They were committed to a life of rough austerity, which means that they would be very harsh on their own bodies. They'd be very harsh on their bodies. They would keep all night prayer vigils. They would go into these fasts. Luther would sometimes do so many fasts that he would actually be damaging his body and his health. And he did many other hard and difficult religious routines. Before we're too hard on that, we do have to remember Christ himself did hold all-night prayer vigils. Christ himself fasted extensively and he did many difficult and hard things, which is the understatement of the day.

Speaker 1: 5:49

But the problem was with Luther. What was Luther's problem? He only saw half the picture. He only saw half the picture. What he saw, rightly, was the depth of his moral depravity. He saw that he was spiritually depraved, that there was something wrong with him at the very core of his being, that he was sinful, and he was right about that.

Speaker 1: 6:14

Isaiah, chapter 6,. You see the godly prophet Isaiah. When he sees King Jesus up on the throne he becomes undone. And Luther learned his moral and spiritual depravity from St Augustine, who learned it from St Paul, the apostles and other scriptures. You remember, in Romans, chapter 3, for example, the apostle Paul says there none is righteous, no, not one. And then Jeremiah, 17, verse 9, that great godly prophet around the time of the Babylonian captivity, in the 6th century BC, 17th chapter, 9th verse. The heart is deceitful, above all things, and desperately sick. Who can understand it? So Luther was right about his own problem. He understood the purity of God's infinite holiness, the depth of his sin and depravity, which we all should. But he did not know the good news of God's grace in the gospel of God. He didn't understand it as good news, he didn't get it. And so he lived in the spirit. As religious as he was, he lived in spiritual misery, with literally a tormented soul.

Speaker 1: 7:26

If you've never read a biography on Luther. It's quite a treat. Luther said I was a good monk and I kept the rule of my order so strictly that I may say if ever a monk got to heaven by his monkery, it was I. All my brothers in the monastery who knew me will bear me out. Now, to understand this mentality you have to go back, get into the mind of the medieval church of the day and Luther's time there.

Speaker 1: 8:05

And there was this Latin saying that Luther had latched onto and it kind of dominated his thinking as he thought about his relationship with God. And what it did is it stripped him of assurance in his relationship with God and it stripped him, kept him from having peace with God. Here's the same in English God does not deny his grace to the man who does his best. God does not deny his grace to the man who does his best. This is the theology that tormented Luther's soul when he thought about standing and giving account at the final judgment before God. And you can see why if we ponder this for just a moment.

Speaker 1: 8:56

How do you ever know if your best is good enough? How could you ever know if your best is good enough for an infinitely holy God. You can't, can you? You'll live your life with a big old question mark, wondering where am I with God? I hope my best is good enough. What if you really mess things up in your life? Well, I mean, what if you just really mess it up? Like what if you pull a King David and you commit adultery with another man's wife and have the husband knocked off in a murderous scheme? What then? Where does that leave you? Will you have to die to find out? If I made it with God, if my best was accepted to God? You see, you can't die in peace either, knowing you're right with God. And so it blocks the gospel for being good news. It blocks the gospel from being something to rejoice about. And so Luther did not understand that this works-based theology was fueling his lack of assurance before God. It gave him no peace. It was not biblical. He didn't understand. It wasn't biblical. And so that's a little background to Luther's experience.

Speaker 1: 10:09

But when he finally came and he studied Romans, chapter 1, verse 17, he started studying and giving lectures on Romans in the year 1515. But as this monk, priest and theology professor, he hit a wall right here, in the very first chapter of Romans. He hit a wall preparing a lecture on this passage and on this verse. He couldn't get clarity on that phrase, the righteousness of God. He was stuck. Well, then there came a point. Remember he was in the Augustinian. He was in the Augustinian order of Saint Augustine, right? And so here's Luther in the early 1500s, and one day when he's studying, he pulled a manuscript from the shelf, opened it. It was a manuscript of Saint Augustine from 1100 years before Augustine. If you don't know him, he was, I think, without a doubt, the greatest theologian of the first 1,500 years of the church. He lived around 400 AD.

Speaker 1: 11:15

Luther in the Augustinian order pulls Augustine's notes from Romans off the shelf and he sees in a margin a note that Augustine had wrote regarding verse 17,. And here's what it said the righteousness here is not God's own righteousness per se, but that which he provides for people who do not have righteousness of their own. He must have stared at that. The righteousness here is not God's own righteousness per se, but that which God provides for people who do not have righteousness of their own. And so later Luther would call this kind of righteousness an alien righteousness. You know, aliens come from outside, in right. So it's a righteousness that comes from outside of ourself, from God to sinners. Aren't you glad for that? You see, and this is what began to open his eyes and set him free and helped him rejoice in the Lord.

Speaker 1: 12:24

And so, with that brief introduction, I'd like to invite you to stand. I'm going to read just a few verses here from Romans, chapter 1. This is the infallible and errant holy word of the living God. Romans, chapter 1, beginning with verse 15, I'm reading from the English Standard Version. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever. God's people said amen, you may be seated. Father, we come to your word. Now. We ask that you would open our eyes and our ears to see the glory of Christ and to hear the good news in his name, amen.

Speaker 1: 13:27

Well, you're going to notice here when you look at Romans, chapter one, notice in verse 15, that Paul tells us that he's eager to get to Rome. Now why is he eager? He's eager to get to Rome because he wants to go there to preach the gospel. And then he gives us reasons in verses 16 and 17, why he wants to go preach this gospel, why he's eager to preach it. And if you look at verse 16, he says because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. And of course he's speaking of both Jews and Greeks, or Jews and Gentiles. And then he comes to verse 17. He gives us another reason but, to be even more exact, he's telling us how the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.

Speaker 1: 14:17

So everything I'm going to say after this point, and I actually this week finally decided I'm just going to split a sermon in two. My wife told me years ago Corey, you always got next week. So I just decided to cut that baby off and we'll come back and do some more later. But this morning I really want to focus on this and I want to take time on this because this is so important for us to understand. The gospel is good news because it's righteousness from God. The gospel is good news because it's righteousness from God. I want to unpack that. Everything else I say is going to be unpacking that I want you to notice, in particular in verse 17, here the word righteousness. I think this is quite remarkable because if it was you and me writing this, if we had gone in, was you and me writing this?

Speaker 1: 15:09

If we had gone in a room and said, okay, let's tell people about the gospel of God, we would not have said I'm eager to preach the gospel in Rome or I'm eager to preach the gospel in Westchase because it reveals the righteousness of God. I think if you and I were writing it today, if we're honest, we probably would have said for in the gospel the love of God is revealed, or because in the gospel the grace of God is revealed, or the mercy of God is revealed, or the forgiveness of God, or the kindness of God, and of course we know that all of those things are true, right, all of those things are revealed in the gospel of God. But that isn't how Paul phrases it. He phrases it in a way that we probably would not have, for in it, the, it referring to the gospel. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, and you can see why this could be a bit confusing to Luther. After all, isn't the righteousness of God precisely our problem as sinners? He is righteous and we are not, so how on earth can the righteousness of God ever be good news to sinners? If this gospel is good news and it is obviously there's something we don't naturally understand about God's righteousness here on a first quick reading, and that whole idea is what terrified Luther.

Speaker 1: 16:39

Luther said he really desired to understand the book of Romans, but here's what he said. But a single word in chapter one stood in my way, for I hated that word the righteousness of god, which, according to the use and custom of all the church teachers, I had been taught to understand as that righteousness with which god is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinners. So you can see how he's reading it. And then he says though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a lost sinner before God. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners. Thus I raged, with a fierce and troubled conscience. Nevertheless, I beat, unfortunately, that is, I beat persistently, to the point of annoyance, upon Paul in that place, desiring to know what St Paul wanted. He just couldn't grasp what he meant, and so this phrase was difficult for Luther to understand why? Well, first of all, because the church was teaching him to misread his Bible. Churches can really help you better read your Bible, but they can also teach you to misread your Bible. That's why Paul commends the Bereans in Thessalonica, because they would go even check what the apostle Paul said against the word of God. So the church was teaching him to misread the Bible, sadly. But then, secondly, it's difficult because theologians have come to see over time that this phrase, the righteousness of God, can actually have three different nuances to it, and so it was difficult for Luther to see the key to the gospel in this. Let me explain what I mean.

Speaker 1: 18:35

The first way that theologians have figured out the meanings of the righteousness of God is. The first way is that it simply refers to the character of God, the character of God. One example Genesis 18, 25,. The judge of all the earth always does what is right. The judge of all the earth always does what is right. So God is always righteous in his actions. Because he is righteous, he always does what's right because he is right. In his very being he's righteous. And so in the gospel the righteousness of God, that is, the righteous character of God, is revealed. Well, true enough, but that can't be all that is going on here, because Paul's talking about the gospel's good news for sinners. So it can't just simply be that the righteousness of God, as far as his character, is being revealed, it can't be simply that, because the law also reveals the character of God, and the law is what condemns sinners apart from Christ. So it's got to be something else. So theologians have figured out well.

Speaker 1: 19:52

Secondly, we see in the Bible that sometimes this phrase the righteousness of God, it refers to the saving activity of God, when God intervenes to save his people. We don't have time to get into a bunch of that this morning, exploring it, but if you look at the Psalms, you'll see that this is the case. If you look at Isaiah chapter 40 through 66, you'll see that it's used. That phrase, the righteousness of God, is often used as a synonym for the salvation of God. I'll just give you one example Psalm 98, verse two. These are parallel statements in the Psalms. The Jews like to do a lot of parallel statements.

Speaker 1: 20:32

The Lord has made known His salvation. He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. So you hear His salvation and His righteousness virtual synonyms. The Lord has made known His salvation, he has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nation. So what's God saving his people here and he's revealing his righteousness, and it's the same thing. But what does that mean? In simplest terms, it simply means God has made promises to his people saving promises, promises of salvation and he's faithful and loyal to those salvation promises. And so when he saves his people, he's showing us he's righteous, because he always keeps his word, he does the right thing, so he's a righteous God. In other words, salvation's the form that God's righteousness takes. But now, how is that good news to simply know that God's faithful to his promises to his people? Because how can I know that the promises are for me? It may be true that God's faithful to his promises to his people, but how can I be assured that I'm part of that and that they're for me? So it's got to be referring to something more than just the character of God and the saving activity of God.

Speaker 1: 21:52

Well, there's a third use of this phrase that Luther came to rightly see as the key to understanding the gospel, and we need to be clear on it too. If you have a high school kid sitting on a three-legged stool, how many of those legs do you think will be on the ground? If it's a boy, probably one right, and the other two will be sticking up in the air. And I think that's a visual picture for you to think about. These three, each leg is a different use of the righteousness of God. Two of them are there, but it's the one on the ground. That's the key that holds up the center to be able to hear the gospel as good news. This three-legged stool of the righteousness of God, that's what touches the ground, that's what we rely upon for the gospel to be good news, for the righteousness of God to be good news. And I want to unpack what I mean. You see that little phrase at the end of God, the righteousness of God, those two little English words.

Speaker 1: 23:02

I want to talk about gospel grammar for a minute. Thank God for our grammar teachers. Right, let's give it up for our grammar teachers. Well, in verse 17, here, I want you to focus on these words of God. Why is that important? Well, because this is a genitive of source, and I almost didn't say that because I figured somebody's thinking you know, pastor, my marriage is a mess and I'm overstressed at work and our country's so full of political tension and my dog died this week. And you're going to talk to me about the genitive of source, and I am. I am, and I hope that you'll see why here in just a minute, because buried in this dry and crusty Greek grammar is the magnificence of the gospel and it's important for us to really be clear on why the gospel is good news. So hang with me.

Speaker 1: 24:04

This grammar reveals that the gospel is good news precisely because in the gospel it is not the righteousness of man that is revealed, it's not even the righteousness of mere man that is demanded, but in the gospel it's the righteousness of God that's given as a free gift. Now, if you have an NIV Bible, you'll look down and you'll notice what it says. It says it translates the righteousness of God as the righteousness from God. I like that. That helps make it clear the righteousness. What's the source of the righteousness? It's God. He's the source. Let me, we all know what the genitive of source is, even if we don't call it that, let me. Let me show it to you.

Speaker 1: 24:55

Let me see here, trip over here is going to be let's say he's going to, I take it he's going to be making some of his famous chili for the chili cook-off. And somebody takes a little bit a bite of that and they say, man, that is some mighty fine chili. Whose chili is that? And somebody says, well, it's the chili of Trip, it's the chili of Trip. He conceived the chili, he prepared the chili. He freely gave it as a gift to all who would freely receive it by a spoon alone. Right, gave it as a gift to all who would freely receive it by a spoon alone. Right, it's the chili of trip, it's from trip and it's given freely as a gift to the church and all we have to do is receive it. That's the gospel grammar.

Speaker 1: 25:45

The righteousness spoken of here comes to us from God. And why is that important? Because each of us is one heartbeat away from giving an account to God. And when we are lying on our deathbed we will care very much how we get right with God. We will care very much whether we're at peace with God, and we need that assurance that God is at peace with us. The gospel could not be good news if in it the righteousness of God was demanded from us, because we don't have a perfect righteousness to give God. No matter how hard we try, no matter how much we strive, even at our best, we fall way short of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who is the only sinless man to ever walk the earth. There's no righteousness in sinful people to give God. But the gospel is good news in precisely this that in the gospel, and in particular, as Paul was saying, I want to get to Rome to preach this gospel because the righteousness of God is revealed in it, and this righteousness comes from God as a free gift to sinners.

Speaker 1: 27:09

And by righteousness to us, what do I mean? I mean, the perfect life of Christ is credited to our account on the record books of heaven. Christ takes our sin on that cross. We get his righteousness. That's a glorious exchange, isn't it? That's the beauty of the gospel.

Speaker 1: 27:29

And when we don't understand this, we live our whole life trying to say well, I wonder if I'm good enough. Of course we're not good enough, but Christ is. Our sin is great, but our Savior is much greater than all of our sin and that's the glory of it. Savior is much greater than all of our sin, and that's the glory of it. See, to put it a different way, jesus didn't just die for our sins, for the forgiveness of our sins. He lived the perfect life that we have not lived, that it could be credited to our account so we can live in peace and then all of our striving is done, secure in our relationship with God that Christ has secured. We don't secure that relationship. Christ secures it by what he has done for us. In our relationship with God that Christ has secured, we don't secure that relationship. Christ secures it by what he has done for us in our place. And so Luther came to see something wonderful that the righteousness that God demands from us in the law he freely gives us who believe in the gospel. You see, what he demands in the law he freely gives us who believe in the gospel. You see what he demands in the law, which is perfect righteousness and we can't achieve, he freely gives us in the gospel that we simply freely receive. That's the glory.

Speaker 1: 28:40

Listen to what Luther says. This is when he finally realized that God threw the light bulb on for him At last. By the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely in it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it's written he who through faith is righteous shall live. There in verse 17,. I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives, by a gift of God, namely by faith. It is the righteousness of God revealed by the gospel, that is the passive righteousness with which the merciful God justifies us by faith. You see, he says passive righteousness because not active, where we're striving to establish our righteousness. Passive meaning it's what we receive, like a beggar receiving bread. It's only what we receive. We get this passive righteousness from God. Luther said listen, here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through the open gates, and I extolled my sweetest word with the love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word righteousness of God. Thus that place in Paul was for me truly the gate to paradise. Verse 17 was for Martin Luther, the gate to paradise, when he realized that this righteousness was not what God was demanding from him personally, but what God wanted to give him through Christ.

Speaker 1: 30:25

Some of you may know the great philosopher Forrest Gump, who said I am not a smart man, but I know what love is right. We don't have to be a smart man or woman to know what a gift is. We all know what a gift is and, you see, salvation comes to us freely, as a gift. Christ has accomplished it all, and so all the striving within the Christian life is a striving secure in the righteousness of Christ. You see, if Christ's perfect record has already been credited to your account in heaven, what are you going to add to it? You see, you can exhale and enjoy the love of God and now, knowing his love through Christ, with the righteous record secured by Christ, now you can strive to grow, to be more and more like Jesus, knowing that, even when you stumble and fall, christ's perfect life and death have you covered. That's why we can live and die in peace. Aren't you glad for that? This is what people need to know in this community. This is what people need to know. Know in this community. This is what people need to know.

Speaker 1: 31:46

Remember that old hymn I love the hymns. Not the labor of my hands can fulfill what Thy laws demands. Could my zeal no respite know. Could my tears forever flow? All for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. I love Mark Twain, who was so right Heaven goes by favor or heaven goes by grace. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in, and God's people said amen, we know that's true. I looked at my wiener dog this morning. I thought, man, yep, let me park the bus this way.

Speaker 1: 32:38

Luther was spiritually miserable. He was haunted by the gospel. But God meant it for it to be good news to us. And he was haunted because he did not understand that the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel is good news. It's good news. He didn't understand that the righteousness of God was for him, not against him, and we need to know that or we won't live in peace. You need to know that on your best day so you won't become proud. You need to know it on your worst day so you won't despair.

Speaker 1: 33:15

Once Luther saw that, with a little help from St Augustine and a lot of spiritual grace from the Holy Spirit, he came to understand the whole Bible differently and he began to see the entire Christian life differently. What did he see in the Bible now that was different? He could now look at a passage like Romans 4, verse 5, and see that God justifies the ungodly. Justifies means a judge declaring righteous. We serve a God who justifies or declares righteous, not the godly but the ungodly. That isn't how we normally think. He could then turn to 1 Timothy 1 and see that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, whom Paul says I am the foremost, that God saves even the worst of sinners through Christ. He doesn't save those who are simply trying hard or doing their best, because our best efforts aren't good enough. Even on our best days we fall way short.

Speaker 1: 34:20

Luther came to see how it was in Luke 18, the tax collector, filled with guilt and shame, hanging his head in the temple and could do nothing but cry out God be merciful to me, a sinner. And Christ said that is the man who went home justified. That's the one who went home right with God, righteous in God's sight. All he had to offer God was a sincere heart of repentance and brokenness before God and trusting in God's mercy alone. The tax collector, or the not the tax collector the Pharisee. He thought his best was good enough. He didn't understand his best wasn't good enough. And you remember the thief on the cross we sang about a little while ago. Remember those two thieves. And the one on the one side looks at Christ and says Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus turned to him and said truly, I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise. Here's somebody who lived. Here's somebody who lived a criminal life, cast himself upon Christ. And Jesus says today, you'll be with me in paradise.

Speaker 1: 35:35

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name when he shall come with trumpet sound. Oh, may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless, to stand before the throne. On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. If you're here today and you want to be right with God, all you have to do is, by faith, rest in the righteousness that Christ provides for you. All of your sins will be forgiven. You can know, by faith alone, that the righteousness of Christ will be credited to your account and you can live your life in peace, striving to grow, to be more like Jesus, but never having to earn God's love. You'll be secure in it. And when that day comes when the trumpet sounds. No-transcript.