As we come now to our text for today, it's found in Romans chapter 1, and as we think about Reformation Day, it is belated that we're getting to do this, but as we think about it, it's important to remember that the Reformation Day that we celebrate on October 31st each year was really about the selling and buying of indulgences. That's really what set it off, right? It was Luther upset over the buying and selling of indulgences and the practice of that. In fact, it was really, if we want to be more specific, it was the aggressive buying and selling that was really marked by Johann Tetzel's kind of salesmanship of indulgences near where Luther was ministering. So Luther was upset because Tetzel was really aggressively selling these things and his congregants were leaving his region where Tetzel was not allowed to operate and going into neighboring regions to buy these indulgences. And of course, there are many of the famous little slogans that Tetzel would use to try to convince people to give, but in essence it was a ploy, a plea on behalf of your dead relatives to give money that they might be sprung out of purgatory. It was like, do you not hear your grandmother calling out to you? Give, free her from the bonds of purgatory. And Luther, who was asking, where is purgatory to be found in the scriptures at all, was asking, what is this thing by which you lay guilt on people that isn't even biblical to ask them to give money? And of course, if you know much about Luther, you know that really this stemmed back to his own travels to Rome just a short time earlier and seeing the corruption that was there. He really began to question the entire system that he was a part of and saw all kinds of sin and lawlessness out of the priests and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and the drive to raise money for building projects, and particularly he was upset over the fact that Tetzel's techniques were being used to pay back loans to banks. I don't want to get too complicated with this, but some people had bought an office, a bishopric in Germany, and had borrowed the money from a bank. And the Pope had made a deal to pay it back through the buying and selling of indulgences. And so Luther was greatly upset that really this was all about building St. Peter's. That was the whole thing that this was about. And he was upset that this burden was being put on people, both by financial cost, but also with the idea of their salvation being in question, or their loved ones, if they did not fork over this money. So Luther was greatly upset over this. So if the 95 theses were knelt to the door over that, why is it that today's scripture is the one that's most tied to the Reformation? And I think the reason is that spark was started over indulgences, but the fuel of the flame or fire that burnt was really on salvation, soteriology. As Luther began to look freshly at the scriptures to say, have I been reading much of this wrong? So it's Luther's coming to realize the true meaning of what's written here in today's text that opened, as he said, the gates of heaven. He said when he finally understood this short few verses, he said it was as if the gates of paradise swung open and beckoned him in. Now, why would he come to that? Well, because this is a key text. Many people say it is the thesis of the letter to the Romans. Well, many people think this is the most important letter in the Bible, right? So that tells you these are pretty important verses that we need to look at. So let's read them again. Paul says, I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. for the Jew first, and also for the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith." Now as we look at this text today, I'm going to try to be quick. I want us to look at two important points that are clearly made in this text, but also that were important in really the movement of the Reformation. First, God's salvific power. Paul specifically mentions that this gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. And so we want to think about that. And second of all, God's righteousness revealed. If there was any part of this text that explains Luther's coming from, if you will, a personal darkness to light. It's those words. The righteousness of God is revealed. That's what Luther struggled with. And so we want to look at that today, too, as we think about what this text says and how important it has been in the history of the church. So beginning first with this idea of God's salvific power, Paul begins to talk about this section by saying, listen, I've desired to come to Rome. It's my calling, it's my desire to go and preach the gospel to new peoples. I've long desired to come to Rome, to establish you, to come as the apostles of the Gentiles and preach the gospel there. Paul says, I want to come and preach you this gospel message which is itself the power of God. Power of God. And in fact, Paul sees two things here tied together in the gospel. God's grace and God's power. Now we can see that. God is gracious, extending mercy to man. But He also demonstrates His power, doesn't He? Because He accomplishes His long-standing plan. The plan that was born before time began in which Christ would be the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. What Paul is telling us is the Gospel is not God's backup plan. It's not God's backup plan. Paul tells us that very thing throughout the letter. As he walks through later and says, is this not the message that was given to Abraham? For Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. And he goes through other examples, what David wrote and so on and so forth. And yet from the very beginning, if you question that, look how Paul chooses to begin this letter. Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. which he promised before through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures." God's prophets brought forth the message that Paul is bringing today. He says, this is nothing new. It concerned his son Jesus Christ our Lord who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. Again, those messianic prophecies given to David point forward here. And Paul continues throughout this letter to quote Old Testament scripture to say, this is being fulfilled in this gospel work and message. And so it's not a backup plan. The plan of God was not that the law would save. That was never the plan. Paul argues that through this letter, but he does elsewhere. I love to quote, it's probably my favorite verse, Galatians 2.21. It says, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness cometh by law, Christ died in vain. Christ died for nothing. What he's saying is, if you could earn it, why would God send his precious son to die on Calvary's cross? The message truly then would just be, Do more. Work harder. Be better. But that isn't it at all. The law shows us our inability to keep the law and points us forward to Christ. Christ's death wasn't in vain. God would not send forth His precious Son to die a needless and purposeless death or to just make it easier to be saved. He made way the way of salvation through Christ Jesus. And Paul wants us to see that it's necessary. but it's also more than just necessary. The beauty of what Paul lays out in Romans is not simply that we are saved by grace, but he shows us the fullness of what God has accomplished in Christ Jesus. If he just wanted to tell us the first, it would be Romans maybe one through four, and he'd be done. But he goes on to talk about the transformation that we have in Christ Jesus. In Romans 8, he talks about the transformation that's going to take place at the last day when all things are made new. and even creation itself is redeemed. So Paul is showing the fullness of God's plan and how this gospel message is a part of that. In fact, it's central. It is the basis of it. It explains how God is both the just and justifier of those who believe in Christ. Paul states it's a demonstration of God's righteous power. But that brings us to our second point this morning. Because Luther could see that this is what the message is. Luther in his days as an Augustinian monk, wrestling with these texts, could see that there's something like that here. He could understand that this is something positive. He just couldn't wrap his mind around how it was positive. As he wrestled with this text, he would say, I know that Paul is saying this is good news, this is the gospel. But he couldn't see how it was good news. He said as Paul explains to us that it is good news and that it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe, he says it tells us that in this message God's righteousness is revealed. The righteousness of God is the very thing that he feared. It's often been said that the most frightening truth in the Bible is that God is righteous because by nature we are not. And Luther understood that as a great man of law, he understood the reality that God sets out a law that we have all broken and the consequences of that law is death. So how is it good news that God's righteousness is revealed to us in the gospel if righteousness would condemn us? And so Luther wrestled with this over and over again. In fact, it was interesting how God orders events. in his sovereignty and grace. Not long before this, in fact I think 1516, Erasmus wrote the Greek New Testament, or translated the New Testament into Greek. That had been unavailable to scholars throughout Europe. They had the Latin Vulgate, they had Jerome's translation for a thousand years. And that's what they studied, and that's what they understood from, and that's what Luther had read, and Luther had wrestled with. And why does that matter? The Latin translation used the word justificare. This word righteousness was justificare, which meant to be righteous, to be declared righteous. And that's what Luther struggled with. How can I be literally righteous before a holy and righteous God when I know I'm a sinner? One of the most interesting things about Luther's life when you read about him is how he wrestled with his own sin. something far too many people don't do. Luther did do. Luther wrestled with it. He would stay up praying. He would go to confession. He would tell the confessors, you don't understand, I need more time to confess all my sins. And if you read these Bibles, it's amazing. The confessors were like, listen, your sins aren't that bad. Don't worry about it. Go back. Just get to work. Luther would say, no, you don't understand. I had some bad thoughts last night. I need to confess them all. Luther took it seriously. He believed the Word of God that these sins put his soul in mortal danger if he stands before God based on his works. Luther got it better than almost any of us get it. The seriousness of taking God's Word if we stand under the law. And Luther wrestled with this and that word justificare gave him no comfort because he knew he wasn't righteous but as he read the Greek New Testament He noticed the word there was a little bit different. Jerome had translated the Greek word into the Latin word justificare, but the word that was in the Greek was dikesune, which is a little bit of a different word. It has a little bit different meaning to it. It doesn't mean to be righteous, but to be declared as if righteous. It's to be in a standing that you don't deserve, but is given to you. And Luther said when he read that and he realized the implications of it, that by faith we stand in a righteousness that is not deserved, but given to us by grace. That's when he said the gates of heaven swung open and he finally understood it. I'm not standing in my own works. I'm not standing in my own righteousness. I'm standing in the work and righteousness of Christ who died in my place. He took my sin upon Him and took it to the cross, and I stand in His perfect righteousness by faith." My friends, Luther understood in these short verses something profound. Something that he said, by the way, after that, he went back and read the Old Testament, he said, I couldn't believe how different it was once I had this key to understanding what God was doing. This word for righteousness, dikaiosune, is an important word. It's found often in the Old Testament. If you go to the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, you'll find it there often. In fact, every time that you find a word used for God's righteousness in which it means His covenant faithfulness, it is this word. In fact, it causes some people to debate, what does Paul even really mean in Romans chapter 1 with this word? Does he mean God's covenant faithfulness? Does he mean God's trustworthiness to keep His Word? Does he mean His saving power by His grace? And the answer is yes. Right? He means all those things. Even I believe when Paul is using this term, writing to Romans who knew this Greek word very well, it was on much of their coinage. It was a word that the Romans loved and used often as Greek was the, even in the Roman period, the mainly used language throughout the world. They used dikaiosune and it meant Roman justice. It was a stand in for the word justice. Again I think Paul very much means that as well. He knows his Roman hearers are going to think of that shade too. Don't you think it's interesting that just a couple of chapters later Paul goes through that argument that the gospel is the only way to understand God as both just and the justifier. Any other explanation, one of those must fall, right? If God pardons sinners, just says, I'm going to overlook sin, then he himself is no longer just, but a morally corrupt judge. Paul says that's not possible. But if he is a wholly consistent and faithful judge, then no one will be saved, except through the gospel, by which sin is atoned for and salvation made available to sinners. Luther began to see the entire Bible come together. I believe as Paul did. Why does Paul in this section go back to the Old Testament, to Habakkuk? Because I think Paul himself goes, now I can see the working of God throughout all the Scriptures. It makes sense to me now. I understand what God is at work doing. So again, all of these things picture what Paul is trying to tell us about God. He is a righteous God. He is a righteous God. He is a just God. He is a faithful God. And He is a God who offers salvation that we don't deserve but we have by faith in Christ Jesus by God's grace. So all of these things I believe Paul recognized and Luther recognized. All of these are really the if you will, kind of touchstones of the Reformation. They're the things that really drove the Reformation because, again, the indulgence thing was kind of the spark that started the fire. But really, even at that, it's a discussion on soteriology. Because how are we saved? Is there a purgatory? And what is the basis of authority to decide these matters? Luther, standing in a tradition of men like Hus and Wycliffe, said the authority must be God's Word. Not an edict or bull of the Pope, but God's Word. That was a very controversial statement, wasn't it? It's the reason Hus was burnt at the stake a hundred years earlier. So again, so much of what we hold dear and recognize as fundamental truths of the faith come out of that period. It's by God's Word alone that we judge the truth of statements in theology. Luther said, when I went to God's word, I recognized something important, that we are saved by grace, by faith in Christ alone. My friends, as you think about this text, we went through Habakkuk over the summer. It's interesting that as Paul quotes this letter, and we had six sermons in Habakkuk, so I'm obviously not covering the book here, but I just want to have you think about this. Paul is quoting Habakkuk. Is Paul quoting a single verse? Is he quoting a verse here? Or is he quoting the context of the entire message of Habakkuk? And I argued in that series that it's the entire message. I think you can't understand Paul's references if you don't look at the fact that he's using shorthand to say go back and read these letters. Read what's being argued there. Yes, there is a message here. The just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith, and that's important, but it's only in pointing back to Habakkuk and walking through that letter that Paul could fully understand what that even means. See, there's an argument going on really in Habakkuk, isn't there, between this prophet and God. Habakkuk is really being very bold to question God. He says, God, why are you allowing so much evil amongst your own people? Why don't you do something about it? I've cried out to you, God. Over and over again, I've cried out to you. You do nothing. I've cried out to you, violence. You still do nothing. Where are you at? Why don't you act? And God says, don't worry, Habakkuk, I'm on the move. I've got a plan. I'm bringing it together. Judgment is coming. Habakkuk says, good, you know, what's the plan? And it's amazing because I think this is true in our own lives. Habakkuk puts himself over the plan of God as judge. Is this the right way to handle things? Is this the right way to handle things? God tells him, I'm going to bring the Chaldeans and they're going to come in and they're going to conquer Judah and bring judgment upon the people. And Habakkuk's like, whoa, wait a minute, God, this is not what I was talking about. Can we do something like an entire generation of evil people just drop dead? Or maybe there's some kind of internal strife that we deal with this. How are you going to bring a people more evil than us to judge us? And as you read that entire prophecy, what you come to is that God is trying to show his prophet that he's not working in isolation. The judgment that falls upon the sinful in Judah shall fall upon the sinful, in fact, the nation of Babylon, and shall move from one nation to the next, pointing forward to this day, if you will, of judgment. And what he's telling his prophet is, recognize that my ways and purposes are higher than yours. And so you've got a choice. You can walk by sight and your own reason, or you can walk by faith in my revelation. But the way to live is to walk by faith. To walk by faith. Now, you can take that in some sense literal to Habakkuk, that it's walking by faith and doing what you're commanded that you will live through this actual period of strife. But I think there's a larger message there, isn't there? The way to salvation and eternal life is through trusting God. The same message given to Abraham. Abraham believed and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. You're told that in the very first book of the Scriptures. And now you're put in the same position. Will you trust God? Put your faith in Him and live. My friends, I think as Paul read that, he himself was amazed and could go back and see the Scriptures in a new light. We know Luther could because Luther tells us that he did. He went back and read the Old Testament and said, it's as if I had never read it before. Everywhere I looked was this message of salvation by God's grace and faith. Everywhere I found this message. Everywhere I could see this plan of God working and pointing to Christ as our only hope. Now I saw in the Law that it pointed forward to Him. Luther says, I could see what Paul meant when he said, he's our school master, taking us by the hand. This servant really is the picture who leads us to the tutor. The law takes us by the hand and leads us to Christ. Luther says, I could understand that finally. My friends, this is an important message, not only as we consider the Reformation, but an important message as we consider our faith. This is really the heart of our faith, isn't it? that it's in this, in faith that we recognize or we come to a right relationship with Christ. It's by faith. As Paul tells us, quoting Habakkuk, the just shall live by faith. And Paul wants us to know that this is pretty important because look at verse 18. Why do we need to know this message? If you want to go back to that question and answer, he says, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. Well, why is that important? Because the just shall live by faith. Well, why is that important? For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. My friends, the gospel is good news because that message is bad news. If you're outside that gospel message by faith, then you are under the wrath of God, which is revealed even now, Paul says, from heaven against all unrighteousness. My friends, the gospel is good news because it's hope. It's hope for fallen men when they put their trust in Jesus Christ, through whom God is reconciling His people to Himself. My friends, this Scripture was important for the Reformation, but it's important for us to understand this, that we are not justified by our works. Paul goes through that in chapters 2 and 3, coming to that conclusion in chapter 3, where he says clearly that none are righteous, none have done what's right, none have sought after God, all deserving of death, but God, right? God has offered us hope. in the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's the message Paul wanted to preach to Rome. It's the message that we're called to preach throughout all time. The message that our salvation is found in Christ and in Christ alone. Amen.