Text: Romans 3: 19-24
There will come a time when everyone of us will stand before the Lord. How do you feel about that prospect? Too many ignore it. Well today we remember a man who was terribly afraid of what that day would bring. He knew God is holy and calls on us to be holy. And he knew his sin. He knew his guilt before God. His conscience gave him no peace. So he turned to the Christian church of his day. And where did it point him? To works, to his own efforts. Here’s where that left him.
My own good works availed me naught,
No merit they attaining,
My will against God’s judgment fought
No hope for me remaining,
My fears increased till sheer despair
Left naught but death to be my share
And hell to be my sentence (M. Luther-CW 377 v. 3)
But God had mercy upon this man. He showed him something the church had sadly corrupted and buried under a godless pile of man made teachings. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. And here in this letter to the Romans, the Holy Spirit brought Martin Luther that peace that had escaped him. A blessed truth that warmed his heart and gave him hope. A truth that he could not keep to himself. That a sinner like you and me could be right with God through faith in Jesus Christ and what he has done , what he has done for us and all people.
So let’s spend time in this precious Word that Luther so treasured. Let’s spend time in this precious word that brought about a great Reformation of the church. Let’s spend time in this precious Word that answers for us this question:
How can we Stand before the Lord?
The young boy was clearly in the wrong. He had taken an item from the store shelf and shoved it into his pocket. When they got home, his parents found it. What is this here? He wanted to make up some kind of excuse. But he knew his parents would see through it. You took this, didn’t you? The young boy stood there speechless, guilty, with no defense.
God’s Word divides the world into two groups of people. Jews and Gentiles. The Jews, the children of Abraham, had a special blessing. God gave them his Word and his promises. God also gave them his Law. He spelled out his will for their lives. Love God before all else. Love your neighbor as yourself.
The Jews were blessed to have God’s law written down for them. It set them apart in a special way. And Paul speaks of them here. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law… That was the Jewish people.
What did that law say? What did it reveal in their hearts and lives? It revealed the same kind of thing that lived in the hearts and lives of the gentiles. It revealed what sadly lives in us as well. A sinful nature from which comes words that hurt or teardown, a sinful nature that can lash out in anger, a sinful nature that is greedy and only cares about me. A sinful nature that too often poisons our thoughts.
You see, Jew or Gentile, black or white, yellow or brown, we all share a terrible oneness. Paul writes of it here, there no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (23) God’s standard is way up here and I am way down here.
That leaves us like that young boy who stood there red faced and silent before his mom and dad. God’s law leaves us speechless before God. And yes here in our lives we may try to excuse ourselves with statements like I couldn’t help it or See what you made me do. But standing before God, we have no excuse. Standing before God there is no one to blame but me.
So Paul speaks of the terrible oneness we share. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. (NIV 2011) That’s why we speak of the law as a mirror. The law makes us conscious of sin. It shows us as we are. Not righteous, not holy, not what God demands, but far from it. And that’s what Luther could see. That’s all Luther could see in the church of his day. A sinner without hope. A sinner dangling over a real place called hell. For God’s law leaves us speechless. So how can we stand?
If I had a trumpet, I would blow it now to read this verse. I have to think the apostle Paul must have praised God every time he had the opportunity to share this truth. It’s like a person buried in the rubble of a fallen building, helpless, waiting to die, but then a voice , a light, what joy!
How can we stand? We can’t on our own. We are fallen sinners. 21 But 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. So how can we stand before the Lord? Stand and live in the forgiveness of God in Christ.
A righteousness FROM God. It is so important to understand what Paul is describing and not describing. It’s not as if we suddenly become righteous people who always do what is right. We still fall into sin. No this righteousness from God is something else. God says, you are not guilty before me. You are free of sin, free of guilt and the punishment it deserves. We call that justification. Someone described it this way. God looks at you just as if you never sinned. A righteousness from God.
A righteousness from God to which the Law and the Prophets testify We heard that in our Old Testament lesson where the LORD said through his prophet Jeremiah. I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. God promised his people that he would do what we cannot. Someone hurts us or offends us. We might forgive them but we cannot forget. Yet God promises He will forgive and forget the ugliness in our lives. We won’t hear about it again when we stand before our God. I will remember their sins no more.
Not because of what we have done. Not because we are pretty good people. We’re not. We’re all prodigal sons and daughters. Rather we can stand because of God’s goodness and because of what Christ has done. Listen.4[We] are justified freely by his grace. It’s a gift of his doing. We are justified… through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. That’s what made it possible for our guilt to be forgiven and forgotten. Christ has redeemed us. The Son of God took our guilt to the cross — and not just ours but the guilt of every person you see. He took that guilt and paid the price with his own blood. And when that price was fully paid, he cried out, it is finished and died. Then what? Then God raised him from the grave as if to say, Amen. It is true. You can know. Your sins are paid for.
And how is that yours? Through faith. By grace you have been saved through faith.. A simple trust in what God has done for you in Christ. And that’s how we can stand: Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. That’s how you can stand. On Christ, On Christ the solid rock we stand. We stand and we live in the forgiveness of God in Christ.
So today we thank God for courageous men like Martin Luther. God used them to restore that blessed truth to the German people, then throughout Europe. Then here in North America. Did you know the first book translated into the language of Native Americans was Luther’s Catechism. It’s a great History, a great chapter of His Story. Not Luther’s but Jesus and his Word.
But now visit Europe. You see mosques in places they never stood. And the churches are all but empty. People rarely set foot in them. And if they do there there’s no guarantee they would hear this blessed truth.
What about us? What we have here is a treasure. The Gospel in Word and Sacrament. Forgiveness and Peace with God in Christ our Savior. The sure hope of life and victory over death. What we have here is a treasure.
But get careless with a treasure and you know what can happen. God takes it elsewhere. He moves on. He moves to another place, another people. But how then could we stand? Friends, stand, keep standing in the forgiveness of God in Christ. Amen.