Grace Alone
Overview
Grace Alone
Martin Luther entered the monastery under the weight of a promise made in a thunderstorm and a theology that crushed him. His textbook, written by Gabriel Biel, taught that "God gives grace to those who do their best"—a notion not far from our modern proverb that "God helps those who help themselves." But Luther could never answer the question that haunts every honest soul under such a system: How do I know I have ever done enough? "I prayed and fasted," he wrote. "I confessed my sins and performed my penances. But not for a single day did I find peace." He pictured himself trapped behind four walls: he could not free himself from sin, God could not be indifferent to sin, God must judge sin, and so he must be condemned.
Scripture confirms Luther's diagnosis. Paul writes that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:22-23, that "none is righteous, no, not one" Romans 3:10, and that the law speaks "so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God" Romans 3:19-20. No human being will be justified by works of the law. Our culture's instincts run the opposite direction—"I'm not perfect, but I'm good enough," or a kind of justification by death in which everyone is presumed welcomed into heaven simply by dying. Both errors collapse before the holiness of God.
The breakthrough came when Luther saw in Romans 3:21-25 that "the righteousness of God" is not a demand God makes of us but a gift God gives to us. It is an alien righteousness—the perfect life of Jesus Christ credited to the believer's account. We "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith." Redemption is the language of buying back slaves who cannot free themselves. Atonement means "at-one-ment"—the severed relationship between holy God and unholy humanity restored through the blood of Christ, who bore the wrath our sin deserved.
Grace, then, is not getting what we deserve. Scripture speaks of grace as God's goodness toward all He has made Psalm 145:9, as a quality God bestows on His servants Romans 15:15, and supremely as the saving, undeserved forgiveness purchased by the blood of Jesus. Biel's gospel feels familiar because our sinful hearts are wired for earning—eat your peas, then get your ice cream. Grace feels foreign, even suspicious, because the world does not work this way. And grace is not cheap: the price of all prices was paid at the cross. When Luther finally grasped this, he wrote that he "felt altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates." That is the freedom held out to every soul still pacing inside the four walls: salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
Transcript
Would you open your Bible, please, with me to Romans 3 chapter for our study this morning? 0s
Martin, he was the son of a copper smelter and his father, his father really wanted Martin to be a lawyer. 9s
You see, it was thought in those days that if you could get your law degree, 23s
you might be able to get a good government job. 27s
And with that law degree, you might even become an assistant to a prince. 31s
And so Martin's father, Martin, once you go to law school, I want you to be a lawyer. 36s
So, off to law school, Martin went. 47s
But coming home one day, to visit his folks, while he was in law school, a great, great storm came up. 51s
The thunder was clapping and lightning was just coming down and falling all around him and Martin. 57s
Martin was terrified. 65s
And so he cried out, 68s
if I'm spared, if I'm saved, I promise I'll become a monk. 71s
Well, as storms do, storms go away. 79s
And Luther was left with his promise. 85s
So, there was a new and roly in one of the local monasteries by the name of Martin. 91s
Martin Luther. 99s
Luther threw himself into his studies and his textbook. 104s
His textbook was written by the one Gabrielle Beale. Gabrielle Beale. 110s
This is interesting when you look at Europe in the 16th century, it had been about 1,000 years 120s
since the people have had a scripture that they could read. 127s
And so with no scripture that they could read, a whole host of heresy had developed. 133s
In Luther's textbook, Beale, Beale said, 140s
that God gives grace to those who do their best. 148s
God gives grace to those who do their best. 153s
Well, that's really similar, isn't it? 159s
To a phrase, have you heard it nowadays? 162s
Where someone will say, remember, God helps those who what? 165s
Help themselves. That's that's Beale's textbook. 169s
That's his textbook. 174s
You see, that gave rise to a whole host of questions. 178s
A question like, well, how do you know that you've ever done your best? 182s
If God gives grace, if you do your best, well, how do you know you've done your best? 189s
And if indeed, as it was believed, that you had to earn your way into heaven, 196s
you had to earn your way into the good graces of God, 205s
well, how do you know you've ever done enough good things to earn your way into God's good graces? 210s
Luther wrote this. 220s
I did my duty as a monk. 224s
I prayed and fasted. I confessed my sins and performed my penances. 226s
But not for a single day did I find peace? 233s
What if I fasted? Was I not proud of it? 240s
What if I praised God? Could God not smell my fear? 243s
This fear itself made me doubt the goodness of God and so I became even more afraid. 249s
It's interesting. When you look at the day that we live in, 261s
it really in many respects is the opposite of what Luther was dealing with. 266s
Why when you look at the day and age that we live in, 272s
many people will say, well, if there is a God, 276s
I may not be perfect, but I'm good enough. Good enough. 280s
So certainly, God would let me into heaven because 285s
why why do you compare to my neighbor down the street? 289s
I'm good. It's really a living out of that book several decades ago. 293s
The title, I am okay. You're okay. I'm okay and you're okay. 297s
Or we live in a day where really it is the belief and justification by death. 303s
That everyone is simply declared not guilty simply by dying. How many times have you heard? 309s
People say they died and they went to heaven even though there was no belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. 316s
It's justification by death. Luther though, Luther understood. 322s
His own depravity. He understood His own sinfulness. 333s
Why, look with me, please, at the end of verse 22 of chapter 3. 340s
For there's no distinction. Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 347s
there's no distinction. In other words, there's no difference between us. 356s
We've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Jump up into chapter 3, verse 10. 362s
There's no one who is righteous, not even one. There's no one who has understanding. There is no one 370s
who seeks God. Jump down, please, to verse 19 of chapter 3. 379s
Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every 386s
mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 393s
For no human being will be justified, in other words, declared not guilty, no human being will be 401s
justified in his sight by deeds prescribed by the law. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin. 409s
For Luther. This ex-law student turned bunk for Luther. This one who earned his doctorate 421s
in theology from the U of Whittonburg. This Luther who no longer was listening to the lectures, 432s
but was giving the lectures. This Luther knew that his best, it wasn't enough. He knew it. 442s
In fact, he described it as four walls. He said, I'm surrounded by four walls. 461s
Am I can I be freed from sin? No. He said, must God judge sin? Yes. 469s
Is God indifferent to sin? No. Must I be condemned? Yes. He said, I'm surrounded by four walls. 479s
I can't get out of it. Can I be freed from sin by what I do? No. Must God judge? Yes. 486s
Is God indifferent to sin? No. Must I be condemned? Yes. He says, there's no way out of these walls. 494s
But then, by the grace of God, he came to the understanding of the truth. 509s
Look with me, please, at verse 21 of chapter 3. 522s
But now apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed and is attested by the law and the 526s
law of the law. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. 535s
You see, Luther looked at the righteousness of God and he thought that it was God's demand 547s
for the human to live the righteous life so that you could earn your way into heaven. 552s
And that was the four walls, the trapped him. But by the operation of the spirit, 558s
he came to the understanding that the righteousness of God was not some human activity. 566s
No, the righteousness of God was alien. It came from outside of the human. It was the 574s
righteous, perfect life of Jesus Christ that was then credited to his account. 582s
Luther came then to understand the glory of God's grace. 593s
Look again, please, in the verse 22, there's no distinction. 603s
All of sinned and full-short of the glory of God. 608s
There now justified by his grace as a gift. Grace, not getting what you deserve. That's grace. 613s
How does this occur here? The next phrase through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 630s
Redemption is a term that means to buy back. When we confess that we are in bondage to sin and we cannot 637s
free ourselves. That is slave language. We are in bondage to our sin. There's nothing that we can do 644s
that can free ourselves from our sinfulness, can free ourselves from the consequence of our sin. 653s
We need to be purchased. We need to be bought back out of the condition that we are in. 659s
How does that occur? Right after it says through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 667s
verse 25, who God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood. It's important word. 673s
Break down atonement. It means to be at one meant. So what has happened with regard to our sinfulness? 684s
The relationship with God has been severed. Holy God, on holy humanity. What we deserve is hell itself. 692s
How will we brought back into relationship? How will we brought back into at one meant with God? 700s
It is through the blood of Jesus Christ. Where Jesus shed His blood. He pays the sin 706s
penalty for us. Jesus takes all of the sin upon Himself. The sin of the entire world. God's 713s
wrath for sin is laid upon Jesus. And through the blood of Jesus, we are brought back into 722s
relationship through the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. 731s
whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by His blood effective through faith. 738s
See, that's grace. Isn't that? That's grace. That's not getting. 751s
What you deserve? Scripture fleshes out the fullness of that term grace. In one aspect, 762s
grace is God's goodness. God's goodness. Psalm 145, it says, the Lord is good to all. And His 772s
compassion is over all that He has made. That's the goodness. That's the graciousness of God. 779s
Scripture also talks about grace as a quality that is bestowed. Paul writes in Romans the 785s
15th chapter. He says, nevertheless, on some points, I've written to you rather boldly, 791s
by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God. 797s
Scripture talks about grace as the goodness of God. Scripture talks about grace as a quality of God 804s
that God gives. But Scripture also talks about saving grace, saving grace. That is the un-deservant 809s
forgiveness that is ours through the blood of Jesus Christ. Back again, at verse 24, 819s
they're now justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 829s
whom God put forward as a sacrifice of a toement by His blood effected through faith. 840s
Redemption, a toement, God's grace, God's grace. 850s
Are you saying? We understand Gabrielle Beale, don't we? We understand that. We understand what was in Luther's 864s
textbooks. That's what we understand by nature. We understand when somebody says, 878s
God gives grace to those who do their best. We understand that. We understand when somebody says, 888s
God helps those who help themselves. So make sure you're doing your part. We understand that. 896s
We understand what it means to deserve something. We understand what it means to work your way up 902s
and to pat yourself on the back on the way up. We understand that we understand what it means 910s
that before you get ice cream, you have to eat all of your peas. We understand that. 916s
It's how we are. It's how we're wired because of our sinfulness. And that's why grace, 923s
grace, it just seems so so foreign to us because the world doesn't operate that way. 931s
The world doesn't operate like that. Grace seems so strange. We get Beale. We understand Beale. 940s
The grace, the grace it just seems so so free. Isn't it? 954s
And we're suspicious of free. And somebody says, I've got something for you. 966s
Free. We say. Really? Really? You see, grace isn't free, isn't it? It's not. 975s
The price of all prices was paid when Jesus Christ went to the cross and shed His blood 994s
for the forgiveness of the world. That's the price of price. 1003s
Luther wrote, my conscience would not give me certainty, but I always doubted and said, 1019s
you didn't do that right. You weren't contrite enough. You left that out of your confession. 1029s
You wrote, the more I tried to remedy an uncertain week in troubled conscience with human 1038s
traditions, the more daily I found it, more uncertain, weaker and more trouble. 1044s
When by the grace of God, Luther came to the scriptural understanding, when by the grace of God, 1053s
Luther said, I'm going to look at what the Greek says and not the false Latin translations, 1061s
which are simply translated to substantiate the whole theological system of works. 1067s
When he went back to the Greek and actually read the Greek in the original language, 1073s
when the Holy Spirit brought him to the understanding of the graciousness of God, Luther wrote, 1080s
it felt like I was all together born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. 1089s
Grace, sweet, grace, God's grace. 1118s