Finding Peace Through Justification by Faith

Paul writes in Romans chapter 5 and verse 1, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." There are, I think, two kinds of evangelical ministers, as there were two kinds of Reformers. There were those who fairly calmly, consistently, carefully expounded the Scriptures and disclosed very little about their personal lives. [00:00:00]

And it was, of course, only when he discovered the real significance of the saving righteousness of God that he discovered true peace in Jesus Christ and was able to say that he felt himself to be born again and the very doors of heaven opened to him, and he entered into paradise, not only for the future, but paradise here on earth in the assurance of faith and genuine peace with God. [00:02:34]

And Luther, very early on, understood there was no salvation and no peace to be found in such a way. He began to learn that our basic problem is we are incurvatus in se, "turned in upon ourselves," and there is no good in us. There is no power to cooperate with the grace of God, and there is no man or woman who has ever lived, apart from Jesus Christ, who has ever done enough to be justified. [00:04:16]

And then in the grace of God in Jesus Christ, he discovered the righteousness of God, the saving righteousness of God that covers us, cloaks us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, enables us to stand before God as righteous as Jesus Christ because clothed in His righteousness. And immediately this happened to him. [00:06:09]

And when he came thus to trust in Jesus Christ, the peace of God broke over his life, just as it broke into the life of the Apostle Paul in a marvelous way, as Paul goes on to say. In Luther's life of tribulations you cannot read or sing his Mighty Fortress or his Safe Stronghold our God is Still without understanding this was a man whose peace was threatened by tribulations. [00:07:13]

And like Paul, more and more, contrary to all that had been wrought in his instincts from his earliest childhood when he had seen that portrayal of Jesus Christ seated on the rainbow throne as the judge of sinners and the condemner of sinners, he now discovered in the depth of the gospel and was poured out into the depths of his heart that Jesus Christ came into the world because he loved sinners. [00:08:43]

And because of Christ's dying, he said the love of God is actually poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, and you can hardly read Luther and think about all that Dr. Thomas has told us about what he did, without really feeling this was a man who was filled with the Holy Spirit and constrained by the love of Christ. [00:09:32]

Well, of course she had no assurance of salvation until she looked in faith to Jesus Christ and found, as Martin Luther did, that there is a righteousness in Him that covers all my sins and prepares me for the judgment day and gives me boldness on that great day to stand before Him, clothed in a righteousness that is divine. [00:12:02]

And you contrast that with Martin Luther and those last words of his found written out, "We are beggars, this is true," and discovering that although he was a beggar, he was able to die in the unfailing love of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that three times from the dying lips of Martin Luther came the words, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. [00:13:06]

But they need salvation, and they believe that there are two ways in which they will find salvation. They will be able to do enough, or they will be able to be sorry enough. But they slowly discover by God's grace, as we pray for them, that they can neither do enough not be sorry enough, but they have nowhere else to look. [00:15:10]

And dear friends, we need to remember as we think about the Reformation and as we glory in the theology and the doctrine of the Reformation and the discovery of these great biblical doctrines, that the Reformation was not simply a recovery of doctrine. It was a spiritual awakening of an extraordinary degree in which men and women were finding Jesus Christ and being found by Him. [00:15:45]

And as we celebrate it tonight and tomorrow and look forward to the future, we need to cry to God that He will send the same Spirit again. We need to pray like Elisha and his companions, not just "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" but "Where is the Lord God of Martin Luther?" You did it once, Lord. In your infinite mercy, do it again. [00:17:09]