How to Start a Reformation

October 31, 1517, a German Catholic priest named Martin Luther nails his 95 theses on the door of the Catholic Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

In that moment, and the months and years which followed it, the Protestant Reformation was born.

A millennium and a half earlier, around the year 55 AD-ish, a church-planting missionary apostle named paul writes a letter to a group of believers living in the heart of the Empire, Rome.

In his letter, paul explains and communicates the heart of the gospel which had transformed his life and could do the same for the church in Rome.

Back a millennium and a half later, Martin Luther reads this letter, the letter to the Romans and in particular, passages that we're looking at today.

He reads this letter and it convicts him and challenges him and he discovers in the words of paul, the heart of the gospel which transformed his life and brought reformation to the church.

The gospel, the heart of the gospel has power to bring reformation.

That's the thesis of this message.

The heart of the gospel has power to bring reformation.

It brings transformation in your life, reformation in the church and even reformation in our lives.

It is my belief this morning that as we come to the text in Romans, this passage could bring reformation in your life.

The message title that I was given for this sermon is In Christ Alone and I will preach on that, but the colon that I want to add is five words, how to start a reformation.

Let me pray.

Father, we thank you for your word in Romans.

We thank you that we have it before us in our own language in a way that we can understand.

We think of many who don't have that privilege.

So we come under your word.

We ask Lord Holy Spirit that you would speak to us, highlight what we need to hear from you this morning.

We want our lives to be increasingly grounded in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.

Amen.

Well, welcome to Romans.

We're in week 2 of Romans.

How many out of interest are following along in the Romans Bible loop?

Quite a lot.

That's awesome.

Last week, Jonathan unpacked all of chapter 1 of Romans.

He gave us the big puzzle pieces or the characters of the story of Romans that paul is going to use.

In this message, we continue the argument, we continue the story of Romans through chapters 2 and 3.

Serendipitously, if that is the word that should be used in this context, if you are following along in the Romans Bible loop, you would have just read Romans 3 either this morning or later today.

So you're exactly up to date, which I think is awesome.

I want to start with talking about lawn mowing.

You know when you're mowing the lawn and you have that straight lane, and as you come back the other way, you don't just do it elsewhere, you overlap.

You know the overlap?

So that each lane kind of overlaps the lane which came before it, and you end up with a nicely mowed lawn of grass.

We're going to do some lawn mowing today in the sense that this message kind of overlays a little bit of what we covered last week.

But we have to do that, I think, because to understand Romans chapters 2 and 3, we have to see what happened in 1.

So forgive me, a little bit of lawn mowing, a bit of an overlap with last week, but we're just going to quickly race through the end of chapter 1 into chapters 2 and 3 of Romans.

The journey across chapters 1, 2 and 3 of Romans is paul continuing his cosmic tour of the history of humankind, seen through the lens of the righteousness of God.

That's the thesis of the Book of Romans, the one succinct statement that everything in the Book of Romans exists to drive home.

It's in Romans 1 in verses 16 and 17.

For I, paul, am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.

First to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Verse 17 is key.

For in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed.

A righteousness which that is by faith from first to last.

Just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith.

Romans is about the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel.

Romans is about the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel.

Repetition rewires the brain.

Romans is about the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel.

Righteousness is a central character in the story of Romans, as paul tells it.

Last week when we looked at righteousness, Jonathan said there's two aspects of righteousness that paul has in mind.

This is the overlap, the lawn mow overlap, so we'll be brief.

I think Psalm 98 communicates both senses.

Firstly, righteousness is God's faithfulness.

It says in Psalm 98 and verses 2 and 3, the Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the generations.

What does that look like?

He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

So the first aspect of righteousness is faithfulness, is God doing what he said he would do.

The second sense is judgment, justice against sin and wickedness.

At the end of Psalm 98, it says, let the sea resound and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.

Let the rivers clap their hands.

Let the mountains sing together for joy.

Let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness.

And so we see even in Psalm 98, these two senses of what it means for the righteousness of God to be revealed.

When God shows up in history and reveals his righteousness, it will look like faithful love and justice and wrath.

That's what righteousness means.

The title of last week's message was Righteousness and Wrath Revealed.

These two aspects are almost two sides of the same coin.

And when you look at Romans chapter 1, after the thesis statement of Romans 1, 16 to 17, which says the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel, the very next verse is not the righteousness revealed, but the wrath revealed.

Verse 18 of Romans 1 says the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against the godlessness and wickedness of people.

Righteousness and wrath.

When paul says his thesis statement is the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel, the first step is the wrath of God revealed.

Across Romans, the end of Romans 1, all of Romans 2, and the start of Romans 3, I think paul gives us five testifiers to the wrath of God being revealed.

Five things which point to and prove and demonstrate that the wrath of God has been revealed.

If you have a Bible, we are going to move quite quickly through the end of 1, all of 2, and the start of 3.

So just, you could honestly keep your eyes down at the Bible for the next three minutes.

Five testifiers, number one, creation.

Creation testifies that the wrath of God has been revealed.

It says in verse 20, for since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse.

Creation testifies, number two, consequence testifies.

When human beings turn away from God, which is what sin is, the result is the consequence of sin.

Sin hurts us.

It is painful.

It creates a bad world to live in.

And those consequences are meant to point us back to God.

Consequence testifies.

It says in Romans chapter 1, verse 29, they, godless people, have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity.

They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice.

They are gossips, slanderers, god-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful.

These qualities make a world that is not nice to live in.

And the consequence of that world of sin should lead us back to God.

Consequence testifies.

Number three, contempt testifies.

Contempt means to value someone as lower than yourself, as worth less than you.

And any person who holds contempt for another human being in the act of having contempt for another is falling under the wrath of God.

Contempt testifies.

It says in Romans chapters 2 now, in verse 1, you therefore have no excuse.

You who pass judgment, that's contempt, who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

You know that little saying thing, when you point a finger, there's four fingers pointing back at you.

I was running through this morning and I realized there's one finger pointing forward, three pointing back, and one finger going rogue over here.

I think when we can have contempt for another person, it goes everywhere.

I point out like this and there's fingers going everywhere.

Tell you what, pointing at someone is not a nice feeling.

There's no context where pointing at someone feels like a nice thing to do.

Contempt testifies.

The fourth, I've just lost it.

Contempt testifies.

Number four, conscience testifies.

We're taking a really quick tour through the end of chapter 1, all of chapter 2 and the start of chapter 3.

Real quick, conscience testifies to the wrath of God being revealed.

It says in Romans 2, verse 14, Indeed, when Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law.

They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences, also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.

Conscience is this God-given compass, this canary in a coal mine that will say, that's just not right.

This thing I'm doing, I shouldn't be doing that.

Conscience testifies to the wrath of God.

Last one, number five, you can guess what letter it starts with.

The code testifies.

Maybe it's too far, the alliteration, but I thought it was fun.

The code testifies.

Before we've said that Gentiles who do not have the law, they are convicted because their conscience testifies.

Well, the code of the law is what the Jews have, and yet they do not live up to it.

So the code testifies against them.

It says in Romans 2, 17 to 24, Now you, he pivots, talking to the Jews.

If you call yourself a Jew, if you rely on the law and boast in God, if you know his will and approve of what is superior, because you are instructed in the law, if you are convinced that you're a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth.

You then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

You who preach against stealing, do you steal?

paul's rhetorical thing here is you do steal.

That's his point.

You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?

You who are poor idols, do you rob temples?

You who boast in the law, do you dishonour God by breaking the law?

His conclusion is, as it is written, God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

The very ones who have the law, the code of the law, break the law.

The standard that God set, so high, they break the law.

So let's zoom out.

The journey here of Romans, end of Romans 1 and chapter 2, is five testifiers to the wrath of God being revealed.

Creation testifies, consequence testifies, contempt, conscience, and the code testify to the wrath of God being revealed.

The conclusion, Romans 3 and verse 9, Romans chapter 3, verse 9, five words.

What shall we conclude then?

The conclusion is Romans 3, 9 to 20.

What shall we conclude then?

Do we have any advantage?

Not at all.

For we've already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.

As it is written, there is no one righteous, not even one.

There's no one who understands.

There's no one who seeks God.

All have turned away.

They have become together worthless.

There is no one who does good, not even one.

Their throats are open graves.

Their tongues practice deceit.

The poison of vipers is on their lips.

Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood.

Ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.

There's no fear of God before their eyes.

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world held accountable to God.

Verse 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.

That's paul's conclusion.

A chapter and a half of logic and argumentation leads to that conclusion.

There is no one righteous, not even one.

How does that sit in our generation?

I mean, my generation, but also collectively, our generation as those who live on planet Earth right now.

There's no one righteous.

I think, I feel my generation probably would have two reactions to that.

Firstly, they'd say righteous, no one, you might as well say there's no one phlebib, because that's exactly what it means to them.

What is unrighteousness?

Or I think at the same time, they might say, they might look at the world and say, it's clearly full of brokenness and evil.

Maybe they wouldn't use the word unrighteous, but there's something in our hearts that longs for justice.

And the first step of justice is the verdict that there is no unrighteous.

So how does that sit with you?

The five testifiers, they lead up to this conclusion, paul's punch in the middle of chapter 3, there is no one righteous, not one.

Notice the embodied language that paul uses.

It says their throats are open graves, their tongues practice deceit.

The poison of vipers is on their lips, their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.

Are you picking up a pattern here?

Sin is a bodily phenomenon, specifically centered around the mouth.

paul uses four different terms to talk about the words that we say, which is a hot spot of sin.

The book of James says the one who is not at fault in what they say is perfect.

If you're someone who just a lot of stuff comes out of here, you like to talk, I just put this before you.

When paul discusses the deeds of wicked, unrighteous people, he talks about the mouth a lot.

And it leads up to verse 19, which says that every mouth may be silenced.

There is no one righteous.

No one can raise their voice and say, yeah, but not me, none.

But I'm not as bad as none.

But I try so hard to none.

Every mouth is silenced before God.

That's what paul does.

Every mouth, Jew, Gentile, male, female, every mouth is silenced.

There's no one righteous.

It's a pretty dark moment.

It's not a nice place to be in.

I think paul lands us, every one of us, in a very dark and somber pit of human wickedness and unrighteousness.

And it's not to say that we're all murderers and the most vile, extreme forms of wicked people, but we're not righteous.

And that's his point.

We have fallen short of the righteous standard of God.

The musical term crescendo means the long-awaited culmination, the crescendo of the music.

In a sense, this is paul's decrescendo.

We have descended down into the bottom pit of human unrighteousness.

That's the place where we find ourselves.

Romans 1, 2, and 3 comes down into this pit.

Speaking of crescendos, Courtney and I were at the Sydney Opera House Saturday week ago.

We were there to listen to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra play the music of composer Max Richter.

It was beautiful music, slow and somewhat repetitive, but beautiful to listen to.

And we're in the big concert hall of the opera house.

Two and a half thousand people packed.

And we were actually sitting in the organ seats behind the stage, behind the orchestra.

So it was kind of like this, that we were up the back row looking at the entire concert hall.

Two and a half thousand people.

And when the lights came on for the halfway intermission, I realized sitting in front of me, directly in front of me, is my worship pastor from when I was a teenager, from my previous church.

He was the guy who as a 13 year old kid, he said, Ben, would you like to join the worship team?

And he discipled me and led me to join a worship team.

And he was one of the key people who the Lord used to give me a passion for worship ministry and creative ministry in the church, which is my job now.

So needless to say, this guy is significant in my life.

He's sitting in front of me.

And so we got to, I tapped him on the shoulder and said, Hey, how are you doing?

And so we chatted for five minutes during the intermission.

What are the chances that he would be right there?

Right there.

What are the chances?

Well, when it comes to this place of sin, no one's going to say that.

You won't ever say, Oh, Sam, you're here too?

Who would have thought?

What are the chances that you're also unrighteous?

Didn't expect to see you here.

No.

There's not a person who's ever lived who doesn't find themselves in this place of unrighteousness.

We will not be surprised to see every person we've ever known down here.

There is no one righteous.

That's Romans 1, 2, 3.

It comes down to that big hit.

There is no one righteous.

Chapter 3, verse 20.

Therefore no one, 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.

There is no one righteous.

Then, two words which change the world.

But now.

But now.

paul must be a good storyteller because he's using but, not and.

But now, he says.

But now.

And when paul uses a but now, it has a logical sense and a chronological sense.

Logically, paul says, I've been made this point and this point and this point.

But now, he's making a step forward in his argument logically.

Chronologically, paul says, in the age of sin and death and the wrath of God, that has before, but now, chronologically, we are in a new era.

Something has happened.

Something happened which shifted the axis of history from the old age of sin and death to the new age of life.

But now.

Logical and chronological.

Romans 321 says, But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify.

Law and the prophets is shorthand for referring to the entire Old Testament.

paul says, But now, that which the entire Old Testament was pointing forward to, anticipating that God would reveal his righteousness, it has happened.

God has revealed his righteousness, which the whole Old Testament points forward to.

And verse 22, This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

Righteousness given through Jesus, but Jesus himself also is the righteousness of God revealed.

Jesus is the long-awaited one who reveals the righteousness of God in the world.

It says in John 1 verses 14 and 18, the word, referring to Jesus, the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

We've seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the father full of grace and truth.

Then down to verse 18, no one has ever seen God, but the one and only son, Jesus, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the father, has made him known.

Jesus is the revelation of the righteousness of God, the life of Jesus, the work of Jesus, the person of Jesus is the righteousness of God made known.

God stepped into history and as it was long prophesied and foretold in the Old Testament, that God would be faithful and yet he would judge, that he would be righteous, he would reveal his righteousness, but now it's in Jesus.

And it changes everything.

So, five words, how to start a reformation.

This is how you start a reformation.

Martin Luther, as I said, was a Catholic priest living in a time when the Catholic gospel effectively was Christ plus works plus indulgences plus confession plus this plus this plus this.

Effectively, that was the Catholic gospel.

And Martin Luther reads these pages, the first three chapters of Romans.

He, I think he preached a sermon series in his parish on Romans.

And he discovers in these words, the heart of the gospel.

He realizes the gospel is not Christ plus, it's Christ alone.

And so Martin Luther and the other reformers with him come up with five statements, five words which articulate the heart of the true gospel.

I'm going to read to us Romans 3 verses 21 to 26 and highlight each of the five as they come up.

But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been known, to which the law and the prophets, the Old Testament, can testify, number one, sola scriptura, scripture alone.

Verse 22, this righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

Number two, sola fide, faith alone.

The end part of verse 22, there's no difference between due and gentle, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Number three, soli deo gloria, for the glory of God alone.

Verse 24, and all, all have sinned, all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Number four, sola gratia, grace alone.

And this is the crescendo, this is the ultimate hit.

Verse 25, God presented, even God presented, sorry, ruined the punchline.

God presented, meaning God revealed his righteousness in Christ as a sacrifice of atonement that takes us back to the cross, the place where the atonement happened.

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement to do what needed to be done through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith.

He did this to demonstrate his righteousness.

The righteousness of God revealed is Christ.

So number five, soulless Christus, Christ alone.

That's the Reformer's Gospel.

That changed the church and it changed the world.

Coming back, stripping the layers of Christ plus this, plus this, plus this, stripping that back to Christ alone started a reformation that changed the world.

And that's what I put to you, that that truth, Christ alone could start a reformation in your life.

In all the areas where you and I need reformation.

In the areas where faith seems more rhythmic and ho hum and boring than vibrant and alive.

When it's more religion than relationship.

Coming back to these truths, these five points culminating in Christ alone is how you would start a reformation in your life.

Let me read out this sentence which strings together the five.

And let this be the seed of reformation in our church and in our lives.

Illuminated by the story of scripture alone, we respond in faith alone to the finished work of Christ alone, where we are justified by His grace alone for the glory of God alone.

Let me just read that again.

Illuminated by the story of scripture alone, we respond in faith alone to the finished work of Christ alone, where we are justified by His grace alone for the glory of God alone.

Amen.

You look at Romans 3, 21 to 31, and the last couple of verses really tease out this thread of faith.

It hits so hard.

God presented Christ as the sacrifice of atonement.

And the first implication is faith.

Faith is the economy of the kingdom.

It's the air that we breathe in our relationship with God.

The beautiful thing about faith is it is both the first time putting your trust in Jesus and the waking up after you've woken up for 20,000 days following Jesus, putting your faith in Him.

So that reaches all of us.

There's not a person who doesn't fit on that spectrum.

Faith is our response.

Faith in Christ alone.

To believe, as the song says, in Christ alone my hope is found.

He alone, we might say, is my strength, my song.

In Christ alone is how you start a reformation.

So let us respond with faith.

Faith in the finished work of Christ alone.

And let these words in Romans, let the true gospel, the heart of the gospel, that the revelation of the righteousness of God is in the person and the work of Christ, finished on the cross.

Let that start a reformation in my life, in your life and in this church's life.

Would you like to stand as the band comes up?

I'm gonna read out that sentence one more time and then pray.

And we stand as a sign of agreement that we agree together with this.

So let me pray.

Illuminated by the story of scripture alone, we respond in faith alone to the finished work of Christ alone, where we are justified by his grace alone for the glory of God alone.

Our father, we come before you, and we stand only on the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which, as Galatians says, the world has been crucified to us and us to the world.

We believe that we have no hope in life or death apart from in Christ, and yet we pray, Lord, help our unbelief.

Give us more faith to believe in you, to know you better, and we invite you to start a reformation in our lives as we come back to the heart of the gospel.

And as we sing now and we have a chance to articulate these truths that we ground our life on, help us to encounter you through these words, through this music.

Together as we sing, would you be pleased to fill this room and fill our hearts?

In Christ alone, we pray.

Amen.

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