Festival of the Reformation - October 26, 2025 (observed)

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

It was over 500 years ago that Martin Luther nailed 95 theses or statements

on the door at the Castle Church there in Wittenberg.

He simply wanted a discussion about an indulgence, whether it forgives one's

sins or not. an indulgence, a piece of paper that's bought with money.

Luther did not intend to start some kind of revolution.

He did not set out to start a new church. Rather, he cared about the gospel.

And little did he know that the 95 Theses would spark a revolution.

I'm sorry, a reformation that changed the world. Today we will learn that the

Reformation was about Jesus, and it's still about Jesus today.

The Reformation was about the gospel, that we are forgiven by God's grace through faith in Christ.

The Reformation was also about

the scripture, God's word, that we learn from God's word about Jesus.

And this word is our only source of truth.

The Reformation was not merely about

the conscience or not about rebelling against some kind of authority.

The Reformation was not about Martin Luther himself. The Reformation brought

many good things, education for the young and the old, the poor,

boys and girls, and advanced university education to be sure.

But we are here today to look at the heart of the Reformation.

Again, it is about Jesus, his life,

his death, his resurrection And the gifts of forgiveness and salvation that

we receive through faith in Christ alone And we learn about this gospel and the scriptures,

God's word At the age of 22, Martin Luther decided to become a monk He thought

that perhaps maybe he could earn God's favor by becoming a monk.

But as he learned, he still wrestled with finding peace with God.

And so then he decided to become a priest, thinking that he would perhaps maybe

win peace with God, find his favor.

But that didn't come either. He went to his father's superior,

Johann Stoutpitz, and he said, Well, I am uncertain whether I have done enough,

been sorry enough, worked hard enough.

Or punish myself enough to be free from my sin. You see, at one time he purged himself.

He tried to purge himself of sin, get rid of it, by fasting,

by lack of sleep, and by whipping himself.

Well, as time went on, he earned a doctorate of theology at the University of

Wittenberg, thinking that more education and doing greater works might please God.

But this inner conflict deepened.

He felt an utter, utter unworthiness to stand before a holy God.

And Luther was right. God is holy.

We learn from our epistle lesson that God is also just.

Romans 3 says that God is just. God hates sin and he demands perfect obedience.

The Ten Commandments are God's law. He doesn't soften them.

He doesn't grate and occur. He demands perfect obedience.

God is holy and he is just.

I have three questions for you. First of all, can you be free of sin?

No. You were born with a sinful nature.

You are a child of Adam and Eve. Romans 3 says that all have sinned and fall

short of the glory of God.

Sin is sin and it demands a payment. and we will continue to struggle with a

sinful nature here on this earth until we die.

And the wages of sin is death. Second, can you justify yourself before God? No.

You cannot make yourself righteous in God's sight by what you do.

We kind of try to justify ourselves, saying that we are better than so-and-so,

or we have done a lot of good things that perhaps God should let us into heaven,

but we cannot justify ourselves because we have a sinful nature.

Finally, can you appease the wrath of God?

No. Your works are never perfect.

You can never do enough good to remove God's wrath.

And if by chance, salvation is by our work. to say if by chance this was true,

then we would never know whether we have done enough.

Who's going to tell you whether you've done enough?

You would always be uncertain.

Of heaven. Sin clings to our flesh.

We lie in order to cover up our wrongs. We are jealous of other people.

We are angry at other people, and we try to make ourselves look better than others.

We want to be like the world, and we want to be liked by the world.

We are caught in sin, and there's no way out by ourselves.

Even some indulgence bought by money cannot free one from sin.

In Luther's day, Johann Tetzel was selling indulgences right across the river

from Wittenberg, where Luther lived.

And he claimed, Tetzel claimed, that an indulgence held as much power as the cross of Christ.

And he also said that an indulgence would grant one full. remission of sins.

For this time, Luther has been teaching on the book of Romans,

on the Psalms, on Galatians, in the book of Hebrews.

And as he studied scripture and taught scripture, the pieces of the gospel were coming together.

And he learned from scripture that sinners are justified by God's grace through faith in Christ.

When Luther's parishioners bought an indulgence across the river,

they came to Luther and showed him, hey, look what we bought.

And they were pretty excited about it. And some didn't know whether they needed to buy more.

And others said, well, since I bought this indulgence, I don't need to repent of my sins.

And Luther was appalled.

And so in response, He posted 95 theses in order to discuss the false doctrine

of an indulgence and other false doctrines as well.

The first thesis reads, When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said,

Repent, He willed that the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

And even in our lives, repentance is an ongoing thing. It's not a once-in-a-lifetime

thing. This morning, we confess that we are a poor, miserable sinner,

and we heard the gospel put into our ears, the forgiveness of sins.

And we hear this gospel in preaching to as well.

Number 62 reads, the true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of

the glory and grace of God.

The gospel is the treasure of the church. And notice that Luther deeply cared

about not only his own people, but he cared about the faithful teaching and

preaching of this precious gospel.

Let's now return to these same three questions. First of all, can you be free of sin?

No, but Christ made you free and you are free indeed.

Jesus took your place in the cross. We were supposed to go to the cross,

but he went there in our place and he died on our behalf.

And Jesus made the perfect sacrifice for the sin of the whole world.

He died there on the cross, and three days later, he rose from the dead,

and he lives forevermore.

Therefore, in Christ, you are free.

Second, can you justify yourself before God?

No, we cannot make ourselves righteous before God, but Jesus.

But you are justified because of Jesus. us.

You are declared righteous in God's eyes on account of what Christ did upon the cross.

Your sins are forgiven because of the righteousness and perfect obedience of Jesus.

You are justified on account of Christ, who by his death and his resurrection

made satisfaction for sin.

Ephesians 1 says, in Christ we have redemption through his blood,

the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with God's grace.

What is grace? Grace is a disposition in God. He is gracious and merciful toward us for sinners.

And grace is not some kind of vitamin pill that we take that will make us stronger and stronger.

It's not some kind of IV that we take where we put grace inside of us and God sees that.

No, rather grace is a disposition in God.

It's a loving attitude of God toward you, even though you don't deserve it.

He is gracious and merciful to you because of Jesus.

The final question. Can you appease the wrath of God?

No, but Jesus has. Jesus appeased the wrath of God by his righteous death upon

the cross, and he did it all.

The work of salvation is finished.

Therefore, you are justified, you are cleansed, you are reconciled with the

Father, and he has declared this so to you on account of Jesus.

Did you hear this wonderful news and you say, Amen? Your faith clings to Jesus

alone and not to your works.

Faith believes in what God has already done for you in Christ.

And this free gift of salvation is received.

You benefit from it through faith alone. Unbelief says no thank you to what

Christ has already accomplished for them.

Unbelief says no thank you to the gospel. And woe to that person who rejects

the gift of forgiveness in Christ.

By God's grace, do not allow the devil or the world or the sinful flesh to take

your faith in Christ away.

Therefore, do not boast in you or what you do, but boast in Christ.

To him be all the glory. In baptism, you received his righteousness.

You are redeemed with the blood of Christ. And in the Lord's Supper,

you receive the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins that you can touch and taste.

Jesus said in our Holy Gospel, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples

and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

Therefore, abide in God's word.

It is our only source of truth.

Continue to hear the preaching of his word. Continue to study the word in Bible study.

Continue to read the word at home in family devotions.

Abide in God's word Know and

trust in the truth of the gospel Don't

allow false doctrine to creep into your lives or in

the church But to continue to know the truth of the gospel Because of Christ's

death and his resurrection Your lives are changed for the better You love other

people because God and Christ first loved you You forgive other people,

because God in Christ forgives you.

And you do good works, not in order to be saved, but out of thankfulness for

what God has done for you in Christ.

Before Luther died, his son asked his father whether he believed in Jesus as a Savior.

And Luther's final word was, yes.

So the faith by which he lived is the faith by which he died.

So this is what the Reformation is all about. It's all about Jesus.

And it's still about Jesus today as well.

About his life. his death, his resurrection, the gifts of forgiveness and salvation

freely given to us through faith in Christ.

Therefore, when you will walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

when you are on your deathbed, there is nothing to fear because Christ died and rose again for you.

You can rest secure that knowing Christ, you will be with him in heaven forever.

Thanks be to God. Amen.