“The Power of God’s Grace” (Jeremiah
31:31-34)
1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly
Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The message from God’s Word this day in which we
observe the Festival of the Reformation is taken from Jeremiah 31:31-34 and is
entitled, “The Power of God’s Grace,” dear brothers
and sisters in Christ.
2. Twenty-five years after Columbus discovered
America, a Catholic monk by the name of Martin Luther posted Ninety-five Theses
for debate on the issue of indulgences. Indulgences, as you may know,
were documents purchased from the Church that would take away the punishments
for sin people thought they had to suffer after death in a place called
purgatory. This monk by the name of Martin Luther saw these indulgences for
what they really were—a moneymaking scheme for a bankrupt papacy. October
31, 1517, was the day that this monk and university professor began to attack
publicly the way the Church had been doing business for years. He
criticized what was unbiblical, but at the time he had no intention of
splitting the Church. His goal was to reform the Church, to correct the
abuses, and make straight what had gone crooked over the past few centuries. At
least, that’s how it began.
3. But in the
following years, Luther saw that the problems ran much deeper than just
indulgences.
The problems dealt with the liturgy, they dealt with leadership in the
Church, and, even more central, they dealt with the certainty of salvation.
They dealt essentially with these two questions: “Who rules the Church?” and “How
can I find a gracious God?” That is, the questions were about God’s Word
and God’s grace. Luther’s goal was to return authority in the Church to the
Word of God, such as Jer 31:34: “I
will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” His
goal was to return to the Word of God and find therein the grace of God, words
of grace like these in our text:“I Will Forgive their Wickedness,” Says the
Lord.
4. Unlike
most people in modern-day America, Luther knew he was a sinner. He
knew he deserved nothing but eternal punishment, perpetual hell, since he could
not fully live according to God’s Law. The Law, with its demands, condemned
him. The Law showed him, and it shows us, where we are by nature. It shows us that
we all begin at the same point of sin and corruption at our birth.
5. For instance, if the sign at the amusement park says you have to be 5 feet tall
to ride, and you’re only 4 feet, 9 inches, nothing you can do will change your
situation. You’re stuck. You’re cast out. You can’t ride the ride. That’s
what God’s Law, the Word of the old covenant, does to sinners. The old covenant, God’s Law, shows sinners
their sin, and yet it demands perfect obedience (Lev 18:5). Luther was terribly aware of his guilt under
the old covenant. His early years were tormented by fear of God’s wrath over
his sins, and he went to great lengths trying to satisfy God. We sinners are in the same boat as Luther and
as ancient Israel. We’ve broken God’s holy Law; we’ve broken the old covenant;
we’re corrupt and perverted people. Just
look at the amount of people today who are living together outside of marriage
both young and old alike, which the Bible says is clearly wrong. We can see the lack of character in our
politicians today, with their adulterous affairs and their dealings under the
table. We too, fail to obey those in
authority over us. We harm our
bodies with drugs. And with alcohol by overdrinking and getting drunk. And many people would rather go to a football
or baseball game on Sunday morning than be in God’s House to give Him the
worship and praise that He deserves. We
haven’t even mentioned the fact that we gossip about our neighbor behind their
back and we desire our neighbor’s possessions that don’t belong to us.
6. But
God has a plan. He doesn’t want us to be corrupt, condemned sinners, but
rather, a new creation. He wants us to be complete, new, pure,
and holy. This is where God wants us to
be. Jeremiah describes three characteristics of becoming a new creation. First, we have the Law written in the mind
and heart (renewal of man, the new life in Christ). Second, we have God as our God and we are his
people. And third, we know God.
7. But,
if the old Law covenant tells us we’re corrupt sinners, how can we ever become
what God wants us to be? Our problem is the same as that of
Luther. How do we find a gracious God? The answer is the Gospel—the new
Gospel covenant of the forgiveness of sins because of Christ. As God says
through Jeremiah, “I will forgive
their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
8. Here
was the great wickedness of the Church in Luther’s day: teaching
that we satisfied God, by a whole list of prescribed works—indulgences,
prayers to the saints, becoming a monk, suffering in purgatory. Instead, Jesus Christ put the new covenant
into effect by his own blood. Because
of his blood and cross, the Gospel is preached in the Church and throughout the
world. By the Gospel of Christ, God forgives you your sins. Because you are forgiven, God begins a new
creation in you. While here on earth, you can’t always tell that we’re living
our lives as God’s new creation, created new in Christ, because there’s always
plenty of our sinful nature hanging on.
But in heaven, we will have reached fully being made new in our Lord
Jesus Christ, the completion of the new creation.
9. When Johann
Friedrich, Elector of Saxony (1503–54), was thrown into prison, when all his
books were taken from him and his pastor was forbidden to come to him, he said
smiling,
“Go ahead and take them! I know one thing
for certain: even if they take everything from me, they will not be able to
take my Lord Jesus and the eternal life he purchased with his blood out of my
heart” (Hermann
Fick, Geschichten aus Kirche und Welt zu Dr. M. Luthers Kleinem Katechismus [St.
Louis: Concordia, 1906], 267). The elector had heard the Gospel of
Christ, and by it he had total confidence that God was gracious to him. Because of the
preaching of Luther and others, the elector did not trust in indulgences or his
own works. Instead, he trusted in Christ, even when he had lost everything in
this world.
10. Luther’s goal
was to return to the Word of God and find the grace of God therein, in the
preaching of the cross of Christ. Luther wanted to do nothing new, but
just to return the Church to the old faith and practice. He fought against
a Church hierarchy that paid more attention to rules and laws than to the Word
of God. He stood up against a Church that preached only rules for living and
not the full and free Gospel of the forgiveness of sins in Christ’s death.
11. These
problems have not left us. We, too, need a reformation. Our problems
today are not exactly the same as the problems in Luther’s day, of course. But
Luther’s answer must be our answer as well. Standing squarely on Scripture,
we will hold up the Gospel, the new covenant, which says that by faith in
Christ alone there is salvation. In a spirit of love for our brothers and
sisters, we will speak the truth, the entire truth, of God’s Word. We will confess
our sins, we will trust in Christ, and we will confess the truth. Today we give
thanks to God for the Gospel, the same Gospel of grace spoken by Jeremiah,
confessed by Luther, and preached here today. May God keep us steadfast in
this Word and grace. Amen.
(Portions
of this sermon have been used from Concordia Pulpit Resources Vol. 15, Part 4,
and Rev. Benjamin T.G. Mayes)
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