Sermon 10-26-25

Pastor Ray Lorthioir

Trinity Lutheran Church

W. Hempstead, NY

Based on the Second Lesson for Reformation Sunday, Romans 3:19-28

Note The Sequence

On the feast day of All Saints Day Eve, October 31st, 1517 an obscure German monk from an obscure German university posted a document on the church door in the obscure community of Wittenberg, Saxony, in what is now Germany. It was a scholarly document written in Latin — the church language — consisting of 95 statements or theses. And at the head of the document was a challenge. This obscure monk wanted to debate these 95 theses with any scholar willing to take up the challenge.

Somebody saw the document on the church door, ripped it off and took it down to the local printing press. There, it was translated into German and printed. Copies of the print found their way all over Europe and caused a tremendous stir. The obscure monk became a household name — Martin Luther. And that name would become loved and hated, praised and vilified, all over Europe.

There were others before Luther that had attempted to bring spiritual and theological reform to the medieval Christian Church. However, such attempts had always ended badly for the person promoting reform. But, a unique combination of religious and political circumstances let Luther live to the ripe old age of 63, even though he was branded a heretic worthy of death. The same set of circumstances allowed other names like Zwingli, Muenster, Carlstadt and Calvin to also avoid execution during Luther’s lifetime. And what became known as the Reformation was off to the races. And the Reformation is responsible for all the Christian denominations we still see to this day.

On the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the event, in 1667, the German prince of Saxony formally made October 31st Reformation Day. It’s been celebrated as such since. However, in the last fifty years, Lutherans have been celebrating the occasion on the last Sunday of October, as we are doing today. This is Reformation Sunday.

Martin Luther never attempted to split Christ’s Church. Like all good medieval theologians, he believed in one holy, catholic and apostolic church and one doctrine. However, he could not tolerate false doctrine and false practice. Thus, he spoke out against it, expecting all good theologians everywhere to see the plain truth of Scripture. However, money, power and politics corrupt. The pope and the highest leadership of the church resisted. And what could have become a unified restructuring of theology and practice, instead fractured into the many denominations we see today.

And here, just a word about the many so-called “Non-Denominational” churches we see today. They’re just independent Baptists or Pentecostals in disguise. Ask the pastor to baptize an infant and you’ll get stiff resistance. That’s how you can tell.

Now, “Lutheran” was originally a name of derision used by Rome for those who had agreed with Luther. As in — those heretic “Lutherans.” However, just like the term “Yankee” was originally a term of derision for continental troops used by British soldiers during the American Revolution, but was adopted by us rebels with pride, so the derisive term “Lutheran” was adopted with pride by those agreeing with Luther.

Luther never wanted a church named after him. Therefore, we are more properly Evangelical Catholics as opposed to Roman Catholics.

Unfortunately, during the 20th century many Lutheran seminaries in the U.S. were infected with a so-called “modern” way of interpreting the Bible. This method adopts the worldview of Philosophical Naturalism, also called Materialism. Naturalism is a godless religion that denies the supernatural, denies a Creator God, and believes that an uncreated universe brought forth all life by natural processes without a Creator. Of course, Naturalism’s worldview is diametrically opposed to historic Christianity. But the religion of Naturalism captured the universities and captured science in the early 20th century. Therefore, Christianity was falsely labeled ancient superstition opposed to “science.”

Instead of holding fast against this religion of the devil, many churchmen in the 20th century had no answer for Naturalism. So they caved into it and developed the so-called “modern” way of interpreting the Bible. Their slogan became “the Bible is not the Word of God, but contains the Word of God” — whatever that means. So, the net result is that theologians can accept certain parts of Scripture as the Word of God while rejecting other parts. This has led to all kinds of apostasy from the truth.

In 1987 and 1988, I and those who were members of Trinity at that time were confronted with a severe choice. A mega-merger of national Lutheran bodies would take place on January 1, 1988. In examining the documents that would govern the new church, we determined that the whole idea of Scripture not being the Word of God but containing the Word of God would lead to all kinds of apostasy. In the 37 years since, it certainly has — and more than we could possible imagine in 1987. Therefore, I’m not sorry that I and the congregation took the step of leaving that church body and joining The American Association of Lutheran Churches on October 1, 1988. As conservative Lutherans believing in the inerrancy and infallibility of Holy Scripture, we continue to stand in the true teachings of historic Evangelical Catholicism.

Today, I want to revisit the disagreement that divides conservative Evangelical Catholicism from Rome. The fight is over the perfect, glorious righteousness that the God/man, Messiah Jesus, has won as a gracious gift for sinful humanity, and His willingness to grant His perfect righteousness to anyone who puts their faith in Him, so that that person may stand before Yahweh righteous and redeemed from sin. In short, the fight is over the only kind of righteousness by which sinners may be saved from their sin and stand righteous before Yahweh.

What is righteousness? It’s pure, holy goodness. Yahweh Himself is righteous, and the source of all righteousness. He is pure goodness. As it says in 1John 1:5, “. . . God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Indeed, perfect righteousness shines with Yahweh’s holy glory.

Now, Yahweh created us to be as righteous as He is, and to be in union with Him in His perfect and complete goodness. We were created in His Image. But in the Garden of Eden, Eve was deceived by Satan. She in turn deceived Adam. And the two of them separated themselves from the pure righteousness of Yahweh through their Original Sin. Because of their Original Sin, Adam and Eve were forced to become their own gods, deciding good and evil for themselves and then taking action according to their own decisions. As a result of Adam and Eve’s sin, all of us, their descendants, are forced to do the same. We are born our own gods, deciding good and evil for ourselves. Thus, we can easily call good what Yahweh calls evil. And we can easily call evil what Yahweh calls good. Our unrighteous decisions are the source of most of the evil in this world.

Although all humans are conceived and born in sin and unrighteousness because of Adam and Eve’s Original Sin, the Image of God is still present within us. For this reason every major religion on earth strives toward the recovery of the Image of God. Islam calls Mohammed the most perfect man who ever lived. Judaism teaches mitzvah — good works — to make up for evil doing. Hinduism teaches purification of evil karma from previous lives so that the Hindu might finally get out of the cycle of reincarnation and back to righteous union with the one. Buddhism has Buddha to emulate. In one way or another, all the major religions teach a striving toward righteousness by our own will and power.

But can our own will and our own power ever make us righteous? Evangelical Catholicism teaches absolutely not. And for two reasons. First, Yahweh is more holy and more righteous than we can possibly imagine. Second, to be accepted by Yahweh we must be as righteous as our Creator. We must have never sinned. Period. For even the smallest sin stains us with unrighteousness. Can all the good we could ever do in the world make up for the smallest stain of sin. No. We must be absolutely perfect to stand in the presence of absolute perfection. And that’s quite impossible.

Therefore, Evangelical Catholicism doesn’t teach our own will and our own power as the source of righteousness. Our own will and power are insufficient to overcome the sinful nature we’re born with. Our disobedience to Yahweh’s perfect, holy and righteous Law absolutely proves this.

Therefore, in order to rescue us from the disaster of Original Sin, Yahweh came Himself. Yahweh, the Son, became incarnate in human flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a perfect righteous life among us and gave His holy blood as the atonement that eliminates and removes sin. And when sin is eliminated and removed, only righteousness remains. The blood of Messiah poured out on a sinner makes it as if the sinner had never sinned. This is the gracious gift of God taught both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. This is the Holy Gospel. And it is received into human hearts by a gift of faith in Messiah Jesus given by Lord Holy Spirit. Thus, Human salvation from sin is a gracious work of Yahweh Himself and by Himself alone. Salvation is Yahweh’s pure grace; His pure gift. The sinner has nothing to do with his own salvation, except to give thanks and rejoice because of Jesus’ victory over sin, death and the power of the devil.

Now, as I said, the fight with Rome is over the Holy Gospel. The medieval church corrupted the pure Gospel. The will and effort of the sinner was reintroduced into salvation. By the time of Luther, it was taught that humans had to prove their worthiness by good works in order to qualify for God’s grace. And Rome has resisted the dismantling of this false doctrine right down to the present. Rome’s stubbornness is based on an improper interpretation of the epistle of James. So, let’s examine it.

In order to understand what I’m about to read to you, whenever you hear the word “works” it means “good works.” And “good works” means righteous human living and righteous human behavior. Whenever you hear the word “justified”, it means being declared righteous before God; being declared innocent of sin.

First comes a passage from Saint Paul. Romans 3:19-24, “19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it — 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift. . . .”

Now, compare this to James 2:20-24, 26, “20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’ — and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. . . . 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

Doesn’t it sound like James is contradicting Paul? But he’s not. In order to prove it, we’ll do a quick dive into Genesis. We start with Genesis 15:5-6, “5 And he [God] brought him [Abraham] outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ And he [Abraham] believed the LORD, and he [God] counted it to him [Abraham] as righteousness.”

In this passage, Yahweh made an important promise to Abraham — that he would have descendants through his wife, Sarah. Abraham put his faith in Yahweh’s promise. And Yahweh counted Abraham righteous because of his faith. Paul makes a big deal of this event. In Romans chapter 4 he uses it to prove that just as Abraham was justified (declared righteous) before Yahweh by faith in Yahweh’s promise, so anyone who puts their faith in the perfect, saving work of Messiah Jesus will also be declared righteous before Yahweh by faith in Jesus. 

Now six chapters and years later, Abraham was told in Genesis 21:12 “. . . through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” Therefore, when God tested Abraham in Genesis chapter 22 by ordering Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, it looked like God would be rendering null and void His own promise to Abraham about having descendants. But Abraham continued to believe God’s promise from Genesis 15 and took Isaac out to sacrifice him to the Lord. At the very last second, God called off the sacrifice. Therefore, by his actions, Abraham proved his faith in Yahweh’s original promise that through Isaac his descendants would be named.

When James writes that Abraham was justified by works when he obediently offered up Isaac as a sacrifice in Genesis 22, he’s taking into account this sequence of events in Genesis. The faith by which Abraham had been justified before God years earlier in Genesis 15 carried over to Genesis 22. And James confirms this when he writes that “faith was active along with [Abraham’s] works.”

So, note the sequence. In Genesis, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness long before Abraham was tested by faith with God’s command to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham’s faith came before his works of righteousness, not after. And that’s precisely the point Paul makes about Abraham in Romans chapter 4. Faith in God’s promises comes before any righteous works.

James’ whole point in this section is that if we have faith that the perfect work of Jesus alone makes us righteous in the sight of God, then righteous living and righteous behavior must come forth out of the believer’s heart, mind, will and soul. If not, and the so-called “believer” continues to impenitently revel in a life of sin, in reality that person has no faith at all. They have what James rightly calls a “dead faith.”

All this means that true faith in Jesus produces righteous living and good works. But again, note the sequence. Righteous living and good works are not required to gain faith in Jesus. Rather, faith in Christ’s saving work comes first. Faith alone is counted to us as righteousness. But then, saving faith must produce righteous living and good works. Otherwise, it’s no faith at all — a dead faith. Both Paul and James agree on this sequence. Faith in Christ’s saving work alone is counted to us as righteousness. We are justified by faith alone. But then righteous living and good works confirm the justification we have received in Messiah. That’s correct Evangelical Catholic teaching.

There’s one other point to consider. If Jesus led the most holy and perfect life on earth that any human has ever lived, and if faith in Jesus’ holy life is what justifies us before God, how can any good work or righteous living we do add anything to what Jesus has done for us? Plainly, it can’t.

Therefore, by continuing to get the sequence wrong and stubbornly insisting that we must offer righteous living and good works to God before being justified so that we become worthy of being justified, Rome is preaching a different gospel — a gospel that is no gospel. For such teaching does not depend solely on the Good News that Jesus has done for us what we could could never do for ourselves. Instead, it erroneously mixes whatever we think might please God with what Jesus has done for us — as if somehow Jesus’ work is insufficient.

The Evangelical Catholic faith is properly taught in the following way. First, the righteous work of Jesus in sacrificing Himself to atone for our sins is perfect. Absolutely nothing can be added to Jesus’ most holy and righteous work.

Second, faith in Jesus and His perfect work is the only way anyone can have their sins forgiven.

Third, only by the forgiveness of sins alone can we be declared righteous in Yahweh’s sight. Only when our sins are forgiven and removed are we equal to Yahweh in righteousness. Only when our sins are forgiven and removed can Yahweh accept us for eternity as His adopted righteous children.

Fourth, those who have been made righteous through the forgiveness of sins have an obligation to live righteously in this world for the rest of their lives. This is the faith completed by works that James writes of. And righteous living is practice for eternal life. For how do you think those who have been made perfectly righteous will live in the resurrection of the dead? Perfectly righteous — right? So, let’s get started here.

Fifth, if we fail to have faith in Jesus alone, or if we have a dead faith that revels in sin, our sins will condemn us before God. We will be exiled away from Him, stripped of whatever righteousness we think we have and plunged into eternal darkness, fire and complete evil. And this is not unjust on Yahweh’s part. For, in Jesus He has done everything necessary to save us from such a hideous fate. We reject Jesus at our own peril.

Therefore, pay attention to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray to Lord Holy Spirit that you may believe the Good News and continue to believe it so that your sins may be forgiven. Pray to Lord Holy Spirit that you would be united to Jesus in such a way that your sinful nature will be squashed and Messiah’s righteousness will be the power that guides and directs you in life. May the Lord, then, bring His powerful holy Gospel to you so that you may believe and be saved. Amen.

All Bible quotes are from the ESV.