In Christ from End Zone to End Zone

Well, on October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses Against papal indulgences or the atonement of Sins Through monetary Payment. And he, nailed these theses on the door of the church at Wittenberg in Germany. the basic, doctrine that he was challenging is the idea that if you drop a coin in the vending machine, out comes eternal merits. but six months later, April 26, 1518, a more significant event occurred, that is called the Heidelberg disputation, a formal debate, as part of the regular regional meeting of the Augustinian, monks, and part of the background behind this disputation, this meeting.

You have to go back to the fact that the Muslims actually reintroduced Aristotle, to the West, and which kick-started what we would call scholasticism from 1100 to about 1500 AD. the Muslims had. secured their, their, their philosopher Aristotle, and then as they interacted with Europe, all of a sudden Europeans were reintroduced to this theology which then came into the church. And so what you have at the time of Martin Luther and the 95 thesesis and the Heidelberg disputation is, is really a full blown system that.

Luther and others begin to challenge the idea of scholastic theology based on Aristotle is that God is like us, only he's greater. The essence of God can be discerned through natural law and through our reason. And so it goes something like this, that God has left things discernible about Himself in nature and so we study nature and philosophy to to discover God. He's also left our will and intact and we can use our will and works to move closer to God.

And the law, both the mosaic law and natural law, as we study it, we can discern something more about God. And so the invisible works of God can be discerned, as we use our reason. And through our reason and will and works aided by the law, we can, as it were, get into the red zone. If you think of a football competition and you're moving down the field with your team, all of the things that the scholastics taught can get you into the red zone, but then it's Christ and His cross that gets you into the end zone.

So you use reason and logic and nature, and to get your way most of the way to God and and then it's Christ and the cross that gets us the rest of the way in. well, however, you may not go right into the end zone because you may be thrown in the penalty box of purgatory. Don't worry, as you're, I'm mixing up my analogies here, but your, your friends and family will say prayers for you and have masses said, and, and after a million years or so, you'll get out of purgatory, and be able to go into heaven based upon your own righteousness, the righteousness that's been accrued to you from other saints, as well as the righteousness of Christ.

On the cross.

And so as Luther saw it and others, thus we really get to share in the glory of salvation. And so what Luther counters this with is what he called the theology of the cross, or what Paul calls the message of the cross, that we know God truly through his revelation of Christ on the cross. The cross is the eye of the needle through which all of our theology must pass. It's Christ from end zone to end zone.

Well, the law is very beneficial, it's medicinal, it actually can't help us on the righteousness. It actually pushes us back into our own end zone. Our wisdom will not aid us. Christ is our wisdom.

Neither will our own will or works aid us. The law won't advance us. Christ is our sanctification. Christ is our righteousness or our OKness with God.

And so in the Heidelberg debate in 1517, Luther begins to, to promote and realize that what looked like just a mistaken notion of indulgences was really a whole system. The church, us, we are all going the wrong way. And while we're talking about going the wrong way, has anybody ever heard of Jim Marshall with the Vikings? Raise your hand.

Have you ever heard of Wrong Way Marshall? A few of us, OK. He was a Pro Bowl champion, an excellent quarterback, an Ironman, defensive end for the Vikings called the Purple People Eaters because they would just crush all the quarterbacks of opposing teams. But in one particular game in 1964 against the Niners, Marshall seized an opportunity to grab a fumble and began running down the field while he heard all of his teammates screaming behind him and he thought that they were all cheering for him.

When he got into the end zone, he threw the ball up in victory only to realize he'd run into the wrong end zone. And it was a safety. And while they did go on to win the game, he was forever known as Wrong Way Marshall. In fact, his teammates were joking with him on the plane flight away from that game saying, hey, why don't you fly the plane?

Maybe we'll end up in Hawaii rather than Minnesota. Well, in the Heidelberg disputation, Luther voices what others have been saying, the church is heading in the wrong direction. And what Luther presented was not just needed in the 1500s, it's needed today because we are forever forgetting what secures our righteous standing before the Father. What leads to righteousness and acceptance by God?

And what leads on the other hand, to damnation. It's the opposite of what human beings think naturally. Following our own common sense and good deeds and self-will and sense of right and wrong leaves us condemned and would leave us damned. Righteousness on the other hand, or OKness with God comes from a surprising direction.

The title of our sermon this morning is In Christ from End zone to end zone. We do have an outline on the back or online if you'd like to follow the outline. And this morning, we will consider 6 biblical principles that will help us daily rest in Christ's everlasting arms. 6 principles that I think will help us rest daily in Christ's everlasting arms, and these principles were laid out by Luther in his Heidelberg disputation.

In 28 different theses or paradoxes, but they all derived from the scripture and so we're gonna divide up his 28 theses into 6 principles and we're gonna see how they mesh with scripture this week and then we're gonna look next week at a particular Old Testament text to see if the Old Testament bears this out as well. So let's, let's look at the first principle. And that is God's good law cannot advance us on our way to righteousness. God's good law cannot advance us on our way to righteousness.

The law is not going to help you move down the football field to get into the red zone. This is the way Luther says it in his first thesis. The law of God, the most salutary doctrine of life cannot advance man on his way to righteousness, but rather hinders him. The law is the most medicinal, it's the most beneficial thing, doctrine on earth, but it actually works against us when it comes to righteousness, not for us.

And Luther derives this from a number of different writings or verses from Paul, Romans 3:21, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law or with no help from the law whatsoever. Romans 5:20, the law intervened to increase trespass, not to increase righteousness. Romans 7:9, but when the commandment came, sin revived. The law actually vivifies sin.

It doesn't put it to death. 2 Corinthians 3:6, 1 other passage is the written code, that is the law written on stones, kills. It's the spirit that gives life. Luther says this, the commandments show us what we ought to do, but do not give us the power to do it.

They are intended to teach man to know himself that through them he may recognize his inability to do good and may despair of his own ability. I think an illustration that might help us with this biblical concept is consider an X-ray. I'm talking about an X-ray, not some of the other things that we use today, but. Consider going in to get an X-ray.

An X-ray can show you stuff that's inside of you that's wrong, right? It can reveal a tumor, but an X-ray cannot help you with the tumor. In fact, if you keep going in for X-ray after X-ray after X-ray every day, that's what's gonna happen? Eventually it's going to kill you.

X-rays will not help you in the long run. It can reveal the disease like Moses. Moses can diagnose the disease, but he cannot dispose of the disease. And that is the function of the law, which by the way, we want to make sure that we understand biblically what do we mean by the law.

In the Old Testament, the law is summarized in the 10 commandments, or the 10 words literally. In the New Testament, we see Christ summarizes the 10 commandments with just two commandments. You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your soul, and you will love your neighbor as yourself. By the way, you love yourself with all of your heart, all of your mind, and all of your soul.

And so that's the summary of the law. to keep the law, you must love God and love neighbor personally, perpetually, and perfectly. That's the law, and the law does not help us down the football field. It doesn't get us anywhere close to the red zone.

The law actually opposes us and is trying to push us back into our own end zone. But by the way, the law is actually on Christ's team. The law is actually for you, not against you, and we'll talk about why the law would wanna push you back into your own end zone if it's for us, not against us. And so that's the first principle that Luther lays out in his Heidelberg disputation is, is about the law.

Secondly, Let's look at a second principle that he's laying out. And, and by the way, when, when they talk about disputation, this just means debate. It's not like they're like all red in the face disputing one another. and, in fact, Luther didn't even, speak for his thesis.

It was one of his disciples that's actually presenting the material. but here's the second point, our good deeds are even less able to move us in the right direction. Our good deeds are even less able to move us in the right direction. Luther says this, since the law, which is holy and unstained, true, just, etc.

is given man by God as an aid beyond his natural powers to enlighten him and move him to do good, and nevertheless, the opposite takes place, namely, he becomes more wicked, how can he left to his own proper and without such aid, own power and without such aid be induced to do good? If a person does not do good with help from without, he will do even less with his own strength. And he cites Romans 3, it is, chapter verse 10. There's none righteous, no, not one.

There is none who understands. There is none who seeks God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable.

There is none who does good, no, not one. Nobody does good. If the law, which is the most medicinal thing given to help aid people, won't produce righteousness, rather it hinders them. Then people left to themselves will not be able to get close to righteousness merely by their own good deeds.

Leave a man to himself and his good deeds to himself, and he will not advance down the field towards true righteousness. The scholastics claim that through natural theology, we can use our reason like Aristotle to arrive at good ethics and morals. And while it may be true that people can do something that appears moral and appears ethical, biblically, it's actually the opposite. Luther goes on and gives several other paradoxes to demonstrate and flesh out this biblical point.

He says this in Thesis 3. Although the works of men always appear attractive and good, they are nevertheless likely to be mortal sins. Now he's, remember, this is a Catholic monk. He's still living in the idea of, of venial mortal sins.

Venial sins are things that are forgivable. Mortal sins are things that are basically damnable. Later on, he's gonna totally blow that whole system up later in the, in the disputation, but right now he's operating on this Catholic, very Catholic idea. That when you look at human beings, human beings do good works and outwardly it looks very attractive.

You help somebody if you walk up to me and you say, Mike, you have a nice looking shirt. I like your haircut. I say thank you very much and I, I think Alan's a nice guy for complimenting me on my haircut. That all looks very attractive and good.

But actually works apart from Christ lead to damnation. They look good on the outside, but actually they're mortal sins. He counters that with this paradox. Although the works of God always seem unattractive and appear evil, they are nevertheless really eternal merits.

What does he mean? What is he talking about? That God comes along and says righteousness happens through a bloody cross where somebody dies on the cross for sinners. Whereas scholasticism and really every other religion comes along and says, if you do your best and if you do good things, then God will receive you and, and that's very attractive and good.

Luther says it's actually the exact opposite. Every good looking work carry a deadly label because they are produced by sinners, people dead in their sins. The apostle Paul says in Galatians 1:4, that Christ gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age. This age, this world is evil in Paul's estimation.

What God has done in Christ is good, this world, all of it is evil. In commenting on this particular verse, Luther has this to say, Without Christ, wisdom is double foolishness and integrity, double sin, because they not only fail to perceive the wisdom and righteousness of Christ, but hinder and blaspheme the salvation of God. Paul justly calls it the evil or the wicked world, for when the world is at its best, it is at its worst. The grossest vices are small faults in comparison with the wisdom and righteousness of the world.

These prevent men from accepting the gospel of the righteousness of Christ. The white devil of spiritual sin is far more dangerous than the black devil of carnal sin because the wiser and the better men are without Christ, the more likely they are to ignore and oppose the gospel. What Luther is arguing is from a Christian and biblical viewpoint, the best works of men, the best person is more dangerous than the adulterer and the murderer. Why?

Because the white devil sins, the good things that people do make people not want Christ. As opposed to the black sins that people begin to be convicted of and humbled by that drives them to Christ. And so really, it's our works of righteousness that are more dangerous than the works of sin. Or gross sins.

The apostle says in 3, Paul says in 3:10, all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. Notice it doesn't say the works of sin are under a curse. All who rely on the works of the law, works of righteousness are under a curse. And so Luther is, as he's looking at scripture and comparing it to what is going on at the time, he's arguing that our good deeds are less able to move us in a righteous direction than even the law.

And he flushes this out even further with other statements of paradox. He says the works of men. are not, we don't call the works of men mortal sins because they're gross sins. We call them mortal sins, even though they're not crimes.

In other words, here's how we would say this, human works are not deadly in the sense that they are wicked actions. They're deadly in the sense that they are not connected to Christ. Isaiah 65:6 says this, but we all like an unclean thing. All of our righteousness are like filthy rags.

It's not all of our sins are filthy rags, it's all of our righteousness is as filthy rags. The works of God, done through humans are not of value in the sense of being untouched by sin. So even the works that God does through us, either as Christians or through his common grace, even the good things that God may do through us passively, don't earn us any favor whatsoever before God. Because the Bible says like in Ecclesiastes 7:20.

Surely, there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. Listen to how the writer of Ecclesiastes says that. There's not a righteous man on earth. He's not denying that there aren't allegedly righteous people who look attractive on the outside.

There's not a righteous person on earth who does true good and never sins. In other words, all righteous people never do anything really good. Proverbs 24:16 says the righteous man falls seven times a day. The righteous man falls 7 times a day.

Luther uses the analogy, an analogy in this way. He says, if someone cuts with a rusty, rough hatchet, even though the worker is a good craftsman, the hatchet leaves bad, jagged, ugly gashes. So it is when God works through us. Even our good works are so tainted that when God is even working through us, it leaves jagged edges and so therefore our works do not move us down the field whatsoever because even our best works are full of sin, even the works of a righteous person, a, a Christian are full of sin.

And yet this does not leave us hopeless. Every work done apart from Christ, if every work done apart from Christ would leave us hopeless, but there is, there is a reason why the law is driving us against our works. And it goes like this. Without acknowledging God as our judge, every work would lead us to hopelessness.

But when we understand that God is trying to drive us inside of Christ's works, that actually leads us to hope. Listen to this statement. Our best works are sinful because we pride ourselves in our works. Our works are deadly sins.

We live under the but, but on the other hand, we live under the protection and shadow of the wings and escape God's judgment through His mercy, not through our righteousness. As the old hymn says, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. And so the, the second point or the 2nd principle that Luther is arguing for at the Heidelberg disputation in contrast to the scholastics and those depending upon Aristotelian logic is this, that our good deeds are even less able to move us in the right direction.

If the law can't move us down the field, how do you think your good works are going to move you down the field? Why do we need this principle today? Here we are, we're all a bunch of Protestants here. We all believe in salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, right?

We're not people who are depending upon works righteousness. Actually, our works climb into bed with us every day, every night. Works are like old dogs who have been allowed to sleep on the furniture. They creep back onto the couch of righteousness when you take a nap.

You fall asleep, you look over, there's your dog again. You, you just fall asleep a little bit and works are creeping back up into your consciousness, trying to say, hey, follow me. Your works are trying to get you to come down the field and, hey, we can do this. Your works are like a let's go speech from Ichiro Suzuki in the All-Star Game.

Let's go get it. No, the Bible says the opposite. Let's look at a third principle, our free. Self-will cannot advance us on the way to righteousness, but rather works on righteousness with both hands.

Let me say that again, it's on your outline. Our free self-will cannot advance us on the way to righteousness, but rather works unrighteousness with both hands. Here's the way Luther says it in disputation 13. Free will after the fall exists in name only.

As long as it does what it is able to do, it commits a mortal sin. In other words, after the fall. we can say, I'm gonna do my best, but we always commit sin. 100 out of 100 people will use their free will to march towards damnation.

Unless God were to set up some barrier, unless God were to do some work of deliverance, 100 out of 100 people who use their free will will march towards their own damnation. Micah 7:2 says this, the faithful man has perished from the earth, and there is no, no one upright among men. Every manhunts his brother with a net. That they may successfully do evil with both hands.

The best of them is like a briar. The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. Does that sound negative? It's supposed to be, it's supposed to expose what's truly in our heart.

Romans 9:16. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. John 1:12, but as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become the children of God who believe in his name, who are born not of blood, nor of will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Something radical needs to happen to us because left to ourselves after the fall, our free will runs to hell.

We don't, we're not God, we're not moderate God dislikers. We are God haters, at least the true God. We are those who would easily prevent, commit deocide and place ourselves on the throne of God. That's the, the diagnosis of the scriptures.

The scholastic, the scholastics come along and they say by doing our best, Christians receive the grace of God. They therefore have the ability to gain salvation by their works. That really is all religion. That's, that's the religion that's in our hearts, that's the religion that's in this church.

That's the religion that's not just in Catholicism, it's in Mormonism, it's in Seventh Day Adventism, it's in every religious heart is that if we just do our best, we can get ourselves down the field to God liking us. And by the way, we really aren't as bad as the Bible says we are. However, the will is free only to do evil. After the fall, the will is bound by sin, not to be, not by determinism or fate, but because the will does what it wills to do and it will not do otherwise.

We do not seek salvation on our own. Man has no active capacity to progress, much less to stand his ground in righteousness. Left, left to ourselves, we don't, we don't advance, neither do we stand our ground when it comes to righteousness. And part of the reason is, is that sin is always an ally with our pride and even our works ally with our pride.

Luther says in Thesis 16, the person who believes that he can obtain grace by doing what is in him adds sin to sin that he becomes doubly guilty. In other words, such a person that believes by doing your best you can get to God is doubly guilty because we not only are, are sinning against what God has told us in the scriptures, we're adding pride to sin. Jeremiah 2:17 says, when God is speaking to Israel, my people have committed two evils. They've forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn cisterns for themselves.

We're not content just to reject God. We also must choose sisters, we must build up our own idols, our own means of achieving forgiveness and righteousness. The law affects fear and wrath, but grace affects hope and mercy. The law comes, what comes with the law is the knowledge of sin.

But through that knowledge, there actually comes humility and that's, that's really where all of these points lead is, is it can seem very pessimistic. It can seem like it's leaving us in despair, but listen to what Luther says in Theseis 17, nor does speaking in this manner give cause for despair, but for arousing the desire to humble oneself and seek the grace of Christ. When we really understand that the law does not promote righteousness, rather it hinders righteousness. When we really understand that our works, even the best of them are filthy rags, when we understand that our will left to itself will choose hell every time, the intent of that knowledge is not to leave you in despair, but to drive you back towards Christ who loves you anyway.

That's where all of this is leading. That's where the scriptural ideas lead. That their sins have been and can be overcome by such good works and therefore not being able to find victory after they labor and not knowing that they ought to turn to mercy of God, desperation necessarily follows. If people don't turn to God, then that desperation does set in, but if we turn to Christ, he relieves us of that desperation.

And so despairing of our own ability to be OK with God really opens us up for humility, and it's humility that drives us to Christ. So to summarize this third point, we would say this, God orchestrates means to move us to despair of our own wisdom and common sense and good deeds and self-will. So that we will look outside of ourselves to the one who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Amen.

And that's really where the reformation is driving us back to. The reformation is trying to drive us outside of ourselves or what they called extranos to look outside of ourselves for our redemption and hope, not within ourselves, because if we stare at ourselves, we're going to realize that there's nothing but dead men's bones. And so the first three principles is God's law cannot advance us on the righteousness. It hinders us good deeds even less so, and then third, free self-will cannot advance us on the righteousness, but rather, works, we work unrighteousness with both hands.

But the fourth principle that Luther lays out from the scriptures is this. That contrary to reasonable religion, only the foolish theology of Christ's suffering on the cross can make us righteous. Let me say that again, contrary to reasonable religion, only the foolish theology of Christ suffering on the cross can make us righteous. He says basically that the person who is a true theologian, a true theologian does not look at the invisible things.

The true theologian does not look at nature and try to extrapolate God from nature. The true theologian looks at where God reveals Himself, particularly in Christ crucified on a cross. Those according to Romans 1, who gained some knowledge from nature, they ultimately end up in Romans 1:22 professing to be wise, they become fools. But to become truly wise, according to First Corinthians, one, as we read earlier, we must become a fool and come to the weakness of the message preached.

It's a message of Christ dying on the cross for sinners who could do nothing for themselves. Luther says he deserves to be called a theologian who comprehends. The suffering, who comprehends God's seen through suffering and the cross. What does he mean by that?

He means this, the genuine theologian, the genuine thinker about God, the genuine thinker about Christ, centers the search for God in Christ's suffering and cross. Everything about God must, and everything must pass through the needle eye of Good Friday. You can see what an agenda this was for the reformation. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:25.

The foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For since, the wisdom of God in verse 21, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. And what is it that they preach? They preach that Christ actually came to the earth to those who hated him.

And he died at their own hands on a cross. He wasn't stabbed with a dagger like Caesar. He was thrown out of the city like a shame, a shameful criminal, was crucified on a cross, and God looked at that cross and he says, that satisfies my justice, and God is the one that initiated the process of the crucifixion because of his love for the unlovable. And so we don't look to nature or our senses or to our own wisdom or to our own will and works.

When, when Philip came to Jesus and said, show us the Father, show us God, reveal to us the Father, what did Jesus say? If you have seen me, You have seen the Father. No one comes to the Father but through me. I am the only way to the Father.

And he concludes this section, Luther, with this statement, the law brings wrath, the wrath of God kills, reviles, accuses, judges, and condemns everything. That is not in Christ. And so he ends with this amazing hope that we see in Galatians 3, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. The law condemns and crushes everything that is not in Christ.

Therefore, if you are in Christ, you are safe. And he ends, and, and then he goes on to say, yet that wisdom is not of itself evil, nor is the law to be evaded, but without the theology of the cross, man misuses the best and the worst way. In other words, we don't, the law accuses and kills us, but we don't avoid the law. We use the law and we look at what the Bible says about our works, and we look at what the Bible says about false reason and false hopes.

And we let that do its work on us, and we let the law push us back, and it pushes us back to Christ, which brings us to our 5th point. Number 5, only faith in the crucified Christ makes us righteous or OK with God. Only faith in the crucified Christ makes us righteous. Makes us OK with God.

And this is some of my favorite parts of the Heidelberg disputation. Luther says in Thesis 25, he is not righteous who does much, but he who without work believes much in Christ. He is not righteous who does much, but he who without work believes much in Christ. Romans 1:17.

He who through faith is righteous shall live. It is the righteous who live by faith. Romans 10:10, man believes with his heart and so is justified. It is through faith in Christ that a man escapes the curse.

Romans 3:20, no human being will be justified in his sight by the works of the law. Romans 3:28, we hold that man is justified by faith, apart from the works of the law. In other words, works contribute nothing to justification. Therefore, man knows that works, which he does, by such faith are not his but God's.

For this reason, he does not seek to become justified or glorified through them, but seeks God. His justification by faith in Christ is sufficient for him. Christ is his wisdom and righteousness and sanctification. That he himself may be Christ's action and instrument.

The, Luther goes on to say in Thesis 26, the law says do this, and it is never done. Grace says, believe this and everything is already done. Let me say it again. The law says do this and it is never done.

Grace says believe in this and everything is already done. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Paul says in Romans 7:5, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ so that you might be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead in order that we might be bear fruit unto God. Romans 4:5 says this, but to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.

That's just a crazy verse. It's completely upside down from the way the entire world works. It's upside down from the way, scholasticism worked on the basis of Aristotle. Let me read that verse again.

But who hit to him who does not work. Imagine trying to play football and telling a bunch of people, don't work, don't practice. It's completely antithetical to everything that we know in the world, but to him who does not work but simply believes in him, in the Father who justifies who justifies the ungodly. He doesn't justify you when you become a little bit godly.

He doesn't justify you when you get a little bit of righteousness. He justifies the ungodly, the completely unrighteous. By faith in Christ, Christ's righteousness is credited to him. These were radical, radical statements that, that the time that Luther is sharing this at the Heidelberg disputation in 1518.

They aren't new statements, the church had forgotten and was running the wrong way. Listen to what Ken Jones has to say about this whole concept of righteousness by faith alone. In that wounded savior, he says, is the oddness of human conduct and the justice of God is being satisfied for those who can't do what the savior has done. In that wounded savior on the cross is the oddness of human conduct.

All the things that we should have done, and that we have not done, all the works that we've done that we should have never done are on the cross of Jesus Christ, and the justice of God is being satisfied for those who can't do what Jesus has done. We could never do what Jesus has done. That's why he died on the cross for you and for me. Luther wraps up this particular principle with, with this amazing statement about works, where he says, actually, One should call the work of Christ an acting work and our work an accomplished work and thus an accomplished work pleasing to God by the grace of the acting work.

Like what in the world does that mean? I don't know what that means. Here's what that means. What he's, he, he's said, OK, at this point, people are like, OK, well, where do our works come in?

If, if works don't accomplish any righteousness before God. Then where do our works come in? Basically what it means is this in good, in the good works of a Christian, Christ is the doer. And we are the done deed.

God pleasing because of the doer. Let me say that again. In the good works of you and I who are Christians, most of us, I hope, Christ is the doer, and we actually are the done deed. God pleasing because of the doer.

We are not God pleasing because of our own works. We are God pleasing because we are in Christ, the doer of the works. Listen to what Ephesians 2:8 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, that is faith in Christ. It's not of yourselves, it's a complete gift of God, not of works.

I don't know how many times he has to say it, lest anyone should boast, God's not gonna share his glory with you. For we are his workmanship. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, by the way, which God's already prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. All of the works, all of the good deeds that this church does, and we do a lot of good works here at Cornerstone.

None of those advance you down the field of righteousness in any way. Because by the way, you are an ax that is so filled with sin that when God uses you, it doesn't come out very nice, but he's still pleased with you because all of your sin-stained works are inside of the savior. And so your works, while they earn no righteousness before God whatsoever, he is pleased with your works because he is pleased with his Son, and you are in the Son. Ephesians 5:1 says this, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children.

You are beloved, you are inside of the beloved, and so therefore we can imitate Him, not to earn any favor whatsoever because we can't, because even our best works are filthy rags. But listen to what Luther says on this point, since Christ lives in us through faith, so he arouses us to do good works through that living faith in his work, in his work. For the work which he does, the works which he does are the fulfillment of the commands of God given to us through faith. If we look at them, we are moved to imitate them.

For this reason, the apostle says be imitators of God as beloved children, and so we are aroused to deeds of mercy through the one who has done the works for us. That's where our works fit in, according to Luther. So we've looked at 5 principles that I think will help us with our daily rest as we rest in Christ's arms alone. The first principle we looked at is that God's good law cannot advance us at all down the field of righteousness.

Rather, it hinders us, and so neither can our good works apart from Christ move us in any way whatsoever. Even our will after the fall. 3 cannot advance us because left ourselves, 100 out of 100 people will choose hell rather than heaven. Fourth, contrary to reasonable Aristotelian scholastic, whatever you wanna call it, every other religion in the world, only foolish theology of Christ on the cross can make us righteous.

And 5th, it's only faith in that crucified Christ that makes us righteous with God. And last of all, and maybe most impressive of all of the Heidelberg disputation is this, that God sets His love on the unlovely and creates in us a love for Himself, although we hated Him. Let me say that again. God sets His love on the unlovely and creates in us a love for Himself, although we hated Him.

That's the principle. Let me say it the way Luther says it in the Heidelberg, Theseus 28. The love of God does not find but creates that which is pleasing to it. In contrast, the love of man comes into being when that, when he finds that which is pleasing to it.

What does he mean? Human beings, we love things and we love people when they please us, right? I might love Indian food because it pleases me. I don't love bananas because they don't please me.

When I was walking around Cornerstone in 1993 and I met this Auburn haired girl named Katie who was talking about Spurgeon and Calvin, it pleased me, right? And then I began to develop a love for this individual. We eventually got married. That's just the way we roll.

There's nothing wrong with that. That's just human beings. We love things that please us. God moves in exactly the opposite way.

He places his love on people who hate him. He places his love on people who are his enemies, who are sinners. he loved, we love him because he what? first loved us.

As this gets developed further in, in, the commentary paragraphs of Luther, he says this. he says that, the second part of our thesis is obvious. All the Aristotelian, philosophers, they all agree that man basically loves those things that are pleasing to him. The love of God, however, he says Aristotle's philos philosophy is contrary to cross theology.

The love of God, which lives in man, loves sinners, evil persons, fools, and weaklings in order to make them righteous, good, wise, and strong. Rather than seeking its own good, the love of God flows forth and bestows good. Therefore, sinners are attractive because they are loved. They are not loved because they are attractive.

Let me say that again. Sinners are attractive because they are loved. They are not loved because they are attractive. God looks down upon sinners, and he loves them through Christ on the cross, and it's that love that makes us attractive, not the other way around.

That's why Jesus says in Matthew 9:13, I, I came not to call the righteous but sinners. This is the love of the cross born of the cross which turns in the direction where it does not find good, which it may enjoy, but where it may confer good upon bad and needy people. Luther describes using various scripture passages, he describes us as fools and weaklings and sinners and enemies, and those are the very people that God sets his love upon. Listen to what it says in Ephesians 2.

But God being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us. Even when we were what? Dead in transgressions. When did he love us?

When you were dead. When you were an enemy. When you were a do-gooder, when you look down your nose at other people, when you thought you were better than everybody else, when you thought you were worse than everybody else, when you committed gross sins that nobody in this room knows about. He made us alive together with Christ.

By grace, you've been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, you've been saved through faith, and it's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not as a result of works. That no 1 may boast, you are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, prepared beforehand that you may walk in them.

God is rich in mercy.

He is, he loves you. He has set his love on you, not when you were righteous, but when you were an enemy, not when you were a moderate God-lier, but when you were a God hater, he set his love on you. And he is making you attractive. He didn't love you because you were attractive.

He loved you when unattractive, and he's placed you inside of his very attractive son to his death on the cross for you, and that is what makes all of you beautiful. Is your placement in Christ. And so these are a summary of six principles that come from the Heidelberg disputation in 1518. Luther's summary of what he believed Paul was teaching that contradicted the scholastics and Aristotelian logic that had crept its way into the church.

The church had begun to run the wrong direction, and Luther and others were trying to say, no, no, no, go the other way. It's not about your law-keeping. The law has a role, but the law is trying to push you back into the end zone. It's not about your works.

Your works are filthy rags. It's not about your self-will. You would choose the devil every time if it were left up to you. It's not about your own wisdom.

Your wisdom is foolishness because you would never look to Christ on a cross to find your own salvation. You would look to your own self and make yourself a God. These are the basic principles. And so how do we get right with God according to scriptures as, as taught in 1518?

We don't present the filthy rags of our own righteousness. We need to despair of ourselves as weak and look to the righteousness and strength of God in Christ. We are weaklings. We're like a broken tutor electric vibrating football game board.

Anybody ever play those little electric game boards you set up all the men and you turn it on and everybody just kinda goes around. I had one of those and it was completely broken and the guys just ran around in a circle. They didn't do anything. All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way, but the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. Jim Marshall, he was going the wrong way. He picked up a fumble, started heading the wrong way, and all of his teammates trying to get him to turn around. But in the paradox of the theology of the cross, the fact is, is that we must turn around and go the opposite way ourselves.

we too must go the wrong way, so to speak. Christ is waiting for you at the back of your own end zone. That's where the law is trying to push you. Works in your will and wisdom, they're saying, hey, come on, we can do it.

Come this way. But the law is hitting you hard and bouncing you back 2 yards, and it hits you again, and bounces you back 3 yards, and it keeps bouncing you back into your own end zone to get you to look upon the cross. And see a savior whose whose arms are wide open waiting for you. A savior in whom you can cast yourself, his everlasting arms, and that it's his righteousness that saves us.

And then he takes us from end zone to end zone. We don't do everything we can to get to the red zone and then he takes us in. No, he takes us all the way. He is not waiting for you in the red zone.

He will take you, he will take all of us, from beginning to end. He's the alpha and the omega. He's the author and finisher. He's the beginner of the work and the completer of the work.

And so I just wanna challenge us this morning and challenge all of us, both Christian and non-Christian alike. This, this message is, is not just for unbelievers. This is for all of us because every one of us, I, I say this sometimes facetiously, but it's true, every night I go to bed a Protestant, I wake up a Roman Catholic again. I go to bed believing in Christ's righteousness and I crawl out of bed thinking it's all on me.

And that's every religion, and we, we will say things like that, but it's in Protestantism too. It's alive and well amongst us. Leave behind your law keeping for righteousness. Leave behind your good deeds for righteousness.

Leave behind your self-will, your so-called wisdom. But of him you are in Christ who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness, sanctification, redemption. That as it is written, let him who glories, let him glory in the Lord. Let me just end with a couple questions that I know there aren't a ton of small groups meeting, but if you're small groups meeting, this might be some fodder for you guys to talk about a little bit later.

Let me ask you a question. Do you have a dog? Is it an inside dog? Do you let your dog sleep on the furniture?

We don't. Some people do. Have you ever tried to teach a dog who's been used to sleeping on the furniture not to sleep on the furniture? And our dog is in a cage, but we've lately let the cage open up a little bit, and he's gotten more used to coming out.

And if you're not paying attention, all of a sudden he'll be at your feet and you didn't even hear him. He'll just crawl out of his cage and he'll sneak around and get his hair everywhere in our house. And that's the way works are for us, even as spirit believers. It's like, it's just, you fall asleep and next thing, your works just resting right on the couch next to you saying, look at me.

This is why you're secure in Christ. You're a good person. You preached a good sermon today. You evangelized today, you read your Bible today.

You did this, you did that, or you didn't do this, you didn't do that. This is ultimately what your security rests upon. No, we need to talk about that and, and, and be honest with one another about how do we keep Christ cross central. It's been said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

What do you think about that? We're seeing the same thing. The reformation is happening over and over again. We're always reforming.

Right? What is the use of the law? Whose side is the law on? Is the, is the law against Christ?

Well, the law is for Christ, so then why is it so hard? We could talk about that. How can good works be worse than gross sins? How is it that the white devil is worse than the black devil?

And where do works fit in this whole thing? What is the role of our free will and do we have to unravel the mysteries of the free will to know that your will is in danger apart from Christ? You have to figure out all those little mysteries like the scholastics tried to do. We're gonna figure out how many angels are on top of a pinhead and then maybe we can believe.

No, you don't have to figure out all the little mysteries. We already know that our will is bent against God, and we need the spirit, we need the mind of Christ. Let's remember the foolishness of the message preached, the scandal of running all theology through the needle's eye of Good Friday. Let's remember that.

We sinners. Are not loved because we are attractive. We are attractive because we are loved. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you so much for this time for us to look at a lot of different passages, many in the apostle Paul. We thank you, Lord, for brothers like Martin Luther, John Huss, Wycliffe, so many. Our brothers and sisters throughout church history that keep reminding us to look to Christ, to look to his finished work, and to have faith in the righteousness of Christ alone. We pray, Lord, that You would help us because that we are weak.

Our hearts are so bent. On moving back to our filthy rags. Lord, help us see that through faith we are dressed in Christ's righteousness and we need not the filthy rags, and we pray, Father, that that freedom, Lord, would free us up to, to love our brother, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, not in order to achieve anything, but in order to, to reflect your likeness in us. Lord, we ask your spirit would apply these principles to us and many more in the days to come.

We pray this in Christ's name, and all God's people said, Amen.